Megafaun carves out a creative niche of its own

Sometimes in the heat of telling a story, journalists can get caught up in their own momentum, trampling the people involved in order to present something compelling on the page.

Durham’s Megafaun has been the victim of one such stampede.

The experimental folk trio made up of brothers Phil and Brad Cook and lifelong friend Joe Westerland was once in a band called DeYarmond Edison with Justin Vernon. When Vernon moved back to the group’s native Wisconsin and headed to a snowed-in hunting cabin to nurse a broken heart, the resulting music made a big splash. Forming a new band and dubbing it Bon Iver, Vernon has stormed the indie world, leading many to misconstrue Phil, Brad and Joe as the leftovers.

“We were just written off as a band he left behind in really f--ked up ways,” Phil Cook said. “You just realize how much it’s out of your control, how quickly things just explode.”

But with a new critically acclaimed record in Gather, Form and Fly, Megafaun has begun receiving its own wave of national attention. Coming off tours with fellow Triangle folk act Bowerbirds as well as Bon Iver, the group has risen to a stature where references to former groups are not necessary.

“We’ve gotten a chance to tour and play some historic venues and tour with our friends,” Cook said. “We’re making just enough money to not have to work as much when we get home. Things are good, man. Things are good.”

This success is owed to an off-kilter sound that’s like nothing else. A fluid mix of folk, noise, blues and pretty much everything in between, Megafaun’s music could only be made by artists that are incredibly familiar with one another.

“We run into bands on the road and hear a lot of stories about bands where it’s turmoil and all business,” Cook said, talking about how great it is to play with people you know well. “That’s going to happen no matter what, but I feel lucky, all of us do, that we play in a band that gets along so well.”

Though the group has had success putting its music to tape, Cook says that the live performances  are where the heart of the band truly lies.

“The only way we truly convert people is when they see us live,” he said. “It’s brought us around to this really good place where we really feel emboldened to be these road warriors, one by one, building up fans that we’re going to convince to keep coming to our shows. We’ll build it the old-school way.”

And in the wake of everything that’s happened over the past few years, Cook is insistent in pointing out there are no hard feelings between his band and Vernon.

“This last tour we did with him was a chance we had to hang out for two straight weeks on a bus. It kind of came full circle. It was a chance for us to just be together, which is what we wanted.”



Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu.