WEBVTT
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Hey, you're listening to Spare Notes. My name
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is Jonah Evans. And for this episode, I've been
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joined by Meredith Hobbs -Kuhns for the three
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questions episode. Yes, hello. Meredith, do you
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want to introduce yourself and tell us what you
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do in the music world? Oh, sure. So I write for
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the tonearm, as does Jonah. That's how we know
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each other. I also contribute to tape op. I also
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write the occasional TV criticism for the AV
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club, though I've been moving more in the music
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coverage direction for a while. And I'm also
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a singer -songwriter in my own right. What's
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it like to write TV criticism? How different
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is it? You're trying to move away from that?
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Yeah, just straight up because I don't get to
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watch as many shows of my own choosing these
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days. I'm also a parent and my children have
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taken over the television and stay up too late
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for me to watch things on my own after they've
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gone to bed. That's why. I like doing it. I just,
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the things that I tend to focus on are representation
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and thematic elements of the stories being told,
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obviously like aesthetics and dialogue and character.
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all of those kinds of things. And I, before we
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get to low stakes, I forgot to mention that you
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also have a podcast that you've been doing for
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a while, the Wilco podcast, right? That's right.
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So there. Actually, quite a few Wilco podcasts,
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but the one that I am co -host of is called Wilco
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Will Love You. And so Mary McLean Mellis and
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I have co -hosted that since 2021. And if you
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want to look for it wherever you get your podcasts,
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we've interviewed half of the members of Wilco
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at this point, as well as some really cool people
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who are part of the Wilco story in some way or
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another. It's been a really rewarding and special
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experience. So awesome. I'm so glad that you
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were able to join me for this interview with
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Eric Covell. So something that I thought was
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interesting in this interview is how we honed
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in on protest music in war and how we express
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protest through music. And I thought that was
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interesting. What was some of your takeaways
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after experiencing the interview and hearing
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Eric talk about what he's trying to do as a musician?
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Yeah, it was cool because he's from a different
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generation than we are. I'm assuming, I actually
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don't even know, you're a millennial, no? Yes,
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I am. Yes. Yeah, so we're two millennials. This
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gentleman was more, I would say, in the baby
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boomer generation. Sure. He brought some interesting
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perspective to this undertaking of writing protest
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music now in the current age where the news cycle
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is so much more sped up and we don't really linger
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on things that are pretty consequential, like
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the fact of being at war. And he, I think, wanted
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to make an intentional... effort to write something
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sort of examining the right that we have to express
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ourselves and really yeah what's going on in
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our world yeah so there was that song end of
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war that was a standalone single that came out
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not too long ago and then There is the song that
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talks about the Vietnam War on their self -titled
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record that came out recently as well, which
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Eric talked about how the album isn't the same
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theme. It's not like a record that's about all
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war. It's about different things. But we just
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happen to talk about war and things like that
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of this time because we're just gravitating towards
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it and thinking about it, I think, as people
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right now all over the world, right? So something
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that came up also was like how the news cycle
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can make us feel powerlessness. We can have a
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powerlessness feeling about it, but also like
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how can musicians be more accountable in these
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times? I think he was saying that Vietnam, like
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people were out a lot more protesting a lot more
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in those days than they were today. So I thought
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that was interesting too. But yeah, I hope you
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guys enjoy the interview and we'll see you on
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the other side. So, Mr. Eric, I see that you're
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promoting a song, a protest song, about your
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relationship to the war in Iran and an experience
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that you had at the Vietnam Memorial in D .C.
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And I want to hear a bit about your relationship
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to protest music. Oh, thank you, Meredith. It's
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a very good question. Thanks. I'm not actually
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interested particularly in protest music, and
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I often find that protest songs or songs of that
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ilk are very difficult sometimes to actually
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do right without it getting really cheesy really
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fast. There's a tendency for like, you know,
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don't do this and don't do that, and they get
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preachy and... And just owed too precious often.
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So I'm very, very careful. I have another song
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called End of War, which is also a protest song.
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But I never, you know, like all songs, the way
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I come at things, I never set out to write about
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a certain thing. It's generally something that
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sort of occurs to me. It just kind of makes itself
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available and says, hey, you can write about
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this. I don't think, today I'm going to write
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a protest song. You know, I just... feel that
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way and then something comes up so that's my
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i think that's my answer tell me about low stakes
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the band the low stakes was simply arrived at
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because i was tired of just being eric colville
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it's really weird to say hi we're eric colville
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it always seems weird from stage you know so
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i kind of liked the idea of a a band name with
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a the in front of it you know, the Beatles, you
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know, the low stakes. It's something you can
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actually use. And, you know, it's sort of, the
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name came about, without getting way into this,
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about a gig that wasn't that big a deal. We were
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obsessing about some little thing. I said, come
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on, it's a Tuesday at noon. The stakes could
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not be lower, you know? So somehow that became
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how the low stakes name came from. Although I
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want it to be a band and we're working on it
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to be a full band, right now it's just me and
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a lady I'm working with, kind of my partner in
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this, Ann Holbrook, who's a very good harmony
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singer and kind of shares my vision on what's
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good and what's bad. And she can harmonize pretty
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much effortlessly. So, you know, she's worked
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with me on everything. So it's just her and I
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right now. And we're, as I mentioned earlier
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before, things started you know we're trying
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to get a bass player and we have a really good
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drummer and we're putting the whole thing together
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as acoustic which also electric guitar and the
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full band scene as well this is kind of like
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a wacky question maybe but like do you see or
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how do you see the lineage of like how you've
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made music through time and how how war because
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you talk about the vietnam war like What cultural
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similarities do you see between music and the
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Vietnam War that you talk about? And then also
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from then to now, what are the conversations
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that are, have they changed? Are they the same?
