This is a quick transcription of the new song by The National, tentatively titled "The Runaway". There's sure to be a mistake or two, if you feel the need to reprimand me for my bad hearing, feel free. Here's an idea, since the song title isn't set in stone, perhaps all of you faithful and rabid National fans out there can leave a comment as to what you feel the song should be called... if we get a good variety of answers I'll send them to the band. Get a free, remember it's free (and low quality) preview of the song here.
"The Runaway"
There's no savin' anything
Now we're swallowin' the shine of the sun
There's no savin' anything
From the shine of the sun
But I won't be no runaway
Cause I won't run
No I won't be no runaway
What makes you think I’m enjoyin' being led to the flood
We got another thing comin' undone
That’s taking us over
We don't bleed when we don't fight
Go ahead go ahead
Throw your arms in the air tonight
We don't bleed when we don't fight
Go ahead go ahead
Throw your shirts in the fire tonight
What makes you think I’m enjoying being led to the flood
We got another thing comin' undone
But I won't be no runaway
Cause I won't run
No I won't be no runaway
Cause I won't run
No I won't be no runaway
what makes you think I’m enjoyin' being led to the flood
We got another thing comin' undone
That’s taking forever
We don't bleed when we don't fight
go ahead go ahead
Throw your arms in the air tonight
we don't bleed when we don't fight
Go ahead go ahead
There’s our shirts in the fire tonight
what makes you think I'm enjoying being led to the flood
we got another thing comin' undone
we got another thing comin' undone
That’s taking us over
I'll go bravin' anything
With you swallowin' the shine of the sun
I'll go bravin' everything
With you swallowin' the shine
But I won't be no runaway
Cause I won't run
No I won't be no runaway
Cause I won't run
No I won't be no runaway
What makes you think I’m enjoying being led to the flood
We got another thing comin' undone
They’ve taken us over
We don't bleed when we don't fight
go ahead go ahead
Throw your arms in the air tonight
We don't bleed when we don't fight
Go ahead go ahead
Lose our shirts in the fire
What makes you think I’m enjoying being led to the flood
We got another thing comin undone
We got another thing comin' undone
That’s taking us over
That’s taking forever
May 26, 2009
May 20, 2009
Patrick Watson: 'Wooden Arms' Hipstereo Review
I don't think it's happened before... not to me, at least. Wooden Arms, Patrick Watson's 3rd full length is so intoxicating, so magical, that it has pushed every thing I've heard since, down a notch, or two. And it's not just Watson's voice, one that lives somewhere between the rooted grainy echo of M Ward and the soaring mercurial grace of Jeff Buckley, it's the music which carries, and is carried by, that voice.
Some music is simpler for me to understand than others, although that doesn't mean I can't enjoy it. I understand Elvis Perkins, and his great new record, and I can intuit how he came to create the music on that record, but Patrick Watson... I can't figure this out. How does he do it? And I've even wondered... why? There's something powerful here, and it may simply be the mystery, the how and the why. Mystery is very seductive, isn't it? I've been seduced by this album, from the quiet romanticism/oddness of the Tom Waits-like title track "Wooden Arms", to the carnival-esque and woozy somnambulism of "Traveling Salesman". From "Beijing" and it's fantastic musical evocation of a city humming, buzzing, and racing with the life of millions of citizens to the deceptively simple "Where The Wild Things Are".
Opening the record is the stunningly lovely "Fireweed", a song which shows to great effect just how important the talents of the other band members are. Throughout Wooden Arms, guitarist Simon Angell shows imagination and restraint, while bassist Mishka Stein displays a fluidity which never gets in the way of percussionist Robbie Kuster's strength, presence and innovation. While this quartet does push boundaries to keep engaged in the creative process, they can, and do, slip in the occasional "pop" song, such as "Man Like You" and "Big Bird In A Small Cage", the latter song in my perfect world would be on every radio in every car and home.
If 2006's release, Close To Paradise, won the band the 2007 Polaris Music Prize (Canada's Mercury Prize), then I can only imagine what awards will be earned by this new record. Highly recommended.
Mar 24, 2009
Pop Quiz: The National's Matt Berninger
Well, here it is... the first and possibly the last POP QUIZ to appear on Sixeyes with favourite interview subject, Matt Berninger of The National.
Favourite city to visit?
Amsterdam. I like the canals and the bikes, not the drugs and whores.
Favourite venue to play?
Still Bowery Ballroom. It feels homey.
CD or vinyl?
I only listen to stuff on my iPod now. The sound is inferior but i'm lazy and turning over a record seems like a pain now.
Boxers or briefs?
Conservative briefs.
Beer, wine, or Calimocho?
Wine.
Favourite singer?
Changes too fast.
Coke or Pepsi?
Trying hard to think of something witty... nope, Coke.
The English Patient or High Fidelity?
I hated The English Patient. I wish everyone involved with that movie had died in a cave. High Fidelity is really good.
Madonna or Britney?
Pepsi
Favourite lyricist, or writer?
Too hard. I have about 20.
Sean Penn or Mickey Rourke?
Also tough. Penn.
Sugar or Aspartame?
Sugar?
Morning or night person? Uhh… afternoon?
I don't think I lean toward any of those times. It depends on what happened the day before.
Miami Vice or Starsky and Hutch?
Simon and Simon.
Bowie or Springsteen?
I used to date a girl who would often fantasize aloud about a Bowie-Jagger sandwich which turned me off Bowie for a few years. Springsteen and I were both left out so there's a kinship there.
* * * * * * *
Favourite city to visit?
Amsterdam. I like the canals and the bikes, not the drugs and whores.
Favourite venue to play?
Still Bowery Ballroom. It feels homey.
CD or vinyl?
I only listen to stuff on my iPod now. The sound is inferior but i'm lazy and turning over a record seems like a pain now.
Boxers or briefs?
Conservative briefs.
Beer, wine, or Calimocho?
Wine.
Favourite singer?
Changes too fast.
Coke or Pepsi?
Trying hard to think of something witty... nope, Coke.
The English Patient or High Fidelity?
I hated The English Patient. I wish everyone involved with that movie had died in a cave. High Fidelity is really good.
Madonna or Britney?
Pepsi
Favourite lyricist, or writer?
Too hard. I have about 20.
Sean Penn or Mickey Rourke?
Also tough. Penn.
Sugar or Aspartame?
Sugar?
Morning or night person? Uhh… afternoon?
I don't think I lean toward any of those times. It depends on what happened the day before.
Miami Vice or Starsky and Hutch?
