DCist Interview: Mary Timony of Pow Wow

How long have you been playing together as Pow Wow?

MT: We were doing improv jams for about a year, but in this lineup, with these songs, we just started. These songs are kind of new. We've actually only practiced all together as a band on these songs for a couple months.

When did Darren get involved?

MT: Jonah and I started playing with him over the summer.

And Jonah and Winston have played with him before?

MT: Yes. Winston and Darren and Jonah play together with Brandon Butler, in his lineup. That's how those guys play together. They've been in various configurations in different bands.

Does it feel like you are coming into a group?

MT: No, I don't think so. It's a very different set of songs.

When did you go from the improv to structured songs?

MT: It's different for me, because it's always been for me in my solo stuff and even in my old band, Helium, I've always been really focused on getting a bunch of songs together, getting a record together. This time I was almost ready to stop playing music completely. I took a really long break. I almost made up my mind that I never want to write music again.

What happened?

MT: I got really burnt out on touring, basically. It's hard. Not because I didn't like it, it's totally fun and I had a blast on the solo stuff, but I wasn't making any money. That's really what did it.

So I wasn't writing music at all for year but Jonah started writing songs. And that's what motivated me, because his songs are so great. I was inspired. I started writing stuff and then we write stuff together, too. It's fun because it's really collaborative.

Where does a song start when you're writing things together? Do you both start with guitars?

MT: Yeah, it depends on whoever wrote the song. Usually it will be on guitar or bass and then the other person will join on guitar or bass. The guitar Jonah actually plays on most of the time is this baritone guitar he built himself. He's written a bunch of stuff on that. The songs that I have written for this band, I usually write them on guitar. Someone will have an idea, you know, we play it together.

What is that guitar he plays on? My friends and I were trying to figure that out at the show at Comet [Ping Pong]. We were like, what the hell is that?

MT: It's a baritone guitar. [aside] Jonah, do you want to talk about your guitar? Why don't you describe it a little bit? Okay, here we go.

Jonah Takagi: Hi. I don't know how much you want to know. I could talk your ear off.

Go for it. I noticed it at the show. We couldn't figure out what it was.

JT: I design and build furniture in addition to playing music. It was one of those things where my two worlds intersect. The music side informs the craft of making the guitar, I guess. It's a baritone guitar, I designed the cirtcuit myself and had the pickups wound for me by a guy in Richmond, Virginia. It's a bolt-on neck like a Fender or something. It's the size and weight and scale of a Les Paul, without a cutaway. Everything I heard about guitar making is that if you want a guitar you should go buy one and if you want an interesting hobby you should go build one. I hope—it feels good. It stays in tune, it's nice and loud.

Do you get the same play off it using your normal array of foot pedals?

JT: Yeah, it works with all these pedals. I have some bass specific pedals, I play bass with some other bands. It doesn't trigger the bass effect as readily. I end up playing guitar effects and I end up playing it through a bass amplifier with guitar and bass inputs. It's kind of funny to play after playing bass in a couple bands.

A baritone guitar is not something you see all the time in a rock band.

JT: A baritone is neither here nor there, but finding a place in the mix between guitar and bass is kind of interesting. There's a million people buidling guitars and a mililion people building custom basses. I was curious. I'd never played one before. This is one of the only baritone guitars I've ever played before (my friend's got a Danelectro baritone). It was a challenge. From everything I've heard, it's kind of a quirky thing—the Danelectro baritones from the 1960s are what defined the baritone sound, but there's nothing good about those guitars. They're made of formica and plywood and crappy pickups. But in some of the parts, it all comes together and sounds really good.

What does it tune to?

JT: Same intervals as a guitar but from B to B. People tune them all different ways, but I read that in a book and got used to playing it that way.

This is the first guitar you've ever built?

JT: Yeah. It might be the only one. I haven't played it out that much but some people have asked me about it. I don't know if I'd be a guy who builds guitars, but if people like it and want to pay me money to build one for them, yeah, maybe.

Is there any other guitar sound you particularly admire?

JT: What have I been listening to? Just by chance I work next to this woman who builds sets. She's really into the Scorpions and Def Leppard. I end up listening to that a lot. I don't really—I like some of it, but it's one of those things, how they ended up recording all those crazy 80s guitars, the sound and the pedals and all the weird digital effects. How they did that is pretty awesome. I think it's a lost art. You'd find it really hard if you wanted to make a record that sounded like Hysteria.

How did you end up playing with Winston and Darren?

JT: I played music all my life and I ended up doing carpentry once with Brandon [Butler] before I knew anything about him. So when I started to get back into music, in bands and stuff, it was pretty much with Brandon and his band, in one form or another. Winston has been playing the last few years. We had all different kinds of drummers. When I started playing with him, he was dating a woman named Amy Domingues, and I ended up playing in her band [Garland of Hours], and that's how I met Mary. I still play with Brandon on occasion and I still play with Amy in another band—we play with Benjy Ferree.

I end up playing with a long of songwriters. This is the first thing I feel invested in.

Is this the first time you've done singing with a group?

JT: I've started singing with Benjy because he has 50 million vocal tracks on his record. But this is the first time I'm singing on my own. It's kind of new and different and scary. [Timony also songs.] I feel very comfortable singing and harmonizing with other people. There's a lot of techniques. Mary's always like, "You gotta get closer to the microphone. It sounds bad if you strain your voice." She helps me. I'll put you on with Mary—I need to go find a coupon, to eat.

MT: Jonah's like, "I need to go find a coupon!"

It is a recession.

MT: We're going to get something to eat, and we have a gift certificate. Anyway!

I won't keep you from dinner. What do you have planned for Pow Wow?

MT: We're gonna start recording in the next month or so and try to get a record out, hopefully pretty soon.

Do you have any plans with labels?

MT: No, nothing like that yet. We just want to get it recorded first and see where that takes us.

Are you thinking about a full album?

MT: Yes. Definitely, we're recording a full record.

Do you have all the songs?

MT: We have so many songs. We have too many songs. We have too many parts, and maybe not enough songs. I think we'll have enough songs. We have a billion parts!

We'll probably record this winter and spring and hopefully get a record out in the fall.

Do you have anyone in mind to record it?

MT: We're probably going to do a lot of it on our own. We have a pretty good setup in this house that we're living in.

Do you use that to record when you're practicing?

MT: Yeah, demos. . . . Sometimes I do a little bit of soundtrack work and I use it for that, too.

What soundtracks?

MT: Nothing major. A few things. I have a couple of friends who are making a documentary about this guy who's a homeless chess guy on Dupont Circle, so I'm starting to do some stuff for them. Every once in a while, I get random ad work from a friend who lives in Milwaukee. A couple little small films.

When you put out this album, will you tour to support it?

MT: Definitely. [Laughs] I love touring. I've always loved touring. What I meant before when I said I was burnt out—I had one tour I lost money on. I got home and I was like, I had a blast but I am totally broke. The idea of going on tour is awesome. I'm sure we'll make it happen.