The Court and Spark

With Nashville and CMT turning country music into nothing more than a redneck version of pop, America needs bands like The Court and Spark. The San Francisco outfit is one of many rising alt-country acts remembering country music's soul and proving that the sub-genre is more than just a term people use when trying to describe Wilco. Led by singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist MC Taylor, The Court and Spark's roots go back 10 years to Taylor's previous band, a University of California Santa Barbara-based hardcore group called Ex-Ignota, with lead guitarist Scott Hirsch. Following that band's run, the two met up with drummer James Kim and began playing quieter music, focusing more on jamming, and even including Jim Morrison's nephew on bass for a practice session or two. They then moved to San Francisco, smoked what Taylor described as "mountains of weed," met up with lap steel guitarist Tom Heyman and began making music that has been compared to The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and Low. The band has gone through a slew of over 20 bassists while releasing its four discs (2000's Ventura Heights, 2001's Bless You, June's Dead Diamond River EP and last month's new full-length Witch Season) for Absolutely Kosher Records (also home of The Wrens), and can now count Dan Carr, formerly of Creeper Lagoon, as one of their own. Taylor told Recoil a little more about The Court and Spark, its two recent releases and life on the road.

Recoil: What were some of your objectives with making music when you first started out?
MC Taylor: When we first started out playing music, a really long time ago, we were really into jamming, which was not really the norm for hardcore type bands, and I still think that there is a little of that in The Court and Spark. We don't really jam live onstage though. Does that make a lick of sense? Also, we are still very concerned with making honest, soulful music - not the easiest thing to do, actually, lots of second-guessing involved there. In addition, we're a fun-loving group of guys, so I guess another objective would be good times.

R: How have those objectives changed over the years?
MCT: Probably more good times, less jamming. Or, depending on the night, I guess, it could be the other way around. It's hard to get tequila of any kind in Denton, Texas. Jose Cuervo does not count, so on a night like that, I guess jamming would be priority one. Also, making a good record every time at bat, at least in your own eyes - that's a good objective to have. It gets more daunting every time we start recording.

R: What sort of things from your home in the San Francisco Bay area helped inspire you to write Witch Season?
MCT: As far as I recall, a lot of those little lyrical phrases and such came from touring. 'Denver Annie,' for instance - it has a nice little cadence to it, and it just popped into my head one morning after we'd done a show in Denver. 'Witch Season' is kind of an L.A. County sort of song. "Steeplechasing" was written in the Ojo Sarco Valley in New Mexico several years ago. And so on and so on - little stories for each song, but I shouldn't give it all away. I feel like the Bay Area kind of provides a sort of varnish that we can paint onto a lot of our records, or maybe that's the perception that critics have, I'm not sure. But San Francisco is a beautiful place to live and a nice place, physically-speaking, to make music.

R: Why did you decide to release the Dead Diamond River EP before the new album?
MCT: Those five songs just felt like they fit together, and there was one shared song, 'Hallelujah,' so we thought, 'What the heck? Let's do this!' Also, we're making up for lost time.

R: How do the two releases work together?
MCT: The same artist, Eamon Ore-Giron, did both covers. And also, for the most part, the songs were kind of all written around the same time.

R: What things did you set out to do differently when recording Witch Season and Dead Diamond River from your last album, Bless You?
MCT: We wanted to make more cohesive records that worked from beginning to end like a true, pure piece of music. Of course, that's what we were saying in the interviews for Bless You, so I just don't know. I'm always working towards a better song, and I imagine everyone is just trying to play better and arrange things more intelligently. Soon we'll make a record of silence - I think that's as perfect as we could get.

R: When you tour, what do you take away from being able to see so much of the country and meet so many different people?
MCT: Several notebooks of reflections on the natural state of things here. The U.S.A. is a very beautiful and totally fucked country, and I am happy to drive around and play music for crowds big or small and write songs about it all. There's nothing better than seeing a friend that you've met through music, and seeing that friendship blossom into something deeper... and then getting to see those people, people who you normally wouldn't get to see very often, on a regular basis, like we do. Also, as someone who likes to have a regulated and regimented life, being on tour is a great thing. Wake up at nine, coffee at ten, in the van, read book from ten-thirty to three, stare out window from three to five, talk shit with everyone in the van, five to six, sound check, six-thirty to seven, and so on and so forth.

R: Conversely, what do you hope people take away from seeing The Court and Spark live shows?
MCT: On a good night, hopefully people take away an earful of good songs and really good playing done by five grown men who love each other very much, no irony or joking here, and love to make music together. On a bad night, a bunch of filthy guys slugging through a set of almost-songs. But this is getting rarer.

September 2004