{"id":74511,"date":"2022-03-14T12:17:13","date_gmt":"2022-03-14T12:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/?p=74511"},"modified":"2022-03-14T12:17:14","modified_gmt":"2022-03-14T12:17:14","slug":"taking-the-high-road-the-high-plains-drifters-chat-to-us-about-their-music-the-difference-between-trondheim-and-malmo-and-the-one-that-got-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2022\/03\/taking-the-high-road-the-high-plains-drifters-chat-to-us-about-their-music-the-difference-between-trondheim-and-malmo-and-the-one-that-got-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking The High Road: The High Plains Drifters Chat To Us About Their Music, The Difference Between Trondheim And Malmo, And The One That Got Away."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When you release a song called ‘The One That Got Away’ you’ve got to be sure that someone is going to ask you who it was. The High Plains Drifters are the band that dropped the song, and we weren’t going to let them get away from us, so we asked them some questions – and got a lot of fun answers. <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Thanks for agreeing to talk to us today!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larry Studnicky<\/strong>: We thank you for doing this interview with us. We have some of the band here to chat with you: our two guitarists, John Macom<\/strong> and Mike DoCampo<\/strong>, and our producer, Greg Cohen<\/strong>, who co-writes with us, plays all of the great synths you hear on some of our songs, and does some of the keyboards. Missing are Charles Czarnecki<\/strong> (piano, accordion), Kyle Cassel<\/strong> (drums), Dave Richards<\/strong> (bass), and our backup singers Christina Benedetto<\/strong> and Sabrina Curry<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The video for your recent single, \u2018The One That Got Away\u2019 was shot in Norway. Was that your choice, or that of your director, Lars Skaland? Did you go to Norway yourselves or was it done remotely by Lars?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

John<\/strong>: I thought Larry said the video was being shot in Sweden, so I ended up in the wrong place. Malmo is pretty nice in February though. Just kidding \u2013 I think Lars did a remarkable job remotely, and it worked in our favour by not having us in the video. The cinematography is great, and Julie Bjelke was perfectly cast as \u201cthe one that got away\u201d. It\u2019s really an old-school MTV-style video where a Norwegian supermodel plays the main character and the music tells the story. If this had been released in 1984, we would have been bigger than The Beatles, Elvis and J Lo combined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larry<\/strong>: Lars lives in Norway. Lars came up with the concept for this video and did the casting of the remarkable Julie Bjelke. All that I did was greenlight the treatment. If I could\u2019ve seen this video in advance of its being shot, I might have insisted on attending some of the filming. Maybe next time, for we\u2019re still using Lars, who\u2019s currently working on two more videos for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outside of the song, name one occasion when someone or something that was dear to you got away from you \u2013 and what did you do to get them back?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greg<\/strong>: Funny enough, I just spent some time abroad with my \u201cone that got away\u201d. She\u2019s currently living in a distant, undisclosed location and that story is ongoing\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John<\/strong>: I once had a girlfriend who called me to breakup, and I calmly said \u201cok, I\u2019m sorry you feel that way\u201d, and then I nicely said goodbye. About 15 minutes later she called back all annoyed saying, \u201cYou\u2019re not even going to try and get me back? I\u2019m gone just like that?\u201d I replied, \u201cYou have made your decision, and there is nothing I can do to bring you back, so why prolong the agony?\u201d Later that night, she appeared at my apartment wearing nothing but a raincoat…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larry<\/strong>: John, you\u2019re an idiot. Your wife is going to read this! That said, I think like John on this issue. Love is hard enough to find without having to chase some gal who\u2019s not into you, or who\u2019s into playing games in raincoats…or maybe a French maid\u2019s outfit…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike<\/strong>: I\u2019m on the same page as my bandmates. When a love is over, let it go, don\u2019t chase it. The best way to think about it, no matter who initiated the breakup, is \u201cgood riddance\u201d. When you\u2019re lucky, the breakup inspires a song or two, like ‘Since You\u2019ve Been Gone’, and ‘The One That Away’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How has the Covid-19 pandemic affected you? Have you found yourself limited as a band, or are you more inspired by the down-time? Have you put your time into writing?