Humming House is a Nashville based band that has become increasingly sought after as their catalogue grows. The release of Revelries in January of 2015 further separated them from the pack with its edgy rock driven take on folk music. It is the perfect blend of the past and today, calling from on influences so wide in range that, for the first time in print, we get to use the word smorgasbord. Their artful and delicate compositions still carry so much soulful rhythm that they manage to make you shake your butt without any solicitation. Recently we caught up with singer Leslie Rodriguez to talk about letters to creative outlets, Gwen Stefani and a new album.
Jordan Knight: Humming House has a show on Sunday at 3rd and Lindsley. It’s your last hometown show of the year and last show of the year.
Leslie Rodriguez: We’re excited. It is going to be fun. This is it for 2015!
J.K.: Anything special planned for your time off? What will you do with your break before The Rock Boat cruise in January?
L.R.: It sounds like freedom, but it’s actually a lot of work over the next several months. We’ve been working on writing over the course of the last year and a half and we have about fifteen songs, but we want to get to 20-25 so we can pick or choose our favorites. So, the next several months, before we go back out on the road again, we’re basically going to be hitting it hard and doing as much writing as we can. We’re also going to be in the studio, so a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes.
J.K.: Talk about the direction of the new album. They have become increasingly more full sounding, especially with Revelries.
L.R.: (Revelries) definitely has more of a collaborative effort and definitely has a more full sound with nods to rock. This next album is written all within the band, all of us writing together. It will have more electric instruments. We’re working on incorporating drums within the arrangements so that we can use them live as well. Our fiddle player (Bobby Chase) is a great drummer as well, so he is going to put down the fiddle on a couple of songs and pick up the drum sticks. We’re going to maintain the rootsy elements we’re known for and figure out a way to make them louder and a little bit more fun. The really exciting thing is that it is all written internally.
J.K.: When you you say internally, is there a person who generally does the writing and presents the song or do things happen organically while playing or practicing?
L.R.: It’s a little bit of all of that. Justin is always a main part of the writing. He, in the past, has been humming House’s main songwriter. A couple of the songs came together randomly in the green room while on the road. Those are rare, but it has happened. A couple will come from somebody having a melody that they think is cool and we build from that. And sometimes it comes from having the lyrics or an idea. We all bring those element to the table. One of the songs is one Josh (Wolak), our mandolin player, has had in his head for a long time. It’s a really soul filled, gospel song. We’re going to have him playing the keys on it. It’s been a chance for us to experiment on what works best for us.
J.K.: You’re a PK (Pastor’s Kid). I grew up with 2 parents who were pastors. You grew up Presbyterian. Did you sing in Church? Did that style of music rub off on you?
L.R.: So did Ben (Jones – Bass). His mom is a Presbyterian pastor. I grew up singing in a church, but less there. I was in a Louisville youth choir. I was really into singing by myself. I listened to a lot of musicals and did a lot of theater type stuff. I loved Susan Tedeschi and Aretha Franklin. I also grew up on a lot of Bluegrass traditional gospel. Allison Kraus and Union Station always has a few on her albums. I’m from Kentucky so a lot of the bluegrass influence comes in.
J.K.: Do you Remember your first time on stage?
L.R.: I think the first big performance I ever did was in fourth grade. I sang at our school talent show. I did a No Doubt song, “Just a Girl.” It was a big performance for me. I had on a patent leather suit and I had on green lipstick. (Laughing) I was so excited. My two best friends were back up dancers. It was a huge performance for me. It was in front of my whole school, which was about 500 kids. I got bit by the bug then and I just loved it. I’d love to find a video of that.
J.K.: That was a big album when it came out.
L.R.: Tragic Kingdom! I actually wrote Gwen Stefani a letter when I was in fourth grade. I’m sure she never got it. I think I wrote it to the label. (Laughing) I wrote her to tell her how much I loved her music.
J.K.: “Nuts, Bolts and Screws” is about building a place where you can be happy with someone. It seems to fit your life. Besides being a musician, you are a blogger, gardener, photographer…Can you talk about the creation of that song and what it has come to mean to you?
L.R.: Justin (Wade Tam- Vocals and Guitar) had already written that song when I came into the band. That was the song the he showed to me so that I could sing it for the rest of the band and manager at the time to convince them I could be in the band. It was kind of an audition song. It was like, “if you’re going to be in the band, you’ve got to be able to sing this bluesy song and how will you handle that?” I love that song. The lyrics are so strong. The feel is so upbeat. Let’s go do this together…It was speaking to my life at the time. I was doing a PhD program at the time and was pretty unhappy. So I got to wail on this song to be in Humming House and that song has never gotten old to sing. I love that song. There’s so much attitude in it. It always gets the crowd going. It is the perfect song for me.
J.K.: You said if you couldn’t do music you would go back and finish your PhD. What were you working on specifically?
L.R.: This is my second graduate degree. I wanted to be a professor. My dad is a professor and he loves it. It always seemed to me to be a great life. You’re teaching people about things that you are passionate about and you get this freedom to study something forever that you find interesting. You’re going to get paid to learn and that still sounds awesome to me. I just sort of hit a wall. There weren’t as many creative outlets as I was hoping for. I like lots of things going on, as you can see from my blog. There’s gardening. There’s my dogs. There’s music. And with sociology, you really have to focus on just one thing if you want to be successful. And it’s that one thing for a long time, until you get tenure, and that’s a decade and a half. For a lot of people that is a perfect job, if you can find that one thing and dedicate yourself to it, but me, I like to spread myself a little thinner than that. I’m all over the place and need to be doing different things all the time. Pursuing music and being in a touring band is perfect for that. I can write, perform. I’m still home. I can do photography. I can read. There’s always a hustle and you have to really focus on it to be successful, but there’s always opportunities to pursue different things which is a luxury not many people get. I think I’m very lucky to have that luxury.
