Interviews

It took only a few minutes of seeing The Spring Standards in concert before I knew that this was one creative trio. I caught them here in DC at the Red Palace when they played with Ha Ha Tonka. It wasn't just the fact that Heather Robb, James Smith, and James Cleare all played every instrument at some point. It wasn't the fantastic voices or the terrific songs. It was that, as I told Robb, their set was so theatrical. It was a stage show: the way they played, the way they bantered with each other, the way they bantered with the audience.

It was like a stage show, as it turns out, for good reason: Robb is an actor by training who still is involved in theatre in New York City. She attended Syracuse University, where she majored in theatre. (In a true small world coincidence, we were both there in the Department of Drama at the same time: I as a professor and she as a student, though we did not know each other.) Robb claims to be somewhat of an introvert, something not readily apparent in her charismatic stage presence.

Folk Rock, Indie, Indie FolkBen OpipariApril 29, 2011heather robb, spring standards, would things be different Comment

James Vincent McMorrow

James Vincent McMorrow is nothing if not patient and methodical. A lesser songwriter might be driven crazy by the snail's pace of his writing process: it took McMorrow nearly six months to write his debut Early in the Morning (Vagrant Records). Some days he wrote only a few sentences; on others, just a few words. It would be easy to call this writer's block; after all, if you sit for a whole day and only write five or six sentences, surely your creative spigot is closed.

But this is all part of McMorrow's process, and here's the difference. Any good writer will tell you that their writing process never stops. It's happening when they eat, sleep, talk, stare, read, whatever. The actual pen-to-paper part, the end product, is only a small part of that process. Sure, it's the most gratifying, but it's only one part of many. So it's not that McMorrow writes slowly. (Well, he might, since I've haven't seen the speed of his penmanship.) Instead, he writes deliberately. And he's fine with that.

Singer/Songwriter, Folk, Alternative, Vagrant RecordsBen OpipariApril 26, 2011early in the morning, james vincent mcmorrowComment

Thao Nguyen, Thao & the Get Down Stay Down

Earlier this week I posted my interview with Mirah, and today it's Thao's turn (of Thao and Mirah, as well as Thao and the Get Down Stay Down). Thao and Mirah begin touring in May to support their album that comes out April 26 on killrockstars. I've interviewed over 80 songwriters for this site, and few (probably enough to count on one hand) mention exercise as an aid and a regular part of their writing process. But both Thao and Mirah exercise regularly and use it as a way to boost creativity. Which makes me think that if they haven't already, the should run together if they decide to write and record again. Maybe train for a 10k together.

Folk Rock, Indie Folk, Indie, Indie RockBen OpipariApril 21, 2011thao and mirah, thao, thao nguyenComment

Mirah, Thao and Mirah

One thing that distinguishes artists from everyone else is their hyperattention to their surroundings. Specifically, good lyricists (and that means songwriters and poets) see beauty in even the most mundane of things. And there's no better example of that than Mirah, who maintains a Tumblr account that features nothing but pictures of discarded banana peels she finds on the streets of San Francisco. She claims on the site that she doesn't think this has anything to do with her music, but I must disagree. It's all part of her creative package. This is exactly what makes songwriters artistic: they see purpose in everything, even (really, especially) in things that most of us never notice.

Indie, Indie Rock, Indie Pop, Kill Rock Stars RecordsBen OpipariApril 18, 2011mirah, thao and mirah Comment

Jonathan Meiburg, Shearwater

It's a telling indication of the depth of Jonathan Meiburg's experience that if you Google his name and search for images, you'll see a lot of birds. As any professional writer will tell you, what makes for powerful writing is engagement with the world. Good writers engage with their environment and seek out novel ways to interact with it. Of course, mere interaction with the environment isn't necessarily an indicator that you'll write well about it; to do so, you have to engage and reflect on that engagement. Ernest Hemingway experienced a couple of wars and lots of bullfighting, but it's how he wrote about those experiences that made him great.

