Q&A with Americana trio Fairground Saints

The Americana trio Fairground Saints will be opening for Carly Rae Jepsen on her "Gimmie Love" Tour, which starts on Feb. 12 at The Ritz in Raleigh. Design & Graphics Editor José Valle spoke with the band members about their origin, past shows and the upcoming tour.

Daily Tar Heel: Let's start at the beginning. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you all initially started as solo acts, then became a duo and eventually ended up as a trio. Is that right?

Megan McAllister: Yup. That's right.

DTH: How did the three of you come together?

Mason Van Valin: I decided that I really wanted to expand my weekend solo project to something a little bit larger and put an ad on Facebook and Eli was the only one who answered the ad. And so we started playing together and he was 16 at the time, so I was a little apprehensive, but he's a genius so that ended up being really, really cool. We started playing together and started gaining a following in Ojai, California, and then through some many different, kinda random sequences of events we met Megan on YouTube and we expanded it just that much further. 

And it just all really clicked when we sat down and started writing. So that's kinda how it happened. It was sort of a social media thing that brought us together.

DTH: Huh. That's pretty cool. Now, if I understand correctly, you were signed to Verve Records in 2014 and then released your album Aug. 21 of last year.

MM: Yes.

DTH: What was the time between the record deal and the album release like?

MVV: The thing is, we had the album pretty much done by the time that we got to Verve Records, which I understand is not a common occurrence since normally you're signed to a record deal because you have, like, a couple of songs out and they develop them. But ours was almost completely done by the time we got there.

MM: But then we did end up writing, I think, four or six new songs. And some of those made it on the record, too, so it was a lot of writing and finishing up and recording and getting the album mastered and all that, before we released.

DTH: And I saw that you played some shows in northern states like New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois in September and October. What's been your most memorable tour moment so far for each of you?

MVV: It was Fairfield, Connecticut. A bunch of people came out and we got a standing ovation and it was just the three of us playing. We ended up having to come up with a little more music than we had anticipated. And that ended up kinda freeing us up in a really interesting way. We got that standing ovation and then we played two encore songs and it just felt really, really good. 

People seemed to really understand the message of the music that we write and that always feels amazing, when it's not just somebody hearing the song and being like "Aw, makes me feel good!" It's like, "Hey, those people are really, really listening to the lyrics." Not that there's anything wrong with hearing a song and feeling good about it, but there's something really validating about that. So for me, that was my favorite.

DTH: That's super awesome, and I totally understand that. Do you happen to have any habits or rituals you perform before your shows?

MM: Like pre-show rituals?

DTH: Uh-huh.

MM: We actually started doing — it's kinda weird, so brace yourself — we stand in a circle and we do a different amount of leg lunges every night depending on how hard we think the show is gonna be. So we pick the number and we do leg lunges together.

Elijah Edwards: The average is around eight or nine. I don't think we've ever gone above 11 leg lunges. OK, well, once.

MVV: We did one for extra measure. Yeah. We do leg lunges toward each other and usually somebody ends up hitting their kneecaps together and it hurts for a second. We don't know why we do it, but it seems to work.

MM: It gives us a way to keep being in shape while we're on the road.

DTH: Yeah, OK. Well, I have personally been super stoked to go to the first show of the "Gimmie Love" Tour for a long time. But to be honest, I had no idea you all were opening for Carly Rae Jepsen. How did this come about?

MVV: You know what, I think I don't ask this question. I just say, "That sounds great," and we go out and play the show. It wasn't really revealed to us how many strings had to be pulled or who made what decision to get us into such a fortunate place to be here. But, thanks to Carly Rae Jepsen for accepting us to do something at such a large caliber. It's really nice.

DTH: And have you all had a chance to meet with her yet?

MVV: No, we haven't met her yet. Not yet, not yet. But we will on Friday.

DTH: Well, how would you say that your sound compares to hers?

MVV: I think we're obviously different. She makes what I would call pop records, and this new one that she has out. It's really, really neat in the sense that it kinda feels like an '80s, '90s kinda throwback sorta thing. It feels really cool. 

We make Americana music that has a lot of pop influences so there's a vein of it that's kinda similar, but I think our live shows couldn't be more different. Which I think is really, really interesting. The diversity of her show is now kinda vast. So it'll be interesting to see how that kinda plays out.

DTH: I can't wait to see you guys perform. I absolutely love "Gossip Land" and "Church". What would you are your favorite songs to perform live?

MVV: I love "Turn This Car Around." That's my favorite one, for sure.

MM: My favorite is "Can't Control The Weather." I just love the harmonies on it and I always have a blast doing that one.

EE: I like doing "Ain't Much For Lyin'" because I get to play the dobro and it's kind of more of a laid-back instrument, so I get to really feel what I'm playing.

DTH: Is there anything you can tell us about what we can expect on your setlist?

MVV: You can expect those three songs, for sure. But the thing is, we like to change the set-up because you end up playing the same songs a lot, so every once in a while it's nice to kinda read the room and see how the audience is feeling and what area you're in and kinda change the set-up a little bit. You can definitely expect originals from the album, for sure, and maybe a cover or two.

MM: And you'll be getting a much more stripped-back version of the songs on the album, so, it kinda gives it a new flavor.

DTH: And what are you most looking forward to on this tour?

MVV: Playing shows. No, I was being difficult, sorry. I like constantly moving. You kinda get addicted to the tour lifestyle. You're never in one place for very long. I just love constantly, constantly moving around. There's a certain kind of high that you get from playing for a bigger audience and we're fortunate enough to play on this tour and we'll be playing for much bigger audiences than we have in the past. That's just gonna be amazing. I'm really, really looking forward to that.

DTH: Are there any shows that you have all been to that have impacted the way you perform or the way you look at performing?

MVV: Are you talking about concerts that we've been to that impacted us or concerts that we've played?

DTH: Both.

MVV: Oh, OK. Well, again, the concert in Connecticut was really a lesson in how to not box yourself in to doing the exact same thing every night. I think that it creates kind of this, if you keep doing the exact same thing just naturally you're gonna create this lack of authenticity that comes sort of from your heart, which is not what you want to give to somebody who's payed hard-earned money to see a show. And I think what was right there was just so beautiful and it was just one of the best shows we've ever played. So I think implementing that kind of freeform thing into the shows that we do is really important. But, definitely seeing Blake Mills play at the El Rey Theatre.

EE: I would say so, as well. It was a master class in musical arts intonation and the dynamics were just like, "I've never seen something that unbelievable." It was really fantastic. So if you haven't caught him play, you should do that.

DTH: Is there anything else that you would like to add for your fans or anyone who's going to see this show?

MVV: We'll be at the merch table until the last person leaves. So come say hi to us. We want to interact to people who enjoy listening to music and hear how it's impacted them and just have a chat. So don't be afraid to go up and say hi to us, because we'd love to say hi. 

@jmv0823

medium@dailytarheel.com