Simon and Simon.
Bowie or Springsteen?
I used to date a girl who would often fantasize aloud about a Bowie-Jagger sandwich which turned me off Bowie for a few years. Springsteen and I were both left out so there's a kinship there.
Feb 18, 2008
The Mountain Goats' John Darnielle: Interview 2008
A special thanks to Lalitree Darnielle for the above photo. Check out her flickr page here.
BUY Heretic Pride.
* * * * * *
Sixeyes: I’d like to start by asking if you’re a heretic… in any sense of the term? (Not that there’s anything wrong with that - a la Seinfeld).
John Darnielle: No no, heavens no. I'm apostate, insofar as I hardly ever go to church any more, but actual heresy is something you kinda have to do with malice, and I think anybody who did any downtime reading the Church Fathers probably carries a horror of being branded "heretic." At the same time, though, I mean - if this is the middle ages? yes, no doubt, I am one, we're all one. What piety there is in the world is fake-ass piety, ugly self-righteousness, false austerities when there's any austerity at all. The world may have outgrown something as bizarre and cartoonish as the concept of heresy. Which is a shame from a narrative standpoint, but probably good for the rest (i.e., "all") of us.
Sixeyes: Heretic Pride opens with “Sax Rohmer #1”. I’ve never read any of Rohmer’s novels, so I can’t tell if his novels, or his life has inspired this song, or if you just like the name Sax Rohmer. Are you a fan of Rohmer’s?
JD: He's kind of a problematic guy to be a fan of - him and Lovecraft both are "products of their time" if you're being polite or "total racist assholes" if you're being realistic. So, you know, any fanhood I have of his stuff is mitigated by the way he describes Asian characters ("cunning", "inscrutable", etc, but that's just the tip of the iceberg) - my wife's from Thailand, I can't be down with tired Orientalisms. At the same time, though, the cartoonish danger-lurking-around-every-corner Fu-Manchu-about-to-invade-England-by-sea world he's imagining has this druggy bizarre filmic quality to it - as landscapes go, Rohmer's have got real depth, and texture, and grain. So a lot of the images in that song are stock stuff of the sort that Rohmer could do blindfolded - agents in the shadows, that sort of thing. In that sense, it's a tribute to his skills. But you always want to keep your distance from a dude like Rohmer. I almost changed the title but thought I should not front, I like to go with my first impulses in writing.
Sixeyes: And while we’re getting literary, just how do you know how Lovecraft felt when he was in Brooklyn, anyway?
JD: He left behind reams of evidence! H.P. "Dudebrah" Lovecraft, who incidentally was the meanest hacky-sack player of his day*, wrote letters to his friends and associates practically every day of his life. When he moved to Brooklyn from western Massachusetts, he felt horrified - the whole concept of New York City was pretty well beyond his grasp, dude was from western Massachusetts and the gulf between societies was greater then than now. (Or possibly not, maybe, you would have to ask people who've spent more time in western Mass. than I have.) His descriptions of Brooklyn are little miracles of misanthropy - he had a hard time in Brooklyn and took it all out in his mind on the immigrants among whom he lived. He was kind of like the silently angry neighbor dude who's going postal right under everybody's noses, only the only thing he ever did about it was write, write, write, eventually channeling his xenophobia into bizarre visions.
*this is a lie
Sixeyes: I know that you won’t talk about your process of writing a song, but I wonder if writing has become easier for you? Are you more self-assured, or is self-doubt always there, just now a smaller bump in the road?
JD: There are so many assumptions in this question - that notion that writers always have a little nagging voice of self-doubt, or feel a weight on them when they write - I can't speak for others but it's never been true for me. The feeling of writing is like body-surfing totally mongo waves - you reach a point of pure doing, where what you do is who you are and vice-versa, this really physical point of total bliss and engagement. It has always been that way for me. The reason I don't talk much about the process of writing is that it's private, and I believe in preserving some pleasures for the private realm.
Sixeyes (a): How do you go from being the hermetic songwriter to the communal process of bringing your songs to life in the studio?
JD: Lots of alcohol. This is kinda only sort of a joke. The studio is a difficult place for me on the best of days, I'm kind of a control freak with my songs and people have to constantly remind me "we're not trying to ruin your song, we're actually trying to do something cool with it." I have trust issues in this realm. I think these trust issues are largely rooted in the fact that everybody thinks reverb on vocals is just a terrific idea, when in fact there is nothing worse in the whole world. So that makes me think "I gotta be there for all decisions or people are gonna get happy on the reverb."
Sixeyes (b): And is it stressful when you first share new songs with others, or is it in any way a relief?
JD: Oh no I love sending songs to Peter. I mean, our relationship kind of has its origins, or at least had some early peak points, in me calling him up and goin' "Dude! You have to come over to my house and sing on this jam! It is a totally awesome jam!" (That song was "Cubs in Five" for those keeping score.) Writing and show-and-tell isn't really stressful at all, the only hard part is the transition from what I do by myself to the growth into a bigger, multi-faceted thing.
Sixeyes (a): I’ve read that Scott Solter and John Vanderslice helped out once again in studio.
JD: Yes: they are the producers. I have to say they do more than help out, they are the architects here.
Sixeyes (b): So, how prepared is your production team before you all meet up at Prairie Sun? Are Solter and Vanderslice familiar with the songs beforehand?
JD: Good and unusual question! On previous albums we haven't been all that prepared; usually Peter and I will have had a few practice sessions and then everybody else will just figure out what they're gonna do once they get there. This time Peter and Jon and I had had several practice sessions plus a tour, and really knew how we played together, and Erik had sent me demos of his parts and an early arrangement of "San Bernardino." Not trying to brag, but JV said that, for this album, we were one of the best-prepared bands he'd seen in the studio, and that made me feel proud.
Yeah, I start sending Scott and JV songs once I have an album-length bunch. Peter gets them hot off the press, one at a time, usually.
Sixeyes: Sticking with Prairie Sun, you’ve recorded there before, so why again? What is so special about this studio for you?
JD: It's been sorta like returning to the place where something good happened! The first one we did there was The Sunset Tree, and that album opened all kinds of doors for me; then we did Get Lonely, which was a little polarizing, but we were and remain really proud of it - it's quite different, really sort of a detour that gave me lots of pleasure. So then I thought, wow, if we can go back there and do something that different from what we did before, what else is possible up there? Also, and probably more importantly, a lot of crucial thrash metal bands have recorded there.
