Astroturf Noise- Synthetic grass for synthetic times
Interview Conducted on Feb. 28, 2020
by Dan Locke
NYC’s Astroturf Noise, a trio consisting of Sam Day Harmet (mandolin/fx), Sana Nagano (violin/fx), and Zach Swanson (bass). The trio whom describes themselves as “synthetic grass for synthetic times” presents a wildly fresh blend of free improvisation & bluegrass/americana on their self-titled debut due out March 13th on 577 Records. The record features notable guest appearences from Medeski Martin & Wood’s Billy Martin & violinist Sarah Bernstein. The trio explores new musical terriroty, exploring the driving rhymmic force of bluegrass with the textural, abstract and evocative flavors of the downtown scene.
Dan Locke: Tell me about your upbringing?
Sam Day Harmet :Astroturf Noise: We’re kind of from all over! Sana hails from Tokyo, Zach is from Western Massachusetts, and I’m originally from NYC, but also grew up in Galena, Illinois and Madison, Wisconsin. For me, it was quite a varied upbringing, but in hindsight, I appreciate the perspective of having grown up in such different places and communities.
How did you discover music?
My parents were big music appreciators with a hefty record collection, and I was brought up on a pretty eclectic stream of music — some big ones were Tom Waits, Talking Heads, Ornette Coleman, Wagner, Mozart, Prince, early blues, and on and on. My uncle Walter Thompson, who developed a musical sign language called Soundpainting, was also important in introducing me to a lot of radical improvised music.
How did your band come together?
Sana and I met through the Creative Music Studio outside of Woodstock, NY back in 2016. It’s a really special place to explore improvised music founded by Karl Berger along with Don Cherry and Ornette Coleman back in the early 70s. We discovered a shared appreciation for American folk and bluegrass and thought we’d start a project seeing how that world intersected with freakier free improv sounds. After playing as a duo for a while, we added Zach Swanson in 2018 who’d also spent a lot of time bouncing between the folk and free improv worlds.
What is free grass? Is it a combination of progressive bluegrass and Thrash Grass?
I wouldn’t say we draw too much from those strands of bluegrass. I’d say the biggest inspirations for our sound has been classic hard-driving Bill Monroe-style bluegrass on the one side and ecstatic free jazz and knotty, punky NY no wave on the other. That might lead to some overlap with those scenes you mention though.
If you were talking to a purist person who was into bluegrass, how you would define your music to them?
Well, I love the classic stuff, but bluegrass has always been about blending influences. Bill Monroe’s big innovation was blending the Scots-Irish Appalachian folk tradition with African-American blues music. I think it’s quite in line with the tradition to keep folding in newer influences and approaches!
How did you pick your name?
It’s a riff on the name of Bill Monroe’s backing band the “Bluegrass Boys.” Astroturf Noise is the new synthetic version!
What was your first show together like?
Our first show was in a DIY basement space in Crown Heights, Brooklyn playing on a bill with a bunch of electronic noise musicians. It may have been a slightly funny fit for us!
What types of places do you usually perform in?
We’ve played lots of small venues and DIY spaces around NYC, mostly in Brooklyn. Jalopy Theatre, in particular, has been something of a musical home and has been super supportive over the years.
Describe an Astroturf Noise concert?
It’s a pretty high energy band — there’s a lot of weird melodic and textural twists and turns, but it usually stays pretty rhythmically driving. Since we’re kind of existing between genres, we often find ourselves as the weird ones on a folk bill or the oddly folky group on an experimental music bill. Both contexts are fun and surprising in different ways.
Your CD gets shipped on March 13. 2020. How did you pick the tracks that are on it?
I tried to create a flow on the album that touched on a lot of the different stylistic ground we’ve been exploring and also had a natural ebb and flow between the barn burners and more ambient and spacey stuff.
Which track is your favorite?
Hard to say! It was really fun hearing how Billy Martin’s totally creative junkyard percussion came together on “Orange Blossom Bullet Train” and “Blue Comet Bankruptcy.” I’m also partial to Sarah Bernstein and Sana’s twin fiddling on Black Berry and the sprawling doom-y 10 minute album closer to Cluck.
You will be playing in Pittsburgh at Government Center Records. Besides performing, do you have any other plans during the time you are in town?
Yeah! We’re playing a private show in Pittsburgh the night before the Government Center Records show, so we actually have a whole day to explore. None of us have beten before, so we’re looking forward to getting the grand tour! I’m especially looking forward to the Warhol Museum.
How did you get Billy Martin to tour with you? I interviewed The Wood Brothers last year at the Nelsonville Music Festival.
Billy’s not coming on the road for this tour, but he’s been a great supporter along the way. Sana and I have gotten to know him well through the Creative Music Studio which he’s now directing. The lovely, super talented guy always looking for new creative adventures.
How do you see yourselves in five years?
An art colony/survivalist cult in remote Northern Thailand? The house band for a Mexican daytime TV show? Open to other possibilities too, but these are two of the more probable outcomes.
Anything you like to say in closing?
Thanks for chatting, Dan!
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