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Sfireef with
The Palletjacks
■ieigs Street An almost too-bright Sunday afternoon.
Three members of the Palletjacks (Preston Beam, Lisa
Clark and Mark Marchand—in absentia bassist James
Cunningham) and I convened in the band's rehearsal
space (which also doubles as the back room of Preston’s
home) to discuss what's going on with a band that has
become something of a fixtue around these parts for one
simple reason: an ever-growing collection of solid songs.
That’s the thing with this band: the song. Ask any of them,
and they’re liable to tell you that, beyond all the superflu
ous music-writer hyperbole aid pigeonholing, what re
ally matters is something as simple as three minutes and
that intangible “feel.* People have used a lot of ridiculous
cliches to describe what the Palletjacks sound like, what
theydoandhowtheydoit, but they've never used the
most obvious word: real
Flagpole: So I've heard something about some record
ing you're going to be doing?
Lisa Clark: Yeah. In August down in Nashville.
FP: So that project is happening?
Clark: That's what the man says.
FP: Go into elaborate detail.
Preston Beam: We don't know any elaborate details
about anything [laughs]. We're just recording in August
one way or another.
Mark Marchand: We're going to Nashville, to a studio
we don't even know the name of. We don't know if it’s
analog a digital, 58 tracks or 3 tracks....
Clark: It’s probably a four-track in someone's bathroom.
Beam: We’re recording underwater.
FP: And Ken Coomer {•drummer in Wloo] is produc
ing it?
Marchand: We're supposed to be his pet project be
tween tours.
Clark: The way it came about was Ken and! have been
friends fa afew years, and .e sometimes send stuff back
and forth to one another... and he wanted a recording of
my newest project, so I sent him a tape and he flipped
out over it He said it was the first thing he’d heard since
he started looking fa a band to work with that he wanted
to produce, so we're heading down there soon
FP: What are you going to do with these recordings? I
only ask becat ’« you’re one of the few bands around
here thatti bee ~ dying as long as you have without hav
ing a “legit' recording available.
[looks of dissent from Ms. Clark and Mr. Marchand]
Bean Well, yeah, now we’re like old-school almost I
mean, we've been playing together longer than a lot of
the bands around here.
Clark: Ken says he's going to shop it around fa us, and
to quote him, he's gonna get us a “big fat record deal.*
FP: So you can return to Athens as conquering heroes,
driving nice cars... you’ll forget all about the little people.
Beam: [laughs] It's all true.
Clark: Well still be the little people.
FP: So you're going to be taking this around yorrselves
too?
Beam: We're going to give Ken time to shop it and then
maybe press something from it ooselves.
Marchand: Yeah, a *CD£P* kind of thing. I think it’ll be
good enough fa that.
FP: Well, you certainly don't want to get lumped in
with all those bands that “seem to be popping up all
over the place these days. You might share some char
acteristics but... what were you saying about that ear
lier, Usa?
Clark: Well, I’m sick of being asked what we sound
like. I’m also sick of being described as sounding like
Uncle Tupelo a Son Volt.
Marchand: Or Wilco...
Clark:.. .a “country rock.*
Beam: I just don’t see that connection.
FP: / think also that... the songs have taken a new
direction. Like "Judy: "that's just a straightforward oop
song.
Beam: There's one called ‘Oasis* that's pretty much
a pop song.
Clark: We were talking about that yesterday during
another interview. The whole country rock compari
son to me doesn't seem warranted. I think we’re a pop
band.
Beam: We don't try to write those kinds of songs.
There's a million bands that do that better than us,
y'know?
FP: / just get the feeling that y'all are writing more as a
group. I remember Preston playing me a great song
idea that James brought in, for example.
Beam: It's definitely mae of a collabaative effort now.
Nobody’s saying “do this, do that.* We knock heads a
lot over songs, but we mae a less make suggestions
to each other, if anything.
Marchand: I think there's a better sense of melody,
better guitar lead-wise.
Beam: I think things are much mae dynamic now.
Some of the older songs were kind of plodding: just
one tempo and feel from beginning to end.
FP: Have j ou ever thought about breaking things up
a little and trying some acoustic-oriented songs?
Beam: I would like to be able to play an acoustic on
tage, but the songs I don't play lead on where I would
be freed up to do so just happen to be heavy songs,
like 'Bitter Rose* a ‘Four Years.* I would love to be
able to tear the songs down and restructure them fa
mae of an acoustic-based setting. I just think that we're
writing differently. Lisa has brought in a lot, we're writ
ing as a unit instead of just one person... it’s just that I
think that all great bands write together.
Clark: My playing style I think adds to that collabaa
tive feel. Since I taught myself to play drums I'm not
going to come in like some great studio drummer and
just play anything. I have to make up things in my own
style.
Beam: Just from the songs we've been writing lately,
we've been trying to meld two things togetha than
say, writing from one area. It's not a conscious thing,
it's not something that I can just describe, it's just what's
coming out [laughs] I really don't know what it sounds
like, but... it smells like teen spirit.
Jason Slatton
The Palletjacks play the High Hat Wednesday, July 24.
rroimer for gifts and home furnishings from
the tar reaches of an increasingly smaller world
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July 24, 1996 FLAGPOLE
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