Sixeyes: From what I’ve seen you keep up to date with what's happening at the cutting edge of music. Is that done out of an ingrained desire, or a way of feeding your creative mind with ammunition, or both?
JD: I have to say I don't think this is true! I listen to loads of stuff, some of it quite obscure, but I don't think I'm actually up on what's going on that's cool or anything. I probably couldn't I.D. even one of the recent hot indie rock bands except maybe Vampire Weekend. I listen to a ton of music for the same reason anybody else does I'd guess - sheer visceral pleasure, a pleasant and rewarding use of my senses. Right?
Sixeyes: All right. Well, inspiration must be an elusive thing that an artist can’t really pin down, you can’t stuff it away in a drawer and pull it out when needed, but do you think that inspiration can lead to something hollow if the artist isn’t in the right frame of mind? Be it joyful, miserable, or lustful as examples. Do primal emotions, you think, make for better songs?
JD: No, there isn't much that I disagree with more than the last bit you raise there. Writing - any writing - is a cerebral process. Some people (I think of Artaud) have gone to great lengths to try to make it otherwise, but at the end of the day, you're imposing structure on something pre-lingual. Primal emotions don't take place at the level of language: they're screams and grunts and cries and whimpers, not rhyming couplets. While I'll acknowledge that some days a writer has the thing workin' and other days he doesn't, I pretty much reject the concept of inspiration: writing is work. Good fun hard rewarding work, but work. Not magic. Steady practice shapes a write the way a sculptor makes a statue, I think - not waiting for inspiration to strike.
Sixeyes: Keeping with the ‘On The Road’ aspect, while on stage do you ever feel that same rush you get from listening to a great metal song?
JD: No, they're different qualities - even the most active listening is at root a passive process, though I guess there are some theories of listening that'd find a statement like that pretty offensive. Come to think of it, I do, too, since I think the act of listening is what gives life to a song. Anyhow though performing is a whole different deal - playing is a whole different deal. Different channels getting engaged. There's a level at which the most important part of playing is listening, for sure, but it's a different sort of listening.
Sixeyes: On your website you’ve got some tour dates up and you’re starting off in Alaska, have you ever played that far north before, or even visited the state in the past? Is that ever a consideration when planning a tour, to go places you’re curious about?
JD: Yeah we played Fairbanks last year. Since most of what I see of a place is the inside of a club and then later the inside of a hotel room, I don't really think too hard about seeing places I haven't seen before. Though it is nice to cross another one off the list, we've played almost all fifty states now. I look forward to rocking Wyoming, North Dakota, Montana, Hawaii, Maine, and Delaware someday!
Sixeyes: Now, I’ll finish up with this: I hear you’re into cooking and have even been pulling out some old vinyl recently. What would John Darnielle serve up when friends come over? And what about that old vinyl, just how old are we talking about here? And what have you been spinning?
JD: Given enough prep time I would have to go with my samosas and a coconut chutney. Those are pretty much my calling card. Though I have a loaf of French bread I've been doing that's spectacular.
Old vinyl - I don't know, I listened to some old Caruso sides on an LP that had to've been from the early sixties at the latest the other day. I've been otherwise listening on the turntable to Barrington Levy, Peste Noire, Sadomator, and Chic's Real People, which I totally missed the first time around and is awesome.
* * * * * *
BUY Heretic Pride
There is a massive amount of Mountain Goats music to be found at eMusic.
Check out eMusic's Free trial offer of 25 DRM-free downloads here.
"Sax Rohmer #1" Video
Mountain Goats MP3s
From Heretic Pride
marduk t-shirt men's room incident [mp3]
From Get Lonely
new monster avenue [mp3]
From The Sunset Tree
lions teeth [mp3]
From We Shall All Be Healed
palmcorder yajna [mp3]
From All Hail West Texas
source decay [mp3]
TOUR DATES
February
19 - Anchorage, AK
22 - Vancouver, BC, Richard's on Richards
23 - Seattle, WA, Neumos
25 - Portland, OR, Doug Fir
26 - Portland, OR, Doug Fir
27 - Eugene, OR, WOW Hall
29 - San Francisco, CA, Bimbo's
March
1 - San Francisco, CA, the Independent
2 - San Francisco, CA, Bottom of the Hill (matinee)
4 - Los Angeles, CA, the Troubadour
5 - Los Angeles, CA, the Troubadour
13 - Northampton, MA, Pearl Street
14 - Boston, MA, Museum of Fine Arts
15 - Boston, MA, The Middle East
18 - New York, NY, Webster Hall
19 - Brooklyn, NY, Music Hall of Williamsburg
20 - Philadelphia, PA, First Unitarian
22 - Washington, DC The Black Cat
April
5 - Perth, The Rousemount
6 - Adelaide, Fowlers Live
8 - Melbourne, Billboard
9 - Hobart, The Republic Bar
11- Newcastle, The Cambridge
12 - Sydney, Manning Bar
15 - Brisbane, The Zoo
17 - Sunshine Coast, Lake Kawana Community Centre
Jan 10, 2008
Marco Mahler: 'Design In Quick Rotation' Review
Design in Quick Rotation
(Self-released)
Marco Mahler’s vocals may lean more towards a conspiratorial whisper than a shouted ‘hey-look-at-me’, but it’s his music that rises above that charismatic whisper to snag your ear. Acoustic guitar lines cut through all else, crisscrossing, blooming, like kaleidoscopic patterns in tracks like the instrumental “Hike The Lake”. And yet it’s that very voice, that calming, quiet voice delivering Mahler’s abstract lyrics, that’s the perfect foil to the penetrating acoustic guitar. Although all this isn’t in sacrifice to melody, he does wield a number of strong melodies that will lodge like an arrow in your heart. “Orange Chinese Car” softly thumps like a basketball about to be taken hard to the hoop, while “Study Airports” is an anti-lullaby, a song to wake up to rather than deliver the lulling. Design in Quick Rotation is a surprisingly well-crafted debut from a man who, not surprisingly, is also a sculptor.
This album and his latest effort can both be streamed here.
Visit his myspace page for links to buy.