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And is music responding in different ways or
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in new ways? And are you trying to subvert or
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be a part of that? I will speak on that. I don't
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really know where the question mark is there.
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But let me state that I feel, and now I know
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what John Hyatt maybe just did something about
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war with a massive attack. Tom Waits, I think
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it was, did something with massive attack about
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some war thing, which my friend sent to me. I
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haven't heard it yet, unfortunately. But I'm
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kind of feeling like at least, okay, Vietnam
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and Iran and many others. wars that are between
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those two. I feel like our war is of choice,
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that we have gotten ourselves involved in potentially
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feeding some corporate idea as opposed to if
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it's really protecting our freedom and our right
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as Americans. So I think Vietnam and every war
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pretty much since then more or less follows the
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same pattern. Regarding that war, Vietnam and
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Iran, I think nothing's being said about this
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war, really. It just, I feel like maybe in Vietnam,
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because people were getting drafted, there was
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a lot more outcry about the war and a lot more
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artistic response to what was happening in the
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war. But this, to me, the two go together quite
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well. I kind of had the idea for the Vietnam
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song, like you might have read in the thing.
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Avail, it's been around a while, and I could
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never quite finish it. But I had a line like,
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they speak of fire and fury or something, and
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I wasn't too keen. I just didn't think it was
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well done. But when Hegsef came along with Epic's
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Fury, I'm like, okay, come on. Forced me to write
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a song, damn it. It's like, okay, I'm going to
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use that in that line. So that's sort of, it
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was kind of waiting all along to come out, and
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this is the time it... It had to come out. So
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I don't know if I answered your question or not.
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Yeah. And it was like kind of a windy about no
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question. Right. Right. Yeah. But I, I don't
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know. It's, it's interesting to think about because
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especially like I saw this guy, Tom Skinner recently.
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And like, I saw in interviews that he talked,
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he talked about anti -imperialism and even like
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in a record that he made a few years ago, he
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talked about making a record that was like, like,
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putting truth into the world so i'm just like
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like how how do artists like put those truths
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in the world directly or in your case you said
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actually like i see this guy saying some wild
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stuff and actually been sitting on the song that
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i didn't know where when it could come out and
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that's kind of like you're like okay now i can
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like let it go and put it out there you know
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right um You did answer the question, you know,
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because you were saying that the difference between
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Vietnam and now is people were talking about
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it in Vietnam because people were getting drafted
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and there was that urgency. And with the war
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in Iran, apart from that massive attack, Tom
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Waits collaboration, which was shared in the
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Tone Arm Slack. So Jonah and I both write for
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this website called the Tone Arm. And the people
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that we also contribute with to that site are
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very tapped in. So that was actually where I
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saw it. Oh, neat. Yeah. But apart from that,
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you aren't really seeing a lot of musicians rising
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to meet the moment and saying this horrible thing
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is going on. We need to respond. And I almost
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wonder if it has to do with the relentlessness
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of the news cycles. Very possibly. I mean, Vietnam
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was the first war in which the war is in your
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living room. I mean, I kind of read that. I didn't
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see that. But the idea that people are actually
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seeing footage of what was actually happening
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in the war yesterday, that wasn't in World War
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II, it was quite far removed. And there were
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some films they played once in a while. But now
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I think we are being bombarded constantly, the
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24 -hour news cycle. And I think there's also
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a sense that people feel like, Maybe they really,
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they feel a little powerless, like they really
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can't do anything. I think to some extent, people
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don't feel like they have any chance to do anything,
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you know? So I don't really know if that's the
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reason. I think you start drafting people. I
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think you'll start seeing, you know, I have a
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son to that age and I'm like, man, you should
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start, you know, go on dating sites in Canada.
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You don't want to end up in Iran for Christ's
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sake, you know? So I don't know. So last official
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question, what's your relationship with social
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media and social media health and staying up
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to date with things that are going on? Do you
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try to stay away from it? And do you see it as
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a tension of functionality with your music and
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it's hard to step away from? Yeah, the short
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answer is I hate it all. I never got into this
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to be a content creator. I don't want to create
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content. I want to create songs and record songs.
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And unfortunately, I've been real slow to come
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to Instagram and Facebook and Spotify. I just
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now started getting into this. And I'm always
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being hassled about, do we have some more content?
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Get a picture of you holding coffee while you're
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writing a song. Not what I signed up for. So
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my relationship is strained and complicated.
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Let's put it that way. Can I add something about
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that song? Yeah. So one thing about that song
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I think gets missed that a lot of time went into
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thinking about. In verses 3 and 4, or you could
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consider verse 2, depending on how you look at
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it, I somehow realized I was saying the word,
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speak of epic theory of gallantry and glory.
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And gallantry and glory, I thought of Gallant
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Lee, and I thought of the Star Spangled Banner.
