patrick walsh thinks every band should be like wilco
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Please state your name for the record: Patrick Walsh
You’re a member of the band Tennis Courts. I can’t believe I’ve never asked you this, but how did y’all come up with the name?
I feel like I’ve given a few different answers to this question depending how existential I’m feeling at that moment. The quick answer is that I grew up next to a tennis court. The real answer is that my grandparents had a tennis court next to their house when I was growing up (they still do). My siblings and I would fuck around on it and play basketball and hit each other with tennis balls and all that shit. Slowly, over the decades, the court started cracking, the net unravelled, the basketball hoop broke. Now it's just a relic of my childhood, a signifier that time has passed. That court probably won’t ever get fixed, it’ll just fall further and further into disrepair. It’ll probably outlive me, though. But yeah, that’s why we’re called Tennis Courts, after the tennis court next to my grandparents house.
This month, Tennis Courts is playing their first show in almost a year. What have you been working on recently? How has the process been different this go-round?
Yeah! I’m really excited about this first show back. We’ve been writing and recording new music for the better part of the last year and I can’t wait to show everyone what we’ve been working on. We have about 13 new songs that we’ll start releasing probably later this year, we’re still working on getting them mixed. Not sure if it’s gonna be an album yet or just a bunch of songs, but that’s for us to figure out. The writing (and recording) process has been really really great. We worked with our friend Matteo DeBenedetti at his studio in New Jersey. We started going down there last summer to write and demo and it really saved us. We’d been stuck in, I hate to call it writer’s block, but that’s really what it was. We were stuck in this thing for like 18 months and Matteo really helped get us out of it. Forever grateful to Matteo for that, I’m really excited about the future of the band now.
Okay, onto the interview. What have you been listening to lately?
Oh man, okay, so two records that I’ve been listening to on repeat recently have been Sounds Like… by Florry and Big Ugly by Fust. Both records are full of some really incredible songs and were released on the same label! The Fust record is one part beautiful country music and another part Appalachian Southern Gothic, they really captured the feeling of living and growing up in a place on that record I just can’t stop listening to it. Florry fucking rules, every song is beautiful and fucked up all at once. I really like the song Truck Flipped Over ‘19.
What’s your favorite thing to do on Sundays?
Nothing, if I have anything to say about it.
Dogear or bookmark?
Bookmark because dogear makes me feel bad for some reason?
Movie or TV show?
TV show if it’s HBO’s Girls, movie if it’s not.
Favorite vice?
A cigarette with my friends after I’ve had two and a half drinks.
A memory from Tennis Courts’ last tour?
We got to Nashville a day early and spent the night wandering down Broadway. All the locals will tell you not to go to Broadway, because it’s loud and touristy and they’re probably right. But it’s also the most fun thing to do in Nashville if you just get rid of your ego. We kept asking people where the Alex G Honky Tonk was. I don’t think they liked us very much.
Any pet peeves?
People who take themselves too seriously. Or specifically, musicians or songwriters who take themselves too seriously. Take the art seriously, obviously, but we’re all just out here doing sing-song. It’s really not that serious, we’re all just trying our best.
What’s your favorite shop?
I wish I had a cool answer, if I’m buying records I’m usually just on the hunt for a specific one. So my favorite record store is whatever record store has the record I’m looking for at the time. My favorite store in New York is Facebook Marketplace.
Favorite method of procrastination?
Going on a really long walk that involves at least 4 stops and 2 cups of coffee.
Do you have a favorite thing to wear on stage?
Whatever is comfortable honestly, which is usually a t-shirt tucked into jeans and a pair of sneakers. Sometimes boots, but I’ve been on a big sneaker kick recently. I just got a new pair of Chuck Taylors.
What’s your most controversial opinion?
It really shouldn’t be controversial, but I don’t think AI has any place in art or music. I think that Spotify has destroyed and defamed the art of making music by forcing AI generated music into random playlists and onto their platform for the sole purpose of making money. It’s pure evil. Also pineapple on pizza is okay.
What’s your favorite lyric?
“I wonder why we listen to poets, when nobody gives a fuck” from Wilco’s Ashes of American Flags. That whole first verse is perfect actually, actually that whole song. Every line in that song is my favorite line in a song.
And your most treasured possession?
Probably my Fender Jaguar. I bought it by accident like 4 or 5 years ago. I’m pretty bad about buying and selling guitars and I love this thing so much I had the headstock repainted without the Fender logo. I purposefully destroyed its resale value so I can never sell it, and I never will.
Who are some of your favorite artists?
I really love Wilco, that’s like the top band for me. I think every band should be like Wilco. Waxahatchee too. And Fontaines DC. Bruce Springsteen. There’s so many, I wanna list everyone.
Can you please recommend a book to me?
Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson, it’s the only book I’ve read more than once.
Patrick Walsh is the best. Buy a ticket to Tennis Courts’ Mercury Lounge show on June 28th here.
Thanks for reading! See you next week for a surprise. If you’d like to support my writing, you can preorder my first novel, Ghost Fish, here. 💖❤️🔥❤️❤️🩹💖❤️💝💌