Jan 9, 2008
Sandro Perri: 'Tiny Mirrors' Review
Tiny Mirrors
(Constellation)
Tiny Mirrors, Sandro Perri’s first full length effort under his own name (he did release a five track acoustic reworking of his electronic work done under the moniker, Polmo Polpo), is imbued with a nonchalant elegance, a sound so free flowing and unforced that you can’t help but marvel at it. Toronto based Perri has been moving in music circles under several band names for a handful of years, but it’s this effort, bearing his name and voice, that should stamp his art on the minds of music fans. Trained as a jazz musician, Perri brings that genres’ improvisational beauty to songs that defy all labels excepting that of personal. Originals such as “Double Suicide”, with its lovely title refrain (a hook nearly lost in the song’s laid back charm) and his cover of Fred Neil’s “Everybody’s Talkin’”, which slows down to let the sadness of the song linger long after the music ends, stand out on a record that recalls Jeff Buckley mashed with Nick Drake. The term ‘under the radar’ was coined for just such an artist as Perri, and I pray that this handful of words lifts him high enough to begin flashing on radar screens.
Sandro Perri - Double Suicide
Sep 23, 2007
Iron & Wine 'The Shepherd's Dog' Lyrics
Iron & Wine's 3rd full length album, The Shepherd's Dog, will be released on September 25th via Sub Pop. The lyrics offered here were found in several places online and could very well have errors. If you spot an outstanding error and would like to correct it, please do so in the comments.
BUY The Shepherd's Dog
TRACK LIST
1. Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car
2. White Tooth Man
3. Lovesong of the Buzzard
4. Carousel
5. House by the Sea
6. Innocent Bones
7. Wolves (Song of the Shepherd's Dog)
8. Resurrection Fern
9. Boy With a Coin
10.The Devil Never Sleeps
11.Peace Beneath the City
12.Flightless Bird, American Mouth
THE SHEPHERD'S DOG Lyrics
1. "Pagan Angel And A Borrowed Car"
Love was a promise made of smoke
In a frozen copse of trees
A bone cold and older than our bodies
Slowly floating in the sea
Every morning there were planes
The shiny blades of pagan angels in our father's skies
Every evening I would watch her hold the pillow
Tight against her hollows, her unholy child
I was still a beggar shaking out my stolen coat
Among the angry cemetery leaves
When they caught the king beneath the borrowed car
Righteous, drunk, and fumbling for the royal keys
Love was a father's flag and sung like a shank
In a cake on our leather boots
A beautiful feather floating down
To where the birds had shit on empty chapel pews
Every morning we found one more machine
To mock our ever waning patience at the well
Every evening she'd descend the mountain stealing socks
And singing something good where all the horses fell
Like a snake within the wilted garden wall
I’d hint to her every possibility
While with his gun the pagan angel rose to say
"My love is one made to break every bended knee"
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
2. "White Tooth Man"
Said the plain clothes cop to the beauty queen
“I’ve seen nothing but a spoke in a wheel”
So she gave up her crown to a kid with a crutch
And they both felt cheated after closing the deal
And the white tooth man, I ran with him
Got all cut up from pissing out in the weeds
And a fight upstate with a broken blade
And a wife whose finger never wanted a ring
Said the plain clothes cop to the Indian chief
“I’ve made nothing but an honest mistake”
The postman cried while reading the mail
And we all got trampled in the Christmas parade
And the white tooth man who sold me a gun
A map of Canaan and a government bond
Said, “I love this town, but it ain’t the same”
The ski mask ripped as he was putting it on
Said the plain clothes cop to the holy ghost
“I’ve heard nothing if it wasn’t the wind”
And we all got sick on a strip club meal
While the statehouse was frying all the witches again
So the white tooth man with his kids in the car
And a wad of money that was already spent
Said, “I love my dog but she just ran away
She’ll keep running like the world never ends”
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
3. "Lovesong of the Buzzard"
In the failing light of the afternoon
Lucy in the shade of the dogwood blooms
Yesterday the solace of a poison fish
Tomorrow I'll be kissing on her blood red lips
No one is the saviour they would like to be
The lovesong of the buzzard in the dogwood tree
With a train of horses laughing through the traffic line
And the cradle's unimaginative sense of time
Springtime and the promise of an open fist
A tattoo of a flower on a broken wrist
Lucy tells me jokingly to wipe her brow
With a pocket map to heaven and the sun goes down
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
4. "Carousel"
Almost home
When I missed the bottom stair
You were braiding your gray hair
It had grown so long
Since I'd been gone
And the perfect girls
By the pool, they would protest
The cross around their necks
But our sons were overseas
And we all know about the hive and the honey bees
Almost home
With an olive branch and a dove
You were beating on a Persian rug
With your bible and your wedding band
Both hidden on a TV stand
And the cruel wind blew
Every city father fell
Off the county carousel
While the dogs were eating snow
All our sons had sunk in a trunk of Noah's clothes
Almost home
We got lost on our new street
While your grieving girls all died in their sleep
So the dogs all went unfed
A great dream of bones all piled on the bed
And the cops couldn't care
When that crackhead built a boat
And said, "Please, before I go
May our only honored bone
Be the kinship of the kids and the riot squad"
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
5. "House by the Sea"
There is a house by the sea
Two jealous sisters, they're waiting for me
And one is laid on the floor
And one is changing the locks on the doors
And I've been buying the time on my knees
And I've been selling their blankets to bleed (on)
Around the house by the sea
The scent of roses and raspberry leaves
And there is smoke in my clothes
Too much time with just smoke in my nose
And I've been making the meaning they lack
And I've been burning that book they come back too
There is a house by the sea
And an ocean between it and me
And like the shape of a wave
The jealous sisters will sing on my grave
And I've been living to run where they led
And I've been dying to rise from their bed
And I've been sparing my neck from their chain
And they've been changing the sound of my name
And I've been swimming to them in my sleep
And I've been dreaming our love and our freedom
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
6. "Innocent Bones"
Cain got a milk-eyed mule from the auction
Abel got a telephone
And even the last of the blue-eyed babies know
That the burning man is the color of the end of day
And how every tongue that gets bit always has another word to say
Cain bought a blade from some witch at the window
Abel bought a bag of weed
And even the last of the brown-eyed babies see
That the cartoon king has a tattoo of a bleeding heart
There ain’t a penthouse Christian wants the pain of the scab, but they all want the scar
How every mouth sings of what it’s without so we all sing of love
And how it ain’t one dog who’s good at fucking and denying who he’s thinking of
Cain heard a cat tumble limp off the rooftop
Abel heard his papa pray
And even the last of the black-eyed babies say
That every saint has a chair you can borrow and a church to sell
That the wind blows cold across the back of the master and the kitchen help
There’s a big pile of innocent bones still holding up the garden wall
And it was always the broken hand we learned to lean on after all
How God knows if Christ came back he would find us in a poker game
After finding out the drugs were all free but they won't let you out the door again
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
7. "Wolves (Song of the Shepherd's Dog)"
Wolves by the road
And a bike wheel spinning on a pawn shop wall
She leaned on her coloured hair
Like a butterfly wing in a summer rainfall
And the roll on the kitchen floor
Some fucker with a pocketful of foreign change
Song of the shepherd’s dog
A pitch in the dark in the ear of the lamb who was going to try to run away
Whoever got that brave?