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And I thought, gosh, you know, and I've heard
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that song in the past. It's sort of like gives
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you the patriotic feels, you know, like it's
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our flag was still there. And maybe the sense
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that freedom is real and all this stuff wasn't
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about money and all that stuff. At least that
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was the way I was raised to kind of feel good
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about that song. So there's a real juxtaposition
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that is intended to be kind of at odds with the
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lyrics of those verses. That is the Star Spangled
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Banner sung in the other vocal. kind of fighting
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back and forth between these two ideals, which
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in some ways I think is what's going on as a
00:15:25.610 --> 00:15:28.250
metaphor for what's happening, the government
00:15:28.250 --> 00:15:30.549
and the country, and even in our own hearts about
00:15:30.549 --> 00:15:32.909
what's important. Are we really fighting for
00:15:32.909 --> 00:15:35.870
freedom, or are we just fighting to win trade
00:15:35.870 --> 00:15:38.129
wars or whatever the heck, or profits or whatever
00:15:38.129 --> 00:15:40.830
we're doing? So that's kind of part of what I
00:15:40.830 --> 00:15:45.809
wanted to be realized in this song. What did
00:15:45.809 --> 00:15:49.080
you want to be realized in the record? overall
00:15:49.080 --> 00:15:53.519
or is it a mix of things yeah i can't speak for
00:15:53.519 --> 00:15:55.620
the record the record is you know just the songs
00:15:55.620 --> 00:15:58.960
i felt like we could do as an acoustic duo which
00:15:58.960 --> 00:16:02.139
we have at the time you know and it's the the
00:16:02.139 --> 00:16:04.700
end of war wasn't even on the record that was
00:16:04.700 --> 00:16:06.759
released because i released it before and it
00:16:06.759 --> 00:16:08.960
seemed like it's something we should release
00:16:08.960 --> 00:16:11.019
at this point again because of what's happening
00:16:11.019 --> 00:16:14.299
but then i wrote this song i don't know four
00:16:14.299 --> 00:16:17.740
weeks ago. So I did it, recorded it, the whole
00:16:17.740 --> 00:16:20.460
thing, and, you know, for me, record time, you
00:16:20.460 --> 00:16:24.960
know? Congrats on that. Put it out, you know?
00:16:25.759 --> 00:16:28.080
Hopefully I won't regret that at some point,
00:16:28.139 --> 00:16:30.899
but it's not a good thing, you know? But I just
00:16:30.899 --> 00:16:33.059
felt like it was the time to say something, you
00:16:33.059 --> 00:16:34.840
know? And I feel like if artists aren't going
00:16:34.840 --> 00:16:37.659
to say anything, then who is, you know? Yeah,
00:16:37.700 --> 00:16:39.980
you are an artist saying something, and that's
00:16:39.980 --> 00:16:43.470
a cool thing that you're contributing. And it's
00:16:43.470 --> 00:16:46.470
interesting, we talked about how the news is
00:16:46.470 --> 00:16:49.570
so fast to keep up with in social media, but
00:16:49.570 --> 00:16:52.389
we also live in a world where you can feel a
00:16:52.389 --> 00:16:54.929
certain way about something happening and turn
00:16:54.929 --> 00:16:58.710
a song around in four weeks and say what you
00:16:58.710 --> 00:17:01.750
want to say about it. So the response can also
00:17:01.750 --> 00:17:04.829
be swift. And give it and take it awayeth, right?
00:17:05.430 --> 00:17:08.549
Exactly, yes. I thought the same thing. It's
00:17:08.549 --> 00:17:10.970
like, okay, I'm bitching about the media, but
00:17:10.970 --> 00:17:13.869
now I can put out a song at home, myself, in
00:17:13.869 --> 00:17:19.369
four weeks, you know? Yeah. Well, thank you for
00:17:19.369 --> 00:17:22.490
taking the time, Eric. My pleasure. Thank you
00:17:22.490 --> 00:17:30.670
guys for having me. Hey guys, thanks for listening
00:17:30.670 --> 00:17:33.720
to this. episode of three questions, spare notes
00:17:33.720 --> 00:17:37.880
with our special guest, Meredith Hobbs Coons.
00:17:38.279 --> 00:17:42.140
Do you prefer like all three names or is it just.
00:17:42.319 --> 00:17:47.400
Yeah, I do. A few of us who seem to in the music
00:17:47.400 --> 00:17:49.940
writing space. It's interesting. Yeah, that is
00:17:49.940 --> 00:17:52.559
interesting. You can find more information about
00:17:52.559 --> 00:17:56.220
low stakes at low stakes band .com. That's L
00:17:56.220 --> 00:18:02.799
O W K E S B A N D .com. There you have access
00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:05.160
to their Instagram, Bandcamp, right on that splash
00:18:05.160 --> 00:18:09.539
page and their Facebook. You can listen to the
00:18:09.539 --> 00:18:12.680
Spare Notes episode on all your streaming services,
00:18:12.920 --> 00:18:18.279
as well as sparenotes .subsac .com. And Meredith,
00:18:18.380 --> 00:18:22.160
do you have anything to add? Do I? You can find
00:18:22.160 --> 00:18:27.440
my stuff at meredithhobbscoons .com. That's Hobbs
00:18:27.440 --> 00:18:31.200
with no E, not like Calvin and Hobbs. And that's
00:18:31.200 --> 00:18:35.279
Coons, C -O -O -N -S. And the Hobbs has two Bs.
00:18:35.279 --> 00:18:38.599
That's important, too. That's true. Yeah. Yeah.
00:18:39.680 --> 00:18:42.700
You'll find me. All right. Take care, y 'all.
00:18:43.420 --> 00:18:44.079
Thank you.
