J Streitz and The Long Odds have a new album coming out, Light Again, with a release show and 10th Anniversary Show happening at the Hook & Ladder (Mission Room) on August 17, 2024. The new album is fantastic – upbeat fell but thought-provoking lyrics. Fun to get some background on the songs from Jason Streits.
You folks have been playing together for 10 years. So much has happened in that time! A big move for the band was Jason’s move from Minneapolis to Northern Minnesota. Logistically what has that meant for recording and playing?
My family and I moved to northern Wisconsin in 2019 to take over a small pottery business (my partner Virginia is a potter) and have also turned it into a music listening room – Brickyard Pottery and Folk House. With the rest of the band in Minneapolis, it’s been challenging to keep things rolling but I think we are finding a new stride and are working around the distance factor. It’s only a 2-hour drive, so it’s not too bad. With 10 years under our belt, we’ve got a solid foundation of band chemistry. If a long stretch of time passes between rehearsals, it doesn’t feel like an issue. We’re able to pick it back up pretty quickly. I’d love to practice on a weekly basis but considering the circumstances I feel really good about everything. In addition to the music, we’re all still great friends. Very much a family band. We try to have at least a couple of shows a year that are kid-friendly where all of our kiddos can run around together.
What impact has the move Up North had on the music – both the sound and lyrics?
I think the environment definitely influences creativity. Moving from urban to rural has offered a new perspective. Set Sun (track 3 on the new album) touches on this topic. I was driving out of Minneapolis after rehearsal, heading toward our new home in Wisconsin, when the lyrics started coming. I love the city and the woods for different reasons. I feel lucky to have both in my life. There are positives and negatives no matter where you live. Being in a new, wide-open landscape has informed my overall scope of things – which has translated to my songwriting. Moving to a polar opposite location is challenging. At first, I felt a bit like a fish out of water. But there are two paths to take in that situation. Dig your heels in and complain that the new environment doesn’t fit your needs OR adjust and take advantage of the opportunity to learn and grow.
Light Again has an upbeat breezy movement. It makes your heart feel lighter. Yet the imagery of cemeteries, finding cover and falling leaves conjures different emotions. It feels like a song at midnight on Halloween – somewhere between two worlds. Can you tell me more about it?
The band’s instrumentation choices play such a huge factor in the overall vibes of these songs. They all write their parts. I feel so lucky to be in a band full of creatively motivated musicians. Everyone’s creative choices really shine on this album. And I also want to credit Jason Shannon at Zoo School Studios. His ideas and production skills weaved perfectly with what we were trying to achieve.
It’s rewarding for me to hear where someone’s imagination takes them when listening to one of our songs. To me that’s IT! That’s the ultimate goal. Mission accomplished. And I love that your inner music video will be different from everyone else’s. A song is an expression. And everyone will absorb that expression in a way that is unique to their current mood, environment, and overall life situation at that exact moment. And that can change from one listen to the next. That’s a beautiful thing! I had a conversation recently about how we owe it to the art form to listen to a new song without a visual guide, at least for the first few listens, so that we can have those unique visuals that only our unique brains can produce. I think that’s the point of the whole thing – the listener’s imagination absorbing the song and running with it.
For me, the song stemmed from nostalgic memories. Certain experiences bring me back to childhood wonderment. One example is this curious feeling I used to get when I’d be sitting in the backseat of the family car, driving past a cemetery. My young mind had so many thoughts and questions about what was going on there! I still do. It’s an interesting tradition we’ve grown accustomed to.
I remember a similar curiosity when gazing up at airliners in the sky. A big tube of people flying overhead at 500 mph leaving a chemtrail behind that slowly fades away. It’s one of those things that is both a normal life occurrence and yet still strange enough to keep me intrigued.
Another one – as a kid and sometimes as an adult – when driving or biking around town, my instinct was to notice inviting nooks and coves where I could take cover and sleep through the night if I had to for some unknown reason. Not necessarily in a negative scenario, but closer to the feeling a kid has when building a fort. And the choruses of the song are me allowing my childhood curiosity back in – surrendering to that joyful feeling of wonder.
Can you tell me more about Habit Horse? It seems to capture certain stages of life – important ages but tiring stages.
Habit Horse was born from a conversation I had with my Dad. We were talking about habits – different things people lean on to get through the day. We all have our crutches. Some are noticeable, some not. My Dad shared a Buddhist parable about a man on a horse. The horse represents the man’s habits. Somebody asks the man where he’s going. The man answers, “I don’t know, ask the horse!” That imagery stuck with me. I took that general idea and wrote around it.
Please tell us about the upcoming album release show.
We’re very excited to be joined by The Union Suites and Eli Gardner for our “Light Again” album release and 10th Anniversary Show. It’s happening on Saturday, August 17th at the Hook & Ladder Theater Mission Room. Eli Gardiner kicks off the night at 7pm, followed by The Union Suites at 7:45 and then J Streitz and the Long Odds at 8:45. It’ll be a fun night!
(Photo Credit – Virginia Streitz)
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