Farmer’s Wife joined us for a full hour of rocking heads March 9.
Ever wanted to stick your hands into the ground and pull up a chunk of dirt, just because? Well, Farmer’s Wife is for you. Gritty guitar lines, coupled with the siren song of vocalist Molly, made for an existential send-off into the week before Spring Break for most of us in the station.
The quintet is composed of Jaelyn, Derek, Jude, and brother-sister duo, Jacob and Molly. The relationship between the bandmates is palpable, making for a set as exciting to watch as it is to hear.
Farmer’s Wife joined us in the booth for a laid-back interview after their jam-packed set.
Photo by Andra Donea
Can you go ahead and introduce yourself, your role in the band and your favorite appetizer?
Jacob: I’m Jacob; I play bass. My favorite appetizer is spinach artichoke dip.
Jude: My name’s Jude; I play guitar. I can appreciate almost any mozzarella stick you throw at me. There’s an art to it, and it’s hard to mess that up.
Molly: I’m Molly; I’m the singer, and you know, there’s something about fried calamari that really gets me going.
Derek: I’m Derek. Guitarist and creative contributor. I like when there’s bread in a basket.
Jaelyn: I’m Jaelyn; I’m the drummer. I like a good dumpling, maybe a soup dumpling, a spinach dumpling.
For people who haven’t listened before, can you describe your music in five words? One for every finger on your hand.
Jaelyn: Who’s which finger?
Jacob: Ring.
Jude: I’m definitely thumb.
Molly: I’ll be pinky.
Jaelyn: Middle finger.
Derek: Index.
Jude: Ok I get to start. Noise…y…noisy perhaps.
Derek: Um, core-core.
Jaelyn: Whimsical.
Jacob: Limerence.
Molly: Rock ‘n’ roll. So, Noisy, core-core, whimsical, limerence, rock ‘n’roll …
Derek: … Thursday evening.
Do y’all want to reveal your Daylists?
Molly: One of our favorite tour activities is reviewing our Daylist. It lasts all of five seconds.
Jaelyn: Mine’s ambient library night. It doesn’t even say which night.
Jacob: Mine’s Laurel Canyon folksy Sunday night.
Jude: Mine’s boring! Rock radio post grunge Sunday night.
Derek: Soul-crushing solitude Sunday night.
Molly: Chin-stroking mysterious night.
How did Farmer’s Wife get to be what it is today?
Molly: It all started with Jude and myself in high school. There was this little locker area, and we would get to school really stupid early, and we would just play the Pixies and hang out with each other. I brought a bass, and Jude brought a guitar. And then we moved to Austin for college in 2020, 2021?
Jude: Time is weird.
Molly: We just decided to play music together continuously, as we did not have any other friends, and we moved to a new city during the pandemic. And we had Jacob come in here. He’s my big brother.
Jude: I think, more accurately, it started when Molly was born.
Molly: I didn’t want to say that! My dad did say I came out of the womb singing.
Jacob: I don’t remember that…It was very joyous, and, like “oh my god I have a sibling; I have a friend for life. This is the best thing ever.”
Jaelyn: I thought you were gonna be like, “it was stinky.”
Where’d you get the name Farmer’s Wife?
Molly: Jude came up with that.
Jude: I really liked the melancholy image of someone who’s sort of routinely neglected and still hanging in there, still fighting. I liked that image, and it became a song lyric, then a song name. Then we were transitioning from our previous name, Sludge, which we thought didn’t really encapsulate our point of view anymore. I didn’t think much of it, but everyone seemed to like that image and that evocative couple of words. It stuck, and I’m really happy with it. I think it describes us better than one word ever could. Two words is better than one.
Jacob: Yeah we didn’t really play any sludge music either.
Jaelyn: It’s a good word!
Jude: Just one word, though.
photo by Rachel Green.
Are there any artists who have inspired your music-making today?
Jaelyn: Spiritualized is a band I really enjoy. I like a lot of their song structures and their instrumentation in a lot of their songs.
Jacob: Really like Glixen, Tanukichan, Slow Pulp, those are some.
Jude: I really enjoy a lot of bands that blend, as callback to my one word earlier, noisy with melodic, more typical musical structures. Like Sonic Youth and Idles are probably some of my favorite bands. Dinosaur Jr. too, I love them.
Derek: Tonight I’m inspired by Winter, always Title Fight. Julie. That’s it tonight.
Molly: For me, a big inspiration is Mazzy Star, and Hope Sandoval as a person. I’d like to be her when I grow up. Also Sonic Youth and Kim Gordon. I like all of her stuff across different bands. Free Kitten is so fun. Even the new stuff she’s putting out is super sick. Also Cocteau Twins. Mazzy Star, Cocteau Twins and Broadcast. Favs of all time.
