Pine Hills Band – Interview – Thanks for Asking!

Pine Hills Band – Interview – Thanks for Asking! – by Liam Sweeny.

RRX: Music genres are difficult for some artists. Some strictly adhere; others not so much. What is your perspective on the genre you play, or the genres you hover around?

PHB: One of our fans recently described what we play as “Yacht Grass” – we suppose some terrific amalgamation of Yacht Rock, which seems to be enjoying a revival, and bluegrass. We thought that was a fun way to think about what we do, which is influenced a lot by the instruments we play, which are sort of standard bluegrass instruments, and the various cover songs that we sprinkle into our shows, which are a mixture of classic Americana and roots music, some great old country and western songs, and lot of 1960’s late-folk meets Dylan’s discovery of electricity at Newport (much to Pete Seeger’s dismay).

RRX: We all get a little support from those around us. And we also can be impressed by our fellow performers. Who do you admire in your community, and why?

PHB: The person who had the biggest impact on our musical lives is the late, great MotherJudge, whose spirit and energy shaped so much of the live music scene in the capital region. She was unfailingly generous and supportive of us when we were starting out, and her open mics were an early place for us to get our musical sea legs as a band. She is missed, and we hope that we are carrying on her life in our music.

RRX: In the musical world, there are many supporting players. Recording engineers, sound techs, cover art designers. Who are three people that support the craft that you would like to shine a spotlight on?

PHB: We started out as a “family band” – a group of friends from Pine Hills who were refugees of other music projects that had been put on hiatus by our lives as parents of young children. We realized we were looking for an outlet for our musical energy and that we could get our kids together on Friday nights, feed them, and let them play while we played music together. As this whole thing has grown up, we have been supported by our partners who aren’t in the band (four of us are married to other people in the band, although not all to one another). So, the biggest thanks goes to Sarah Moore, Rebecca Newell, and Mark Gregory for sharing us with each other!

RRX: Playing out is tricky because you never know what’s going to happen when you get there. Sometimes everything goes wrong. What was your worst show like?

PHB: Like all working bands, we’ve had our fair share of comic challenges: from playing in windblown parking lots, to playing short 20 minute showcase sets where it takes the sound guy 18 minutes to get our levels right, to trying to fit a seven person band onto a stage meant for two. But, honestly, those are the moments you look back on with a smile and laugh, and are the glue that holds bands together.

RRX: What do you think is the most poorly understood thing about music, or the music you play?

PHB: If it sounds good, it is good.

RRX: It’s a lot of fun living in the present, but we all collect memories and give birth to dreams. We’re talking dreams here. Where do you see yourself next year? In the next five years?

PHB: One of the things that has kept us together for almost 10 years is that our dreams are simple. We play music together because we love playing music together, and all we want are cool places to do that and fun and interesting people to share our music with. Thankfully, there are lots of all of those things right around us!

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