Interviews

Audio Interview - About the New Album

From the MindYourMind.ca website

“This is music for life's journey. A soundtrack for serendipitous detours and other twists of fate … The layover is where you catch your breath before the final departure into the adrenalin rush of the unknown. A point at which you may not be sure if you are moving toward something. Or away from something. As one story ends, a new one unfolds. Lay. Over.”

mym: You are clearly artists who take words seriously. You paint vivid pictures with language and seem quite purposeful in how words play up against the music. It seems very fluid. Is the actual process that effortless?

Alan: The above quote I did not write however I would like to think that our lyrics do paint pictures. Yes writing lyrics do come to me effortlessly. Well….effortlessly may be the wrong word they appear quickly to me. I’ve heard lyrics described as their own little beings by Kristin Hirsh (of Throwing Muses fame). I believe that. They appear when you channel the right emotions.

Jason: I find lyric writing to be a very painful process. Finding a way to say something that has the ring of truth, in a particular rhythm, and with bit of poetry to it is daunting task. This, taken together with the fact that I personally respond more to the musical content of a song than to the words, means that I leave most of lyrics to Alan. I did manage to scribble together the words for the song, “Learn,” though. And I wrote the bit, above, about “music for life’s journey” too.

mym: Can you tell us a bit about your history as a band?

Jason: Alan and I were old friends that grew up in the same town – Saginaw, Michigan. By separate paths, we made our way to Chicago where we reconnected through mutual friends. At that point Alan was in a band called Viery Peel, and I was doing my solo electronic thing called Infinite Buddha. After Alan’s band fell by the wayside, he came to me to record some songs he had worked up on his acoustic guitar. I put a couple of microphones in front of him and captured his performance. When he came back a few days later, I had thrown some beats and a baseline into the mix. We both loved the result and we knew that we had to keep working together. After completing that first album, 4 a.m., we put together a great band which includes Rex Espinosa and John Mastro, both of whom have contributed to the evolution of our sound on our latest album, Layover.

Alan: The first time I thought about a collaborative effort with Jason was about 4 years ago in Dublin Ireland. We had a mutual friend living there at the time so a group of us went for New Years. I was at the end of my rope with the band I was in at the time and knew that Jason was producing his own music, which was electronically based. The band I was in was more guitar driven and very loud. It kind of reminded me of the band Ride or Lush. So the idea of putting the two sounds together was quite appealing. About 8 months later my band Viery Peel broke up. I called up Jason the next morning and ask if he would record and Co-produce a four song demo that I could take out to LA and shop. About a week later we met in his studio and started recording. After the first song was completed we both thought well…… This is good stuff lets do a full length record and see what happens.

mym: What are your similarities and differences are as individual artists?

Alan: I think we come at things from different directions but are headed to the same point, good music. Jason is the type of musician that pays killer attention to detail. And for me, when I listen to music its the little things that I find cool…you know the sounds you hear only in the head phones. We will work for days on beats and many times my head is already drifting to the finished product. The ability to work a song methodically to its completion is something I’ve had to learn and both 4.a.m (our first album) and Layover have given me that education. One of the best things about the recording process for both CDs was that we never shot down ideas, we tried everything and if it worked, it worked, if not we moved on but we gave individual ideas the respect that they deserve. The fact that we have similar taste in music doesn’t hurt either.

Jason: I admire Alan’s work ethic and ability to make decisions about songs and move forward. I tend to be overly deliberative. If we both worked at my tempo, Layover would still be a work in progress. Alan generally approaches song writing from a performance perspective: he’ll pick up an acoustic guitar and sit down and play me the new song he’s worked on. On the other hand, I more often use the studio as my instrument, thinking in terms of rhythm progressions and bass or lead lines rather than chord progressions. That being said, we are also completely comfortable changing roles. Our trust in each other lets us try experiments and voice our opinions in a very on-judgmental way, and neither one of us attaches our egos to the work. We really have a very similar vision of where the songs are going and we almost always agree on whether something feels right or wrong.

mym: Who are your greatest influences?

Jason: Growing up in the 80s, I played in a new wave band, which meant lots Cure, Police, Smiths, and Depeche Mode, and the song writing styles of those bands was a tremendous influence. At the same time I was exposed to lots of classical and jazz music through my piano lessons and various school bands. I think that Chopin really influenced the way I think about melody and how it can be embedded into a particular rhythmic or harmonic progression. And playing the great jazz standards made me realize how variously a song can be interpreted by ifferent musicians and arrangers (fav jazz recordings – Miles Davis and Gil Evans collaborations). More recently, the artists that have inspired me include Massive Attack, Richie Hawtin, Orbital, Bjork, Bebel Gilberto, Sarah McLaughlin (and her producer, Pierre Marchand) and David Gray. Oh – and Radiohead. Can’t forget Radiohead.

Alan: There are so many I could talk for hours. I’ll give you my top three. -Wire. This band to me, is the first that sculpted sound into color, they used sound sometimes noise as textures to express what they were trying to say. Very intense band -Simple Minds. I basically learned how to write music listening to their CDs they shaped my musical consciousness. -Echo and the Bunnymen. When I was 12 or 13 I briefly met Ian Mc Cullen after a show in Ann Arbor, Michigan. After that experience I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life.

mym: And how do you manage to maintain such a unique sound? Does living in Chicago ( as opposed to LA for instance) help?

