Big Harp - Talk To The Beard

Big Harp are set to release their debut album White Hat via Saddle Creek on September 13th 2011. Tasty Ears caught up with the very talented couple in L.A. to ask them a few questions.

TE - It seems that you spend a lot of time in both L.A and Omaha, where are you now? Do you find it difficult to balance the two, rather different, places (especially with kids in tow)? And do you prefer one to the other?
 
BH - We love both places, but right now L.A. is definitely our home.  We have family here, which is huge when you have kids.  Balancing the two has actually been pretty painless -- we do spend a lot of time traveling, but the kids take to it really well.

TE -  Saddle Creek seems like such a natural fit for Big Harp, was there ever any doubt that you would be working with them on this project?

BH - When we made the record, we didn't know what we were gonna do with it.  We sent it to Saddle Creek hoping they'd be interested, and they were.  We're really happy to be working with them -- they're like family to us.
 
TE - If you were to be stranded on a desert island with a record player (I know, what is a record player doing on a desert island, right?) and could only bring three albums what would they be?  

BH - Ha ha!  Those desert islands have everything, don't they?
 
Stefanie -- Van Morrison, Astral Weeks
 
Chris -- Rolling Stones, Exile on Main Street
 
Stefanie and Chris -- Harry Nilsson, Nilsson Sings Newman

TE -  Do your kids have a favourite song off of your album? (or do they request you to play any songs in particular?)

BH - We thought Hank (our son), liked Steady Hand Behind the Wheel until he started to refer to everything as crazy city.  Like if somebody drops somthing and it makes a loud noise, he might say, "Whoa!  That's crazy city!".  So I guess Goodbye Crazy City made some kind of impact on him.  Twila (our daughter) doesn't really talk yet, but she seems to be more into Willie Nelson than us right now.
 
TE - In the past three years you've been married, had two kids, started a band and now you're about to release your first album, this is quite a pace you have set for yourselves. What would be your idea of the perfect holiday? and have these events changed the way you create (songs/music)?

BH - Our perfect holiday?  A week in bed playing Donkey Kong Country on Super Nintendo and watching mindless horror movies with a cooler of Pacifico in reach.  And margaritas. 
 
Having kids does change the way we create.  Writing and practicing has to be more scheduled obviously.  If you have an idea for a song, you can't necessarily just go off by yourself and work it out.  You have to kind of store things away and then pull them out when the opportunity presents itself.  It's been good, though -- it teaches you to be a little more in control of your creativity.
 
TE - Would you rather take only cold showers or never get enough sleep?

Stef -- Never get enough sleep.  Nothing is worse than a cold shower!
 
Chris -- Cold showers, definitely.  I barely remember what enough sleep feels like, but I remember I liked it.

Thanks again for taking time out of your busy day to answer a few questions. All the best with the release of the excellent new album and we hope you make it up to Vancouver soon.