The Constellations

Atlanta’s latest rockstars, The Constellations have recently taken their gritty, blended brand of Southern Gothic beats on tour, even stopping in on The CMJ Music Marathon in New York City.  The band has had an insanely productive and impressive year playing some of Atlanta’s biggest music festivals, signing with Virgin Records, and hitting the road from Nashville to Philly.  TST had a chance to meet up and sit down with frontman, Elijah Jones back home at his Midtown pad, where he graciously offered me a juice box and answered all the questions I had about The Constellations’ experiences this past year.  What I got in return was a vivid and electrifying account of the 8-piece’s exploits in Atlanta and on the road.

Debauchery on Tour
The Constellations hit the road this past fall starting out in Nashville and hitting St.Louis, Milwaukee, Madison, and Chicago in the Midwest before heading to the northeast to play at The CMJ Music Marathon in NY and ending the tour in Pennsylvania where they played in Philadelphia and Westchester.  When asked about the tour, Elijah exclaimed, “The tour was awesome! It’s always fun to go to other cities and see people react to your music, especially not knowing anything about us.”  The band prefers to play the dive bars over the bigger venues, explaining that the twenty or so people in the “hole in the walls all come off the bar and party with you as opposed to the bigger venues where it’s either not enough people to create a vibe or it’s a bunch of people that don’t know who the hell you are.”

The Constellations stopped in at The CMJ Music Marathon in NY on the last leg of the tour.  This forum for music fans and music industry professionals has consistently showcased the best of new music.  The Constellations had a blast playing this year’s Music Marathon, saying that they got “a huge, huge, huge response.”  The band was invited to a photo shoot and interview session for which Virgin Records generously gave them a bar tab for a couple hours, and Elijah admits, the band “put it to use!”

Apparently, there were rumors floating around about a secret show with The Black Lips and Elijah and another band member wanted to check it out.  I listened to him tell the story of the debauchery that ensued, “We went down to a warehouse, I don’t even know where. I was lit like a Christmas tree on the 4th of July.  It was this warehouse, a run-down warehouse with all these half-pipes and skate bowls, wooden bowls everywhere. It was dingy and dark and dirty, it was awesome!  But, come 7 o’clock in the morning, me and Wes were like ‘What the hell are we doing here?’  That was kind of a debaucherous night.  It was kind of a fun walk home in the middle of the day. Awful. We’re good at that, though.”

As Elijah Jones spoke of this depravity, I couldn’t help noticing the innocent, childlike presence in his face, even while he was surrounded by empty beer bottles and flicking a cigarette.  Maybe this is the type of intrigue he stimulates that has helped push The Constellations toward stardom!  Though, it’s the music that definitely got noticed first.

Your first album, Southern Gothic is full of songs conveying your depiction of the Atlanta scene.  How will your new recordings differ from the first, especially considering your new record deal with Virgin and your moving into the national arena?

“First and foremost, we’re always going to be an Atlanta band.  We’re always going to incorporate themes of stuff that’s local and precious to us. We can’t help that. I can’t help that, at least.  This is where I grew up. But, I think the way it works on a national arena is that everybody’s got those characters in their town, everybody’s got that seedy underbelly. Especially in the city, there’s always that after-party/debaucherous nightmare, wandering through the streets of whatever city you’re in.  Those things carry true to most cities. It’s the theme of the record, it’s Southern Gothic. We have to tell the story about those unsung heroes.”

Has signing with a major record label changed the way you write or record?

“No, not at all. [Virgin Records] are super, super supportive.  They like the record (Southern Gothic). They’re like ‘We don’t want to touch it.’”  The Constellations still carry creative control of their music recordings at Maze Studios, and with Ben Allen, producer for Gnarls Barkley and Animal Collective, still on board, not much has changed for the band since partnering up with Virgin, other than having a decent budget to work with on the road and “having more opportunity with a bunch of people behind us.”  The Constellations have a four-record deal with Virgin, and the band is entirely happy with how accepting the label has been with the sound The Constellations have been producing.

What would you recommend to other Atlanta bands that want to get signed?

“Get out of Atlanta!  Take what you’ve learned here, and what people love here, they’re going to love it in other cities.  They’ve got to get the hell out of Atlanta.  Show that you want to work. Show that you want to do this with or without a label.  I mean, you can do it without getting signed.  We did it. We scraped by for a long time with no outside funding, so it’s completely possible.  Make it your career, make it what you want to do day in and day out.  Wake up in the morning and create music, play music live.  You know, keep your job part-time!  You’ve got to pay for the practice space and the gas and stuff like that.  Get on the road.  The road is nice.  And write good songs!”

Can you describe where you were and what you were doing when you first heard “Felicia” on 99X?

“I think I was driving in the car and it was 9 o’clock in the morning.  It was really weird that it was peak traffic time, and they were playing an unsigned band.  And I didn’t even think about it, because I just turned the car on and it was playing.  I thought it was a CD and then it went into the commercial and I was like, ‘What the fuck? What? Wait a minute. That was my song!’”

The Constellations also played 99X’s Live X, which has had many amazing musicians grace their in-studio stage, such as Foo Fighters, Radiohead, and Tori Amos.  Elijah described playing the mid-afternoon Live X as “a lot of fun, they gave us a bunch of liquor and we got into it quickly! We’re not used to playing at 4 o’clock in the afternoon, we’re used to playing at 4 o’clock in the morning.  I got off work early, got some drinks in me and it felt really, really natural.  It was a great vibe!”

What are your favorite local bands right now?

“Blair Crimmins! Absolutely!  Blair Crimmins is the fucking jam. I love what he is doing right now.  I think he might be doing his album release with us in January at The Earl.”

What are you listening to right now, outside of the local music?

“Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeroes.  Love that shit.  Sounds like Charles Manson if he didn’t flip out and kill people.  Manson would’ve written songs like that.  The new Black Lips record.”

Coming up:
The Constellations will be re-releasing Southern Gothic on Virgin Records in the spring 2010.  Until then, the guys are thrilled to have a new practice space so that the noise complaints will now end.  “I’m pretty sure I have a warrant out for my arrest on one of those, so I’ll have to take some time off of work to go to jail for that.”  The band plans on getting on some music festivals next year.  Until then, they’re taking some time off to write.  But, they’ll be hitting the local Atlanta circuits in the meantime, so check their site for the show schedule.

The Constellations: Elijah Jones-Vox, Wes Hoffman-Bass, Jamie Gordan-Keys, Ryan Davis-Guitar and Keys, Trevor Birdsong-Guitar, Jason Knacker-Drums, Alaina Terry-backup vox, Shabnam Bashiri-backup vox

www.myspace.com/constellationsatl

Nadia Lelutiu

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