Paula: In light of all of the personnel changes, how does the band find ways to re-interpret older material?
Drew: The biggest change of all was when Adam replaced Todd as lead singer. But
we handled it (as we handle most things) treating each song individually,
and playing to each musicians' strengths. We didn't want the band to be the
same as it was before.
For example, "Newry Highwayman" we had done with Todd...Adam liked the
song, and we were able to make the arrangement even heavier than the
previous version. "Madman Mora Blues" now has a couple different
arrangements we can use depending on whether we're playing acoustic or
electric.
BiL is unlike most bands in that, with only a few exceptions, we can play
the same material acoustically (doumbek, acoustic guitar, fiddle, bass) as
we do electrically (drum kit, electric guitar [turned up to 11], bass [also
turned up to 11], and fiddle [wah-wah, effects, etc]). This really keeps
things fresh; adjusting the parts we play to the gig situation. Besides,
playing quiet gigs is really good for the music, without noise and effects
boxes to fall back on.