Wolves in the middle of town
And the chapel bell ringing through the wind-blown trees
To wave to the butcher’s boy with the parking lot music everybody believes
And then out like a dying bird in the ?? in the corner of the penny arcade
Song of the shepherd’s dog
Waiting around the jack call of the rooster
On the rooftop waiting for day
And ain’t nobody’s gonna say
Wolves at the end of the bed
And a postcard hidden in her winter clothes
She beat in the back of a truck
To the trailers when we trying to find the bullet hole
And then run down the canopy rows
Some mother and a baby with a cross to nail
Song of the shepherd’s dog
Little brown flea in the bottle of oil for your woolly wild hair
You'll never get him out of there
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
8. "Resurrection Fern"
In our days we will live
Like our ghosts will live:
Pitching glass at the cornfield crows
And folding clothes
Like stubborn boys across the road
We'll keep everything:
Grandma's gun and the black bear claw
That took her dog
When sister Laurie says, "Amen"
We won't hear anything:
The ten-car trains will take that word
That fledgling bird
And the fallen house across the way
It'll keep everything:
The baby's breath
Our bravery wasted and our shame
And we'll undress beside the ashes of the fire
Both our tender bellies wound in baling wire
All the more a pair of underwater pearls
Than the oak tree and its resurrection fern
In our days we will say
What our ghosts will say:
We gave the world what it saw fit
And what'd we get?
Like stubborn boys with big green eyes
We'll see everything:
In the tender shade of the autumn leaves
And the buzzard's wing
And we'll undress beside the ashes of the fire
Our tender bellies are wound around in baling wire
All the more a pair of underwater pearls
Than the oak tree and its resurrection fern
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
9. "Boy With A Coin"
A boy with a coin he found in the weeds
With bullets and pages of trade magazines
Close to a car that flipped on the turn
When God left the ground to circle the world
A girl with a bird she found in the snow
Then flew up her gown and that's how she knows
That God made her eyes for crying at birth
Then left the ground to circle the Earth
A boy with a coin he crammed in his jeans
Then making a wish he tossed in the sea
Walked to a town that all of us burn
When God left the ground to circle the world
:::::::::::::::::::::::::
10. "The Devil Never Sleeps"
Dreamin’ again of a train track ending at the edge of the sea
Big black cloud was low and rolling our way
Dog at the barbed wire barkin’ at my buzz-cut friends
Friend with a switch blade shinin’ in the summer rain
No one on the corner had a quarter for the telephone
Everybody bitchin’ there’s nothing on the radio
Dreamin’ again of a city full of fathers and their white clothes
Chatterin’ boys and a chicken at the choppin’ block
All of us lost at the crosswalk waitin’ for the other to go
Didn’t find the field but boy you’re really waterlogged
Someone bet a dollar that their daddy wasn’t comin’ home
Everybody bitchin’ there’s nothing on the radio
Dreamin’ again that it’s freezin’ and my mother’s in a flower bed
Long dead rows of daffodils and marigolds
Changin’ her face like a shadow on the ground
(can't tell what this line is - CAN YOU HELP OUT?)
No one lives forever and the devil never sleeps alone
Everybody bitchin’ there’s nothing on the radio
:::::::::::::::::::::::::
11. "Peace Beneath the City"
Here’s a prayer for the body buried by the interstate
Murder of a soldier, a tree in a forest up in flames
Black valley, peace beneath the city
Where the women hear the washboard rhythm in their bosom when they say,
"Give me good legs and a Japanese car and show me a road”
Sing a song for the bodies buried by the riverbank
A well-dressed boy and a pig with a bullet in the brain
Black valley, peace beneath the city
Where the white girls wander the strip mall, singing all day,
“Give me a juggernaut heart and a Japanese car and someone to free"
Sing a song for the body buried like a keepsake
Mother of million mouths with the very same name
Black valley, peace beneath the city
Where the women tell the weather but never ever tell you what they pray
They pray, "Give me a yellow brick road and a Japanese car and benevolent change"
:::::::::::::::::::::::::
12. "Flightless Bird, American Mouth"
I was a quick wet boy
Diving too deep for coins
All of your straight blind eyes
Wide on my plastic toys
And when the cops closed the fair
I cut my long baby hair
Stole me a dog-eared map
And called for you everywhere
Have I found you?
Flightless bird, jealous, weeping
Or lost you?
American mouth
Big bill looming
Now I’m a fat house cat
Cursing my sore blunt tongue
Watching the warm poison rats
Curl through the wide/white fence cracks
Kissing on magazine photos
Those fishing lures thrown in the cold and clean
Blood of Christ mountain stream
Have I found you?
Flightless bird, brown hair bleeding
Or lost you?
