Pygmalion Local Focus: Interview with Bones Jugs n' Harmony

If anything is obvious about the band Bones Jugs n' Harmony, it's that they are fun and they are original. It is also evident that they are quite busy in preparation for their upcoming show at Pygmalion this Thursday night where they will be headlining a free night of music at the Krannert Art Museum. Though I was not able to sit down with them to talk, they took the time to fill out a little questionnaire I set up for them in order to get a little bit better of an idea of what this band is about and how they came to be:

Just general things first, who are you, where are you from, when did you start playing music?

- BJnH is Tim Berg, Cody Jensen, JP Goguen and me, I am Charlie Harris. Born and raised on the north side of Chicago in Rogers Park. I started playing music when I was 17, about 2005, taking guitar lessons at The Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. BonesJugs started playing together in February of 2013.

Have you always had an unconditional love for the xylophone?

- Sort of, it always was my main thread to knowing the letter "x" so for that it has a special place in my heart. I didn't know the true power of the xylo until this last February when we started playing together. It's not an unconditional love, the xylo needs to be kept in it's cage or things can get out of hand. As far as musical instruments my unconditional love is for the bones and the banjo. I don't play the xylophone, that probably is a factor.

Are you a big fan of blue grass and punk, or did it just sort of fit the moment in time when BJnH was conceived? Would you be able to cite influences?

- I am currently a huge bluegrass fan. I have been since I came to Champaign-Urbana in 2006, I have played in a bluegrass band, Black Coffee Fridays, for the last 3 or 4 years, with Cody Jensen another member of BJnH. When I was 10-15, skateboarding and hanging out at a local record store I was a big punk fan, I don't listen to that much anymore but it is definitely an influence. Both punk and bluegrass are fast and rowdy and that's a big part of what we do, a kind of 1-2-3-GO! full throttle thing. We're not a punk or a bluegrass band though. We are also influenced by blues and rock, ragtime and oldtime, definitely jugband music. We do a couple of The Memphis Jugband songs, we also do a few Carolina Chocolate Drops tunes, we also do Ray Charles, and steel pan led Calypso tunes, and then there's the George Hamilton Green Xylophone Rags, and then all our original material, and more. We're creating music in a time when there are so many fantastic sounds readily available that it's hard to be influenced by any one thing.

More on your name and your creative swanky titles: were you a big fan of the old rap group at all or was it just fitting? And NDM is a great genre, in my opinion, did it exist from anywhere before hand?

- I definitely was a fan of Crossroads, that was a staple of my youth. Mostly the name was just fitting, we had been actively talking about names for about 2 months, had a list of probably 15-25 good names, but then the name just clicked. We have bones, jug, and (read: n) harmony, so it all seemed too clear. We don't know if NDM existed anywhere else, but we take it pretty seriously, ya know, in a silly way.

Have you been part of other musical acts in the past? Were they similar to this style?

- I have been in other groups, I was in a bluegrass band for years. I played in Sonny Stubble (also with Cody Jensen from BonesJugs.) My first band was an Urbana attic drama rock band (is that a thing?) called The Joys Inn, I think we played 3 shows, 2 in our attic. None of these bands were very similar at all, but they were all fun and interesting (at least for me,) that seems to be a common thread.

I have to ask, what did your parents say when they heard you?

- My mom is too proud to have anything but nice things to say, she's the sweetest. Cody's mom said, "It was like you were rapping, but I really liked it so it wasn't rap." We do have a couple tunes in which Cody raps, there's also tunes where I am yelling like a maniac, I think that frightened my mom a little bit, but she didn't say so, my dad loves the banjo so he's quite pleased. My 6 year old niece told one of my band mates that she thinks we're "really good," for what that's worth.

Have you played Pygmalion before or is this your first time? Who are you excited to get to see?

-I have played Pygmalion before, my first bass performance was with My Dear Alan Andrews in the Red Herring for Pygmalion 2009, then 2 years ago I played with the Duke of Uke and His Novelty Orchestra at Boltini's. I am probably most excited to be completely saturated in musical glory all weekend right here in CU, specifically I am pumped about Dawes, Larry and His Flask, and all the local (or recently local) heroes, which is a long list. Thursday night's show at Krannert Art Museum that we're on will be a great one all around, Emily Otnes, The 92s, Count This Penny, and us, all for free, can't really beat that. I just have a large level of joyful anticipation in my whole body, I can't wait...

And finally, since I am representing pizza fm, what are your favorite pizza toppings?

Here's the pizza data;Tim Berg- Sausage Deep dishCody Jensen- Bones or PepperoniJP Goguen- Pineapple or if that's not available sun dried tomatoes and garlicCharlie "me" Harris- Veggie madness, the more veggies the better, and crushed red pepper in piles. So there you have it, a band that promises a fun and unique experience at a price that any starving college kid can appreciate. Bones Jugs n' Harmony will be playing on September 26th at the Krannert Art Museum at 11:15 pm.