With the LOHI Music Fest right around the corner Listen Up Denver! had the privilege of talking with Chris Pandolfi, banjo player from The Infamous Stringdusters. The Stringdusters will be headlining this year’s festival and Chris spoke to us about life on the road, his wide range of influences, and the animalistic nature of him and his bandmates.
Listen Up Denver!: You guys have been on the road a lot this year. How has that been going for you?
Chris Pandolfi: It’s been great. We changed up some things with the business last year and anytime you do that there is a new infusion of energy and ideas into things. We’ve been pretty busy this year. It’s been great.
LUD!: Is being on tour something you enjoy? The road can be tough on a lot of bands.
CP: It really is. There are a lot of things we do when we are on the road and playing shows. When we are on the road…that’s our main thing. That’s where our music really exists. It’s where we can work on things and where we can do the most. We really enjoy it. We get to do some really cool things that don’t involve just hammering out gigs every night. We went and took in a Cubs game at Wrigley Field at the beginning of this tour. As a baseball fan I was so stoked to go to that stadium and we try to do a lot of things like that. The short answer is we do enjoy being on the road and things are going really, really well this year. It’s been great.
LUD!: You mentioned going to Wrigley, what do you or some of the other guys do to stay sane and have fun on the road?
CP: We try to do a lot of outdoor recreation on the road. Probably most notably is skiing. We have some serious skiers in the band with two of us living in Denver… and we try to make it out West each winter and this year was no exception. We got to hit the slopes. It’s cool because it’s something that a lot of our fans enjoy so we can find some common ground. We all love music and love the outdoors and we find it’s where a lot of our fans congregate. It’s also a way to connect with our fans and also helps us tap into some inspiration. It also helps break up the constant traveling and touring. We try to take advantage of those situations, but the fact is when we are on the road we are out here to work and get our music to as many people as we can. Whatever we can fit in around that, we will.
LUD!: A few of my friends have described The Stringdusters as a “party band”. I definitely agree with that. You have a loose but high energy or party vibe to your music. Especially the grooves you hit on when you are jamming. Is that vibe something that has always come naturally or was it a choice to move away from the traditional stuff that can sound a little rigid at times?
CP: That’s a great question. There is some decision making to it but ultimately those are the things that happen naturally. As far as trying to distill all these different influences into one sound or one style that is all our own, that’s just a thing that happens. Over the years as we have evolved as musicians, we have gotten more time to go deeper and get into the music and aspects that ultimately creep out. That’s definitely one of them, just like the Bluegrass thing, we have guys that really enjoy playing music that is part of the environment in that. You know, it’s a concert and there are lot of details that go into that and it’s designed to make people feel good and get down. So yeah, we certainly embrace all of that.
LUD!: Who are some of your influences that fall out outside the Bluegrass world?
CP: When I got into Bluegrass, it was actually the banjo that got me into Bluegrass. The Flecktones were really who got me into the banjo so there was a whole world of influences before they even existed to me. There are a lot of them. Today we are rolling down the road listening to a bunch of Grateful Dead songs that we are going to play with Keller Williams. That’s certainly a big one in terms of songwriting and the style of the show, but it’s really everything far and wide. Everything from Gospel music to heavy metal and everything in between. These days I get into certain Indie bands or even some electronic, ambient bands, like Boards of Canada or… there are too many of them to count. I think that’s what makes it cool. We take all these things and let them come together then do our thing with string instruments. All of that together is designed to create something original and that’s what we are out to do.
LUD!: You mention the electronic thing, you have a solo album coming out this spring with your project TRAD+ . It sounds like big departure from what most would consider typical Bluegrass music. When did you get into Electronic music and what led to you merging it with what you do?
CP: It’s been a couple years now. I think when I left Nashville it was right around the time that Spotify and Pandora were really starting to hit and, for me, the real truth is that for a while I hadn’t discovered that kind of music. When those services started to become ubiquitous there was just so much new music hitting my ears. It was awesome and in the course of that I discovered some new things that i really loved and wanted to try and emulate. That set me off on a road of learning a lot of new things like recording software and discovering new music. I mentioned Boarsds of Canada, I’m really into TYCHO, and other things like that. They aren’t on the “E” side of EDM but are more melodic and vibey. Bands where the musicians are also being producers, there’s a lot of sound-scaping and that’s all stuff I have really been into. All of that, the run off that doesn’t get into the Stringdusters, I’ve been channeling it into my side project. The other guys in the band also have projects that reflect their vibe and their interests as well. But yeah, that’s what took me down that road. Before the Bluegrass thing, for me, there was the Flecktones which are kind of an Electronic, Fusion band in their own way. Certainly a Jamband, they jam as hard as anyone. Their show is full of unpredictability and long group improv so it’s trying to pull all those things together.
