Interview with Semisonic’s Dan Wilson

Hey FFTB family,

Big time interview today!  For this episode of the interview series we have Dan Wilson.  Dan Wilson is a Grammy-winning songwriter and producer.  He’s the front man of Semisonic, writes songs for little artists such as the Dixie Chicks, Adele, Josh Groban.  Go to Dan’s Website and then go listen to the Dixie Chicks “Taking the Long Way” which only one the album of the year in 2006.

FFTB: Does Semisonic have any plans to record in the future?

Dan: I’m not sure what Semisonic is going to release, but I’ve got a batch of songs that I think could make a great Semisonic album. I’d be really happy if we could make a record, or at least some tracks to release in some way. We’ve done sessions of various kinds together over the past few years and some of it sure sounds like Semisonic. I know that’s not quite an answer, but from the start the band was based
on doing music when it felt right, so that’s how we do it.

FFTB: What are your non-musical influences?

Dan: I am very influenced by the values of my family. My parents were devoted to me and my brother and sister.We always knew they were there for us, and although I didn’t like it at the time, they were pretty strict about household rules and a code of conduct outside the house. My siblings and I got in trouble with them a lot, put it that way, but we ended up okay.

Also, they put in a lot of time fostering an artistic and creative life for us. My parents forced me to take piano lessons for years even though I complained and tried to give them up. I’m so glad they prevailed. My mother in particular was constantly doing little creative projects with my siblings and I when we were growing up.

Two other big non-musical influences on me are visual art and neuroscience. I studied art in college, and was convinced for a long time that I was going to be a painter, rather than a musician. My visual art studies were both art history, and the classic, practical art school approach to making art. This approach focusses on the
basics of art, like figure drawing, color theory, etc. But more importantly, in art school you learn ways to create and keep inspiration. So where lots of songwriters have to wait for inspiration to come to them, I have my art-school training which takes the mystery out of inspiration and makes it available from day to day.

My interest in neuroscience leads me to read a lot of amazing books, from more technical brain studies books like “Phantoms in the Brain,” by VS Ramachandran, to more spiritual works like “The Snow Leopard,” by Peter Mathiesson. I’m convinced that science and spirituality are on a wonderful collision course, and that in a hundred years, the “opposition” of religion and science will seem like a relic of a lost
time.

FFTB: Think of the last song your wrote; what were the steps taken to complete that song?

Dan: The last song I finished is called, “Too Much.” I recorded it recently and it’ll probably appear on my next album. I thought of the melody about three years ago, but I forgot all about it for a long time. I would play the melody on the piano over and over, not being able to think of words for it. The “step” I took to finish the song was to realize that the piano melody was too symmetrical and classical-sounging for voice. That melody was only for the piano, and once I realized that I decided to write a different vocal melody and lyrics to intertwine with the piano melody. I’m really happy with how it turned out.

FFTB: Is it better to be great at 1 instrument or decent at many?

Dan: I’m decent at many instruments and it’s worked fine for me. The secret is maybe to use your limitations to your own advantage. My piano playing is very simple, but I’ve learned how to create almost a sense of breathing and emotion for a song using just a few simple chords.

Semisonic recently played a few gigs in Minneapolis and Denver, and I was amazed at how easy my guitar parts are to play! That was a good reminder to me – you don’t need to do anything particularly fancy to make something great.

FFTB: As a band with a distinct lyrical style, do you use lyrics to write music, or music with lyrics to follow?

Dan: I usually need to have the lyrics and melody come at the same time. If the melody is too “finished” sounding, I can never squeeze words into it. On the other hand, if I have just a few good lines of lyrics for a melody, then I have a way in, a key to the song. Once I have those couple of lines I’m always confident I can come up with more.

FFTB: What is the primary instrument you use to write music with?

Dan: Piano and acoustic guitar. Sometimes no instrument, walking down the street or driving.

FFTB:  How do you approach playing songs live when the recording have extra tracks?

Dan: I like to treat the live performance as a different animal than the recording. It’s nice when the live version can seem like the recording, but I’ve decided you don’t need to include everything from the record to make a great live version. That makes it fun to do very different versions, like when I play concerts with just Brad Gordon on piano and me on guitar. I can re-arrange my band songs and my solo
songs into a whole new vibe just for those shows.

FFTB: What guitar pedal(s) can’t you live without?

Dan: Z. Vex “Box of Rock” is by far my most used pedal. It’s a great way to make amps sound bigger and more rocking, but it’s subtle – it sounds like amp overdrive rather than pedal distortion. Z. Vex “Fuzz Factory” is really important for Semisonic shows – that pedal is the buzzy, fuzzy distortion on the guitar solo of “Closing Time,” and I love it.
MXR Super Comp (a Dyna Comp with one more knob) is really valuable in the studio, it makes clean sounds sound more bell-like and somehow cleaner. Those three for sure.

FFTB:  Who are your top three favorite songwriters?

Joni Mitchell, The Sherman Brothers, Paul McCartney.

FFTB: Any advice for young aspiring musicians and songwriters?

Songwriters: finish a lot of songs. A bad finished song is infinitely more valuable than ten great unfinished songs. Musicians and songwriters: play shows, lots of shows. Get your stuff out in front of people even before it’s ready. Just jump up onstage and play.

Musicians: make sure your songs are great, and do whatever it takes to have a great repertoire of songs. That, a great voice, and a great drummer are the factors that make or break bands. Drums are still key.

FFTB:  You write amazing catchy melodies and since I tend to favor melodic music, I’m wondering how you continue to find great melody lines as much of the music gets more and more experimental?

Dan: I have no idea how I continue to find melodies. I look for them a lot, maybe that’s the only thing you have to do, is look for them all the time.

Interview with Steve Goold

Time for an interview! This time we have an interview with musician Steve Goold. Steve is a Twin Cities based drummer that plays/performs with many groups and is a drummer sponsored by Risen Drums. Steve knows how to rock, and when he rocks he rocks hard. He is an above average disc golf player and likes to play drums that have lights in them. 

Please check out his myspace site: http://www.myspace.com/stevegoold and his video’s here: http://www.risendrums.com/video/Goold_Lessons/Steve_Goold_lessons.htm and his blog here: http://stevegoold.wordpress.com/

FFTB: What are your musical influences? How do you incorporate those influences into your playing?

SG: My influences are everything I listen to. That sounds dumb/obvious, but it’s true. I listen to a ton of different stuff, and it ALL affects me. Sometimes I hear new stuff to try, and sometimes I hear things I definitely don’t like I want to make sure I never do them. Sometimes what I hear gets my brain jogging to a new place that I’ve never been. Every piece of music I hear influences me. I will, however, say that, as an instrumentalist and not a song-writer, my influences reside solely in music, and not life generally. I’ve never felt pushed or inspired by culture/politics/relationships/whatever to play my drums a certain way. I know other instrumentalists who do get inspired that way, but I’m not one of them. The world where I play my instrument is a sonic environment only. I don’t really connect my “life” and my playing at all – or at least not consciously.

