Note: I’m late in posting this as I had some technical difficulties with the recording but fortunately our station owner extraordinaire Jeff Johnson came to my rescue. Better late than never, right?
So fun to once again feature members of Northfield “prof rockers” The Counterfactuals live on All-Wheel Drive! They’ve just released their third full-length album, Better, Sometimes — and will be celebrating the release with a full-band performance on Saturday, Feb. 22 at Reunion Stage (the space formerly known as the Upstairs Rueb) here in downtown Northfield.
Joining me in the studio were Carleton professors (hence “prof rockers”) Daniel Groll (vocals, guitar) and Andy Flory (guitar). We had a lot of fun talking about the new album and chatting about what they’ve been up to since their last release. Both busy teaching at Carleton and raising families, Andy recently published a fantastic book on Motown music (I Hear a Symphony: Motown and Crossover R&B, The University of Michigan Press) and Dan spent a year on sabbatical in Scotland.
We also talked about their song/music-making and recording process, especially for this particular album. Better, Sometimes took quite a while to finish, given the band members’ busy schedules and the fact that they were not always able to be in the same room while recording. Plus they chose to take a real “DIY” approach to the production, which may have slowed things down but (IMHO) resulted in a really great album with an eclectic mix of sounds and styles.
Other band members include Jason Decker (another Carleton professor who plays keys and other cool sound affects), Mike Fuerstein (representing St. Olaf College and playing drums) — and the newest member of the band, Brady Lenzen (not a “prof” but a carpenter who plays some killer bass).
Don’t miss their appearance Feb. 22 at Reunion Stage — they’ll be performing from 8 to 11 pm and copies of the new album (did I mention how good it is?) will be available for purchase.
Dan and Andy performed the title track from the new release (Better, Sometimes) along with Rosetta and I Found Out.
Listen to the entire segment here.