American mouth
Big bill, stuck going down
BUY The Shepherd's Dog
TRACK LIST
1. Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car
2. White Tooth Man
3. Lovesong of the Buzzard
4. Carousel
5. House by the Sea
6. Innocent Bones
7. Wolves (Song of the Shepherd's Dog)
8. Resurrection Fern
9. Boy With a Coin
10.The Devil Never Sleeps
11.Peace Beneath the City
12.Flightless Bird, American Mouth
THE SHEPHERD'S DOG Lyrics
1. "Pagan Angel And A Borrowed Car"
Love was a promise made of smoke
In a frozen copse of trees
A bone cold and older than our bodies
Slowly floating in the sea
Every morning there were planes
The shiny blades of pagan angels in our father's skies
Every evening I would watch her hold the pillow
Tight against her hollows, her unholy child
I was still a beggar shaking out my stolen coat
Among the angry cemetery leaves
When they caught the king beneath the borrowed car
Righteous, drunk, and fumbling for the royal keys
Love was a father's flag and sung like a shank
In a cake on our leather boots
A beautiful feather floating down
To where the birds had shit on empty chapel pews
Every morning we found one more machine
To mock our ever waning patience at the well
Every evening she'd descend the mountain stealing socks
And singing something good where all the horses fell
Like a snake within the wilted garden wall
I’d hint to her every possibility
While with his gun the pagan angel rose to say
"My love is one made to break every bended knee"
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
2. "White Tooth Man"
Said the plain clothes cop to the beauty queen
“I’ve seen nothing but a spoke in a wheel”
So she gave up her crown to a kid with a crutch
And they both felt cheated after closing the deal
And the white tooth man, I ran with him
Got all cut up from pissing out in the weeds
And a fight upstate with a broken blade
And a wife whose finger never wanted a ring
Said the plain clothes cop to the Indian chief
“I’ve made nothing but an honest mistake”
The postman cried while reading the mail
And we all got trampled in the Christmas parade
And the white tooth man who sold me a gun
A map of Canaan and a government bond
Said, “I love this town, but it ain’t the same”
The ski mask ripped as he was putting it on
Said the plain clothes cop to the holy ghost
“I’ve heard nothing if it wasn’t the wind”
And we all got sick on a strip club meal
While the statehouse was frying all the witches again
So the white tooth man with his kids in the car
And a wad of money that was already spent
Said, “I love my dog but she just ran away
She’ll keep running like the world never ends”
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
3. "Lovesong of the Buzzard"
In the failing light of the afternoon
Lucy in the shade of the dogwood blooms
Yesterday the solace of a poison fish
Tomorrow I'll be kissing on her blood red lips
No one is the saviour they would like to be
The lovesong of the buzzard in the dogwood tree
With a train of horses laughing through the traffic line
And the cradle's unimaginative sense of time
Springtime and the promise of an open fist
A tattoo of a flower on a broken wrist
Lucy tells me jokingly to wipe her brow
With a pocket map to heaven and the sun goes down
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
4. "Carousel"
Almost home
When I missed the bottom stair
You were braiding your gray hair
It had grown so long
Since I'd been gone
And the perfect girls
By the pool, they would protest
The cross around their necks
But our sons were overseas
And we all know about the hive and the honey bees
Almost home
With an olive branch and a dove
You were beating on a Persian rug
With your bible and your wedding band
Both hidden on a TV stand
And the cruel wind blew
Every city father fell
Off the county carousel
While the dogs were eating snow
All our sons had sunk in a trunk of Noah's clothes
Almost home
We got lost on our new street
While your grieving girls all died in their sleep
So the dogs all went unfed
A great dream of bones all piled on the bed
And the cops couldn't care
When that crackhead built a boat
And said, "Please, before I go
May our only honored bone
Be the kinship of the kids and the riot squad"
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
5. "House by the Sea"
There is a house by the sea
Two jealous sisters, they're waiting for me
And one is laid on the floor
And one is changing the locks on the doors
And I've been buying the time on my knees
And I've been selling their blankets to bleed (on)
Around the house by the sea
The scent of roses and raspberry leaves
And there is smoke in my clothes
Too much time with just smoke in my nose
And I've been making the meaning they lack
And I've been burning that book they come back too
There is a house by the sea
And an ocean between it and me
And like the shape of a wave
The jealous sisters will sing on my grave
And I've been living to run where they led
And I've been dying to rise from their bed
And I've been sparing my neck from their chain
And they've been changing the sound of my name
And I've been swimming to them in my sleep
And I've been dreaming our love and our freedom
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
6. "Innocent Bones"
Cain got a milk-eyed mule from the auction
Abel got a telephone
And even the last of the blue-eyed babies know
That the burning man is the color of the end of day
And how every tongue that gets bit always has another word to say
Cain bought a blade from some witch at the window
Abel bought a bag of weed
And even the last of the brown-eyed babies see
That the cartoon king has a tattoo of a bleeding heart
There ain’t a penthouse Christian wants the pain of the scab, but they all want the scar
How every mouth sings of what it’s without so we all sing of love
And how it ain’t one dog who’s good at fucking and denying who he’s thinking of
Cain heard a cat tumble limp off the rooftop
Abel heard his papa pray
And even the last of the black-eyed babies say
That every saint has a chair you can borrow and a church to sell
That the wind blows cold across the back of the master and the kitchen help
There’s a big pile of innocent bones still holding up the garden wall
And it was always the broken hand we learned to lean on after all
How God knows if Christ came back he would find us in a poker game
After finding out the drugs were all free but they won't let you out the door again
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
7. "Wolves (Song of the Shepherd's Dog)"
Wolves by the road
And a bike wheel spinning on a pawn shop wall
She leaned on her coloured hair
Like a butterfly wing in a summer rainfall
And the roll on the kitchen floor
Some fucker with a pocketful of foreign change
Song of the shepherd’s dog
A pitch in the dark in the ear of the lamb who was going to try to run away
Whoever got that brave?
Wolves in the middle of town
And the chapel bell ringing through the wind-blown trees
To wave to the butcher’s boy with the parking lot music everybody believes
And then out like a dying bird in the ?? in the corner of the penny arcade
Song of the shepherd’s dog
Waiting around the jack call of the rooster
On the rooftop waiting for day
And ain’t nobody’s gonna say
Wolves at the end of the bed
And a postcard hidden in her winter clothes
She beat in the back of a truck
To the trailers when we trying to find the bullet hole
And then run down the canopy rows
Some mother and a baby with a cross to nail
Song of the shepherd’s dog
Little brown flea in the bottle of oil for your woolly wild hair
You'll never get him out of there
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
8. "Resurrection Fern"
In our days we will live
Like our ghosts will live:
Pitching glass at the cornfield crows
And folding clothes
Like stubborn boys across the road
We'll keep everything:
Grandma's gun and the black bear claw
That took her dog
When sister Laurie says, "Amen"
We won't hear anything:
The ten-car trains will take that word
That fledgling bird
And the fallen house across the way
It'll keep everything:
The baby's breath
Our bravery wasted and our shame
And we'll undress beside the ashes of the fire
Both our tender bellies wound in baling wire
All the more a pair of underwater pearls
Than the oak tree and its resurrection fern
In our days we will say
What our ghosts will say:
We gave the world what it saw fit
And what'd we get?
