Interview w/ Stephen MacDonald & The Okay Win

Last night, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing my good friends in Stephen MacDonald & The Okay Win just before their show at Great Scott in Allston, MA. Here is the transcript of that interview:

Can you give all your names and what you do in the band?

Steve: My name is Steve MacDonald and I play guitar and sing.
Matt: My name is Matt Jones and I play drums.
Ryan: My name is Ryan Ward and I play bass.
JM: I'm JM Craven and I also play guitar and I sing a bit.

How did the band come together?

Steve: Well, I've been playing solo for about a year and a half and I decided that I needed the songs to be a bit bigger so I brought in Ryan and Matt and we played a couple of shows together. And then, I wanted to be able to have things beyond rhythm and guitar so we brought in JM and we've basically been a band, the four of us since June and there are songs that I wrote but we're becoming more of a band and it's becoming more of a group effort so I didn't want to play by myself anymore and then these guys wanted to play, so it worked out.

How did you come up with the name The Okay Win?

Matt: Basically, Steve and I were online trying to come up with different names and I was like "It's the Steve MacDonald Trio" cause it's me, Steve, and Ryan and he goes "I might want to expand it" so it's kinda like off the cuff remarks so it's "Okay Win" which he did first, I was trying to say "Okay, Win" but like Arcade Fire with like 18 members, but that was lost early on, then they were like Okay Win, that sounds kind of cool let's just go with that, and that's what we came up with.

Can you describe the recording process for "We Are Bound" and what was it like?

Steve: Basically, I had a batch of songs and we went in with my friend Greg Loftus who is also on the same label as us and it was more just like, it's kind of hard to describe, we had the base of the song done and it was done in studio where Ryan wrote alot of his bass for most of the songs in studio and we had only played once with JM and he wrote all his guitar parts.

JM: Well, I got to listen to some of the songs before hand and alot of them I had set parts like "In Spit" especially there was nothing done, I had not even really touch on it and that's why you get alot of harmonics, pull-offs, and stuff.

Steve: Some of the songs we had been playing like "Could Gamble" it was just like, boom in, do it but songs like "In Spit" and "Fiction" were like the endings and it just turned into a whole different thing. So, some of the songs there were went in, and did it really fast and other songs we wrote together, but the weird thing is that Matt was never in the studio at the same time as them, Matt did his one week and they came in the next week and did it.

Matt: One day I kinda wished it was like when we were recording, we tried to do a song it was like the first time in studio so like Steve was playing acoustic for me, and so now live, I play songs kind of differently, so I wished we had the time to go back and do what we do now, cause it's different sounding live than it is on the record, it's different not better or worse.

Is there a general theme or subject matter that runs through each of your songs?

Steve: I guess everything has it's own place in my life but I just kind of write alot about what I observe how people are, like good and bad, and it's more like we're at an age where you're growing as an adult, moving out on your own, we have friends getting married and graduating college. I thought I knew everything and then at 24 now I know nothing so it's alot finding out about yourself, so I just write about what it's like to be a 24-25 year old now.

JM: I think alot of us have been talking before about Steve kind of just narrating all of our lives anyway, it's a very personal thing for him. The first time I saw him play live by himself solo, I left in tears. I was like I gotta get my shit together and now I'm playing in a band but I cried, I couldn't handle it.

Ryan: I think that all these songs are as different as they can be from time to time and are all very rooted in real life in experience and inexperience and what it means to really, truly live and everything that goes into that. I think what we try to do personally is we have these songs with this record, we had a batch of songs from Steve and we had some time to listen to them and really kinda know what they were about, and then from there, it was just a matter of accompaniment and it's real life and sometimes, that's just magical.

Can you explain how you guys got involved with Big Bullet Records in releasing "We Are Bound"?

