Since they started popping up in the Syracuse scene two years back, Driftwood has risen from a little bluegrass band to a local favorite with a fanatical following. The band, now a quartet, started out playing places like Al’s Wine and Whiskey to just a few perked ears bellied up to the bar. When they play at Al’s now, it’s tough to squeeze through the crowd.
On the road, Driftwood has been performing between 160 and 180 shows a year on the East Coast, visiting grassroots fests in Central New York, North Carolina and Florida. They’ve also found an appreciative niche in the South. “Our music just hits so well there,” says vocalist-guitarist Dan Forsyth in a phone interview from his home in Dryden.
Since last year’s release of the indie LP Rock & Roll Heart, Driftwood—which also includes banjoist-vocalist Joe Kollar, bassist Joey Arcuri and Claire Byrne on fiddle and vocals—has kept the new material flowing, with fresh songs with every show. The outfit has been recording their tracks—on reel-to-reel tapes, no less—at a church in Enfield, just outside of Ithaca, where Donna the Buffalo has also utilized the space.
“I don’t even know if it has a name,” Forsyth says about the church with a laugh. “It’s swapped owners a few times, then it moved across the road at some point, I guess? The owner is a younger guy and it seems like they still do services on Sundays and stuff, but he’s super-excited about having music going on.”
The foursome will revisit Syracuse on Friday, Dec. 28, 9 p.m., at the Upstairs at the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que venue, 246 W. Willow St. Tickets are $10. For more information, call 476-4937.
Q: If you’re recording in a church, who brings the equipment?
A: We’ve played on this showcase thing on WSKG TV {PBS Channel 46 in Binghamton} called The Expression a couple times, and they hired this sound engineer, Rob Hunter, whose full-time job is working with Branford Marsalis. He’s done most of his records, engineered ’em, produced ’em, and he’s in the area. So we talked about recording.
And when we were playing a festival with Donna the Buffalo down in North Carolina, Jeb Puryear (guitarist in DTB) said, “Hey, we’ve got this church we’ve been recording in and it’s a beautiful spot. It’d be a great spot for your sound.” We were ready to go in and record at a studio in Binghamton, but the opportunity came up and we jumped on it. We recorded a couple of tracks real quick, one mike, just to listen back to the room and we couldn’t pass it up. It was great. And working with Robby. . . he’s such a good guy and he’s really into acoustic sounds. It seemed like the perfect match.
Q: How did the songs for the new record come together?
A: It’s tough sometimes to narrow it down. When the idea first comes up to record, there’s a ton. Everybody’s got all these songs: “Hey! Check this out! Check this out!” I think it’s coming down to the things that we’ve been playing a lot; those are gonna be the ones on there. It’s kinda just like any other job in that way. Whatever’s ready goes. We don’t have too much time. We’ve got to get back to work. It would be great to take a couple months off and figure out the songs or write some songs for it, but really, you just gotta put the ones that are good to go on there.
Q: Were most songs written on the road?
A: I think maybe two or three were written in and around the van on the road. That’s where we spend a lot of our time. And those that weren’t written on the road, a lot of the ideas or harmonies, or things like that, came from it. Now it’s really funny to me because it’s apparent that a lot of these tunes were developed on stage, so we’re always doing that kinda well. Nothing’s gonna happen if you don’t take chances. If you play it safe all the time, we’re never gonna feel as excited about the project. So we do a lot of that.
Q: How does your live show translate in the studio?
A: When you’re on stage, you just react differently. There’s so much pressure: You can flop, it can be great, people can love it, all these things. How you perform is totally different than the studio. It’s a weird thing. I’m glad this all developed like that. Now our challenge is, how are we going to get that energy that we had? We’ve got to try to recreate that in the studio.
Q: Was the tape machine your idea?
A: It was ours. We had a friend
give it to us. He said, “Well, I don’t have anywhere to put this thing.
It’s a big hunk of junk. Why don’t you keep it here if you want it?” So,
it’s been sitting for the last couple years and then we started
thinking about making some recordings. I can’t get over how when you
play it back. . . it’s so nice and warm. We were just kinda joking
around when we said, “We got this little tape machine we think is kinda
cool.” Rob said, “Bring it up! We’ll see.” So we made two recordings and
he was like, “Man, this thing is awesome!” It was a real simple
decision. Every time you push play on it. . . it just has a sound to it that’s so inviting.
Q: Does the album have a direction or theme?
A: It’s funny. I guess we had talked about theme stuff. It’s easier to write about love and heartbreak and things like that when you’re younger and that stuff’s hittin’ you hard. And then as you get older, your train of thought becomes a little bit different, and your writing goes with it. I think a lot of what I hear right now is that we’re all different ages in the band. Everybody is kind of comin’ into something, everybody’s starting to think a little bit different now about things. We’re getting a little older every year.
Q: How has having new member Joey Arcuri in the band changed things?
A: We’re all a little bit different but we all get along so well. Everybody aligns in the way we think about life in general, our belief systems and that. We can just get in the van, cruise down the road and not get too sick and tired of each other. This year was a big change for us. Jon {Doll, former bassist} was on with us, but not full time, so we’d do a lot of shows as a trio. So Joey came in and he’s a very virtuosic bass player, and he’s an incredible person, too. Now we can kinda refine things a little bit more with Joey there the whole time. And him and Claire are both classically trained and they just come up with the most beautiful string arrangements. I think that’s a new part of the album: There’s a lot more string arrangements on it. He can play that bass so nice in the upper register that it’s like a cello. They lock right in. It’s been really fun in the studio.
Q: How’s your 15-passenger van holding up?
A: We call her Shevan {pronounced “Che-vaan”}. We built a little bed in the back. She’s getting old, though; little things are starting to happen here and there. But I think we’re gonna make it through. Hopefully we’ll push through the summer. That’s our baby.