Folk-rock band The Avett Brothers will play for a full house tonight at the Baton Rouge River Center at 7:30 p.m. The band originated in North Carolina from brothers Scott and Seth Avett. Vocalist and banjo player Scott Avett, eldest of the two brothers, took a break from touring to talk to The Daily Reveille.
TDR: Can you describe what the atmosphere was like in Baton Rouge the last time you played here?
Avett: I’m recalling that we played there twice. … It was nice playing the first time because it was a smaller number of people, younger folks, people that loved our band. … I remember the show being a lot of fun. The performance was a great exchange with the crowd. Anytime that happens, I can walk away and be happy about that performance.
TDR: Is there anything culturally about Louisiana you’re excited to get a chance to see again?
Avett: Well, unfortunately … the other two times I’ve been were Jazz Fest, and you’re kind of contained to the track there. So those two times we haven’t gotten to have the food that’s so famous, that I would have to say I look forward to having. I just can’t say enough good or a bad thing about the crowd that we’ve had there. The last time at Jazz Fest was surreal in its positivity and the connection and exchange with the crowd. That was truly amazing.
TDR: Do you prefer playing at intimate-type concerts or festivals better?
Avett: I love them both. I think I prefer a show that brings risk and brings something that we haven’t had to deal with before. … I really like festivals for that reason that there’s always an element … that provides drama and excitement that add to the show. With an indoor setting, there’s a lot of reasons to be nervous. You are under the microscope sort of, and that is another kind of element that is exciting to experience. … I’ve always enjoyed when we come out on the other side. I can’t say I like one better than the other, though. I really am just grateful that there are different kinds of performances and that we do change it up and do different types of venues.
TDR: How do you guys go about putting together a set list for a show?
Avett: We recently started doing set lists. I’d say maybe two to three years ago we never did set lists at all. We decided we had accumulated too many written songs and too many were slipping through. … We were following a pattern by not having a set list. We felt that the spontaneity was being sacrificed by habit, so we started doing set lists. The normal operation is we write a set list anywhere from three hours to one hour before the show … because we like to keep flexibility. We don’t want to decide a set list too far in advance when so much of it could change by the feel of the room, by the sound check, by the mood, by even requests sometimes that we may get that are very relevant and needed, so we usually don’t write the set list until right before the show.
TDR: Is there any song that you are tired of playing, that you hope you never have to play again?
Avett: Nope, there’s not one.
TDR: What’s your favorite song to play?
Avett: It’s always been whatever is the newest, whatever is the freshest and the riskier song to play. The one that isn’t quite learned or fleshed out. That’s usually the most fun song to play because … the more recent songs have statements. If there is a statement in the song, it’s more prevalent to our lives now. The presence is much stronger, so you can kind of get behind them and deliver them with a little more conviction.
Not to say that the old songs don’t surprise me. They kind of come back sometimes and provide new convictions, which have been really beautiful and surprising through the times we’ve played.
TDR: What’s it like constantly being on the road with your brother? Do you guys ever get in fights and have to play a show while you’re arguing?
Avett: We definitely try to sort that out before we go on stage. There would be a bit of panic if there’s disagreement that’s ongoing and we carry it onto the stage. I think there’s just no place for that. Sometimes things will arise during a show. It’s rare, because once the show gets cranking there’s not a lot of time to think about that. The last thing we need to be thinking about is what he or I want. We’re working at that point and trying to work as hard as we can … to put everything into the performance. … There’s of course disagreements, but we really try hard to make sure those are settled. I don’t think I’d feel comfortable going on stage without those being settled. I think it would be better to delay a show and get that sort of thing sorted out. We haven’t had any major issues that can’t be resolved by somebody just backing down. That’s usually the trick.
TDR: As the older brother, do you feel like you have to be the person that backs down a lot of the time?
Avett: I’ve got to say that Seth and I both do our fair share of backing down. I think that I spent enough time when he was younger pushing [him], that there’s plenty of room for me to do a little backing down. I try to be aware of what it costs for me to just back down and back off. But I think Seth is very capable of that as well. I think overall it’s shared pretty well.
 
 
 
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Contact Haylie Navarre at [email protected]