PopGurls Interview: Josh Rouse

Josh Rouse is one of those musicians whose albums often end up on critic's annual "best music you haven't heard" lists. His fan base is growing, but if you haven't heard of him yet blame the sorry state of today's music industry. The Nebraska born singer-songwriter put out his first record in 1998 and has released close to an album a year since then, building his audience with tours, word of mouth and the occasional movie and TV soundtrack.

Subtitulo is Josh's first album since he moved to Spain from Nashville in 2004 and the music reflects that country as well as his love for Brazilian music. Great bossa nova beats, lyrics that tell stories and even the occasional steel guitar mix together to make songs that are both engaging and soothing. In other words, it's a great album for driving and Sunday mornings. We talked to him while he was in Spain preparing for his April U.S. tour.

Your new album, Subtitulo, is obviously influenced by your move to Spain. Did you hope that move would spark a change in your sound, or were you not thinking about that at all?

No, I wasn't really thinking about it. It was kind of a coincidence that when I moved to Spain I was listening to a lot of Brazilian music, which really doesn't have a lot to do with Spain, except you are kind of on the coast. For this record in particular I wanted to do some kind of bossa nova Brazilian stuff. I just like the way it feels a lot and I haven't really gone in that direction before.

Is Brazilian music a new interest for you, or have you been listening to that for a while now?

I've liked it for a while, but I think I had a couple of songs that were leaning in that direction. The guy who I work with, Brad Jones, he really likes that stuff so we were kind of making mixed CDs for each other with Brazilian-flavored stuff. And I was living by the beach and taking my nylon stringed guitar and playing it a lot and making a conscious effort to stick with that.

You moved to Spain from Nashville. What did Nashville provide you as a musician that New York or Los Angeles couldn't?

I ended up in Nashville because I went to college a little bit outside of there. I don't know... I think it was small enough to where you could meet a lot of people, meet a lot of good musicians concentrating on the songwriting aspect of it. I think it was a little easier coming from there.

I've got a lot of friends who have been writing songs and doing it in New York and I think that because there are just so many people doing it up there, it's just hard to get noticed. Every night there are seven people on a bill. There are so many people who want to play and who are trying to get it going up there, and there are so many people who are really good, it's just hard to find people to play with, a place to rehearse. Nashville had space. And you had the southern influence as well, which is really cool.

I've always thought Nashville would be very competitive, musically. But I guess it would still have to be easier than New York City.

Yeah, it was fairly competitive, but in a good way. There are a lot of people playing music there, people doing really interesting things.

What do you do in Spain when you aren't working on your music? Because here is what I'm thinking: you are an expatriate artist living in Spain. I imagine your life being like something out of The Sun Also Rises where you sit around in jazz clubs all day drinking beer.

No, not really. I mean, it's nice, the weather is nice, but it's not that different. You still do the dishes, cook dinner, buy groceries and watch TV. It's a lot older than anywhere there in the United States. It's kind of like Los Angeles, without all the glam.

When you're in Spain, do you try to keep up with American politics and news or do you feel blissfully removed from all of that noise?

Yeah, I'm pretty disconnected from that, I just don't think we get the same news. That part of America really bothered me anyway, so I kind of disconnected from all that.

So what kind of musician were you as a teenager?

I was a punk-rock fan. I really got into the Ramones, the Sex Pistols and some harder stuff, too. I had a lot of friends who were skateboarders, so I kind of listened to some of that.

Did you have a garage band when you were in high school?

Yeah, I had a band called Victims of Society, and we were the best band in the world. Nobody fucked with us, man. (laughs) If anybody said anything about our name, that was it, they were going to get their asses kicked.

That's awesome.

Yeah, it was. It was a lot of fun. And we made t-shirts. We had t-shirts before I could even play the guitar. T-shirts with black magic marker, a friend of ours could draw. We were like, "Yeah, man. This is so cool!"

I imagine a lot people would think you were a brooding, alone-in-your-room-with-a-guitar-kind of teenager.

Yeah, I did that too. But when you're young, you are into that hard stuff. When I got a little older, I got into U2 and stuff like that.

Your albums, especially 1972 and Nashville, have received some high praise from critics. Does that encourage you, put pressure on you or do you just try not to think about it?

I don't really feel either. I think when I first started I did. I think my first couple of records, I was worried about what people would think. Because I've never really had a lot of commercial success - I guess you would say - I've never felt really any pressure in any way, especially the past couple of records.

I feel like I'm doing this, first, because I like to and I please myself, and then other people get into it and think 'Oh, this is cool'. But I read really shitty reviews of mine. I mean there are people that hate what I do. (laughs) Like these pitch-fork media, they never like my stuff. It's kind of fun, I get a kick out if it. Then there are some people who think it's the best stuff and it's great. I just take it all and go 'well, okay'. I think you build a thick skin when you do it for a while.

