Workman Song is one of the Valley’s bands with buzz, an energy-swirling rock trio of vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Sean McMahon, bassist/keyboardist/vocalist Marc Seedorf and drummer Monte Arnstam.
Their gigs this year have included the Really Big Show and the even bigger Green River Festival, and now they’ll play a free outdoor concert at Pulaski Park in Northampton on Friday at 5:30 p.m.
The band is currently working on their debut full-length album, but one of its first singles, the surging “O, To Be In Love Again,” was chosen by WRSI listeners as one of the Top 93 Songs of 2016. Clubland spoke to frontman McMahon earlier this week.
Clubland: Workman Song began a number of years before this current trio lineup existed…what made you first start the project, and for this newest phase of the band, how did the three of you meet?
McMahon: WORK/MAN/SONG was a theology blog I authored which is now defunct. I refurbished the name as a moniker in about 2012 [because] it also conveniently described my music project very well: a workman of song. I suppose I started the project with a missionary impetus in mind. I was gonna save souls using the trickery of entertainment and the music of my own pathetic life dramas.
The project has had a revolving door for supporting musicians and collaborators since the beginning. Recurring or otherwise notable characters have included my brother Griffin, Kevin Grossman of Karmic Juggernaut, Will Berman of MGMT, Gabriel Birnbaum of Wilder Maker, Katie Von Schleicher, and pretty much all of Streets Of Laredo (the band I toured with in my NYC days).
When I moved back to western MA I was looking for people to jam with, and I’d known Monte for a while. I knew he was the guy to play with. He introduced me to Marc and the three of us clicked immediately. We met at Barnhouse Recording in Chicopee, played a few songs, and regressed very quickly into ’90s nerds playing Nirvana and Soundgarden medleys for our own amusement.
Clubland: Can you describe the process of making your debut full-length?
McMahon: We started tracking it in February after ditching an EP recorded the previous fall — we decided to go full bore and challenge ourselves to make things sound richer, fuller. We worked at Barnhouse where we had the place to ourselves. That’s a luxury. Marc is engineering, so it’s just the three of us in there. Woods out back, snow falling. Fresh pots of joe. It was magical. We would track takes until we got the one that would make us squeal like overexcited li’l children.
Clubland: What is the band going for in its music and live shows? Before your Facebook Live performance last summer, you mentioned you were going to “preach the good word,” so I assumed the music has a spiritual side for you (or maybe you were just being a goof).
McMahon: I’m not sure exactly where I’m coming from when I write songs. You are correct in ascertaining there is a spiritual element. It could sound pretentious, but the same inspiration that drew me to the ministry is what also compels me to songcraft and the rock-and-rolling.
I’m not particularly engaged with the church, so I don’t know a lot of sacred music. But I look for that in music — not just a sacred “feeling,” but an actual message as well — and I am frankly really frustrated that I find it so rarely. Springsteen and U2 reach down, up, or within for that message. But I’m not die-hard for those guys; I feel like there are ways to do it that aren’t so heavy-handed — which is kind of the story behind my pop songs.
“No, It’s Not” is more obviously a gospel song in message and medium. But “O, To Be In Love Again” is a pop song. However, it isn’t just about “two divorcees meeting and falling in love,” as I joke at shows, but a metaphor for a relationship with God. It’s basically a form of bhakti poetry — devotion to the Divine in the form of an erotic poem.
Clubland: WRSI listeners (and the station’s hosts) really responded to “O, To Be In Love Again”…what impact, if any, did that have for you? Do you remember the first time you heard it over the air?
McMahon: I had a driving job, delivering blood and urine specimens to and from different clinics and labs. I’ll never forget, the song came on WRSI while I was picking up blood from a lab in downtown Holyoke. It was a thrill. A ton of puns about rushing blood could follow. WRSI’s support and the airplay they’ve given the songs has been tremendously door-opening in the region and that in turn opens many doors. It’s had a hell of an impact, for which I am extremely grateful.
Clubland: What’s the next step for the band?
McMahon: We’ve got to do more tracking on our record this summer, as life intervened in the spring. We’re working musicians! Marc tours with Dinosaur Jr, and I’ve been doing a lot of solo concerts out of town. I’ve kept busy with guerrilla performance art, a subsequent DIY record (there are about 100 people in town who will know what I mean when I say “The Ruben Smiley Record”), and a one-off collaborative record with Kev Grossman [who produced Workman Song’s 2014 EP “Lamb”] — there’s no lack of material, and I’m apathetic about the concept of album cycles, for better or for worse.
This year has honestly been a flurry of productive creative activity, and I anticipate a load of band and solo shows on the horizon in addition to recorded stuff. And God knows what else, given the manic muse I’ve been following this year. There’s a lot to hear, and you’ll be hearing it all quite soon.
In addition to their Pulaski Park show, Workman Song will perform as Nirvana in Transperformance at the Pines Theater at Look Park in Florence on Tuesday, August 22 (the show starts at 4 p.m.), and also will appear at the Welcome Campers Festival at Camp Lenox in Otis, MA on September 8 (the music starts at 4 p.m.).