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greg<\/strong>: The pandemic froze us all for those first three months. Then in June 2020, Larry called and said he didn\u2019t think Covid was going to kill us, so let\u2019s start on the second album. So we did, first just Larry and I, but we had the whole band back in the studio by the end of August 2020. It was great for us, but it was important also on another level \u2013 recording studios were getting killed and were at risk of closing forever. In our small way, we counteracted that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike<\/strong>: I\u2019ve been a professional musician my whole life, so I couldn\u2019t let Covid shut that down. I never stopped making music. I kept recording, rehearsing, writing, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John<\/strong>: Recording during the pandemic was challenging initially. Greg, Kyle, Charles and I have our own home studios and were able to work on early demos remotely. When we finally got back to live tracking at Kaleidoscope Sound (a fantastic studio in Union City, NJ), we were in masks and full hazmat suits. Additionally, being forced to work from home during the pandemic turned out great for me as a songwriter. I have a big backlog of non-HPD songs that I\u2019ve always wanted to complete. The pandemic gave me the time for those songs and made me more productive. If rickets or scurvy makes a comeback, maybe I\u2019ll finish the rest of my projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larry<\/strong>: I can\u2019t say that all the down-time \u201cinspired me\u201d. Rather, it pissed me off and made me think that, if there\u2019s even a remote chance this dang virus will eventually kill us all, then we\u2019d better get back to making music and making the best of whatever time is left to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that things seem to be opening up again, what\u2019s on the horizon for the band? Will there be more touring?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larry<\/strong>: For us, this is the one thing that the pandemic really messed up \u2013 being able to play live. It\u2019s still a challenge. But I hope that we\u2019ll figure something out by summer\u2019s end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike<\/strong>: We\u2019re a seasoned band (leaving the gals aside) where everyone has some kind of domestic ball-and-chain to deal with, so touring has to make sense, including economically. We\u2019re not 20-somethings who can just cram into an Econoliner van and hit the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you could go back in time and talk to yourselves as you were first starting out \u2013 what advice would you give? Is there anything you\u2019d do differently, and if so, what and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

John<\/strong>: I would have bought Amazon stock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larry<\/strong>: I\u2019ve known the other guys doing this interview with you for a long, long time. I just wish that I had the vision ages ago to think that we\u2019d make a great band. But I did buy Amazon back in the day, so I\u2019ve got that going for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greg<\/strong>: Tough question, but for me the answer is \u201cnothing\u201d. I\u2019d have done nothing differently, because everything that I and the other guys have done has brought us to this place where we\u2019re making really great music together. It\u2019s about the journey, not the destination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike<\/strong>: Agreed. I wouldn\u2019t do anything differently. I can\u2019t tell your readers that there are \u201crules\u201d or a \u201cformula\u201d for success that I\u2019ve learned along the way. As a musician in a band, you bring your unique talents. You hope that you and your bandmates will share a common vision and develop a special chemistry together. I think that, on this second HPD album, we\u2019ve been lucky and have found that magic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you have any favourite brands of musical instruments to use?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike<\/strong>: I have over 30 top-flight guitars, but my \u201cdesert island choice\u201d is my 1958 left-handed fiesta red Fender Stratocaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John<\/strong>: I have a custom-made Fender Stratocaster called a \u201cPlus-Ultra\u201d that I love. It\u2019s pretty rare, and I haven\u2019t seen any for sale. But I might trade it for a certain Norwegian supermodel. I also have a Gibson J-100 from Montana as my main acoustic guitar (the built-in pickup sounds so natural). When I\u2019m allowed to jangle, I break out my Rickenbacker 360, which is just dreamy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greg<\/strong>: As a keyboardist, I love the sound of vintage Oberheim synthesizers like the OBXa and the LinnDrum drum machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larry<\/strong>: I\u2019ve never played an instrument of any kind, other than to occasionally hit a keyboard to pick out a melody line for a new song. But I can say that, when John or Mike picks up a Rickenbacker, something really cool is about to get added to one of my songs. Honestly, being around these great musicians I work with, I sometimes feel like a loser. But they all manage to figure out the music I\u2019m hearing in my head. I\u2019m lucky to work with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s the songwriting process for you? Do you come up with a tune or a lyric first?