Wovenhand

“Apocalyptic” and “fire and brimstone” are hardly the normal descriptors found on a songwriter’s bio. Then again, David Eugene Edwards is not your typical singer/songwriter.

The music of Woven Hand — a phoenix from the ashes of Edward’s late, great Denver band, 16 Horsepower — is about as easy to define as the words from an Old Testament prophet. For every abstract visual brought to mind, a thousand others surface as well: Jonathan Edwards fronting the Bad Seeds instead of Nick Cave, a rehabilitated Ian Curtis leaving Joy Division to start a Methodist Church, Tom Waits’s record collection falling into the hands of George Beverly Shea, etc. Yet one aspect of the music is certain: while brooding and filled with anguish, the message of Woven Hand is anything but self-indulgent.

Four albums strong, the latest effort — 2008’s Ten Stones — sees Woven Hand continuing to stretch its creative boundaries — or “outsource” as Edwards puts it. Enlisting long-time friends like Daniel Smith (Danielson) and Emil Nicolaisen (Serena Maneesh) who bring their skills to his signature solemnness, the result is nearly volcanic, an explosion of talent revealed by gutsy arrangements and searing lyrical themes. It’s a battlefield record.

In conversation, Edwards is about as straightforward as one might expect, yet, by weighing each question with an unexpected level of consideration, he also comes off as an artist unafraid to take his work seriously. A family man as well as a musician constantly on the road, Edwards opens up on topics spanning his writing process, musical friendship, songs for his wife, the Apocalypse, art, and Europe.

SSv: Let’s talk about the latest record Ten Stones. I was curious about the way it came together — to me, I hear a strong sense of immediacy within the album. From your perspective, what separates it from your previous work?

Woven Hand: Well, the main difference is that all the past records I’ve recorded in the same studio with the same producer/ engineer —  just a friend of mine who would do it in his basement, basically. Especially from the first record, second record (a little less on Mosaic) mostly I did everything myself. I played the drums, the bass and the guitars and put it together in the studio, so it had much more of a “studio” feel to it. This one, we’ve recorded most of it live to tape in a different studio — Daniel Smith’s studio in New Jersey, there.

So, having the bass player, the drummer, everybody who was bringing their character to it and it’s much more of a live representation of what we do sound like when we play live, which is much more aggressive and more straightforward. It’s a little less atmospheric. Those are the obvious differences.

SSv: Because you recorded it live, with the band there, do you feel like it’s more of a “band record” than a solo effort — not playing all the instruments, etc. — is it more collaborative?

Wovenhand: It is more of a collaborative effort. I mean, like I said, it’s just more of what we are when we play live. I don’t necessarily think of it as more of a “band record” — which it probably is, but I don’t really look at it that way. It’s more of what the live experience is like, which can vary — a lot of times live it’s just two of us, maybe three of us, sometimes four, sometimes I bring in different people.

We do have a core. Basically, at the core is the drummer and myself. For the past few years, we’ve been playing again with Pascal [Humbert] from 16 Horsepower on bass and a friend of mine from Brussels on guitar [Peter Van Laerhoven]. And also, we have our friend Emil Nicolaisen from Norway (of the band Serena Maneesh) who came and helped record and played guitar on quite a few of the songs as well.

SSv: So it’s a lot of people you’ve known for quite a while — a lot of friends helped out on this one?

Wovenhand: Exactly, yeah.

SSv: That’s great. I understand the writing process is you bringing the songs to the people that are helping out — so, in that sense, it’s still your project, right?

Wovenhand: Right, for the most part. I mean, there are two songs on the record I cowrote with the guitarist from Belgium. We worked together. They’re also one song from Pascal — the last song, “His Loyal Love” that was his guitar work.

SSv: I really like that one. The record, which I’ve listened to a few times now, it starts off really driving and, by the end, with a song like “His Loyal Love,” it has a real calm to it — but not without a strong energy, too.

Wovenhand: Good.

SSv: There’s a Carlos Jobim tune on the record — “Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars)” — a song I’ve always liked a lot. I was curious about the way it came about, in particular. Why did you choose that song for the record — is there a certain mood you wanted to capture by covering that tune?

