Glossary Interview: SXSW 2010

Forming at Tennessee State University in 1997, Glossary has consistently upheld the phrase "American rock-and-roll." Their latest album, Feral Fire, was released in February 2010. Spinner recently spoke with working-class frontman Joey Kneiser about hot sauce, Meat Loaf, and their upcoming shows at SXSW.

Describe your sound in your own words.

An American rock-and-roll band. We all grew up on indie and punk rock, got older, got into other kinds of American music and we just want our band to kind of represent everything that's good in American music. From just straight rock-and-roll to indie rock to country music to hillbilly music, gospel music -- whatever is good, we just want it to be very American.

How did your band form?

We formed when we were in college in 1997. Tennessee State University has a recording industry program, so we met in college being part of that program. We shared classes together, at that time it was a much smaller town filled [with musicians].


What are your musical influences?

Well, we're definitely a bunch of music junkies. We listen to a variety of music...we never really set out for the band to sound or be specifically like anything. We just kind of let it develop on its own, being a band for twelve years, time whittles down what the band is going to stand for and sound like. We just wanted to sound like a band from Murfreesboro, Tennessee. I'm a songwriter and tend to like Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Neil Young, and Bruce Springsteen. As a band, we listen to everything...communal music. Nothing specific, really anything American from Tom Petty and Beach House to punk.

How did you come up with your band name?

We just wanted a one word title that was super simple. The idea behind it was to have one word that everyone knew and didn't insinuate anything about the band. We didn't want to title to make someone think they immediately know what the band is about. "Glossary" is simple and doesn't make something out of anything.

What's your biggest vice?

Beer and coffee. That's pretty much our band, we'll drink any beer. I pretty much drink beer every day. We'll drink Milwaukee's Best Light because it's cheap, but if we get a little bit of money we'll buy some Sierra Nevada's.

What's in your festival survival kit for SXSW?

We always say SXSW is like a Panama City spring break for musicians. Last year and this year we'll do three or four shows in one day, so it could be pretty intense. So I would say for us to pace ourselves, don't get too drunk too early. See as many bands as you can see. Nothing too specific. We pretty much just eat cheap Mexican food down there, that's the great thing about Austin, there's cheap Mexican food everywhere. We'll just eat that everyday, it's so much cheaper and better than the Mexican food in Tennessee. When we go down, we'll carry hot sauces with us, Cholula is great. There's this hot sauce store in Austin and last year we bought like seven bottles and just kept those in our van while we were there.

What is your musical guilty pleasure?

We've got a ton of them. We have XM in our van, so we'll listen to the 80s channel a lot and there will be a bunch of ridiculous songs that are nostalgic for us. Last year at SXSW, I was listening to Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell like crazy. That's kind of a guilty pleasure. The record is really great, though. I love it. It's like Rocky Horror Picture Show meet Bruce Springsteen. It's all of the things that I love about rock-and-roll in one package. A couple of times in the van we'll listen to that Ke$ha record. She's from Nashville and B.J., our bass player, has a huge crush on her, so he'll make us listen to it.

Beatles or Stones?

Stones. The Rolling Stones always seem like they're having way more fun than the Beatles. For me personally, the Rolling Stones sound like they're from Alabama, so I tend to relate to them a little more. Whereas with the Beatles, I think that they have a little more British sensibility and I think a lot of their later songs start to sound almost like British show tunes. I always liked the Rolling Stones for how gritty and dirty their material is while having a lot of heart.

What's the craziest thing you've seen or experienced while on tour?

B.J. drinking beer out of a prosthetic leg. We were on tour with one band and their drummer has a prosthetic leg. One night he had his leg taken off and B.J. poured a beer in it and drank out of it.

Do you prefer being in the studio recording or on the road touring?

I like both of them for different reasons. I think if you want to be a be a musician, you have to like it all. In a band, there's the art of creating, recording, and performing. After seeing musicians that can actually engage an audience and win people over made me think about performing in a different light. Trying to connect with a group of people versus a difference between you as the performer and them as the audience. But it's the records that are probably the most important part of a band though, because they are a testament of who your band was.

What are you looking forward to about SXSW?

We get to see a lot of our friends that we don't get to see throughout the year. We're playing a bunch of showcases that friends of ours will be playing that I haven't seen since last year's SXSW. So really we're looking forward to seeing our friends play, which is nice. It's like a spring break for music fans and people in bands. there's this whole downtown area with clubs on top of clubs. Everyone has a stage, even if there's a jewelry store, it has a stage in it. It's a good way to see a bunch of bands and be around other music fans.


Ken Bachor is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.