INTERVIEW: Roselit Bone on the Triumph and Trials of Touring
Portland’s Roselit Bone is hitting the ground running on Ofrenda, their fourth album. That’s mainly because of lead singer Charlotte McCaslin’s transition. On the title track (below), McCaslin’s sinewy voice finally feels like her own, and it’s easy to hear the eight-piece band lean into her self assurance. Ofrenda is a heady mix of rockabilly and ranchero with a generous helping of gothic sensibility. In our interview, Charlotte explains how the band manages life on the road ahead of Ofrenda‘s release this Friday, 8/25.
How do you kill the long hours in the van?
I do most of the driving, which I find meditative. I don’t have much free time at home so I appreciate the time to just zone out while the landscape passes by. I also read a lot, draw, or write.
Do you have any go-to albums to listen to in the van?
- Nico – Chelsea Girl
- Leonard Cohen – Ten New Songs
- Timber Timbre – Velvet Gloves & Spit
- Bruce Springsteen – Born in the U.S.A.
How do you manage having a good time at shows, but also stay mentally and physically fit?
I don’t drink, which helps a lot. It’s hard to eat well on tour but being vegetarian puts a soft limit on how much I can trash my body. When we have a kitchen at the place we are staying, the band will cook together, and I think that usually helps morale. My mental state fluctuates a lot on the road and I’m generally at the mercy of how well the shows are going. I get my exercise on stage every night or carrying gear in and out of the venue, but I’ve found walking around a town we’re in or going hiking on a day off is really nice.
Tell us about your favorite show you’ve ever played.
Opening for Shannon & the Clams at the Crystal Ballroom was really great. It was one of our first shows after the pandemic, was the biggest crowd I’d ever played for, and the audience had a lot of energy for us. The pandemic had put my entire future as a musician into question, and I was living out of my van at the time after a bad breakup. It was the scariest time of my life and I felt totally powerless to it all, but that show embodied everything I love about performing and opened a path forward.
Have you ever been star-struck when playing with a musician?
I don’t get star-struck. I’ve been lucky enough to meet and share a stage with a handful of my musical idols, but I don’t often get nervous about it. There is definitely a level of surreality when I’m in a room with someone whose songs have helped form the person I am, but I’m more interested in knowing them as human beings in those moments.
What’s your biggest pet peeve about venues?
Insisting the band load in very early, and then do absolutely nothing for hours. We often will lose sleep to get to the venue on time for early soundcheck, and the staff either won’t be there or the sound person won’t let us actually get anything staged or checked until right before the show. Then of course they’ll then spend 30 minutes fumbling over cables or something and sound will be a disaster. We like when venues have a strict schedule, but a lot just don’t have their process together and aren’t prepared for an 8-piece band, and they still want to bark orders at us like we’re children. I’m always like “we do this every night.”
What’s the best way a fan can support you?
By coming to our shows, and telling their friends about us. So much of a band’s energy is wasted trying to keep up with social media, making throwaway content just to have something to post all the time. It takes some of that pressure off when the fans are spreading the word about the music.
Ofrenda will be available this Friday, 8/25.
