Andrew Vladeck interview

Andrew Vladeck
A true musical renascence man

This past Monday evening in New York City, was a balmy indian summer evening and I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Andrew Vladeck (aka Dory Honey of the Honey Brothers) in the East Village’s Tompkins Square Park. As we sat on a park bench, black and white dogs barked and bike riders whizzed by, we discussed the Honey Brothers, how he came to be known as the “Singing Ranger” and Dory Honey, playing indie music festivals. And finally how he came to play the banjo as well as his own solo material


AG: First Question is a three parter: Your known as “The Singer Ranger”; you play the banjo and your alter ego’s name is Dory Honey who plays with his brothers Honey. First, what made you decide to become a park ranger? Second, What made you decide to play the banjo? And finally explain your alter ego Dory.

AV: Well okay what made me become a park ranger; I love the contradiction of living in the city and being and the middle of nature….. laughs ….( as if on cue, a fire truck with sirens on at full blast goes rushing by) as I’m saying this to you a fire truck is going by…and it’s a hook and ladder truck . My grandpa Harry who was born three blocks from here drove on the back of a hook and ladder truck, he was a New York City fireman for twenty years. He was a civil servant and all of my family has worked for the city or served in some type of way. And it was interesting for me to wear a uniform and do that whole type of thing. And my job was primarily education and I’m a big fan of New York City and New York City history and when I saw a job posting saying that the parks dept was looking for an historian ranger, I applied for the job and I got it and that’s what brought me to becoming a ranger I needed a job and I was a musician and I had no other skills other then music and my love of history.

AG: And a 9 to 5 job just wasn’t gonna cut it?

AV: Right…. The banjo thing came about during the sophomore year of college, I got this recording of Woody Guthrie playing the fiddle and he didn’t play too many fiddle songs but the record I had gotten was of him playing “900 Miles” and it blew my freakin’ mind!! And I thought I need to play that song….I wanted to learn to play the fiddle so I can play that song, I tried to find where I could take fiddle lessons and it was really hard to find a place where I could take fiddle lessons. And I found out that the New School offered fiddle lessons and so I went to sign up to take fiddle lessons at the New School. And then they called me the day before and said your fiddle lessons are canceled no one else signed up, but we have a banjo class and as a default I took up banjo. And now that’s what I do.

AG: It was a happy accident

AV: It was….well said. Lastly the alter ego Dorian…Dory Honey. First off me and my friends when we started the Honey Brothers, we decided it was fun to be in the land of make believe and be something outside of yourself and have some sort of alter ego. And we all chose our own names and I don’t know how meaningful their names are to them but at the time I was reading “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde. And it’s a phenomenal book, it’s funny and it’s scathing and I sort out my own issues through that book. Some of them are encapsulated by that book and so that is why I chose that name.

AG: Well I hear that you are in the studio and you are making some solo material, can you describe the sound of this new music that you are making? And is it any different then what you do in the Honey Brothers?

AV: Yes it is quite different! I’m really a huge fan of old folk and blues, like before World War 2. between the wars really but like the 1920’s, 30’s all the stuff that Harry Smith put together for the Harry Smith anthologies. I love that old music, from Rev. Gary Davis, great ragtime guitar player…..

AG: King Oliver?

AV: What was King Oliver?

AG: Really great ragtime Creole jazz from like 1917.

AV: I never really broke into jazz it was too much of a different form and I don’t know if I’m a good enough musician to pull off jazz. (laughs) So I’ll stick to the simpler folk music form…ummm so I’m really into that old time folk and blues music and so what I do really draws into that heavily and brings it into the future. The songs I write are much more modern and the sounds I come up with and force my banjo through with amplifiers and pick ups and stuff is trying to make it fresh and exciting and interesting. With the Honey Brothers we’re really a collective and we write songs together and it pretty much comes out of a much more modern feel, it’s a little bit more indie , more pop rock sensibilities. My music is steeped more directly in the roots stuff.


AG: You have a gig coming up on October 9th at the Knitting Factory which is part of the MEANY Fest. Do you do a lot of indie music festivals as a solo artist and or with the Honey Brothers?

AV: I’ve done more as a solo artist, I’ve been a solo artist for a while now the Honey Brothers have been together for like about five years. I’ve done the circuit of festivals…I’ve never player MEANY Fest, but I’ve done the others that have come here and around.

AG: Do you have a favorite festival that you’ve played?

