How is the current tour progressing?
There were a lot of intimate shows. Intimate meaning- two to four people at one show but those are my favorites. You really connect with people. The Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia were really beautiful. The tour was really nice. A very good friend, Orion Rigel Domissee, came and I was grateful enough for her to lend her beautiful voice to some harmonies and verbed out the electric cello on the tour. She is lovely look out for her solo record to "drop" soon too.
What were you doing before this interview?
I have been trying to catch up on sleep. I drove from Virginia to Providence yesterday with a stop off for an Instore at Other Music (NYC). Now, I am hanging out in my house, trying not to go outside. Hiding from the roaring engines and very cold weather. Taking care of my thirsty plants who are very mad at me right now. I have to go to London in two days for my record release show so I am resting up and reading and trying to relax with the changes of the tides.
Where are you playing in London?
I am playing at the Spitz.
Have you played there before?
Yes, I have extensively toured the UK a couple of times, but the venues are definitely getting a bit nicer. I played a lot of pubs and smoky dive bars (which will always have a place in my heart by the way)
After London you're off to Texas to play a few shows at SXSW?
Yes. I am playing at the Kemado Records Showcase on 3/15 at Bourbon Rocks (set time 10 pm.) and at the Kemado arty on 3/17th at Positively 4th Street and one unannounced show on 3/16.
Then back to Europe for April and May?
Yes. I have to drink some energy potion and maybe while I am at it some confidence elixir. Lots of touring coming up.
What’s been your favorite show thus far on this tour?
Hmmm...I think D.C. - met some cool cats there. The Bowery Ballroom was great too because It was not a Dive bar.
How was your approach on the new album “Song III: Bird On The Water,” different from the past two albums.
I think the songs are more direct and honest. It’s More emotional, less character driven. There are more instruments. My friend Orion Rigel Dommisse, as well as Greg Weeks, played a ton of vintage synths. They are subtle. Quite low in the mix, but really serve to fill the sound out. Jesse Sparhawk played the Mandolin on the chorus of Diamond Heart. Helena Espval's cello playing is throughout the record. Greg also plays some heavily distorted electric guitar solos. This is also my first record with percussion. Also, I experimented far more with vocal harmonies on this record, something which I was too shy to try before. There is a lot more vocal layering for me. And I expect my future (and currently in progress) work to go even further. It is important for me to keep developing my sound.
How was it working with Espers’ Greg Weeks in the studio?
He is great. He is very opinionated and that is good. He did push me to add some crazy stuff to this song "Conjuring Spirit Worlds" which will hopefully be on the US version of the record. It’s very Kate Bush. I think he is very innovative in terms of his ideas.
What do you think Greg contributed most to the albums sound?
I think he gave it not a metallic edge but more of a rocking one, taking it away from the folk edge. Distortion can do that.
When did you first start listening to Leonard Cohen?
I learned about him in the Liner notes of the Nirvana song Pennyroyal tea. It’s pretty funny. I thought, who is this L. Cohen and wow what a song. I was born in 81 so Nirvana was ALL the rage for me in my teens. Then, when I got more into some blues singers, I heard Nina Simone's cover of Suzanne. I loved it so much and finally got my first L. Cohen cassette tape when I was 14.
Was your album title “Bird on the Water” a reference to Leonard Cohen’s “Bird on the Wire”
The title of the record truly has nothing to do with L.C. other than sounding like Bird on the Wire. I am obsessed with Birds.
When did you interest in birds begin?
Oh, well, it’s not an obsession like I said. I just think they are beautiful. The concept of flight is what attracts me to them. Their freedom. Their motherly qualities. The beauty of their markings. Their strange contorted talons and claws and gnarly beaks. They can be quite ugly with the noises they make, almost grotesque. But they are so free. I find them fascinating.
Are you an avid bird watcher?
No, because I live in the city. I would like to.
Speaking of birds have you ever read "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle"by Haruki Murakami? Yes, I have actually. I really like Murakami I read it a while ago though.
Was the song “Daisy and Violet Hilton” ever released or does it strictly find a home on a forthcoming compilation?
The song Daisy and Violet was originally written for a Carnival based theme for the Australian Record label Camera Obscura records. I have know Tony Dale for a long time, as he was one of the labels that I first sent “Ballads of Living and Dying” to years ago. I am not sure when that compilation will actually be out because I think they were waiting for the rest of the submissions from other promised artists.
The song “Daisy and Violet” I wrote it about the true story of the two Siamese Twins from the Vaudeville era and their tragic demise in small town America. The story attracted me quite a bit. You can also get the tour cd from Eclipse-records.com that I put the song on.
I am going to re-record it and put it on my next record, I think. I have been recording steadily all year and already have enough for a new record.
If you could collaborate with any artist living or dead who would it be?
Henry Darger and Adolf Woolfi.
Did you enjoy the Darger documentary In the Realms of the Unreal?
Yes. I actually really enjoyed how the filmmaker animated the drawings. I find Darger's story incredibly fascinated. I have always been attracted to people that were on the fringe of society. Cast offs and outcasts. I was a bit of pariah, or felt like it at least, in my younger days.
Who is Adolf Woolfi?
He was an institutionalized, Swiss artist who made quite fascinating work that involved symphonies and great line drawings.
Tell us a little about your guitar(s)?
I have a Martin 12 string, and a Tachamine, which is ten years old. I wrote all of my albums on that one.
Even though you music sounds like it should played on a phonograph. . .
Do you have an iPod?
No, I don't have an iPod.
What recent music have you been enjoying?
I have been listening to Sibylle Baier, Om, Elizabeth Cotton, The Poppy Family, Throwing Muses, Yes... lots of stuff on NPR.
What have you reading or viewing as of late?
I just started Dune.
Do you have any plans for an art exhibit of your light boxes, paintings and wood work?
I would love to some day.... sincerely. I want to delve into abstract film making too.
Who are some of your favorite abstract film directors?
I really dig Jan Svankmajer and the Brothers Quay. Some movies I like are not so abstract, but I am a big fan of some of Terrence Malleck's early work. I also like the movie McCabe and Mrs. Miller a lot for the aforementioned Cohen soundtrack. |