Wovenhand: Y’know, it’s just a song. I’m a big Jobim fan as well as a Frank Sinatra fan. I’ve listened to this record that they did together for a long time and that song, in particular, always stuck out to me as just a beautiful song. There’s always at least one song on each record that I do for my wife and that was the one song I did for her.

SSv: How nice.

Wovenhand: Also, Emil Nicolaisen is a huge Jobim fan as well and also a really accomplished bossa-nova guitarist. So it made perfect sense for us to do that song together. We tried to put our own character into it but still stay true to the song. Yeah, we really enjoyed it — it’s just a beautiful song.

SSv: Definitely. At least when I listen to your version — I haven’t heard a version quite like it. You still have the character of the song and the melody but there’s also something going on underneath — a kind of dissonance.

Wovenhand: Right.

SSv: It’s nice to hear an artist having respect but also taking a measure of original interpretation.

Wovenhand: Right. Yeah, I hope that’s the way it worked out.

SSv: As a songwriter, you’re noted for your lyrical themes. I was noticing a few Biblical references in Ten Stones, however, I was curious about the first track “The Beautiful Axe.” Is the image a reference to a scripture or anything in particular?

Wovenhand: No, not necessarily. Just more of an abstract visual — it means quite a few different things to me. Basically what it means to me, in a nutshell, is the beauty of God and also the severity of God. As Christ returns, everyone will see him in his glory and beauty but it’s also a time of judgement, y’know? It’s kind of got that sense to it in the title.

SSv: Not to shift gears too much, but I wanted to talk to you about your relationship with Daniel Smith and how that got started. Was it mostly through your first band, 16 Horsepower — is that how you became acquainted?

Wovenhand: Yeah, I met Daniel when 16 Horsepower came to Philadelphia and played. He came to the show and introduced himself and we started talking. I’d also heard his music through another mutual friend in Atlanta and I had never heard of them before but I really loved it. I just loved the spirit of it.

Both of us had been listening to each other’s music before we’d met and when we met it was just really easy. We got along really well and immediately struck up a friendship and it continued from there over the years. We would see each other whenever we were coming through town or whatever and it just developed more and more into a greater relationship, y’know, to what it is today.

SSv: You said he did quite a bit of the engineering on the record and production?

Wovenhand: Right.

SSv: That had never happened before?

Wovenhand: That’s right. Daniel had been trying to get us into his studio for a few years and it had never worked out timing wise or whatever. But I just really made the effort and felt it was just time for a change of scenery, to get out of my element and record somewhere else — just to have a different experience. Yeah, I was really happy with the outcome.

SSv: How long did it take to track all the stuff, approximately?

Wovenhand: It took a few weeks. We all went out there and were there for about two weeks just live tracking as much as we could. Then, I went back maybe a few weeks later and did the vocals and a few of the overdubs. Then we took it to Philadelphia to mix it and sent it off to Bob West in Chicago for the mastering.

SSv: Sounds like a whole different process but you mentioned that sometimes putting yourself outside the element can yield good results.

Wovenhand: Sure. I was definitely comfortable in the way that I have been working in. I had much more control in the way I was working. But I really felt like it was going to be okay to, kind of, outsource — if you know what I mean — to a lot of the different aspects of the music. Because I do enjoy working with people I respect and that I enjoy to be with, y’know? It was just a really good experience.

SSv: I understand you have quite a few tour dates lined up.

Wovenhand: Yeah, we try to tour in America — we try to make more of an effort at that. We spend about four or five months out of the year in Europe touring. And it’s been that way since 16 Horsepower. Of course, we try to tour in America and it’s much more difficult for us financially. We have a much bigger fan base in Europe than we do here. As often as we can and when we can afford it, we do tour in America. So, we’re gonna try again in October, mostly on the East Coast and the South, then head back over to Europe in November/December.

SSv: From what I’ve read from other artists speaking about the support for the Arts in the States as opposed to the way the Arts are viewed in Europe,  Europe often embraces acts that don’t always get well embraced in the States. Do you agree there is a different kind of appreciation there?

