An Interview with Bill Mallonee

Last month I interviewed Bill Mollonee of the Vigilantes of Love. He was sick with a cold, but that may be the only reason I was able to catch him. I asked him about their upcoming release and about the history of the band.

Tell me about Audible Sigh. Is it the "promised" acoustic album?

no,no..it's not...when i do that record..well it's mutatin'...becomin' a bit more like the fragile stuff on Big star 3...scary...a bit like "holocoust"...it's the vibe i'm after...Tom Waits...a stolen, captured moment...i want the songs for that one to be...heart rending...and a bit whack...like the versions of Judas Skin and only a scratch on Slow Dark Train...you wouldn't call it purist folk...but that's why i really love it...seems a bit confining to the ideas i want to explore...

so what is audible sigh...? in some ways it's like the bookend of last year's "roof of the sky"...the sounds sonically a a bit cleaner...call it radio friendlier...not in a bad way...we took some care 'cause we had buddy miller and we had a budget that was more than a credit card (like ROOF was) but the themes are still the big ones...told from the vantage point of desperation and frustration...with the industry, our lives our lack of options...170 dates each year for the last three years will mess with your perspective about everything and everyone...how do you not grow bitter, crazy, distorted, or permanently maimed from it?...it's all in the folds of the tape.......

Speaking of Tom Waits, he gets you with the "undertow" of his songs - this underlying sonic quality - something missing in today's CCM music. Is that what you mean by whack?

exactly...whack as in twisted...just slightly skewed...as far as the acoustic record goes...well we've had a number of fans who think killing floor is our very best...that has always struck me as funny...partially because i write so much from the inside out that i tend to view records as snapshots of a band's life and it relation to grace and the world...and partially i see no need what so ever to rank albums..it is true that the early records have a transparency about them...i really came into my own on the killin' floor stuff...it still had an innocence about it...fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately)..i've tried to develope an economy of language and a broadening of themes as the last records have surfaced...i endeavor to write with no filter inbetween...tha's why i think those songs perviously mentioned Judas and Scratch are so cool...they are confessional..even when it's uncomfortable...that's what i'd like an acoustic/ more fragile disc to be about...

Julie and Buddy Miller helped out with vocals and guitar. Is there a connection with the Millers because of their history in CCM?

well i did see them at Cornerstone fest one year...but no i wasn't really aware they were a CCM act ever...i just loved their transparent approach to making good honest music...i guess julie did release a few records there (the CCM market)...i found out about them from Dan Russell at Fingerprint records...and i then i heard julie's "orphans and angels" and buddy's "your love and other lies"...which got juylie a deal on Hightone records...they wanted to know who the chick singer was on buddy's records...

Did Julie do any of the songwriting on the new album?

no...these songs are all mine...usually compiled from journals and then all the rough cassette recordings i do...i'm not real into the home studio thing...i'm pretty non-technical....just show me where to plug in and what to sing into...i sorted through about 25 tunes for this album...

Who is in your current line-up, and do you have any guest musicians on the new record?

the bulk was handled by us of course...kenny hutson:guitars, mandlin,pedal steel, 12 string,bgv's: me: guitars, harmonica's and lead vocals..jake bradley: bass...but since we had buddy producing in nashville we had access to brady blade on drums (steve earle, emmylou harris) and emmylou herself on a vocal...phil maderia on B-3...and buddy's wife...the ever splendid julie miller on a few backgroung vocals...she is one of my favorite singers...buddy did some mand-guitar on a track and a 12-string part...it was the easiest record i've ever made...

What is Pioneer Music Group? Sounds like a start-up label...

well...we'll see i think they are a part of Pioneer audio...and disrtibuted by atlantic records...are they still around...did they get bought up? we're happy that they seem to "get it."...no artifice or superficial stuff...just a good deal of new energy and dedication...

You're known as a hard working band that tours a lot. When will you start touring for this album, and what are some of your major stops?

well...that's a good rep to have...i love touring...i miss my wife of 18 years...but we have a great love...it's stood the test our all the wierdness we've had to endure in this "line-of work" so to speak...she and my two sons are first always...if at some point it's just too much...(this is our deal)...if it's too much of a strain on the relatiuonship...i'm outta here...i'm not risking something made in heaven and eternal for rock and roll...but so far so good...we'll start touring with our new drummer, kevin heuer, in ernest in the middle of Apr...just befor the disc is out...kevin is killer ....probably the hands down best drummer we've had since travis went to play with "better than ezra."...we have a great chemistry...we need to think about how to stay out of jail we're having so much fun...

Are you familiar with a band called PFR? Apparently they called it quits for marital reasons...

i do know of them...wasn't awae of the reasons for their disbanding...i'd have to say i applaud their decision...you know becoming one flesh and growing therein is a bit more important than being shackled with this false sense that you're important because you're a rock star in this culture...with the wrong emphasis i think it's just another form of idolatry, don't you?

Are you excited about this tour?

oh yes...we've always found that when we're able to put our lives and songs in front of people...we usually get a great response...it's the other side of the coin for an artist, i suppose...a way of validating oneself...we're all such thin-skinned creatues, you know...

