Q&A: Josh Kimbrough of Butterflies

Diversions: So, Thanksgiving is tomorrow – how would you describe Butterflies to a family member who didn’t know you were in a band?

Josh Kimbrough: I would say that we are a rock band that writes original songs. We have a little bit of jazz influence, but we’re primarily a rock band. Sometimes I throw out names that people might be more familiar with, like Modest Mouse, or famous indie bands like that.

Dive: You’re riding the wake of your second album. How’s it going? How’s the reception been?

JK: The reception’s been really good. It just came out yesterday and I’ve already been talking to some local musicians and folks that have bought the record and have been telling me their favorite tracks. I really do feel like a part of the music community here, and I feel like we have a really good developing music scene here that a lot of people are talking about at different places in the country. We’ve invested a lot of time into making this record sound really good and I’ve been writing the songs for this record for a couple of years really.

Dive: Are you happy to finally have the album out, have some more free time, or are you already geared for recording the next album?

JK: Throughout the creation of this album, the recording and the shows we’ve played, we’ve definitely developed a new level of trust and communication in the band. With that new, heightened chemistry, I would love to be creative and write some new stuff right now. I’m always doing song sketches at home and stuff.

I’m looking forward to touring – we’re playing some North Carolina shows next month and in January we’ll be doing a tour with Lost in the Trees. I’m excited to let people know what we can sound like. Our last record was a long time ago and it sounds a lot different – this one has a lot of energy and a lot of cool sounds. I’m excited to just get that out there right now.

Dive: What was the biggest change from your first album, Nothing’s Different? Why does that album sound so different?

JK: Good question. It was just a totally different time. My previous band had broken up after a bunch of years and we had really developed a good chemistry and reached a good comfort level. The first Butterflies record was starting from scratch basically. What I realized I had done with my old band, Mortar and Pestle, I was very dependent on the other band members to make a song worthwhile or make a song come to life. Which was great at the time, because I had awesome band members and our songs were bigger than the sum of our parts, and it was amazing, except for the fact that it broke up. I was sort of back to square one and I was sort of in a place where I needed the songs to stand on their own, if it was just me, playing guitar and singing. I was really refocusing my songwriting at the time.

This time, there was just a little more focus. We’ve hit a little more of a stride. All of the band members live in the same town and we were able to refine the songs in rehearsal or live. We did a lot more demos and preproduction. After the last record, I decided I just wanted the songs to have more of a flow to them and more of energy to them and I wanted the rhythm and the harmonic elements of the song to basically be a conduit for the vocals. I wanted the music to really have a groove to it.

Dive: After recording and releasing this album, is there anything on Residual Child you’d do differently?

JK: No, there’s really not. Man, it was just a great time recording it. I was working with a perfectionist – Pat Jones – in the recording studio, and he’s also joined the band at this point. We recorded at his house. The one thing that tried both of our patience a little bit was just how long it took to record it. But, at the same time, there was a reason for that – we weren’t settling for sounds we didn’t want. So no, I wouldn’t take anything back. It was a great process for everybody involved.