It’s a busy evening on London’s Oxford Street, made busier by the touts who are desperately trying to buy and sell tickets for Laura Veirs’ show, about to take place in the subterranean 100 Club, a historic venue with tastes so eclectic that the photos on the wall range from Eric Clapton to the Sex Pistols. Here, Veirs can be spied in her usual place, selling CDs and chatting to fans in her demure grey duffel coat. Around her, amiable band members Karl Blau, Steve Moore and Laura’s partner, drummer / producer Tucker Martine, mingle gently with the crowd. They used to be called the Tortured Souls, but now, dressed in natty beige embroidered suits, they have been re-christened, just like Veirs’ newest album, Saltbreakers.
She explains: “We were tired of answering the same old questions: ‘How tortured are they?’ ‘Who’s the most tortured one?’ They’re not tortured, they’re nice people! Also, I wanted to emphasize the importance of the band on the new record and how we’re a real unit and they contribute so much.”
The past year has seen Veirs move from Seattle to Portland, Oregon. “It’s really good. I went through so many changes and I needed to find a new place. The music scene in Portland is really impressive; there are lots of bands that are really well-known and there’s also a big underground scene that no one knows about. It’s not too far from Seattle, so I can stay in touch with my family. I wouldn’t have wanted to move too far away.”
Saltbreakers is a recognizable Laura Veirs record, but from a production point of view, it’s a big move forward with orchestral arrangements and choirs. “Saltbreakers are ocean waves, so it has a lot of nautical imagery in it...and night-time imagery. I was going through a lot of personal upheaval, ending a relationship and getting together with Tucker, so it’s a strongly emotional record as well. One track has a choir that we got from a white Baptist church. We recorded them at Johnny Cash’s studio in Nashville. It all happened very much at the last minute but it was really neat, we were excited to record there.”
Was this idea anything to do with the French children’s choir which recorded some of Laura’s songs? “In a way. Tucker would say, ‘I hear a choir on that track.’ We also did a lot of multi-tracking on this record, the guys in the band would sing three or four times over and it would end up as a choir!”
Laura’s career has been allowed to develop organically with apparently little outside pressure to make commercial concessions. “That’s right. Nonesuch is the perfect home for us, they never try to interfere. They just say, go ahead, make a great record and express yourselves, so they kind of expect that we change and grow each time, and push ourselves. I think that helps us to be honest and authentic.”
Honesty and authenticity - rare words in the music business jungle. They are what make Laura Veirs and Saltbreakers such a breath of fresh sea air.
~ Oliver Gray
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http://www.lauraveirs.com
http://www.nonesuch.com
LAURA VEIRS' SALTBREAKERS album is out now on Nonesuch Records.
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