The Head and The Heart’s Jonathan Russell - STAGE THREADS Ep. 1

I didn't even mention it on stage, it just came out in these. Basically I went full western. This watch, I finally took the plunge and got a Rolex. Hey, John Russell from the head and the heart here on our Aputure tour. We just put out our new record Aputure this year, so we are on leg two of that. We're here in Chicago. And yeah, we're just going to talk about Threads on Tour. And I think how it's evolved over, you know, we obviously didn't start out with this. But since we have this, you start sort of expanding what you can do. Because things that, like, I don't know, I used to bring less because it was going to wrinkle or whatever. And now we are a little more pampered, I guess you could say. So you get a little more fancy and it's fun. I always kind of vacillate between pretty simple. Like right now it's just Dickies and these Travel Fox shoes, little cut-off shirt. And then although it's fancy, it's like, this is like, it's a Miyake from Japan. And it's like a full-on, it's like a full-on, like, beautiful, fashionable option. I mean, to be honest with you, what normally goes in my thinking for choosing this is like the location of the city. Like last night, we were in Interlochen, Michigan, and we were on a lake. And as much as I wanted to rock this, it's an outdoor stage. At least what goes through my mind is like, how much time are they going to spend thinking, what on earth is he wearing based on location? And depending on how my headspace is, I might do that just to be a contrarian. Or I might not do that because I don't feel like having to deal with that emotion on stage. So like last night, what I ended up doing was this shirt, these pants, which are like, so this is like beautiful, you know, designer from Japan. Whereas these, I got these from like a vintage rack in Oklahoma City on the women's rack. I don't even know what these are. There's no pockets, but they fit like a glove and they kind of flare out. So like for me, I enjoy buying nice designer items. I also love finding women's pants on a rack in Oklahoma City for like $7. And then, you know, when you're in Dallas and you're walking around and you want to get something, because we were in Texas for like four shows. So this is by Scully. I forget the name of this store. But basically, I went full Western while we were in Texas for like five days. These pants, a friend of mine in Richmond, Virginia made these pants for me. It's just a pair of Levi's and he hand-painted them for me. Well Fine is the name of his clothing company. And Ronnie Lee, he did a little Ronnie Lee by John Russell collab stitch. So I usually wear these like in the daytime for like our VIP stuff. Because as much as I love the color of it, the fit of the jean doesn't photograph well. And you start noticing these things when you're photographed hundreds of times every day. So I do refresh the wardrobe pretty much every tour. Like the previous album was called Every Shade of Blue. And so there was definitely a lot of blue happening. This is called Aperture, this album. And it's more about letting the light in on all of the good and all of the bad. And so I kind of run a little more of a full spectrum of looks and personalities. Speaking of personality, we were in, gosh, where were we? We were in Indianapolis and we went to the zoo. And it's like, it's a month into the tour and I just needed something like ridiculous to kind of like laugh at myself, to get me over some of these hurdles. So the encore happened and I went off stage and took off my boots. These obviously have been worn for a long time. Joe Ghost, to me it's my favorite. If you're not going to do a cowboy boot and you're not going to do just like a basic beetle boot, Joe Ghost makes some really killer boots. And yeah, I just needed a silly moment for myself. I didn't even mention it on stage. I just came out in these and didn't say a word. I have no idea what the fans thought of that. I used to be a big hat guy, like on Signs of Light, the third record. I was wearing like big brimmed hats and even little ones. And I've started bringing back this hat like honestly as a prop. Like it looks, it works, but also like I just find like even with my mic cable and like something to just do like this, you know, it just kind of gets you through moments. It adds a little drama. This is actually, so we were like designing merch for this album cycle. And the way our band works is there's six people and we're all like equal partners. And so there's a committee with every idea. So instead of having to go to the board, I just went on Etsy and made what I thought was going to be a cool like merch item because we have a song called Pool Break. And so the band ended up liking it. And so now we actually make these for everybody else. But this is the OG from Etsy. But yeah, and here, I mean, I