Q&A with NewSong Contest finalists The Cardinal Sons
September 12th, 2013
We recently caught up with the New Orleans-based band
The Cardinal Sons, who as one of this year’s NewSong Contest Early Bird finalists is gearing up for their trip to New York next month to perform and compete in the
NewSong Contest finals at
Lincoln Center. Here’s what they have to say about life as a ‘family band’ growing up in the deep south, and more.
1. Who is the primary songwriter in the band or is it more of a collaborative effort?
As far as writing the base of the song (melody/lyrics/structure) John usually has an idea that we each run with. All of our songs become a collaboration, but John, and sometimes Joe, come up with the initial idea. We each write our own parts on our instruments, and almost always have our own say on the arrangement. The amount that we disagree and argue is proof that it’s not much of a dictatorship, but the multi-headed approach probably leads to better songs in the end.
2. How has your upbringing and culture of the deep south influenced your sound?
We were trained in the music of our 2 homes, Mississippi (blues) and New Orleans (jazz). We won’t ever be able to shake that, especially in the way that we play our instruments. Now that we are really focused on playing pop music, the influence is probably more subtle. But there are absolutely colors of jazz and blues in much of our music. As far as the culture influencing our sound, that probably has more to do with the rhythm of our songs. Playing in the south, especially in NOLA, you won’t get very far if you can’t make an audience move. And then I suppose our lyrics are influenced by our strict religious upbringing and the questions we all have while growing up.
3. There is something about harmonies when they are sung by brothers that simply can’t be replicated by vocalists who aren’t related. Is that something you notice? Are you influenced by other “family” bands?
Our voices and ranges are pretty similar, so that may have something to do with it. Or it may have to do with the competitive nature and each person trying to sing on top of each other, so it projects really well. It sounds funny to say “family” bands, but some of our favorites have at least a few siblings- Radiohead, the Kinks, Arcade Fire. The Jackson 5 is the by far the best family band we can think of. Ten years ago we might say the Allman Brothers and/or Oasis. We’ve also been listening to Haim a bit lately, who we hope to get a show with one day and then marry (obviously).
4. The band has recently released music videos for your songs “October Rolls” and “Underdressed”. Take us through that process a little bit….in a world where YouTube presence is more important to musicians than ever, how have these videos helped you reach new audiences?
Last week we released another one for the song “Young Guns” too. The videos have been instrumental in getting people to actually give us a try. I just think by nature, people are more willing to click a video link than a song, unless you’re really into music. And if it’s a really interesting visual to go with a really interesting song, we’d hope that people would share it in some way. I don’t think we’ve really achieved a ton of youtube views, so we’re certainly not in any kind of viral status, but to the people that see our videos, they represent us well and allow people to get a better feel for what we’re going for.
