Washington City Paper: When did this adventure begin?

Jesse Elliot: 2005, actually. Near the end of ‘05 was our first show, but you know it morphed quite a bit along the way. 2008 is when we started touring really hard and put out our first two albums.

WCP: Do you have fond memories of your earliest time as a D.C. band?

JE: It almost all has to do with meeting other people. Music is a collaborative venture. Meeting Mark Heidinger [of Vandaveer] at a show... the first time I heard Rose [Guerin] sing... meeting Laura Burhenn... I’m walking through these memories right now in my mind and I can actually picture it, which is rare for me because I have an awful memory.

WCP: I hear rumors that you might be collaborating with [former D.C. resident] Burhenn, is there any truth to that?

JE: Yeah, she’s touring with Bright Eyes right now when she doesn’t do The Mynabirds—she does keys and vocals in Bright Eyes. She was here last week, and Justin [Craig, of These United States] comes to New York pretty often. She was in town and had played a show, and we had some things we were both excited about. If things go as planned, and they almost never do, she may have a little spot on our next album.

WCP: Are there any early shows you remember playing that were a big deal?

JE: Yeah, I think we were actually really fortunate and a lot of that had to do with The Federal Reserve [a now-defunct recurring songwriter’s showcase at Iota]. Trying to pick a memory from that would be like wandering through an old attic that had been soaked in booze and set on fire.

It sounds funny to say it, but we’ve kind of always been half a D.C. band and half not. D.C. was one of the first places we had some big shows at, like the first time we played the main stage [at the Black Cat]. That was the place I remember coming and seeing heroes of mine like Olivia Mancini, The Cassettes... it was a place that we’d seen people play before, and it’s a special moment seeing you’ve gotten to that point.

WCP: Why is this the last D.C. show?

JE: Tom was the last remaining D.C. resident, and he left just a couple weeks ago. He moved to North Carolina. We were a D.C.-Kentucky-New York band, and now we’re a North Carolina-Kentucky-New York band. Tom pulled the pin.

WCP: Why did he move?

JE: You know, it’s other things that pull you. His lady friend whom he loves got into grad school down there.

WCP: Does that spread make it hard for the band to function?

JE: Yeah, it does. In the last year, we finally realized how hard it makes it. It’s like being born with an extra eyeball on your shoulder, you just see the world that way. We’ve never all lived in the same city, and we only realized recently how much more difficult that is.

WCP: What was the most number of TUS members here in D.C. at any given time?

JE: At its height, we had three out of four members in D.C., but we always had other people from Kentucky and other places. The first LP was made in Chicago, Iowa City, and D.C. We’ve had moments of it being more pure D.C. than others, but never was it a D.C. thoroughbred racing horse. We’ve always been kind of a mutt.

WCP: Aren’t mutts often the strongest?

JE: Well, they’re the ugliest, so let’s hope they’re the strongest in the long run. We’ll see.

WCP: I think mutts are the evolutionary champions.

JE: I like that descriptor, I think I’m gonna use that when someone asks what genre of music we play. I’ll just say, ‘Oh, we’re kind of like evolutionary champions, that’s kind of our thing.’

WCP: Your band has been known to get into occasional fights—didn’t you have a feud with another quasi-D.C. band a while back?

JE: Oh, I think you’re talking about the Jukebox The Ghost vs. These United States knife fight–the famous knife fight of ‘09, or whenever that was. I think we were playing the Black Cat and they were playing the Rock & Roll Hotel, and we happened to also be in the same city five nights earlier, so we had a knife fight on the waterfront.

WCP: Who won?

JE: I think in war everyone loses and has a good time. I also think a lot of bands are getting to be [more spread out] now that things are more portable. Any band that’s been at it for a while, the last thing you want to do when you’re off tour is see each other. So, you could go back to the same town, but what’s the point? You’re just going to live in the same neighborhood and never call each other anyway. At least for bands that tour eight months out of the year or whatever, but in general that seems like the future; musicians are a fickle bunch.

WCP: What’s the future of TUS?

JE: Well, we’ll take over North Carolina, continue annexing the less desirable parts of Brooklyn and New York, move eastward into Kentucky, and we’ll keep running in circles around the country until we die.

WCP: Is there a new record in the works?

JE: We’ve started some tracking on it this summer.

WCP: Is it a departure, or is it simply another TUS record?

JE: It’s hard for me to tell, honestly. It all sounds like TUS, but I’m too close to the material. To me it’s just another batch of songs.

WCP: With so much touring, is it hard to write?

JE: I’m not as much of a sit-down-and-writer. If I sit down and write, it’s on a bus seat or an airplane seat. I like writing while in motion.

Sometimes I like to sit down in a place for a week to really try and do a concentrated burst, but that’s usually a frustrated necessity. When it’s more casual and tossed off, that’s nice. I’ll put down something and maybe it’ll make its way into a song. But sometimes I’ll hole myself away, say I’ve got to do this and beat it out of myself. Both are really useful ways to create new stuff.

Sometimes you sit around and wait for the muse, and sometimes you try and kidnap the muse and beat it to death in a dark alley and steal all of its prized possessions.

WCP: What about D.C. will you miss the most?

JE: I think it would be different for all of us because, you know, we’re all unique individual snowflakes. I know Tom’s gonna miss Galaxy Gut, and I’m gonna miss taking people to Ben’s Chili Bowl, as cliché as that sounds. Shoot man, some of those places, you spend enough time there and every street corner I pass has some meaning... Dupont Circle, Rock Creek...