00:00:07.510 --> 00:00:10.490
Hey, you're listening to Spare Notes. My name
00:00:10.490 --> 00:00:14.429
is Jonah Evans. And for this episode, I've been
00:00:14.429 --> 00:00:18.710
joined by Meredith Hobbs -Kuhns for the three
00:00:18.710 --> 00:00:23.050
questions episode. Yes, hello. Meredith, do you
00:00:23.050 --> 00:00:25.289
want to introduce yourself and tell us what you
00:00:25.289 --> 00:00:30.350
do in the music world? Oh, sure. So I write for
00:00:30.350 --> 00:00:34.109
the tonearm, as does Jonah. That's how we know
00:00:34.109 --> 00:00:41.710
each other. I also contribute to tape op. I also
00:00:41.710 --> 00:00:47.630
write the occasional TV criticism for the AV
00:00:47.630 --> 00:00:52.229
club, though I've been moving more in the music
00:00:52.229 --> 00:00:55.490
coverage direction for a while. And I'm also
00:00:55.490 --> 00:00:59.659
a singer -songwriter in my own right. What's
00:00:59.659 --> 00:01:02.700
it like to write TV criticism? How different
00:01:02.700 --> 00:01:05.040
is it? You're trying to move away from that?
00:01:05.879 --> 00:01:10.599
Yeah, just straight up because I don't get to
00:01:10.599 --> 00:01:14.719
watch as many shows of my own choosing these
00:01:14.719 --> 00:01:19.310
days. I'm also a parent and my children have
00:01:19.310 --> 00:01:22.469
taken over the television and stay up too late
00:01:22.469 --> 00:01:24.709
for me to watch things on my own after they've
00:01:24.709 --> 00:01:28.250
gone to bed. That's why. I like doing it. I just,
00:01:28.269 --> 00:01:33.489
the things that I tend to focus on are representation
00:01:33.489 --> 00:01:39.650
and thematic elements of the stories being told,
00:01:39.769 --> 00:01:43.250
obviously like aesthetics and dialogue and character.
00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:46.939
all of those kinds of things. And I, before we
00:01:46.939 --> 00:01:49.739
get to low stakes, I forgot to mention that you
00:01:49.739 --> 00:01:52.319
also have a podcast that you've been doing for
00:01:52.319 --> 00:01:55.340
a while, the Wilco podcast, right? That's right.
00:01:55.459 --> 00:01:58.799
So there. Actually, quite a few Wilco podcasts,
00:01:58.959 --> 00:02:02.640
but the one that I am co -host of is called Wilco
00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:05.879
Will Love You. And so Mary McLean Mellis and
00:02:05.879 --> 00:02:10.159
I have co -hosted that since 2021. And if you
00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:12.360
want to look for it wherever you get your podcasts,
00:02:12.580 --> 00:02:16.419
we've interviewed half of the members of Wilco
00:02:16.419 --> 00:02:19.539
at this point, as well as some really cool people
00:02:19.539 --> 00:02:23.159
who are part of the Wilco story in some way or
00:02:23.159 --> 00:02:27.599
another. It's been a really rewarding and special
00:02:27.599 --> 00:02:31.979
experience. So awesome. I'm so glad that you
00:02:31.979 --> 00:02:35.300
were able to join me for this interview with
00:02:35.300 --> 00:02:38.919
Eric Covell. So something that I thought was
00:02:38.919 --> 00:02:41.659
interesting in this interview is how we honed
00:02:41.659 --> 00:02:45.840
in on protest music in war and how we express
00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:48.939
protest through music. And I thought that was
00:02:48.939 --> 00:02:51.810
interesting. What was some of your takeaways
00:02:51.810 --> 00:02:53.909
after experiencing the interview and hearing
00:02:53.909 --> 00:02:57.770
Eric talk about what he's trying to do as a musician?
00:02:58.229 --> 00:03:00.449
Yeah, it was cool because he's from a different
00:03:00.449 --> 00:03:04.449
generation than we are. I'm assuming, I actually
00:03:04.449 --> 00:03:06.949
don't even know, you're a millennial, no? Yes,
00:03:06.949 --> 00:03:10.050
I am. Yes. Yeah, so we're two millennials. This
00:03:10.050 --> 00:03:15.210
gentleman was more, I would say, in the baby
00:03:15.210 --> 00:03:21.460
boomer generation. Sure. He brought some interesting
00:03:21.460 --> 00:03:27.699
perspective to this undertaking of writing protest
00:03:27.699 --> 00:03:31.520
music now in the current age where the news cycle
00:03:31.520 --> 00:03:36.520
is so much more sped up and we don't really linger
00:03:36.520 --> 00:03:40.099
on things that are pretty consequential, like
00:03:40.099 --> 00:03:46.039
the fact of being at war. And he, I think, wanted
00:03:46.039 --> 00:03:50.780
to make an intentional... effort to write something
00:03:50.780 --> 00:03:56.919
sort of examining the right that we have to express
00:03:56.919 --> 00:04:00.740
ourselves and really yeah what's going on in
00:04:00.740 --> 00:04:03.699
our world yeah so there was that song end of
00:04:03.699 --> 00:04:06.840
war that was a standalone single that came out
00:04:06.840 --> 00:04:11.129
not too long ago and then There is the song that
00:04:11.129 --> 00:04:15.169
talks about the Vietnam War on their self -titled
00:04:15.169 --> 00:04:18.529
record that came out recently as well, which
00:04:18.529 --> 00:04:22.209
Eric talked about how the album isn't the same
00:04:22.209 --> 00:04:26.470
theme. It's not like a record that's about all
00:04:26.470 --> 00:04:28.949
war. It's about different things. But we just
00:04:28.949 --> 00:04:32.089
happen to talk about war and things like that
00:04:32.089 --> 00:04:35.069
of this time because we're just gravitating towards
00:04:35.069 --> 00:04:36.850
it and thinking about it, I think, as people
00:04:36.850 --> 00:04:39.910
right now all over the world, right? So something
00:04:39.910 --> 00:04:41.930
that came up also was like how the news cycle
00:04:41.930 --> 00:04:45.790
can make us feel powerlessness. We can have a
00:04:45.790 --> 00:04:49.170
powerlessness feeling about it, but also like
00:04:49.170 --> 00:04:52.610
how can musicians be more accountable in these
00:04:52.610 --> 00:04:55.509
times? I think he was saying that Vietnam, like
00:04:55.509 --> 00:04:58.629
people were out a lot more protesting a lot more
00:04:58.629 --> 00:05:00.829
in those days than they were today. So I thought
00:05:00.829 --> 00:05:03.250
that was interesting too. But yeah, I hope you
00:05:03.250 --> 00:05:07.089
guys enjoy the interview and we'll see you on
00:05:07.089 --> 00:05:21.069
the other side. So, Mr. Eric, I see that you're
00:05:21.069 --> 00:05:25.149
promoting a song, a protest song, about your
00:05:25.149 --> 00:05:29.389
relationship to the war in Iran and an experience
00:05:29.389 --> 00:05:34.689
that you had at the Vietnam Memorial in D .C.
