Photo Credit: Dave Carroll

I recently got the chance to sit down with Trampled By Turtles’ Erik Berry before their show at The Loft a few weeks back.  We talked a bit about touring during the holidays, working with Motion City Soundtrack, and where the incredible energy behind their music comes from, among other things.

You guys are from Minnesota, along with a couple of other bluegrass bands like Pert Near Sandstone. How did you guys get into bluegrass kind of music up there, so far away from the roots of it in Appalachia?

Erik: You kind of get into it like you get into any other music you like the records of, or if you have exposure to the instrument. My own self, personally, I played guitar for many years, I played electric bass in bands for many years. I was just kind of tired of dragging on acoustic guitars at campfires, everybody’s got one of them. So I bought a mandolin for $100, specifically to bring that instrument out, and I wound up really liking it. I liked the way it sounded, I liked learning chords on it, I liked learning songs on it, I liked writing songs on it. It was several years later that I actually met Dave Simonett (the guitarist and lead singer) and we started putting together this band. In the meantime, I was just sort of playing the mandolin. By the time this band gets going, it’s like yeah I don’t really have a bluegrass background but I’m a mandolin player so I’m going to play mandolin for this band. Everybody’s got that kind of a relationship to their instrument. So, we’re kind of taking bluegrass as a template for  how do you have five guys in a band and everyone is playing a string instrument but no one is playing drums. We really don’t try to be a bluegrass band. Traditional bluegrass fans, some of them disavow us, and we let them. I’m not going to argue why we’re bluegrass. It feels like we’re in a rock and roll band, so that’s how I view it.

So I was looking over your website, and I saw that you guys did a split single with Motion City Soundtrack, with each of you covering a song from the other group. How was it putting that together, and how was getting to work with those guys?

Erik: We actually never directly worked with any of those guys. We never got to meet them or anything like that. Their manager and one of our managers are tight friends, like from before they were in the business, so they’ve always kept in touch. Sort of through that we found out that they were fans of ours, and this is their first release on their new record label, so they wanted to do something kind of special and cool like that, so it was their idea and they approached us. We thought it would be fun, so that’s why we did it. It was kind of a lark. But I’m sorry to say we didn’t get to meet the Motion City guys.

Tonight is my first time getting to see you guys, but some of my friends in the past have just raved about getting to see you and how high energy your shows are. Where does the incredible amounts of energy you guys are famous for come from?

Erik: Well, I don’t know. Sometimes I get tempted to give a spacey-cosmic answer, like “That energy’s in all of us and that’s just what happens,” but I don’t really mean that but I’m not entirely kidding when I say that either. It really just, it comes from somewhere because we are not that energetic when we’re offstage and when we’re just talking. We’re pretty mellow guys in our offstage life. We’re pretty mellow onstage too, except our songs start being like *excited squawking noise*, and you can feel that something’s happening. But we don’t really know what it is. If I knew what it was, twelve bands ago that band would have been having some success. So would any of these guys. I mean, it is what it is. It’s what happens when you put the five of us together and put us in a room with people that are listening.

So how is it touring during the holiday season like you are now?

Erik: I have a couple of kids, and one of them is four and a half, and he’s missing me a lot, but he’s not missing me any more during the holiday season than he is when I’m gone in October, for example. You know, I missed his Christmas pageant today at his school, which is a personal bummer for me, and I believe for him. His mom able to keep telling him that after papa gets home we get to go to grandma’s for a week. She’s kind of dangling what’s going to happen. I’m going to be home for Christmas proper, and Christmas Eve proper and New Year’s Eve proper, so it’s not so bad.

What’s your favorite song to play during a show?

Erik: I have a few of them. There’s one I wrote, a new song called “Burnt Iron” that we play on most nights, really enjoy playing that one. We’re playing a couple of songs of the new record and I really like playing those. I really like to play “Victory,” I really like to play “Wait So Long.” You know, I suppose the opposite question is “Are there any songs I’d rather not be playing?” and the answer to that is no. Starting from that base point that I enjoy everything I’m playing, it really just goes up from there.

You released Palomino in 2010, so I was wondering if you have a new album in the works and how that’s coming along.

Erik: We’re working on it. A lot of the audio stuff is being finished up, but all the packaging stuff still needs to be done, and we don’t have a title for it yet. There’s a lot of things we still need to get in place. We’re shooting for an April release and that should work out, but we’ll see.

Awesome. Well, that’s all I’ve got, so thank you for your time. I’m excited for the show tonight!

Erik: Sweet. No problem!