The 2/3 of Middle Brother Interview | Newport Folk Festival.

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Editors note: Beth and I covered the Newport Folk Festival last month, and we were both blown away by Middle Brother’s performance, in part because they made being in a band look like so much damn fun. NPR recorded the band’s set, and you can download it here.

Randy catching up with John McCauley & Matt Vasquez of Middle Brother at the Newport Folk Festival.

As Emmylou Harris sang her heart out on the main stage at last month’s Newport Folk Festival, Beth and I had a chance to catch up with Middle Brother’s John McCauley (Deer Tick) and Matt Vasquez (Delta Spirit) as they headed backstage to catch the final numbers of Emmylou’s set. Just as we started talking, the duo got word that if they wanted to participate in the festival’s traditional closing singalong led by Pete Seeger, then they had to get to the stage pronto. McCauley and Vasquez graciously still gave us a few minutes, so with no time to spare, I decided to skip the more traditional questions I had written— like ‘What makes Newport so special?’— and go straight for my closers.

Taylor Goldsmith, Matt Vasquez & John McCauley of Middle Brother perform at the Newport Folk Festival.

If Middle Brother’s plane crashed in the Andes and you had to eat someone to survive, who would get eaten first?

MV: That’s debatable. Probably me, because I have the most mass. I think I weigh the most and I’m taller.

MV: You’re taller than I am. How much do you weigh? (Vasquez asks turning to McCauley.)

JM: I don’t know man, it fluctuates.

MV: I don’t know; we’d eat each other…out.

JM: If I had to, I wouldn’t be opposed to eating Matt or Taylor, if I had to.

I read in an interview that when you are on tour with Delta Spirit, you guys listen to Howard Stern daily in your van. So, should the Stern show bring back Artie Lange?

MV: Yeah. Well, of course they should. If he can stay clean, well, regardless, I think he should come back. He needs a lot of help, a lot of people are always worried about him because he is a really destructive mother fucker, but he’s also really funny and he’s a great personality and he’s in the Stern family. I mean has the Stern family ever really kicked somebody out forever? He’ll be back.

Matt & John of Middle Brother performing during their set at the Newport Folk Festival.

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