Fleet Foxes : Hard to Find a Friend’s Backstage Sessions

Hard to Find a Friend Presents : The Backstage Sessions

Featuring : Fleet Foxes
Exit / In : Nashville, TN

When Fleet Foxes started White Winter Hymnal on Wednesday night, the cheers of the crowd caused a reaction not often seen by frontmen on the face of Robin Pecknold. He laughed – uncontrollably, and commented on how “completely crazy” it was that people in Nashville knew their songs when they’d never been on tour before. He started again, met with cheers once more, and had to repeat the whole cycle of shock, laughter, and apologies. This would happen a total of four times before the band could start the pitch-perfect harmonies which are the song’s calling card. Two songs later, the band ended their set to overwhelming pleas to “keep playing,” “play one more,” and “please come back soon!”

I found a huge grin on my face watching these events unfold. I’ve had some early form of the band’s demos for their upcoming LP Ragged Wood (Sub Pop) in my possession since June, and have listened religiously ever since. I didn’t even expect to get to even see the Seattleites anytime soon, nonetheless with a hundred or so other rabid fans, and it made me happy to be where I was. I have a feeling the next time Fleet Foxes comes my way they’ll be bringing with them a good deal of notoriety, and I sure hope I’m right.

Before all this happened, however, Robin sat down with us in the tiny second green room at the Exit/In to talk about Nashville, Bon Iver, and guitar strings, and play three songs for your aural and visual pleasure. Enjoy, and please be sure to pick up Fleet Foxes newly released Sun Giant EP at insound.

Editor’s note: PLEASE click the links to watch the HD versions. I guess Vimeo doesn’t allow hd embedding, and the difference in quality is a marked one. It’s hard work putting these things together and I wish for you to enjoy them in the best quality possible.

STREAM THE HD VERSION HERE!

[mp3] Fleet Foxes – Katie Cruel (Live – Backstage Session)
[mp4] Fleet Foxes – Katie Cruel (Live – Backstage Session – HD Video)

STREAM THE HD VERSION HERE!

[mp3] Fleet Foxes – Oliver James (Live – Backstage Session)
[mp4] Fleet Foxes – Oliver James (Live – Backstage Session – HD Video)

STREAM THE HD VERSION HERE!

[mp3] Fleet Foxes – Innocent Son (Live – Backstage Session)
[mp4] Fleet Foxes – Innocent Son (Live – Backstage Session – HD Video)

Watch more Backstage Sessions Here.

Backstage Sessions : Now in HD!

Yes friends, that’s right! All Backstage Sessions from here on out shall be shot in glorious high definition! Vimeo, unlike Youtube, offers HD streaming, meaning you’ll be able to watch the sessions in full screen HD video comparable to that of a DVD.

You can see some footage of what our new camera can do here.

Back to the future,
Caleb

Bon Iver : Hard To Find a Friend’s Backstage Sessions

Hard to Find a Friend Presents : The Backstage Sessions
Featuring : Bon Iver
Exit / In : Nashville, TN

I wasn’t sure how Bon Iver’s wonderful new record, For Emma, Forever Ago (Jagjaguwar), would translate to a live setting. The record is intimate, sure, but it’s also filled with intricate layers of huge harmonies and has an incredible sense of dynamics that I was nervous would be ill-represented by a three-man band. Luckily, my fears were completely unfounded, the show was amazing. But before all that went down, we had the pleasure of hanging out and recording a few songs backstage for your eyes and ears.

For Emma, Forever Ago is available now via Jagjaguwar. It can, and should be, purchased here.

A note from the editor: The friendly folks at Jagjaguwar have requested we not make any of these files available for download, rather only for stream. This, of course makes us a bit sad since that is sort of our ethos for Backstage Sessions: listen, enjoy, stick A/V on device, listen and watch over and over again, but we are happy to comply with their wishes, and ask you do to. That is to say, please don’t make mp3’s to redistribute of these performances.
There are no plans for any future sessions to be stream-only, but if the copyright owner says so, we gotta do it! Thank you for reading, and thank you to Jagujaguwar for letting us do this!

Stream the Audio

Stream the Video

The Whigs : Hard To Find a Friend’s Backstage Sessions

Hard to Find a Friend Presents : The Backstage Sessions

Featuring : The Whigs
Mercy Lounge – Nashville, TN

The Whigs are in the middle of a pretty exciting tour. Last week found them playing Conan, last month found them performing on Letterman, and they are now in the middle of a month long jaunt which combines headlining dates and support for the Drive By Truckers.

You wouldn’t know that, however, if you met the three gentleman without any previous knowledge of them. You’d probably know that they liked cookies and salsa a lot, that they get super excited over having acoustic guitars, and that they are without doubt their own worst critics.

Before playing to a packed Mercy Lounge, the guys found time between soundcheck and doors to sit down with us and play a few songs : Voice, Acoustic Guitar, Tambourine, & Maracas only!

