Each Wednesday, Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group "Artist of the Week," bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn't awful? Email their particulars to [email protected].
The Sour Notes are a quirky, exciting, thoughtful indie-rock group that makes interesting, layered music and, as we've been told, are adept in concert. They're also, for the most part, Austinites. Generally, that'd be reason enough for us to point the Artist of the Week starship in the opposite direction.
But that "for the most part" thing, that qualifier is there because super-talented former Houstonians Jared Boulanger (who founded the Sour Notes as a solo project while still here) and Elaine Greer are in the band, and as Moses foretold*: Thou shalt not ignoreth bands that Elaineth Greereth doth partake in.
*Moses might not have actually foretold that. It's been a bit since we've been to church. He probably did, though. Who really knows?
So we called up The Sour Notes, who play at Fitzgerald's Sunday, as they drove into New York to bother them for a few minutes about Neil Young, the Devil and Lil' Flip. Keep it moving.
Rocks Off: First up, tell everyone everything they need to know about The Sour Notes in exactly six words.
The Sour Notes: Sparkly, vibrant pop from the South.
RO: If you played your Neil Young "Harvest Moon" cover for Neil Young, would he be pissed or amped with what you guys did to it?
TSN: He would probably not recognize it for the first four minutes, but he would probably think there was some life breathed into it after that.
RO: How'd you all end up on that song?
TSN: We were asked to play it at a tribute show in Austin with a bunch of other bands. We had like three months to work on it. We wanted to do something different. That one offered the most opportunity to change it up. We wanted to do something space rock-y. Plus, we changed all the cords, which we were really proud of.
RO: Better question: Is Neil Young pissed or amped with Jared stealing his haircut?
TSN: [laughs] He grew it just for the cover. He says he wanted to really get into the spirit of Neil Young.
