Take the reverence of a Johnny Cash song, add a slightly inebriated rockabilly beat and you’d get an Old 97’s song. It’s a recipe that’s worked for the band for the last 11 years, including a couple of albums on Chicago’s own Bloodshot Records in the mid-’90s.
After frontman Rhett Miller’s solo sidestepping for 2002’s “The Instigator,” Old 97’s have regrouped for “Drag It Up,” an album that finds the band back in the indie ranks (New West Records). To capture the band’s live sound, the group recorded the album in a church-cum-studio using a no-frills 8-track machine, free of any of them newfangled technological touch-ups.
We hoped to ask Miller all about it. Then we caught him in the middle of a pickle.
Where are you calling from?
I’m in the L.A. airport, and I’ve missed my 7 a.m. flight home to New York.
Why?
Dude, I’m such a jerk. I didn’t even set my alarm right. I changed it to give me enough time, but then I actually didn’t turn it on! I’ve been going on three or four hours sleep for the last several nights, so it was just one of those things where I was secretly needing two or three hours extra sleep.
What’s been your biggest airport disaster?
It’s hard to pinpoint because it all blends together. It’s just sort of one neverending [mess]. I’ll be lucky if I make it home by midnight!
Rumor has it someone in your posse broke a $6,000 microphone when making the record.
The good news was it wasn’t a band member who actually broke the microphone.
There you go passing the blame!
This guy Doug Biro was making the live DVD we just did. He’s a supernice guy, but he had just met everyone and was feeling that awkward, initial phase of not knowing whether he’d fit in or not. He ended up fitting in fantastically, but within the first hour, he was dragging a sandbag and pulled over a mic stand, and the microphone exploded! It was the one The B-52’s recorded the “Cosmic Thing” album on, but they were able to repair it, thousands of dollars later.
Aside from making the record, when was the last time you stepped foot in church?
Besides for a wedding or a funeral?
Yeah, those don’t count.
I don’t mind going to church. . . . It’s been a couple of years since I just completely went on my own on a Sunday, but it’s not unheard of.
Why is Chicago the best place on the planet to start your new tour?
Chicago is the coolest big city in America because you don’t have the [music] industry screwing it up, and you just have cool music lovers. This record hearkens back to [1995’s] “Wreck Your Life” [released on Chicago’s Bloodshot Records], which was recorded in Wicker Park. It’s very appropriate!
Old 97’s
When: 8 p.m. Thursday
Where: Vic Theatre, 3145 N. Sheffield Ave.
Tickets: $20