Wovenhand: Yeah, I think there’s a lot of different things involved. I know a lot of bands and I see a lot of American bands when I’m over there and, y’know, all of us are in the same boat. Everyone has a struggle in America to do anything but in Europe there’s much more support in all directions. There’s a lot of different reasons for that. I mean, just the government itself and different areas really support the clubs themselves.

I understand how it works in America — you have a bar and everyone’s just barely making enough money to keep the bar open. You have six bands playing a night just to cover the costs, so you have to be quite a popular band to even get a show — just to be sure to cover their costs, y’know what I mean?

And the people who are working at the clubs, a lot of times in Europe, just seem happy to be there. They like their jobs. The sound-man likes his job, he likes his equipment — he’s proud of it. The lighting person, or whoever, they take a lot more pride in it. Whereas, in a lot of places in America, they basically feel like it’s a drag that they have to work! It’s just a drag that the band is there — they just wanna go home and watch TV or whatever.

SSv: [Laughs]

Wovenhand: [Laughs] So, they’re just trying to get it over with, if you know what I mean. Y’know, it’s not everywhere, this is just a general statement, but it’s much more of a labor in American, for sure.

SSv: It seems hard, when you go to shows and if people aren’t drinking at the bar, the bar’s not going to be making a whole lot of money, which is the main concern —

Wovenhand: I mean, that’s where they make their money. They don’t make any money off of the band. They make their money off of the booze. Y’know, the longer they can make the night — that’s why they have five bands playing because the earlier they can start, the later they can go, the more beer they’re gonna sell. So, it’s a whole different way of doing things, for sure.

SSv: You mentioned that in Europe, the funding for the arts comes more from the government —

Wovenhand: Yeah, not everywhere, but a lot of places are. The clubs get a certain amount of money from the government to make sure the bands get paid, make sure things are working properly — the equipment is working properly. Y’know, it’s not just music it’s all areas of art. There’s a lot more support and interest to keeping the art community thriving. It seems to play a much more important role than it does here.

SSv: Different artists have different perspectives on whether they prefer touring to recording or vice versa, where are you the most comfortable?

Wovenhand: It really depends — I’ve had good experiences and bad experiences in both areas. I enjoy to be in the studio, there’s a lot of freedom there. At first, when we were with 16 Horsepower and we were on a major label, we were recording in these big expensive studios and it got kind of tough — people breathing down your neck about the time. You’ve only got a certain amount of days — that wasn’t so great.

In the past ten years, or whatever, we’ve been doing it at our own pace. I can record, experiment, and do whatever I want. I really enjoy that and I really enjoy to play live as well. So, they’re completely different and I enjoy them both.

SSv: As far as finding a balance between those two things, do you ever find it’s a struggle trying to focus your time on one thing or the other?

Wovenhand: As far as recording and playing live?

SSv: Yeah.

Wovenhand: Well, the time presents itself to you, y’know — it’s like, “Okay, now it’s time to stop touring and it’s time to record,” y’know? I don’t really worry about it that much. [Some] are like, “Okay, it’s a new thing — I gotta put out a record every year” y’know what I mean?

The life of each record is different. I just kind of go with the flow — “Okay, this record is done, it’s time to move on. We’ve played these songs enough.” Some end up being a shorter amount of time and some a longer period of time. It’s just different.

SSv: Are the kind of guy who’s continually writing? Even, right now, you’re working on new songs for a new record?

Wovenhand: Sort of. I have a lot of other responsibilities outside of touring and playing music, y’know, I have a family. I have a lot of other things I have to do. So, when I’m home, music is, kind of, put aside, y’know? When it is time for me to start writing for another record, then I make some time. Certain things do come to me, here and there, more in the lyrical sense than a musical sense, throughout my everyday life.

I write here and there but I don’t really put my full effort into it until I know it’s time for it to be done — then I really start to work on it. I’m on the road so much that when I’m off the road, like I said, I, kind of, put it away.

SSv: So, you aren’t the kind of guy that would recommend keeping a notebook?

Wovenhand: I mean, I don’t know — I just know how I do it. I think everybody has their own system, their own method of doing such things, I can only speak for myself.

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