Something wicked this way strums as Lincoln Durham returns to Bozeman
Armed with old bastardized mid-century guitars, hand-me-down fiddles and banjos, homemade contraptions with just enough tension on a string to be considered an instrument and any random percussive item he can get his hands or feet on, Lincoln Durham is a Southern gothic, psycho-blues, revival-punk one-man-band with a heavy amped edge, preaching the gospel of some new kind of depraved music. With driving guttural beats backboning various growling stringed instruments Durham gives birth to a sound that transcends genres with his dark, poetic and raw writing style telling tales that Edgar Allan Poe would’ve been proud of.
In anticipation of his Bozeman stop, the Rolling Zone spoke with Durham about his latest album, impassioned live show and how performing is his remedial equivalent to medication.
RZ: We’re catching you just ahead of the first few shows of the “2019 Preachin’ to the Devil Tour.” What do you have planned for this outing?
LD: We’re promoting [the record] from late last year and we’ve worked up some new songs, some new sounds and gadgets and things like that – always trying to keep it fresh and new. I’ve been around the block a few times, so we’re doing the little bits and pieces that hopefully make the show stay interesting.
RZ: Fans of yours know the live show is where it’s at. Obviously it’s good for spectators to go in knowing a few lyrics, but how does the added dynamic of seeing it in-person round out the Lincoln Durham experience?
LD: I’ve been a one-man band for a lot of years now, and over the course of the years my writing style has evolved into being for that one-man band. I try to write for the live show, for the most part. When you hear it recorded, it’s a little different vibe because what I do on stage, if you take away the visual effect, probably isn’t as interesting as what you’d hear on the recorded version. The live vibe is what I always write to. It’s an aggressive, kind of ragey show I hope people stay interested in.
RZ: Let’s talk a little bit about last year’s And into Heaven Came the Night. Compared to those behind your previous releases, what were the overarching goals for what would become your self-produced fourth album?
LD: I wanted to bridge a little bit of a gap between the old and new stuff. As I’ve progressed and evolved, the new stuff has gotten harder and more amped up, more straight rock or alt rock. The early stuff was very, I guess what would be considered Americana. Honestly, the trajectory I’ve been on since the very beginning was leading up to it getting harder and more aggressive. That’s always who I was as an artist, but you have to start somewhere. What I wanted to do on this one was to bring in some of the spirit of the older roots [to] meld with the newer stuff and make that my new trajectory. A little bit more of a roadmap as to how we got from A to B.
RZ: You’ve been pretty open about using writing to tackle various afflictions, life changes, what have you. During the creation of this album, was there a particular instance where you felt a sense resolution for something you’d been grappling with?
LD: I don’t know that I ever necessarily get resolution from them, but what does happen is it eases a bit of the, for lack of a better word, torment I’ve got going on. It subsides when I write about those topics. It doesn’t have to necessarily be the topic that’s troubling me, but it is an outlet that’s kind of all-encompassing for the things going on in my head. It’s a respite from that, a bit of a reconciliation or closure. It’s like a medication – it subdues it until the next wave. That’s what’s always just got me by. In a world where it’s difficult, at least for me, to get the medical attention that you need. I’m not real big on taking the medication. The music and being able to focus your mind on creating something is very therapeutic.
RZ: It also seems like a much more fun way of dealing with stuff, up on stage rather than by having to sit down and talk about it.
LD: It’s a lot of fun. Really, I think performing on stage is where it’s always leading toward. Recording is fine, but I’m not the guy that looks forward to going into the studio. I don’t care one way or another I just know I need to get the new music out. For me, it’s all the stage. That’s what I love and that’s where all the demons, all the problems, all the things like that – it’s one of, if not the only place where they truly just melt away and I can be who I am.
RZ: Was there a motivation behind each of the nine tracks being given single-word titles?
LD: It’s always just these different levels of detail of how I want to present the finished piece, all the way from the lyrics and the melody and the composition of the song, to the packaging and how the photos and even words look on page. This one to me was a bit more of a primal record, a more raw version of me. That was kind of the line of thinking behind it, having the more poetic title and then the song titles being more of a visceral reaction.
RZ: Lyrical content included, you’ve got this gritty, mischievous aesthetic that still manages to feel pretty inviting, at least in my opinion. How do you reconcile that?
