8/9/2019 REL38_manchesterlowres

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/rel38manchesterlowres 1/2

BY DYLAN PETERSON

Q&A WITH LEAD SINGER ANDY HULL

74 / RELEVANT_MARCH/APRIL 09

8/9/2019 REL38_manchesterlowres

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/rel38manchesterlowres 2/2

Are you learning any life lessons out

there on the road?

The key life lesson I learned over

the past few whirlwind years is that

life lessons never stop. There is

always something to learn. I’ve had

to come to the realization that I’ve been giventhis “calling” to be a musician. That doesn’t

mean I’ll see success or that I’ll always play

music in this band, but I do think it means

that regardless of how I feel at a venue eight

hours before we play, or if I feel sick and just

don’t want to play ... it’s not really up to me.

This is what we do, this is what we’re blessed

with. I think people are given talents in life

and it’s weird if you don’t use those talents.

The reason people have talent is so that it

can bless other people. So what if I write a

song and a random Canadian girl hears it and

immediately realizes that she has to paint

some insanely awesome picture ... or what ifsomebody paints a picture that I see and I’m so

moved by that, I have to write a song about it?

It’s all relative and we all have talent; we just

have to find out how to use it.

It’s a strange time to be a full-time

musician, though. Are you worried

about the music industry? What are

your thoughts on the state

of music?

Specifically, I don’t care if people

download my music; it makes me happy to hear

they do. They could easily be downloading the

new Tokio Hotel record. Which they probablydid before they downloaded ours anyways. I

co-own and run our label, Favorite Gentlemen,

with our drummer, Jeremiah [Edmond], and if

you’re a forward-minded, progressive person,

I think it’s very easy to see that the business

is changing. At the end of the day, you can

burn a CD, rip an iPod, do anything you want

with music, but the one thing you can’t change

is the live show. You can’t look through a

torrent site for the way I felt when I saw The

Blood Brothers or My Morning Jacket play

for the first time. These are things that all the

downloading in the world

can’t take away from

people.

What do you try

to bring across

in a live setting

that listeners can’t get

from a recording?

The new record

will be a more

accurate

portrait of us live. We

aren’t really trying to

get across a message or

change people’s lives. It’s

our job and we try and do

it the best that we can by

being as bad as bad-ass can be.

Your lyrics seem to take religious

imagery in rather unusual

directions. “Manna is a hell of

a drug” recalls the blessing that God

provided to His people when they were in thewilderness, but it also sounds like something

Rick James might say if he lived during

the Exodus. What are you trying to convey

through these sorts of songs?

That lyric is from the song “I Can Feel

A Hot One,” which I wrote right after

getting off of tour last summer. I had a

few days off, so my wife and I went to the beach

and hung out and I kind of decompressed these

emotions that you build up on tour. Touring is

something that’s really hard for any relationship

I have. Whether it’s with God, my wife, my family

or the guys next to me ... it’s just always moving,

never steady. Point being that, toward theend of this tour, I had a moment of silence and

stillness in the back of the van and I cried and

cried. Sometimes your body just has to cry and

cry and I did. It was 3 a.m., I ’m covering up my

head with a blanket so I wouldn’t make a scene

and I listened to “It’s Hard To Find A Friend”

by Pedro The Lion, a record I’ve listened to a

thousand times before and a thousand after ...

but that night it meant something more. There’s

an amazing line on that record that says, “I

would like to be you just for a few habit-forming

years / Laziness cuts me like fine cutlery.” And

I was, in so many words, moved. The song [“I

Can Feel A Hot One”] talks about that nightand a combination of a few other “losing it”

moments from tour. All in all, manna is an

amazing concept. The story goes that God gave

them more than enough food to survive, but He

required faith. If the Moses-led group took more

food than they needed just for that day, then

the food would spoil ... and they continued to

take more than they needed. That’s kind of the

perfect example of the way I foolishly stumble

through life—always wanting more, never being

satisfied, but continually being blessed for

something I don’t deserve.

Are there a lot of theological

implications to take from your

music? Either way, could you please

share your thoughts on spirituality

and the role it plays in music.

I am trying to write music through

a lens, not from a soapbox. If people relate

to religious or spiritual themes in my writing,

then that’s the way it’s affecting them. I have

my beliefs and you have yours. As far as

theology, I suppose you could say I’m failing

forward at all times. Trying to not fail so much

the next time.

Manchester Orchestra has a growing

fan base, and it must be fulfilling to

know that your music inspires the

lives of other people. But on a personal level,

why are you a musician?

Because I honestly can’t do anything

else. I have tried and it never stops.

Music is the way I hear God, create

fellowship, repent, confess, laugh and love

others. It’s just such an amazing thing ... and

the fact that people would consider me a“musician” that is adding to their lives blows

my brain out of my skull and all over the rest of

my band mates. I constantly have this anxiety

that everybody is going to realize one day that

I’ve just been fooling you all and the songs you

like aren’t actually all that good in the first

place. Does that make any sense? d

Don’t let the name fool you—Manchester

Orchestra is really a five-piece indie rock band

from Atlanta, Ga. With their own record label,

Favorite Gentlemen, several bands on said

label and a successful full-length album under

their belts, it’s hard to believe the average age

of the band is 20 years old. Here, lead singerand guitarist Andy Hull discusses the religious

undertones to their music, lessons learned on

the road ... and the occasional breakdown.

THEPODCAST

www.youtube.com/manchesterorchestra

Manchester Orchestra’s YouTube channel

features videos of their shows, rehearsals

and the occasional recreational activity.

They upload videos every few weeks, but in

the meantime, check out these important

podcasts.

#2.07. The band

performs their song,

“Where Have You

Been,” with labelmates and fellow

headliners, All Get

Out, in Columbia, S.C.

At 10 minutes long, it gives you a feel for

the intensity of their live shows.

#28-30. These three videos document a

22-hour drive while on tour with Brand New

and Kevin Devine—including a don’t-try-

this-at-home clip of the guys in batting

cages and playing laser tag. There’s also

a situation that prompts Hull to tell Brand

New’s Jesse Lacey, “I didn’t know I had to

tell you not to light fireworks in the van!”