One of the most beautiful things about music today is genre fluidity. Bands don’t have to play to or be judged by their pigeon-holed label. They can pull from wide and diverse influences and apply at any given moment.
The Devil Makes Three, who appear at White Eagle Hall in Jersey City on Sunday, may be “classified” by some (this writer included) as a bluegrass band, but that in fact would be denying the totality of their sound. With roots in punk and inspirations drawn from folk, jug band and old time blues. Their songwriting is an evocative, storytelling format that harkens back to America’s earliest days of song, but yet are framed in such a modern and impactful way. Simply put — The Devil Makes Three isn’t a band that you can simply define with a label, they’re a band that must be sonically experienced in order to understand the true, truthful and powerful essence of the band.
Pete Bernhard of The Devil Makes Three spoke with us recently about the potential for new music from the band, their genre fluidity, their punk roots, and their best show ever.
In 2019 you released two tracks “Wheels” and “I Am A Woman” — are these two songs a taste of things to come for new music in 2020 for the band?
Yes, I think they that they are in fact a taste of things to come but also an opportunity for Cooper [McBean] and Lucia [Turino] to sing lead. On our last album Chains Are Broken neither one had a song where they sang lead. If Fact Lucia has never had a lead on a TDM3 recording, so it was a fun project.
Also in 2019, you released a Live from Red Rocks record. Can you talk about the experience of performing at one of the most iconic music venues in the United States? Does it live up to the hype and legend we’ve heard through the years?
It was one of the best shows we have ever played. I would say that Red Rocks more than lives up to the legend and we feel extremely honored to play there every time we get the chance. Most beautiful place to see a concert in the U.S.? I think so.
On your website, you said you want your songs to unfold like short stories. Can you take us into your thought/creative process of why you enjoy writing songs this way?Â
I am always on the lookout for good stories. Thus it’s a good idea to watch what you say and do around writers and songwriters. The next thing you know you end up in a song and the writer always has the option of plausible deniability. My songwriting process is to start with the story and build the song around that. It’s a folk music tradition more or less. To be honest, I don’t always enjoy the songwriting process. At times it can be terrible but every once in a great while a song just drops in my lap, and I am always thankful for those. To me my songs are like kids, some of them are hard workers others got kinda weird around their teens but I love them all. Hopefully none of them get me put in jail.
Also, do you find that the bluegrass genre really allows for you to construct your songs in this way?
Here’s a secret, we know next to nothing about bluegrass. Our music is much more influenced by early blues, jug band music and old time. The closest we come to bluegrass is the great Doc Watson one of our heroes. Cooper and I luckily saw him perform 3 or 4 times before he passed away. Our musical method is to ignore genre completely and try to create music that we enjoy playing. We don’t think about our genre at all when we are making music.
I was reading, and was surprised to learn, that back in the day you and Cooper played in a number of punk rock bands. Can you talk about why you guys made the transition from punk to bluegrass?
It’s true, all of us in the band were heavily influenced by the punk scene and the energy of punk shows. How we did it I don’t rightly know. We loved punk music and we loved banjo music so we introduced them and they seemed to get along. We were definitely not the first to do this. Bands like The Pogues had a huge head start on mixing traditional music with punk rock spirit. Split Lip Rayfield and The Bad Livers/Danny Barnes also were doing the same kind of thing as well. I find there is a link between folk and country/blues music and punk music, hard luck songs, and angry songs, political songs and heartbreak. My understanding of punk was to do whatever you wanted and to own it. That is rock and roll in a nutshell, we approached it with different instruments but the same intentions.
You guys have been at it for nearly 18 years as a band. What is it about The Devil Makes Three that you love, that keeps you coming back day and day after, that makes you want to dedicate such a large part of your life to it?
The Devil Makes Three is my family. The band, the crew, the music and the lifestyle. I never thought twice about dedicating my life to it. It was non negotiable from day one.
It’s a brand new year — what are you most excited for, for Devil Makes Three?
We are excited to write new music and go to places we have never been.
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