Headstash

Spiritualizing with Lotus' Jesse Miller

Jesse Miller at Jam in the 'Dam 2012 - Photo Credit: Amy Lowe

Coming off a raucous stint at Jam in the ‘Dam last month, Lotus, the only electronic influenced act at the event, certainly gained new fans and newfound respect as they capped off the festival with a quintessential "Sunrain > Flower Sermon > Sunrain."

Now, back home in the States and ready to hit hometown markets in Washington, D.C. and New York City, Lotus is bringing their unique brand of electronic influenced instrumental rock to the masses.

2012 should prove to be a huge year for the livetronica quintet – yes, percussionist Chuck Morris is back with the band full-time – as they embark on an ambitious touring schedule, including a headlining performance at Red Rocks, a return to Japan for a few dates and performances at festivals like All Good, Summer Camp and Camp Bisco.

[FIND news, tour dates and downloads via Lotus' official website.]

Lotus at Jam in the 'Dam 2012 - Photo Credit: Amy Lowe

We chatted with bassist Jesse Miller about the festival schedule, the group's complex and thoughtful method for constructing setlists and how high the ceiling is for the band.

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Headstash Magazine: Your percussionist, Chuck Morris, is back with the band after some time off. How’s that been having him back in the mix?

Jesse Miller: It's been interesting. It wasn't just, “okay, everything that you were doing before, do it again” because we had changed some things around within our compositions. We definitely had to rework some parts and move some things around, but now I think with two tours under our belts and having spent some time on it, we’ve been able to lock that in pretty well.

HM: After playing Jam in the ‘Dam to an admittedly older crowd, you’re coming back and playing some shows in D.C. and New York City – right near your homebase of Philadelphia. What should fans expect from those shows?

JM: I think we're going to be great. They're both nice sized rooms where it's not too huge and everybody will be close. I think both of those rooms – 9:30 Club and Irving Plaza – have great soundsystems. And they’re going to be sold-out shows, so there’s going to be a lot of energy in the room.

HM: You guys have some tour dates scheduled for Japan in May, right?

JM: Yeah. I think we're doing five dates in Japan in May, so right after we play the New York shows we fly to Japan for a week. We haven't gone in the last few years, but it’s actually our fourth time. We were planning on going last year and then the tsunami happened, so we ended up canceling our trip.

We've always had a great time there – the festivals that we've done has been great and the fans are really gracious for musiicans that travel that way. It's a great time.

HM: How do those shows differ from shows in America? Do the fans react differently than they do over here?

JM: It's too different. When we went over the first time, one of the hosts over there was saying, “okay, just so you know before you go on, the Japanese fans are more subdued and they’ll wait until the end of the song and then clap politely.” So we were kind of bracing ourselves for that, but it wasn't like that at all.

Lotus at Jam in the 'Dam 2012 - Photo Credit: Amy Lowe

People were going nuts and dancing and having a good time. I’d say the one major differences to me is it’s a little bit less of a party culture than it is over here. There's not too many people drinking – people are very focused on music, but they have a great time.

HM: You guys also have a lot of festivals on the schedule this summer, inclduing Summer Camp, Montain Jam, Camp Bisco and All Good. How do you guys plan differently for each event? Do you guys take into account the average attendee, the timeslot, which stage and who the headliners are?

JM: I would say we do our own thing. I think our main consideration is set length and also when you play festivals we take into account that there's going to be a lot of people who even if they’ve heard the band before are not super familiar with the band. So we try and play the “hits.” It’s weird to say that because we’re not a Billboard band – but the songs we know that are always going to go off.

[FIND complete lineups, ticketing information and analysis of all your favorite festivals via our 2012 Festival Guide.]

We tend to lean toward the high-energy dancy stuff whereas at a club show we might vary it up a bit more. We try to really build a flow in a club show, but sometimes at a festival, we just try to put out the best 60 minutes we can and leave them wanting just a little bit more.

HM: You guys have been around a long time now and really hit a stride professionally, so are your motivators and inspiriations for writing new music the same as when you first started or have they changed?

JM: For me, writing music is almost the best part. I really love performing, but when I feel like something is clicking when I'm writing, that to me is the ultimate creative spot. I would never stop performing or working on the business side of our band and all that, but it's just this really great feeling to get through this challenge of putting together a composition and coming out on the other side with some kind of product.