LD: I think it’s a bit of a balance. When people meet me in person, they’re usually shocked at the fact that I’m not quite the persona that they expected, from the music and from the lyrics. The lyrics [are] what’s in my head, and the person you meet is more the outside of who I am. I’m a friendly person by nature, but I hate a lot of things [laughs]. I’m bitter about a lot of things, but I’m still a nice guy. I grew up a big Tim Burton fan and I think to me it’s a little bit like that sort of a situation where it’s dark, but at the same time still whimsical enough that it’s inviting and not straight up, ‘Oh I gotta stay away from this guy.’ And it’s just the way it comes out. It’s not created that way, but I kind of know where too much is. Usually it’s not in my spirit to go quite so aggressive but in times that it is, I know where I need to pull back. It’s like comedians. There’s humor in pain. I’m not a comedian, but it’s like that. You can be dark and scathing, and yet fun and inviting at the same time.
RZ: So, you’re a master of the strings, you’re a vocalist, you’re a lyricist and you’ve got this pizazz audiences are drawn to. Was there a point after you picked up that first fiddle way back when that you knew you wanted to be this one-man band, jack of all trades sort of performing artist?
LD: That came much later. When I started with the fiddle, that was put in my hands. During my teenage years, I was a product of the ‘90s, so I was big into Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins, things like that. I wanted to be a ragey guitar guy at that point. It was about ten years later when I got into some of the old blues guys that melded with that ‘90s, depressey kid I was, and it turned into the spark of what I started to do. But the one-man band thing was originally by necessity. At the time, I didn’t have the money to hire a band – and I didn’t want one until I could afford to pay guys to do what I really wanted them to do. I even tried people out but didn’t like any of it. I was doing a lot of [solo] sets, stomping on the floor because my stuff was still kind of punchy even though it was acoustic. It wasn’t an easy listening thing; it was kind of the bones of what it is now. I was keeping time with my foot, so I thought [to stick] something under it and it just started to grow from there. At some point, the teeth sunk in. Nowadays I’m not so sure, but at that point, that’s what I got known for. People wanted to see me do it all by myself, so I rode that wave. Now it’s a part of the spectacle people want to see. They might dig the music, but then a lot of times they might tell their friends, ‘You gotta see it because he does all that by himself.’ And I’m always experimenting on how I can add things, add bells and whistles, and more tone, trick up my feet a little bit and make ‘em do fancier things. If I can ever figure that out.
RZ: Are you planning on road-testing some new songs on this tour?
LD: I am. New songs, new gear – which is not probably exciting whatsoever to a fan, but it’s always exciting to me. I’m going to bring back some old stuff people probably haven’t heard in quite a while. I kind of got so amped up that some of the old stuff didn’t translate very well, in my opinion, to the new hard setup. I developed a new way [to] do those so it kind of goes back to the old style. It’ll be a little bit of the old and new this coming year.
RZ: So, touring all over the country through spring, then headed overseas toward the end of summer. Beyond the shows, what do you foresee for the Lincoln Durham machine?
LD: I’m writing my next record, probably about halfway through that. At some point in the next year or so there’ll be another record coming out. Then we’re going to try to do a lot more Europe if the opportunity arises; Germany, some of the Scandinavian countries, building our foothold back as firm as we can in the UK, which we’re doing, but returning there on a frequent basis. Get more global.
RZ: Well, we’re certainly excited for the Filler show!
LD: Bozeman’s been good to us. Looking forward to getting back over there.
Lincoln Durham comes to Bozeman’s Filling Station on Tuesday, March 26th. Local act Tales from Ghost Town will get the music going at 8pm. Advance tickets to this 21+ show are $10 at Cactus Records and www.cactusrecords.net (plus fees). Tickets will also be available at the door for $15, depending on availability. Doors at 7pm.
Tales From Ghost Town is the project of Nick Hagan. The man behind the name has been called punkabillly, gothic country, cowpunk, punk blues, Montana blues, soul punk, folkabillly, punk grass, and street folk, but the one-man acoustic band claims none. The Colorado native has shared bills with acts including Goddamn Gallows, Koffin Kats, Hellbound Glory, and Murder Junkies, as well as solo artists Scott H. Biram, Joe Buck Yourself, James Hunnicutt and Graham Lindsey.
Learn more about one-man-band Lincoln Durham at www.lincolndurham.com or find him on Facebook for updated tour details and other announcements. His latest album, And into Heaven Came the Night, is available now. •
