October 23rd, 2009
INTERVIEW: Alec Ounsworth (Flashy Python, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah)
Philadelphia-born and dwelling singer/multi-instrumentalist Alec Ounsworth is probably best known for his time fronting Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (who are on “indefinite hiatus”). But Ounsworth’s also a solo artist with a brand-new album, Mo Beauty — which he recorded in New Orleans with a slew of esteemed local musicians and Los Lobos producer Steve Berlin at the helm, and deftly blends rock, jazz, blues, pop, and soul in a manner befitting the city in which it was created — and he leads local combo Flashy Python, which includes former members of the Teeth. Flashy Python plays the TLA tomorrow night, opening for Dr. Dog; we caught up with the genial Ounsworth this afternoon for a chat:
What are you most looking forward to about tomorrow night’s show?
I’m most looking forward to pulling the rug out from beneath Dr. Dog. Those guys, their heads are getting’ way too big, they’ve gotta get cut down.
And you’re just the man to do it, right?
That’s right [laughs]. I’m just the guy to take on the Dog!
Nice!
You know, it’s such a great opportunity because we’re all…three of the guys in this band are from the Teeth, and we all know and are friendly with Dr. Dog, so it’s gonna be a fun occasion, really. We’ll try not to get too competitive.
As far as the set list goes, is pretty much everything from all the material you’ve ever written over the years fair game?
Yeah, for the most part. I mean, we’re still coming around to learning the Clap Your Hands material. We’ve been focusing on the New Orleans record and the Flashy Python record for right now, but I’m gonna throw in some old Clap Your Hands songs down the line, which should be pretty interesting with this lineup.
Are you looking forward to seeing how that comes together?
Oh yeah [laughs], I think it’s really gonna be something.
How do you feel all those songs from different parts of your career all mesh together in the live setting? Are the gear shifts really obvious, or is it pretty seamless?
Uhh, I mean, I think they’re distinctively different records, the way that I approach records, the general sonic and arrangement ideas. With Clap Your Hands it was obviously, I was leaning on synthesizers to start, that’s the way I heard that material in my head and that’s how I wanted that. For Flashy Python it’s a little more guitar-oriented. And for New Orleans, I honestly didn’t really know what I was getting into [laughs]. But yeah, I was talking to a couple other people about this and I think to a certain degree I’m starting to…the lines are getting a little blurry and I’m starting to lose the desire to distinguish between things. Playing with these guys and trying to bring my stuff live, I’ve realized that we can go through a set — and we’ve practiced the full set several times– and that plugging in any of the songs from any particular project, it all kind of comes together. It’s all more similar than I realized.
You like the challenge of rearranging old things to fit the new band?
Oh yeah, absolutely. It’s different, but at the same time it holds together and it stays true to that original foundation.
Do you think there are expectations on the part of fans about the music you’re making, and are you specifically interested in either deviating from or embracing those expectations? Do you think about that stuff when you’re writing?
No. no, not at all. I don’t think about that. Music comes…not really out of nowhere but to a degree, you know, that’s the best way. In the past I’ve said I never sat down and listened to a bunch of Talking Heads records and then wrote these songs [laughs]. It never happened. You’re sort of built by what you’ve been through and by what you’ve listened to, what you’ve been exposed to, what’s really sunk in, and then you’re kinda on your own from there. And I could never entertain expectations from anybody else for that reason. But if people are accepting and can try to understand what’s going on, I have no doubt that with [Flashy Python], it will not be a let down. I mean, what’s the use or what’s the enjoyment of going back to the same territory over and over again? You move forward, and that’s why you don’t entertain expectations.
What’s the thing you love the most about Philadelphia, the thing that keeps you here?
It’s hard for me to define. It’s funny — one of the things I liked about New Orleans, of course tragedy struck with the flood and there were a lot of things that happened directly to the citizens of New Orleans. And it felt like it was a city that was pulling itself up, and in that I see an opportunity for people to be better than they thought they could be. And Philadelphia, having lived here my entire life, it feels like a city that’s perpetually pulling itself up [laughs], and it makes people tough, you know? And honestly, I kinda like that. People don’t fuck around in Philadelphia. It can get to you a little bit if you let it, but if you roll with it … I just like that. I like the toughness of Philadelphia.
Flashy Python plays the TLA, along with Dr. Dog, on Saturday, October 24th at 9 p.m. Tickets are $16-$19.
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