Space-age rock opera: Hopewell lifts off

Amid inter-band strife, health and money problems, and world tours as members of Mercury Rev, Hopewell recently released its outstanding sophomore album, The Curved Glass. On the eve of a series of dates that will bring the group's melodic space-rock to the Tune Inn on Thurs., Feb. 22, singer/guitarist Jason Russo gives A&E a glimpse into Hopewell's universe.

COURTESY PRIAPUS Upstate New York's Jason Russo (front) and Hopewell.

YALE HERALD: The new album seems to be doing really well, but from what I understand there were some rough times leading up to its release.

JASON RUSSO: Yeah, it was difficult to make. We have a lot of infighting, and there’s a lot of medication issues, a lot of hospitalizations that get in the way, but to compound all that there was no money, really. The label’s a good friend of ours out in Kansas and it’s all sort of grass roots. So the fact that there was not much of a budget and that Justin and I—my brother and I—had to devote about a year and a half of our lives to Deserter’s Songs-—Mercury Rev’s last record—compounded things. It was pretty much written and recorded in '97 and we did not like how it came out. When we got back from the Deserter’s Songs tour, the bass player had left to go on and do his own thing and we had Reno Bo come back—she was on our first record—and we remixed the record. And there were just a whole lot of personal issues, but ultimately I think that’s what makes Hopewell really interesting and makes the music good. Like before we’ll do a take, a huge fight will occur, we’ll all go our separate ways for about a half an hour, and when we all reconvene the take comes out a lot stronger.

YH: As far as the music, you’ve compared it to a Godspell or to a Jesus Christ Superstar. Do you have rock opera or film in mind when writing and recording?

JR: We do. We don’t generally always have a theme in mind when recording, but my brother and I grew up heavily inundated by those particular records. We grew up very strictly Catholic, so that and church things are always trying to find their way into our psyches. But Jesus Christ Superstar in particular, we were fixated on that for like three years back in the early '90s. I noticed after we had recorded The Curved Glass that there was a theme, that there was a rock opera of sorts. I mean, it was post-[recording] that I realized that, but there definitely is a thread there, there is a subplot. But I’m not going to say just what that is.

YH: It seems like things are moving back towards that now, back towards that thick sound, with threads running through albums.

JR: Yeah, album rock. We’re really classic rock nuts; we love early Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, stuff like that. And I like to look at a record as a record. The European label’s having a hard time finding singles, so we’re having to do some editing. But that’s fun too. You know, we made it as we made it. Actually, the European release is longer, with extra tracks on it. Originally we listened to it and were like, ‘there goes the theme,’ but after listening to it for a few weeks we realized that the theme is still there. A lot of music I listen to, I’ll put my own theme on it. It almost ruins it finding out what the original composer’s idea was. I like to put my own meaning on songs...when I find out what they’re really about it’s just disappointing. That’s why I don't like to say what The Curved Glass is all about, I'd rather people find their own meaning. It makes it more meaningful.

YH: You mentioned you were on that European tour with Mercury Rev a few years back. What’s it like coming back from basically headlining these huge festivals to doing a club tour?

JR: It’s a readjustment. But it’s a totally different annal, because with Mercury Rev I was just the bass player, and as much as I love those guys it makes all the difference to be singing your own songs. It is difficult, I guess, when at four in the morning you’re stuck at a Mobil and you’re eating Ho-Ho’s, but because it’s our own thing it makes it more real for us. There was also a bunch of music industry stuff that kind of turned my stomach on the Deserter’s Songs tour—that goes hand in hand with having that kind of record in England—that I didn’t like. The record company should’ve just bought a roadcase for me and put me in the back of the van. I was like a commodity to be shipped around. With Hopewell it’s much more my own thing, I can control the environment more and it’s more meaningful.

YH: Does the Rev connection bother you?

JR: Yeah, it does bother me. I mean, I’ve been playing with Mercury Rev since I was 20 years old and it’s been about seven years now. It does bother me, but at the same time I realize that that’s how people make connections and I’ve tried to deal with it as much as possible. There is a connection, there’s no denying it. There’s a huge influence with them on me, and I did form Hopewell before I joined them. But I’ve devoted a lot of time and a lot of years of my life to them, and I like to think that my brother and I influenced them as well. It goes back and forth.  You know, when people say we sound like Mercury Rev, that’s because we’re in Mercury Rev, that’s just how it happens. But on the next Mercury Rev record, I’m not going to be going out with them, I’m going to be devoting my time solely to Hopewell. My brother, however, is, so we get the best of both worlds.

YH: You guys are all from the same area?

JR: Yeah, we’re all from Hopewell Junction, New York.

YH: Is there any kind of a music scene up there similar to an Athens or a Chicago? I see members of Hopewell playing all over the place in all sorts of different bands and projects.

JR: No, not at all. There’s no music scene up there. There are no like minds at all. There’s a grand union, and it’s just a place to leave essentially. There is no music scene up here in the mid-upper valley. When we play in Athens or we play in Austin, that’s nice, but I don’t think I'd want to live in a town like that because there are about 5000 bands. We rather like being sequestered up in the mountains and being left to our own devices. Reno grew up right outside of Hopewell, my brother and I grew up inside of Hopewell, Jason Merritt—who does his own thing called Whip—grew up right in Hopewell. Dalia’s actually from D.C. though.

YH: As someone who searches for meaning, what have you found through your membership in this band?

JR: Well, the overall message so far [for us] has been that the word ‘hope’ is part of the title, and that’s a big thing for us. We’ve all been through a lot of weird shit in our personal lives, we’re all on several different medications, we’ve all been in and out of certain institutions. Hopewell is the one thing that kept us on point, that gave us a focus. I think that people, especially in today’s culture, can be very disembodied. You can be distracted by so many different things, and you can go down so many different self-destructive paths—as we have, but we’ve always come back to the concept of hope, and Hopewell being a voice for that is like a lifeline for us. Otherwise we would have drowned in suburbia. I think of rap as being rap a way out of the ghetto, but I think of the music that we’re doing—even indie music in general—as a way for kids to get out of the suburbs. That's what it's all about.

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