Netherfriends is Shawn Rosenblatt, a 23-year-old Chicagoan-via-Suburban Philadelphia who produces buoyant psychedelic pop that ranges from frustrated to ecstatic in tone. His 2009 debut EP, the promising Calling You Out, showed Rosenblatt stretching his sound over several different styles, while this year’s Barry and Sherry, Netherfriend’s first full-length, is a cohesive work that connects poppy versus and choruses with dream-like instrumental segments. Rosenblatt is currently touring the country with a rotating cast of musicians as he attempts to write, record, and play a song live in each state as part of his 50 Songs, 50 States project. Street caught up with Shawn in Chicago at the Pitchfork Music Festival, where he discussed crazy shows at Penn, playing a sixteen-year-old’s beach house, and the economic struggles of being a musician. Here iis our conversation: Street: I’ve been reading a lot about your 50 Songs, 50 States project. How far along are you? Shawn Rosenblatt: I have 22 states done right now. It’s been 3 months. So I have 22 states done and then I’m moving west towards Seattle.
Street: West? So you’ve done the East Coast? SR: I’ve done all of the East Coast except for New Jersey, New Hampshire, and Maryland. So I’m going to hit those up when I go back to CMJ [CMJ Music Marathon, held in New York City in October]
Street: Does recording in a particular state influence a song? Is there a strong connection between location and sound? SR: Yes. I try not to write about the state, I think that’s a little cheesy. I think maybe a couple of times I was influenced by it in some way, but a lot of the songs are influenced by things that are going on. There are so many different things that happen on the road, and also I recorded in so many weird places, like in a Motel 6 or a basement or a bedroom or something weird. So it effects the song in so many different ways, to like be using other people’s equipment, like microphones or keyboards that I wouldn’t be able to afford. So it’s been nice, yeah.
Street: So your new album is called Barry and Sherry. I’ve been listening to it a lot, it’s really good. SR: Oh great, thank you.
Street: It’s named after your parents, right? SR: Yes.
Street: Do you think there’s a certain significance in naming a rock album after an older generation when rock n’ roll is, in a lot of ways, based on rebelling against older generations? SR: That’s a really interesting question. Yeah, I wasn’t thinking about that intentionally, but yeah, that’s an interesting idea, I mean everything comes from something else, from years ago. So I, I guess so.
Street: On “Friends With Lofts,” you talk about indie music [as a scene]. Do you think you’re trying to escape from the people who, like you say on [the song], come to the shows and get drunk and don’t really listen? Are you trying to escape from that scene by going on the road and doing all this recording on the road? SR: No. I think that’s everywhere. You know, if you play a house show it’s gonna be—like last night we played a loft show in the Lakeview area [in Chicago]. Everyone went crazy, and people were dancing. And no one was dancing at Pitchfork. People were literally dancing. And it was one of those things where you’re like, ‘are these people just drunk?’ But then again, we did sell a bunch of merch, which we don’t usually do at a loft show, you know. People are there usually to hang out. But yeah, that song [“Friends with Lofts”] is funny because it’s kind of about my friends. And I think I’m kind of guilty of that sometimes too. You know, I came back from a loft show drunk and wrote that song. I was just so drunk when I wrote that song. And I was just so angry because all these kids were just so pretentious in how they just—you know it was either like, these kids that were just total snobs and were standing up front, or these drunk kids that were being obnoxious in the back. It was just so weird, the mixture of people at these places, and I notice it every time I play a show or every time I go to a show, especially in Chicago.
