It’s been a little
less than two years since multi-instrumentalist Alex Northrup released his solo
album, “The Great Mundane.” But back in January 2017, he was still the frontman of Northern Spies. Having only given out a handful
of physical copies to close friends, and with no promotion of the album, “The
Great Mundane” went into hibernation.
In the meantime,
Northrup has also been the keyboardist in Jon Lewis Band, playing alongside
drummer Jacob Walsh (disclosure: Walsh is a graphic designer for CITY
Newspaper), a mainstay on the sessions from “The Great Mundane, and producer/bassist Dave Drago.” Following the
May release of its own album “Get Wild Somewhere,” Jon Lewis Band quieted down
for the remainder of 2018.
And with a less intensive
schedule, Northrup and Walsh decided to move forward and play shows featuring
the former’s once-dormant solo material. With the addition of former Northern Spies bassist Andrew Carter to their ranks,
Alex Northrup and the Backup was born, and with it a throwback rock sound that
manages to feel both faithfully vintage and utterly original. The trio is
currently working on what will probably be an EP release this winter.
In advance of the
band’s two upcoming concerts at The Spirit Room and Small World Books, Alex
Northrup recently spoke about Jon Lewis Band’s impact on The Backup and the
surprising source of Northrup’s songwriting inspiration. An edited version of
the interview follows.
CITY:
My introduction to you was as a member of the Jon Lewis Band. Do you feel like
you live two separate musical lives?
Alex Northrup: I would say, “No, it’s not a separate musical life,” ’cause I think a lot of the things that I’m, we’ll say, a
sideman in, they’re not too far off of what I like and what I would be doing
anyway.
For a long time, I preferred
doing that, ’cause, you know: stage fright and all
that not-so-fun stuff. I’d just sit in the back, or sit off to the side, and do
my thing. And I think when Northern Spies ended, I was
pretty relieved at not having to be the front guy anymore.
Would it be accurate to say that the music you do
now with Alex Northrup and the Backup is kind of like taking the retro-60’s
vibe you bring to the Jon Lewis Band and putting it front-and-center?
I think I learned a
lot from being in that group, just different things about how to put five
people with completely different influences together, and the sound that comes
out of it – just how to work together on things. That was a very fortunate
experience to have. Still have, still going on.
What is your relationship to your musical
influences, in terms of the writing of a song?
I don’t know. It’s
changed over the years, I guess, depending on the influences. This was a thing
I learned from playing in Jon Lewis Band, just how to craft songs. ‘Cause I saw that he and Dave were very quick to just come
up with these hooky things. Very simple, hooky things.
And, you know, I was
always a very slow worker. I’d labor over things. I wouldn’t even show it to
someone until I was like, “This is absolutely 100 percent. This is as far as I
could get it.” I think that showed me that you can come with an idea, and not
really labor over it, and just kind of take it as it is, and bring it to other
people, have them throw their thing on top of it.
There seems to be some sort of dialogue between
classic rock music and a contemporary indie sensibility, and I’m wondering how
you navigate that. Is it just what naturally comes out of you?
Yeah. I don’t listen
to much modern music, like current indie rock. Growing up, even all the way
back to a little guy, it was never what everyone else was listening to. I found
this other stuff through the radio my parents were listening to, their record
collection.
So what were you listening to?
Buffalo Springfield,
Neil Diamond. Neil Diamond is what got me into this.
This article appears in Dec 12-18, 2018.