Like stubborn boys with big green eyes
We'll see everything:
In the tender shade of the autumn leaves
And the buzzard's wing
And we'll undress beside the ashes of the fire
Our tender bellies are wound around in baling wire
All the more a pair of underwater pearls
Than the oak tree and its resurrection fern
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
9. "Boy With A Coin"
A boy with a coin he found in the weeds
With bullets and pages of trade magazines
Close to a car that flipped on the turn
When God left the ground to circle the world
A girl with a bird she found in the snow
Then flew up her gown and that's how she knows
That God made her eyes for crying at birth
Then left the ground to circle the Earth
A boy with a coin he crammed in his jeans
Then making a wish he tossed in the sea
Walked to a town that all of us burn
When God left the ground to circle the world
:::::::::::::::::::::::::
10. "The Devil Never Sleeps"
Dreamin’ again of a train track ending at the edge of the sea
Big black cloud was low and rolling our way
Dog at the barbed wire barkin’ at my buzz-cut friends
Friend with a switch blade shinin’ in the summer rain
No one on the corner had a quarter for the telephone
Everybody bitchin’ there’s nothing on the radio
Dreamin’ again of a city full of fathers and their white clothes
Chatterin’ boys and a chicken at the choppin’ block
All of us lost at the crosswalk waitin’ for the other to go
Didn’t find the field but boy you’re really waterlogged
Someone bet a dollar that their daddy wasn’t comin’ home
Everybody bitchin’ there’s nothing on the radio
Dreamin’ again that it’s freezin’ and my mother’s in a flower bed
Long dead rows of daffodils and marigolds
Changin’ her face like a shadow on the ground
(can't tell what this line is - CAN YOU HELP OUT?)
No one lives forever and the devil never sleeps alone
Everybody bitchin’ there’s nothing on the radio
:::::::::::::::::::::::::
11. "Peace Beneath the City"
Here’s a prayer for the body buried by the interstate
Murder of a soldier, a tree in a forest up in flames
Black valley, peace beneath the city
Where the women hear the washboard rhythm in their bosom when they say,
"Give me good legs and a Japanese car and show me a road”
Sing a song for the bodies buried by the riverbank
A well-dressed boy and a pig with a bullet in the brain
Black valley, peace beneath the city
Where the white girls wander the strip mall, singing all day,
“Give me a juggernaut heart and a Japanese car and someone to free"
Sing a song for the body buried like a keepsake
Mother of million mouths with the very same name
Black valley, peace beneath the city
Where the women tell the weather but never ever tell you what they pray
They pray, "Give me a yellow brick road and a Japanese car and benevolent change"
:::::::::::::::::::::::::
12. "Flightless Bird, American Mouth"
I was a quick wet boy
Diving too deep for coins
All of your straight blind eyes
Wide on my plastic toys
And when the cops closed the fair
I cut my long baby hair
Stole me a dog-eared map
And called for you everywhere
Have I found you?
Flightless bird, jealous, weeping
Or lost you?
American mouth
Big bill looming
Now I’m a fat house cat
Cursing my sore blunt tongue
Watching the warm poison rats
Curl through the wide/white fence cracks
Kissing on magazine photos
Those fishing lures thrown in the cold and clean
Blood of Christ mountain stream
Have I found you?
Flightless bird, brown hair bleeding
Or lost you?
American mouth
Big bill, stuck going down
Aug 3, 2007
John Vanderslice Interview: Part 2
Here's what you've been waiting for, part two of sixeyes interview with JV. If you missed part 1, with talk of sex on desks, Don Rickles, and Rhythm Ace drum machines, PLUS the exclusive premiere of "Numbered Lithograph" Live at Tiny Telephone, you can jump back to it right here.
Now, here's Part Deux of sixeyes interview with John Vanderslice...
SIXEYES: With Bowie being your hero, do you aspire to reinvent yourself, if not image-wise, but musically each time you set out to make a new record?
John Vanderslice: Oh yes, but I never do. Isn’t that strange?? It seems like an easy thing to do... I really admire how Bowie changed musical styles like actors changing roles. Genre was like clothing in theater, something you inhabit for effect. Now I know how difficult it is to take those clothes off!!
SIXEYES: You've penned a number of songs that deal with and/or are set in Baghdad (the obvious being "Plymouth Rock" and "Trance Manual", and now you've advanced to the point where you are naming your upcoming album after a section of the city. I've got to ask if you've ever been there and if not, what have you read or seen that has affected you so much that that city keeps reappearing in your work?
JV: Well Baghdad city seems to be the epicenter of so much American folly. In the middle we've got a heavily fortified green zone, where we're building a billion dollar US embassy, by far the largest in the world. It's on 104 acres and half of the 5,500 employees are security. This is INSANE! But fascinating, right? I mean, why? It's the one of the only projects we built in Iraq that was delivered on time. And another indicator we're never leaving.
I've never been to the Middle East. I would love to take that drive from the airport to the green zone.
I don't think I really understand why we're there. Oil, China, heartland theory, funding a shadow government, yes I'm sure all those, but there are other reasons I haven't figured out... and that keeps me coming back to Iraq.
SIXEYES: This has nothing to do with the new record, but a while back I was listening to "Big Band Stars” and got a strong impression from the lyric that you were perhaps a fan of Melville’s Moby Dick? And that thought came back to me when I read something you’d written on your website about hurling a harpoon into black water. Does the story of the whale hold special significance for you?
JV: Oh yeah, Melville and Chaucer were the two big things for me when I went to UC Berkeley. I think anyone who tours and makes music over a long period of time must be haunted by some unknowable monster!!
SIXEYES: Just what is the plan for promoting the new album? Is the main thrust going to come from blog interviews and previews on blogs like Sixeyes, or are you going to lay down serious cash on a half page ad in an indie mag, or two, or three?
JV: Well, we're trying to do something different from our past records. I personally live on the web, so that's the place I want to push the record. We probably won't have any print ads for Emerald City. Everything is different now, and by the time my next record comes out we'll have to rethink it all again.
One thing that has to go: the three to four month lead time for a record release. This is retarded! That’s all to set up national press. Can you think of anything slower and more 20th century than doing something FOUR months in advance to get a record review? Shit, there's tons of nights where a blogger emails me THE NIGHT of a show and has written and photographed extensively about the performance they saw two hours earlier. That’s more my speed.
SIXEYES: Who shot and edited the Tiny Telephone Emerald City Tour film? And did you get involved in any way with the post-production?
JV: Scott Ottaway was the mastermind. He contacted me about filming a show in Seattle and I thought he'd be a natural. He brought two camera crews down to Tiny Telephone and kept everything rolling. I wasn't very involved in the post-production. I was too busy with my pit-bulls (it's dog-fighting season here). I told Scott I wanted as few cuts as possible, and for him to keep it very natural and unprocessed. He did a wonderful job.
SIXEYES: How long a process was this? Was it an all day affair?
JV: Two 14 hour days. By the end we felt like prostitutes on Super Bowl weekend. Whatever that means :)
SIXEYES: And I'm curious about who came up with the idea to shoot the film and offer it to favourite blogs of yours? Also, was this in any way to deter the entire album appearing as mp3s as soon as it hit the shelves?
