I hear you’re not a big fan of interviews, so thank you for agreeing to do this, and I’ll try to keep it short and sweet.
I enjoy doing interviews. They give me a chance to express my message on a simple level that sometimes gets lost in the songs because it's easy to get distracted by music and aesthetics, distracted away from meaning.
Your new LP, Catacombs is absolutely beautiful. How long had you been working on the songs for it?
The songs for Catacombs were written over about three years, some overlapping the time of Dropping the Writ. Some were written in southern California, Pasadena and Topanga, others on the road, then Chicago, Illinois during the winter, then back to Hollywood to work with Ariel Rechtshaid, our producer. There were a couple dozen other songs written during this time, and most of them now are recorded. We are going to mix them as a new record in January.
How many songs do you write in order to make a ten- to eleven-song album?
There is no substitution for quality. I try to write as many songs as interest me, but there is no substitution for quality. I won't waste my time on a poor idea or try chasing “chic” as if it were a butterfly, a waste of time. Most time is spent on very few songs. Each song is prepared with lyrical research. I’m always keeping notes. Then, of course, is the emotional element, which is the original reason behind a song, and you can never control the past; the past controls us. So it is important to live as perfectly day to day as one can so I don't regret it later. And if regret sneaks through, write a song. There is no substitution for quality, nor is there substitution for soul, more importantly.
How do you narrow the songs down? (Sorry this question reads like a Twinkie ad. “How do they get the cream in the Twinkie?” “It’s born there.”) What happens with any remaining songs?
I keep all my songs. If I finish them, I keep them. If a song looks at me song-cockeyed, I throw it away immediately, but that doesn't happen too often. If you write “epic,” by the time there's enough research, it usually turns out well. Writing lyrics is just a job. You got to do your homework. That is in my opinion; many people disagree with me anyway about songwriting and choose to “ooh” and “ahh” their way through lyrics, but at least I got gut, even if I have no aesthetic.
Where did you record and mix it? Did you record it at home or in a studio?
Ariel Rechtshaid rented us a beautiful, massive Spanish house in Hollywood and transformed it into a proper studio with old tape machines, sound walls, lengths of cables, et cetera. Later we went to another friend’s studio to mix.
Would you explain a little more about the Model Man “found” photos on your website www.cassmccombs.com. Where did you “find” these and what prompted you to post them?
Those photos were the first submissisions to our website when we started. Originally, the concept of our website was as a gallery, where anyone could submit anything, and we promised we would post it. This was around 2003 and went on pretty successfully for a couple years. We had works by friends and bandmates—Trevor Shimizu, Natalie Conn, Asha Schecter, Patrick Jackson, Chris Freeland—and also had some amazing submissions from artists unknown to us. After a while, we had to stop the posting new work because it was hard to find someone to maintain the website. But if there's anyone out there who would like to help us resurrect this concept, please get in touch with us. For now we keep up the original submission, which is from an anonymous source.
I discovered a neat silent film you are credited with making along with Al Brown on YouTube. Tell us a little about these silent films.
Those films are part of our organization, DIE SECT.
Any closing comments, recipes for kevchino readers?
Love, integrity, "no peace." Good luck in the new year. Thanks, everybody, for your support. |