Last January, as my girlfriend and I were making our way down towards U Street en route to see some Unbuckled alumni play the 9:30 Club, she talked me into checking out Nethers, the opening band, instead of grabbing a few drinks at DC9. “You never know, they might become your new favorite band.” Little did she know how right she would be. I was immediately smitten with the laid back, psychedelic folk rock stylings of Nethers, so much so that I would see them another six or seven times during the year as they continually toured behind the release of their debut record In Fields We Will Lie. The band just announced they will be recording their next album in Los Angeles in January, but before they head west, they’ll play one last show tomorrow night at the Black Cat. Lead singer Nikki West was kind enough to answer a few short questions for us in advance of the gig.

A few national tours, opening slots for The Decemberists, The National and Josh Ritter (among others)…2006 was a pretty good year for you guys. What was the best part for you?

It’s really hard to choose “the best part” but I think we would all agree that we had a wonderfully rewarding experience on the road with Dungen this past Spring. We became great friends over the tour, some of the highlights included taking them camping on Assateague, and introducing them to the finer points of American football. Ha! And let’s face it, we could listen to them jam for days if we could.

You’re off to sunny Los Angeles in January to record your next full length record. What can we expect? The newer songs you’ve been playing for the last few months are definitely more rock than the material on your first album.

Hmmm….I’m not even sure what to expect. We love to go where the moment takes us when we are writing and recording, so who knows. Some of those rockers could be lullabies by the time they are on tape.

Thom Monahan is on board to produce your new record. Why did you choose him?

We found him through our label somehow. ‘m foggy on the details. But we’ve been very much aware of who he is and what he is capable of since Better Can’t Make Your Life Better. And as luck would have it, he liked our first record and agreed to work with us for round two.

You decamped to rural Virgina to record your last record. Why do you need to leave town to record new music?

Hmmm…let’s see. Everyone likes to get out of town for one reason or another. I think we enjoy getting out to record because we can remove ourselves from the little ambient stresses of normal life. We don’t have the shadow of the office, or other little things looming about. We can really focus on the music and see what sort of new influences we can pull from our surroundings and from the newness of a place. It’s kind of incredible how much our environment influences us as human beings. It’s fun to mix it up a little and see how it affects the art. Of course this is only my opinion! 🙂

Other than your new record, what are the band’s plans for 2007?

We don’t know yet. But we sure are excited to see what happens!

Head over to the band’s MySpace page to listen and download their new track “What The Wind Will Never Tell.”