![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.quietzine.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/blur-300x204.jpg\" "\\"The")
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It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s three days before the first show,<\/strong> and Luke Webb is rummaging through a basket of percussion instruments. He hands one to each member of The Imperative\u00e2\u20ac\u201da Tibetan gong for bassist Adam Bigelow, a two-sided brass cocktail jigger for keyboardist Rachel Waterhouse\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwhile Webb himself fingers a brightly decorated recorder.<\/p>\n And then the processional begins. As Bigelow and Waterhouse lock into a chiming, metallic beat and Webb rasps a hoarse drone on his recorder, the musicians pace slowly into the living room before taking up their primary instruments to begin their set. <\/p>\n Such an entrance might seem ostentatious for a local band preparing for its very first live performance, but there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something appropriate about the ceremony in the case of a group whose debut has been so eagerly anticipated. Webb\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s previous project, Shiner Miners, was until its dissolution last year one of Jackson County\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most respected acts, in large part because of Webb\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s outsized personality as both a songwriter and performer. Now, with Waterhouse and Bigelow, Webb is back behind the microphone with all new material from an extraordinary album released earlier this year.<\/p>\n (The album can be downloaded for free in its entirety or streamed in part at lukey.quietzine.com<\/a>. It would make an ideal accompaniment to this story.)<\/p>\n —–<\/p>\n Webb had recently returned to Sylva, his hometown, after a stint at Berea College in Kentucky. On stage, he cut a bizarre figure, tall and almost grotesquely gaunt, stomping and twitching around his mic stand with a big, red hollow-body guitar. Even through the makeshift PA system, Shiner Miners lyrics came across as simultaneously expressive and intellectual, profane and spiritual, complex and frank.<\/p>\n Shiner Miners persisted through a series of incarnations over the next five years, with a revolving cast of some of Sylva\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most creative musicians. Of the original lineup, only drummer Isaac Sturgill remained when the band reached its peak as a stripped-down, energetic three-piece with bassist Jason Beck. A final manifestation played several shows around western North Carolina last year before Webb decided the band had run its course.<\/p>\n —–<\/p>\n After Shiner Miners disbanded,<\/strong> Webb retreated to his modest home studio\u00e2\u20ac\u201dconsisting of a laptop and a single condenser microphone\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand privately began working on the songs that would eventually become The Imperative. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153In the Shiner Miners, I would write all my songs with my acoustic guitar and, like, scraps of paper,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Webb explains. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153And then I got a computer. A digital audio workstation lets you have as many tracks as you want, and so you can do anything.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n Webb built many of the textures on the album by layering sounds from his collection of unusual instruments\u00e2\u20ac\u201deverything from Celtic bodhr\u00c3\u00a1n and dulcimer to kazoo and omnichord. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Some of these songs would just start with a beat or a rhythm that I had, and I would work from there,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Webb explains. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The lyrics actually became the last part of the process instead of the first.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a compulsion,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Webb laughs. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I have to do it, like something\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wrong with me almost.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n The result of Webb\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s compulsion is a determinedly diverse album. The Imperative<\/em> opens with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Lotus Growl,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d an instrumental overture whose gongs and recorders shrilly announce the peculiarities to come, before transitioning unapologetically to the liquid-smooth bass and simmering bongos of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Left Ear Lullabye.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Webb\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s folk-punk roots shine through on \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Chalice\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and again on \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ye Gods!,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which somehow seems to wink toward the Violent Femmes even as it offers a burnt offering toward Mount Olympus. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Orpheus and Eurydice\u00e2\u20ac\u009d continues the classical theme with an intimate retelling of the tragic myth over a tense bass line plucked on a dilapidated cello that Webb found abandoned in a downtown basement.<\/p>\n The volume picks up over the final four tracks of the album, as programmed percussion brings the rhythms into sharper focus. The slinky reggae of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153VULTURES\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153CONTROL\u00e2\u20ac\u009d serves as a perfect foundation for Webb\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dense, off-kilter rhymes. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Nineteen Ninety Four\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is perhaps the album\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s best and most unique song, pairing an electric, latin beat with a recorder hook underneath Webb\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rapid-fire reminiscences of growing up abnormal in Jackson County with a possibly-unhealthy thirst for experience.<\/p>\n The Imperative<\/em> covers this broad terrain in under half an hour, yet somehow comes across as a cohesive whole. It is a complete work, almost unnervingly so for a recording that was never necessarily meant to be shared, a project that Webb began for no other reason than \u00e2\u20ac\u0153just to have something to do.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n —–<\/p>\n Positive responses to the recording<\/strong> inspired Webb to develop the project for a live audience, but the album\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s instrumentation demanded an unconventional approach. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to have a rock band,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Webb explains. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to have loud drums and loud guitars. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve done that a lot.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n Webb looked to Bigelow, whose stand-up bass features in prominent local acts like Dan River Drifters and Ian Moore\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Mountain Music Miscellany, and Waterhouse, whose voice is the signal feature of the experimental funk-fusion band Vajra Mudra, to bring the songs to life. The trio later added percussionist Adam Woleslagle, who played drums in the final lineup of Shiner Miners.<\/p>\n Bigelow is involved with four musical projects at the moment, most of which adhere to more traditional forms like bluegrass or old-time. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This [project] brings me back to the kid in me,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he explains. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153And the days of listening to hip-hop and reggae and wishing I was a musician. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fun music to play.