00:05:34.949 --> 00:05:38.790
And I want to hear a bit about your relationship
00:05:38.790 --> 00:05:44.800
to protest music. Oh, thank you, Meredith. It's
00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:47.959
a very good question. Thanks. I'm not actually
00:05:47.959 --> 00:05:52.540
interested particularly in protest music, and
00:05:52.540 --> 00:05:57.339
I often find that protest songs or songs of that
00:05:57.339 --> 00:06:00.060
ilk are very difficult sometimes to actually
00:06:00.060 --> 00:06:03.120
do right without it getting really cheesy really
00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:06.459
fast. There's a tendency for like, you know,
00:06:06.480 --> 00:06:08.259
don't do this and don't do that, and they get
00:06:08.259 --> 00:06:11.879
preachy and... And just owed too precious often.
00:06:12.019 --> 00:06:15.019
So I'm very, very careful. I have another song
00:06:15.019 --> 00:06:18.360
called End of War, which is also a protest song.
00:06:18.540 --> 00:06:22.600
But I never, you know, like all songs, the way
00:06:22.600 --> 00:06:25.439
I come at things, I never set out to write about
00:06:25.439 --> 00:06:29.139
a certain thing. It's generally something that
00:06:29.139 --> 00:06:33.019
sort of occurs to me. It just kind of makes itself
00:06:33.019 --> 00:06:34.920
available and says, hey, you can write about
00:06:34.920 --> 00:06:37.199
this. I don't think, today I'm going to write
00:06:37.199 --> 00:06:39.579
a protest song. You know, I just... feel that
00:06:39.579 --> 00:06:43.660
way and then something comes up so that's my
00:06:43.660 --> 00:06:47.019
i think that's my answer tell me about low stakes
00:06:47.019 --> 00:06:51.959
the band the low stakes was simply arrived at
00:06:51.959 --> 00:06:54.680
because i was tired of just being eric colville
00:06:54.680 --> 00:06:57.180
it's really weird to say hi we're eric colville
00:06:57.180 --> 00:06:59.720
it always seems weird from stage you know so
00:06:59.720 --> 00:07:03.000
i kind of liked the idea of a a band name with
00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:06.019
a the in front of it you know, the Beatles, you
00:07:06.019 --> 00:07:08.040
know, the low stakes. It's something you can
00:07:08.040 --> 00:07:12.180
actually use. And, you know, it's sort of, the
00:07:12.180 --> 00:07:15.220
name came about, without getting way into this,
00:07:15.259 --> 00:07:18.060
about a gig that wasn't that big a deal. We were
00:07:18.060 --> 00:07:21.220
obsessing about some little thing. I said, come
00:07:21.220 --> 00:07:23.660
on, it's a Tuesday at noon. The stakes could
00:07:23.660 --> 00:07:27.000
not be lower, you know? So somehow that became
00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:30.959
how the low stakes name came from. Although I
00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:32.879
want it to be a band and we're working on it
00:07:32.879 --> 00:07:35.980
to be a full band, right now it's just me and
00:07:35.980 --> 00:07:38.800
a lady I'm working with, kind of my partner in
00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:41.220
this, Ann Holbrook, who's a very good harmony
00:07:41.220 --> 00:07:44.120
singer and kind of shares my vision on what's
00:07:44.120 --> 00:07:47.019
good and what's bad. And she can harmonize pretty
00:07:47.019 --> 00:07:50.420
much effortlessly. So, you know, she's worked
00:07:50.420 --> 00:07:52.839
with me on everything. So it's just her and I
00:07:52.839 --> 00:07:55.899
right now. And we're, as I mentioned earlier
00:07:55.899 --> 00:07:58.449
before, things started you know we're trying
00:07:58.449 --> 00:08:00.089
to get a bass player and we have a really good
00:08:00.089 --> 00:08:02.610
drummer and we're putting the whole thing together
00:08:02.610 --> 00:08:05.790
as acoustic which also electric guitar and the
00:08:05.790 --> 00:08:08.389
full band scene as well this is kind of like
00:08:08.389 --> 00:08:12.189
a wacky question maybe but like do you see or
00:08:12.189 --> 00:08:14.910
how do you see the lineage of like how you've
00:08:14.910 --> 00:08:20.730
made music through time and how how war because
00:08:20.730 --> 00:08:24.540
you talk about the vietnam war like What cultural
00:08:24.540 --> 00:08:29.300
similarities do you see between music and the
00:08:29.300 --> 00:08:31.639
Vietnam War that you talk about? And then also
00:08:31.639 --> 00:08:35.840
from then to now, what are the conversations
00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:38.980
that are, have they changed? Are they the same?
