Jonathan Byerley - Emergency Group Interview
Born and raised in Colorado, Byerley relocated to Oxford, England with his family for a brief time before settling in Macon, GA where he was influenced by the likes of Nirvana’s “Unplugged”, and Sonic Youth’s “Washing Machine”, skateboarding and the SST catalog during his more formative years. Prior to forming the NYC based Emergency Group, Byerley participated, and still does, in a group called Plates Of Cake before venturing into the sights and sounds of Emergency Group with members Robert Boston, Dave Mandl and Andreas Brade. They released a wonderful tape with the folks over at Island House Recordings entitled “Inspection Of Cruelty” and have been carving a unique trail ever since. In this interview we explore his youth and influences, his artistic trajectory leading up to Emergency Group, current projects in the works and much more!
Are you originally from Brooklyn, New York? When did you first begin to fall in love with music, more so the guitar? Was this something that was relevant around your households growing up?
I moved to New York in 2007 from Denver where I was working at Twist & Shout Records. I was born in Colorado, but shortly thereafter my family actually moved to Oxford, England for a few years. Then I spent the majority of my childhood in Macon, Georgia before returning to Colorado for high school and college. My family wasn't all that musical but I got into buying tapes and CDs in 1994 around the age of 10. I started playing guitar in 1996, or ‘97. 1994 was a great year for a kid to get into music! My first cassette tapes were Nirvana Unplugged and Green Day’s Dookie. My first CD was the blue Weezer album. I kept buying tapes for a while after getting more into CDs. I bought Washing Machine by Sonic Youth on cassette the very week it came out. I still listen to the exact same copy on the regular! Growing up in that particular part of Georgia at that age and time, I didn’t have much access to underground music. But the gas station near my house carried Thrasher Magazine. I wasn't a skater, but there was always cool mail-order stuff in the back-pages and SST Records always took out an ad. So one day I sent away for a tape of Damaged by Black Flag, as well as this insanely cool looking long-sleeve baseball tee with the Black Flag bars across the front. A few weeks later, the tape arrived, but the shirt never showed up. Bummer!
Who were some of your earliest influences? When and where did you see your first concert and when did it dawn on you that you wanted to be a musician? An artist. When and where did you play your first gig and what was that experience like for you?
I think my first concert was Gov’t Mule in Macon, Georgia. There was a cherry blossom street festival every year and I was just there incidentally with my folks. Probably just 11, or 12 but I already loved The Allman Brothers so I knew who Warren Haynes was. In high school, back in Colorado, I became a big Deadhead and that interest led me to bluegrass and jazz. I’d listen to Old & In The Way and all the Garcia/Grisman stuff even more than the Dead actually, as well as all the OG bluegrass - Bill Monroe and Ralph Stanley and stuff like that. In terms of jazz, this was when Columbia was reissuing its jazz catalog on CDs with those big yellow stickers containing Nat Hentoff quotes, or whatever. I had a bunch of those. Stuff like On The Corner, Birds Of Fire, and Headhunters really got to me. I had a band in high school that did some gigs, but didn't start taking music seriously until college. My band back then played out all the time - at least weekly for 2, or 3 years. Played nearly every bar, club, DIY space, and even a few small theaters around Boulder, Denver, and Ft Collins. I think our first “real” gig was at the Larimer Lounge in 2004. We were all 20 years old - so underage - and the club was super adamant about us not drinking. So when we got there they marked our hands with enormous X’s in sharpie marker and warned us we would have to load out as soon as we finished our set. But once we played no one threw us out so we stayed on and had a great time. By the end of that year we had all turned 21, so we could legitimately play anywhere we wanted and it was off to the races. It was great.
Did you participate in any groups, or projects prior to Emergency Group?
