A Man of Bureaucracy to a Man of Music

Jesse was working several months at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, basically doing legal writing. Although interested in International Law and Human Rights activism, some time later, the current songwriter of These United States realized that his strong temperament and scarce patience was incompatible with the bureaucratic labyrinth, and decided to embark himself on a new journey towards his true passion: music.

Since then, Jesse’s career, together with the four other band members of the American band “TUS”, [Tom Hnatow on pedal steel and guitar, Robby Cosenza on drums, guitarist and keyboardist Justin Craig, and bassist and vocalist Colin Kellogg] has been hurried and prolific, with the band releasing four albums over the span of three years: “Crimes” and “A picture of the three of us at the gate to Garden of Eden” in 2008, “Everything touches everything” in 2009, and “What Lasts” in 2010.

These United States’ sound could be defined as an insight into the rustic and earthy pleasures that life has to offer. Their metaphorically charged lyrics are body-staggering and mind-trembling; a musical gift for the senses to embrace.

On break from the strict touring schedule that will lead the band across several states in the US, as well as London, Norway and Germany, bandleader Jesse Elliott took the time to speak with IDEAS from a friend’s house in the countryside of Kentucky.

In our exchange of emails to concrete this interview, I noticed you liked to use quotes from talented writers and geniuses of music, so I am starting with a quote by the writer and musician Geoffrey Latham: “Music is the vernacular of the human soul”. How do you project your soul into your music?

One of the things that intrigues me is how your particular vision of the world translates or doesn’t translate to other people. Recently especially, I have tried to be more attuned to what my own thoughts are and not to worry so much about the language of music as a whole, but more about how my particular vision or dialect comes across when you can successfully show the tiny corner of your own soul and stay true to who you are and what you think. That is my rambling made up answer to the surprise quote (laughs)…

- How would you define each of your albums in a few words? The differences, the feelings and emotions while creating and recording them, the core values of each of them?

‘A picture of the three of us…’ was the first embarking on a journey to discover ourselves, to set out and explore something without knowing exactly where it was going to end up. So it was an adventurous feeling to me. The second one, ‘Crimes’, was more about a specific idea. A group of friends that are trying to get together and enjoy each other’s company and make something that is instructed on a particular place at a specific time. ‘Everything touches everything’ was, on the contrary, more spread out over different times and places, and the really first album with an idea behind it, being this all the motion of what was going on in the States when we were coming up with the election of Barack Obama. And the last one was about an experience, placed in a very short amount of time.

- You mentioned that the third album had an idea underneath a political situation. Do you consider yourself a politically motivated singer? Your work also seems to be very theologically charged, entailing references to Adam, Cain, John the Baptist and a red bloody sky… Is that also a religious manifesto?

I am always interested in characters, stories and mythology taken from a particular part of society where I grew up, the slightly more conservative middle east of the US, so there are a lot of mythologies of Christians, biblical or political references, and conceptions of American writers which affect me in some sense because I know those characters better than I might know others. However, the lyrics attain more to the entire human condition, no matter what the culture or background. Besides, I am not particularly attached to any special religious view point.

- In “Everything touches everything”, the lyrics are, “I am gonna assemble a city, right in the heart of their war.” This, along with your own name “These United States,” suggests cohesion, union, and hope in the face of fear. What is the message you want to provide with both your name and lyrics?

The message of that song ties in a little bit to the name of the band, which is creating a sort of alternate reality in some ways but not divorced from real reality. I have always thought the best way to do something constructive and good for the world is to be right who you are, and take all the good and bad with that, to create a new thing out of it. That song comes to idealise a new alternative in the middle of those existing bigger forces. It is always interesting to see how radically different people interpret our name based on their own political viewpoints. Some people assume we are crazy left wing radicals and other that we are crazy right wing (laughs). For me it is a geographical and cultural thing, but also a sort of an alternate political and philosophical reality.

- What are your musical influences, and what kind of music do you want to do?

We have very different influences between the 5 of us, which I think makes it more interesting to play with each other. For the next album we are taking more creative time, although we have some songs we have worked on, so we will hopefully release it at the end of the year. I hate to use the term ‘classical rock’, so let’s say they are more straightedge rock and roll, maybe a little bit like our second album ‘Crimes’ with story tellers of the road.

- You are always on the road. What are the precious moments that being on the road offers?

The most interesting feeling of being on the road for me and I think the most fun for us as a band is the journey itself as that space in between that connects us with other people and other places.

- Has something unexpected happened to you in these last days?

It’s funny because the unexpected happens to us all the time, so it just becomes the expected. Probably in some concrete way, one of the most unexpected things during the last week was the fact that we were rehearsing together in Lexington, Kentucky, and we came up with some great arrangements that none of us would have been able to come up with on our own, but that always manifest when we are altogether in the same room. We don’t have many chances to practice together because we all live in different towns, so it is weird that we all get to sit down for a couple of days.

And after that, we surprised ourselves by going out on Fat Thursday (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mardi_Gras) and having too much fun, wondering and wondering around in the rain, meeting old friends and strangers in Kentucky and ending up in places that we would have probably never expected at the beginning of the evening. One of those ‘unexpected’ things always inspire and encourage the other experiences and allow us to make music about all those experiences.

- What is the most pure expression of freedom?

There are two contrasting experiences that I absolutely love; very big cities and infinite landscapes. And in both of them I find the purest freedom, because they are an expanse where you can get lost and anonymous, and feel the wilderness whether you are in the mountains or the canyons of Wall Street with those massive buildings and strangers, movement, transitions… And what both the wilderness and the epic modern cities have in common is that you liberate yourself in the sense of losing that egocentric part of yourself. You realize that we are a part of this larger order that looks like chaos where we just grow and live with the completely unexpected, facing unknown paths and people. It is in those kinds of environments where I feel freedom.

- So how do you handle fame with anonymity being one of your representations of freedom?

I let you know when we will get there (laughs). We are at a very nice point now. We have a small friendly fan basis. We know a lot of people around the world, but it is not like you walk on the street and people say ‘Oh, I know that guy’!

- Indeed, I knew about you because of your participation in the Take Away Shows. What do you remember of that experience of filmmaking in a patio of a house, starting with the beats of a barbecue skimmer?

That was a very chaotic experience, maybe a good example of the kind of freedom I am talking about. It happened in Montreal, a wonderful city that feels like an herbal jungle, green-flowing, organic kind of place. We suddenly showed up in this little alleyway, on a magical secret corner, so we started using all the stuff that was in that magical secret corner like gas, tanks, light bulbs or a flipper to create the perfect place for us to do something new.

- Any plans to come to The Netherlands?

Yes, indeed we are attending the Rhythm & Blues Night in Groningen on May, 7. And we will probably stop by Amsterdam or The Hague.

These United States | A Take Away Show | Conquest And Consequence from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.