FFTB: How important is a good drummer player to a good songwriter?

SG: My experience has been that a drummer will affect a songwriter to the degree that the songwriter wants to be affected. Sometimes writers take an idea and bounce it off of me, and my response will really impact the direction of the song. Other times, a songwriter just writes the tune entirely, and then asks me to merely put rhythm behind it.

FFTB: You’ve played with many different songwriters; do you see any common elements to their songwriting process? How do they involve you? How is this different from other groups you play in?

SG: This is similar to the previous question I guess. Again, they’re all different. Some of them want me to be apart of it, some of them don’t. I will say that the my presence seems to always make the biggest impact on a song’s arrangement. For example, the song might be completely finished, but once the drums are there, the songwriter realizes that they want a turnaround after the first verse, whereas it worked fine without the turnaround when they played the song by themselves and no drums.

FFTB: Can you explain a little about your role in the 87′ Lakers as far as arranging or writing went.

SG: Ha. The Lakers. Sheesh, I can’t even remember. Chris and Vinny wrote all that stuff, and I just played along with it. But, really… that’s a way different scenario than any other project you would ask me about, because of the jazz thing and the anti-pop nature of that music.

FFTB: Is it better to be an expert at 1 instrument or good at many?

SG: Depends on what you want to do. Songwriters don’t really have to be “good” at any instrument. producers have to have a good amount of facility on almost every instrument, but they don’t need to be particularly advanced. But then if you want to be a session player on a particular instrument, you probably need to just focus on that one only, because session guys have to be REALLY GREAT at their instrument, and there’s probably not enough time in one lifetime to become REALLY GREAT at more than one thing.

FFTB: When you practice, what do you work on?

SG: Hmmm. I’ll just tell you what I’m working on currently, because it’s always changing. Lately I’ve been exploring how to make a drumset sound synthetic… with grooves and tones and experiments on how to use each part. I’m also playing at specific tempos and trying to see which grooves work well at those tempos and which ones don’t. That’s a really rough summary though.

FFTB: If you were a fantasy creature what would you be?

SG: Does Predator count as “fantasy”? We’ll say it does. I would be Predator.

FFTB: How important is the snare tone compared with other pieces of the drum set?

SG: Short answer: MOST important. Of everything involved with how a drumset sounds, the single biggest player in how a track sounds overall is the snare tone.

FFTB: You used to always wear a white t-shirt and wood-beaded necklace, what happened?

SG: I’m no longer 21. Now I’m 29.

FFTB: Any advice for young aspiring musicians and songwriters?

SG: Own it. Don’t just try it and get it to the point where you can kinda do it. OWN IT. Get it totally internalized. Get it to the point where everyone can tell that it’s not hard for you. Whatever “it” may be… it can’t be a fight. If you have to fight it, then you’ll never really reach the place where you can say something meaningful with it.

 

Thanks for the Great inteview Steve

-FFTB

Interview with Jesse Norell

Hello fftb family around the world.  We have another interview for you today.  Twin Cities rockaholic Jesse Norell.  You may have seen Jesse in the bands Copy and/or Reticence.  Jesse is a writer on howwastheshow.com and has been involved with Misplaced Music Radio.  Jesse is the most ripping nice guy guitarist I have ever met.

 FFTB: Think of the last song your wrote; what were the steps taken to complete that song? 

[j] The first thing I do is consider my purpose or audience for the song. Recently I wrote a song that was auctioned off as part of a church missions trip fundraiser. So I had to consider what style of music and type of lyrics would fit the person that purchased the song. Another song I wrote was in preparation for a worship leading job that I was interviewing for. So the music and lyrics has to fit the situation. I try to come up with a series of interesting guitar parts that hang together. The guitar parts can’t be boring, nor can they be so busy that it detracts from the vocal melody. Next I hum some random stuff and hopefully something memorable sticks. At this point I’ll record some ideas into a Dictaphone and come back to it. Then I return with more objectivity, which is the point when a lot can get reworked or the whole thing could get the ax. If I get past that stage, I’ll slowly struggle to find words that fit. I’m comfortable rearranging the music of a song long after it’s “done” but I give myself a cutoff for lyrics when I stop torturing myself and call it quits. I’m always my own worst critic, which I hear is common with songwriters and other artists.

 
FFTB: Is it better to be great at 1 instrument or decent at many? 

[j] It depends on whether you are leading or following. If you are leading a band by writing songs and singing, a knowledge of the other instruments that are involved is very helpful for communicating with the other musicians. If your role is to support another songwriter by playing the bass, for example, then you should focus on being really stinking great at the bass to be able to contribute what is needed for each song.

 
FFTB: Would you consider lyrics to be music? 

[j] No. I don’t think of lyrics as music, but rather a vital part of music. I think of lyrics and vocal melody as so important that sometimes I feel like instrumental music is only half of a song. I used to think of lyrics as poetry, but I was disappointed to discover that the poetry classes I took really didn’t help me write better lyrics all that much. Lyrics are a unique beast and writing them well is an art form that is distinctly different from any other. Very few popular artists do this well because, in pop music, lyrics are somewhat peripheral to success.

 
FFTB: How do you approach playing songs live when the recording have extra tracks? 

[j] This is a tough question. One of the hardest things to do as a songwriter is to have a clearheaded, objective, outsider’s perspective. Sometimes when listening to a song I wrote, my mind will fill in the gaps, so it’s helpful to have someone else tell you if a song sounds hollow without that extra guitar part. I’ve tried looping, but that can become a nightmare in a live setting after a while. I’m used to playing in a guitar/bass/drums trio, but I hope that future projects will have an extra person that can fill in those gaps and provide some of the ear candy that can add so much to a song. 

 
FFTB: What is the recipe for a great song? 

[j] You have to start with creativity. A song does not have to be so unique that it approaches bizarre, but it shouldn’t sound totally familiar either. Songs should be somewhat memorable. I am a huge fan of non-obvious hooks. I believe all great songs are filled with emotion. Songs without emotion tend to be dry, background music. Great songs have time and thought poured into them. They are honed and refined. If the song is brought to other musicians, positivity is necessary as negativity can squelch the greatest of songs.  

FFTB: What is your favorite fantasy creature? 

[j] The chimera. Lion, goat, snake… three fantasy creatures for the price of one. Breathes fire. Bonus!

 
FFTB: Do you have any common themes you use lyrically? 

[j] I went through a phase where I wrote a lot about how the media affects society. I’m a sucker for breakup songs, which fueled the creative fire a few years ago when so many of my relationships were falling apart. None of them were the typical, boy-girl breakup songs; my wife and I came through all that just fine. The effects of sin has been a big theme in the past too. 

Currently I’m trying to be more positive. I’m done with being mopey. I’ve been getting more excited about writing music for church services that really expresses something truthful about who God is. I also see myself telling someone else’s story for a change. Especially giving a voice to those who can speak for themselves and trying to fill in the gaps where social justice is absent.  

