One day I was poking around MySpace looking for good music (so 2005) and I found Fort Wife on Avi Buffalo's friend's list. I fell in love instantly: Fort Wife's songs were sweet and gentle (like pillows!), but not simperingly sweet, and they're especially good for daydreaming.
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Fort Wife is really 18-year-old singer-songwriter Elise Ewoldt, but her backing band used to
consist of good friends Avi Zahner-Isenberg and Sheridan Riley (whom she
calls “the parenthetical members of Avi Buffalo”). Because of Avi
Buffalo's touring schedule, she's enlisted other members to help her. Before Fort Wife, she was in Time of Wolves with Dylan Wood, 60-Watt Kid's
drummer. “When that band ended, I had been writing songs. I didn't know
any better friends or musicians than Avi and Sheri so I asked them to
play in Fort Wife,” Ewoldt said.
Ewoldt, who was raised listening to Simon & Garfunkel,
Crosby Stills & Nash, David Bowie and Joni Mitchell, didn't really grow up in a musical family.
The catalyst was her grandfather's guitar. “It was a really nice, 1963
Gibson ES-330 electric guitar; I thought it was stupid to have an
instrument in the house that nobody could play.”
After learning to play, she began writing songs. It's a straightforward process: “Usually it's me just in
my room playing guitar, and I find a chord change that sounds nice. So I
stick with that, and sing a melody with some nonsense words until I get
all of the components of the guitar part down. Then I go back in and
add some lyrics that mean something to me. Other times, I have some
lyrics and those will go in initially instead of the nonsense.”
Her
bandmates are the final touch: “When
i bring in a new song to practice it always turns out way better than
the song sounded in my head, or in
my room alone.”
On Elise's playlist: “A lot of stuff I listened to when I was
little: Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, The Band. I've been listening to
other stuff too, like Ariel Pink and Tiny Vipers. Panda Bear. I'm really
into Prince, you have to know that.”
On her favorite venues to play in: “Usually house shows …
there used to be a punk house called “The Hickey Underworld.” I played
my first show there, just with Avi and a couple of acoustic guitars and a
little toy keyboard. The guys that lived there got evicted, because of
all the shows they hosted, and there was a lot of damage that got done
by the time summer ended.
The Detroit Bar was scary — the people there weren't mean or anything,
but just playing for people who are out on a Wednesday night drinking
cocktails… I didn't really know if they wanted to even hear us. Just
weird insecurities I guess. My mic was also feedbacking a lot while I
was singing, that freaked me out. It was one of our early gigs at a hip
place and it was pretty scary. The vibes have to be in the right place.”
Listen to Fort Wife: “Pregnant All The Time”
Watch Fort Wife:
Wednesday, April 28, 9 p.m., at Que
Sera, 1923
E. Seventh St., Long Beach with Drums
and Color, Intricate
Machines, Rough Cuts, free
Friday, April 30, 7 p.m., at Sipology,
448 East Broadway, Long Beach, with Boris
Smile, free