Yes. Before Emergency Group, my primary project has been the rock band Plates Of Cake, for which I write songs, play guitar, and sing. We’ve had several lineup changes over the years, but this band is essentially just the reformed and relocated version of the college group I mentioned earlier. We’ve done 6 albums and have been gigging for over a decade. We released an album just last year called Got A Feeling That I Live Here. The most exciting thing to happen to Plates in years is that Kid Millions (legendary drummer from the band Oneida) just began drumming for us this year! We played our first show with him at TV Eye in January, followed by a live WFMU performance, and have more gigs on the calendar starting in May. I also used to play bass for the songwriter Zachary Cale. In fact, that’s how I met Robert Boston, Emergency Group’s keyboardist, who was also playing for Zach at the same time. We were in Cale’s backing band circa 2016 and 2017, during the recording of the Skywriting LP which finally came out last year on the Org Music label. Robert and I bonded immediately and started jamming together in 2019. Robert is responsible for recruiting Andreas Brade on drums and later Dave Mandl on bass. Dave plays in some other great bands, including Time Trout and Girls On Grass. He’s also a writer and a WFMU DJ. Andreas and Robert are each composers with deep backgrounds in jazz and modern dance. Andreas plays for the Mark Morris Dance Group. Robert has another improvisational jazz group called Ascend with the saxophonist Daniel Carter.
How did the deal with Island House Recordings come about?
I met the label owner, Tim, at a show Tubby’s in Kingston, New York back in December 2021. It was a great show with 75 Dollar Bill, Joe McPhee, and Powers/Rolin Duo. I love all three of those artists. Tim was the nicest, most sociable dude. He is disarmingly enthusiastic about underground music. He told me he was starting a tape label, and I kinda just shrugged it off. But some time after the Seawind Of Battery tape popped off I was like... Oh shit, that Tim guy was serious! I would see him more and more at shows and we’d always chat so one day I sent him some early EG recordings. He was into it right away and was actually on board to release our first recorded session. Then this past November, the band got together and recorded again, and “Inspection Of Cruelty” is what resulted. We decided to put that out instead.
Tell me about writing and recording the group 2023 “Inspection Of Cruelty”. What was the process of creating this album at M5 Space back in November of ‘22? I’m curious to know some of the fine details behind the two part cassette tracks “Inspection Of Cruelty Pt 1 and 2”
Our recording method is a little more dialed in at this point so “Inspection Of Cruelty” sounds a little better than our first couple of sessions, sonically speaking. It’s recorded in stereo for one thing! Our first session was in mono, which of course has its own special character, but we thought Inspection would serve as a better introduction to the band. The other reason why we decided to put that session out instead was because the recording itself required almost no edits. There are hardly any cuts or crossfades. What you’re hearing is basically the set exactly as it unfolded live. In fact, there would have been an Inspection of Cruelty Pt. 3, but we forgot to hit the record button. It was pretty late in the night at that point.
What was the overall vision for this body of music and what were you guys curious and excited to express and achieve?
That’s a great question. The concept behind this band is really simple. We get together, either at my rehearsal space in Bushwick or in a live setting, and freely improvise. Sometimes we’ll call out a key to start in. Other times we won’t. We record everything we play. Then I’ll take the recordings and edit, mix, and master them. The process of editing and mixing involves truly deep and repeated listening. I’ve been getting really obsessive about these listening sessions. Fashioning our extended improvisations into distinct pieces of music is probably one of the most creatively fulfilling experiences I’ve ever had.
What have you guys been up to recently? Are you currently working on anything new for Spring and Summer? Is there anything else you would like to further share with readers?
Yes! We have a lot of exciting things in the works. This past January we recorded a followup to “Inspection Of Cruelty” and I’m working on the finishing touches now. It needs a title. Not sure yet who will put it out, or when. We haven't even shared it with anyone, but it totally kills. We’re also considering releasing some of those early sessions I mentioned as downloads on Bandcamp, in order to raise money for studio time. We’re talking to the producer Chris Schlarb, of Psychic Temple and Big Ego Records, about doing an album with us. That would be huge! We also have a bunch of spring/summer shows coming up, including shows at Mama Tried and Union Pool in Brooklyn, as well as the aforementioned Tubby’s in Kingston. Aspirationally speaking, I’d love for this group to play Gold Diggers and Zebulon in LA and Cafe Oto in London. But for now I'm just thrilled that people in and around NYC are responding to us with so much enthusiasm. It’s really unexpected and exciting!
https://emergencygroup.bandcamp.com/album/inspection-of-cruelty
https://www.instagram.com/emergencygroup_band/
Photos credit: Todd Owyoung