00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:42.000
And is music responding in different ways or
00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:45.179
in new ways? And are you trying to subvert or
00:08:45.179 --> 00:08:49.740
be a part of that? I will speak on that. I don't
00:08:49.740 --> 00:08:51.539
really know where the question mark is there.
00:08:51.659 --> 00:08:56.659
But let me state that I feel, and now I know
00:08:56.659 --> 00:09:00.500
what John Hyatt maybe just did something about
00:09:00.500 --> 00:09:04.580
war with a massive attack. Tom Waits, I think
00:09:04.580 --> 00:09:06.440
it was, did something with massive attack about
00:09:06.440 --> 00:09:08.720
some war thing, which my friend sent to me. I
00:09:08.720 --> 00:09:11.139
haven't heard it yet, unfortunately. But I'm
00:09:11.139 --> 00:09:14.860
kind of feeling like at least, okay, Vietnam
00:09:14.860 --> 00:09:18.129
and Iran and many others. wars that are between
00:09:18.129 --> 00:09:20.850
those two. I feel like our war is of choice,
00:09:20.909 --> 00:09:24.309
that we have gotten ourselves involved in potentially
00:09:24.309 --> 00:09:29.230
feeding some corporate idea as opposed to if
00:09:29.230 --> 00:09:31.509
it's really protecting our freedom and our right
00:09:31.509 --> 00:09:34.649
as Americans. So I think Vietnam and every war
00:09:34.649 --> 00:09:38.350
pretty much since then more or less follows the
00:09:38.350 --> 00:09:41.720
same pattern. Regarding that war, Vietnam and
00:09:41.720 --> 00:09:44.100
Iran, I think nothing's being said about this
00:09:44.100 --> 00:09:48.980
war, really. It just, I feel like maybe in Vietnam,
00:09:49.019 --> 00:09:51.379
because people were getting drafted, there was
00:09:51.379 --> 00:09:54.639
a lot more outcry about the war and a lot more
00:09:54.639 --> 00:09:57.120
artistic response to what was happening in the
00:09:57.120 --> 00:10:00.720
war. But this, to me, the two go together quite
00:10:00.720 --> 00:10:02.799
well. I kind of had the idea for the Vietnam
00:10:02.799 --> 00:10:04.740
song, like you might have read in the thing.
00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:07.759
Avail, it's been around a while, and I could
00:10:07.759 --> 00:10:11.159
never quite finish it. But I had a line like,
00:10:11.220 --> 00:10:14.220
they speak of fire and fury or something, and
00:10:14.220 --> 00:10:16.399
I wasn't too keen. I just didn't think it was
00:10:16.399 --> 00:10:20.600
well done. But when Hegsef came along with Epic's
00:10:20.600 --> 00:10:24.419
Fury, I'm like, okay, come on. Forced me to write
00:10:24.419 --> 00:10:26.360
a song, damn it. It's like, okay, I'm going to
00:10:26.360 --> 00:10:30.159
use that in that line. So that's sort of, it
00:10:30.159 --> 00:10:32.139
was kind of waiting all along to come out, and
00:10:32.139 --> 00:10:35.110
this is the time it... It had to come out. So
00:10:35.110 --> 00:10:37.350
I don't know if I answered your question or not.
00:10:37.750 --> 00:10:40.649
Yeah. And it was like kind of a windy about no
00:10:40.649 --> 00:10:44.750
question. Right. Right. Yeah. But I, I don't
00:10:44.750 --> 00:10:46.769
know. It's, it's interesting to think about because
00:10:46.769 --> 00:10:50.830
especially like I saw this guy, Tom Skinner recently.
