Before the seasons changed and our rain-induced pseudo-hibernations began, we were able to gather up many fond musical memories during festival season. During one such venture we were able to talk to Hey Marseilles and Fences as part of our Better Know a CHBP Band series. As luck has it the two bands will be playing the Vera Project this Saturday. (Tickets $10, all ages, 7:30 PM)

We were able to catch up with HM frontman Matt Bishop. For you, our dear readers, we've included the highlights of our exchange below.

What have you all been up to since we last spoke before your CHBP performance?

Block Party and Bumbershoot exceeded expectations; the crowds had great energy and were larger than we anticipated considering how early our sets were. (That was especially humbling at Bumbershoot, where it poured the morning of our performance, yet the Broad Street lawn fill out pretty completely). We’ve been on a sort of hiatus since then; my professional obligations take me out of town for a couple of months each fall and I’ve just returned. In the meanwhile, we’ve been preparing to remix, remaster, and rerelease To Travels & Trunks nationally, and we’ve been writing new songs, one or two of which we hope to debut on Saturday.

When we saw you at two of your summer festival performances, CHBP and Bumbershoot, you all were able to elicit a very favorable response from the audiences. What calibrations do you all make when prepping to play more intimate settings, where presumably the vast majority of those in attendance are there to see you?

Whether we’re performing for a crowd who’s come to see us or not, our primary focus is to make our live performance an engaging and unique experience separate from our record. If it’s a more intimate setting, we’re lucky to have the flexibility that at an extreme means we can unplug our amps and pull out our patch cables and play acoustically. In larger settings, we might rehearse with an additional instrument corps or find other ways to engage the crowd in a compelling way.

Vera holds a very special place in the hearts of many around these parts. How do you compare the experience of playing Vera to other venues?

We are excited to find out for the first time what it will be like to play at Vera; to play there has been on our list of aspirations since we started. And we’re looking forward to continuing to set up more all ages shows, into the immediate future and beyond. We are hopeful that inherent youthful exuberance will replace the energy frequently provided by drink.

The Give album is one of the best benefit compilation's we've heard in quite a while. How did you all get involved with the project and what's your pitch on why our reader's should check it out?

Michael Hebb of Caffe Vita asked us to participate and we were pretty humbled to be a part of such a reputable lineup. Your readers should check it out because it embodies two important Seattle values: supporting issues of social import and excellent local music.

What's next for HM during the upcoming holiday season and beyond?

We’re looking forward to our first official tour—a short West Coast jaunt in early January—and we’re going to be on a Starbucks compilation that’s to be released nationally that same month. And the Holidays themselves usually mean heavy doses of egg nog while recording Christmas tunes in Jacob’s loft.

Filed in Arts & Events and tagged block party, fences, folk, hey marseilles, live music, Vera

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