All this is to say that this is why Meiburg, the Shearwater singer and songwriter, writes such quality music. His experience is vast: he's been to the Falkland Islands, Tierra del Fuego, an Aboriginal settlement in Australia, the Chatham Islands of New Zealand, and Baffin Island in Canada. His masters degree is in geography, and his thesis (which I am reading now) is entitled The Biogeography of Striated Caracaras (Phalcoboenus australis). Not surprisingly, Meiburg is an avid birder. As you'll read below, he spends a considerable amount of time not only writing about the natural environment but thinking about his place in it with keen metacognition.

Read my interview with Jonathan Meiburg after the video. A special thanks to Jenn Wasner of Wye Oak, who introduced me to Jonathan and affectiontely told us two "nerds" to go at it.

Matador Records, Sub Pop Records, Indie Rock, Indie Folk, Folk RockBen OpipariApril 13, 2011jenn wasner, jonathan meiburg, okkervil river, shearwater, wye oakComment

Brian Roberts, Ha Ha Tonka

This is not an album review site, since I do that for the Washington Post. I try to maintain some sense of objectivity when I write these short pieces before my interviews. But for this, my second interview with Brian Roberts of Ha Ha Tonka, I am suspending that practice to say that Ha Ha Tonka is one of the best bands making music now. Their new album,Death of a Decade (Bloodshot Records), only futher reinforces my opinion. It's beautiful, it's soulful, it's energetic. And the four-part harmonies from these guys from the Ozark mountain region are mesmerizing. Predictably, the reviews for Death of a Decade are overwhelmingly positive. Their music has been described as indie, roots, alt-country, bluegrass, southern rock, among other label. It's hard to pin down, but that's probably why they are so good: it's got all those influences.

Bloodshot Records, Indie, Indie Folk, Indie RockBen OpipariApril 7, 2011bloodshot, brian roberts, death of a decade, ha ha tonka, lennon bone, mark twain, ozarkComment

Joe Michelini, River City Extension

Joe Michelini of River City Extension isn't the first songwriter to tell me that he uses cooking as part of his songwriting process. But he might be the first one to tell me that he uses it almost as a source of self-flagellation: when he gets writer's block, he eats and eats. Just gorges himself. Then, when he feels sufficiently terrible about doing nothing but staying inside and eating all day, he ventures out. And when he does, he sees the world in an entirely new way. Everything looks fresh, like seeing the world for the first time.

Americana, Singer/SongwriterBen OpipariApril 5, 2011joe michelini, river city extension, the unmistakeable manComment

Ryan Sollee, The Builders and the Butchers

The Builders and the Butchers' third full-length LP, Dead Reckoning, contains lots of talk of physical calamities and destruction by wind, water, and fire. There's not much optimism in Ryan Sollee's storytelling as he explores the darker side of human nature. He explores these themes while he's fishing around the beautiful city of Portland, where he lives. The solitary act of fishing begs for solemn contemplation (at least it does for me, since I never catch anything). Sollee doesn't do any writing here; it's where the well of inspiration fills as he sits quietly. The writing comes later in a process that he calls "subconscious." It's also worth noting that Sollee used to be a biologist, and the creative process often had its genesis during his many walks in the woods.

Alt Country, Folk Rock, Indie Folk, AmericanaBen OpipariMarch 30, 2011dead reckoning, ryan sollee, the builders and the butchersComment

Jenn Wasner, Wye Oak

There's no doubt in my mind that Jenn Wasner of Wye Oak would be lost without her phone. It's the key to her songwriting. That phone is where she documents all her observations for the day. She's constantly in touch with her surroundings, and all of her lyrical and melodic ideas that come from this connection go into the phone's voice recorder for later, when she actually writes a song. Wasner says her "switch is on all the time . . . if you're always looking around and noticing your environment, it's a big help."

What impresses me most about Wasner is that she calls herself a writer, period. And she knows that being a writer takes hard work. Like any good writer, she knows that the time spent actually crafting her words is only a small part of the writing process. Wasner recognizes that writers are always writing, even when they aren't. That is, her writing process takes place when she's driving, walking, shopping, anything. During this time, she's inventing ideas, trying out lines, just doing everything except putting pen to paper. In fact, she approaching her writing process with this wonderfully simple mantra: "living is work."

Synth Pop, Rock, Indie, Indie Pop, Dream Pop, Merge RecordsBen OpipariMarch 25, 2011andy stack, baltimore, civilian, jen wasner, jenn wasner, merge records, wye oak Comments

Dave Hause

It's not often that I get to exchange bedtime routines with a songwriter. But that's what Dave Hause and I did at the end of our interview. We had been talking for about 50 minutes and established that we had a great deal in common, so it's probably little surprise that it came to this point. We both read a lot of magazines. Too many, really, to keep up with. So they just pile up next to our beds, waiting to be read. The second we finish one, two more arrive.

Hause's songwriting process and reading material reflect his high level of engagement with his environment. And this level of engagement makes for one thing: Hause is a smart and introspective man. He doesn't just give me answers, he tells me why he does what he does. And he's able to do this because he's constantly thinking about his place in the world. He reads Rolling Stone for the political articles and GQ for the non-fiction. He's constantly picking up auditory and visual cues for song ideas, and he has an endless supply of notebooks and Blackberry files to show for it.

Punk, Americana, Folk Rock, Singer/SongwriterBen OpipariMarch 21, 2011dave hause, resolutions- build and burn, the loved onesComment

Pete Yorn

It's not that often that a songwriter says that majoring in the humanities was the perfect preparation for being a singer/songwriter. But that's what happened for Pete Yorn. He was a speech communications major at Syracuse University (it's now called "communication and rhetorical studies" there). He had planned on going to law school and figured that a major emphasizing public speaking was good preparation. Yorn was "petrified" of getting in front of a group, so the major helped him work through that fear and become comfortable with public performances.

Yorn's college experience honed his songwriting skills in another way. If you've ever spent any time near Syracuse, one image comes to mind: snow. The area is closing in on 200 inches of snow this winter. I spent four years living in the Syracuse area. The cold and snowy winters there are soul-crushing. But ask Yorn about his time as an undergrad at SU, and he'll tell you that if it weren't for all that snow, he might never have become a songwriter. What others might see as limiting--the fact that you can't really go outside--Yorn saw as the perfect opportunity to stay inside and do some writing. "I credit those winters," he says, "as a catalyst to my songwriting."

Alternative, Indie, Indie Folk, Indie Rock, Vagrant Records, Singer/SongwriterBen OpipariMarch 9, 2011black album, pete yorn, vagrant Comment

Andy McCluskey, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD)

It's a tribute to Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark that the sound they helped create, the shimmering synth pop that was so innovative when the band started three decades ago, is now de rigueur in music. OMD is out with a new album called History of Modern; it's their first in fourteen years and their first in over twenty with the 1980s "If You Leave" lineup. It comes at an appropriate time, given the popularity of synth pop and the band's influence on groups like The xx and LCD Soundsytem. And the public has responded: OMD were conservative when booking venues on this tour, but now they are having to book second shows in some cities and move shows to bigger venues in others.

When it came to making History of Modern, Andy McCluskey, the band's singer and co-songwriter with Paul Humphreys, told me, "We analyzed our history and realized that we had created our own musical voice with the first four albums, and we wanted to go back to expressing ourselves in the language we invented ourselves. We had to strike that balance between something that was OMD but also not some nostalgia trip."

1980s, Pop, Post Punk, New Wave, Influencers, Synth PopBen OpipariMarch 8, 2011andy mccluskey, history of modern, if you leave, omd, orchestral manoeuvres in the dark, paul humphreys Comment

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