This is the last installment (barring any last minute emails from the remaining artists scheduled to perform tomorrow) in our Dead Of Winter ’09 interview series. It’s no wonder that they’re called Hometown Heroes: Something that stood out in doing these is how much support and collaboration there is in the Portland music scene – and I’m sure that with all of these talented artists involved, we’ll see that in action at the Dead Of Winter ’09. Make sure to check out the show (tomorrow, January 24, 2009) at SPACE to see them all!
Read on for Seymour’s interview, an MP3 from Dead Of Winter ’08, and the full list of these interviews!
Here’s another MP3 from Dead Of Winter ’08: Kelly Nesbitt and Betsy Upham doing a Violeta Parra tune. (File Not Available)
How long have you lived in Maine?
We’ve lived in maine our whole lives – Billy (Libby) in Portland and Aren (Erin Sprinkle) first Windham then Portland.
When did you start playing music?
We’ve both been playing music since we’ve been little children. We have been playing together for a few months
Who do you usually perform with?
We play together as Seymour, but Aren also plays solo and sings for Plains. Billy comes from an old pop band called Even All Out and plays solo under the name Why Hello.
Other than SPACE, what is one of your favorite venues in Portland?
The Empire is nice. and smaller ones like The DoorYard.
Who is your favorite Portland musician or group, other than yourself or those you perform with?
Well I, Billy, really love Aren’s group Plains which members of South China and Pat Corrigan are also in. Lady Lamb The Beekeeper is also great.
How are you tackling the challenge of performing this material alone, when you usually perform it with others?
Well for us this is sort of different because it’s kind of a debut for Seymour. Seymour is based around the two of us with a string trio joining in. but for this we are just doing it as a duo minus the strings. We might have some other people join us…who knows…
What are your musical plans for 2009?
2009 is hopefully going to be our year to get out there and start playing a lot and really develop the idea of the band. We at some point would like to find other people to fill out the sound and get some recording done.
All Dead Of Winter ’09 interviews:
* indicates a live MP3 from 2008
Aly Spaltro (Lady Lamb The Beekeeper)
Peet Chamberlain (Brenda), Oscar Romero (Gully), and Wesley Hartley (Dead End Armory)
Adam Kurtz (Kino Proby)
Andrew Frederick (Cerf-Volantes)
Sonya Tomlinson (Sontiago), Jereshua and Jeremy Robinson (South China)*
Pat Corrigan (The Plains), Scott Peterson*
Erin Davidson (Dilly Dilly)*
Aleric (Vince Nez)*
Billy Libby and Erin Sprinkle (Seymour)*
Also performing will be Brandon Davis (Elf Princess Gets A Harley), Lana Eddy (The Hot Tarts), Roy Davis (who is moving, along with his band The Dregs, to Nasvhille, after this show!), and others.
See you there!