INTERVIEW BY SHELBY BAKER
PHOTOS AND VIDEO PROVIDED BY THE BAND CONCORD
Although they hail from multiple areas of Virginia, THE BAND CONCORD has come together due to their love of folk music. The band has been together since September 2012 after meeting as Virginia Tech students in Blacksburg. It was at that very campus where they debuted as a band during the university’s annual Soundfest during the spring of last year. Since then, they have opened for acts such as THE MAINE and have been featured on THE AVETT BROTHERS Facebook, who are one of the many bands that inspired them to create folk music. I spoke with guitarist Spencer Pugh and vocalist Andrew Steger about the band’s origins, their future plans to release new music, and their goal to perform at more festivals in the near future while further representing and redefining the folk scene of Virginia.
How did your band come about?
Spencer: We lived next to each other during our freshmen year, and we played music together just for fun. We wanted to play “Rock the Blocks”, and we had to have an official page and everything. We sort of went with it.
What inspired the band name?
Andrew: I had the name thought out sort of a little beforehand. I knew that I wanted to be in a band during college, and it came from a friend. We were thinking about life and how, more or less, life is sort of always a balance and “concord” means harmony.
Is there a meaning behind the scales in your band logo?
Andrew: The scales go along with the “concord” theme of balance and harmony. There’s supposed to be a balance of life, and we wanted to symbolize that.
Spencer: There’s a lot of balance in our lyrics. Concord just sort of fit, and then the scales worked as the image.
You guys played at Virginia Tech’s SoundFest during the spring of last year. Are there any plans for other festival performances?
Andrew: We are right now working with “Rock the Blocks”, which is a festival in Blacksburg, and were doing a pre-festival showcase down here. We’re [also] playing the Tom Tom festival in Charlottesville.
Spencer: I’d like to do SoundFest again.
Is there any festival you would like to play in particular?
Spencer: I would love to play FloydFest. I’m from Roanoke, and that’s sort of the main festival in that area and a lot of big names came from there. Also, Tom Tom; I’ve heard a lot of good things.
Andrew: I agree with both of those. I’m excited for Tom Tom. They support the local arts, and it helps out and a lot of other bands.
What artist or musician inspired you to become a musician yourself?
Spencer: JACK JOHNSON was my main first guy. He inspired me to play guitar. From him, I moved to the folk scene. I really fell in love with THE AVETT BROTHERS-both as musicians and people.
Andrew: Those that got me into the string instruments were DAVE MATTHEWS and THE AVETT BROTHERS. Basically, the same thing. They’re awesome guys and really down-to-earth.
Are you guys currently working on new material?
Andrew: We just got out of the studio three weekends ago. We just recorded 11 tracks, and our producer is working on them now. He’ll be sending them before March, and then from there, we hope to release a single within a week of April, if we can.
Folk-Pop is sort of on the rise with acts like MUMFORD AND SONS and THE LUMINEERS. What do you think sets your band and/or sound apart from other folk acts?
Andrew: It’s more of the genre just happened to hit. It definitely is a big influence. We wouldn’t have written the same way if it hadn’t come through.
Spencer: I love that the pop folk scene came about, and I’ve seen a lot of bands take that [route] to become successful. I never thought to change our music to do that. I personally am trying to do the opposite of that. I just like the genre, and want to go on our own way. I just keep writing how I want, and a lot of people in the band have different tastes. Whatever comes out, comes out.
