
Southern Belle
When the going gets tough, the tough get robotic. Isom Innis, the man-machine behind the Boston upstarts, Southern Belle recently underwent surgery as a result of heart arrhythmia. Doctors successfully replaced his aortic valve with a mechanical valve. Isom has since been balls to the wall busy, prepping his unique blend of melodic robo-rock for the road, recording material for a full-length debut, and offering up his production skills.
PP: How did CMJ 2009 compare to last year’s festivities?
Isom: Last year was my first year, and it was the first year that my old band played
CMJ. Ironically, the band fell apart before the show. So CMJ last
year was a crazy time for me. But this CMJ was awesome because I wasn’t playing at
all. I spent a lot of time seeing bands and hanging out. I got to meet
some cool people – I had a conversation with Bradford Cox and Kip Malone.
PP: Were there any bands that blew you away?
SB: Rain Machine blew me away. James Murphy DJ’ing was really good. I was
standing right next to him, at one point, checking out the different records he was
playing.
PP: What was he spinning?
SB: He was playing a lot of stuff I had never heard before. The guy next to me said
he had apparently gone out and bought all those records earlier that day. Mostly
disco-funk and the occasional 80’s track.
PP: Can you reiterate your SXSW Kanye West experience?
Isom: I was working backstage at the FADER Fort while Kanye was playing, and I got
this call asking me to bring a car to the backstage area. So I go to the back
and meet two rappers – GLC and Big Sean – who needed me to drive them
to their next event. Standing next to them is Kanye, his girlfriend, and Kid Cudi. So
it’s me, Big Sean, and GLC following Kanye’s
escalade, and Kid Cudi is behind us in a party bus. We eventually realized we were
lost after driving aimlessly to the outer limits of Austin. All ended well – I got
everyone to the Perez Hilton party, along with some aggressive driving tips from
GLC. Truthfully, Kanye seemed really cool. For all the Kanye-haters, that night
he had a really inspiring energy on him that has rubbed off on me since.
PP: How would you describe the Boston music scene to someone who has never
experienced Bean Town?
Isom: The Bean Town scene is very different from what you would think it is. You
would think Boston being such a big college town would have all the college kids
going to the shows, but the college kids aren’t really the fans supporting the Boston
bands. It’s more like the college kids are making the Boston bands, and I feel like the
people coming to the shows are the locals that have lived in Boston all their lives.
There are a ton of different independent scenes – electro, folk, indie-rock, house,
disco.
PP: How long have you been living in Boston?
Isom: This is my fourth year here. I came here in 2006.
PP: How old were you when you first began playing music?
Isom: My dad bought me a drum kit when I was six years old. I started taking
piano lessons when I was 8, but my teacher would become really frustrated with me
because I would play the sheet music by ear. I stopped taking lessons, but kept
playing piano. And then I picked up a guitar in 8th grade, and I began writing music
in 9th grade. My foundation in music would be drums, but now I feel more inspired
by piano and guitar. In Southern Belle, I’m playing bass, piano, and guitar.
PP: How do you manage to play all those instruments when you are up on stage
in front of an audience?
Isom: There are four guys. John Ryan is playing guitar, and I play bass on most
songs. I also play guitar and rhodes on some of the stuff. Patrick is playing synthesizers, bass, and triggering the samples. Erik plays drums.
PP: Has it been kind of difficult adapting the studio material to your live
performances?
Isom: I got really lucky in that when I came back to Boston after recording the songs
the people I asked to play with me had heard all the music and knew it already. So
the first rehearsal was really smooth. Now we are working on a couple new tracks to
play live. Personally, I just like playing as loud as possible…
PP: What was the first live show you ever saw?
Isom: This is pretty cool and you are gonna like this because you are from San Diego.
My first live concert was P.O.D. I will never forget that.
PP: I feel so alive…For a while, those guys were ruling the charts.
Isom: I was a huge P.O.D. fan at one point in my life.
PP: Southern Belle’s EP contains three songs — “Walk Out”, “Just Friends”, and
“Conditional Love”. Based upon these song titles, is it safe to assume that you
wear your heart on your sleeve?