Alan: Yes I feel that environment effects creativity immensely. Where you live affects your experiences and what you experience affects your art. I tend to do my best to stay in a bubble as far as my art is concerned, I haven’t adopted any scene and most of my friends are not musicians. However, I do draw energy from my friends that are artists, out side of my medium like painters and photographers.

Jason: I do think that living in a big city does influence what we do. However, we operate in a kind of bubble, and we aren’t really connected to any particular scene locally. As much as I love Chicago, I don’t know that we would sound much different if we were in LA or Toronto. I think the sound really is a result of our combined influences and our approach to putting songs together. We have a pretty intense ethic of experimentation, and we’ll try out a dozen different ideas before settling on a part. I am sometimes amazed that each song doesn’t sound like it was produced by a different band, so I am always pleasantly surprised and pleased when people say that we have our own style. I guess we end up gravitating toward similar noises and timbres. Of course, Alan’s unique vocal style also plays a key part in our sonic signature and that helps stitch the songs together into something cohesive.

Mym’s 5 Random Questions

mym: What comes first for you… feeling or thought?

Jason: Usually feeling is first, but sometimes I arrive at an idea through a very analytical set of left-brain-type decisions which I think might produce a particular result. (Could that sound more egg headed?!?!) Let me explain: I might try an experiment where I take a drum loop built for a particular tempo or meter and then place it with a music loop designed for another just to see if anything cool results. This is a really abstract way to approach things though, and I usually try these types of experiments only after the initial burst of inspiration has shown itself (i.e. has been felt).

Alan: Feeling. Feeling is what drives the thought and those thoughts become words and end up as lyrics. I often write lyrics based on feeling and not actual stories. Though the feelings may have come from reflecting on an actual event. I normally don’t tell specific stories of my life.

mym: In your opinion who is the most important artist in music today? Why?

Alan: At the moment it’s LCD Sound system. They have hit the balance between punk, new wave and techno. When I listen to them I think “I wish I wrote that!” They have a fresh energy and have captured the essence of the word unpretentious in their music. I haven’t listened to an album as much as this since Kid A. If you don’t have it ……. Go get it. Also, there is so much going on in the world that is negative and in the States for that matter sometimes it’s nice to just kick it with some good party music and not be preached to. I do however think there is a place for music to raise social consciousness but at the moment I just need a breather.

Jason: both the listening audience and the artists are so fragmented that it’s impossible to choose just one. In our little trip-hoppy corner of the musical universe, I think that Bjork reigns supreme. Moving over to the rock side of things, I’d have to point to Radiohead. In both cases, I don’t think their audiences respond to their lyrics as much as their sound experimentation and song writing. Of course, both of these artists are kind of old news by now … sorry I’m not sure who the bands of tomorrow will be copying. Rather than try and keep up with every new artist that is currently doing work, I tend to explore genres or regions, going back and forth in time. So, I’m not always up on what the latest thing is. I’m sure that Alan’s answer will probably be better than mine.

mym: Twenty years from now, who will we say inspired youth of our generation the most?

Jason: I pick not a who, but a what: the Internet. Is that cheating?

Alan: I’d have to agree with that statement

mym: In your opinion what is the most important thing that someone can do to feel content with who they are?

Alan: Accept who you are. Be happy with what you have and don’t worry about what other people think because they have insecurities too. Understand no one is perfect. Also enjoy the journey. I’ve always wanted to live in a big city. And I do - on Michigan Ave, in fact. I’ve always wanted to have my music heard by people in other countries like Japan and Australia. And It is happening. I spent a long time wondering why I haven’t made it. I was so worried about the next step I didn’t realize that where I am is pretty cool. I don’t think that life works in same order or way we think it should or dream it should. It sneaks up on most of us. I think it’s important to look at what you have at the moment and appreciate the good. But with all that said I think we should always look within ourselves and keep pushing to get better and to reach our goals. The key is not to be obsessed with the outcome but to work systematically toward your goal and to be patient, the results will come. Do I sound like F***ing Yoda or what! Who you are, is who you are. The more you love and accept yourself (not to the exclusion of others) the more power you gain. Oh yeah and hang out with people who are positive about life, negativity does no one any good, keep the toxic people out and the positive people in.

Jason: Be Honest. Be honest with yourself, and with those around you. Be honest about what makes you happy, what makes you sad or angry, and what you want to accomplish in life. Take a step back and ask yourself if your actions actually connect to your desires and your bliss. At the same time, be fair to yourself. We can only be human and we all must have a healthy acceptance of our faults and the faults of others.

mym: How do you hope the music you create impacts on others?

Jason: I hope that people can use our music to improve their environment and make it a happier place.

Alan: In all of our songs there is a silver lining. A lot of the time I start writing from a pretty dark place. We all have parts of us that are not so “warm and fuzzy”. But I always try to end a song with some sort of hope or light at the end of the tunnel. As much as things get bad they also get good and that’s what I want people to see. Life gets better but you have to want to make it better, and you can. Just as important I hope that people can sit back and say “yeah, silver atlas chills me out” that’s cool too.

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