SXSW Interviews: Grant Pavol

As we’ve previously mentioned, SXSW is officially just a few weeks away and it’s time for you to start making some plans if you hope to be out and about in the festival madness. If you’ve followed us over the years, you know we love the week and love providing as much coverage as we possibly can both before and after the festival. Today we shall continue our ongoing preview coverage with another interview, this time from Philly based artist Grant Pavol. You can check out the full interview with some music after the jump.

ATH: Whats the name of the band/group? Where are you from?

GP: Grant Pavol, from Philadelphia, PA

ATH: Describe your group’s sound.

GP: Its sorta Psych Folk. The songs are composed for solo acoustic guitar, so they harken back to the American singer-songwriter tradition at their roots, but I try to really modify them with the production and pull in a more contemporary experimental edge. I want to enhance the folk aura of the song through digital manipulation.

ATH: What was your most recent release? Any planned releases for 2022?

GP: My most recent release was a 7 song project called Reflections. Its an EP, but I think of it more as a mini LP with a complete thematic arc. I plan on recording my second LP this year, but I’m not sure if it will come out this year or next. I have about 50 songs written for it, its just a matter of logistics and such.

ATH: Everyone’s been focused on the negative aspects of the last few years? What are a few good things that came about for you as an individual or the band as a whole during the last two pandemic-stricken years?

GP: The one really nice thing was that the free time gave me a lot of time to get to know the ins and outs of my DAW. I was really able to get a better grasp on how to manipulate sounds, and worked on honing my arranging ear. I made a LOT of stuff during the first few months of quarantine, much of which I’m sure will make it onto future releases. I think I’ve really matured in my artistic philosophy and vision over the past two years.

ATH: Why play SXSW? What’s the draw for the band? What about this festival will bring you to Austin?

GP: Honestly Shamir just hit me up and said he’d landed me a spot, so I jumped at it. It’s just kinda a legendary thing; as an obsessive live video nerd I’ve watched clips of so many of my favorite bands playing SXSW, so it’s very cool to think of myself as entering into that lineage. Plus, who doesn’t want to hang out and hear weird music?

ATH: Let’s say your band has booked an official showcase at a pop up venue somewhere in the middle of 6th street. The lineup features thrash metal, hip-hop, spoken word, and you. The sound is horrible, the lineup is not your style, and the crowd is growing ancy. How would your band deal with such a situation?

GP: I came up in the Philly DIY scene, so I’m used to playing odd lineups with less than attentive crowds. You just go up and do your best. Sometimes the context is just wrong, but if you do it for the joy of playing a good set on your own terms, it will always be good. You just gotta lean into it and try not to get self conscious.

ATH: There are tons of bands coming into town, but if you could create your own perfect festival, who would you have playing? Would it have a sick name? Where would it take place?

GP: My festival would be called “AAAAA” and it would feature the bands I listen to when I’m going crazy. So like, Spirit of the Beehive, Protomartyr, Women, Cat Power, Sufjan Stevens, Show me the Body. Something like that. It would be super manic and I would get too drunk and cry, probably.

ATH: What has everyone in the band been listening to, or, what plays in the tour van/car/bus?

GP: Ive been listening to a lot of Panda Bears solo stuff recently. Also just got off an 80s hardcore kick, so a lot of the Dicks and MDC. Besides that, Im usually listening to a rotation of old country, Gillian Welch, Arthur Russell, and some dance music (OPN, the Field, Against All Logic, etc).

ATH: There’s been a lot of discussion about Spotify and streaming and all that these last few months. Where does the band stand? What’s your solution?

GP: I have no idea. I really do despise streaming and the way people feel entitled to free art. However I’ve definitely benefited from the mass availability of niche and underground sounds in my own work. I guess the short term solution is to go to as many shows and buy as much merch as you can for bands you appreciate. The long term solution would be to execute a full scale communist revolution, though I sadly don’t really see that happening any time soon in the USA.

ATH: The band gets to create their own food truck to take on the road. What’s it called, and what are you serving?

GP: Im very good at making pasta with creamy sauce. So maybe that. It could be called “Grants Cart That Serves Only Pasta With Creamy Sauce” and it would close very quickly because I’m actually not that good at making it. Not on a professional level, surely. Though if I got some of my restaurant industry friends to get behind it maybe it’d stand a chance. Who knows.

Thanks again to Grant for making this time to speak with us. Here is his most recent single entitled “No Disasters” which appears on his latest EP Reflections.