Spafford Talks About Their Most Memorable Shows Of The Year In iEDM Ex

At North Coast Music Festival I had the chance to sit down with Brian Moss (guitarist) and Jordan Fairless (bassists) of Spafford.

Spafford has been around since 2008 and has been making big moves around the states having just toured with Umphrey's McGee this past winter.

While sitting down with them, I can honestly say that this was one of the funnest interviews I have ever done. Brian and Jordan both have great senses of humor and made me feel as if I were talking to long time friends.

iEDM: How do you feel about doing a coast to coast tour?

Jordan: It’s really really exciting, It’s the biggest tour we’ve ever done. It’s a lot of new places, some older ones too. So we’re just ready to get out there. Spread the message.

iEDM: Who have been some of your guy’s major influences as a band?

Brian: That’s a tough question. We’ve met a lot of awesome bands along the way. So any band that we meet that encourages us to keep doing what we’re doing and shows us hope with what we’re trying to do, so there’s a lot of bands that do that for us. Any band that’s currently out there right now thats making a living out of this thing, I would say that’s an inspiration.

iEDM: How would you describe your music?

Jordan: We’re a rock n’ roll band. We like to improvise.

Brian: We’re a modern rock n’ roll band. 2017. I feel like flying cars and shit. I don’t know where they are. They promised them a long time ago. You know? I’m still looking for them. But at least we’re throwing in some electronic-ness to our music. Keeping up with the Jetsons there.

iEDM: What have been some of your most memorable shows this year?

Brian: I thought Electric Forest was pretty amazing.

Jordan: Electric Forest was a really cool experience for sure.

Brian: Yeah, we’ve never been to a festival that large and so it was really something else to be in the middle of all that, literally in the middle of Sherwood Forest. And then we played the other stage too, it was fun.

iEDM: How was touring with Umphrey’s McGee?

Brian: It was amazing. I’ve been asked that question like 400 hundred times.

Jordan: We formed some life long friendships.

Brian: I’m just going to go there and tell you that is sucked some times because you’d be the only one who has that side of the story.

Jordan: We had to drive a lot, we didn’t get to sleep. We we’re hungry.

Brian: I ate peanuts for breakfast, I lost like 20 pounds. Michael lost his wallet, his mind, and his pillow and his jacket. He was only with us for 13 hours.

Jordan: We got our van stuck in a yard at an air bnb in the snow. We stayed at an abandoned insane asylum.

Brian: Yeah, we broke down a couple times.

Jordan: Popped some tires.

Brian: We ran out of gas twice. That was my fault.

Jordan: Three times right?

Brian: Twice. Come on. It was only twice.

Jordan: I thought we ran out of gas three times. OnStar was great. OnStar was the tour VIP.

Brian: We had a mini shank in our tire.

Jordan: Yeah, we were in New Mexico and we found what looked like belonged to a fairy.

Brian: Like a gnome or something

Jordan: This tiny little knife, maybe an inch long.

Brian: It was like a knife, a real iron knife in our tire. Like a fairy came by and sliced our tire. Then we started our tour. I have a picture of this. This has been documented.

Jordan: We started the tour with a flat tire and we we’re like okay is this going to be the whole tour.

iEDM: Some gnomes were out to get you.

Jordan: That was it. The one thing.

iEDM: What’s going on with your guy’s new album?

Jordan: They've just got to come out when they’re ready.

Brian: I don’t even know that.

Jordan: Another one will be on the horizon but we don’t plan them so much as they happen when we have a bunch of stand out material that’s worthy of going on to a disc. Well volume 1 and 2 have come out so 3’s got to be next. But we did just release a live improv disc. It was all imrov.

iEDM: Was that the cabin jam?

Jordan: No cabin jam was in that style. It was something we did in Colorado where we just kind of let the tape run and then printed it. But we did the same thing in Phoenix and just released that.

iEDM: So that’s like an hour long jam then?

Jordan: Yeah, its a jam. It’s a bunch of different stuff. We call it an improvisational experience because it goes everywhere. It was fun.

iEDM: Do you guys ever do full improv sets live?

Jordan: We’ve gotten pretty close but I don't think we’ve just gone up there and jammed for a whole set. Maybe one day.

Brian: Sometimes we’ll open up with a jam or something like that.

iEDM: Have you thought about doing a live improve set?

Jordan: Yeah definitely, it depends on the vibe and being able to hear each other. That’s the most crucial thing. You have to really be able to hear each other to do stuff like that. It really depends on each night of our tour. All bets are off for 40 something shows you know? Who knows what’s going to happen. I’m sure we’ll just want to jam

iEDM: How do you think your music embodies elctro funk therapy?

Jordan: Because it makes people dance and have fun.

Brian: Yeah I mean we really dig the funk. And the electronic sounds. Like we said before, bringing in the modern age tonalities to what we are currently doing.

iEDM: Do you think jamming is therapeutic for you guys?

Brian: Well yeah, that’s the reason why it’s therapy. Since the beginning I’ve played music for myself beacause I enjoy doing it because I got therapy from it. Music has saved my life many times. Like today, the first note up there today, we haven’t played in a little while and with the first note I just felt so connected to the music and you know it really relieved me. I get on edge when I dont play for a couple weeks or something. My wife starts yelling at me and knows that I need to play a show. So yeah it is therapy.

iEDM: Is there anything special about North Coast for you guys?

Jordan: Chicago is just kind of special for us in general. We love it here. It was the first place we came East of the Mississippi and we were received so well here. Everyone that puts on this festival is amazing and its been such good vibes since we got here, it’s amazing.