Isom: The whole EP is kind of about losing someone whether it is a family member,
friend, or a relationship. Last year was a transitional year for me, and most of that
music came out of isolation. A lot of it is about loyalty and trust, and it was
kind of my own way of working out the changing of relationships in life.
When I’m really happy I tend to write really depressing things, but when I’m really
depressed I write happy songs because I want to cheer myself up. When I’m isolated
my writing tends to reflect on different people. When I was a kid my parents got
divorced. The first song, “Walk Out” is about people making mistakes in life and
walking out on the ones they love. My dad walked out on my mom a long
time ago, but then he cam back into our lives and he amended everything that he
had broken. I think it is really a sign of genuineness when people want to make right
by their mistakes. But the song is also about people walking out, and
never attempting to rectify their mistakes.
Isom: I’ve kind of had this obsession with being genuine. People spend years
learning to be genuine, and some people are naturally genuine.
PP: How did you decide upon the band’s name?
Isom: Southern Belle is named after my sister, Isabella. We’re both from Nashville,
and she is the southern belle in my head that I was thinking about when I named the
PP: On your myspace page, you had described your music as “electro-thrash”. How
did you settle upon that description?
Isom: I think I was just looking through the myspace adjectives, and there were so
many descriptive words that would have worked. Yes – It’s electronic, but it’s also
rock, pop, and ambient. I don’t know what thrash really means. It just sounds like
when you play, you play hard.
PP: Would you rather be associated with rock or pop music?
Isom: Pop music, but pop music that is rock n’ roll. I think the songs
have a pop formula. They have choruses, but I feel like the intensity is more rock n’
roll. I want to approach electronic music like a rock band because at the end of the
day, I want to go out and play the stuff with a full band instead of being just a DJ.
PP: Do you feel like when you are DJ’ing your creative boundaries are more
restrictive?
Isom: It’s funny because I was watching an interview with DJ Shadow and he was
asked a similar question. He answered, “No because my taste is really left of center
so I just play whatever I like and if people are into it, then that’s fine”. When I DJ, I
always try to play whatever weird taste I have at the moment.
PP: How does sampling influence your creative direction with Southern Belle?
Isom: Heavily.
PP: Are you ever concerned that copyright infringement could become an issue?
Isom: No. If someone could identify what I’m using I would really be impressed.
I mess with the original samples so much that you wouldn’t be able to recognize
what it was if I told you. It’s actually Elton John singing everything.
PP: Were you familiar with Neon Indian before booking the upcoming support gig?
Isom: I actually hadn’t heard of them. I think I had heard the name because I follow
Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear on Twitter. He posted their links this past summer. I’ve
since listened to them on Myspace and I really like the song, “Mind Drips”.
PP: Would you say that electro-pop music is poised to take over the world right
now?
Isom: I feel like right now with computer programs being so accessible, it makes
music so much more democratic because it gives so many more people an
opportunity to have their ideas be heard.
PP: How many bands does an artist have to be apart of before they find the right fit?
Isom: A lot. I used to want to be the band that grew up together and conquered the
world, but the older I get I’m learning that you have to just express yourself in as
many ways as possible in order to find out what you want to do. My first band
covered Metallica and Creed!
PP: Are you still entertaining plans of western migration after you finish school?
Isom: Yeah, Silverlake is looking pretty tempting right now.
PP: What is it about California that inspires you?
Isom: I’ve never had a bad time there. And movies are really loud in California, and a
loud sound system makes a movie so much more entertaining.
PP: Please do me the pleasure of answering several either/or questions:
Rhodes or Worlitzer: Rhodes because I’m looking at one right now.
Fender or Gibson: Fender
Elvis or Michael Jackson: MJ
Mac or PC: Mac
ProTools or Garageband: Logic, so Garageband
MPC or Laptop: MPC
Studio or Live Show: Live Show
Beatles or the Stones: Beatles
Zeppelin or Sabbath: Zeppelin
T. Rex or Bowie: Bowie
Animal Collective or Grizzly Bear: I can’t answer that one. It’s a tie.
brilliant!