… Northern Liberties Interview by Kevin McKeon “If we could do a national tour of insane asylums” says Northern Liberties’ drummer Mark Duerr, “we’d be huge”. It seems like the people that are right on the edge are the ones telling us, ‘I get it, man!'”
“I am sure that a large percentage of people consistently interested in what we’re doing have been through the mental health system,” adds vocalist and brother, Justin Duerr.
… Mark continues, “It’s more the fact that people who have been misunderstood by the world as a whole have spent a large portion of their lives looking for something to make them feel normal about the different way they view things. When they see us take on music in a non-traditional way, I think that’s the thing that makes us accessible. “
… Indeed, listening to Northern Liberties is not a sign of mental illness. It just means that one is able to appreciate something out of the ordinary.Hypnotic, other-worldly melodies are propelled by bassist Kevin (who goes solely by his first name) with no other instruments outside of the rhythm section. Well, that is unless you count the delay pedal Justin uses on his vocals as an instrument, as the band does. It certainly adds another dimension to his strangely poetic lyrics.
… At the same time, the band’s brand of “ghost punk” is not a million miles away from most blues-based rock. There are times when they sounds as straightforward and rowdy as any punk band, or as catchy as any pop band.
“I don’t really think of us as experimental,” Justin explains. “We pretty much know how things are gonna go down when we start. The songs are pretty much the length that Western music has followed for the past eighty years. Our intention was never to focus on any preconceived genre or sound. ‘Ghost punk’ is a good genre name.”
… “If we were totally experimental,” he states, “we wouldn’t have [general] appeal; it’d be too off the grid. But a lot of the times, it’s the older Vietnam vets that… get what we were doing. I don’t think they would if we were just playing noise. We’re just enough like The Eagles, but then totally different.
… ” Live performances are just as strange and engaging as their music. Justin can sometimes get up close and personal with the audience. He might also decide to put on a dress. Actually, there’s no real way to describe all the things he might do, but whatever they are, they’re certainly exciting.
… “I’m just trying to engage people in an actual event,” he says. “It’s like, ‘well, you’re here with us now, so lets all have this experience together,’ and it’s gonna be real. I’d like to think of it as cathartic and humanistic, but in this way where everybody can participate… even if that means they’re just standing there. If they want to stay in the back, they’re free to do that, but I will walk over to them. If they want to be with me, they can. If they want to punch me, they can. If they want to leave, they can. I just want to engage them.
Having formed back in 2000 and released two albums, Northern Liberties has honed their craft in a most unlikely way; by not trying too hard to do so. Their songwriting process is every bit as spontaneous and unpredictable as their performances.
“Most song writing is by inspiration, “explains Kevin. “There’s not really a lot of math involved. If we don’t have the vocals, or if we try too much studio trickery, we get confused.
… “We play it ’til it feels like it should change, “Mark chimes in, “and that’s based on when one of us gives an eye symbol.” While he says this with a laugh, it’s unclear to what extent he is joking.
… Northern Liberties has adopted a similarly impulsive attitude in the studio. “On our first CD, ” Mark recounts, ” we tried to do the bass and drums separately, and then the vocals and everything. That didn’t work out as well. It [is] so much better for us to all be in the room when we record because we play off each other. The way Justin sings, he never does it exactly the same way twice. “
And exactly what is he singing about? “The words themselves are pretty abstract. [They] are kind of like a garden, but the seeds that are grown are randomly gathered. I don’t know what they’re gonna be, and then certain weeds choke out other flowers. I’m not as interested in something that’s… overtly message-based. I like things that have a spiritual or religious connotation, but if it becomes very specific, it’s a bit of a turn-off.”
… Don’t look for anything specific in Northern Liberties’ long-term goals, either. They intend to have an album out in the near future (as well as another collaborative album) and an 18 day cross-country tour. Their ultimate goal is simply to keep chugging along.
Kevin points to the longevity of their personal relationships. “Those two [are] brothers and [I went] to high school with them and have known them since I was 12. It’s pretty much just [a question of] how long will we physically be interested in playing music together or how long will our bodies physically allow us to do it. “
… Northern Liberties is highly optimistic toward the Philadelphia music scene, in particular, the multitude of basement shows in West Philly. Especially that they’re run by younger people, most of whom have learned to accept different kinds of music and look outside the confines of MTV and record companies.
… “These kids have this support network that consists of the internet and people they never met in other cities… so their tastes have become way more diverse,” says Mark. “What we’re doing, it’s not really that weird to them.”
