Fresh from Porkopolis

Everybody Has A Story...
       (Press Archive index - Flagpole, Athens GA, July 1993)
 

I can imagine Linford Detweiler standing outside a Denny's, deep in the heart of Ohio, calling from a pay phone to promote his band, Over the Rhine. The band hails from Cincinnati, is touring their debut IRS release, Patience, and will appear at the 40 Watt on July 24 with Vigilantes of Love. Linford plays bass and keyboards and writes most of Over the Rhine's material, though he considers the band to be a collaborative effort. "I have written most of the lyrics but we really try to allow the personalities of the band come through," he said.

Over the Rhine is named after an old German neighborhood in Cincinnati. As written in the band's beautifully put together postcard bio, complete with photographs by artist Michael Wilson, the area is "glutted with angular mid-19th century brick buildings and beautifully dreadful nighttime streets. It's somber, racially mixed, ethnically diverse and blessed with an abundance of transients, panhandlers, and assorted misfits." The area, according to Linford, is also "a poet's dream neighborhood in that its imagery is often so striking: people getting stoned on the steps of St John's; reticent, toothless smiles of old woman in windows." Out of all this comes whispery soft music, lots of acoustic guitar arrangements, celestial keyboards, and haunting, echoey vocals by Karin Bergquist (who also plays acoustic guitar). Percussively gentle (handled by Brian Kelley on drums and percussion), the band is part of a very diverse Cincinnati scene that includes Afghan Whigs and Sleep Theatre. And obviously, the band has very literate roots.
                   
"At the risk of sounding pretentious, we have tried to write about themes that we feel are important--that are part of the human experience" explained Linford. The band also flirts with their infatuation with traditional beauty, and that's not "beauty" in the sense of what American culture has lead us to believe, but beauty explored through art and language. "[That], to me, [is] art. We do occasionally focus on darker issues. But we try to write well-crafted melodies, that could be considered beautiful in a traditional sense. With music, I feel like I'm scratching at something much bigger than I am, something timeless."
                   
Over the Rhine pulls from a lot of various literary sources along with acknowledging wide musical influences. When we talked about literary interest, Linford admitted to being enamored of the prose of Dylan Thomas ("his poetry is really dense, not really very accessible") as well as Flannery O'Connor. ("Her writing gives me the desire to kick someone in the shins aesthetically. To be bold with ideas and colors.") Linford is also influenced by Biblical imagery and the rhythms of the King James Version, having grown up with a Protestant minister father. Karin reads a lot of Rainer Maria Rilke and Ric Hordinski (electric and acoustic guitars) is currently into CS Lewis. "I guess we are occasionally contemplating eternal issues with our music--those unseen things that are at the heart of it all. But it's not something that's premeditated. It's an intuitive approach."

Over the Rhine online site

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