Steve: The kid who runs Big Bullet Records, his name is Tucker Riggleman they're from West Virginia. He just found me online, we were communicating he really was digging what I was doing at the time I guess, so I went down there on a solo tour in April and met up and he was like "Next record you do, I would like to be a a part of it." And it's not so much a label where they financially put things together, but it's more of a collective where we all help each other out. He's got contacts down there, I've got contacts up here and everybody kind of helps each other out. It doesn't hurt the fact that his band is the best band we've ever played with and if they don't make it big, it's going to be sad. So it's like we joked that we were riding their coat tails, they are like an awesome band. I think especially for these three cause they didn't know Tucker. I don't think they really understood what it was about. Then when we went down to West Virginia, I specifically remember JM getting the most excited cause he got this experience like Tucker and those kids.

JM: They were from miles and miles and miles away and had a really similar musical background as us when it comes to things that they were listening to when they were younger and things like that. We hung out with them for like a good weekend and then we played a show with them in Philly and I had never seen them before and I'm not lying, when it was literally one of the best rock n' roll shows i've ever seen and it was to no one, it was to us.

Ryan: I was kind of skeptical about the whole record label thing from the get go, then going down to West Virginia and meeting Tucker and within the first 5 minutes of talking to him and asking him about the label, I knew we were in good hands and this was a perfect fit for us.

Recently, you guys went on a brief summer tour in support of "We Are Bound", What was it like to be on the road touring?

Steve: I think we all had different experiences. The first day I recently found out was the hottest day of the year and after the first show it was New York City and even though it was a hot day, New York City is a cold place. And I wanted to go home, I didn't want to be on the road, I was like this is it after this tour I don't know if I can do this, but the next day after that it got way better. It's a blur and by the end, you're unshowered and you just want to get home. The mere fact that you're on the road playing your songs and you break even financially, that's like a dream alot of people don't ever get to hear or do.

Matt: It was a really interesting time. This was my first tour, I've never been away that long and Steve said the first time in New York sucked, it was like three of our friends and there was this French pop act after us, they were only 12 years old, and they brought the bigger crowd than we did. It was a bit disheartening, no one really gave a shit about us there and then even at that show, even the people that were there, they were still people there that dug us and that was huge, and still someone just listening to your music who goes and spreads it around. It's really nice to see that, kind of get that feeling. It was a good time. It was the hottest week of the year, it was the fucking worst smelling band on the planet, but I loved every minute of it.

JM: Beyond that, it was something I've always wanted to do and to be able to do it with this group of people was as uncomfortable as it was with no AC and the only hot week in the summer. It was fucking great, we met alot of good people along the way, we were treated really well in places, we were bumped off in places, but we made money, we came out in the positive and it was needed to happen and we came back to Harpers Ferry at the end of the tour and it was our record release and it was the show of all shows. We brought out 300 people to Harpers Ferry, it was a perfect type of homecoming after a seemingly long, short tour.

What are the easiest and the most difficult parts of putting on a live show?

Steve: The easiest is probably just looking good. (Laughter) I think the easiest is when you're in the song, I'll get off stage and I don't even remember being up there, it's like a blur. For me, I get in this zone and as shy as a person as I can be, or as introverted. Like up there, I feel like a completely different person. The hardest part is making sure you sound ok, like levels wise from a technical standpoint, I guess that's probably the hardest. Or entertaining a crowd who doesn't know who the hell you are cause like if they're there to see their friends band, they don't really care about your song about some fucking person they don't know. It's easy, it's hard, it gets frustrating, it's rewarding, it's a complete rollercoaster.

Matt: I think the easiest part is just playing the show. The hardest part is being out there, being away from home, being away from your friends, being away from everything you know. It's kind of a strange experience, just kind of having no lifeline other than your band. Be it like "Oh, where are we going to stay tonight?" or "Are we going to have the money to fill the gas tank?" We came in the black for the last tour, but we did a little weekend jaunt, so I'm pretty sure we're close to being in the red now. So it's kind of worrying about that, that's the hard part.

