Various Blonde’s Josh Allen holds nothing back

It’s 6:30 on a Sunday evening, and Various Blonde’s Josh Allen is a half-hour late to our interview. I don’t mind. We’re meeting at the Black & Gold Tavern, where there’s plenty of beer. Allen, who works as a bartender, is probably used to keeping Sundays to himself. Certainly he’s used to keeping Various Blonde to himself.

Allen very much considers himself the proprietor of all that is Various Blonde, running the creative process and controlling as many of the remaining elements as he can. He has been known to joke that the only thing he has no influence over is the clothing his bandmates wear.

When Allen does arrive, he flashes an apologetic smile and orders tequila before starting to brief me on what has changed since he started Various Blonde, in 2008.

For one thing, there’s the lineup. These days, Allen has an experienced crew doing his bidding: drummer Mark Lomas, formerly of Black President, and bassist Evanjohn
McIntosh, who spent years with Cherokee Rock Rifle. He has also recruited jazz pianist Eddie Moore, of Eddie Moore and the Outer Circle and Diverse.

“When we jammed, when I heard him [Moore], I was like, ‘I need to make sure he’s never not jamming with me,'” Allen says. “When you’ve got a bunch of people that get along well, that are all really chill and love the genres that we’re pulling from, that’s great. Everybody is comfortable with me trying to mix up all of my interests.”

There are a lot of interests. Allen designed Various Blonde as a supercollider that conducts all the music he has ever wanted to play. As he tells me about the upcoming Various Blonde album — Summer High, due in the summer — he lists the genres that make up his musical influences. It’s almost worrisome in its length and its disregard for sounds that traditionally play well together.

“We’ll play a couple funk songs in a row — we’ll play a slow soul ballad, and then we’ll jam on some prog and jazz stuff,” Allen says. “I think when you’re doing that, you have a better chance of holding people’s interests longer, rather than, like, ‘We’re going to play all of this for the entire time.’ So many bands just pick one sound, and I think we’re really good about exploring what we like and not setting limits.”

An early listen to some unmastered cuts from Summer High shows a surprising cohesion. “Scripted Future” starts like experimental electronic jazz before Allen pushes some aggressive prog. “Falling Archways” is an abrasive, dissonant instrumental that doesn’t push past a minute and a half, but it’s one of the most interesting and demanding songs on the record.

All of the tracks are dark and driving. Often there’s a brief, ominous buildup — as on “In the Dark” — that leads to a venomous spasm of electric-guitar riffs. The new Various Blonde sounds dangerous.

You’d never get dangerous from Allen, though. He seems perfectly harmless: good-humored, easy to talk to. When I ask him if he’s afraid that blending so many different styles of music will result in an imbalance, he’s ready with a counterargument.

“I think balance is easy,” he says. “Some of the people that I follow, they don’t set boundaries for themselves. Miles Davis always played under the big umbrella of jazz, but he did a lot of off-kilter things. He had people playing electric pianos and electric guitars and electric bass, and some people argue that that’s not jazz. You can’t say there’s no jazz essence there.

“Flaming Lips get away with it, too,” Allen continues. “They can do a song like ‘Do You Realize’ and then throw out a cover of King Crimson’s ’21st Century Schizoid Man.’ That’s what I love. No one needs to be told, ‘Oh, we need more songs for teenagers. Write more of that.'”

Allen’s conversation teems with examples like these. He drops references to artists both obscure and globally known, and he talks about sound with an audiophile’s authority. As the jukebox at Black & Gold rotates from Johnny Cash to Kiss, Allen’s hands move across the bar, playing an imaginary instrument in front of him. He understands that Various Blonde might frustrate listeners who like to know how to categorize what they hear, and he’s fine with that.

“Doing what you want to do and having that come first is important to me,” Allen says. “Sometimes people want to tailor-make their songs, try to write what they think someone is going to like or make music they think they’re supposed to be making. But I’m OK with being like, ‘Hey, I like punk music. I’m going to write a punk song today.’ That’s cool. That’s fine. Music’s fun. And if it’s not fun, then fuck it.”