just basically keep different pairs of jeans. Like this is kind of just the catch all with extra jeans. And then like, I don't know, some sunnies, just like miscellaneous stuff. Yeah, so like waking up on the bus, I'm definitely in like it's comfort first. I've got these like almost like Aladdin looking linen pants by I think it's Felix. I got them in New York. Either these slippers or flip flops. I'll probably rock like this. This is my mom's shirt from the 90s. Just like a big XLT, keep it comfortable. And then like switching to the daytime in the real world once you get out of the bus. I mean, that's kind of what I'm doing right now. This is like it's proper enough to be photographed while I'm doing my soundcheck. Or like after this, we'll do a VIP like meet and greet where you're going to be photographed. And I'm not too concerned about it, but you want to at least have pants on. So yeah, and then this is more like, these really are like stage clothes, you know. I mean, you can rock them wherever, but I guess I keep them here just because it's the most convenient way to do it. Yeah, I love accessorizing. I mean, I remember being like a kid and looking through the Sears catalog, especially the one you would get like in the fall and the wintertime, it'd be like this thick. And I grew up poor, so I was never able to get any of this stuff. But I used to always like dream of jewelry. So one of the things I've gotten into, as you can kind of tell over the years, is accessories. Yeah, this is like a vintage Gucci chain that I got. I think a Springer is in like, it was in New England somewhere. And then I've got, I don't have the other one on. Oh yeah, some of my stuff's not on. This I got in Aspen. I love turquoise. This watch, I finally took the plunge and got a Rolex. Because when I was trying this on at the same jewelry store, we were waiting on some information and they were like, that Rolex dealership. And I was just like, is Rolex really all it's like, you know, talked up to be? And she was like, you should just try one on, which was like the death of it, of course. So I tried one on and yeah. So for me, I like minimalism, like, you know, like even these shoes. Like I love these shoes, travel foxes, because it's just all one color. There's no branding on it. So like, also this old coach bag, I've just recently gotten obsessed with it. So like normally, like, like I'll probably, I wear this for the show because it's fitted and it doesn't clink against my guitar. But during the day I would typically have, where is that? It's in my pocket actually, because I took it off for sound check. Just something really basic. This is like a Byzantine gold little chain. So like I used to do more kind of like, like I'd say the overall tone was almost kind of random. And recently, I think once I got this, I kind of wanted to anchor everything around like just simple and classic. And so definitely more of a gold than a silver person. But like this is just like a simple chain with turquoise. And whenever I wear something like this with a white collar, you get like the perfect amount of visibility on this without looking kind of showboaty. Because I guess that's the line I'm trying to walk here. It's like I love quality, but I also don't love like, look at my bling. You know, I like to have it like noticed when you notice it. You know, I typically do like, like as a pastime, I'll go and look for any like vintage store in the area. This is the first year where I brought my wife and my five month old baby. And I have had zero time to do that. So everything that I've sourced on the previous leg was because I had more time to kill. But that's typically what I'll do. Like I'll bring, I'll bring like, like what I would consider like anchors, like probably three outfits where I like the boot, the jean, the top. And I know I can do that. And then I'll try and weave in and out of them for like, I'll find like, for instance, like I had no idea I was ever looking for something like this. But I leave space for it mentally and literally physically in my luggage because I know I'm going to come home with more than I left with. And you know, ideally, it's not huge budget items. So yeah, I like, you know, you've got your staples and then I leave room for experimentation. It's kind of the same way I approach making an album, to be honest with you. It's like you show up with a handful of songs that you know have some, some substance and you also want to leave space for what can happen in the moment. And I feel like shopping on tour is pretty similar. You want to, you want to know that you've got your something dialed in case you don't have time, but you're really looking for that spontaneity. Thanks for checking out my episode of Stage Threads. If you want to come to see a show, get some tickets, it's theheadintheheart.com. And the new record is Aperture. Check it out.