Electric Earth coffee shop, 546 W. Washington Ave., is fast becoming the nonalcoholic alternative for those searching for live music on the weekend, minus the high cover charge or need for a fake ID. Consistently booking solid acts, Electric Earth provides a laid-back, cozy atmosphere ideal for hanging out with similarly chai-minded friends.
New York-area band The High Strung is alighting on the Earth stage tonight in support of their album Soap, a catchy collection of songs sure to win over the crowd. Featuring Beatles-esque harmonies and poppy guitar and organ work, The High Strung will provide ample entertainment, sharing the bill with Mogda's Wah, Forte Diem and Flat. Cardinal Arts sat down with The High Strung's guitarist/organist Jason Berkowitz.
What's going on there? It seems a little noisy.
The High Strung: We're just having a little Bob Dylan sing-along in the next room. We just got done with \Maggie's Farm"" and ""Quinn the Eskimo.""
Anyway, how's the tour going? Everybody jumping for joy?
The tour has been outstanding so far; everyone's been really receptive. We've been playing unbelievable. The thing that I love the most is that we have won the hearts of every bartender of every club we have played. It means a lot when the bartenders are buying your CDs.
Can't hurt the pocketbook, either, winning over the bartenders.
I'm telling you, it makes such a difference at the end of the night, because we're scratching for every penny.
Have you ever been to Madison before?
We've played around the Midwest, but never Madison. We're getting a bit nervous, heading into uncharted territory. But we're ready to just do it.
You said you guys have been together a year and a half. How did you meet?
Four of the members knew each other growing up, and the five of us met together in college and jammed around for a while. Then ... we had all played together off and on, but we realized there were good songs to be played and got back together. I think that's why we're so tight, because separately we all played, too.
How do you write your songs?
We look at it as a band, we all contribute, but Josh and Mark are the main songwriters. The way it works is they'll have their idea down, pretty much have a full song and bring it in and then we'll completely arrange it. Chad [Stocker, bass] and I write too. This truly is the most prolific band I've ever known. We're ready for three more albums right now, literally. We have the song list down.
Who would you say are the main influences on the band, sonically and lyrically?
Of course, there's the Beatles, but on our earlier stuff, there's different sounds too. Mark [Owen, guitar] is definitely influenced by Dylan and I know Josh [Malerman, guitar] is by the Kinks and Beatles, but when it comes down to writing the song, they just kind of get it from nowhere. I know also with Josh a big influence is the Beach Boys. What we did, actually on the last track we listened to Pet Sounds and listened to the drums, to try and take that style for it. Our idea was a kind of Phil Spector, Dennis Wilson, sparse kind of drumming.
What can we look forward to in the future?
Our new EP, Sure As Hell, is more of a songwriter's approach, lyrically, and our next one is gonna be an all-out balls to the wall rock album.
