Joseph Plunket - Country Westerns Interview
Born and raised in Atlanta, GA, Plunket grew up with a father who was a preacher and a family that was very musically involved with their church where Plunket played drums. The hardcore scene was very prevalent as Plunket became a teenager and found his community in music before eventually relocating to Nashville, TN in 2010 where he participated in his very own projects such as Psychic Hotline with Jessica McFarland and JP5. Plunket eventually met his friend and bandmate, Brian Kotzur and together the two set out to form a band on their own terms. And that was Country Westerns! In this interview we explore Plunket’s youth growing up in Atlanta and Athens, GA before relocating to Nashville, TN, forming Country Westerns, becoming close with the Soft Junk folks, signing with Fat Possum, meeting and playing with the great Matt Sweeney and their new record that releases everywhere on April 28th!
Are you originally from Nashville, TN? What was your childhood like? When did you first begin to fall in love with music? Was music relevant around your household growing up? Do you have any siblings?
(Brian) Kotzur was born in Houston, but is as close to a local as you can get. He’s been in Nashville since elementary school. I grew up in Atlanta and lived in Athens, GA and Brooklyn before moving here in 2010. As a kid, music was always a big deal to me. My dad is a preacher, so my family was always pretty musical, but mostly within the framework of their church and not so much pop culture stuff. I played drums in the church band for a minute and then I branched out—way out, I guess. Kotzur’s dad is a reformed bass player, so I would guess he had an early education too. We both have one sister.
What would you and your friends do for fun growing up? Who were some of our earliest influences in your more formative years? When and where did you see your very first concert and when did you realize you wanted to spend your life making music?
Trying to get in a band and play music was the thing for me from middle school on. I know Brian started playing early too. I’ve always wanted to play and I’ve also always been an obsessive fan and record collector. I got tapped in to a little DIY hardcore punk suburban Atlanta scene when I was 14, or so. My early experiences were at house shows and VFW halls. Once me and my friends got bold enough to venture to the city my 1st shows were Avail at The Point in Atlanta and Sick of it All at the Masquerade. I still remember the circle pit and being terrified of the older punks. Pretty sweet. I don’t think I ever made a decision to be a lifer musician. It was just gonna be a part of my life no matter what. In the audience, or on stage didn’t matter in that scene. It was more like keep showing up and find your role within it.
Did you participate in any groups, or outfits prior to Country Westerns? How did you initially meet your band mates? What was the chemistry between everyone both musically and personally in the very beginning? When and where did you guys make your live performance debut and what was that experience like for you?
Oh yeah, we’ve been in just about every kind of group, or band configuration you can think of. Brian has done more than me, resume wise. Most notoriously he played with Silver Jews, but he’s also played with countless Nashville artists. He can play anything. (Bobby Bare Jr. Caitlin Rose, William Tyler etc.). I had a band called The Weight for many years in Atlanta and Brooklyn. We put out a handful of records and at the same time I did stints playing bass for King Tuff, Gentleman Jesse and Nikki Lane. I moved to Nashville and started a few bands here, Psychic Hotline with Jessica McFarland from Heavy Cream and a band with all of my own tunes called JP5. Both bands were cool in totally different ways and we played a lot, but never really got off the runway and out of town. When Brian and I linked up we were both frustrated about trying to keep a band together and on the road so we had a common mission from the start. We wanted the music to lead to some kind of adventure and to be serious about it. I can assure you we don’t take ourselves too seriously though. I think our 1st show was at Soft Junk Headquarters. If not that’s where we played most of our early gigs and Nic from Soft Junk was our earliest supporter.
The band made its 2018 debut with both singles “At Any Time” and “Guest Checks”. Can you tell me about writing and recording those records? How did the deal with Soft Junk come about and what was it like working with FGE guys on those projects? What was the overall vision and approach to those records?
Nic from Soft Junk was our first real champion. He has enthusiasm for days when he likes something. Early on we had the idea that we would just make singles until we had enough material for a compilation LP, like a proper punk band, haha. We went through the first of many bassists at this time then the material I was writing started to outpace the singles and we hooked up with Matt Sweeney and decided to go for an LP. We’re proud of those early singles though. I even dig the saxophone on it. That’s when we sort of willed our band into existence. Hats off to Nic for putting them out. I know 7” singles don’t exactly rake in the dough.
In 2020 the band released its self-titled, debut LP. How did the deal with Fat Possum Records come about? Tell me about writing and recording that album and what the overall vision and approach was to the material. Would you mind walking me through some of the backstory to songs such as “It’s On Me”, “TV Light”, “At Any Time” and “Close To Me” that are featured on the album?
We had the 2 singles out and were playing regular gigs and a few short tours. We got offered to do a handful of tour dates opening for Purple Mountains which was a huge “break” for us and then sadly David Berman passed away. He was probably our first fan in town and really pushed us to keep going. At his memorial Matt Sweeney pulled us aside and told us we were gonna record with him in New York and showed us an email, or text that David had sent him saying he should work with us. It was all very surreal. Pretty soon we we’re in Brooklyn recording at Strange Weather. We recorded Close To Me and another song that first session. Everything was sounding good so we kept recording til we had an LP. The last day of tracking Matthew from Fat Possum came by the studio and said he’d put it out. That’s the short version of a tumultuous few months, but it was a strange time. I didn’t orchestrate any of it and was pretty sure the band was going to break up before all this. So it was very affirming for someone to say “No, you’re not going to break up I have a plan for you”. That doesn’t happen often so it’s nice. As far as our approach to recording I think we just wanted to sound like a killer power trio. We track the bulk of the music live. Of course we do plenty of overdubs to sweeten the sauce but we can’t get too far away from the basics because we gotta play these songs in front of people. I think people would feel cheated if there was a kick ass tuba solo on the record, but it didn’t happen live. As far as lyrically I think all those songs are about fighting through stagnation and depression. Sort of a “down-but-not-out” theme that fits the circumstances the record was made in. I’m really proud of it. I think it’s a pretty cohesive record for how chaotic everything felt at the time.
2023 the band’s highly anticipated follow up on FP, “Forgive The City”. What did you guys want to express and explore on this record that’s different from the self-titled? Given the shape of the world from 2020 till now, what elements made its way into the band’s work from the past few years? I’d love to know some of the details and inspirations behind songs such as “Money On
The Table”, “Something Goes Wrong”, “Hell” and “Knucklin’”.
Obviously, coming out of the pandemic we were struggling with the logistics of being in a band and probably philosophically what’s the point, you know? Anyway, the point quickly became that this is what we do and it’s time to do it. The songs were coming out fast and mean. I think the fact that we hadn’t played any of the songs live kept the fat off too. When you play to an audience and they respond to part of a song you might milk that riff or chorus to please them. The microphones don’t care so we kept it lean in the studio. I was writing songs in the sessions to fit the vibe. I was going back through unreleased songs and re arranging them and we had a few core songs that fit right away. It was all pretty fast and focused. We weren’t precious or prickly with criticism. Everyone seemed to know when it was working and when it wasn’t. Of the songs you mentioned both Knucklen and Money on the Table were written during the recording session. Hell and Something goes wrong were songs I wrote a long time ago, but never released. Somehow they fell right in with the new songs and the songs I was writing on the spot. Once we had the vibe and pace down we knew which tunes were correct.
What have you guys got going on for the spring/summer? Is there anything else you would like to further share with the readers?
We’re about to head out on our own pub rocking headline tour in May and then we have a stretch of dates opening for Deer Tick in June and October that we’re all super excited about. Otherwise, we hope to be working and playing til the wheels come off… Again.