 
FFTB: Who are your top three favorite songwriters? 

[j] I’ll answer this question in two categories. The first contains artists who know how to put together great songs from start to finish. They can see how their songs fit together with each other. They write great melodies, solid lyrics and all work well solo or with their band: 

David Bazan (Pedro the Lion)

David Crowder (David Crowder Band)

Glen Phillips (Toad the Wet Sprocket) 

This second category contains some of my favorite guitar players. They are first and foremost mad-scientists on the electric guitar and then work with their band to make their creations into great songs. 

Tom Morello (Rage against the Machine)

Matt Bellamy (Muse)

Bill Mike (Bill Mike Band) 

FFTB: Any advice for young aspiring musicians and songwriters? 

[j] Be creative. Don’t copy anyone else.  

Dream big and have vision, but don’t quit your day job.  

Make music you love, because no matter how awesome it is, somebody’s going to hate it. If you make music to please somebody else, even you won’t like it and you won’t please anybody.  

Be ok with failing and remember that you’re on a journey. Most people’s first songs are terrible, which is good because otherwise there would be no way of seeing how far they’ve come. 

Wear earplugs or turn the amps down because tinnitus is not all that cool. 

Find a group of people that are positive and will support you. There is so much work that goes into trying to make money doing music and it’s tiring and lonely doing it by yourself. Being creative and organized is difficult and rare, so use those skills if you have them or find somebody who can be organized for you. 

Don’t get caught up in the scene. There are way more unhealthy ways to do music than healthy ways so be on your guard. 

Don’t give up at the first sign of discouragement. Give it time and persevere. But if you go through long stretches where you’re really unhappy with what you’re doing musically, it may be time for a change. 

Huge FFTB thanks for sharing your thoughts Jesse.  Please make sure to check out some of the projects Jesse is involved in…

Interview with Aaron Ankrum – ep9

Finally a new interview!  In this episode we unveil the inner most thoughts of Minneapolis musician/songwriter Aaron Ankrum.  Aaron is well known through the Twin Cities and heads the uncanny “Grayshot“.  It would be wise to keep your eye and ears open for this band.  Here is a sampling (please ignore the cheesy morning news show feel)

 

FFTB: How did the name ‘Grayshot’ come about?

[a]My grandpa was born in a town called Gratiot Ohio. Obviously we took a few liberties with the spelling, but essentially we chose the name because it was a bit of a tip of the cap to our family that at the same time didn’t have some incredibly deep meaning that would take away from the band itself.

FFTB: What are some of your non-musical influences and why?

[a] Movies and books are huge for me, but most art forms find a way of asserting influence on me. Anytime I’m left feeling like I’ve lost something when it’s over– like that feeling when you’re so attached to characters in a book that it makes you sad you won’t get to spend time with them anymore when you’ve finished reading it. I think one factor that makes me subjectively decide if I think a certain work of art is “great” or not is whether or not it has stirred something in me to the point of missing it when it’s over. Another factor is if the emotion it evokes leaves me wanting to make a change or create something in my life that seeks to establish that feeling again, or avoid a feeling if it is a painful one.

FFTB: Do you find yourself writing lyrics in common themes to other songs you’ve written?

[a] For sure, the timeline of my life is marked most strongly by the things I was sorting out in my head. I try to make each song its own, and often times I will end up combining songs that I thought were totally independent thoughts after realizing that they needed each other in order to be complete. That also helps me by not having to fluff my way through 2 separate songs that are saying the exact same thing. One great song is better than 2 ok songs, even when the band is trying to pull together a 60 minute set. 🙂

FFTB: Would you consider Lyric’s to be music?

[a]I think lyrics are art, but not music. It is hard for me to separate the 2, but the more I’ve thought about it I believe that lyrics aren’t music. The one exception that I’m still a little bit foggy on is when there is a line that just does not ‘sing well’ in the studio and a small change to the lyrics makes all the musical difference in the world… that seems pretty musical for me. Contradiction? yes.

FFTB: Is it better to be great at 1 instrument or decent at many?

[a]That all depends on the musical motivation of the individual. I want to be able to create the music that I write and no single instrument, no matter how proficient I am, will be able to accomplish that. So the answer for me is decent at many. For other friends of mine, the instrument itself is a major driving force behind their endeavors, and usually along with that comes the desire to be able to execute whatever is asked of them in the moment. I’m probably not saying this as accurately as someone with this mindset would, but that’s because it’s just not me 🙂

FFTB: What creates a better song one motivated by fiction or non-fiction?

[a] Both can be truth, so whether it’s an experience, a concept, or a great story– the more ‘truth’ a song contains the better the song is regardless of whether it is based on real events.

FFTB: How important is a good band to a songwriter?

[a]It depends on what good is. I’ve been challenged on that a lot recently because it is all so subjective with art. Some bands that I think are perfect for the songwriter are far from being great technical players, but there is something about the vibe that they bring that is right for that particular artist. Other songwriters really need a band that is just nailing it all the time musically and the vibe comes from that kind of energy. So, the answer would be that a good band is very important, but good can mean many things. If U2 had a drummer and bass player that were able to go around and do clinics on separation, I would put my reputation on the line to say that they would be nowhere near the level they are today and that far less people would have connected with them–its all about the chemistry of those 4 guys in particular and their ability to capitalize on their strengths AND their limitations. First of all, that is not a knock on Larry Mullen Jr. or Adam Clayton, I LOVE their playing, but I’m sure they hang their hat on the fact that they are musicians, not technicians. Back to my statement about connecting with them– there is something about the chemistry of a group of people playing music that cannot be improved by simply replacing one member with a member that has better chops–it just doesn’t work that way. Sometimes it is the right move to upgrade to a player that is at the level you need him or her to be, but it is not a mathematical equation says band + better drummer/bassist/guitarist/singer = better band.

FFTB: What songwriters inspire you? Do any songwriters discourage you?

[a]Almost all of the songwriters that inspire me discourage me. I have to fight the feeling of “I’ll never write anything this good” and turn it into motivation. As for the writers in particular I’ll drop a list on you the randomly pops into my head: Andy Stochansky, Matthew Hales (Aqualung), Doves, Bono and U2 (of course, but come on!), Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Brian Wilson, Luke Reynolds (Blue Merle), Pete Yorn, Clarence Greenwood (Citizen Cope), Chris Martin and Coldplay, Fran Healy (Travis), Adam Levy (Honeydogs), Jason Falkner, Jeff Buckley, Even Johannsen (Magnet), Joel Hanson, John Mayer, Wheat, Jellyfish

FFTB: Any advice for young punk aspiring musicians and songwriters?

