Joe Kwon – Avett Brother From Another Mother

By Thriller Monday November 9, 2009

By: Dante Lima

Joe Kwon is an Avett Brother. His driver’s license may not say Avett. He may not have that northern North Carolina drawl. He may not be able to grow a beard that strikes fear into the hearts of baby-faced men everywhere or play a traditional folk instrument, but he’s still an Avett because they want him to be.

He’s been with the band for two years, first as a guest cello player on tour, then for the recording of the 2007 release Emotionalism and now as a full time member since the recording of I and Love and You. If the Avetts lost their cellist, they’d lose the depth and grace that Kwon brings to each line he plays, and a huge part of their new mature sound. As the Avetts move farther away from their once signature “scream until you’re hoarse, pick until your fingers bleed, stomp until the floor breaks through” style, Joe is more necessary. They have become balladeers, beckoning the world to hear all the words that became hard to say. With the cello, all the words make sense. They’re rolling across America’s tongues and through their heads, and Joe is experiencing it all.

While on a three-day break from the I and Love and You tour Thriller talked to Joe from his home in Durham, North Carolina about his place in the band, their growing appeal and why they’ll never stop.

What city are you guys in today?

Actually we’re on a three-day break from the tour. I’m at home.

Where’s home?

Durham, North Carolina

I just visited my girlfriend up there about a month ago, it’s a beautiful area of the country.

I love it. It’s quiet and peaceful and all my friends and loved ones are here, so it’s nice to be back for a couple of days

You guys are known for your relentless tour schedule, and with the new album you are in full swing. Are you glad to be moving around right now?

It’s always nice to come home and sleep in your own bed and cook your own food. I love to play live and we are getting great crowds in every city, but it’s still difficult. You’re on the road with guys you like, but when it comes down to it you’re always going to miss the people who know you on a different level.

Are you married? Kids?

Not married; just a serious relationship. Marriage isn’t too far off the road, but my girlfriend and I are trying to get our lives figured out. We’re at a common place in that we know we’re going to be there for each other, so there’s no rush.

Speaking of family, in the promotional videos for I and Love and You your bassist Bob Crawford talked about Scott and Seth extending the brotherhood they shared to him, and how they’ve now extended that to you. How does it feel to be considered an Avett brother?

I think he’s definitely right. Anybody who comes into this company, you kind of come in with very high expectations. You aren’t just brought in as a friend – they think you are going to work hard and carve out a place in the band. That kind of mutual respect is brotherly. We keep each other in check.

How did the brotherhood start?

Bob and I were working on a side project together and I was helping him out a lot with his New Jersey Transient album. Bob asked me to come play on the tour and we opened for the Avett Brothers. They really liked what I did with Bob so they brought me on to record the Emotionalism record. I felt a little weird at first, because they were already established and had a pretty developed sound. Coming from North Carolina I knew who they were was a fan of their music, and all of the sudden we’re in a room and creating together. I was telling myself, “I don’t know how I’m going to fit into this.” I was questioning myself and my abilities.

Did they ever give you the “new guy” treatment?

No, not in that traditional hazing sort of way. There are very little negative remarks that come from the guys. Sometimes I found myself wondering, “Why aren’t they saying anything? Are they just afraid to tell me they don’t like it.” I couldn’t really read how I was progressing with the band because there wasn’t a lot of feedback one way or the other. But what you come to realize with the Avetts is that there’s a mutual respect. They respect me enough as a musician and trust me enough to let my playing speak for itself. If they aren’t saying anything it probably means they are cool with it and need to say nothing more.

How long have you been playing the cello?

I’ve been a cellist for 20 years, I think that’s enough of a background for them to trust what I do.

You have a classical music background. Did you ever imagine you would be playing this particular instrument in a band so deeply rooted in country, folk and bluegrass? The cello is pretty unfamiliar to that tradition.

