Music Q&A with Evan Bailey of Oh Lonesome Ana
Photo by Matthew Kadi
If you’re a fan of Jets To Brazil, Slaughter Beach, and/or The Weakerthans, Oh Lonesome Ana is another band you may want to add to your rotation. Oh Lonesome Ana released MEG/\DETH TEE last month and in this Q&A, vocalist and guitarist, Evan Bailey, talked about the album, what musician he would interview if he could, and more!
Congratulations on the release of MEG/ \DETH TEE! What’s your favorite song off the album and what does it mean to you?
MEG/\DETH TEE probably, because it was a pivotal song - it was the first one that we worked through as a band, and it contains a few lyrical and musical nods to someone else’s songs (from the name of the song), and to at least two of my old songs. The meaning of the lyrics, to me, has to do with this idea that as you get older you are carrying around more stuff with you, memories, regrets, patterns, trauma; but also you carry more physical stuff that holds emotional weight as well. You’re constantly going through a process of deciding what to keep and what to let go of.
What is one thing you did during the recording process of this album that was new to you that you would like to carry into the future when recording more music?
When we started this band we had no songs. We were working from zero. So, most of these songs got played live quite a lot before we recorded them, and that provided an opportunity to look at them again and try to make them stronger. For me, it really benefited all of these songs to have so much consideration put into each of them.
If you had a chance to interview any of your musical heroes, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
Scott Joplin. When I was a kid my dad traded his bike for a piano to his friend who was a piano tuner, so that I could learn to play. After learning all the scales, and some songs that seemed tedious at the time, I learned a song called “The Entertainer”; I can’t remember how long that took for me to get enough skill to attempt a simplified version. It was so exciting that I ended up somehow getting a hold of an old copy of a performance of it on a tape. I was very into baseball at the time. This was the first music I heard in my life that made me think, “this is incredible shit, this music, maybe even better than baseball”. And so, I’d love to be able to tell Scott Joplin that even almost a hundred years after he wrote it, his music would be so popular that it could become incredibly meaningful to a poor white kid growing up in the woods in California.
What is one artist or band that you haven’t seen in concert, that you hope to see someday?
My niece just turned five, and she loves to sing, so nothing would make me happier to see whatever band she ends up starting.
We all have our days where it may not be going as well as we’d like. People deal with their worst days in different ways. What helps you get through the bad days? How do you stay positive?
I try to just keep in mind that I’m not perfect, I have a lot of flaws and all I can do is keep trying, and just try to get better at forgiving myself for not being perfect.
Thank you for taking the time for this Q&A. Any last words or final message for the readers?
Yes. Thank you for reading!
“And, speaking of keeping things around, how’s this?” -Evan Bailey