[a]As usual, I need to answer this question in a roundabout way. Here are some things I believe to be true about songwriting: You can’t control what anyone thinks of your music, musical trends or whether what is ‘you’ is ‘hip’ at the moment. You can only control how honestly you portray your heart and who you are in your songs, when you decide that a song is done and what is heard by the public (whether that is 5 people or 60,000). How that plays out for me is this: I work hard to turn off my critical ear when I’m writing so I can just get the words and melodies out—this is a simple concept but probably my biggest struggle in writing. Once I’ve written something I listen to it like someone else wrote it, break it down to what is good (if anything) and what needs work. Then I enter the process of trying to retain the honesty in the song but improve upon the package that it is delivered in. There are times when I know that a line isn’t hip or poetic but that it is honest and accurate to how I feel and it stays in. That is where it comes down to when I as the songwriter make the final decision that a song is ready to present to whoever is going to hear it. I think my most often given advice to songwriters (including myself) is to rewrite. Don’t be afraid of the rewrite. I’ve written entire songs, scrapped everything except one line, written a new song around it and not even retained the original line! Sometimes I just need to get things out of my system and see it on paper to realize that I don’t feel as strongly about something or that I can say it better (either more clearly or more poetically). That being said, not every song needs to be rewritten! Sometimes it goes down right away the way that it is supposed to be and that is a beautiful thing. Remember this though- the original version isn’t going anywhere, exploring other ideas doesn’t erase the original but it does give you the opportunity to improve upon it if you find there is room to do so.

Jon Reine Interview – Ep8

Time for FFTB’s 8th interview.  For this episode we have Jon Reine of the rock-n-roll music group Greycoats.  The Greycoats are awesome.  They play rock music with a solid artistic twist.  Currently, they are on tour through the west coast.  Please listen to some tracks, check out the video and enjoy the great interview. 

FFTB: Any background on the band name ‘Greycoats’? 

We had settled on NORTH for a while thinking it to be a strong, iconic name.  Unfortunately, quite a few other people had that same idea.  Some of them were recording and touring so we knew a change had to be made before finishing our album.  I remember waking up with the name GREYCOATS in my head one morning, presenting it to the guys, and deciding to run with it. 

The meaning of GREYCOATS could go in a number of different directions.  Russian soldiers of the line used to be called ‘greycoats.’  There’s a Westminster school for girls called The Grey Coat Hospital, or ‘Grey Coats’ – that seemed a bit Morrissey to me.  Then there’s the American Civil War – Soldiers of the north were called ‘blue-bellies’ and soldiers of the south, ‘grey coats.’  I liked the play off of our first name – if ‘North’ is taken, we’ll adopt the ‘south.’  Thematically this seemed to work with the album, taking on the name of the enemy… or eschewing black & white in favor of grey. 

I’m also a fan of band names that sound like the music they make:  Low, Metallica, The Innocence Mission, etc.  Perhaps the name offers a clue to our melancholic bent. 
 
 

FFTB: What are your non-musical influences? 

Film.  Literature.  History.  Philosophy.  Big Ideas.  Transcendence.  Obsessive Perfectionism.  The Reach.  Man Against the Sea. 

Our last record had a meta-narrative of polarization and propaganda running throughout the whole thing.  I was reading a lot of dystopian literature – Orwell, Bradbury, Zamyatin, etc.  Then also: Steinbeck, Solzhenitsyn, and some stuff on World War I. 

World War I became for me this symbol of forgotten history.  There are only a handful of surviving WWI vets.  Property lines were drawn at the end of that war that are still being fought over today.  It was a messy war of disillusionment.  New technologies were being used to horrible ends.  We have the Russian revolution born in it’s wake – The Gulags and the Orwellian states.  

I spent some time in Burma, as well as a few Karen refugee camps in Thailand a few years ago.  There’s a joke in Burma that Orwell wrote a trilogy based on the modern history of Burma:  Burmese Days, Animal Farm & 1984.  The Saffron Uprising two summers ago inspired “That Great and Terrible Day.”  The repressive state apparatus – the use of brute force to bring the state into subjection. 

Then there’s the ideological state apparatus used to get willing compliance from your desired subjects.  These are the things in life that we never question and accept as reality – being exploited in times of war and elections.  We’re always on the side of justice – and our opponents with the devil.  I think Steinbeck is a great antidote – helping us to see the saint and villain inside each of us. 

I heard an interview with The Lives of Others director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck recounting his inspiration for the film.  It was a quote from Lenin about how the beauty of Beethoven’s Appassionata got in the way of his revolution.  It made him want to say sweet and silly things people rather than applying merciless force.   

“It showed me how much the ideologue has to be at war with his own humanity to pursue his ideological goals,” said Donnersmarck. “I thought, let’s see if I can find a way of telling a story where a Lenin figure would be forced to listen to the Appassionata just as he was getting ready to smash in someone’s head.” 

I love this idea of art unraveling the state.  Beauty transforms the Beast. 

FFTB: Think of the last song your wrote; what were the steps taken to complete that song? 

It sprung from writer’s block on another song i was working on.  I started playing something different on my guitar just to get out of the rut.  I played that progression over and over, singing words that came to mind over the top until i had a verse.  i had an idea for the theme of the song in the back of my head.  I then found myself at a pre-chorus that came out a bit too easy, but i think maybe that can be a strength sometimes.  I also worked a rough idea out for the chorus that i wasn’t terribly excited about, but just wanted to get something out. 

      I brought that to the band at next rehearsal and we played through it, messing around with time signature.  i moved from a more rhythmic strum to an arpeggiated thing on my electric to give a little more space to the song.  it felt good with the guys and they ended up liking the chorus so it stuck. 

      The second verse came out of a drive home from Milwaukee during a snowstorm, cars on both sides of the ditches.  That imagery stuck.  I also had the myth of Orpheus in the back of my mind, did some brushing up on the story and verses two and three came together.  I think i had a rough idea together within a week.  I tweaked words the next week.  I feel pretty good about it now.  There is one small pre-chorus lyric that i’m still trying to land, but we’ve begun playing it live so i think that’ll come. 

I think the only reason that one came so quickly was that i had spent a lot of time with ideas that didn’t.  Not every song comes so fast, unfortunately, as I’ve got a dozen ideas I’m still trying to finish off.  But I’m glad when they do. 
 
 

FFTB: Is it better to be great at 1 instrument or decent at many? 

As a songwriter, it’s been rather helpful for me to have a working knowledge of several instruments.  A song written on guitar is gonna come out much different then one on a piano or synth.  Colors and textures change.  
 

FFTB: As a band with a distinct lyrical style, do you use lyrics to write music, or music with lyrics to follow? 

I keep a journal with lyrical thoughts and ideas, but really, the music almost always comes first.  i start singing something and certain vowel sounds or words seem to work better with the melody and my voice and i follow that.  I’ll probably start with whatever that first line is and try to figure out what the song’s supposed to be about from there.  Maybe it’ll attach itself to some ideas i’ve already been working through or it’ll lead in an entirely new direction, but that first ‘catch’ is a rather mystical practice. 

FFTB: Would you consider Lyric’s to be music? 

I knew a guy who had a notebook full of “songs.”  I remember thinking, “no – those are just a bunch of crappy poems.”  I don’t know if a lot of lyrics stand up apart from the song.  They can end up reading a bit ridiculous.  Language changes when it’s sung. 