AV: I thought that South by Southwest is a phenomena and I thought it was neat to be transplanted to this oasis with a billion other musicians. And it becomes like a college town almost, it can really take over as opposed to anything that comes to New York City which kinda gets swallowed by the city. For me it was exciting to get out of town and be part of the South by Southwest festival.


AG: The last question….where does Dory Honey…..”The Singing Ranger” aka Andrew Vladeck see himself going?

AV: Well….I don’t know! Well I’d like to see myself continuing this trajectory which is every year I feel like I’m getting more talented and I’m enjoying music more and meeting more great musicians and getting to play in front of more people. I’m really enjoying all the projects that I’m doing right now and I’d like to see myself going deeper with in all those projects. Writing better songs and enjoying the people I play with and the audiences even more.


To hear Andrew's music click on his myspace:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=9674407&MyToken=d1091f64-5b7f-4cb6-bf6d-c3f61b3787c4


To get tour dates and other news click on his website:

http://www.andrewvladeck.com/

Ethan Gold a few months later...

A few months ago I had the pleasure of chatting with Ethan Gold (aka Raw Honey) about his influences, song writing process and where he sees himself going. I just caught up with him a few days ago via email and we chatted about his two new solo cd's which are due to come out any day now and his up and coming MEANY fest gig on October 9th at the Knitting Factory in New York. My interview with Dory Honey is up and posted so enjoy both interviews!!


AG: Your in the process of recording two new CD's can you tell me how
that is going? And what is the inspiration behind the writing process of
these two new CD's?

EG: I was living in Los Angeles in a dingy apartment doing demos for a
bleak and terrifying rock opera thing called "The Rise and Fall of CAP". It was
basically an exploration of the worst aspects of the male psyche - sex
and violence and music. I'd demoed about 50 songs when I realized I
couldn't make sense of the project, it just kept spawning more music and ideas.
Meanwhile I was getting sick: it turned out that in addition to the
various vermin and asbestos in the apartment there was also toxic mold growing
in the floorboards, which I discovered when I lifted an amplifier. It
broke off part of the floor when I lifted it, revealing this kind of
horrifying forest of mold. It explained some of the mental states I'd been
experiencing. I abandoned the project and of course the apartment, and
turned some of those demos into my totally home-made album "Songs from
a Toxic Apartment." I played and recorded and mixed every note of that
record on an $800 system at home. Then I have a less insular record called
"Bright and Lonely City," which was done in a proper studio, with a rhythm
section of other humans. I tried to combine them into one record but they just
didn't blend, so I decided to just make them two records.

AG: Does the sound of the new material differ from your past solo
stuff?

EG: Don't know what you've heard. Some of it you'll recognize. A few
songs from movies will be on the studio record.


AG: Will you be playing any of the new material when you play the
Knitting Factory in New York on Oct 9th?

EG: Yeah, I'll play a few songs. This is just a little acoustic show.
That's not my preferred mode of transport, so I'll keep it short. I don't
like to see acoustic shows to much, so I don't like to be one either. It's a
challenge to play that way for me, actually. I won't have my
paintbrushes, all the instruments that make my sound. The people who come to the
show, it will be sort of like looking at blueprints.


AG: The show that you are playing on the Oct 9th at the Knitting
Factory is part of the MEANY fest which is an indie music fest, how do you feel
about playing indie music festivals?

EG: There should be more music festivals. I envy the indie film world.


AG: You've been playing a lot live with your band the Honey Brothers, are you
looking forward to doing this solo gig on the 9th?

EG: Looking forward with trepidation. I've gotten used to having my
friends on stage with me. It's nice that my honey brother Andrew Vladeck will be
playing before me to warm the stage up and make a good vibe for the room.
But it may be lonely out there all by myself. I don't want to tour this
way, but I don't have time to rehearse a band this week. I hope to tour
more properly soon.

AG: Last question when can we expect these two new cds??

EG: The mixes are done on one record as of last week. The other I have four
more songs to mix. Then I'll look at some labels. I'd hope to release
them soon. Perhaps one around new year and the other around summer. Sorry to
make you wait, that's just the way it works. If I release independently it
could be a little sooner.

To hear Ethan's new material click on his myspace page:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=8828937&MyToken=928c5782-2d55-4712-bb62-d01022be0737

To get news such as tour dates click on Ethan's webpage:

http://www.ethangold.com/