If You Go
MANCHESTER, NH – No matter if it’s for a national headliner or for a local band with a substantial following, album release shows always create something special. There’s more meaning coming into the entire experience with the energy usually fostering moments that can only occur at that particular place and time. Everything I just described is most likely going to happen at The Shaskeen Pub & Restaurant in Manchester on January 27 when local folk-rockers The NightBlinders take the stage. They’re going to be putting on a party for the release of their self-titled album that’s coming out on the same day. There’s going to be a killer bill to go along with the celebration with Boston rock act Matt Charette & The Truer Sound and the Americana string band the Danny Savage Trio rounding out the evening starting at 9 p.m.
I had a talk with vocalist and guitarist Miketon Graton ahead of the festivities about the making of the new record, a beer that’s also being unveiled at the show and what he hopes people take from the album after giving it a listen.
Rob Duguay: In what ways would you say this upcoming album from The NightBlinders is different from your previous albums “Building A Home” and “The Guiding Light”?
Miketon Graton: This record is vastly different from “Building A Home” due to us being a string band at the time with more of a folk influence I would say. We then transitioned from that into becoming an electric band. I was going through a rough time during the making of the second record, I had recently lost one of my parents and I never really had a good handle on what we were doing. The songs on it mean a lot to me but it kind of was like a whirlwind, I wrote that entire record in a month or something like that. This time I took a lot more time with it, the entire process took about two years and I really focused more on the songwriting and the other individuals in the band.
On fiddle, Cameron [Mason Smith Rappaport] came in with an explosion of notes and he played more with feeling than anything else. We focused on the lines that everybody was playing and how they kind of came together to make one cohesive piece. Although genre-wise wise the lines are a little fuzzy as far as I’m concerned, I think the way we approached the songs was much better.
RD: Last month, you guys released the single “The Wild” off of the album as a preview for it, so what made you want to pick that particular track?
MG: I don’t know, it’s just my favorite song that I wrote. That’s really what it comes down to, it’s the last song that I wrote and I didn’t know it would even make it on the record, but it kind of just fell together. I really love the chorus of that song and I love the way we play it together as a band. My friend Jeff Roberts from the band Light Crush came in to create the other guitar part on that and I just really enjoyed it the most. I kind of became my favorite and that’s what I picked.
RD: That makes sense. To go along with the album release show at The Shaskeen, you guys are teaming up with Candia Road Brewing Company to put out a helles lager called “One Helles Of A Night.” How did this partnership come about?
MG: Candia Road is my favorite local brewery and they’ve been for quite some time. We’ve made all of our records at Blackheart Sound and every time we made a record with Eric Sauter there it was at a different location. The second location was literally above Candia Road Convenience and it was also the week that Candia Road Brewing opened, so we went over there and I’ve been going ever since. I’ve been friends with Mike Neel, who is the head brewer over there, and they made this really cool beer with a band called Willzyx that I really liked. I’m a fan of lagers, so I called up Mike and I asked if this was something he could do so we sat down, discussed it a bit and it all came together.
RD: That sounds awesome. What are your thoughts on the release show at The Shaskeen?
MG: I think it’s going to be a great show. I’m excited to be releasing the beer at The Shaskeen as part of it and I’m also the co-owner of the place so it’s kind of our home base. I don’t get nervous playing shows there and it’s always got a friends and family type of vibe. I think Matt Charette is absurdly talented, he released a record last year called Lo-Fi High Hopes that I think is so great and he and the Truer Sound are kind of our sister band, we’ve played a lot of gigs with them and it’s good to get together with people that you really enjoy playing music with. My drummer Lee [Sevigny] really enjoys the Danny Savage Trio, I saw them once and I think they’re great so it’s going to be a fun time. It starts off acoustically and then it gets a little bit louder and harder as it goes through the evening.
RD: What do you hope people take from the album when they give it a listen after its officially released?
MG: I hope they take whatever they would like, honestly. I always make music with something in mind, I think most writers do, but I think once you create something and put it out there, it’s really up to the people who are listening to interpret it however they want. My original meaning, although it means a lot to me, doesn’t necessarily have to be the same for the people who are listening to the songs. They can take what they want from it, so I hope they take something if anything.