The thing I love most is just the spaces—the public parks and museums and monuments—places people can go and exist for free, whether they’re incredibly rich or incredibly poor or in between. Come to think of it, there’s a song on the new album that’s going to be a tribute to one of those places. Maybe this has already been working on my subconscious—missing D.C. and missing Parks and Recreation.

These United States plays The Black Cat tonight with The Cassettes and Southeast Engine.

Photo by Sarah Law

Oddisee says you should attend Red Bull's music school.

Jeff Alexander, a former executive director of the Small Press Expo comics convention, died recently. There's a memorial service for him this Saturday in Fredericksberg, Md., notes Mike Rhode on his blog.

I got the new Bright Eyes album in the mail yesterday, and Laura Burhenn sings on some of it. One of those songs is "Approximate Sunlight," where I think she's responsible for a pair of creepy spoken sections. Listen:

Moombahton gets some serious airtime on BBC Radio 1.

WaPo reviews an EP by locals Left on Vermont.

From the Indie Rock Diaspora Department: Laura Burhenn, the former Georgie James musician and current Mynabirds leader, is now a member of marquee indie-folkers Bright Eyes. She recorded vocals on Bright Eyes' forthcoming seventh album, The People's Key, and she'll be playing keys and such with the band throughout its 2011 tour, according to Mynabirds' and Bright Eyes' label, Saddle Creek.

The People's Key is the first album since 2007 for Bright Eyes, whose leader Conor Oberst spent the last few years recording and touring under his given name. The record is out Feb. 15, and the band has announced a few tour dates—but for now, none in D.C. Your closest option is March 6 at the National in Richmond.

Burnhenn, you might already know, was based in the District for years, performing as a solo artist and with Georgie James, her band with John Davis. She was last here a few weeks ago for a quickie set at one of Brightest Young Things' Family Hemerlein variety nights, where she performed both sides of her recent Christmas 7-inch. It was totally charming.

Photo illustration by Brooke Hatfield.

Undoubtedly I will analyze this with gusto next month when we relaunch Washington City Paper's annual holiday mp3-reviewing series, THE SLEIGHER. For now, grab the mp3 here, or via the handy widget below:

Also! Burhenn (formerly of Georgie James!) and her Mynabirds have this new video, for "What We Gained In the Fire," from their recent, quite good album.

–pancakes + hummus, sink or swim? let's go.

–Apparently my big Asian head is stenciled on trash cans up and down U Street. Foreshadowing? http://mypict.me/nqyT

Laura Burhenn:

–wish I'd never discovered toaster oven smores. now I'll eat 'em all the time... also, the windmill movie was incredible. highly recommended.

–how can they say mark twain was an ENFP? did the myers-Briggs folks hire a psychic & have him take the test from beyond the grave??

Carol Bui:

–Driving through Montana at night = terrifying. Driving through Montana during the day = exhilarating!

–My favorite part about portland? Burlesque.

Beauty Pill (Chad Clark) :

–If you ever get to sit next to Tony Maimone, it means you have won at the game of life.

–Tarantino. Please. No speak. Fermez la bouche. Hushy hush for hush time. Shhhh. Listen! Let's all enjoy the sound of you not talking.

–Enroute to Blakroc session. Your average Black Keys/Mos Def/RZA/Qtip/Joel Hamilton/Pharaohe Monch collaboration. Psyched to work on this!

Teenbeat:

–Millions of colors in the world and the color experts at Pantone® can only give us 1,089?

These United States:

–oh, dear, I almost forgot how mind-ticklingly-Good this song was/is — http://is.gd/OoDu — read the lyrics, please, for the love of Dada?!?

–totally identify w/ How Frank Sinatra Feels on this one – http://is.gd/Po0l – Shervin will NOT stop bothering us to play "The Business" LOL!

Laura Burhenn:

–love to hear friends' voices on the speakers in all kindsa strange public places. thanks, Maria, for serenading me outside the UPS store!

–when life gives you lemons, go swimming: http://yfrog.com/724mjj

Beauty Pill (Chad Clark):

–There's a line from 30Rock that cracks me up whenever I think of it. "Never follow a hippie to a second location."

–Oliver Messiaen was also an ornithologist. Transcribed birdsong into compositions. Glad I'm not the only one.

–Favorite Indian restaurant between gym and home. The world has a cruel shape sometimes. I try not to think about it as I drive by.

Wale:

–buisness can wait today is family day gonna see mommy too (african people say mommy till there60 ha) no dates no lunches nothin but fam 2day

Fresh off a West Coast tour with Orenda Fink (formerly of Azure Ray) Laura Burhenn (formerly of Georgie James) will be opening for the Whispertown 2000 and the other half of Azure Ray, Maria Taylor, tonight at the Rock N Roll Hotel.

Laura plans to roll out some new material with drummer Elmer Sharp.

Tickets are $12 and the doors open at 8:30.

Just got word that the immensely talented and former half of Georgie James, Laura Burhenn, will be playing a set at the Velvet Lounge tonight at 9:30 p.m. sharp. Here's a quick note from Laura on what she plans for tonight:

Tonight is a night for feedback – of all sorts. I’ll be experimenting with some new songs in a stripped-down setting (just me and a drummer). Still working on the new record, trying to get perspective and figuring out which direction I’m gonna take. If anything, it’ll be a one-time adventure. Who knows what’ll happen…