You can hear Paper Moon play every Wednesday night at the Royal Bobcat in Providence. Go to papermoonjazzband.com for more information or or check out their instagram, @papermoonjazzband.
TRANSCRIPT:
John Birt: We really dug into the music, kind of pre World War II, and particularly jazz that involves the guitar, and it really includes the acoustic guitar. So really getting into that world of, okay, you got acoustic strings, you’re kind of playing music from the songbooks of the 20s, 30s, and 40s. And really just exploring amazing sounds, and things from our favorite artists really, like Django.
Luis Hernandez: What is it about that era for you, Dylan?
Dylan Harley: I really like the simplicity of being able to just show up with two guitars and cause a scene and make a ruckus. And also that it’s, there is something timeless about it. That is, when you’re playing it, you do feel like you’re traveling through time or can be transported and you can see that happen for people who are listening to it as well. So between the simplicity and the kind of deep impact that that simplicity has, especially in this highly advanced technological age we’re moving in towards. Also as a drummer, I grew up playing, drums were my first like, love, true love. But it’s a bit cumbersome to move drums around all the time. So as a lazy musician, I really enjoy just showing up with the guitar.
Hernandez: Tell me a bit more about that interplay between the two guitars though, and, you know, what you can and can’t do with that.
Harley: Sure. my job, so I play rhythm guitar in it and, as I said, drums were my first instrument. And so I’m really approaching it sort of playing the guitar as a drum set or playing it as a drummer. So my job is really to lay down the foundation of the rhythm for John to wild out over and get crazy on.
Birt: And then, like, on top of that, you kind of always have the, He’s the rhythmic pulse. He’s really the thing that’s driving everything. And then what Django Reinhardt was doing, and also what I’m trying to do, is to kind of fill in the gaps. To add different textures, to add different kinds of things to kind of accent what he’s doing and really kind of fill in the space.
Hernandez: Tell me a bit more about that era and some of the performers you admire most.
Birt: Well, I mean, Django Reinhardt’s kind of the beginning of a lot of our sound. And then really the sound world that he was obsessed with is really kind of, he’s learning about jazz through recordings. So Django’s hearing all of this in Europe. And he’s hearing Louis Armstrong, he’s hearing Duke Ellington, he’s hearing all these different sounds and reacting to it as someone who grew up in Europe playing mostly kind of folk music. So he hears all of this, he hears the sounds of jazz, he hears the note choice, and he just kind of goes off and does his own thing. So that kind of sound world, plus once you add in stuff on Grappelli, like the interplay of an instrument that has sustain, like a violin or an accordion, plus what we’re doing with the guitars, really ends up kind of completing the picture.
Hernandez: How long have you been listening to Django?
Birt: I mean, I feel like I probably got into Django’s music heavily maybe about five years ago, six years ago, it’s always something like I knew about, but I really, I started trying to play it with some friends and I was mostly doing it on electric guitar. And I was like, no, this isn’t really, this isn’t the sound yet. I’m working on it. And then when COVID happened, that was kind of where I had the moment to kind of hit a hard reset as far as how I play. And I was like, Oh, well let’s really get into that acoustic sound. Let’s get into this technique that you need to be able to like really amplify what you’re doing and get that kind of sound.
Hernandez: What is it that drew you into this music though? What is, like, is there a moment you’re just like, oh my gosh, this is, this is everything?
Harley: One moment that’s clicked for me is playing live for people because this music is its immediacy.
Birt: It’s kind of a visceral ness to it. It’s music that really drives forward. You know, even when it’s slow, it still has like this really kind of, it always feels like it’s a little bit ahead of the beat. And I think, too, it’s music that’s kind of meant to be experienced live. I think the recordings do it justice. And really, when you hear Django play the same song in multiple takes, they’re completely different. So there’s just constant playfulness, there’s constant interplay between the two of us, and the more people that we play with, the better. but yeah, it’s music that just kind of, to me the thing that probably drew me in the most was the colors that, that Django decided to use in his chords, and in his melodic ideas is that he’s really, he’s taking ideas from the blues, but he’s also doing and using notes that normal American blues players would not use.
Hernandez: I wanted to switch over and ask you about the scene, the music scene here in Providence and again, you both have been involved in a variety of bands over the years. And then you mentioned the pandemic and I was, you know, thinking about the impact that that had on so many of us, but on artists, especially because you’re talking about performing live and for a while we couldn’t. And so I’m wondering, what would you say about the current state of music right now and how it was shaped over these last few years with everything that’s happened?
Harley: I think that we’ve seen like a real need for live music … One thing that I really love about this music that we’re playing in particular is that it’s great as background music. People can be having their date night. It can also be a focal point for people to listen to and, you know, hear what we’re doing. And meanwhile, we’re having fun doing it no matter what’s going on in the room.
Hernandez: But you said there’s a need for it. Is that, is it something from, from the performers or from the audience?
Harley: I think both. I think that just being in a physical space with other people. And feeling the actual pulse and vibrations of music and the pulse and, you know, coming from our end and the pulse and vibrations of love or laughter or food or plates clinking coming from the audience’s end. That’s food. You know, that’s, you can’t see it, you can’t touch it, but that’s actual food. There’s so many times that before going to the gig, I’ll be like, I’m tired from work. I don’t want to do anything. And then as soon as I get there, all of that washes away and I go home with more energy than I had walking into it. And I’d like to think that that’s the same for the people who come to see us play as well.
Hernandez: John, Dylan, it’s been such a pleasure. Thank you so much.
Harley: Thanks for having us.
[Music by John Birt on vocals and guitar, Dylan Harley on guitar, and Albert Behar on accordion.]
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