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A history of violence
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Toronto trio Elliott Brood’s self-described “deathcountry” ditties had already brought them to the upper reaches of the roots music scene in Canada—their 2005 album Ambassador was nominated for a Juno—before this year’s release of Mountain Meadows, their crowning achievement to date. While they bring a sense of punk rock urgency to the touchstones of traditional folk and country purity, Elliott Brood’s true ace in the hole remains their knack for storytelling, mining the darker corners of bygone eras—the title Mountain Meadows refers to the 1857 massacre of 120 unarmed settlers by Mormon militiamen in Utah. The Mirror spoke with guitarist/singer Mark Sasso over the phone after the band soundchecked in Bilbao, Spain. Mirror: Who is Elliott Brood? Mark Sasso: It’s really just a name, but I guess it’s also kind of a character we can hide behind. That’s kind of how we approach songs as well, where we can look at things through somebody else’s eyes. M: Your songs seem to be steeped in historical events. MS: We just like to play with history as opposed to just regurgitating it. I think all of your influences from books and movies just play into your music, and I guess I read a lot of historical biographies, so it just seems to come out. M: You touch on the 1857 massacre in Utah on the new record, in the title and directly on the songs “Fingers and Tongues” and “31 Years.” Why do you find yourself attracted to such dark subject matter? MS: I think with darker or moodier stuff, you just tend to feel it more. We have a lot of songs that are musically upbeat, but we end up telling dark stories over it a lot of the time. I try to not really over-think it too much—I guess I?just let it happen. M: Folk and other traditional forms are definitely an influence, but you’ve managed to steer clear of a pure traditional sound. Was this conscious? MS: Our sound kind of found us. I just picked up the banjo one day and that’s how I played it. Even now, we’ve become a lot heavier, and we’re constantly changing. M: We’ve seen a lot of celebrated roots music conforming more to tradition and become more palatable. Is there any sense of danger left in the genre? MS: Actually, I see a lot of bands now that are really pushing the boundaries. There are bands like O’Death, who we’re going on tour with now, and other people that are taking the standard, punking it up and morphing it more with their own influences, and it’s just that it doesn’t catch the eye of a lot of people. M: You guys have been touring for an average of half of the year since you started the band. Has this been hard on you? MS: It can be, but that one to two hours a night when you get to play is like a drug. It’s really what drives us because we’re definitely a live band. Yeah, we put out records and we enjoy that, but we really love playing to people and interacting with audiences a lot more. Ultimately, I just think that we’re like truck drivers—we pull into town with our load before driving off the next day. WITH O’DEATH AND HOOTS & |