I think calling a lyric music is like calling a screenplay a film.  A screenplay is never intended to be read alone.  That’s what a novel is for.  Of course, some songwriters write fabulous lyrics that stand on their own as great poetry/prose.  I’m not so sure that I’m one of them.  I see myself as more of an impressionist – trying to use an economy of words to draw out a rough sketch for the listener to fill in the blanks. It’s definitely an artform and a discipline that i’m trying to get better at. 

FFTB: What is the primary instrument do you use to write music with? 

Guitar.  Keyboard comes next…. Then, drum machine. 

FFTB: How do you approach playing songs live when the recording have extra tracks? 

     I like the idea that a live show is gonna be a different experience than listening to the album.  I think our live shows carry a lot more immediacy and energy as a result of just four guys hammering out these songs together in real time. 

     we’ve played shows accompanied by the extra cello, clarinet, mandolin, bells, guitars, etc… which can be great, but can also feel too much at times.  i think we’ve figured out how to make the most of the space as a four-piece so it doesn’t leave a lot of room for other things to happen.  

     However, playing with others/tracks can give you ALOT more confidence on stage and the tracks can make you sound really good.  We’ve just recently toyed around with the idea of playing to tracks.  Maybe we’ll try it out sometime in the near future.  Doing what we do now keeps everyone busy – for an entire show.   A break now and then might be nice, especially for Titus. 

As an audience member, i do rather enjoy watching people make noises in real time, though, as opposed to watching a puppet show – even if it doesn’t sound perfect.  At some point, it’s no longer believable as an experience. 

FFTB: What guitar pedal(s) can’t you live without? 

I’m such a sucker for reverb/delay on both my voice and guitar.  It’s a great way for a hack like me to cover his mistakes.  It also adds a lot of breadth to your sound.  I’m all about filling huge spaces with sound.  I read an interview with The Edge once talking about running multiple delays to create a more three dimensional sound – A single delay can be a little flat.  

     Right now, I’m running a MAXON AD-9 for an analog delay and DD4 Line 6 for a Digital Delay.  I’ve used a Jekyl and Hyde for a number of years as a distortion and been happy with that.  I like rolling with the reverb  from my Vox AC-15.  But, really, my one essential is gonna be a delay pedal. 

  All of my pedals are from other guitarists that i’ve played with who are gearheads.  I’ve never been one myself so i have to mooch off of my friends. 

FFTB: Who are your top three favorite songwriters? 

Ron Sexsmith – This guy is a machine.  He makes it seem so effortless. Beautiful Melodies/Lyrics.  Tasty Arrangements. 

Paul McCartney/John Lennon – I’ve got to cheat a little on this one.  True, it’s a pop cliché go-to, but the amount of musical distance covered in such a short amount of time blows my mind. 13 albums in 7 years.  Plus, a cache of incredible singles that never made a proper album.  A single Beatles song would spark an entire genre.  I admire their curiosity. 

Dan Scott – Local songwriter.  Helped me become a better lyricist.  He needs to be playing/writing again and he needs Alan Sparhawk to produce.   
 

FFTB: Any advice for young aspiring musicians and songwriters? 

Believe in your dreams, because your dreams believe in you. 

I know that sounds ridiculous, but imagine if I sang it.

Adam Svec Interview – Ep7

Interview Episode number seven is here and we have another Twin Cities musician, Adam Svec of the band The Glad Version.  No only is Adam an active/critical member of The Glad Version, but he also has a solo album available under the name “Adam Svec” (big surprise) called Enemy Swimmer.  Enemy Swimmer has received some wonderful attention on City Pages top 10 albums of 2008.  Please go to the Glad Version myspace page and listen to 893 and love it, then check out everything else he is doing.  On to the questions….

 FFTB: Any background on the album title ‘Enemy Swimmer’?

[a] Enemy Swim is the name of a lake in northeastern South Dakota.  ‘Legend has it’ that the lake got its name from a late night confrontation on the water’s edge between two warring American Indian tribes.  As the defeated tribe attempted to retreat by swimming across the lake, many of them were shot in the back.  When the sun came up the next morning, the lake was filled with the bodies of dead enemies still swimming away from the fight.

I thought Enemy Swimmer would be an appropriate title for a record released by a dude from South Dakota who never seems to retreat from problems quickly enough.

FFTB: What are some of your non-musical influences and why?

[a] 1.  Chili / Espresso / Jameson.  If you are what you eat, than I am mostly made of chili, americanos, and a certain phenomenal Irish whiskey.
2.  Walking.  I walk about four miles a day.  I spend a lot of my time thinking about phrases, melodies, and concepts on my long walk home.
3.  Ben, Brenda, and Ryan.  I currently have six roommates, and I spend a lot of my time discussing matters of great importance with these three. 
4.  Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences.  Since I started the Audiology graduate program at the University of Minnesota in the fall, I’ve been inundated with completely incredible information by the SLHS department.
5.  Minneapolis.  It’s the city I’ve called home for a while… it’s where everything happens.

FFTB: Think of the last song your wrote; what were the steps taken to complete that song?
 
[a] Well, the last song I finished is called “Bellingham.”  It’s a reflection on a fantastic night that I had with my friends Andy and Hannah in Bellingham WA during the winter break.  Usually, if there is something about a day that really strikes me, I’ll write it down.  I don’t necessarily write in a journal format, because usually the most interesting things about a day are not necessarily the places or the things that happened.  More likely they are abstractions of a conversation or an observation.  The first line and the melody hit me while I was on a walk… “I’m having issues with a singer that I’ve never met, we share the x’s.”  Then, I expanded on that idea with some more of the things that I had written down about that night in Bellingham… discussions of doctorate programs… details of our surroundings… subsequent romantic boundaries… you know, the usual.  I didn’t actually figure out the guitar part until the song was already done.  That happens more often than not.  I’m definitely more of a singer than a player.  My guitar playing is pretty simple and sloppy.
 

FFTB: You have two projects going one at once, your solo stuff and Glad Version.  How did this come about?

[a] The Glad Version has been around in various forms for a number of years.  Chris and I have been playing together since 2000, and we’ve been playing with Tor and Travis since 2005 and 2006, respectively.  In 2007, I started playing solo shows to try out new songs in front of an audience before bringing those songs to the band.  I really enjoyed the experience, so I kept booking solo shows.  I decided to put out a solo record last year because of the amount of b-sides and extra material that didn’t make The Glad Version’s last record, Make Islands.  It’s also a little bit simpler to book out-of-town shows as just one guy (as opposed to four guys, and four-guys worth of gear).  My friend Michael Morris was able to book five shows for me on the west coast this past January, and I had a great time. 

FFTB: Do you find yourself writing lyrics in common themes to other songs you’ve written?

