Coming from the small town of Lititz, Pennsylvania and now based in Philadelphia, guitar-rock band the Districts have become a jewel in the crown of a spectacular music scene in the City of Brotherly Love. The quartet of vocalist and guitarist Rob Grote, bassist Connor Jacobus, drummer Braden Lawrence and guitarist Pat Cassidy put their own spin on alt-rock style while offering something different with each song. They display a lot of variety within their music while keeping things amplified and electrified, and it sets themselves apart from a lot of their contemporaries who abide by simple structures. The latest stop of their fall tour with fellow Philly natives Tangiers, the Districts roll into Great Scott tonight for a sold out gig in Allston.
A few weeks back, Vanyaland had a chat with Grote about starting out small and moving to a big city, being part of music scene that has a lot of exciting stuff going on, starting out in DIY fashion versus getting signed to a label, and working with John Congleton from the Paper Chase on their latest album A Flourish and A Spoil, which came out last year on Fat Possum and landed on a few Best of 2015 lists.
Rob Duguay: With the Districts starting out in the small town of Lititz and now based in Philadelphia, was there any sort of adjusting that went on when the band moved or was it a smooth transition?
Rob Grote: I think it was pretty smooth, it was what we all wanted to do for a while. The main thing that took adjusting during that period was that our original guitar player left and that was kind of jarring at first because he’d been with us since the beginning. Then we found Pat who’s our guitar player now and within the band there was adjusting because things were changing up and life was changing. We just got signed to a label at that time too. I wouldn’t say it was a bad adjustment, it was pretty smooth but it still was an adjustment at first.
So how has it been being part of the music scene in Philadelphia? It seems like it’s been blowing up a bit due to the success of acts like Beach Slang, Hop Along and yourselves.
It’s great. There’s tons of bands all over Philly that are playing all the time so it’s just been really great and really inspiring to be around people making music that’s creative. We also look up to them and are friends with them at the same time. It’s really cool having so many creative people around just doing a lot of stuff.
Before the Districts got signed by Fat Possum Records in 2013 the band self-released the Kitchen Songs EP, the While You Were In Honesdale EP and the debut LP Telephone. Since the band started out in DIY fashion and now you guys are signed to a successful indie label, what do you consider the pros and cons of each side?
Back then we were just recording music and learning how to do it. We were kids in a small town basically figuring out what writing music and recording it was. The pros of that is that it was nice to have the freedom to do it whenever we wanted. We have friends who know how to record and the pros of that was it was the beginnings of the exploration with it. I don’t see too many cons in either one, now we’re on a label and there are plenty of benefits to that.
Now we can actually get into a studio and now we can have someone to help us put it in a physical form and push it out there a little. It’s different but I don’t look at those two time periods that way. I look at them as being all part of one path, like a different point on the same line instead of being two different things. I like being on a label and I think it’s cool.
Do you find with being on Fat Possum that it makes it easier for the band when it comes to promoting and marketing yourselves?
Yeah, totally. None of us are very savvy with or interested in the whole self-promotion thing. We just like making music as good as we can and we like playing it. To have some help with that part and the more businessy side so to speak is super appreciated and super helpful.
It probably takes a little bit of weight off the band’s shoulders. The District’s most recent album A Flourish and A Spoil was produced by John Congleton from the Paper Chase. What was it like working with him? Both the Districts and the Paper Chase have similar abstract ways of approaching music.
It was great, we’ve done some stuff with him since then too on things that we’ve been working on. We took down a tally of names of people that we really respected and who we wished to work with. John was pretty high on the list, maybe the first one. Luckily it got worked out. We didn’t even know what to expect, it was the first time that we worked with a serious producer.
It was intimidating at first because we were very protective of our music and how we wanted it to sound. We were concerned with if it was going to be a comfortable experience but it kind of turned into being a huge learning experience. John has got a ton of experience with stuff, we didn’t know how much we’d agree but it turned out that we have very similar tastes in a lot of things. It was honestly a lot of fun.
It’s always refreshing and nice when you work with a producer who’s a guy that gives you freedom in the studio rather than being a micromanaging nitwit.
Yeah, exactly.
After the show tonight and the current tour, what do the Districts have planned next? Can fans expect a new album next year?
We’re in the process of getting some stuff recorded. We’re not done with it yet but we’re making a new album right now. After this tour we’re going to be laying low for the holidays and finishing up the album. Then next year we’ll be out and about a bunch.
THE DISTRICTS + TANGIERS :: Thursday, December 1 at Great Scott, 1222 Commonwealth Ave. in Allston, MA :: 9 p.m., 18-plus, sold out :: Facebook event page :: Bowery Boston event page :: Featured photo by Ryan Farber