Review Fix chats with Town Meeting’s Tim Cackett, who discusses the band’s single, “West of Seattle,†as well as their goals for the future. A cross between Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and The Lumineers, they’ve got a unique and full sound.
Review Fix: How’d you get involved in music?
Tim Cackett: I guess we’d all have different answers to that question. Dean has been playing music since the 60s with guys like Jonathan Edwards and Tom Rush. Tim used to be in a hardcore band before he started doing solo acoustic shows. Russ, Brendan and I (The Brothers) would get together and make up songs and never really do anything with them. Then, at some point, we just decided to start recording them and playing them at open mics and stuff like that.
Review Fix: Who influences your sound the most?
Cackett: That’s a tricky one. We’ve all got such different musical backgrounds so there’s a variety of musicians who inspire us in the writing process. I’d say Dawes is a big one for me. Neil Young, too. Shovels and Rope, The Avett Brothers, Jason Isbell. There’s a bunch, really.
Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?
Cackett: Usually one of us will have an idea – either a melody or lyrics or both – and will send it to a group text. iPhone’s have been pretty helpful in that regard. Someone will get inspired and add to it or modify. Then we’ll get together and play with it as a band. It’s a real collaborative thing, at least it has been lately. It’s nice.
Review Fix: What makes your new single special?
Cackett: Our single – West of Seattle – was written a day before we went in to record it. We had gotten together for one last rehearsal before we went into the studio, and as we were tuning the song just kind of fell into our laps. It was a pretty awesome experience. It’s a song about loss and regret, but also a hint of hope. It’s a real bittersweet tune.
Review Fix: How would you describe your sound to someone who’s never heard you before?
Cackett: I’m not really sure. Maybe something like… A perfect blend of the old and the new. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young meets The Lumineers. Harmony driven Americana with a little country twist.
Review Fix: Bottom line, why should someone buy it?
Cackett: Because we don’t beat around the bush. We write songs that we would listen to ourselves. We want our listeners to feel. To smile. To ache a little. We try to do that with all of our songs.
Review Fix: What are your goals for the rest of the year?
Cackett: We’ve got a busy summer – playing all over New England. We hope to get back to Nashville this year and New York and maybe a few places we haven’t been before. Geography part two will be out in September/October. Oh and we have a podcast we do! You can listen at Patreon.com/townmeeting
Review Fix: What do you feel you have to do to make your dreams in music come true?
Cackett: Just keep at it, really. Keep writing. Keep playing. Keep our fans engaged. I think a lot of the success you achieve in this industry comes from just being in the right place at the right time. So we’re trying to be in as many of the right places as we can.
Review Fix: What’s next?
Cackett: Conan, hopefully. Or SNL. Either one would be cool.
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