Episode 67: Soren Staff (Them Coulee Boys)
I had a great chat with Soren Staff from the Eau Claire, Wisconsin based band Them Coulee Boys. The band released their fifth full length album last year, “No Fun in the Chrysalis”, it’s an excellent record on which Soren really displays his songwriting skills.
We discuss the creative environment that is Eau Claire, and how Them Coulee Boys, who are known for their raucous, fun and emotionally charged shows, work to involve their audiences in the live experience. We spend some time digging in the songwriting weeds - there is talk of complicated rhyme schemes (what rhymes with toothbrush?) and unresolved choruses.
Enjoy this conversation and then spend some time with “No Fun in the Chrysalis”, both great listens.
Soren Staff and Beau Janke - co-founders of folk/rock/Americana outfit Them Coulee Boys - met as camp counselors in northern Wisconsin in 2011. Their weekend workshopping of Avett Brothers and classic country tunes led to original songs and adding Soren’s brother Jens on mandolin. As the years grew, the band turned into a more rollicking outfit, adding Neil Krause on electric bass and Stas Hable on drums. The band’s name is a nod to the glacial melt-carved river valleys they call home, known by early French fur trappers as coulees. Known for wild swings of emotion during sets, it is not unusual to see fans in tears and minutes later dancing with abandon. The honesty and ability to talk and sing about the feelings and emotions that shape them has endeared them to a growing group of fans and friends.
