THE PINING open for Rattlesnake Choir and New Country Rehab at the Horseshoe Thursday (January 5). See listing.
Toronto indie all-girl country quintet the Pining began as a casual musical get-together in 2008 and got more serious when they started writing original songs.
The band’s self-titled 2011 debut (on Blocks) showcases diverse songwriting styles, unique voices and a sense of humour.
They’re a busy group of women: Julie Faught has sung with Doug Paisley and plays in queer electro outfit Kids On TV, Kaili Glennon also sings with Jacques and the Shakey Boys, Dani Nash drums for the Sure Things, and lead guitarist Emma Moss Brender solo project is called Party Time. Violinist Mika Posen (Timber Timbre, Forest City Lovers) is an honourary member.
I met with three of the ladies – Faught, Glennon and Nash — for a New Year’s Eve chat about the band’s beginnings and where they’re headed in 2012.
How did you start playing music together?
Kaili Glennon: Jules and I taught [high school] together. We wanted to play music and get a band together and we were out one night with Tara [Azzopardi] watching Live Country Music (with Doug [Paisley] and Chuck [Erlichman]) and that was sort of the night that we said let’s get together.
Julie Faught: So then we had a couple other girls play. It was just really casual, sort of a Saturday or Sunday afternoon social thing, just having drinks and eating hummus and pita. At first it was just covers and traditional music for the sake of playing music. And then we started writing some original songs and we became more dedicated.
When you were doing covers what covers were you doing?
Faught: Old Lucinda’s. Gillian’s. High On A Mountaintop, traditional bluegrass songs. We started playing some shows and acquired new members. Emma [Moss Brender] joined us and then last year Dani [Nash] joined us.
Who came up with the name of the band?
Faught: I think I did on our trip up to Sappy.
Glennon: Yeah, we were driving out East.
Faught: We spent many hours in the car together, brainstorming and brainstorming.
Were you playing Sappy?
Faught: No, we were just ‘the wives’ taking a road trip together for the third year in a row. We had been playing a bunch of shows with no band name. We just couldn’t land on something that, not that everyone agreed on, but that was right.
Glennon: And I remember, we must have been in New Brunswick and we were driving along and all of a sudden she was like, The Pining! “What about the Pining”?
Faught: It was a moment. Because we had thrown around the Pines, the Piner, or Pinery. All these stupid things. What about the Pining? And I think we texted people immediately on the cell phones.
Have you found other bands with that name?
Faught: No, there’s no other bands. We lucked out. And now we have a website, so it’s official, no one else can take it.
Why did you decide to be an all woman group? And why did you want to play country music?
Dani Nash: Well, when they started the band I wasn’t in the band. But I don’t think you guys decided to be all girl country I just think you were inspired by people like Lucinda and Emmylou Harris and lead country women, right? We’re all friends and we’re all talented and we know how to play particular things like drums and bass so it just kind of happened. Plus we all sing pretty much too. Yeah, I don’t think it was decided, “let’s make it all girl country.” Well, was it though?
Faught: I think it was the music that we were all drawn to originally. As much as we might appreciate different types of music, I think a lot of us are drawn to singer/songwriter and country music. That’s what we listen to, not that we don’t listen to anything else. So I think it just sort of stemmed from that. It was a natural progression.
In terms of being an all women’s band, I don’t think it was a conscious decision, because as we started out it was a gathering of women for friend’s sake. It was like let’s get together and instead of stitch and bitch, lets play music. After we had so many sessions, then it just became actually we like that vibe. It’s not like no boys allowed. It’s just that it’s nice.
Nash: But now that it is all girls, no boys allowed!
Faught: There’s a camaraderie there and it’s a real nice space to get together. When we do get together it’s not about who’s practicing or what song are we’re writing. Half the gathering is about catching up and chatting and unloading and debriefing.
Nash: Sometimes we don’t even get to play anything we just talk.
Faught: We like that vibe and I guest that’s probably why we’ve stuck with it.
Have you had any guys play with you at all?
Faught: No. I tell a lie because once we played this amazing….what was it?
Glennon: I was going to say Coe Hill.
Nash: …we played at my cottage at Coe Hill. Every year they have this big festival, this Warriors’ Day Parade. We were short a member, we were short Emma [lead guitar player] so Tara’s boyfriend Paul came with us and he learned the songs on the way up. He was great.
Has there been an evolution in your live show?
Faught: For the last half-year, we’ve gone electric. We’re Newport. Dani’s playing with a full kit usually, and Emma’s playing electric and that was something that evolved from our album because we used to play strictly acoustic but then when we did the album we had time and some money.
How did you end up working with Blocks Recording Club?
Faught: I started volunteering with Blocks in 2008 and then 2009 I was elected to be one of the board members. In 2008 I started pitching the idea of maybe doing the record with them and whilst on the board was able to take it on. Blocks is an artist run collective, so that if you’re involved, you can throw your weight behind a project. Releasing on Blocks was kind of ideal for us in terms of it being self-directed.
When I interviewed Doug Paisley, he told me he doesn’t find country music depressing. I think your songs are kind of fun. Do you think country music is sad or fun or both?
Nash: I think country music is truth. It’s honest. So whether that’s like fun and upbeat or sad … I always find country music to have a bit of a twist on things. It’s honest but if it’s sad, it’s clever, and sort of humorous too.
Glennon: Yeah, it just tells a story.
Faught: In as much as a lot country music is depressing, tear jerker, weepy, country songs are uplifting in the sense that it’s an emotion, it’s a cathartic relief. You can listen to some of Doug’s songs, like What About Us. It’s not a depressing song but it’s a friggin’ weepy song, right? That’s a beautiful song that will make you cry, but in a really emotional sort of satisfying way.
Glennon: You feel alive.
Faught: You don’t feel like, “I’m going to go hide under my bed.” And when you’re listening to country music, it’s also relatable, lived experiences. You don’t feel so alone. It sounds depressing, but you can relate to it.
But I think some country musicians are funnier than others.
Faught: Yeah, and we do have fun with it. We always call them our fasties and our slows and we always have to navigate that when we’re playing shows because depending where we’re playing who the audience is, we’ve got to try to make sure we keep it lively.
Glennon: Makes me chuckle because someone was asking about having us play a wedding. There’s not a lot of love positive here.
Faught: This is called [Face It] She’s Gone.
At your Glenn Gould show, I really loved how you switched vocals and instruments around fluidly.
Faught: I think that’s one of the things that people like about our music, is that when you go to a show there’s a variance there. It’s not just the same person singing the same thing and everyone doing the same thing because we switch vocals a lot, and there’s different styles of singing, different songwriters, different voices, different harmonies and even different musical arrangements. You can sit there for ten or twelve songs and say, “this is different, this is different.”
What’s going on right now with your writing?
Faught: I would say a lot more collaboration in recent months.
Nash: This album is a lot of songs that we brought to the group and I think it’s great that we’re writing together.
Did you play some stuff that wasn’t on the album at the Glenn Gould?
Faught: Yeah, we played Kill My Lonesome Cry and Lost So Lost.
Nash: Exit Plan?
Faught: No, we didn’t do that, we were afraid, because some of them were new.
The Glenn Gould can be intimidating.
Nash: It was, yeah.
Faught: Especially when we got out there on stage and we realized after the first song that we’d left all of our set lists [off stage]. This was an anxious band. It looked like we were smiling but really we were like, “oh god, what’s next?”
