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| Rogue Valley (Credit: Justin Blair) |
Rogue Valley is performing at the Hotel Utah this Wednesday night (8/27) and we recently had a chance to catch-up with lead singer, Chris Koza. As of this writing, tickets can still be found here.
SFBayAreaConcerts: We’re totally psyched you’re coming into town. You’re
going to the Utah. The Utah is definitely one of my favorite venues. It
embodies this old California aesthetic, but it’s in the middle of south of
market. What do you look for when you guys are looking for venues?
Chris Koza: {Laughter}
Well, we just look for a place that’s somewhere on the beaten path. We aren’t
too into big venues, so we try to find a place that has a reputation and that
people like to go to. It’s a familiar place. A lot of people that we know in
San Francisco have heard of it, and have been there or been to a show. It’s got
some character, that’s for sure.
SFBAC: {Laughter} That’s a great way to describe
it. For sure, definitely. So for the tour right now, you said you guys have some friends around here.
Anything in particular you’re looking forward to do while you’re going to be in
town?
Chris Koza: Yeah,
we’ll probably play a little pickup basketball, maybe go down to
the pier. San Francisco is one of those cities that has a powerful kind of
energy that surrounds it. Just being in town feels so different than being in
any other city. And that’s one of our favorite things about coming to San
Francisco, is to drink it in while we can.
SFBAC: Well, I definitely agree with you
there, for sure. It’s a good time of year for that. So your last set of albums were broken out into the different season cycles: Spring (Crater Lake - iTunes), Summer (The Bookseller's House - iTunes), Fall (Geese In The Flyway - iTunes), Winter (False Floors - iTunes). What
inspired this kind of focus on these natural, heuristic elements? What made you
guys decide to go in that direction?
Chris Koza: Well
I think a lot of it stems from having traveled around the country playing
music, and getting a chance to see different parts of the country and the
seasons. So it was an easy way to craft a song cycle narrative that embodied so
many different songs. I’d say travel made a big impression on that project.
We’re living in Minnesota where we have four distinctive seasons.
SFBAC: You know, I feel so much of your music is
about being in transition, being in cars, visiting different places. It’s
interesting you guys try to conjure this it sounds like.
Chris Koza: It’s
just what came naturally {laughter}.
SFBAC: I was
listening to "Mountain Laurels" (iTunes) recently. And the harmonies are just crazy.
What’s your inspiration behind those harmonies? When did you first start thinking
about that?
Chris Koza: Yeah,
well there’s a lot of strong vocalists in our band. And growing up playing
music and making music, I was involved in a lot of choirs. So when I started
making pop music, folk music, I always felt that strong harmonies just helps to
enhance the melody. And more people singing – if people sing together well –
it’s stronger than just one person singing. I like using the vocal melodies and
harmonies as an instrument. It’s one of the most unique sounds in music, is the
human voice. And to use it as an instrument.
SFBAC: And the male-female dynamic you guys
have, listening to Geese In The Flyway (iTunes), it’s great too how you guys do different things with
different vocals. It really is like a separate instrument. And that’s part of
the whole mix.
Chris Koza: I
think there’s no certain spectrum of frequency range that another instrument
can hit.
SFBAC: Well you know,
speaking of travel, you had a track included in the movie The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and I'm thinking about all the travel,
and all the different cycles he’s going through, it has to feel like a perfect
fit for what you guys are doing.
Chris Koza: Yeah.
I hope that they found it, because they were searching for music that embodied
some of those things the movie goes with. It seems like a natural fit to me
after the fact of course. I don’t know what kind of process they went through
to find the songs. But I’m glad that it’s on there. We’ve had a lot of people
that have found our music because of that.
SFBAC: You know, it’s funny, because so much of
that movie is about travel. And we’re talking about some of the themes we were
talking about before, and I was thinking – rivers, valleys, moons, these motifs
– it seems like such a perfect fit that completely makes sense.
Chris Koza: Yeah.
I thought it made sense too.
SFBAC: I was importing
some of your stuff into iTunes, and for some reason the genre wasn’t coming up. And I
was trying to think, where does this fit? It’s psychedelic, folk, indie,
rock. Do you classify your sound? Or are you not limited to that?
Chris Koza: I
generally say Americana, which to me is a bit of a copout. It’s just a bit of a
hodgepodge, like you said. There’s definitely songs that are pop oriented, and
songs that are more acoustic based or folk based, and songs that have as you
said a bit of a psychedelic flavor to them. So all in all, since it’s about
travel, and travel only in the US, it’s Americana. It’s road music, transition
music. I think Americana is the right genre.
SFBAC: That definitely makes sense – for
sure. You were talking about acoustic before, also. I feel like you
guys do a great interplay. There’s some songs that I listen to that I think
just could work completely acoustically, and there’s some stuff you guys go big
with. What makes you decide when a song is going to be a more subtle song,
versus a song that has just a ton of dynamics to it?
Chris Koza: Basically
if I start adding stuff to a song, and I add stuff and I like it more, then I
keep adding stuff. If I start adding stuff and I like it less, then I stop
adding stuff, and take it away. So, whatever seems to support the overall focus
and energy of the song is how I try to scope the arrangement. At least for
those songs, that’s the process behind it.
SFBAC: Excellent. Very cool. Well we’re psyched
to have you guys in town. We’re looking forward to it, for sure.
Chris Koza: Awesome.
We are looking forward to it too. It seems like we’ve been getting out there
once a year. You know? One of these days, we’ll try to come out there and play
it up real huge. But for now we’re just real glad that there are some people
who are excited that we’re coming back. We’re looking forward to putting on a
good show.
SFBAC: I think the Utah is going to be great,
too. It’s a great space, it’s going to have an intimate sound – I think it’ll
be great. I think you guys will be able to have a good show. So thanks a ton
for making time for us. We really appreciate it.
