The Narrator

Nick Meiers: Seen any good movies lately?

Jesse Woghin: Not really. The last movie I saw in the theater was Guess Who on $5 movie/free popcorn night, but that one was painfully bad. I recently rented and re-saw Paris, Texas. That's a brutally beautiful and sad movie. Since we left for tour I've also been trying to see Batman Begins and Sam and I have been trying to watch this copy of Garfield: The Movie we got on DVD, but so far neither one has been achieved.

NM: Your Flameshovel label partner James told me there's a new Narrator record?

JW: Yep. It's out June 28th and it's called Such Triumph. We're very proud of it and we're currently touring the West Coast in pre-support of it. There is a herd of cattle marching past our van at the moment and the hills are filled with windmills that are powering something somewhere in central California. I think we're lost.

NM: I think I know that spot, you'll be in LA in 45 minutes. I first saw you guys at the Beat Kitchen in Chicago around three years ago. A friend of a friend was Ebuddies with your bass player back then. How's the line-up evolved since then?

NM: The word "Ebuddies" creeps me out for some reason. Not sure why. In any event, I remember meeting you there. That was our third show and I think Italo's second to last one. We just played our 100th show at the Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco last night. Since that show, though, Dave (our original drummer who was just filling in until we found someone permanent) moved to NY and Nate joined in March 03. Then Scott (our bass player at the time of that show and one of the aforementioned Ebuddies) retired and James (who was actually our original bass player, but moved to Detroit before we ever played a show), who had just moved back to Chicago, rejoined the band in February 04.

NM: Sounds like you guys have been really busy trying to put Narrator on the map in a short amount of time. Are you getting any return? I mean are shows getting bigger, records selling, etc?

JW: Well, this is the first time we've been out to the West Coast, so a lot of these particular shows are real hit or miss. And the new record isn't out yet, so I wouldn't say there's been a massive spike in sales or anything. But we're working on building a following in a few places -- NY, DC area, Omaha, etc. -- just by keeping at it. I don't know if we're really trying to work on an accelerated pace or anything like that as much as I think we just sort of have it on our collective heads that this is what bands do -- play shows, make records, repeat. We just try to treat our band like people care about it, whether they do or not.

NM: What are some of your favorite stops across the US of A?

JW: Omaha, Chapel Hill, New Haven, Seattle, Missoula, New York.

NM: What CDs are getting the most play in the van?

JW: Wolf Parade, Oxford Collapse's A Good Ground, The Kinks' Lola v. Powerman..., George Harrison's All Things Must Pass, Make Believe's Shock of Being, R. Kelly, Superchunk's Here's Where the Strings Come In, The Joggers.

NM: What do you love about the road, and what do you hate about it?

JW: Getting out of Chicago. Playing music every day. Meeting great new people in weird places. Meeting weird people in great places. Seeing beautiful things like the Pacific ocean at dusk a few days after an earthquake or an imploded house sculpture in Houston. Constantly being broke is not always the greatest thing about being on tour.

NM: Any shout outs?

JW: Fuck a shout out... or hi Oxford Collapse and End of the World.

NM: Any question(s) you would have liked me to ask (and answer)?

JW: What's going on with Barbeau? Why haven't I seen you around much lately (prior to my going on tour, obviously)? How do you spell your last name? Sorry this took me so long to finish. I am a slowpoke.

NM: Barbeau is still running, although it's in the hands of one Matt Seifert (bass player). We all kind of took ownership of our various projects. Barbeau was mostly Matt's vision so it's now his. Stanley Ross is my project. Our friend Jason has Love Story in Blood Red, and our friend Devin Davis has a band too. Drummer Jim Duffy and I play in all of them, which keeps us very busy. That's one reason I haven't been around. The other is I stopped delivering posters for the Empty Bottle, so no more free door and cheap drinks. Barbeau has a full length CD coming out on a label called Backward Masking sometime this summer. There's also a Barbeau / Viza Noir split 7" in the works for Nodak Records. Thanks for doing this. Good luck out there.

-- Nick Meiers