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greg<\/strong>: Larry tends to start each song by singing his earliest lyrics into his iPhone. He and I will usually work together refining those ideas, while he continues writing that song. Once the song has its basic structure, we\u2019ll usually bring one or both of John and Mike into my home studio and work out the chord progressions \u2013 sometimes Larry hears the basic chords in his head, but sometimes not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larry<\/strong>: Yeah, the iPhone has been a life-saver for me. I never know what might trigger a song idea or when, but whatever happens I\u2019m ready to record it. When I\u2019m lucky, an idea for a song gets triggered by something I\u2019m thinking about, or some stimulus in the outside world, and the first few lines of a song \u2013 sometimes it\u2019s a verse, and sometimes I know it\u2019s a chorus \u2013 pop into my head along with the melody and sometimes accompanying instruments. I don\u2019t usually hear naked melodies in my head. It\u2019s almost always words with music for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John<\/strong>: For me it\u2019s always the melody line that comes first, and if I\u2019m lucky a phrase will come along with it. Sometimes I\u2019ll write a line (or the line will write itself) and then work backwards to fill in the blanks \u2013 almost like coming up with the punchline and then writing the joke. With the High Plains Drifters, Larry spearheads the main idea, and then we try to interpret what he\u2019s hearing, like a giant puzzle piece. Sometimes there\u2019s only an A\/B section, and maybe a little musical motif needs to be added to bridge the two parts together. I like listening for things like that \u2013 the song always tells me what to do. That\u2019s why collaborations are great, because it\u2019s much easier to work on the foundation of an existing structure instead of designing something completely from scratch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What question do you wish someone would ask you in an interview, but nobody ever does? And what is the answer?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike<\/strong>: I wish that someone would ask my why do I bring tons of expensive guitars and gear to every recording session and every live gig? The answer is that I\u2019m always pushing to get the best out of myself, and to get the best sound for whatever song I\u2019m recording or playing. When I\u2019m playing live, I want to be on fire for the audience \u2013 because they\u2019ll sense when it\u2019s bullshit and the musician just doesn\u2019t care. You never know when it\u2019s going to be your last time, so my credo is \u201cuntil the last note is played\u201d. You\u2019ve got to light up the studio or the venue until the last note is played.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larry<\/strong>: Nobody has ever asked me whether I set out to be the frontman and lead singer of a band. Well, I didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I grew up being told I couldn\u2019t sing (e.g., by the nun who ran our church\u2019s choir). I believed it, and for ages I\u2019d only sing when alone in a car, or back in college I\u2019d sing around a certain jukebox while drinking with my buddies. The first four songs that were recorded and released by The High Plains Drifters were not sung by me. John sang two of them, and Charles Czarnecki sang two. Then, as we started recording my song called ‘Summer Girl’, Charles told me, \u201cLarry, you\u2019re singing this.\u201d I resisted but Charles, thank God, finally convinced me that it was \u201cin my range\u201d and I could handle it because it\u2019s such a 70\u2019s style \u201cstoryteller song\u201d and is as much spoken as sung. So, I did my best, and it sucked \u2013 we had to do a painfully huge number of takes of my vocals to give Charles enough to salvage and cut and paste into a lead vocal. But the song got some radio airplay. Soon after, I was giving a public presentation (in my other life, where I\u2019m a lawyer), and a woman in the audience went out of her way to thank me afterwards. I learned that she\u2019s a professional vocal coach and a former opera singer. I sent ‘Summer Girl’ to her. She said to me, \u201cYou have all the notes you need, but you don\u2019t know how to sing.\u201d I said, \u201cWell, duh, no kidding \u2013 can you teach me?\u201d She said yes, and so for about 8 months I took weekly voice lessons from the great Maria Fattore. Then, in the studio, I sang the lead vocals for ‘Virginia’, which became the first single released from the HPD debut album. And I sounded really good. I was shocked. Every time I open my mouth now to sing, as the lead singer of this wonderfully talented band, I thank Charles and Maria for what they\u2019ve done for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click below to watch the video for \u2018The One That Got Away\u2019 and make sure you catch up with The High Plains Drifters and their music online on their official\u00a0website<\/a>,\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0Twitter<\/a>, and\u00a0Instagram<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

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