Street: You notice that in loft shows, do you think that’s true about Pitchfork and [other] festivals? Do you see that as much? SR: You know, festivals is an interesting thing too because there are so many young kids that go to the festivals, and playing for young people is a whole different game than playing for college kids. I think some bands market themselves to younger children, which I think is really smart, but it’s not something I want to do. I’m not trying to market myself to kids. But I feel like—When I say kids, I mean high schoolers, which isn’t really— I guess they’re kids. But high school kids have money, to buy merch. And we played a show for a bunch of sixteen year olds. I thought it was a college show. We played at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. And this kid is like ‘Hey, you should play my beach house.’ And I’m like, ‘cool, that sounds great.’ And we show up and it’s his parents house, and his parents are there, and [the kids are all] fifteen and sixteen year olds. Like fourteen to sixteen. And the drummer who plays with me sometimes, he was not happy with that. He was really freaked out because I was hanging out with all these kids, like skateboarding with them and stuff and he’s like ‘I can get arrested for talking to some of these girls.’ And I’m like ‘what’s the problem? I don’t get it?’ And he just seemed really weirded out by it. But [the kids] bought so much merch, I think I sold out of a bunch of stuff after the show, because everyone bought stuff. And they all are so impressionable, and they love, like, really terrible music. So they were blown away by the fact that I was playing three instruments at once and looping my voice and doing harmonies. And all these kids were just kind of trashing talking us before, like ‘They don’t have a bass player? What kind of band is this?’ and I had a flower on my guitar and they were like ‘What is this? A flowercore band?’ And then the same kids that were trashing us were the ones that bought everything. You know, they bought two CDs. What are you going to do with two CDs?
Street: That’s pretty ridiculous. Do you approach festival shows differently in terms of how you’re going to sound? SR: They were really strict about time. So we were very quick into going from song to song…I think we kind of strayed away for that first second, and didn’t really focus that much on developing a set. I mean, it’s weird, because I feel—we only really practiced for three days, too. So, and I think some of the reviews—you know, I’m really bad with reading reviews. After a certain point you don’t want to read your own reviews, but I still do that, and one of the reviews was like ‘it sounded like they were still in the basement practicing while they were playing.’ And it was still a good review, but it still kind of ended on a sour note. And I think that, if music is perfect live, and there’s too much prerecorded stuff and it sounds too much like the record, then I am so against that. You know, you’ve heard the records, and they’re not like the live show, and I love that, and I love seeing bands like that. I hate seeing bands where the drummer is wearing headphones or in-ear monitors and drumming to a click track, and there [are] five samplers on stage and a computer, and they’re playing keyboards and singing and that’s it. I don’t want to see that. Street: I’ve noticed that with a lot of bigger bands. They’ll perfect whatever particular sound they have so much that…it’s not even good. SR: And then the whole issue is that if you’re sloppy and you’re a bigger band, [critics] just call you ‘garage.’ People kept calling us ‘garage’ yesterday, in reviews. Like ‘they’re a garage-y psychadelic pop group.’ And I’m like, you know, ‘really?’ You know, people say so many things, and it’s just, like, I guess it’s nice to be reviewed sometimes, but I’m always like ‘I really shouldn’t be doing this.’ It’s kind of like doing something illegal. Like, ‘well, maybe I shouldn’t check out what people are saying.’ I used to have a google alert thing but I took that off, so I don’t have to get e-mails every time someone writes about me.
Street: So you’re touring band is always changing, right? SR: Yes.
Street: Do you have any plans to establish consistency, or is it an artistic choice to play with a lot of different people? SR: I don’t have a lot of money, and I like to pay everyone to play with me. So I can pay everyone, like, ten bucks a show, which I guess is more than most small bands. You know, I’m not making a whole lot, I barely make enough to—you know, I don’t even have a home, so I’m just kind of living on the road, and I’m on food stamps. So I don’t really have a lot—I don’t make enough to get by, and I do like to pay everyone I’m playing with. And eventually if I get to pay everyone a lot more I’ll be able to establish a perfect lineup. But I guess, also, I’m very impatient, and maybe I’m hard to work with sometimes, but I’m getting better at that, so I kind switch it up just to keep me sane so I’m not working with the same people. Plus, if I’m doing everything myself—I hate relying on other people, that’s the problem too. And I feel like everyone has lives, you know, and it’s hard to get everyone on board. It was originally, kind of—I did a bunch of songs, and then I got two people to play with me in a little less than a year. And then as I was touring all the time, no one could constantly go on the road with me, so I was like ‘I’ve got to find new people, I’m not going to wait around for everyone to get a job where they could take time off.’ It happens all the time. That’s how bands never tour.