Jacob: I’d also feel really bad if I didn’t say I’ve been listening to a lot of the Teeth and Joni Mitchell.
Can you tell us anything about your upcoming EP?
Jaelyn: We have five songs on the EP coming out in one month …
Molly: One month maybe? April. End of April; it’s coming.
Derek: One of them’s already out.
Molly: “Mildew” is one of the singles. We’re going to drop another single in a couple weeks, “Seeth,” which we played directly after “Mildew” in our set today. We’re so excited about this music.
Jacob: Super excited. It sounds so nice, good. I love listening to it.
Molly: We played four of the five songs today. I don’t know if that’s legal.
Jude: Probably not.
Molly: Well they can’t catch us for that! But we’re just so excited about this music; we’ve been playing it live ever since we wrote it. Once we locked all these down, we were so eager to share it with everybody. We love all of our songs, but it made playing old songs from our last EP, or even Sludge days, less exciting. This is the stuff we want to represent us, especially playing across new audiences.
Do you have a favorite thing about the music scene in Austin?
Derek: There’s so much music everywhere.
Jacob: I like DJs and raves.
Jaelyn: Everyone’s so nice! We have such a nice community. And there’s a lot of friendship and support. Just general excitement for each other’s growth. It’s a cool thing to get to be a part of.
Molly: Community for sure. I feel like I spent more time in the music scene community than the college community. But it's just really beautiful to be surrounded by so many talented artists and to be in conversation and friendship with them. That’s how we met Derek and Jaelyn, and now we’re besties.
If you had to pick one song that you think would be a good intro to you, which would it be?
Molly: I think “Mildew,” our most recent release.
Jaelyn: “Shoe Goo” or “Mildew.”
Jacob: I love “Mildew.” It’s not out yet, but there’s a song on the EP called “Discount Roses” that I think is the one.
Derek: You heard it tonight already.
Jacob: It grew on me. Now it’s, like, my favorite song.
Molly: It’s really fun to play fast or heavy songs, and “Discount Roses” is not that. Whenever we play a set that’s a lot of fast, heavy songs, it can feel out of place. But it’s so fun.
Jude: Officially “Mildew,” but I’m going to break this cycle and say “Bones” is one of my favorite songs. I think it showcases some of our extremes. Quiet or loud, it has both elements in them.
If you could be on stage with any artist, dead or alive, who would it be?
Derek: Mitski.
Jacob: Jim Croce.
Jaelyn: Ozzy Ozborne.
Jude: Honestly just to say we had: the Butthole Surfers.
Molly: Actually, Lady Gaga.
Are there any songs that have been on repeat right now?
Jaelyn: Can we do our song on repeat from Spotify?
June: Ok mine’s “Crawl” by Idles off of their album Crawler.
Jaelyn: Mine’s “Come And Play In The Milky Night (demo),” Stereo Lab.
Molly: “Ballad of Big Nothing,” Elliot Smith.
Jacob: “Headless Horseman,”The Microphones.
Derek: Mine’s “Sorry” by Cyrogeyser.
photo by Rachel Green.
Do you have any pre or post-show rituals?
Derek: If it’s available, I’ll dig into a veggie tray.
Molly: Drugs…
Jaelyn: Not true!
Jacob: Just make sure all the patch cables are in?
Molly: No, not drugs. I’ll usually do a vocal warmup, but we’ve been doing one together recently.
Jaelyn: We toured with Armlock and Cloud Nothings recently; me and the drummer of Armlock were always practicing really fun little drumline things from high school together.
If you had a DJ name, what would it be?
Derek: DJ Dairy Squirts.
Jacob: DJ Pork Chop! I would eat a pork chop right now.
Jude: DJ Eloquence.
To close us out, what’s your favorite dessert?
Jude: Laffy Taffy bites. I can’t find them anywhere. If you know where to find them, tell me where they are.
Jaelyn: My favorite dessert is souffle.
Molly: My favorite dessert is any dessert. But also mochi.
Derek: Welch’s Fruit Snacks.
Jacob: Either cheesecake or creme brulee. Probably cheesecake.
Photo by Rachel Green.
Find Farmer's Wife Here:
Credits:
Production Manager: Tyler Mok, Production Assistant: Emma Kositsky; Set Design Director: Anna Havner; Audio Director: Aiden Sharabba, Audio Interns: Jayda Burr, Ethan Rangel; Video Director: Cassie Quintela; Photo Directors: Rachel Green, Dina Zeid; TSTV Producers: Michael Norris, Fernando Alvarez; Interview: Rebecca Meyers; Volunteers: Eddie Otto
All Photos thanks to Rachel Green and Andra Donea.