Photo Credit: Peter Cozad
Sometimes a little time off—whether taken purposely or due to a global pandemic—reminds us of what’s truly important. For the members of Eau Claire-based Them Coulee Boys, it’s the bonds we have with family and friends. It’s a theme at the center of their latest album Namesake.
Initially, the band planned to take some time off for member Beau Janke to be able to spend time with his new baby. “For a band that plays 130 shows a year, taking time off was this foreign thing,” says singer-songwriter Soren Staff. “But we were like, ‘Hey, we'll take the time off. We’ll let you welcome this baby into the world. We’ll make a record, it'll work out.’”
However, that time off turned into be much more—a year and a half in fact—due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Those two happenings paired together, it just really hammered home the importance of why we were doing this in the first place, and what life is about,” says Staff. “When you aren't able to see the ones that you love, you are able to see your friends, your family, I think that’s a lot of what you think about. You wonder how they are and how they're doing. I lost people close to me during COVID. I also gained the parts of my family as well and wasn't able to celebrate that.
“I think the question of legacy, the question of what are you doing to ensure that the actions you're doing right now are both positive and lasting? I think that was something that really resonated during that time, because we didn't know when we'd be able to play again. We didn't know if we'd be able to continue being a band with all this going on. And I think the resilience of family and friends and the ones we care about just bled into all these songs. I think they're a genuine reflection of what we're feeling during this whole time.”
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The band picked Namesake for the title of the album because it’s “such a beautiful and loaded word.” Everyone has a story of where their name comes. Sometimes it comes from a list of names in a baby book. Other times, it’s a name based on someone in your family or a famous person.
“That’s a lot to live up to,” says Staff. “I’m named after my grandmother, and my grandmother is an amazing woman, who has lived the life that I'm certainly proud of. I think there's pressure in that. The song called “Namesake” deals with the ache to try to want to live up to the ones that came before you and hoping that what you’re passing on to the ones that come next is positive. Be that with your family or your friends.”
For Staff, being someone’s namesake is “a lot of pressure, but it's also a beautiful thing because they get to live on in what you do on your actions.”
Them Coulee Boys will perform Sept. 5 at the Labor of Love Festival in Franklin and Sept. 8 at Summerfest in support of Greensky Bluegrass.
The Shepherd Express talked with Staff recently about the band’s new album, how family and friends helped dictate its lyrics and how the band’s strived to form their own unique identity.
How have you been trying to keep sharp musically the past year?
As far as keeping sharp musically, I was able to go to our studio space, and I worked on stuff like a job. I’ve never been able to have time to do that. I always took song writing or practicing as something I do when I had time. I suddenly had time to do that. So, I did it every day and I wasn’t doing it for people, but I think that was good. I think being able to go in there every day and work made me a better writer, musician.
I think not knowing when stuff is going to come back, I just said, “Hey, I have to put my energy towards something.” And that seemed as good a place as any to put that energy.
The genesis for this band started about 10 years ago at Bible camp where you and Beau were camp counselors. How did that help plant the seeds for the band and what was the early vision for starting a band? What’s it like seeing that grow the past decade?
It was in 2011 when I first met Beau and became friends. I think when we started playing music together, it was nothing more than just two buds wanting to spend more time as each other. I think part of it for me, was that I felt close to Beau, and I wanted to spend more time with him, and this was that excuse for that. Then when my brother joined the band. It just became a better excuse for us all to get together and hang out. And I think that has really bled into what we do, this band functions and exists because we’re all still best friends. I don’t think we would have lasted this long if there wasn't that basis for friendship in the first place.
I think the understanding that, outside of this band, that we are friends, and if this band didn't exist, we would still be friends, I think that just paints everything in a healthy light for us and lets us operate in and exist in a way that's healthy and beautiful for all of us. Friendships change, but it's gotten stronger and better for us. I’m the godfather of Beau’s daughter now. We’ve been a part of each other's weddings and stuff like that. When we were starting at the Bible camp, we never saw it as a career. It was able to morph into that, because we had that basis of being good to one another.
I think another part of that is playing four times a day, five days a week. Trying to entertain 13-year-old middle schoolers is really the best way for a band to cut its teeth. We were playing together before we even knew we were a band, trying to entertain people. And I think those two things really contributed to why this has lasted, being able to bring that energy, and then that basis of family and friendship and love, that's a part of what we do.
“Given Up” talks about failing the ones we love. What was your inspiration for that one?
“Given Up” tells the story of a couple of interactions. I think there's moments in everyone's life where despite how hard we try, we fail the ones we care about. If that's our fault, or if that's not our fault, we still can do that. The song is about the grace that's in that interaction, from the people that you love. That it's okay that you fail, and it's okay that you didn't live up to those expectations. They're going to accept you, they're going to love you regardless. And realizing that you received that grace and hoping that you can give it to others.
The first couple of verses deal with letting people down close to you. And then the third verse turns and says, like, "Hey, I haven't given up on you." And it's someone giving that grace as opposed to someone withholding that. I think in any interaction with people that we care about, there's got to be a balance between what we give and what we take. I think the song is just finding the healthy balance between them.
You wrote “Phil’s Song” as a dedication to a friend you lost. What was writing that one like?
