photo credit: BB Gun Press
It's been more than two years since Andrew Heringer, vocalist and instrumentalist for Los Angeles band Milo Greene, says he experienced the "coldest January of my life."
During his month-long stint in Omaha in 2011, Heringer bundled up while helping to make the movie Up Button, directed by his good friend and Omaha native, Spencer Williams. While we can't guarantee anything regarding weather at this point, Heringer will hopefully be greeted with warmer weather this Wendesday, when Milo Greene plays in Omaha for the first time since the band formed in 2010.
We cyber-talked with Heringer about Milo Greene's roots, the band's video project, Moddison, and his short, cold stint in Nebraska. Read our Q&A below, and be sure to catch Milo Greene with Nashville's Kopecky Family Band at 9 p.m. on Wednesday at the Waiting Room.
Hear Nebraska: How did you guys all come together to form Milo Greene?
Andrew Heringer: We had all been friends. Robbie (Arnett, vocals, various instruments) and Curtis (Marrero, percussion) were in a band together. Marlana (Sheetz, vocals, various instruments) and I had a band. Graham (Fink, vocals, various instruments) had a band. A few of us started doing demos together for pure experimentation purposes and what we made ended up making us excited enough to leave our other projects.
Milo Greene "1957" (official) from Kevin Gosselin on Vimeo.
HN: Could you explain who Milo Greene is and why you’ve kept him around to represent your band/music?
AH: We created “Milo Greene" as a fictitious booking agent while a few of us were in college together. We would reach out to venues as "Milo Greene" and ended up getting a lot more gigs that way. We always joked about having a band called Milo Greene — and when we started writing together there was never a doubt about the band name.
HN: I’ve read that you describe Milo Greene as “cinematic pop.” Could you talk a little about why you chose that description for your music?
AH: We like the idea of creating landscapes of sound. Something that provokes imaginary in a listener — we want people to get transported when they put on headphones and listen through our album.
HN: Film and storytelling seem to be things that are really intertwined with Milo Greene. Tell me about why you think things have evolved that way.
AH: We just all love film. The idea of combining music with film is very exciting for us. I love something I heard Robbie say once — he wanted to become an actor until he realized what moved him in movies was the musical accompaniment. We had talked about pairing our album with a film from the beginning of our writing experiences and we were really happy we had the opportunity to write and produce a 37-minute companion piece to the album.
HN: This question is mostly out of my own curiousity, but why did you guys choose to play a Sufjan Stevens cover for your Daytrotter session?
AH: We play it live, and it's always had a good response. It was an opportunity to get a recording of it for people who had asked for it because knew we'd never put it out on a CD of our own.
HN: Do you guys have a busy summer/festival season coming up?
AH: Yessssssszzzzzzzz. Bonnaroo! The fact that we are part of a lineup with one of the Beatles blows my mind.
HN: Who’s your favorite band/artist to come out of Nebraska?
AH: I spent a lot of time with Cassadaga by Conor Oberst after college. “Four Winds” was the jam.
HN: Have any of you ever been to Nebraska? What’s your impression of the music scene here? Anything you plan on doing while you’re here?
AH: I actually lived in Omaha for a month — coldest January of my life. I was working on a movie called Up Button with a great crew entirely from Omaha but myself. Up Button was directed by a good friend and Omaha native, Spencer Williams (who also plays the lead in our film Moddison). Looking forward to seeing some familiar faces at the show. It's my first time back since 2011.
Bridget McQuillan is a Hear Nebraska contributor. She's gearing up for a musical marathon weekend between Lincoln and Omaha. Milo Greene's show on Wednesday starts the weekend off (even though it's not technically the weekend). Reach her at bridgetm@hearnebraska.org.