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n Much of Waterhouse\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s early involvement with music, on the other hand, came through her church, where her father was a pastor. She was a worship leader and sang in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153every choir I could join,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d picking up various instruments whenever she had the opportunity. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only within the last year, however, that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s begun playing with Vajra Mudra, her first band outside of school or church, so she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s excited about the learning experience The Imperative offers.<\/p>\n Part of that experience has been in determining how best to use her voice in conjunction with Webb\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s songs, which were originally written without such a powerful tool in mind. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Since it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not really a straightforward set style with this one, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been kind of like hit and miss,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Waterhouse explains. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been a creative thing trying to place my voice where it needs to be to make it sound like the instrument that it needs to sound like.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n —–<\/p>\n Webb won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t talk much about what The Imperative\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s songs are about,<\/strong> explaining his view that the listener has as much to do with the meaning of a song as does the composer. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I like hearing different people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interpretations,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Webb says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I learn a lot more about what the songs mean when I hear what other people think about them.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n Bigelow and Waterhouse, for their part, agree that one current running through all of Webb\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s songs is the idea of love. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Different kinds of love, too,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Waterhouse insists. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They maybe connect to material love, love of possessions, in a more critical way. But they also talk about a kind of respect for humankind that you could call love.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all over the place,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Webb says of the band\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lyrical content in general. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Some of it is more autobiographical, and some of it is more philosophical, and some of it is just how I feel about different things, and some of it might have an element of social criticism in it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153And some of it is just interesting words getting smushed together.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n —–<\/p>\n In person,<\/strong> The Imperative is even more mischievous and unexpected than the album; the backup vocals for one song involve Waterhouse and Bigelow feigning a coughing spell, and they close their rehearsal not with a crescendo but with an a cappella<\/em> chorus in three-part harmony.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If you make merit by just saying this, why not have it as the chorus\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I mean, how could you lose with that?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Webb says, after explaining the mantra\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s function in some Buddhist beliefs. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the part of the song you repeat over and over again, it might as well have some kind of karmic benefit.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n Over a post-practice snack, Bigelow suggests the band\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s name be written to always include an exclamation point. The band is excited not just about Saturday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s show\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwith fellow local Jay Gorgeous at Guadalupe Caf\u00c3\u00a9 in Sylva, where both Waterhouse and Webb work and where Bigelow is a regular both as a performer and customer\u00e2\u20ac\u201dbut also, with several additional shows already planned, about possibilities for the future. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I like all the songs a lot,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Bigelow says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I wake up every morning singing a different one.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n The Imperative debuts Saturday, April 9th at Guadalupe Cafe in Sylva at 10pm. Download The Imperative<\/em> at lukey.quietzine.com<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s three days before the first show, and Luke Webb is rummaging through a basket of percussion instruments. He hands one to each member of The Imperative\u00e2\u20ac\u201da Tibetan gong for bassist Adam Bigelow, a two-sided brass cocktail jigger for keyboardist … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.quietzine.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/lukey.jpg\" "\\"Luke")
I met Webb for the first time in 2005<\/strong> at the Shiner Miners\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 debut show, before a small audience in a second-floor photography studio overlooking downtown Sylva. In the week prior, anyone with an eye out for such things\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwhich can describe a relatively small group of people in a place like Sylva\u00e2\u20ac\u201dmight have noticed the 4\u00e2\u20ac\u009dx6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d glossy photo prints featuring Webb\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s surrealist artwork that had been posted on bulletin boards around town in lieu of traditional fliers.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.quietzine.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/artwork.jpg\" "\\"Artwork")
Lyrics played a part in giving the album its name, The Imperative<\/em>, as a reference to the frequent use of verbs in the grammatical imperative mood. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Also, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the double meaning for me: imperative means obligatory, like something that you have to do, or crucial, or essential,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Webb explains. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153To me, playing music is imperative.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.quietzine.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/bigelow2-e1302247240430.jpg\" "\\"Adam")
Bigelow, who had downloaded The Imperative as soon as it was available, jumped at the opportunity to join in. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I feel like this is the band we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been waiting for,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he jokes, explaining that a collaboration with Webb had long been discussed.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.quietzine.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/imperative-006-altered-300x222.jpg\" "\\"The")
The live set has also replaced the non-verbal melody in the chorus of the anti-materialist screed \u00e2\u20ac\u0153VULTURES\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with a mantra in Sanskrit. The band members playfully offer various translations\u00e2\u20ac\u201dfrom \u00e2\u20ac\u0153diamond thunderbolt of wisdom in the void\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Darth Vader repellant\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u201dbut all agree that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s meant to serve as a counterpoint to the profligacy depicted in the song, and possibly to uplift in the process. <\/p>\n
\nView the Facebook event here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n