Music Interview: Brantley Senn Of Dead Confederate

By Nicki Karimipour

Dead Confederate hails from the musically rich locale of Athens, Ga. Their music has been known for its moody southern melodies, simplistic and often-dark lyrics, not to mention grunge-like feel. Drawing inspiration from such renowned early ’90s acts as Dinosaur Jr., The Meat Puppets and Nirvana makes it easy to neatly package the band and write them off as simply following in the footsteps of their contemporaries.

This, however, would be a mistake. Dead Confederate has been working since the early 2000s, and has spent time building up their musical repertoire and touring with bands like R.E.M. and Alberta Cross, Deer Tick and Surfer Blood.

They are bringing their own dark brand of southern rock to the Engine Room on July 30, and the FSView & Florida Flambeau caught up with bassist Brantley Senn to get the lowdown on current happenings with the band, as well as the story behind their newest album to be released on August 24, Sugar.

The band made a name for themselves with the release of their debut LP, entitled Wrecking Ball, in 2008, but before then, they had been playing together since high school, under the name “The Redbelly.” After playing sporadically during their college years, Dead Confederate came together after graduation to form the band they are today. Once the band members took on various careers, however, they ultimately realized their passion was in making music and not in the banality of a nine-to-five workday.

When asked about the origin of their band’s moniker, bassist Brantley Senn stressed the importance of not placing undue emphasis on musical aspects such as an album’s or song’s name.

“A rock critic in Atlanta had reviewed our album and said he really loved it, but he really couldn’t get past the name, The Redbelly,” Senn said. “Hardy [Morris] came up with ‘Dead Confederate’ because it fit the sound of the band—which I guess would be morbid and southern, you know? It just kind of sounded like a good rock band. There’s not a whole lot of meaning behind it—we try not to put too much meaning into things like album and song titles. We try to let the art lie within.”

This band’s influences range in variety from such well-known rock legends Neil Young and Lynyrd Skynyrd (an unlikely pair, no doubt) with early indie acts like R.E.M. and Sonic Youth as musical inspiration. They also derive much of their musical influences from the bands they tour with.

“Getting to know each other and spending a lot of time on the road—that influences people more than anything you ever listen to,” Senn said. “Bands we tour with between albums are always going to influence our next album. For our next album, Sugar, I would say that there is influence from bands we just toured with like Dinosaur Jr. and the Meat Puppets, and we have so much respect for those guys. They’re so good at what they do after all these years and have been through so much, it’s inspiring to a band like us.”

Dead Confederate’s favorite venue to play in the U.S. is the prolific club located in their hometown of Athens, The 40 Watt Club—a place collectively considered as crucial to the American music scene as CBGB’s and Whisky a Go Go, as it’s become a place where Athens and non-Athens based bands alike come to play, including of Montreal, R.E.M., the Indigo Girls and the Whigs.

When asked about their upcoming Tallahassee show, the band expressed nothing less than excitement regarding the acts they’re currently playing with.

“I remember seeing Deer Tick play before we did our showcase in South by Southwest with R.E.M,” Senn said. “I actually met John [McCauley, of Deer Tick] when he came down to Athens to hang out with us on New Years Eve, and [there’s] a mutual appreciation of each other’s music. That goes a long way when you have to spend a lot of time together on tour with someone.”

Read more here: http://www.fsunews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100726/FSVIEW01/100723019
Copyright 2024 FSView & Florida Flambeau