[a] Absolutely.  As a person who is chained to daily routines in an almost obsessive way,  I find myself revisiting themes constantly.  Consequently, one of the topics that gets a lot of ‘coverage’ in one way or another is my inability to break habits.  Other popular themes that creep up to the surface in choruses all the time are:  adoption, selfishness, foolishness, failed relationships, and the upper Midwest.  I feel the most free to break from these issues when I’m writing a story in third person.

FFTB: What is the primary instrument do you use to write music with?

[a] Honestly, most of the time I just write the music by singing it while I’m walking around, and then add guitar later.  The only time that I come up with an instrumental part first is when I’m playing piano… poorly.
 
FFTB: What creates a better song one fiction or non-fiction?

[a] That depends.  Some would argue that a real-life/non-fiction situation generates more true emotional attachment, stronger feelings, and, therefore, a stronger song.  I don’t completely disagree for some songwriters (e.g. Elliott Smith seemed to be at his best when singing in first person), but I would argue that a fictional story can have just as many elements of truth and honesty as a real-life situation (e.g. Tom Waits… amazing third-person songwriter).  Besides… by the time you slap all that information on a melody, you still just have a pop song.  Lyrically powerful or not, you are bound by the infectiousness and appropriateness of the melody and musical pieces.  

FFTB: How important is a good band to a good songwriter?

[a] That also depends.  A good rhythm section can be irreplaceable to a band like Spoon.  Britt Daniels is a fantastic songwriter, but holy hell… without those drum and bass parts, Spoon would be edgy guitar over soggy cereal.  Contrastingly, I think a songwriter like Stuart Davis is much more palatable when he is playing by himself.  When I’ve seen him with a rhythm section, it’s seemed a little forced.  Personally, I love playing with Travis, Tor, and Chris.  I benefit to no end from their skills.

FFTB: What is the best concert you’ve ever been too?

[a] I saw Smashing Pumpkins at the Sioux Falls Civic Center in 1995 when they were touring behind “Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness”… that was pretty rad.  Although, I would say seeing The Postal Service at The Entry in 2003 was quite a treat as well.

FFTB: Any advice for young aspiring musicians and songwriters?

[a]  First, write a lot of songs… loads of them.  I know that quantity does not equal quality, but really practicing your skill at songwriting will immensely improve your output.  Spending time at the piano or on the guitar and just plunking through new ideas is one of the most important things you can do.  You may write ten songs in a row that sound really similar… great!  Take the best one, and move on.  Touring, recording, playing out… all great things to do, but if your songs are not high quality, none of the previously mentioned things will matter.
Second, go to shows.  Listening to records gives you a good idea of what that room sounded like on that day at that moment, but going to a live show gives you an interactive experience that cannot be replicated.
Third, enjoy yourself.  When I started writing songs, I felt like I was trying to write for a style.  Don’t worry about the style… write what you like, and the form/fashion will come later.

Oh My God(Ig) Interview – Ep.6

I can’t believe it.  We are already on to our sixth interview.  We have a bunch of great interviews in the works and have completed many interviews that you should check out if you haven’t already.  For this edition we bring you Ig from the Chicago based band Oh My God.  I first experienced OMG about 3 years ago when Look Alive opened up for them at the Uptown Bar in Minneapolis.  I was hooked ever since that show, be warned that you might get hooked too.  They really know how to rock the crap out of an audience.

FFTB: What are your influences (musical and/or non-musical)? How do you incorporate those influences into your playing?

[i]Billy O’Neill (singer) and I (organ player) have a wide range of influences. Like I always read about in so many of our favorite bands, the two principal collaborators (Billy & I) come from totally different musical backgrounds. I took classical piano lessons as a kid, got into punk and blues as a teenager and have absorbed it all into my own keyboard-playing style and songwriting. Billy got into Black Sabbath and then later Van Halen, REO Speedwagon…he’s always been more into the “arena rock,” though he has a love for Tracy Chapman, Ani DeFranco and other stuff I never really listened to. Take all that, rub it together and you get the friction and chemical reaction known as oh my god.

FFTB: You semi-recently made a huge adjustment musically with the addition of a guitar. What lead to that process and were adjustments needed to make room for existing instrumentation?
[i] We played a couple gigs with a NYC band on Southern Records called Darediablo. They had a guitarist named Jake who was a VERY unusual guitarist–an ex-bassist who plays with his fingers on a Gibson SG and just gets such a nasty, cool sound. We thought, “Wow, imagine the oh my god sound, with our burning-up organ sound, together with Jake’s downright meanness on guitar!” I emailed Jake and shared my fantasy, and he reciprocated interest. And thus the “Fools Want Noise” album was born, and one tour together. He’s a busy guy, though, and is now working full time during the day in NY in addition to playing music, so he didn’t really have time for more than just the one-off. We’ve had a couple other friends who are really good guitarists play for our tours since (Matt Lenny, who was in the van accident with us, and Anthony Gravino). I suspect we’ll take guitar on the next tour (the fall); Matt put guitar parts down on our latest recording (due out in the fall). It’s different having guitar (before we were bass, organ, drums and vocals), and I think gives us more dynamic and tonal possibilities. I’d grown weary of having to cover so much territory myself (maybe even kind of tired of the “all-organ” sound)…

FFTB: It seems that most everything OMG is structured on top of the a strong base of rocking keyboard parts, how is his related to your approach to writing music?  Can you explain a bit about the songwriting process for OMG?
[i]  Billy and I formed the band, and I play organ–and, at first, he wasn’t really playing much bass, just singing. So it’s really all we HAD on the Well album (which had almost no bass on it…just organ, piano, drums, vocals). Since then, at my urging, we’ve added more and more bass–a bit more on “The Action Album” and a whole lot on “Interrogations & Confessions” and “You’re Too Straight to Love Me.” “Fools Want Noise” had less as the guitar got introduced, and the forthcoming album has some, but not every song. Billy either has a complete vocal idea, or I have a complete musical idea, usually, and the other completes the song–with lots of edits and arguing along the way!

FFTB: As Chicagoans, you are musicians in a huge market with a music scene where notoriety is difficult to come by. How did you come to prominence in the Chicago market? 
[i] In our early years (2000/2001), we played Chicago pretty often to get the word out and to improve ourselves by playing a lot. Since then, we’ve toured a lot but only played Chicago a couple times a year. It makes each show more of an “event,” and I think that works, for us and the people who anticipate the shows. We also pour all we can into each show, we really do…and Billy’s theatrics and unpredictability work in our favor–this ain’t your straight-ahead guitar-strumming or guitar-solo band.

FFTB: Is it better to be an expert at 1 instrument or good at many?
[i] Billy wishes he could spend the next two years just becoming a killer drummer; I would like to do the same on the bass (I already know everything I want to play, my fingers/hands just don’t know how to do it and are probably way too weak). He and I care much more about ideas and emotion and writing a great bridge section than we do about increasing instrumental skill. It’d be great to be better at playing instruments, but it’s not on the top of my list. My tools are fine to express the ideas I tend to have; that said, I’d like to find time to practice more acoustic piano and get my strength/dexterity up. Billy should practice his bass more, too. I think some people naturally are adept at many instruments, and that’s great for them. I suspect each musician will have a sense about what route to take in that regard by the time they’ve been playing for at least five or more years.