00:10:51.450 --> 00:10:53.649
And like, I saw in interviews that he talked,
00:10:53.649 --> 00:10:56.389
he talked about anti -imperialism and even like
00:10:56.389 --> 00:10:59.529
in a record that he made a few years ago, he
00:10:59.529 --> 00:11:02.490
talked about making a record that was like, like,
00:11:03.309 --> 00:11:06.169
putting truth into the world so i'm just like
00:11:06.169 --> 00:11:10.870
like how how do artists like put those truths
00:11:10.870 --> 00:11:14.830
in the world directly or in your case you said
00:11:14.830 --> 00:11:18.049
actually like i see this guy saying some wild
00:11:18.049 --> 00:11:20.490
stuff and actually been sitting on the song that
00:11:20.490 --> 00:11:22.330
i didn't know where when it could come out and
00:11:22.330 --> 00:11:24.210
that's kind of like you're like okay now i can
00:11:24.210 --> 00:11:26.870
like let it go and put it out there you know
00:11:26.870 --> 00:11:32.139
right um You did answer the question, you know,
00:11:32.179 --> 00:11:36.039
because you were saying that the difference between
00:11:36.039 --> 00:11:41.019
Vietnam and now is people were talking about
00:11:41.019 --> 00:11:43.720
it in Vietnam because people were getting drafted
00:11:43.720 --> 00:11:47.519
and there was that urgency. And with the war
00:11:47.519 --> 00:11:50.740
in Iran, apart from that massive attack, Tom
00:11:50.740 --> 00:11:53.480
Waits collaboration, which was shared in the
00:11:53.480 --> 00:11:56.299
Tone Arm Slack. So Jonah and I both write for
00:11:56.299 --> 00:12:00.210
this website called the Tone Arm. And the people
00:12:00.210 --> 00:12:04.549
that we also contribute with to that site are
00:12:04.549 --> 00:12:07.769
very tapped in. So that was actually where I
00:12:07.769 --> 00:12:10.970
saw it. Oh, neat. Yeah. But apart from that,
00:12:11.090 --> 00:12:14.129
you aren't really seeing a lot of musicians rising
00:12:14.129 --> 00:12:17.929
to meet the moment and saying this horrible thing
00:12:17.929 --> 00:12:20.470
is going on. We need to respond. And I almost
00:12:20.470 --> 00:12:23.490
wonder if it has to do with the relentlessness
00:12:23.490 --> 00:12:27.840
of the news cycles. Very possibly. I mean, Vietnam
00:12:27.840 --> 00:12:30.279
was the first war in which the war is in your
00:12:30.279 --> 00:12:33.120
living room. I mean, I kind of read that. I didn't
00:12:33.120 --> 00:12:36.039
see that. But the idea that people are actually
00:12:36.039 --> 00:12:37.899
seeing footage of what was actually happening
00:12:37.899 --> 00:12:40.940
in the war yesterday, that wasn't in World War
00:12:40.940 --> 00:12:43.360
II, it was quite far removed. And there were
00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:46.240
some films they played once in a while. But now
00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:49.379
I think we are being bombarded constantly, the
00:12:49.379 --> 00:12:52.980
24 -hour news cycle. And I think there's also
00:12:52.980 --> 00:12:56.230
a sense that people feel like, Maybe they really,
00:12:56.250 --> 00:12:57.830
they feel a little powerless, like they really
00:12:57.830 --> 00:13:00.330
can't do anything. I think to some extent, people
00:13:00.330 --> 00:13:03.029
don't feel like they have any chance to do anything,
00:13:03.190 --> 00:13:05.809
you know? So I don't really know if that's the
00:13:05.809 --> 00:13:08.830
reason. I think you start drafting people. I
00:13:08.830 --> 00:13:11.870
think you'll start seeing, you know, I have a
00:13:11.870 --> 00:13:13.750
son to that age and I'm like, man, you should
00:13:13.750 --> 00:13:16.830
start, you know, go on dating sites in Canada.
00:13:17.769 --> 00:13:20.350
You don't want to end up in Iran for Christ's
00:13:20.350 --> 00:13:26.269
sake, you know? So I don't know. So last official
00:13:26.269 --> 00:13:28.929
question, what's your relationship with social
00:13:28.929 --> 00:13:34.450
media and social media health and staying up
00:13:34.450 --> 00:13:36.110
to date with things that are going on? Do you
00:13:36.110 --> 00:13:39.110
try to stay away from it? And do you see it as
00:13:39.110 --> 00:13:42.549
a tension of functionality with your music and
00:13:42.549 --> 00:13:47.190
it's hard to step away from? Yeah, the short
00:13:47.190 --> 00:13:49.950
answer is I hate it all. I never got into this
00:13:49.950 --> 00:13:53.149
to be a content creator. I don't want to create
00:13:53.149 --> 00:13:56.470
content. I want to create songs and record songs.
00:13:56.710 --> 00:13:59.570
And unfortunately, I've been real slow to come
00:13:59.570 --> 00:14:03.149
to Instagram and Facebook and Spotify. I just
00:14:03.149 --> 00:14:06.230
now started getting into this. And I'm always
00:14:06.230 --> 00:14:08.409
being hassled about, do we have some more content?
00:14:08.629 --> 00:14:10.570
Get a picture of you holding coffee while you're
00:14:10.570 --> 00:14:15.549
writing a song. Not what I signed up for. So
00:14:15.549 --> 00:14:19.129
my relationship is strained and complicated.
00:14:19.210 --> 00:14:21.700
Let's put it that way. Can I add something about
00:14:21.700 --> 00:14:25.860
that song? Yeah. So one thing about that song
00:14:25.860 --> 00:14:28.379
I think gets missed that a lot of time went into
00:14:28.379 --> 00:14:31.679
thinking about. In verses 3 and 4, or you could
00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:34.860
consider verse 2, depending on how you look at
00:14:34.860 --> 00:14:38.639
it, I somehow realized I was saying the word,
00:14:38.779 --> 00:14:41.679
speak of epic theory of gallantry and glory.
00:14:41.919 --> 00:14:44.259
And gallantry and glory, I thought of Gallant
00:14:44.259 --> 00:14:47.840
Lee, and I thought of the Star Spangled Banner.
