Girls, Guns and Glory Interview: SXSW 2010

Posted on Mar 8th 2010 7:00PM by Nick A. Zaino III
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Girls, Guns and Glory may sound like they were born in a Texas honky tonk, but they will be making their Texas debut at SXSW this year. Originally put together to record singer/songwriter Ward Hayden's songs, the Boston-based band quickly found their footing with their breed of Hank Williams country and Chuck Berry rock 'n' roll. Now, Girls, Guns and Glory is breaking out of Boston and touring the country. Spinner recently caught up with Hayden to talk about playing Texas, the band's influences and songwriting.

Are you hoping SXSW will give you a foothold and some fans to come back to?

We're hoping so. Maybe even for us to get down there and experience the lay of the land. I'm sure it's 100 times quieter during the rest of the year. We're just excited to take a peek at what Texas is all about.

How would you describe your sound?

We always get lumped in with Americana, which I do love because it's sort of a hodgepodge of a few different American forms of music. The way I describe it is: early rock 'n' roll. It's like traditional country -- Chuck Berry and Hank Williams with a little modern twist.

How did the band form?

The former bass player and I had gone to high school together and sort of reconnected back in Boston after college. He didn't last too long, but it did give us a chance to get established in the area and then bring in more like-minded musicians from the Boston area. We formed about four years ago, but we started getting serious around two years ago.

What are your musical influences?

I'm huge into that early rock 'n' roll stuff -- Little Richard and the stuff that Chuck Berry was doing was incredible. I also love Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams, and Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash -- the outlaw country stuff. Most recently, there's a band out of Providence, Rhode Island by the name of Deer Tick that is one of the best bands going.

How did you come up with the band name?

It came to me in a daydream. I used to work in a school. I really just kind of drifted off at work one day, thinking of all the things that I never learned in high school and the things these kids would never learn in school. We'd been searching for a band name and everything I came up with, people didn't like. So I told people about the daydream and suggested it as an album title.

What was the daydream?

It's kind of silly, really. I was drifting off -- it was kind of vivid, actually -- imagining an old maid kind of woman with a shotgun up at the front of a classroom preaching to the kids about all the things they'd never be learning. She kept pointing at the words "girls, guns and glory" written in chalk up on the board.

Do you have anything you consider your festival survival kit?

We're definitely going to bring down some vitamin C packets and try to get some rest. But we're going down there with full intentions of taking it all in and having the best SXSW experience we can have. We're all pretty excited. I guess just to survive is goal No. 1, and we'll sleep when we get back.

Do you have anything you consider a musical guilty pleasure?

I've definitely got a sweet tooth when it comes to some pop music. They other guys -- I don't know if they enjoy it as much as I do. The new Lady Gaga stuff -- I wound up getting the album.

What's your biggest vice?

I don't know if this can be considered a vice, but one thing I do tend to do is be a bit of a workaholoic. I don't really drink, I don't smoke. I don't have any of those typical vice type things. I've tried it all, it just doesn't really appeal to me.

How did you wind up singing hard luck country type of songs without that as inspiration?

From my late teens to my mid-20s, I definitely went through all that. It wasn't a good place. I don't know where I thought I was going. Once you start to travel down that road, you need a wake-up call, and a friend of mine passed away from a bad mistake and it took me about two more years to realize that at some point, you need to straighten up and fly right.

Beatles or Stones?

Honestly, I may be the only musician in the country who is zero percent influenced by the Beatles. I was never raised on the Beatles, and I don't really know many of their songs. I absolutely love the Rolling Stones. I always go Stones, although I understand the appeal of the Beatles. The other guys in the band are always putting Beatles songs in front of me and trying to increase my exposure.

What do you have coming up after SXSW?

We're going to be touring a bunch. And then we'll get back in the studio and working on a new EP, which will be out hopefully by the end of the year.

Nick A. Zaino III is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.