Your last album, To the Roof of the Sky, was self-produced. Has the new record been easier to make?

yes from the stand point that having a bit more dough allows you time to really dress it up a bit...focus a bit more on what makes a song tick...and try to make that "tick" sound very loud...draw it out a bit more......take some time...logistically and technically to make it's sonic impact better...but "no" in another way...because i think i'll always be hopelessly drawn to the rough and ready sound of the noisy clatter of the quality of the first run through...the first take...of course there's execution and pitch and what not...but there is a lot to be said for the magic of a band in a room doin' it's thing...goin' for something every night..that's what we did on ROOF of the SKY and the subsequent "live" at the 40 watt disc last year...just snapshot of a band...uh, affirming itself...but on Audible Sigh..we got to take the time to get inside the songs in a new way that allowed for more diversity in each song by song...and i think more preserved passion...that's why we do music at all...it went some places that open you up to new possibilities...that was due to the caliber of folks like buddy,brady and phil...

What does having more money mean to you for recording? Studio musicians? More time?

really it just means more time taken to think through a song...sometimes you can do a song to death in the process...i've never been into that..it's why i love Neil Young's approach...learn the song, run it down once or twice...and roll the tape...capture moment of a real band doing it's thing in the studio..as "live" as possible..i feel you really can sense the organic and visceral element come through...that's why i think we'll still be listening to all the "old school" records a long time from now.

Who have you worked with in the past, and who has inspired you the music?

well we've worked with peter buck, and then let's see jim scott (tom petty, bruce springsteen)...oh and of course john keene (cowboy junkies,r.e.m., widespread panic, vic chesnutt)..inspiration...well see iheard all that stuff that's callin' itself alt-country growing up...Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and george jones...but i got it from Dylan...some stones records (Sweet Virginia)...you know the sort of tip of the hat by rock bands to their influences...plus my voice seemed more real in that genre...the themes of sin and redemption...came later...but that's all there too...

What are some of your favorite albums?

well..i can tell you that i'm playing alot of my old collection for my kids these days...my 10 year old really likes "my back pages" (the Byrds version)...and my older son who is 15 really loves "all along the watchtower", the hendrix take on electric lady land...interesting that they're both classic Dylan tunes...and then Lennon's "strawberry fields forever"...those songs just took me somewhere when i was a kid...throw in "the weight" by the Band...and i was slain...

Let's talk about the history of the band. How did you get started in music?

me and an accordian player...folk clubs in and around athens, ga. and atlanta...did SXSW in '92 after releasing two records and touring a bit...capricorn signed us...loved hearing the replacements, R.E.M., jason and the nashville schorchers all in a month back then in athens in the late 80's...

Your first few albums were labeled "power folk" before anyone had come up with the term alt-country. Do you think you helped form the foundation for the genre?

never heard the term...like it...but i suppose i dug the more anthemic elements of folk-rock....Killin' Floor ,produced by peter buck and the late great Mark Heard...was a real step at "finding my voice" so to speak...see around the atlanta scene ('92-96) there were a bunch of acoustic players...but it wasn't folk..it was pop on acoustic guitars...and it was kinda sappy...and i never really liked it that much...felt a bit like what our old sound guy use to call "housewife rock"

What is your favorite VOL album?

the last two...'slow dark train" and "roof of the sky"...but i think the new one (audible sigh) will probably be the best of all...

What is your favorite VOL song?

oh i don't know...Judas skin...and maybe farther up the road..it all floats my boat...i write so i can hear it on a CD player...

You have a new live album available as well. What are some of the songs on it, and where was it recorded?

recorded live at the 40 watt here in athens,ga on May 16th,1998...a very cool disc...recorded without our knowin' it by a fan...who then threw a bit of compression cureve on the mix...and it sounds great...2 new unreleased songs on it...the others were off the tour...mostly roof of the sky songs and stuff off slow dark...a few surprises...

How many albums to date?

Audible sigh...will make it 10 albums..since '92

You are a prolific songwriter. What process do you go through to write a song? Lyrics first, or music?

a bit of both...i love you justing "letting" the first thing in my head pop out if i'm playing a progression that's movin' me .i like to be open to the moment...i keep a journal...that's more lyric oriented...

How do you select songs for albums with so many to choose from?

usually the band is always a few dozen "behind"...so when it comes time to do a record...it's whatever we know...plus about 3-4 i pitch right then and there iun the studio...."resplendent" off the new one was like that...emmylou harris just completed whar was a real great experience of organically letting a song write itself...

Many of your songs have a spiritual dimension. Where do you get your ideas from?

i guess the over all tenor of the songs are confessional...i'm pretty much given to cyclical depression...i probably "go there" too much...i'm a complete screw-up...i'm a debtor...to grace, to mercy...to Christ.

Do you consider yourself part of the CCM fold?

No...i don't understand it...you commercailize the Gospel...and you trivialize it...it seems to be not a genre at all....just a marketing concept...pitched at 11 to 16 year olds...i'm not saying i doubt the sincerity of those engaged in the sub- culture...i just personally don't get it...it's like preachin' to the converted...i know we have a large cross-section of folks who would describe themselves as Bible-believing Christians...that's fine...i would say that i too believe in Christ Jesus...His person and his work...but how that plays out in the dark world i stumble through...is what i want to be writin' about...not about over-spiritualizing every aspect of my life...that strikes me as dishonest....