Cover “Atlantic City”
Q & A with Jake Huffman
Jake Huffman of McLovin’s recently spoke with Andrew McConnell about the brand new Tintype Recordings video series by 179 pictures. The acoustic rendition of the classic “Atlantic City” is done with extreme care and the result is astounding, a nearly perfect cover of one of the best songs ever written.
McLovins are headed to the Funksgiving event in Montgomery, AL with Earphunk brought to you by Live & Listen. LiveMusicDaily is a proud sponsor of the event which will benefit those suffering from cystic fibrosis.
For the Tintype series why did you decide to go with a cover over an original and what other songs did you consider and why ?
The video was recorded right on the heels of our first full Acoustic show at a residency in our hometown venue Arch St Tavern (Hartford CT). Whenever we practiced and performed the song I felt very close to the rest of the band. It made me feel a lot of emotions and in a way summed up the overall vibe of our set. Even though we didn’t write Atlantic City, we took it and played our own emotion through it. I’m certain that anyone watching the video will feel it too.
The song was originally recorded by Springsteen in 1982 and out of the many covers that have been done since there is one that really stands out from the rest. As a drummer & singer are you drawn to Levon helm’s take on the song ?
As a singing drummer I’m certainly drawn to Levon Helm. In fact the first version of this song that I ever heard was in fact by The Band. It is very apparent our cover of Atlantic City tailors more towards The Band’s version by my vocal phrasing and with Atticus on the squeezebox.
Could you elaborate more on Tintype Recordings and 179 pictures ? Also, could you tell us about the pristine audio from the taping ?
The Tintype Recordings is short video series by 179 Pictures (Ty Morin & Jonathan Napolitano). You might have heard about 179 Pictures and their documentary “Friend Request: Accepted” on the Today show and BBC News (set to be released in 2016). Ty Morin Directed and edited this series of videos and took the Tin Types, the ghostly Civil War era photos at the end of the videos. Conceptually It’s really a genius series. All the videos were filmed in or around an old Ax Factory in Collinsville CT.
Also we were lucky enough to have Telefunken take over the audio and deck out the set with their microphones and their engineers. It’s common knowledge in the music world that Telefunken microphones are untouchable in quality, but the team of engineers (Dave Fiore, and Mike DiPanfilo) that worked on the set were the friendliest and the smartest people we could have asked for. It made the shoot easy and comfortable, and that shines through each and every video in the series.
McLovins are going back on another National Tour in January 2015 so check our Website (www.themclovins.com) and other Social Media places (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter).