Interviews

Jesse Tabish, Other Lives

Stillwater, Oklahoma is not the hotbed of indie music in the way that Los Angeles and New York are. But let's face it, the reality of the music business is that many indie artists struggle financially. And living on the expensive coasts doesn't help matters.

So what does Jesse Tabish, the singer and songwriter for Other Lives, do with the rest of the band? They live in Stillwater, where Tabish pays $370 a month in rent. It's an easy decision, really: he can spend more time on the creative process and less time making money by teaching guitar lessons. And that creative process was revamped for the new album, which Other Lives finished last week. It's their second album on TBD Records, having released their first in 2009. Whereas Tabish used to begin writing a song with the traditional guitar or piano, for this new album he started with "a simple medium like a single piano note or some sort of drone." According to Tabish, "I was tired of sitting down with an acoustic guitar and saying, 'I'm going to write a song today,' and falling on the same chord, the same movements."

Indie Rock, Indie, Indie PopBen OpipariJanuary 26, 2011jesse tabish, josh onstott, kunek, other lives, stillwater, tbd recordsComment

Peter Berkman, Anamanaguchi

"I see no point in being bored. I just don't understand the concept. So I'm always looking for things to occupy my time and get me excited," Peter Berkman, the songwriter for Anamanaguchi, told me. For fans who know the frenetic pace of their chiptune punk sound, and especially those who've heard it at their sweaty shows, this is no surprise. Anamanaguchi makes instrumental music from an unconventional source: a hacked NES system from 1985. But unlike other chiptune bands who rely solely on the sounds of the NES, Anamanaguchi uses that sound as a complement to their guitar, bass, and drums.

Berkman's personality mirrors his music: he's an excitable guy. And by that, I don't mean hyper. Instead, he finds wonderment in everything around him. He sees creativity--literally, an opportunity to create--in any object that he sees. An NES system? Let's play music! A ball on the shelf at Walmart in the middle of the midwest? Let's buy it, find a field, and play kickball! In Berkman, I heard a wide-eyed eagerness to make the most of his environment.

ElectronicBen OpipariJanuary 21, 20118 bit, anamanaguchi, dawn metropolis, nes, pete berkman, peter berkmanComment

Cullen Omori

f you happen to be in Chicago and see Smith Westerns’ Cullen Omori out at night—which isn’t very often—send the man home if you’d like to see the band’s next album be as good as the new release, Dye It Blonde, released January 18 on Fat Possum Records. By his own admission, Omori’s hometown isn’t that fun, so he tends to stay in a lot and write songs in his room. For inspiration, he listens to other bands—four different songs from four bands, to be precise—and thinks about incorporating those ideas into a song for Smith Westerns. But listening to other bands has its limitations: sometimes he’ll hear something so good from another band that what he subsequently writes just can’t compare. And that leads to writer’s block. What I found most interesting about the band’s creative process is their willingness to put song fragments aside, sometimes for months, then return to them with a new outlook. Sitting on songs, in Omori’s eyes, makes the band more confident in their songwriting.

Fat Possum Records, Mom + Pop Records, Indie Rock, IndieBen OpipariJanuary 17, 2011cullen omori, dye it blonde, fat possum, fat possum records, pitchfork, smith westernsComment

Himanshu Suri, Das Racist

Not expecting a discussion about Postcolonial literature with a songwriter, are you? But if you've really looked into what Himanshu Suri and Das Racist are about, this should not be surprising.

Here's the problem with labeling Das Racist "joke rap." Sure, they have funny songs like "Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell." But some people assume that because Suri and Victor Vasquez write humorous lyrics, they can't also be socially conscious artists. But the two ideas aren't mutually exclusive. The world of performing arts is filled with people who deliver serious messages about race or class and who are also pretty funny. People like Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, and Chris Rock. Even people like George Carlin and Lenny Bruce, who didn't discuss race and class as much, had plenty to say.

Hip HopBen OpipariJanuary 13, 2011das racist, himanshu suri, joke rap, shut up dude, sit down man, victor vasquezComment

Ben Knox Miller, The Low Anthem

Of the many songwriters I've interviewed for Songwriters on Process, they are divided into two camps when it comes to discipline in writing. Most believe that carving time out of their day to write is not the "organic" way to do things and thus leads to subpar creative output. They prefer to rely more on the inspiration of the muse. The other camp, a smaller one, believes in the importance of discipline in writing. They write on a regular basis. This routine, they feel, will make them stronger writers and will boost their creativity. So perhaps we can say that the former group is more reactive, waiting for inspiration to strike, while the latter is more proactive, actively seeking out creativity. Both groups have offered persuasive explanations for their method.

But for Ben Knox Miller of The Low Anthem, this discussion of discipline in writing is irrelevant. Sure, he writes every day. Usually upon waking, for reasons he explains below. But Miller doesn't write because he needs to or because it's part of being a songwriter or because it's a cathartic release. He does it because he likes to. He looks forward to writing. So his songwriting process really requires no discipline at all.

Indie Folk, Alternative, Nonesuch RecordsBen OpipariJanuary 12, 2011ben knox miller, brown, low anthem, smart flesh, the low anthem Comments

Colin Newman, Wire

And now for a lesson in music history.

It wouldn't be a stretch to say that Wire has had a considerable influence on rock music. I say "rock," because as songwriter Colin Newman told me, their music "takes the axe to 'rock n roll' and leaves the 'n roll' part out." Wire has been cited by bands like U2, The Cure, R.E.M., Guided By Voices, Minor Threat, and Black Flag (among countless others) as an influence. They are one of the innovators of the punk scene of the 70s and 80s, be it punk rock, art punk, post-punk, whatever. With releases like their 1977 debut Pink Flag and later Chairs Missing, Wire were era-defining; if you listen to indie rock in some form today, chances are there's a Wire influence somewhere.

Influencers, AlternativeBen OpipariJanuary 7, 2011chairs missing, colin newman, pink flag, red barked tree, wire Comments

Warren Spicer, Plants and Animals

Warren Spicer, the guitarist/vocalist for the Montreal-based indie rock band Plants and Animals, started as an illustrator. This background still informs his songwriting process, to such an extent that "sketches" are what he calls the preliminary drafting and tooling around before recording a song. And for the new Plants and Animals album, Spicer is trying a new creative process. Whereas like most songwriters Spicer usually begins the process with a guitar and lets the words flow from the music, this time he's trying the opposite tack: he's beginning each song with lyrics before he has any music. According to Spicer, "I want to sing the words without a guitar to find a melody before there are any chords or music. Just sing and see what happens. Then I'll build the chords and harmonic stuff afterwards."

Indie, Indie RockBen OpipariJanuary 4, 2011la la land, plants and animals, warren spicerComment

Nathaniel Rateliff

Ah, the solitary life of the singer/songwriter. Crafting songs in isolation, writing about deep introspective topics like love, loss, and life's meaning. We imagine them toiling away at their craft, going it alone until they get the song just right.

Nathaniel Rateliff does all these things. And he certainly goes it alone; after all, he does a lot of his writing in the bathroom. To be precise, he does a lot of his best work "on the shitter." And while he might write songs that make people cry when performed live, he'll talk about fried chicken between those melancholy tunes. It's hard to capture the mood of my interview with Rateliff; we spent a good deal of the time laughing. But when the guy tells me that he needs "a clean house, lots of sex, and no dogs" for a productive writing session, or that sometimes he's too lazy to finish a song in the studio, it's easy to laugh.

Americana, Folk RockBen OpipariJanuary 3, 2011in memory of loss, nathaniel rateliff, paste, wheelComment

Ben Fox, Dinosaur Bones

At the end of my interview with Ben Fox, the singer/guitarist and songwriter for the Toronto-based Dinosaur Bone s, he was noticeably relieved that I did not make any reference to paleontology. And I think I promised him that I wouldn’t even discuss dinosaurs or prehistorical times in this introduction. But Ben, I have to go back on that promise, because after listening to our interview, I must say that a dinosaur analogy is perfect here. So bear with me.

When we call people or companies “dinosaurs,” it’s not a compliment. What we mean is that they are behind the times, old-fashioned, stale. And therein lies the irony with Dinosaur Bones the band, because Ben Fox’s creative process is anything but stale. In fact, as you’ll read, what’s unique about his songwriting is that he turns the whole thing on its head. While most songwriters begin their creative process with chord progressions, with Fox that part always comes last.

Dine Alone Records, Indie, Indie RockBen OpipariDecember 22, 2010ben fox, birthright, dine alone, dinosaur bones, ice hotels, toronto Comment

Alex Maas, The Black Angels

Peruse the interviews with songwriters on this site, and you'll find that many of them are also illustrators. There seems to be a connection between songwriting and visual artistry. And nowhere is this most evident in Alex Maas, the singer and songwriter for The Black Angels, whose latest album Phosphene Dream was released in September on Blue Horizon Records.

You see, music and images are inextricably linked for Maas. When he plays music, images race through his mind. Every time. It's the music that stimulates those images. And from these images come the lyrics. I have simplified the process here, but what makes this interview unique is the ephemeral quality of Maas's creative process: ultimately, we know not whence the inspiration comes. And it's not something Maas is interested in knowing, because he wants to retain that "magical quality" of the process. But he is always looking for new triggers, and he's found one in an unlikely place: cooking.

Rock, Psych RockBen OpipariDecember 22, 2010alex maas, black angels, christian bland, directions to see a ghost, passover, phosphene dream, telephone, the black angels Comments

Sonny Smith, Sonny and the Sunsets

It would be a gross understatement to say that Sonny Smith of Sonny and the Sunsets is merely a songwriter. The man writes everything: novels, short stories, poems, plays, songs. Even comic books and illustrations. And what's interesting is that all these genres are linked. He might start writing a short story, and that eventually becomes a song. Or a song might become a comic book. Regardless, it's obvious that his many different creative outlets impact each other, and he is good precisely because of his talents bleed all over each other.

Indie, Fat Possum Records, Polyvinyl RecordsBen OpipariDecember 20, 2010100 records, fat possum, sonny and the sunsets, sonny smith Comment

J.D. Cronise, The Sword (2010)

When he was a little boy, J.D. Cronise wanted to be a comic book illustrator. To those familiar with The Sword's lyrics, this should come as little surprise. Their three albums are filled with images and narratives from ancient mythology and science fiction. And like a visual artist with an illustration, Cronise, the band's songwriter/vocalist and guitarist, starts his creative process with a single image. It's a process that he describes as "organic": he never forces himself to write, instead waiting until the ideas come to him. If Cronise writes because of extrinsic motivation, it's not true art.

The Sword is touring in support of their new release Warp Riders on Kemado Records. You can read my review of Warp Riders in the Washington Post here.

Hard Rock, Metal, RockBen OpipariDecember 15, 2010jd cronise, kemado records, lawless lands, sword, the sword, tres brujas, warp riders, wingo, winters wolves Comment

All Interviews

Contact

Copyright © 2015, SongwritersOnProcess.com. All rights reserved.