I would say for the first 14 years of playing cello, I thought I was going to be a classical cellist. In college I kind of made this turn and said “I’m not good enough to do this.” I got my degree in mathematics and computer science from UNC Chapel Hill, and worked at IBM right out of school. I disliked corporate America so much I decided to start playing cello again. At that point these dreams of becoming a musician again were re-kindled. I thought, “I can be a non-traditional cellist.” I enjoy playing in these bars and loud places. I can be different. It became something that I wanted to do for a living. When I was studying music at the classical level it was daunting, recently I have wanted to go back to it, because it is structured. The music that I play now, I really want to get back into that world. It’s a very old system, that deserves my attention again. It’s something that will only make my playing on stage better.

You said the classical side of your instrument is structured. Clearly the Avett Brothers have a pretty open writing style. How did you learn how to write and improvise?

I attribute that solely to a friend Leon Godwin, who was my guitarist in my first band. He always used to make fun of me because I could not improvise to save my life. He said, ‘You’ve been playing for 14 years but you can’t follow my chords.’ We were roommates at the time. he would pull out a guitar and i’d pull out my cello and we’d work on it. It came down to that spark, him telling me I was being ridiculous.

Is it coming in handy?

Yes, this goes back to the trust thing again. Scott and Seth expect me to come up with stuff on the fly. I’ll hear the song for the first time on stage. I might have heard it on solo guitar or piano. For the most part they trust me to enhance the song. They’ll say, “We are envisioning something that’s in this range.” In “January Wedding” Seth wanted me to play something lower to accentuate the verse. They’ll say stuff like that. They’ll never tell me what to play.

The Avett Brothers sound has slowed down a bit, more and more of the songs are ballad style and the new album especially is more contemplative and less visceral. The cello seems to play very well into that transformation. Was this a conscious artistic choice? Or am I reading too much into it?

They aren’t purposely writing slower songs, they are very fitting for the time. Every song has a reason that it was written, they have a way of translating their everyday events into beautiful songs. It really has to do with the experience.

Fans love the Avett Brothers YouTube videos. The band is great about uploading solo songs, songs on the bus, songs in hallways, songs everywhere really. I especially like the Bruce Springsteen cover, “Glory Days.” How much of that is the spontaneous, fun-loving side of the band?

It’s about 50/50. Mike Scott who the Internet people know as Crackerfarm, he’s got a still camera and video built in. He’s shot a lot of Seth and Scott’s solo videos and some of our stuff. Stuff like Glory Days was brought on for Columbia for a Bruce Springsteen album. We knew that we wanted to put out videos, but some of it is spur of the moment. The reason 99 per cent is for the fans to be able to see them. We get to play these songs everyday. The fans out there who aren’t able to come see shows, they can see what we look like and the instrumentation. It’s another level of connection with the fans, who have pretty much made us who we are today. It’s a beautiful thing.

You guys are all about the fans and your fans are all about you. Avett Nation is growing at a pretty alarming rate and hardcore Avett fans are always talking about you. The album debuted at 16 on the Billboard Top 100. Do you get the sense this could be the album to put you on in the national spotlight?

I think people are telling us that a lot. Every show is treated the same. We did four shows in four major markets. We did 2,800 seat sold out venues in NYC, and a 600-seater in Iowa City. It’s the smaller cities that don’t get the music as often. We don’t ever think of it as “this is going to be crazy;” we have to keep our head in it for the right reasons. It doesn’t mean we have to work any less. If you thought you were losing sleep, we’re going to lose more. It’s becoming more work than we had anticipated. It leaves us feeling a bit more accomplished at the end of the day because we did have to wake up earlier to get things done.

Watching you live gives the sense that music is still a joy to you guys. Of course, you are a professional musician and you have to treat it as such, but how are you dealing with success?

I still think that everyday I’m with this band is a privilege. I get to play with guys that I think are musical visionaries. Our lighting manager Pete said something on the bus the other day about entitlement. How is anyone entitled to anything? Someone has always worked harder, or said it better, or done it differently. We still have to work hard, but it’s nice that people are listening. I’m a really lucky guy.

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