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<\/p>\nEthan Miller is a big fan of live albums. The founder, songwriter and guitarist in Howlin Rain names The Grateful Dead\u2019s landmark 3LP set Europe \u201872<\/i> among his favorites, along with 1969\u2019s Live\/Dead<\/i>. But he\u2019s more than willing to acknowledge that some classic \u201clive\u201d albums \u2013 Bob Seger\u2019s Live Bullet<\/i> and Thin Lizzy\u2019s 1978 Live and Dangerous<\/i> foremost among them \u2013 have undergone so many post-production fixes that they\u2019re arguably not live albums at all. Yet that doesn\u2019t mean he doesn\u2019t enjoy them. But for his own band\u2019s live releases \u2013 like the new Under the Wheels: <\/i>Live from the Coasts<\/i> Vol. 2<\/i> \u2013 his guiding principle is answering this question: \u201cHow do I represent the feeling of what it was like to be there?\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not as easy as it might seem, Miller believes. \u201cThere\u2019s the idea that you can go so far, like Live and Dangerous<\/i>,\u201d he says with a chuckle. \u201cFirst, they were going to go [back into the studio] and redo the guitar solos. Then, famously, by the end all that was left [from the live source tapes] was the original hi-hat!\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But Miller says that live recordings are \u201call about suspension of belief. It\u2019s really about capturing the feeling of being there. \u201cYou don\u2019t want the facts to get in the way of the truth,\u201d he quips.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re hearing harmony vocals live in a room over a rock band playing, 99% of people in the room aren\u2019t clocking whether they\u2019re perfectly \u2018in\u2019 or \u2018out,\u2019\u201d he explains. \u201cThey\u2019re just like, \u2018Great, that\u2019s a great feeling. Look at them singing the four-part harmonies!\u2019\u201d But a recording of that sound exposes the warts-and-all looseness of what actually came out of the speakers. \u201cWhen you [consider] those things under a microscope, on a clean mix, it may feel completely different: bad, distracting, grating,\u201d he says. \u201cBut that\u2019s not the truth<\/i> of how it felt.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Howlin Rain\u2019s latest live album \u2013 the second in what he plans as an ongoing series akin to the Dead\u2019s Dick\u2019s Picks<\/i> album series \u2013 Miller used as light a touch as possible in post-production. So if he or one of his band mates (guitarist Dan Cervantes, bassist Jeff McElroy and drummer Justin Smith) hits a bum note or fumbles on the beat, he may or may not fix it in the mix. \u201cIf it doesn\u2019t take [the listeners] so far out of the experience that they say, \u2018That was a terrible moment that I have to hear over and over on those live records for the rest of time,\u2019\u201d Miller says that he\u2019s inclined to leave the mistake on the final master.<\/p>\n
Happily, on the performances captured on Howlin Rain\u2019s latest \u2013 culled from tapes of shows from 2018 and \u201819 in Washington, New York City, Los Angeles and Oakland \u2013 the band is on fire, playing with a deft balance of ragged- and right-ness. Electrified readings of tunes like \u201cColiseum,\u201d first heard on the band\u2019s 2015 album, Mansion Songs<\/i>, benefit from the energetic full-band musical interplay. The group takes the opportunity to stretch out and let the songs breathe, yet the players never let the tune get away from them; there\u2019s no aimless noodling.<\/p>\n
Miller appreciates live and studio recordings as two sides of the same coin. \u201cSometimes, songs make it into the [live] set to find out how they can live and breathe on the stage, and then they\u2019re recorded later,\u201d he says. Other times, some tunes are played live but never officially recorded for release. \u201cThere\u2019s a place for those kinds of recordings,\u201d Miller says. \u201cAnd they\u2019re usually called \u2018bootlegs.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Music recorded in a studio has a different character. \u201cWhen you listen to studio records, you can tell there\u2019s a certain artistic mission and time and care that went into them,\u201d Miller says. \u201cWhen you see the live show, there\u2019s a poignant, psychic, geographical, and creative place that is separate\u201d from that.<\/p>\n
And there\u2019s a fluid relationship between the two, Miller believes. \u201cThe link is the creative content and the technical aspect of having to use studio assets to wrangle a suitable release,\u201d he says. \u201cMaybe every band would [like to be able] to say: \u2018We\u2019re amazing at both!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Miller doesn\u2019t make that claim for himself and his band. But he truly enjoys the studio experience as well as playing onstage in front of an enthusiastic audience. \u201cI love them both,\u201d he enthuses. \u201cI love the process. Creating and writing a record, rehearsing and arranging it with the band in a warehouse down by the Mexican border, that\u2019s a completely different headspace than when we hit the stage with all of its sweat and tensions and, hopefully, unconscious creative work.\u201d<\/p>\n
And as Under the Wheels Vol. 2<\/i> illustrates, Howlin Rain uses live performance in part as an opportunity to cast the songs in a different light than their studio counterparts. Miller cites Bob Dylan as an inspiration in that regard. \u201cListen to any of his concerts from any time,\u201d he suggests. \u201cHe\u2019s constantly rearranging [songs]. But somewhere in there, he\u2019s trying to keep that original creative spirit completely alive, and in the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
That approach can keep things interesting for the performer, but it comes with risks. \u201cSometimes you go to a gig,\u201d Miller says with a laugh, \u201cand you\u2019re like, \u2018God damn it, man, just give me the tune<\/i> here!\u2019\u201d Acknowledging that Dylan has long since reached the point at which he can do whatever he wants, Miller explains how he\u2019s different. \u201cI\u2019m a real believer that this isn\u2019t just about me,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m not just making music for me. But the engagement \u2013 once people begin to love a song of yours \u2013 is something different. It\u2019s not just yours anymore. And that\u2019s a long way to say that I try to serve [both] those masters.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Miller aims to thread the same kind of metaphorical needle with the Under the Wheels<\/i> live albums. \u201cThat\u2019s the purpose of creating this live series,\u201d he says. \u201cThey\u2019re the perfect place for this series of [musical] Polaroids, each a snapshot of something that happened.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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