“Phil’s Song” is a song that I wrote for my friend Phil, who took his life a couple of summers ago. And Phil was very close to me, and one of my best friends. I think I always wanted to write something that honored him and talks about him, because we’ve always wanted to write songs that tackle tough issues, but in a way that made them easier to talk about. Every time I kept trying with that song, it just wasn’t reflecting who he was as a person. And then Beau, our banjo player, showed me this riff, and show me the first couple of opening lines about something that he had written for Phil. The tone of it, this jubilant, whimsical, giving, joyful sound just made a lot more sense for a song that was going to be about Phil. And I just ran with it, and I poured so much of myself and poured so much of Phil into the song.
I think it’s a genuine reflection of the joy that he gave to others. The joy and the love that was just evident in everything he did. He is a loving husband, a friend, and one of the funniest people I knew, and I wanted that to be reflected in the song. I genuinely think it’s one of the funnest songs we've ever made. The recording experience itself was one of the most fun things I've ever done. I just am so grateful that it turned out the way it did because I think it really honors Phil in a way that he'd be proud of.
For the video for the song, the band asked fans to send their own videos with signs of someone that meant a lot to them. Why was that important?
This song is a celebration, and we want people to see our celebration of Phil and transfer it to celebration of the people that they’ve lost. Grief is a horrible, ugly thing, and if there's a way to find joy in that, we hope this song is able to access that, and hope other people are able to access that joy through that song, and maybe through that music video.
The band recorded the album at The Hive in Eau Claire, with Brian Joseph. What was that experience like?
Brian is just an incredible producer. His resume is incredible. I mean, he had won a Grammy, producing Bon Iver’s self-titled record, and he's worked with some of my favorite bands, Paul Simon, just incredible heavy hitters. I think we were a little intimidated going in, but his genuine care for not only us, but the songs, was just so evident in every move and action that he did. He's intentional, he’s warm, he's inclusive and welcoming in a way that I really just felt so comfortable in that space, making what we did.
It's a very small space and it's intimate. And we were all in the rooms together, tracking the songs live. So, I think that intimacy and closeness is really evident on the record. Then plus it being in our hometown of Eau Claire, it really just kind of made the whole process easy. Making a record during COVID was not an easy feat. We had to quarantine, and we had to navigate some positive COVID tests within the band. It just, it made for a lot of hoops to jump through but being so close to home with someone who had such care and just genuine joy for the project, made it easy in a time where nothing was really easy.
How do you think songwriting and the band's sound has most evolved on this album compared to the last one?
I think the songwriting has evolved in a way where I don't think we're trying to check any boxes anymore. I think we've always looked at songs and records with a large scope, and how they fit together and how they connect. Not that that's a bad thing, but this time around, it was more just about serving the song itself. I think as a young band, you're always trying to prove yourself and you're always trying to make things that sets you apart, because that's the only way to stick out in this business. And I think that the need to do that evaporated when it didn't feel like there was an audience anymore because of COVID. I think when we started to care more about just, “This song is calling for this sound, this song is calling for this approach,” that really just made the songs themselves better individually. That just makes the album better as a whole when there's that care for each individual song.
“Given Up” was influenced sonically by the likes of Tom Petty and other classic rockers.
Yeah, that is a song that I definitely drew upon those influences of Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen. It’s still a Coulee Boys song, there's elements of that feel, how we've always approached songs. But the subject matter of that song, talking about relationships, friendships, marriage, failing and winning, it just felt classic. I think, my love for those greats bled into that recording, and I'm glad they did, because the song itself called for that expansiveness that I don't know if we've really searched for in the past.
It sounds like “Just Friends” was a pretty personal and challenging song for you to write. Why was that?
With “Just Friends,” that story comes from personal experience. It's the most tongue-in-cheek song on this record. I think I like that while it's based on a true story. It’s hard to tell what parts of the story true, and what parts are have been embellished. I think it injects an amount of levity into this record that was needed. This record, while being joyful and triumphant, can deal with some tough stuff. And I think this song, not only just the lyrical content, but just the halftime shuffle and bounciness of this tune are a really welcome addition to the record.
When I was writing this song, I was processing a relationship that, while it didn't work out, was one that I looked back fondly on. I think those are important in our stories, and it felt important to write about. Because I think there’s a lot of songs about the stuff that went badly. And I think there's room for songs about things not working out, but then still being okay. I genuinely just think it’s a such a fun song, and I’m glad we're releasing it as a single, with a music video that I just absolutely adore.
The band has a special way of mixing its more Americana influences with punk and rock and roll ones. Can you talk about finding that balance?
Yeah. We’ve always been a band that has a very diverse and eclectic range of what we listened to, and what inspires us. I think we started more in the bluegrass realm and went more towards folk and Americana. And I think this record is embracing a little bit more of the rock and roll that we’ve been flirting with for a while. We are inspired by so many different kinds of music, and it just gives us meaning. And it gives us satisfaction to be able to make songs that sound different each time. We like our records to be diverse, and we like people to get different things out of different songs. It’s just fun for us as a band, to wear different hats. This record, I think we’re trying out a hat that we haven’t really worn before, and it feels comfortable. I’m really happy with how it turned out.