Some of the songs on Subtitulo sound like they have the potential to be radio hits, especially "Quiet Town". Do you have realistic hopes of that happening or does the modern singer-songwriter just have to give up on commercial radio altogether?

(Laughs) Well, there's not a lot of room. That spot's filled by Jack Johnson and James Blunt now, I guess. That's how that whole world works. I'm not even really thinking about that too much, to be honest. Like when I did this record, I've started my own record label and we didn't hire any independent radio people or anything like that. I have the support of some of these non-commercial radio stations that have always played my records and that's fine.

It's just become ... you can't really find anything good on [commercial radio]. So it's not like people are going to that to go 'Oh! Let's check out what's on the radio." You listen to it and just kind of laugh these days, you know? You're like 'Oh, God...'

Did you have any favorite albums from the last year or the last couple of years that you really liked?

It came out probably four years ago, but Beck's Sea Change was just fantastic. I think it's one of the best records of the past 10 years. I think it's perfect. There's a guy from Brooklyn called Bill Ricchini who does some nice stuff. I've got the new Cat Power, which I think is nice. It sounds nice, it sounds like her. And, I got the new Belle & Sebastian. I haven't totally got into it yet, I guess I've put it on and only listened to it once. I haven't really sat down and got into it. I've also been listening to some heavier stuff, this band called Pearls & Brass. I like that, it's kind of Black Sabbath sounding.

You have been putting out almost an album a year for a while now. Is that a comfortable pace for you? Have you started writing anything for a new album yet?

Yeah, I've got a bunch of new songs. I've got a bunch that I didn't record for Subtitulo that went in a different direction. Yeah, it's comfortable enough. It's probably more than a lot of other people do. Well, not more than Ryan Adams. I'll probably take a break, maybe after this record or something, I don't know. I'd like to do a jazz record of just instrumentals, I'd like to do a rock record. I get a lot of ideas all the time, whether I follow through with them is a different story.

The song "Her Majesty Rides" is about life on tour. I've always imagined that touring and being a truck driver have a lot in common, seeing how you spend a lot of time on the road.

Yeah, you are right on the money with that.

You eat crappy food, never get to use your own toilet. What's life on tour like? Is it as bad as it seems?

No, you get that hour and a half in front of the people and that's the best part. Sometimes - it depends on how you are traveling - it can be great. There are great moments and there are moments when you get tired of it. It becomes a job. Like you say, looking for food and sleeping in a different hotel every night and living out of a suitcase, it's like being a trucker. Sometimes you don't get much sleep. I don't know, it makes you tougher, I guess.

Could you talk about your song "Givin' It Up"? It has to be one of the most upbeat and catchy songs ever written about having a drinking problem.

Yeah, I don't know how that came up.

It wasn't a personal experience type of thing?

Yeah, yeah it was. I don't know why I wrote it. Some of it's personal and some of it's just making up a song, which is kind of what I do. It's definitely an upbeat thing and I didn't know what I was going to do with it. For a lot of these songs I just played them on a nylon stringed guitar and sent them to Brad, the producer, and he had some rhythm ideas for it. I didn't know what kind of direction I wanted to take, production-wise, for that. That's kind of the story of that song. It's just funny, it's a song about drinking but it has this upbeat, almost disco-pop sound.

I heard an interview where you said that it is your girlfriend (Paz Suay) who sings with you on "The Man Who..." First of all, she sounds great and the song is great.

Oh, yeah, thanks. I had the song and I just asked her if she wanted to do it. She's not really a singer in a band or anything like that, but I thought her accent would be cool. And I've always liked that girl singing with an accent thing.

Were you afraid that if it didn't work out, because she wasn't a professional singer, she would just get pissed off at you?

No, not really. We said, 'let's just try it.' She was down in the studio when we were recording it and it was pretty laid back. 'Let's try it and if doesn't work out then I'll just end up singing it.' But, yeah, she did great. She did it in a couple of takes and we were like, 'Wow, this is great!' (laughs)

So, what does the Josh Rouse 10-year plan look like? Do you ever think that far in advance? Ten albums in 10 years?

Oh, gosh. I probably won't keep up with that pace I don't think. I don't know. I'd like to get a place in New York City, too. Live in Spain and New York and go back and forth. I'd like to try some different things. I'd like to try to score a film. I don't know, I'd like to have kids some day too. That's about it.

Thanks, Josh. It's been great to speak with you.

Thank you.

Get out to see Josh during his April North American tour:

4.18.06: Great American Music Hall, San Francisco
4.19.06: Henry Ford Theatre, Los Angeles
4.21.06: Nuemo's, Seattle
4.22.06: The Red Room, Vancouver
4.24.06: Cactus Cafe, Austin
4.25.06: Cactus Cafe, Austin

2006-04-16