Alt Country Rock band, Divining Rod, led by Hawaiian born, multi-instrumentalist Miyuki Furtado, who sings, plays guitar and drums (on his very own homemade suitcase drumset!) simultaneously! He has been playing his brand of soul-tinged Americana up and down the east coast along with his cohorts (guitarist/vocalist, Patrick Harmon, bassist Matt Svigals and drummer, John Malone). The band emerges, post pandemic, with an exciting new release recorded mostly live in 2 days. Melodic, rowdy and tender songs swathed in reverb. Miyuki was also a member of Brooklyn trio The Rogers Sisters.
By Kamil Bobin
Discovered via Musosoup
Hello Divining Rod. Can you tell us about your early career? Where did you get the idea for the music industry?
Heya! This is Miyuki. Divining Rod started as a psych folk acoustic solo side project after my old band, The Rogers Sisters, split. I had just moved out of Brooklyn north of the city after 7 years of non-stop touring and recording. I needed a break. It was an on again/off again sort of thing until I met up with Patrick Harmon, after which it became a country rock band. Then we recruited our neighborhood friends, Matt Svigals and John Malone to flesh out the band.
Where do you start when producing songs?
I was surrounded by music early on while growing up in Hawaii. My uncles, aunts and cousins played at every family get together. I heard lots of traditional Hawaiian music, as well as country music. I became obsessed with making my own music in middle school, recording songs on 4 track recorders in my bedroom. I moved to Baltimore for university and became more of a full time musician- touring and making records. Then i moved to Brooklyn and got signed to Too Pure Records and started making much more records. Now I make records as Divining Rod.
Your latest song is 'Mason County Line'. Can you tell us more about the making of it and if there were any unusual things happening during the process?
The song pretty much came to me in an afternoon. I was listening to a lot of honky tonk and outlaw country on the radio. I heard a lot of greats including Dwight Yoakam and Joe Ely, so maybe that sunk into the grey matter. I sort of imagined ‘Mason County Line’ playing on the jukebox of a line dancing bar somewhere in Texas.
We had just finished a weeks-long residency on New York’s legendary Circle Line Cruises playing our songs (& some out-there covers) for hours on end. That got us into fighting shape and sharpened us up as a live band. So much so that we went to my friend’s studio (Virtue and Vice Studios in Brooklyn NY), set up in one room and recorded 13 songs pretty much live over the course of a day and a half. We did very few overdubs (acoustic guitar and the odd vocal doubling). What you’re hearing on the recording is what you’ll hear live.
What was the most difficult challenge you faced?
Making a living making music in the digital streaming age and after the 2 year COVID worldwide lockdown was especially difficult.
What is your goal in artistic activities?
To create something beautiful.
How do you know when a work is finished?
Works are never finished. Only abandoned.
What is your trademark? It's about unique sounds or behaviors on stage.
I sing, play guitar and drums at the same time. My drummer John and I both play kits that I built from old suitcases that I found at flea markets and yard sales. No one expects us to sound how we sound when they look at our fairly chaotic, handmade set up.
Mason County Line was recorded about 95% live in one room with the most minor of overdubs. My guitarist, Patrick says that there was ‘no studio trickery to speak of - just a really good performance captured on excellent gear’.
What are your biggest achievements so far as an artist, but also personally?
I have been fortunate enough to write songs and make records and to tour around the world a bunch of times. I am most proud of having recorded a Peel Session before John Peel passed away. But mostly, I am grateful to be able to make music on my own terms and with people I like.
What memorable responses have you had to your work?
A fairly intoxicated audience member kept trying to get us to play Shania Twain because that was his favorite country singer. We’ve had professional ballroom dancers jump up to do the lindy hop, to our surprise. We once infuriated a tour guide during one of our shows, so much so that he tried to shut us down mid-performance. We refused because we take orders from no one.
What are your plans for the future?
We have 2 EPs already recorded and will be releasing them in the spring and the summer. We’ll be playing a bunch of shows and we’ll make more videos. We’ll also be returning to our fall residency on New York’s legendary Circle Line. We play 4 sets of our songs (& a few covers of songs we love) every weekend for about two months. It’s a blast and it helped us get into shape before going into the studio. It’s like being on tour but we get to sleep in our own beds at home. That’s how we were able to record 13 songs in about a day and a half.