Richard Edwards of Margot and the Nuclear So and So's Deal with his Family Ties

Megan Connelly

Richard Edwards

​Over the phone with the core of Margot and the Nuclear So and So's--singer songwriter Richard Edwards--you get the feeling that his lackadaisical tone is a foil.

The man, after all, helms music that's been labeled cinematic chamber pop, not simple, three-chord, verse-chorus-verse ditties.

On the band's third album, Buzzard, there's still a sense of playfulness in their music, but if anything, it's more upbeat and less, well, lackadaisical.

The name Buzzard itself doesn't seem like an afterthought, even though Edwards says it is. "Titles of these things are pulled from thin air.

It's a play on the name of our last record, Animal, and it kind of felt like a reaction to that record. It's just a word that feels like the album sounds, most of the time," he finished.



Margot & the Nuclear So and Sos - As Tall As Cliffs - Live

Margot & the Nuclear So and So's | Myspace Music Videos

Edwards, who is a new dad, said that having a family didn't really impact the writing of Buzzard ("All the songs were written before having a baby was any form of concrete reality, so it's written from fairly unattached, wandering kid perspective").

But the new work that he's been working on definitely touches on parenthood more. There are some other fundamental ways the band has changed, Edwards explained--the most obvious of which is touring for extended periods of time. "Nomadic living is all I've known since I was 20, and I'm 27 now. It's an adjustment to have a home base that you're not clamoring to get away from. I'm also taking the business side of it a little more seriously, you can't just blow it off, because there's more to lose."

The stronger sense of family has impacted the constantly changing band lineup as well. "l'm pretty lucky that whenever there's a lineup change it congeals very quickly," Edwards says. That, and there's also less people. Sans a horn player and a second drummer, "everyone bonds and becomes close."

After this tour, Edwards is planning to track his new songs. "We can release records on our time, since we're more independent, so we want to write this winter and release it early next year." That drive seems pretty much the antithesis of lackadaisical.

Margot and the Nuclear So and So's perform at the Detroit Bar on Saturday, Nov. 13.