Photo: Cameron Wittig

Retribution Gospel Choir describe themselves as a band that “plays loud and sings in key.” If you’re at all familiar with singer/guitarist Alan Sparhawk’s other project, Low, you’re already familiar with the pitch-perfect vocals this band has to offer. What comes as a departure, though, is that this band rocks in the most classic sense of the word. Playing as a basic guitar, bass, and drums trio, they make no concessions while churning out a huge sound.  Sparhawk culls as much sound as possible out of his guitar, while bassist Steve Garrington grooves right along with the riffs and drummer Eric Pollard pushes the intensity to its limits while singing spot-on harmonies.  This is much more than just a side project—it is a truly talented band in it’s own right.

We caught Retribution Gospel Choir as they passed through Allston at the start of their tour in support of their new record, 2.  What’s remarkable about 2, compared to the band’s debut album, is that it finally incorporated some of the longer, improvised psych jams that they are renowned for in their live shows.  Last Thursday’s set at Great Scott was no exception.  The band turned new album favorites “Poor Man’s Daughter” and “Electric Guitar” into guitar freak-outs packed with fervor and energy well past the seven-minute mark, but also mixed in some other great poppier songs from their first record.  The trio barely paused all night long, as they played short segue jams, transitioning songs into one another.  Even a broken string couldn’t derail the show, as Sparhawk changed it while still singing along over a drum and bass dub.

“The record’s one thing, but it’s a pretty bloody and sweaty show,” Alan told me when I spoke with him beforehand, reinforcing that this is surely a band meant to be experienced live.  We also got the chance to talk about his deep Boston roots, Midwest influences, and the surprising tuba skills of his 5-year-old son, Cyrus.

– Kevin Junker

Photo: Cameron Wittig

Hi Alan! I know the band just kicked off its tour, how’s it going so far?

It’s going good, yeah we are just getting into it. We just came from Canada and it’s going well, it’s kind of like the first few games of the season, you know?

So your new album, 2, just came out a few days ago. How does it feel to get to share the new music?

When you finish a record you’re so excited about it and kind of wish you could put it out right away, but you’ve got to wait a few months. But yeah, we’re real excited about it coming out and getting out and playing—mostly playing. Once the record is done it’s all kind of out of your control, but it’s sort of fun to be able to go out each day and improve it.

This is the 2nd album Retribution Gospel Choir has put out since Low’s last one, is this becoming more for you than just a side project?

I don’t really look at it so much as a side project, it’s kind of like part-time and full-time… I know that we’re all into it right now, and I have just as many hopes and dreams for it as for anything. I just like to play music and this just seems to be working right now, and Low isn’t working on much right now—well, not touring necessarily. I don’t really know!

There was little overlap between the bands, right? You had “Breaker” and “Take Your Time” featured on both Low’s latest album and Retribution Gospel Choir’s first.

Yeah the first record was a little bit of crossover, we liked to try some songs with both bands and sometimes we were able to come up with a good version from each. The new record is definitely more separation, music that is Retribution Gospel Choir songs. The stuff we’re all working on is all different kinds of songs. I try not to think of them as separate things. It’s all music, and you play with different people and certain songs are going to work a certain way with people.

It was great to see “Poor Man’s Daughter” get an official release on the new record. Was there a conscious shift to incorporate some of the longer songs as opposed to the poppier stuff from the debut?

It kind of just came about. It was something live we’d always been pushing a little bit. With the first record we just felt like “Well, let’s keep it pretty straight.” By the time we got to recording we had a lot of experience with stretching those ones out, so we gave it a shot. They’re very loose. I was amazed, we played some shows with Wilco and they’d go out and play the same exact solos as the record and I can’t do that. How can you even remember what you played from one moment to the next? Yeah, so our loose, longer parts are usually up in the air from night to night.

It’s tough to read any press on the band that doesn’t make some reference to Neil Young & Crazy Horse. Do you think it’s a valid comparison and do you credit him as an influence?

Yeah, I can definitely see that. I am definitely a fan and we are essentially a bunch of Midwestern people from just south of Canada. I don’t know if there’s something about that region—it’s a weird kind of rooted Americana that’s sort of isolated away from real America. I don’t know where the sound comes from, but it’s sort of the sound of living and I guess the longer I play guitar, I find it to be the sound that’s the most human and the most honest to me. It speaks to me, the way Neil plays. When I see him play, he’s shaking and wrangling these ragged notes out of the guitar and I watch that and that shit makes way more sense to me and resonates so much more with me than any other approach. I don’t think my sound so much mimics that as just, over the years, it just kind of goes there. It’s basically a big, heavy guitar, heavy strings and a Bigsby, and you just sit and ride an amp and see what you can get out of it before it explodes. That’s the sound. I’m getting old enough, so it’s alright, I can acknowledge my roots and, without flinching, be able to say that’s definitely where it comes from.

What kind of relationship do you have with Boston?

Boston is… well–for every band I think–Boston is memorable #1 because you get lost so easily! For me though, my ancestors on my father’s side have some really deep Boston roots. My ancestors were some of the first English settlers and my great great great great great grandfather kind of owned Cambridge. It was all his farm before he sold it off for residential development stuff. My father was from outside Providence. It’s a roots town for me. There’s a lot of reminiscent things like my father’s accent or something about the ocean and the closeness of boats and the history of shipping just resonates with my bones.

How do you find the reception here as opposed to playing back home? What are your favorite local venues to play?

With this band, it’s a question of if people have heard it and if they’re interested. Traditionally, we’ve always had good shows here, The Middle East has always gone out of their way to set up places for Low to play. Somerville Theatre, too. Low has played there a lot and it’s really great. Usually we’ve been set up there or The Middle East. I think we played TT The Bear’s once or twice.

I know things are just getting going with the tour and the new album, but what can we expect coming up later this year?

Definitely the first half of the year we’re going to be playing a lot. We’re sorting out a trip back to Europe for May and June. We’ll do that and then, depending on whether we go out later this year, I’m sure Low will probably be working on something this summer eventually. Right now I’m in Connecticut working with this choreographer who is doing a show at Wesleyan University. Mimi and I from Low are working on the dance piece, it will be showing around here and there. Aside from that, just raising the kids and keeping them out of the streets!

Are they showing any affinity for music-making as well?

Yeah, actually! We got them going on piano lessons, which is something I never had. They’re already reading music and I don’t even know how to. Cyrus is five, but he’s really good… we had this trumpet lying around and at age three he just picked it up one day and was able to get sound out of it. It was really interesting, you could hear him think and improvise, trying to find sounds that would fit with the music already going on, gauging it rhythmically and sonically. We were in the store the other day, and he walked up to this big tuba and just started wailing on it! Theoretically, you shouldn’t be able to get that “woomp” out of a five-year-old, but he was just ripping it. Hollis, she likes singing, and she insists that music is going to heal the world. She said to me once, “There’s something wrong with the world and music is what needs to heal it.”