Filmmaker Gavin O'Connor worked with Ben Affleck to make sure the actor's portrayal of a character on the autism spectrum was accurate and respectful; Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan and an army of former Prince collaborators were on hand for the tribute; Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig from the band Lucius on working with the Pink Floyd legend.
Desert Trip: Lucius on the daunting task of performing with Roger Waters
Singers Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig started the indie pop band Lucius more than a decade ago. The band has made two albums — "Wildewoman" and "Good Grief" — and it recently released a new single called “Pulling Teeth.”
Rolling Stone magazine has compared the band to everyone from the WWII-era Andrews Sisters, '70s and '80s folk-rockers the Roches, and the '60s-era girl group the Shangri-Las. And The Guardian said their music is “the missing link” between Arcade Fire and the sister trio, Haim.
Lucius also has a notable following, including Nobel prize-winning economist and columnist Paul Krugman and most recently, Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters. Wolfe and Laessig are performing with Waters at the Desert Trip music festival.
The Frame’s James Kim spoke with the duo on how they got to sing backup with the co-founder of Pink Floyd.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS:
On how the two got on Roger Waters' radar:
Jess Wolfe: We got a call from Jay Sweet, who runs Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island and he said, "I have this surprise guest that's gonna come and play a set at Newport. It's Roger Waters. And he asked me to find him some background singers." And I said, "I have just the girls." They flew us out there and we had one rehearsal a day before the show.
Holly Laessig: [We were] told we should learn maybe five songs. We had written [Waters] and his manager had gotten back to us and said, You're going to be doing these two songs.
Wolfe: So we got there and started singing and you could tell that Roger liked what he heard. He lets you know if he doesn't. And we sat down for a song that we weren't going to sing on. And he started singing and then he stops dead in his tracks and he turns his head over and he [says], "Man up."
We were like, "Oh no! We weren't told to sing on this song. We were told just a couple songs." And he's like, "No, you're singing on every song."
After the show, which was one of the greatest experiences for me — being up there and seeing all these people crying — the rain started pouring down for "Mother" and the clouds parted, rainbows came out of the sky. It was a pretty epic experience. And the next day [Waters] had written us this beautiful email saying, "We're brothers and sisters now. We'll do it again." Six months later he wrote us and said, "So, there's this crazy thing happening in Coachella Valley. You wanna be a part of it?"
On the most difficult Pink Floyd song to perform:
Laessig: The most daunting and challenging, but has turned out to be great, is "The Great Gig in the Sky."
When we were initially presented with that, it was kind of, Okay, what is the balance there? Because you want to keep some of the moments that people are going to be expecting and love and make it what it is. But you also want to do your own thing.
We wanted to make our imprint and luckily [Waters] was very welcoming of that. But it was a daunting task and it ended up being good in the end.
On trying to make these songs their own:
Wolfe: It's different singing your own songs and your own arrangements. But when you're a part of something that is as iconic as this is, and people really know every moment of every song because they've grown up with these records, you want to serve it well.
But you also want to turn their heads and try and do something that brings a new life to it in some way. Because, otherwise, what's the point? It would be a mistake to try and replicate something that wasn't ours.
Lucius will release its latest single, "Pulling Teeth," on vinyl on Nov. 25.
'A Nation Engaged': America Ferrera
KPCC and other NPR Member stations are participating in a national conversation called "A Nation Engaged." This week at The Frame, we're asking creators who work in arts and entertainment to weigh in on our nation's state of affairs.
In our final installment of the series, we hear from TV actress, producer and activist America Ferrera. She began her acting career with the 2002 film, "Real Women Have Curves," and has since starred in the TV series "Ugly Betty" and more recently in NBC's workplace comedy, "Superstore."
Here are America Ferrera's responses for "A Nation Engaged":
What does it mean to be an American?
Being American means holding the American values of equality and liberty and justice for all in your heart and believing in those values and protecting those values regardless of whether you agree or disagree with another human being. Acknowledging their humanity, their equality and their right to justice is to me what it means to be American.
What could the next president do to advance your vision?
I think that the next President of the United States needs to acknowledge that there are barriers to achieving that equality and there are real legislative and physical and cultural obstacles to all of us enjoying that equality. So it's not just about us acknowledging them and saying, yes they exist — which is hard enough for us to do — but to acknowledge them and [ask] how we begin to remove the barriers so that equality goes from just being an idea and a concept to something that can be an experience for so many people that it isn't an experience for yet.
Series: A Nation Engaged
NPR and KPCC's coverage of critical issues facing the nation before November's presidential election. The stories seek to build a nationwide conversation around focusing on a specific question each time.
Read more in this series and let us know your thoughts in the comments section below or on Facebook.