If each of you guys had the opportunity to write any song ever made, which one would you pick and why?

Steve: If I could have his voice, I would want to just be Sam Cooke. But if I could write any song, I'm really just obsessed with "Fake Plastic Trees" by Radiohead right now and that live version of it is like, it's a beast, it's a beast.

JM: I think I've said previously in an interview I would want to cover "Who Will Survive and What Will Be Left of Them" by Murder of Death. I was kind of obsessed with Tim Kasher for awhile. But I wish I could just be more eloquent.

Matt: I'm going to break the rules and I have two, one is my indie choice, my credible choice. The other one is my I don't care who's listening. The I don't care who's listening one is "Love Story" by Taylor Swift. I don't care what anyone fucking says, this song is so fucking good. It was stuck in my head for like a month and a half and it's probably going to be stuck in my head now again for another year. My actual artistic choice is "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) by Talking Heads cause it's like such a basic song, the structure, it's just the same notes over and over again. It has such a broad and bold message of like complete and total love. I wish I had the power to write that cause it's so simple, but it's so hard to do.

Ryan: I was asked this question before, I'm going to change my answer, I'm going to say Boyz II Men "Motown Philly" (Laughter)

What music is your band influenced by and how does that sound appear in your music?

Steve: We get compared to bands like Fugazi and Pavement. We all love Wilco, Death Cab, and Built to Spill. I don't think there's ever a song where I'm like "OK guys, time to sound like Pavement today" We just go in and something happens and I can't explain it. Our writing process is really weird, we're going to play a song tonight that we've never played live in Boston before and we just kind of write everything off the cuff. I never sit down and say "OK, I'm going to write a folk song", "I'm going to write a sad song", "This one is going to be a screamer", then it's just too forced for me, it just gets too crazy.

Matt: Steve comes from more of a folky background. Growing up, I was more like really hard rock n' roll like the mid late 90's Flaming Lips stuff, just fuzzed out shit and really loud drums. When I first started playing I was like, "I don't know if I'm gonna fit cause I play like John Bonham". I hit them really fucking hard. We have a circle of bands that we're all very familiar with, then we branch off slightly but it works in such a way, each of us brings something different to the band but it's similar, but not the same, so I think that kind of works to our advantage.

What are the band's future plans for this year and beyond?

Steve: Well at least for the spring, it's going to be pretty sparse. Matt's still in college, he's about to graduate so we'll play like more around Massachusetts. I mean ideally, you want to tour the world or whatever, but I realize that this has to be a process and it's going to be this organic thing where you kind of branch out and slowly get across the country. We're doing Fenway Park in August. (Laughter) But ideally, I'd like to get further down the East Coast in the summer. I'm a very impatient person where I'm like, I wouldn't doubt it if we put out another record this year.It probably won't be until the Fall, but just tour more, try to get "We Are Bound" into the public more, cause we all feel strongly about it in a non self absorbed way, We just like the record and we want people to hear it. I want to be looked at as one of those Boston bands, when people mention Boston and they go, "Oh, The Okay Win, those guys rock my face off!"

One last question before I let you guys go, I you could describe your band in one word, what word would you choose?

Steve: We discussed this alot.
Ryan: Pow.
JM: I'm going with damp.
Ryan: Wonder.
Matt: Dynamic.
Ryan: I got another one, cute.
Steve: I can't do it in one word, I feel like you can't describe it, but the way I've described the core of it is  folk inspired rock that gets way more agressive than people anticipate.
JM: Honest.
Steve: That's what we try to be. Honest.

Thanks again to my friends in Stephen MacDonald & The Okay Win for this opportunity to interview them for my blog!! To check out their music, head on over to their MySpace page at: www.myspace.com/stephenmacdonaldmusic and from there, you can purchase their latest effort "We Are Bound"! Feel free to leave a comment here on the blog or shoot me an E-mail!