Street: Do the people you have touring with you also play on the 50 Songs, 50 States recordings, or do you do all of that yourself? SR: Yeah, well, the drummer has, not the other guy. The other guy is based in Chicago. He’s kind of, like, the go-to-guy when I’m in Chicago. He’s a great musician. I’d love to bring him on the road permanently, but he has a real time job. I’m 23, but he’s, like, 26, I think, or 25. I think as you get a little bit older you don’t want to really live your dream, you just kind of want to live your life. So that’s kind of the thing I fear, that’s why I’m doing this project, to stay busy and stay active instead of just sitting at home hoping that Pitchfork writes about Netherfriends or something stupid like that….A lot of bands, even bands playing here tonight are hoping that big things happen from this festival, which I don’t think is [realistic], for most of the smaller bands at least, the bands from Chicago. Which is upsetting, because a lot of people have these dreams, these alternative realities, where things are—things are never going to get that way, but they’re hoping they will.
Street: So you’re based in Chicago, but you grew up in Pennsylvania, right? SR: Yeah, I grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, which is like twenty minutes away from Philly. I lived in Philly for, like, two months, and it was really nice….I stayed with Francis, the guy from Golden Ages….He threw, like, a party in his room, and it was really weird. I thought it would be filled with a bunch of people, and it was like a bunch of guys hanging out dancing to music, and like one girl who was dancing in the middle and trying not to let anyone dance with her. It was really weird. But, yeah, I love Golden Ages. I did a remix for him. We’re trying to do, like, a—he’s doing a remix for me right now. He’s in China, I believe. He’s developing a band and I’m going to try to bring him on the road. And hopefully by the time he gets back I’ll be able to do that, bring people on the road with me. Street: Yeah, Golden Ages is, like, the biggest indie-style band that has come out of Penn in while. SR: Yeah, that’s great. He just needs to develop a live show. I mean, I’ve never seen him live, but I heard that he needs to develop it more. Because he’s got the recording abilities and he’s on the radar with a bunch of different blogs. Which is always a good thing. Street: As a teenager, or when you lived in Philadelphia, were you involved in the Philly indie scene at all? SR: No, not really. I played in a ska band when I was in middle school. That was about it. That was kind of when I learned what I did and didn’t want to do with music. Street: I read about you being frequently compared to Animal Collective, and I can understand that comparison. Do you think it’s valid? SR: Animal Collective is one of the biggest bands doing what they do, which is psychadelic pop. And if you do psychadelic pop, you’re gonna get compared to that. It you do anything weird, that’s poppy, you’re gonna get compared to Animal Collective. I don’t see—I guess there are certain songs, years ago, that I wrote that could be really [perceived as] sounding like Animal Collective, I guess, but I don’t see it anymore really….When you’re really striving to be unique, when someone says ‘Hey, I love your stuff, you sound like Animal Collective. It’s great’ I used to like, take offense to that, but I’m kind of used to it, and it’s okay. But there are some bands out there, in Chicago, and New York, that really, really, really sound like Animal Collective, and they’re getting a ton of press because of it. And it’s really bizarre to me that you can, like, rip off their style, and their new style, not like old stuff or anything like that. Like basically sound like them, how they sound today and get press. It’s pretty absurd. And good for them, for figuring out what they could do. But I’m definitely trying to—I feel like lately I’ve been really developing what I want to do, and how I want to sound. But it’s going to change, every album. I don’t want to be the constant, you know, the same exact sound on every album, and hopefully people will develop different styles and tastes as well.
