The Hounds Below Interview: SXSW 2010

Posted on Mar 7th 2010 8:00AM by Andrea Swensson
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Formed in 2009, the Hounds Below is the new project by Von Bondies frontman Jason Stollsteimer. Unlike the Von Bondies' raucous, noisy pop, the Hounds Below finds Stollsteimer experimenting with slick lounge melodies and vintage Richie Valens-era rock 'n' roll riffs. Though Stollsteimer has been to SXSW before, this will be his first year debuting his work with the Hounds Below. We recently caught up with the indie rocker-turned-crooner to get his take on the new project in anticipation of his six scheduled shows at this year's SXSW festival.

Your music career up to this point has been focused around the Von Bondies. What made you decide to start a new project?

It's been in my head for a long time. I started the Von Bondies when I was 19, and I'm 31 now--that's a long time to do one style of music. At the beginning, I started playing in the Von Bondies because I didn't know how to play guitar, I didn't know how to sing, and we were only hitting two or three notes. But over the course of ten years, I guess everyone gets a little better. Hopefully [laughs]. When I was growing up, my favorite artists were people like Roy Orbison or Otis Redding. I've been dancing around with these songs for a long time.

Would you say you're returning back to some of the influences that you had as a kid, when you were first getting into music? Who are those influences?

Yeah. In this band, it's probably Sam Cooke and Roy Orbison. My old band used to get called "garage rock" all the time, which is fine, whatever the hell that means. I have no idea. But the new band has nothing to do with '60s revival or any of that stuff. It's more soul, more actual crooning. I'd call us a crooner band. It's more in that style. I was getting sick of hearing every song out there have auto-tune. if you go listen to the Top 40 songs out there right now, they're all crazy, crazy pitch-corrected and auto-tuned. My voice may not be perfect, but it is what it is.

Do you feel like you use a different singing voice with this new band?

The funny thing is, the Von Bondies was really difficult for me to sing. I had to shout all the time. In this band, I actually get to sing--which is more relaxing, in a weird way.

Do you find it difficult to balance two different projects?

With the Von Bondies, I'm still writing and recording, but we're not touring until the Hounds Below are done touring. Basically, I hated the fact that I'd tour for eight months in the Von Bondies and then have four months of nothing. I've always wanted to do the Hounds Below, at least for the last six or seven years, and I just couldn't find the right people for the band. The Von Bondies have had like, ten members over the course of ten years, and the Hounds Below, the root members, the main people that are in the band--it's more of a group than a solo project. The Von Bondies, over the course of having ten members, has become just me. It's weird. It wasn't meant to be that way, but it just turned out that way. The average age in the Hounds Below is like 22, 23, besides me, and the Von Bondies, the average age is like 36. People want to get married, or go do their own bands, or go back to college, and over the course of ten years you're going to get a lot of that. It's just part of being in a real band--most people can't handle it. You can be the greatest drummer ever, but it doesn't mean you're going to mentally be able to handle being away from family and friends for months at a time. You sacrifice a lot.

Have you played SXSW before, with the Von Bondies?

Yeah, four times, I think. We normally do seven to nine shows. This year I think we're doing six or seven, with the new band.

Any secrets for staying sane during what can be an overwhelming week?

Pace yourself. A lot of bands nowadays, including myself. I've been wearing these Italian vintage leather boots, like rock 'n' roll boots. It's cliche, I guess, but I don't care. They fall apart. Austin is all walking around. It makes more sense to get a nice pair of comfortable shoes. I know that's not very punk rock, but screw it. It was horrible. Last year I remember walking all the way from 6th Street to Homeslice, the pizza place. We walked all the way there, and that was like two miles. I ended up hiring a rickshaw.

How did you come up with your band name? What does it mean?

I don't know. I just came up with it one day. It sounds like a punk band, the Hounds Below. It's like the dogs that come collect the souls when you die and you go to hell. I just liked the way it sounded. I was reading some random article, and a guy was describing that he was standing on a terrace and there were hounds below. I was like, "Ah, that sounded cool." And I do love dogs, so that helps.

As the Metric line goes, who would you rather be--the Beatles or the Rolling Stones?

The Rolling Stones. It just seemed like total chaos. I think that when the Beatles did something wrong, everyone scrutinized them. When the Rolling Stones did something wrong, everyone thought it was cool. They did a lot of drugs. Probably just as much as the Beatles, but with the Rolling Stones, it just added to their lore.

Andrea Swensson is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.