LUD!: In the past, you have talked a lot about how the Stringdusters fit into the Bluegrass community. How to open things up to more improv, jamming and things like that? Is that something you are still focused on. Having the Bluegrass community open itself to those ideas?
CP: You know if that happens as a byproduct of something we do or say we definitely encourage that and are open to that. For us it’s really about creating the best music we can and connecting with people and fans to see the community around our music grow. But yeah, we are really into all those things. There is the music world, and the Bluegrass conversation has been had many times over, but what is interesting is you hear about the jamband world. There is this dichotomy of the Jamband world and then the more, quote unquote, integrity music world but really those do go together very well. I mean, Jazz is like the original Jam music anyway. Those guys were renowned as the best players, they were the heaviest cats and all they did was whale on these super long improvised solos together and do it off the cuff. I think our music mixes all those things. It doesn’t strive to be any one of them per say but we are trying to do them all well and do them tastefully. In the end, if that means the Bluegrass world opens its arms to more people then I think that is awesome.
LUD!: Do you ever see some of that Electronic filtering in with the Stringdusters, maybe with some collaborations with some of those artists?
CP: [Laughs] Man…anything is possible [Laughs] I don’t foresee that happening anytime really soon but I don’t see why it couldn’t. I think that everyone in this band…one of the great things is that everyone is so open minded. If it sounds good and fits the music then yeah, anything is possible. That’s the key. We are all about creating original music and when it comes to the songs and the songwriters in this band you just try to find what fits things the best. We are kind of like five producers sort of constantly producing the sound and aesthetic of the whole thing. If there is an opportunity to do something new and different we would jump at it.
LUD!: I saw you played Summer Camp and if you look at the lineup for a festival like that and it’s pretty diverse across the board. I think its interesting compared to where we were maybe, 10 years ago where things were a lot more compartmentalized between bands and fanbases and now there is a lot more cross pollination. As A fan i feel like that leads to some cool things you wouldn’t expect.
CP: Definitely. Thats been something we’ve seen evolve since we’ve been a band. You see lineups where STS9 is right after the Stringdusters then after that it’s Del McCoury or something crazy like that. But the fans are really into that and there is a common thread there. I think part of it is the open mindedness with the Bluegrass or Jamgrass coming into that scene and taking on the challenge of widening their palette of material but still performing it all on Bluegrass instruments. In the end it may sound really different but there is more and more of that going on every summer.
LUD!: To that point, The Stringdusters will be back in CO for the Lohi Music festival on June 13th. Colorado has been good to your band and you live out here now. Why do you think this has become such a hub for live music?
CP: After having lived out there for a couple of years I would definitely agree that the scene is undeniably a hot bed for music. I think one of the things that really defines the Denver scene is how many fans it can sustain. By virtue of how many good clubs and promoters there are, you know the fans go see the music, the promoters bring more music in and it’s a great, positive circle. I think that people who are into good music and good living tend to congregate in these cool places where there are more of those types of opportunities. You put all those things together on the Front Range of Colorado and you have a place, that compared to all the other places we tour, really stands alone in terms of how many fans it sustains. That, of course, translates to the music scene in terms of how many musicians it sustains and how many bands come through. They are just so appreciative and involved, and compared to other places where you can only come through and play once a year, the front range has fans that will go out and see music every night of the week. It’s cool. It’s a great place to live. It’s a great place to play with the Stringdusters and collaborate with other musicians. Its a great place to be and we are always excited to plan out what we are going to do in Colorado. LoHi is going to be a great part of that.
LUD!: Lastly, I’m not sure if you are aware but the theme for this year’s LoHi music fest is “Safari”. With that in mind if you had to describe yourself and your bandmates as wild animals who would be what?
CP: [Laughs] Oh my god. That’s a tough one. Well Jeremy our fiddle player, he would definitely be a cobra. Travis is a lion, a golden lion [laughs]. Everyone refers to me as Panda and we’ve got Falco who would be a Falcon, a Falcon Crest.
LUD!: Anything behind the Panda vibe you’ve been pegged with?
CP: Well just derivative of my last name [Pandolfi] but one time in Telluride I did wear a full Panda suit on stage only to get out there and realize I couldn’t see a thing [Laughs]. I guess we have lived some of those out [Laughs]. But that’s cool. I didn’t even realize about the Safari theme but that sounds like a lot of fun.
LUD!: Well thanks, for taking some time today. We are excited to get the Dusters back out in Colorado.
CP: Thank you man. We are definitely looking forward to it.
THE INFAMOUS STRINGDUSTERS
LOHI Music Festival
Saturday, June 13th
32nd & Vallejo St, Denver
PURCHASE TICKETS
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