FFTB: When you practice, what do you work on?

[i] I occasionally get out the Czerny/Hannon books for piano; mostly, I don’t really “practice” any more, unless I have a blues gig and have to get those chops back. I generally am searching for new tones and drawbar settings on the organ (combined with tube distortion, reverb, vibrato, etc.) and trying to lose myself into an automatic sort of chord-finding mode, where I might mess around in flat keys I’m not comfortable in so that I don’t fall into the typical chord-progression traps and can come up with something unexpected/accidental. I think it’s good to try to write songs in keys you are NOT comfortable with…C-sharp on piano, F on guitar, or whatever the case may be.

FFTB: It is obvious that you don’t just play the chords but actually create unique parts that fill out the song and make it truly unique.  How do you approach deciding your part for an arrangement?

[i] With a band as small as ours, my parts are generally fundamental. It’s in the recording studio, though (not during songwriting), when I tend to realize what’s missing. “This part could use a counter-melody,” or “We need to slap on a unique ending, not just end the song at the end of the double-chorus,” or “I think we need to layer some strings or synths or falsetto voices or something under the chorus this time around”…so we tend to add such things to the composition late in the game. Then, the trick is to figure out how to have enough hands and use them most efficiently to play the original parts and the overdubbed parts–without resorting to adding a member for a tour (not in our budget, and not enough room in the van!).

FFTB: Do you use lyrics to write music, or music with lyrics to follow?

[i] see #3 above. I think a lot of our strongest songs come from an a cappella vocal idea first, which is then surrounded by music. We often pledge to start writing more and more songs that way, but I seem to forever be coming up with instrumental music that we both like and start humming and shouting and singing over, too. The problem is that I often write the whole thing (verse, chorus, bridge…) and then we feel locked into that. We and everyone should be flexible to change an arrangement even when it seems to be complete.

FFTB: Any advice for young aspiring musicians and songwriters?
[i] Dive in all the way, spend hours and hours and hours and hours if this is what you love. Don’t expect to see any results as far as buzz about the band or turnouts at the door or stories in the paper or on blogs everywhere until you work really hard–not just weekends or one day a week. Be really good and work really hard–you need both. We have always worked hard and are still trying to find out how to be as good as we can be; generally speaking, we’re disappointed in at least some elements of our past recordings and tours and are always yearning to improve. We hold ourselves accountable, saying to ourselves, “If we were really THE SHIT, we’d be playing the arenas. We must need better songs and sound.” We don’t blame society or America or the music business (though those things do often SUCK!).

Haley Bonar Interview – Ep5

On to our fifth interview.  This episode we are interviewing the fabulous Haley Bonar.  Haley is another Minnesota native that can not be ignored.  What you should do is pour yourself a nice glass of milk, go to her website, listen to her music, maybe watch a video and then read her interview below.  Might make you feel better about the world.

FFTB: You create music with folk elements without being narrowly categorized as a folk musician. How would you define your music?
[HB] Well, I’m sure that it is hard for most people to try and define the genre that their music fits into. I am one of those people. I guess there are elements of pop, country, and rock without really being one or the other?

FFTB: Can you tell us a little bit about the 1st song you ever wrote?
[HB] The first time that I wrote a song it was based on a poem I wrote about depression. I was into bands like Nirvana and the Smashing Pumpkins in a major, teenage-angsty sort of way. I learned three chords and sang the words over it somehow… I imagine I’d be pretty embarrassed if I heard it now!

FFTB: On a similar note think of the last song your wrote; what were some of the major steps taken to complete that song?
[HB] The last song I wrote was a couple of weeks ago on my casio keyboard. I put a basa nova beat on and played some organ chords and piano melody over it… I love using the “epic diva” effect on Garage Band, so I used that to record both the keys and the vocals. The song is called “carelessly’, and I was inspired by someone’s comments on youtube about how ‘awful’ I look when I sing. The song was therapy I guess.

FFTB: Are there difficulties being a woman in a male dominated industry?
[HB] (See answer above…) I feel like being a woman makes it much more easy to be thrown into categories by people, especially music critics. I get compared to musicians who I know the only thing I have in common with is that we both wear bras. I also feel like our looks are scrutinized much more than a male musician. Men can roll out of bed and jump on stage and nobody would say a word about it, but not so for girls. I’m not saying that I don’t love to dress up or anything, but it’s just something I’ve noticed when i’m reading an article about a musician who is female. The first paragraph or two is usually based solely on what they were wearing at the interview, not on their work.

FFTB: Would you consider lyrics to be music?  Does one usually come before the other for you?
[HB]  I think lyrics are music, yes. Sometimes I write the melody without words, other times I sing whatever comes to my head and write it down.

FFTB: What is the primary instrument you use to write music with?
[HB] Guitar. 1957 Guild.

FFTB: Preferred fantasy creature: Centaur or Gryphon?
[HB] unicorn.
FFTB: Favorite Twin Cities club to play at?
[HB] First avenue!

FFTB: Who are your top three favorite songwriters?
[HB] That is impossible to answer, but three that I’ve been jamming lately are M. Ward, Jon Brion, and Karen Dalton

FFTB: Any advice for people that aspire to be professional songwriter?
[HB] own it.

Interview with James Diers – ep4

For our next interview we have one of my personal favorite songwriters, James Diers.  James is a well known Twin Cities based songwriter, known for his work as a member and front man for Halloween, Alaska and the Love-cars.  I feel honored simply to be aware of both of these great bands.  I’m not sure I would had I lived somewhere like Miami.  Point being, these bands are awesome and the world should listen.  If they are new to you, please check them out; although I’m guessing that the core of the FoodForTheBeloved fans are already quite aware of these bands.  Halloween, Alaska is due to release their third album, Champagne Downtown (review), this coming April 7th with an album release show on the following Friday April 10th at First Ave.  If you are not going to be out of town visiting relatives then you need to go.  Its only $8 advance $10 at the door.  Enough blabber…here is the interview

FFTB: Any background on the band names ‘Love-cars’ and ‘Halloween, Alaska”?

[j] The name Love-cars is taken from a Robert Lowell poem called “Skunk Hour”. You can probably find it online without much effort. David was the one who saw the reference to “love-cars” in it and thought that would be a good name for a band. Early on, we were in a classic situation of having a show booked and needing a name and having to just decide on something. David had Love-cars in his back pocket and that was his vote. It obviously stuck, despite some inevitable punctuation problems. Like, it would invariably get printed as The Love Cars or Lovecars or whatever. Not that it’s a huge deal, it’s just a name, but because it was taken (borrowed?) from Lowell, we thought the hyphenation should stay. David also came up with the name for Halloween, Alaska. Before we even starting playing together, actually. There’s not a lot of back story on it, other than I think David just thought it was somehow evocative of some of the moods and textures he wanted the original four of us (me, him, Ev + Friesen)  to be looking at. Now it’s the comma that’s a problem.

