[Read our earlier Dana Jannsen interview, circa 2007, here] On Wednesday, Sept. 16, New York-based trio Akron/Family return to Ithaca for their first performance in town in over two years. Since their last show in 2007, the group has managed to nimbly shake loose from the ‘New Weird America’ moniker that once doggedly followed them, embracing an even more eclectic approach — one that appropriates free jazz, pastoral folk and classic psychedelic rock with equal parts reckless abandon and total reverence.
In the six years since its inception, Akron/Family has continued to spread their ritualistic, psychedelic music, especially via their careening, out-of-control live performances, which are now legendary in both their scope and absurdity. At their Cornell Univ. Fanclub Collective concert in 2007, the group invited over 20 people on stage in a loosely organized drum circle, while recent concerts have seen them leading parades, sing-a-longs, and other audience participation stunts.
The Ithaca Times recently spoke with percussionist, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Dana Janssen, who just wrapped up a weekend at ATP: New York — an acclaimed festival curated by All Tomorrow’s Parties and the Flaming Lips — where Akron/Family played on Saturday. While dodging spotty cell phone reception in the Catskills Mountains, we chatted about self-recording their new album, playing live, and collaborative songwriting.
Popcorn Youth: A lot has changed since your last performance in Ithaca. You went from being a quartet to a trio; you changed labels (from Young God to Dead Oceans); you released two records.
Dana Janssen: Yeah! Everything has been super positive, and the outcome has been so amazing. Sure, there are some aspects of those changes that were a bummer, but honestly, where we are now musically and a group and as friends, has felt really organic and positive. I’m still surprised by it, in a good and great way — it’s almost overwhelming.
Popcorn Youth: With the new record, Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free, was it a conscious decision to self-produce the record, instead of working with a producer?
Janssen: Oh, yes. We worked with lots of great producers in the past, and we learned a lot of really awesome tricks and techniques to record from each of those producers. But it became a bit of having an ‘extra member’ at times and sometimes a lot more work. We just wanted to avoid conflict and not waste time arguing, and also clarify as a new unit — as three people — as being who we were. It was just something we had to do on our own naturally.
Popcorn Youth: Was there an aspect of that process being highly collaborative?
Janssen: Definitely. We collaborate on different elements of the songwriting process, too — taking parts of jams, giving them space and developing them, and collaborating on writing lyrics. There are certainly things about it where individual people come through more clearly, but it took such a natural shape, and pretty much every aspect of it is collaborative. I mean, I’m hazy on the definition of producer vs. band, you know? It’s just the natural way that we work.
Popcorn Youth: It seems like you guys take a pretty holistic approach to crafting and completing an album. You’re involved every step of the way.
Janssen: Sure. It’s not dictated by any one person. Honestly, we feel really good about how it turned out; it’s an ambitious group of songs — we had over 30 songs before we finished the album. Originally we thought we would put out two albums, the second with another release date… It’s nice to have a song that’s already started, and one thing we’ve noticed is that sometimes our stuff will end up sounding better at the end of a tour, and we’ll wish that we could record it over again. (Laughs)
Popcorn Youth: So there’s a sense that the songwriting process is not finite, that it’s a continuously growing and evolving organism?
Janssen: Yeah. I mean, once you start to play a song every night, you play it in a different way, and you see it in a different light. And that really helps to kind of re-approach the same song in a different way each time. They’re not necessarily permanent changes, and what I like about this approach is that on different tours, say, we’ll have one that we’ve been playing out for a while. We’ll rearrange it each time so that it takes on a completely new sound, like presenting the third incarnation of that song. It keeps it interesting for us, and it’s always an inspiration.