LiveDaily Interview: Wild Sweet Orange

Wild Sweet Orange [ tickets ], a Birmingham, AL-based pop-rock outfit, recently wrapped an early summer tour alongside Augustana.LiveDaily contributor Maya Marin interviewed the Alabama natives, discussing everything from the band's origins and aspirations to memorable moments from the tour trail.LiveDaily: Let's talk about the origins of the band. I understand that some of you guys go way back, is that right?Preston Lovinggood: Yeah, way back to fourth or fifth grade. Something like that. Okay, and how did the band come to be?PL: The band came to be ... I think we all just wanted to play music. I met Chip and Chip taught me how to play bass and then I think Garret lived down the street from Chip. You know how it happens when you're young, you just get together and play music and so that's kind of what we did. You all sort of shared the same aspirations?PL: Oh yeah, totally. That's when the Beatles documentaries came out on T.V., I think, before they released them on DVD, and I remember watching that with Chip and Garret and getting really inspired. Now here's a question for you individually or to whoever can answer "yes" to it: was there a moment of epiphany you think when you knew that you wanted to be a musician and this is what you wanted to do with your life, and if so, can you describe that moment?PL: I think we probably all have different answers to that question and I'm interested to see if Taylor's had that moment. I know that I had that moment and I remember exactly where I was ... I was driving home from middle school with Ms. McIntosh, she lived down the road and she took us to school and back, and I was in a lot of theatre and plays and I was really stressed about what I needed to do for the rest of my life. I guess it's like, in the South, they start brainwashing children at a young age about what they're going to do for the rest of their lives. So I was really neurotic about it and thinking I needed to decide whether I was going to be an actor or going to be in a rock band, and I remember just being like, "I want to be in a rock band. I need to do that. That's what I want to do with the rest of my life." I think that was in the sixth grade. I think it was through Chip and Garret and I's relationship and really seeing--what's that scene in the Beatles documentary where they play that stadium? Shea Stadium? Yeah, I think that's what did it for me is when I saw the Beatles play through that crappy P.A. at Shea Stadium, I was knew that's what I had to do. Taylor Shaw: I was in my dad's car driving into a trailer park, actually, and we were listening to the Allman Brothers, but I felt moved and so, after that, I just locked myself in my room and played guitar for a long time.Alright. So thanks Ms. McIntosh and thanks for trailer parks. TS: And Allman Brothers.And Allman Brothers! So who or what do you consider the biggest influences on your sound?PL: You know, I think this band is more inspired by a lot of ideals than necessarily music. I know that bands like Fugazi and bands like that have really inspired Matt and that whole punk rock attitude and mentality has really inspired us to kind of not do what's normal. We've been in bands, like seven different bands until this band, and our style has changed and made us what we are today, so I think our environment has inspired us ... a lot of movies and books, and I know that we all enjoy all different types of music. I think what I'm trying to do with this band is to write really pretty, poppy folk songs on guitar and then give them to the guys and have them almost destroy them ... totally make them into bloody rock songs, if you will. Think you can give me a list of maybe some of the books and movies that have been influential?PL: Well, what's kind of creepy is [we had] never been to California before [as a group] ... personally, I never [had], but a few of the guys [had] ... but I'm really inspired by David Lynch, so driving across the California line, it was weird. It was like we were coming into David Lynch-land. And then we just passed Mulholland Drive and everything, so ... I think anything that's other-worldly, anything that's more than just this 3D dimension, this physical world, anything that's spiritual or tapping into something else besides what we think is reality, I think I'm really attached to. I think all good art sparks this huge fountain of wonder and so I think any book that does that too ... I'm really into Southern literature, like Southern gothic literature, especially like Flannery O'Connor. She's known for twisting things and looking behind things and looking into things more than what the eye sees, you know, so stuff like that. TS: Well, I was going to say David Lynch too, but I'd say anything by Salinger, as far as writing goes.So tell me a little bit more about home. What's the music community in Birmingham like?PL: There's a really good music community. Taylor's in a really good band called The Great Book of John and Garret's in a really good band called Red Harp. Everyone in this band writes their own songs and you find that a lot. There are a lot of bands full of songwriters and so it makes for really good bands. I think in the South you're kind of forced to have to be creative or kind of crumble. How so?PL: Hmm. Well, it's just easy to fit into the mold, does that make sense? It's easy to go to college and stuff like that, which isn't bad, it just wasn't for us and so it was hard because everyone expects you to do that. And so we just knew that we had to stick to this. I think there are a lot of kids like that, who are rebelling against what their parents are trying to get them to do and they're writing a lot of great music because of that tension. Okay. PL: Does that make sense?Yes, it makes perfect sense. How important or influential are your cultural roots, then, to the music that you write?PL: I would say they're vital. I think I'm kind of a ... is it nature versus nurture? I definitely believe in that whole nurture thing. I think we're all products of our upbringings, of the environment we were in and I think that develops our reality and how we look at life, so I think that without Birmingham and without the parents that loved us well and without the whole deal, without pain and everything, we wouldn't be writing the kind of music that we are today.