FFTB: What are your non-musical influences?

[j] They change pretty constantly, so it’s kind of hard to say. If you’re talking about other media, I suppose I could name some films and books have had some influence on how I approach certain stuff, if only because those are forms of communication/storytelling that share some of the same basic elements. But I think that’s typical of a lot of musicians. The more specific stuff is maybe more relevant. My family, of course. Mistakes I’ve made in friendships/relationships, or things I’ve done right. Summer days I spent as a 12-year-old biking around rural Montana. Traveling in general, throughout my life. Regrets. Toasts at wedding receptions. Caffeine. Weather. Envy. Optimism. Financial ruin.

FFTB: Think of the last song your wrote; what were the steps taken to complete that song?

[j] Do you mean just the basic process? The last thing I wrote — a new song for Halloween, Alaska — started with me wanting to write something fairly slow and spare that David could just play a really hard, heavy groove on. I think I’d been listening to a Bad Plus tune with this certain feel to it and realizing that we didn’t really have anything for H,A that allowed him to lean hard in that direction. Just me being selfish and wanting some shares in that shit, I guess. That was the original impetus. I started messing around with some keyboard changes with that type of rhythm in my head and eventually hit on something I liked, something I felt comfortable bringing in without any solid ideas on lyrical content. Then I worked it up some more with Jake and Matt first because David was out of town at the time. We just got together and played through the basic arrangement until they came up with parts they/we liked. Funny thing is, when we all finally got together on it, David took it in a fairly opposite direction drum-wise, which turned out to be a great idea for the song. So then I had to adjust my thinking and sweat a little over the vocal, figure out how to adapt it to this new vibe. I had a rough demo in my car for weeks and would just pick away at it melodically from time to time. Once I had a vocal melody together, I then refined some of the subject matter in my mind that made the most sense and finished the lyrics. That was the process. I’d say my most gratifying work with H,A has happened that way, with somebody seeding something in rehearsal and just working it up together — not “jamming” really, but methodically bringing each other into the song in a spontaneous way. And lyrics last. More and more often, lyrics have come last for me.

FFTB: Is it better to be great at 1 instrument or decent at many?

[j] I don’t think it’s a question of what’s better. I like to think there’s room for both. I’m a guy who’s not great at any one instrument, playing in a band with guys who are all pretty great on theirs. My focus tends to be on the song and what I think I can bring to it, as a singer or lyricist and then hopefully with some sort of instrumental contribution or programming/recording ideas. I’ve had some psychological highs and lows with playing guitar and more recently playing keys. With singing, too, but instruments especially. I’ve never gotten deeply invested in learning a singular instrument, which I sometimes feel badly about. That comes mainly from seeing and knowing people who reach a kind of mastery with their instruments that can be transcendent and really inspiring. Watching Erik Fratzke play anything, for example, invariably gets me a little wound up for not being a more dedicated instrumentalist. (Mind you, that feeling is dwarfed by the enjoyment of watching him play.) But ultimately I tend to think more in terms of songs and what I can do to help make them work case by case. I’ve got plenty of room to grow as a singer and songwriter, which usually feels like enough. Getting better with a given instrument feels like a separate, more personal, more challenging process for me. I guess one good thing about being a bit of a dabbler is that it (ideally) leaves a broader range of possibilities in terms of what I might be able to contribute to a song.

FFTB: As a band with a distinct lyrical style, do you use lyrics to write music, or music with lyrics to follow?

[j] I personally tend to deal with music first. I keep a running log of fragments and ideas for lyrics that don’t really get anywhere useful until there’s a piece of music that suits them. Once I can attach an idea to a piece of music, it’s easier for me to develop it into a more cohesive set of lyrics. There are a few exceptions, but that’s the norm. It’s also worth noting that David contributes lyrics, too. I think he works the same way insofar as the lyrics come later. And there are a lot of songs where he’s brought in partial lyrics and then I’ve taken them and completed or developed them. Friesen has anted up on a couple of things, too. It’s maybe more collaborative than a lot of bands in that way. It’s natural for people to assume that the singer writes all the words, but I don’t. I do think we half-consciously strive for something cohesive in that department, especially since the music doesn’t always run on a narrow track.(Which actually makes me curious to hear how you’d describe our “distinct lyrical style” … ?)

FFTB: Would you consider Lyric’s to be music?

[j] If they’re being sung/performed, yeah. On the page, not necessarily. Nor do I think of song lyrics as poetry — that’s its own discipline. I think mistaking song lyrics for poetry and vice-versa has yielded some unpleasantness in the world. It’s really great when lyrics can resonate beyond the music or separate from it, but I guess I’d stop short of saying they’re always music on their own.

FFTB: What is the primary instrument you use to write with?

[j] Lately it’s keys, since I’ve been playing more keys in the band. I’m “between pianos” so it’s a keyboard controller and whatever patch seems appropriate to the piece at hand.

FFTB: How do you approach playing songs live when the recording have extra tracks?

[j] It’s usually a pretty simple process of elimination. Look at which parts are essential to the song, and which aren’t. If we can’t cover all of them, we may have to rearrange some things or just leave it out of the live show. No weird science to it. We have a few samples here and there, but we don’t sequence anything, so if we’re gonna play something, it’s got to be something that four humans can execute.

FFTB: What creates a better song fiction or non-fiction motivated?

[j] Again, I don’t believe it’s a question of what’s better. I think there are great songs that are completely invented from the abstract, and other great songs that lay bare some really intense first-person experiences. It’s a matter of preference in method. I’ve wrestled with that idea, and ultimately I think as long as there’s some kind of valid motive or idea or emotion driving a tune, there’s not a whole lot of use in trying to place fact over fiction or vice-versa. It’s best to use whatever resonates with you as a songwriter, whether that’s some shitty personal episode or a political atrocity or some totally invented scenario about a deaf turtle who rides a fixed-gear bike. Personally speaking, I tend to deal in a mix of fiction and non-fiction. I will say that the more fact-based stuff seems to get done a lot quicker, whatever that’s worth.

FFTB: Who are your top three favorite songwriters?

[j] Three people whom I admire pretty unabashedly are Mark Eitzel, Tracey Thorn and Joe Henry.

FFTB: Any advice for young aspiring musicians and songwriters?

[j] Just listen to a lot of different music and stay open to being inspired by any of it. Also, take chances that make you uncomfortable.

Rivers Cuomo Interview on NPR

In the spirit of FoodfortheBeloved and the fact that we have been working on a Weezer inspired song I found an interview with Rivers Cuomo regarding his home recordings that is very interesting.  I haven’t been able to get my own personal interview with him.  Anyway, I guess he is a huge US soccer fan.  Check out what he says about Pink triangle around the 21st minute.  Also, near the end Rivers gets a little upset at the interview for labeling him songwriter/singer/guitarist for Weezer, it gets really awkward.

NPR Interview