… ” Philly’s always been the underdog, “explains Justin. “Like Rocky. [He]tries his very best and in the end, it kicks ass. He still doesn’t win, but he’s the true Philly hero.
…”I really feel like Philly is poised to almost win. There’s an incredible amount of bands around now. “
The times are getting stranger and for Northern Liberties, that is a very good thing.
Tag: interviews
Taking liberties, In the cave with Philly’s rock extremists (Philadelphia City Paper, March 2-8 2006)
Taking Liberties, In the cave with Philly’s rock extremists.
by A.D. Amorosi
“When we play I try to make ghosts come out of our amplifiers,” says Justin Duerr. Conjuring spirits is nothing new for Justin and Northern Liberties, the trio he sings and writes for. Ghosts are a musical part of the “biorhythms and environmental factors” that Justin Duerr claims pushes their metallic sound. Ghosts haunt the lyrics he calls “silent love-wars”?improvisations filled with flowers, bees, hibernating birds, dreaming deer and soft-antlered mud worms. Their records?like their brand new Secret Revolution?are gorgeously extreme, effects-laden maelstroms punctuated by pick-driven bass and voices that caterwaul and mumble. Not the xtreme of Killswitch Engage, snowboarding and X Games. In a universe where obviousness rules, making music that’s extreme yet doesn’t yield to stupidity is an anomaly. The shaggy trio from Overbrook and South Philly?Justin Duerr, Marc Duerr, Kevin Riley?make their music almost covertly. Theirs is a more underground ideal than most, despite its joyful primordial roar. Chromelodeon and Robotrake look like Christina and Britney in comparison. “We’re the only band doing what we do,” says Riley. Dick-size posturing? There’s a prideful resignation in his tone. You’ll sense Joy Division, Syd Barrett and the spiritually imbued Ruin in NoLib’s minimalist sound and lyrical abstractions. But there’s a hidden code to what they do, something obtuse and beautiful. Before 2000, Northern Liberties’ members were in Eulogy and Firetruck of Beer. They lived in squats, recorded hours of music no one would ever hear and played often at the infamous Catbox practice house in West Philly. “Liberties was born at the Catbox,” says Justin, who moved out of the Box in 2003. There’s no connection between this heaving metal trio and the poncy Philly neighborhood of the same name. Their moniker refers to the old meaning; “northern liberties” were sections of cities like Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia where no one tied down their animals. They didn’t have to. These neighborhoods were considered wild, outlying regions. “We saw ourselves as a musical equivalent?a band choosing a path of untethered freedom on the outskirts,” says Justin. “Northern Liberties is pretty poncy. But it was back in 2000 when we named ourselves.” That renegade vibe describes Riley’s Worldeater label, home to Northern Liberties and at least 15 other bands. We’re talking CDs and vinyl from hybrid metal/punk acts like Hellblock 6, Kiss Kiss Kill or World Famous Crawlspace Brothers. The acts were chosen because, like NoLibs, they’re on the edges of their respective genres. That’s where the comparison between band and label ends. The minimalist dynamics of Northern Liberties sound like nothing else on the label. Ask them to explain those dynamics and weird magic kicks in. “Pigeons weren’t meant to live in holes?they’re cliff dwellers. So I’m not so into pigeonholing things,” says Justin. “We are trying to discover a sound that’s beyond us, beyond ourselves as individuals, beyond direct frames of reference.” He says Northern Liberties likes to step aside and let the songs out with as little interference from the band as possible. Talking about what he calls a “feedback loop” philosophy of writing songs “through electrochemical, electroharmonic vibrations,” Justin says he believes that the band creates music while reacting to it. “That is why we are “rocked’ by our own music.” Having witnessed their performances, electric and acoustic, I can attest to the trance that envelops all comers. “We’re not just playing the songs. We’re hearing it as it unfolds?as audience members,” says Justin. Through screeching psychedelic volume or quietude, there’s holiness at work. Not religion, exactly?although Justin is a minister in an order of his devising, Church Of Divine Energy?but rather a force field of ghost electricity and all attendant powers. “Music is a spiritual pursuit,” according to Justin. If you’re moved by Secret Revolution, it’s because you are that music. It’s your quietude, your holiness. It’s a place, like they speak of in “Mainframe,” where a song can endow a person with supernatural powers. Amen.
Northern Liberties will play Thu., March 2, 9 p.m., $8, with Radio Eris, Kandy Whales and ShellShag, The Khyber, 56 S. Second St., 215-238-5888, www.worldeaterrecords.com, www.justinduerr.com.
–Philadelphia City Paper, March 2- 8, 2006