00:14:48.649 --> 00:14:50.470
And I thought, gosh, you know, and I've heard
00:14:50.470 --> 00:14:52.830
that song in the past. It's sort of like gives
00:14:52.830 --> 00:14:56.230
you the patriotic feels, you know, like it's
00:14:56.230 --> 00:14:59.250
our flag was still there. And maybe the sense
00:14:59.250 --> 00:15:01.490
that freedom is real and all this stuff wasn't
00:15:01.490 --> 00:15:03.929
about money and all that stuff. At least that
00:15:03.929 --> 00:15:06.610
was the way I was raised to kind of feel good
00:15:06.610 --> 00:15:09.909
about that song. So there's a real juxtaposition
00:15:09.909 --> 00:15:12.789
that is intended to be kind of at odds with the
00:15:12.789 --> 00:15:16.190
lyrics of those verses. That is the Star Spangled
00:15:16.190 --> 00:15:20.909
Banner sung in the other vocal. kind of fighting
00:15:20.909 --> 00:15:23.529
back and forth between these two ideals, which
00:15:23.529 --> 00:15:25.610
in some ways I think is what's going on as a
00:15:25.610 --> 00:15:28.250
metaphor for what's happening, the government
00:15:28.250 --> 00:15:30.549
and the country, and even in our own hearts about
00:15:30.549 --> 00:15:32.909
what's important. Are we really fighting for
00:15:32.909 --> 00:15:35.870
freedom, or are we just fighting to win trade
00:15:35.870 --> 00:15:38.129
wars or whatever the heck, or profits or whatever
00:15:38.129 --> 00:15:40.830
we're doing? So that's kind of part of what I
00:15:40.830 --> 00:15:45.809
wanted to be realized in this song. What did
00:15:45.809 --> 00:15:49.080
you want to be realized in the record? overall
00:15:49.080 --> 00:15:53.519
or is it a mix of things yeah i can't speak for
00:15:53.519 --> 00:15:55.620
the record the record is you know just the songs
00:15:55.620 --> 00:15:58.960
i felt like we could do as an acoustic duo which
00:15:58.960 --> 00:16:02.139
we have at the time you know and it's the the
00:16:02.139 --> 00:16:04.700
end of war wasn't even on the record that was
00:16:04.700 --> 00:16:06.759
released because i released it before and it
00:16:06.759 --> 00:16:08.960
seemed like it's something we should release
00:16:08.960 --> 00:16:11.019
at this point again because of what's happening
00:16:11.019 --> 00:16:14.299
but then i wrote this song i don't know four
00:16:14.299 --> 00:16:17.740
weeks ago. So I did it, recorded it, the whole
00:16:17.740 --> 00:16:20.460
thing, and, you know, for me, record time, you
00:16:20.460 --> 00:16:24.960
know? Congrats on that. Put it out, you know?
00:16:25.759 --> 00:16:28.080
Hopefully I won't regret that at some point,
00:16:28.139 --> 00:16:30.899
but it's not a good thing, you know? But I just
00:16:30.899 --> 00:16:33.059
felt like it was the time to say something, you
00:16:33.059 --> 00:16:34.840
know? And I feel like if artists aren't going
00:16:34.840 --> 00:16:37.659
to say anything, then who is, you know? Yeah,
00:16:37.700 --> 00:16:39.980
you are an artist saying something, and that's
00:16:39.980 --> 00:16:43.470
a cool thing that you're contributing. And it's
00:16:43.470 --> 00:16:46.470
interesting, we talked about how the news is
00:16:46.470 --> 00:16:49.570
so fast to keep up with in social media, but
00:16:49.570 --> 00:16:52.389
we also live in a world where you can feel a
00:16:52.389 --> 00:16:54.929
certain way about something happening and turn
00:16:54.929 --> 00:16:58.710
a song around in four weeks and say what you
00:16:58.710 --> 00:17:01.750
want to say about it. So the response can also
00:17:01.750 --> 00:17:04.829
be swift. And give it and take it awayeth, right?
00:17:05.430 --> 00:17:08.549
Exactly, yes. I thought the same thing. It's
00:17:08.549 --> 00:17:10.970
like, okay, I'm bitching about the media, but
00:17:10.970 --> 00:17:13.869
now I can put out a song at home, myself, in
00:17:13.869 --> 00:17:19.369
four weeks, you know? Yeah. Well, thank you for
00:17:19.369 --> 00:17:22.490
taking the time, Eric. My pleasure. Thank you
00:17:22.490 --> 00:17:30.670
guys for having me. Hey guys, thanks for listening
00:17:30.670 --> 00:17:33.720
to this. episode of three questions, spare notes
00:17:33.720 --> 00:17:37.880
with our special guest, Meredith Hobbs Coons.
00:17:38.279 --> 00:17:42.140
Do you prefer like all three names or is it just.
00:17:42.319 --> 00:17:47.400
Yeah, I do. A few of us who seem to in the music
00:17:47.400 --> 00:17:49.940
writing space. It's interesting. Yeah, that is
00:17:49.940 --> 00:17:52.559
interesting. You can find more information about
00:17:52.559 --> 00:17:56.220
low stakes at low stakes band .com. That's L
00:17:56.220 --> 00:18:02.799
O W K E S B A N D .com. There you have access
00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:05.160
to their Instagram, Bandcamp, right on that splash
00:18:05.160 --> 00:18:09.539
page and their Facebook. You can listen to the
00:18:09.539 --> 00:18:12.680
Spare Notes episode on all your streaming services,
00:18:12.920 --> 00:18:18.279
as well as sparenotes .subsac .com. And Meredith,
00:18:18.380 --> 00:18:22.160
do you have anything to add? Do I? You can find
00:18:22.160 --> 00:18:27.440
my stuff at meredithhobbscoons .com. That's Hobbs
00:18:27.440 --> 00:18:31.200
with no E, not like Calvin and Hobbs. And that's
00:18:31.200 --> 00:18:35.279
Coons, C -O -O -N -S. And the Hobbs has two Bs.
00:18:35.279 --> 00:18:38.599
That's important, too. That's true. Yeah. Yeah.
00:18:39.680 --> 00:18:42.700
You'll find me. All right. Take care, y 'all.
00:18:43.420 --> 00:18:44.079
Thank you.
