Pontiak Find Joy Brotherly Love, Loud Guitars -- Top 100 Acts at SXSW 2011

Posted on Mar 3rd 2011 7:00PM by Arielle Castillo
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Thrill Jockey

Pontiak are literally a band of brothers -- Van, Lain and Jennings Carney, all of whom grew up with musical parents in rural Virginia. Still, it wasn't until all three had finished college that they began making music together, getting their start in the fertile Baltimore scene. They eventually returned home and due to the relative isolation of their hometown, located about two hours from Washington, D.C., the brothers became extremely prolific. Since 2006, Pontiak have released six full-length albums, the latest of which, 'Comecrudos,' features slightly droning quilts of harmony and sonic texture. Van chatted with Spinner about the band's history and the joys of living in the country, where you're free to crank up the volume.

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Download Pontiak's 'Young' (MP3) off 'Living' Free

Growing up, was your household very musical? How did you all wind up deciding to play music?

We played music separately from each other a little bit, and then we all decided in around 2004 [or] 2005 to get together and play music together. I wouldn't say that our household was particularly musical, but it was in the sense that our dad played the guitar and our uncles played the guitar. My mom used to sing in the choir.

What kind of music did you hear in the house?

We grew up listening to mainly classical music and some country music. My dad was really into finger-picking guitar music, a lot of Leo Kottke.

How did the three of you each decide to initially start playing music?

We haven't ever taken a lesson. Lain started playing the drums. Lain and I actually both started playing the drums together at the same time, probably around in 2000, maybe 2001, when we bought a drum set. Lain played the guitar as well. I was like 20, so Lain was about 17 or 18. This was really the first band we had ever done anything with.

But you eventually picked up the guitar. What brought about the change?

I remember when I was really little, watching my dad play the guitar and my uncles play the guitar. I just couldn't understand how they could do that. I was like, "That's like the most incredible thing I've ever seen! How do you do that?" I guess there's just a natural extension. I never even really thought about not doing it.

You grew up in rural Virginia, and the nearest metropolitan area was Washington, D.C. Did you have any knowledge of the music scene there at the time?

No. Some of the kids that we went high school with were really into Dischord and a lot of those bands. I didn't really have any contact with anybody in D.C., because I didn't really go into D.C. that much.

After you had all gone to college separately, what eventually brought you guys back together to play?

We've been playing with a bunch of different people, and we were like, "Well, why don't we all get together and do this because we can? We know each other's sensibilities and we trust each other, so why not try that?" Jennings was living out in Colorado at the time, and it was just a very convenient time for him to move back. Then we all moved to Baltimore, where Lain was finishing his final year in college.

Baltimore was just a great place to be. I think we were there for four or five years, just playing with all the other bands that were there. It's just a really great city; it's got a lot going on. There were tons of bands, tons of musicians and artists. And it's cheap, so people could actually live there, as opposed to Washington D.C., which is really expensive.

That was a great place to start playing out and writing music and stuff like that. Then Jennings moved back here to Virginia, and I moved with my girlfriend at the time, now my wife, up to New York City. We lived there for a short time before we started touring more and more and more. Then I was just commuting in between Brooklyn and Virginia, so we moved back, because it was way too hectic.

Do you think the relative isolation now has helped your songwriting?

It's really hard to say. It might have; it might not. It's really hard to say, isn't it? It definitely lets us play at full volume all the time, which is a lot of fun.

How do you think you arrived at your sound? You've gone from being into finger-picking guitar and classical as a kid to playing really loud, sort of psychedelic rock.

It's just such a different thing when you plug into an amplifier, and you're playing that loud music. It's such a visceral body experience, because it's so loud. You can feel it. But our goal is not to play heavy, loud music all the time. We definitely want to do, and are doing, other things that wouldn't necessarily be just loud guitars onstage. Particularly with the last album that we did, and the one that we're doing now, some of those other interests are starting to come out a little bit.

Catch Pontiak's SXSW Set on Friday, March 18 at Emo's Jr (603 Red River St.) 8PM.

Watch Pontiak's Video for 'Laywayed'