[mp3] The Whigs – Like a Vibration (Live – Backstage Session)
[mp4] The Whigs – Like a Vibration (Live – Backstage Session – iPod/iPhone Video)

[mp3] The Whigs – Hotbed (Live – Backstage Session)
[mp4] The Whigs – Hotbed (Live – Backstage Session – iPod/iPhone Video)

Buy The Whigs’ Mission Control at Insound.

Headlights : Hard to Find a Friend’s Backstage Sessions

Hard to Find a Friend Presents : The Backstage Sessions
Featuring : Headlights
February 17, 2008
The End – Nashville, TN

The four gentleman and one lady who comprise Headlights rolled into Nashville on a cool Sunday evening with the odds stacked squarely against them. It’s hard enough getting people in the southeastern U.S. to do anything besides go to church on a Sunday, and it’s even harder to get them to go to a show that doesn’t start until 10:00 on a school/work night. None of this seemed to matter though, as I watched the intimate cube of wood and stale beer that people call The End fill up with bodies. The band played a near flawless set on this, the second night of their tour, and everyone left happy. However, before all of this they played some songs and talked to us, the documentation of which can be found below.

The size of the room vs. the number of instruments made mixing difficult. The video camera I forgot to charge and it’s dying battery which left me tethered to a 3 foot chord, along with the room simply being too small for me to set up a tripod, made for some rough jumps and zooms. Hopefully those uncontrollable factors won’t detract from the wonderful songs we just completed eight hours of work on. Small things with great love, they say.

Headlights have released a new record for you to enjoy today, all three of these songs are on which, and it can be purchased here.

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Audio
[mp3] Headlights – Towers (Live – Backstage Session)
[mp3] Headlights – Market Girl (Live – Backstage Session)
[mp3] Headlights – Cherry Tulips (Backstage Session)
[mp3] Headlights – Interview (Live – Backstage Session)

Video
[mp4] Headlights – Towers (Live – Backstage Session – iPod/iPhone video)
[mp4] Headlights – Market Girl (Live – Backstage Session – iPod/iPhone video)
[mp4] Headlights – Market Girl (Live – Backstage Session – iPod/iPhone video)

The Lonely H : Hard to Find a Friend’s Backstage Sessions

The Lonely H are four young men, fresh out of school, traveling the nation extensively in an old van. When my Backstage Sessions partner, Jeff, & I arrived at the venue and met the band’s guitar player who had been our contact for the band, Johnny, we both made similar comments. These guys look, and sound, like 1967, and we mean that as a huge compliment. There songs are soulful Rock n’ Roll, not Indie Rock, not Garage Rock, Rock n’ Roll, like they used to make it. Songs about dreams, songs about going down to the river, songs sung and played with a huge amount of skill and a much larger amount of soul.

Hard to Find a Friend Presents : The Backstage Sessions
Featuring : The Lonely H
February 12, 2008
Exit / In – Nashville, TN

[mp3] The Lonely H – Rollin’ (Live – Backstage Session)
[mp4] The Lonely H – Rollin’ (Live – Backstage Session – iPod/iPhone Video)

[mp3] The Lonely H – Hey Mama (Live – Backstage Session)

[mp4] The Lonely H – Hey Mama (Live – Backstage Session – iPod/iPhone Video)

Links:
The Control Group
The Lonely H
Buy The Lonely H’s music.

Hard to Find a Friend Presents: Backstage Sessions

Hard to Find a Friend, in cooperation with venues across the Southeastern United States, is pleased to announce The Backstage Sessions. A Backstage Session will consist of some of your favorite artists playing a special, short, stripped-down set while hanging out backstage. This will give you, the reader and listener, a chance to vicariously delve into the green rooms of America and hang out with the coolest kids in school. The sessions will be made available for free download in several formats within 48 hours of the recording.

You will be able to download Backstage Sessions in High-Quality 192kbps VBR mp3‘s with no DRM protection. Videos will also be available for download in iPhone and iPod compatible mp4 video format. Audio/Video streams will also be available. Audiophiles, or those skeptical of the quality of recordings we will offer may view a gear list HERE.

Now onto the good stuff! Listed below are the first block of Backstage Sessions you can expect to come your way over the next few weeks.

Hard to Find a Friend Presents: The Backstage Sessions :

2.12 – The Lonely H
Venue: Exit / In
Label: The Control Group
From: Port Angeles, WA
Myspace

2.17 – Headlights
Venue: The End
Label: Polyvinyl
From: Champaign, IL
Official Site

2.23 – The Whigs
Venue: Mercy Lounge
Label: ATO
From: Athens, GA
Official Site

3.10 – Bon Iver
Venue: Mercy Lounge
Label: Jagjaguwar
From: Eau Claire, WI
Myspace

3.19 – Fleet Foxes
Venue: Exit / In
Label: Subpop
From: Seattle, WA
Official Site

3.25 – John Vanderslice
Venue: Mercy Lounge
Label: Barsuk
From: San Francisco, CA
Official Site