Barefoot Truth will play at Fairfield Theater Company on Feb. 21.
Indie jam band Barefoot Truth, based out of Mystic, Conn. is returning to Fairfield to play a concert at the Fairfield Theater Company on Feb. 21. The young band, formed in 2005 by Will Evans (lead vocals, guitar, drums) and Jay Driscoll (vocals, guitar, percussion) is touring for the release of their new CD, “Threads,” which will be released on Feb. 16. Tickets are on sale for $12 at fairfieldtheatre.org.
The Mirror talked to Evans about the upcoming concert.
The Mirror: You have a new album coming out on Feb. 16, “Threads,” what are your thoughts on it?
Will Evans: I am really excited about it. It’s been almost two years in the making. We’d go in and do five songs and then wait five months and record again. Basically, we would spend all the money we had and then tour more and go back. I have had more than enough time to think about the album and the fact that I still like it shows that it is good. We were definitely able to play songs a bunch and work on things. We were able to change things. We added some horns during production.
TM: Are you happy to be playing in Connecticut again?
WE: It’s nice to play close to home. I love the Fairfield Theatre Company. It is a nice venue – you are really surrounded on the stage, with nice room to play. We hope to build our Connecticut following, especially with students in the Bridgeport, Fairfield area. It is a nice market to go back to for us. It’s only a hour, to a hour and a half away from our house [in Mystic, Conn.], usually our shows are two to 18 hours away.
TM: Where did you grow up?
WE: I grew up in Mystic and then moved to Vermont and then relocated back to Mystic in high school. I have been in between the two places my whole life. Three of the guys are from Western Mass. and one is from Alaska. We all live together now in Mystic.
TM: Have you found it helpful to be living together?
WE: Definitely. It’s been great to be able to bounces ideas off of each other the minute they come up. We rehearse regularly, especially when we have a bunch of shows coming up. It’s off-season rental, so not too many people are around. It’s cold and drafty, but we huddle together. The band is built in our friendship. We enjoy hanging out as much as [we do] playing.
TM: The band was formed on the Connecticut shoreline and you live there now, do you think the shore and beach culture has influenced the band’s sound?
WE: It certainly had an impact on our older staff, when we first started writing songs it was just a duo we had a beachy sound. But I think we have really branched out musically, we have a lot of the same messages lyrically, but musically we have advanced. We have great jazz musicians and a dynamic sound. It is rewarding to blend the old typical sound and keep some elements while adding jazz. We try to keep within limits, while at the same time innovate. We get bored with the same music. At our shows the sound varies, with a handful of acoustic songs, reggae, jazz, rock…
TM: What was it like touring with former Dispatch member Pete Francis in 2008-09?
WE: It was great. A couple of us always looked up to Dispatch, so to play with one of the guys from the band was phenomenal. We were playing each other’s tunes as one band, which was cool, to see how we interpreted his songs and then added to it and how we fit him into our stuff. We got to play cool shows, like last summer we were able to play a few festivals and get out west.
TM: Who were your main influences?
WE: It depends who you ask. The jazz guys will tell you that the influences are guys like Jamie Cullum … Billy Joel. Jay [Driscoll, guitarist, vocalist, co-founder with Evans] and I are very acoustic. Our influences are Dave Matthews Band, Jack Johnson, laid-back music. But I really love hip-hop too, so I am trying to work that in, like Jurassic 5, the rhythms, not the rapping. We are all over the board. Similar sounding bands would be like John Butler Trio and Guster.
TM: Do you think the band is heading in a good direction?
WE: Oh yeah, I think we are all excited to hit the road this spring with the new creation. We all finally feel a part of the CD. Every CD before hasn’t had everyone contributing as much, basically everyone was still in school so that came first and we did what we could. This record we were all in it together. It is fun to have created something … it’s a different kind of feeling. We want to share it with the world, we are all really excited. Hopefully the record is good enough to take us to the next level. Whether it is someone at a live show passing on our name and someone downloading our music. We are big advocates of getting the music out by whatever means.
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