SXSW Interviews

Wovenhand

12mid, Spiros

Over the course of a dozen LPs since the early 1990s, first leading 16 Horsepower and now Wovenhand, Denver's David Eugene Edwards has preached a gospel of raging, post-punk Americana antique. Wovenhand's career high gothic, 2008's Ten Stones, weighs biblically hardcore. Here's why:

Grandson of a preacher man: "Of course we weren't allowed to listen to rock & roll. We didn't even really listen to the radio. We just heard the music from church. He had four or five records, and one of them was Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison. Of course I latched on to Johnny Cash right away, and so we kind of had that as a common interest."

Ring of fire: "Bob Dylan directed me, and then Angus Young was a huge, huge influence. I loved his sound; I loved his style; I loved the aggressiveness. I liked that about AC/DC and Motörhead, bands that were serious about what they did, even if I didn't necessarily agree with what they were saying. Then I heard punk rock, and from punk rock I got into bands like Joy Division and the Birthday Party, people that were really original and also very serious about what they did and dealt with serious subjects. The first time I heard Joy Division, I hated it. I just thought it was the ugliest music. Literally the next day, I was hooked."

Redemption: "We have a lot of people that come to our shows that obviously don't believe the same way I do, but they love the music. They love its mood, and they love the energy of the show. Then there are people that love what I'm saying more than the music. I'll have people in their 60s and 70s coming to a show, or three generations: father, grandfather, and a son. I hear from a lot of kids, 'This is the first band that I've been able to listen to with my dad.' Then we get people from the black metal scene, the punk rock scene, the alt.country scene. So our audience is extremely diverse, and it's not a scene – you know what I mean? – which I find really interesting and I'm very happy about."