Interview - Emerald Rose - 4.6.08
Welcome back, we're glad you're here!
Celtophilia is very excited to present you with an interview with an awesome band based out of Georgia, Emerald Rose. Emerald Rose is a very interesting quartet made up of: Logan Sullivan (vocals, lead acoustic/electric guitars, mandola), Larry Morris (vocals, pennywhistle, uilleann pipes, percussion), Arthur Hinds (vocals, rhythm guitar, bodhran, percussion), and last but not least Clyde Gilbert (vocals, electric bass, percussion). They’ve been together since 1996, and have released a total of 6 CDs, most recently their comedy collection titled Con Suite. (You can check out the Celtophilia review of Con Suite here. ) And, without any further ado whatsoever, on with the interview.
Celtophilia: Do you feel the southeast, and Georgia in particular, is a good place to be based as a Celtic group? Why or why not?
Emerald Rose: Georgia is an all right place for Celtic musicians, but it is really hard to make any impression. There are lots of festivals and civic events, but most people don’t really understand what we are about, or take the whole Celtic thing WAAAYY too seriously, or not seriously at all. There’s a lot of country music here, and our show doesn’t always cross over those boundaries. However, Atlanta is the home of DragonCon, which is where we have found our largest and most devoted audience, as well as some great connections to Hollywood. It is easier to get noticed in Georgia, but they may find some of our silliness to be too much for them. Unless they are very, very smart.
Celtophilia: What is your favorite song to perform, versus the biggest fan favorite? Or do they coincide?
Emerald Rose: I think each of us have a different favorite, and that depends on how far removed from the last recording we are. I (Logan) like to play things off ‘Bending Tradition’ because they are so old they seem fresh. I also love ‘Queen of Argyle’ by Andy M. Stewart, which was the first ‘Celtic’ song I ever heard. The fan favorites are very varied, but Chicken Raid, Fire in the Head and Urania Sings are some of the most requested. Generally speaking, except for Chicken Raid, we like all the songs we do, or we wouldn’t do them. No record executives holding a gun to our head, you know?
Celtophilia: Which CD have you most enjoyed producing?
Emerald Rose: Very interesting question, this one - because you asked about producing, which is not something we get asked about often, but takes a great deal of time and thought. Archives of Ages to Come was my favorite, because for the first time, we really understood the studio, the software, and had a little time to experiment to get the best sounds from our equipment and ourselves. We had the divine luxury of recording as much as we wanted, until we got exactly what we wanted. That’s when I felt I had to improve the limits of my musicianship. I recorded the mandola solo for ‘Come to the Dance’ over 50 times. The mandola solo from ‘Wheel of Fortune’ took 78 takes. The electric guitar riff at the start of ‘Urania Sings’ was recorded 96 times. The vocals on my songs were done over and over until I finally could become comfortable with the process. The cd was mixed and remixed time and again, with everyone in the studio. I am really pleased with how good many of the songs sounded, and we hammered out the very hard problem of how to talk to each other about getting the sound we were looking for without making an arguement out of it. I am also very happy with the production on Con Suite - there are SO many individual tracks on that CD! We had great fun being goofy in the studio, but I don’t have the same emotional affection for those songs as I do for the songs from Archives.
Celtophilia: Is there one Celtic song that you feel is so overdone that you would like to never hear or play it again? If so, which?
Emerald Rose: No, though Danny in the Jar is a fun poke at Danny Boy and Whiskey in the Jar. Both of those are a little overdone. I think one of the things about traditional classics is the fact that everybody knows the words and you have to enjoy singing with a group to really enjoy them.
Celtophilia: If Emerald Rose had to escape from a hungry velociraptor, how would you get away?
Emerald Rose: What do you mean ‘if’?’ Like we’ve never run into a hungry velociraptor in the places where we play? Just toss out a couple of extra guitar picks, and while the velociraptor is sniffing them and trying to identify the smells, you calmly walk to the band bus, get in, lock the doors and drive away. If it’s after the show, we smell too bad to eat anyway. ‘Ugh’, said the velociraptor, ‘Another sweaty musician. Even I am not THAT hungry!’
A huge thanks again to Emerald Rose for taking the time to answer our questions. If you want more info about them or to find a place to see them live, you can find it at www.emeraldrose.com or their Myspace Page!