Lotus in Philadelphia for New Year's Eve 2011 - Photo Credit: Charles Mostoller

For me I think that has been the same from when I first started writing music to now. I think it's just a matter of finding new challenges. It’s tough for any artist, but I try not to repeat myself. I try to always push forward and not get too comfortable. I always try to be moving into something I've never done.

HM: Especially at these festivals seeing other bands, are you guys ever influenced by other peformers’ styles?

JM: We're definitely influenced by other music and a lot of times it’ll be one small aspect of something. Like, I’ll hear a beat and say, “let’s do something with that tempo or with that sort of feel” and that might be the kind of inspiration.

I wouldn't say that really comes from any of the bands on the festival circuit – it's more from electronic producers or I listen to a lot of straight rock bands like Spoon and The Kills. Music like that. Even though it’s very different from Lotus, I can take that idea and that tempo and work it into something.

HM: Another thing I wanted to ask you about is how you guys go about writing setlists for your shows. I had heard it was a fairly thoughtful and complex system.

JM: We usually let Luke [Miller] do the set list writing. He’s pretty good at it and he’s developed a system. Basically he's usually looking at if we played in that particular market before what did we play last time we were there. We don't want to go in and play the exact same show for the exact same crowd. We want to mix it up.

We usually try to play at least a couple of tracks from our latest release. We've been playing in support of the “Lotus” album so we'll play a couple tracks from that. We usually play one or two brand new things. Then, we do some old stuff.

[FOLLOW Lotus on Facebook.]

Lotus in Philadelphia for New Year's Eve 2011 - Photo Credit: Charles Mostoller

Then, we kind of have a chart that puts different songs in different categories based on either tempo or feel. He uses that to get a variation. We don't like to do four songs in a row that are 95 bpm.

From there we try to do something different – something we’ve never tried like a segway between a couple different songs.

HM: One thing that’s pretty striking about you guys is your on-stage demeanor. All five of you seem really relaxed and even keel up there. And I think the music for the most part really reflects that, being controlled, methodical and easy to groove to even when it’s fast and aggressive.

JM: Yeah, I think that’s pretty natural especially if we’re improvising. Everybody is bringing some of their own character to the show no matter what you're doing. When we're playing straight compositions, even though everybody is bringing their own voice to their instrument, but the general . . . dispoisiton  or vision of the song reflects whoever wrote that composition.

HM: So where do you guys go from here? Do you have any lofty goals or aspirations as a band or do you guys just take it one day at a time?

JM: I think we're in a good place, but I think we can grow it a lot further and I definitely would like to. We have some pretty big things planned that will surpass anything that we've ever done, but even this festival season we've got some really good slots. Coming out to All Good to play to 25,000 people or something like that only happens a couple of times a year, so we see those as opportunities to still reach and expose tons of people [to Lotus].

We're just writing what we like and trying to make all the shows go off as much as they can. We're not resting on our laurels here. We definitely want to push it further and see how far we can go.

Their might be limits to what we do. We’re not going to be top-40. It's instrumental. It's challenging in a lot of ways, but I don't think there's necessarily a ceiling for us.

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Lotus in Philadelphia for New Year's Eve 2011 - Photo Credit: Charles Mostoller

A band like STS9 is a great example of a band that’s pushed things pretty far. They’ve sold out two nights at Red Rocks – that’s amazing to me. Even bands that we came up with like Umphrey’s McGee. They've taken their really challenging sound and are really pushing things.

We're not slowing down is basically the short answer to this long-winded reply.

HM: Glad to hear it. So before I let you go, any hints on plans you guys have for the rest of the year?

JM: We’ll be coming out with some big announcements soon. Basically, coming up we're not going to do a traditional, six-week tour like we've done in the past. We're just going to be doing a few, select huge shows.

HM: Alright, thanks Jesse. Good luck on the rest of the tour.

JM: Thanks, looking forward to getting back on stage.

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Lotus is set to perform two sold-out shows at Washington D.C.’s 9:30 Club Friday, April 13 and Saturday, April 14. For a complete list of upcoming shows, visit the band’s official website. And be sure to check out which festivals Lotus plans to hit via our 2012 Festival Guide.