Interview: Sean Rawls of Still Flyin’
September 15th, 2009 by Chad Radford in Listening Stack, Music news
When former Masters of the Hemisphere vocalist and songwriter Sean Rawls left Athens for the Bay Area, he founded Still Flyin’, which began as a 14-piece-plus white reggae band. Over the years Rawls has tamed the reggae urge with a bit more of a dance-floor pop sound that comes to fruition on the band’s debut full-length, Never Gonna Touch the Ground. Through it all, the group has undergone a serious transformation without ever taking itself too seriously. HAMMJAMM is its credo, and freewheeling eclecticism combined with infectious rhythms that keep the party moving is the band’s way of life.
Chad Radford: How have you been? We haven’t spoken since the last Masters of the Hemisphere reunion back in 2006.
Sean Rawls: Pretty good, man. The Masters are playing again on Friday at Caledonia in Athens…
I wanted to ask what this Owl Hootenanny is all about.
We were on Kindercore Records out of Athens and one of the guys who used to run that label, Ryan Lewis works for Owl Scooters now and he’s putting on a big festival show/party thing that is Kindercore and Owl Scooters together. He wanted Still Flyin’ and the Masters to play, so we’re doing it for our buddy.
The last time I saw Still Flyin’ play was a few years ago. You were a 14-piece reggae band back then, but that seems to have changed.
Yeah it’s a little different. We started out as a reggae joke band but then it got kind of serious because we liked it so much. Now it’s more pop music. Our first album came out last spring and it’s more like dancey, rhythmic music. We call ourselves party music, I guess. There’s a lot less reggae going on with us now, but it’s still there.
Still Flyin’, Peelander-Z and Excalibrah play the Earl on Sun., Sept. 20. $10. 8 p.m. 404-522-3950.
Were you the main songwriter for Masters of the Hemisphere?
There were two of us, but I’m the main songwriter for Still Flyin’.
It seems like there’s a good pop sensibility in your songwriting.
Yeah that’s where it all comes from. The reggae thing was more like a filter for the pop songs. Now we’re a lot more dancey; maybe even disco sounding sometimes.
Are there still 14 people band?
There are 15 in our core membership, but when we tour it’s always different because not everyone can always make it out on the road. We also can’t really afford to have everybody there always. I think there will be 11 of us this time, but we’ve had as few as 9 players and as many as 20. It just depends on what the circumstances are.
Is it difficult to keep track of what everyone is doing when there are that many people playing the music?
It’s pretty easy, actually. There are probably only about 8 of us who are actually playing and everyone else are just kind of hanging out, jamming some brews and high-fiving each other; maybe singing a little bit. So as far as actual musical stuff goes there’s only about eight of us and some of that is the horn section, so they don’t count for big parts of the song. It’s not like we have 12 guitar players and it turns into a shit storm. I mean it is a shit storm but we try to keep it a little bit calculated.
Tell me about the song on your album called “Good Thing It’s a Ghost Town Around Here.”
It’s a lot of fun to play live and it’s real dancey. It’s about playing a Still Flyin’ show and having to go to work the next morning with a hangover. The actual song is about this time that was right before Thanksgiving and a lot of people were out of town, so there was no one at work. I was happy that I could put my head down on my desk and relax.
What’s HAMMJAMM? I keep reading about it on your site…
When we first started out we thought that people would describe us as a reggae band, and if someone read that and then saw a bunch of white indie rockers playing reggae that it would be a huge turn-off. So we wanted to invent our own genre of music, so to speak. It basically means partying and having a good time — partying with your friends. It not only applies to music, it’s also a way of life. You could HAMMJAMM with your parents if you want to when you go visit them. Or you could play in your band and play some HAMMJAMM music. HAMMJAMM can break out of anywhere at anytime and when you least expect it. It’s more of a state of mind than anything else.
(Photo courtesy Still Flyin’)
September 16th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Their album is v good.