JV: It was Barsuk's idea!!! Which is great because they can't blame us if it all goes wrong. Ha!
No it wasn't done to deter any p2p sharing. More of a way to show appreciation to fans and blogs for the support. And also to prove we can actually play these songs live!!!
SIXEYES: In the song “The Tower” you mention Tarot cards and I’ve seen a deck of Tarot cards in a picture of the console in Tiny Telephone. How heavily are you into Tarot and that kind of thing?
JV: Well, I love the Rider-Waite-Smith deck; I think the narrative ideas in it are fascinating. The song "the tower" is about the perils of ego and hubris. As far as my own beliefs, I am a godless soul who doesn't buy any of it.
SIXEYES: The current press release on Emerald City says that you wrote the bulk of the record while attempting to get your French girlfriend a visa, has that situation been resolved? And what did you learn, or are learning, about your government from this sad state of affairs?
JV: Well we're still dealing with all of that!!!
Well, I certainly learned that you need to constructively use all the anger these things produce, and not become bitter and crazy...
SIXEYES: Ok, on a lighter note... from photos I’ve carefully scrutinized it seems that all the members (excepting you of course) of your band are smokers. What’s it like being the odd man out when you’re on a six-week tour with three tobacco fiends?
JV: Yeah that's kind of a bummer. It’s strange I don't mind tobacco, what really messes me up is processed smokes. I used to work in a cigar bar and all that real tobacco was fine for me. I tried to get my band mates to roll their own. That lasted about three days.
SIXEYES: Now that you’re a world traveler and have seen things I can only dream about, or see on cable, where would you like to go if you could go anywhere right now?
JV: Vietnam!!
Seeing how the previous question was about 'travel', I thought I'd now ask John to take a trip down memory lane for his thoughts and feelings on the past six solo albums he’s recorded and released. And, as always, JV being a generous and open soul, he offers to pay for gas so I can come along, tells me that I'm coming along on his next European tour, and says something about blueberry pancakes, or was it blueberry blunts... here he is, on the couch:
Mass Suicide Occult Figurines (2000)
My first solo record, and my first record for a label. It’s really half an mk ultra record and half experiments in recording myself at tiny telephone. The heavy band songs (bill gates, speed lab, what did you do today, big band stars) were mk ultra songs tracked live with John Croslin. I love the title, and I love the sound of the record, but I can't listen to it. It’s too fragmented and unfocused. It wasn't until I cleared my mind of my old band that I was able to move in a new direction.
Download the entire Mass Suicide Occult Figurines album here at his homepage.
Time Travel is Lonely (2001)
Probably my fondest memory. It was the first record i felt like I found any kind of style that was true to what I was hearing in my head. I had made a lot of breakthroughs in recording since MSOF, finding a noisier, more distressed way of tracking. This was the first record I worked with Scott Solter, who did some tracking and overdubs. John Croslin mixed it at Tiny Telephone on our (then) new Neve 5316 console.
Download a couple of tracks from Time Travel Is Lonely here.
Life and Death of an American Fourtracker (2002)
This album feels a bit rushed to me, notice it was my third record in three years. some individual songs are high points for me (the mansion, 424) but the overall feel of the record is not fully realized. Some of the sonic experiments that Solter did (the percussion in "Nikki O Nikki", the drums in "Amitriptyline") are mind blowing to me today. After this record came out I decided to slow down my recording schedule, partially in response to the increase in tours.
Download a couple of tracks from Life and Death of an American Fourtracker here.
Cellar Door (2004)
A new direction. The first full collaboration between Scott Solter and me. It seemed to really benefit from the slowed down recording schedule. Sonically, Scott and I have never topped “Up Above The Sea”.
My only regret is leaving a track on the record that's probably the most requested song from the record. I won't name it!!
Download a couple of tracks from Cellar Door here.
Pixel Revolt (2005)
The biggest seller and many people's (along with TTIL) favorite. I really feel it's too long. If I had it over again I would pull four songs of the record and put them on a companion EP. I grew up with 40 minute LPs and, for me, that's the ideal format.
The songs for the EP would've been:
1. Peacocks in the Video Rain
2. Continuation
3. Radiant with Terror
4. Crc 7173, Affectionately
Then you would've had a ten song, 40 minute record and a very interesting EP.
Download a couple of tracks from Pixel Revolt here.
Emerald City (2007)
9 songs, 40 minutes! Yes. The first record made with a band: David Douglas, Ian Bjornstad, David Broecker. Mostly tracked live with Scott Solter. No other players appear on Emerald City. It’ll take me a few years to figure out how I feel about this one. In general, my estimation of a new record is a manic-depressive cycle. One day you're stunned you let so many mistakes make it to tape, and other days you feel you'll never be able to make music like this again.
From Emerald City: white dove [mp3]
Now, here's Part Deux of sixeyes interview with John Vanderslice...
SIXEYES: With Bowie being your hero, do you aspire to reinvent yourself, if not image-wise, but musically each time you set out to make a new record?
John Vanderslice: Oh yes, but I never do. Isn’t that strange?? It seems like an easy thing to do... I really admire how Bowie changed musical styles like actors changing roles. Genre was like clothing in theater, something you inhabit for effect. Now I know how difficult it is to take those clothes off!!
SIXEYES: You've penned a number of songs that deal with and/or are set in Baghdad (the obvious being "Plymouth Rock" and "Trance Manual", and now you've advanced to the point where you are naming your upcoming album after a section of the city. I've got to ask if you've ever been there and if not, what have you read or seen that has affected you so much that that city keeps reappearing in your work?
JV: Well Baghdad city seems to be the epicenter of so much American folly. In the middle we've got a heavily fortified green zone, where we're building a billion dollar US embassy, by far the largest in the world. It's on 104 acres and half of the 5,500 employees are security. This is INSANE! But fascinating, right? I mean, why? It's the one of the only projects we built in Iraq that was delivered on time. And another indicator we're never leaving.I've never been to the Middle East. I would love to take that drive from the airport to the green zone.
I don't think I really understand why we're there. Oil, China, heartland theory, funding a shadow government, yes I'm sure all those, but there are other reasons I haven't figured out... and that keeps me coming back to Iraq.
SIXEYES: This has nothing to do with the new record, but a while back I was listening to "Big Band Stars” and got a strong impression from the lyric that you were perhaps a fan of Melville’s Moby Dick? And that thought came back to me when I read something you’d written on your website about hurling a harpoon into black water. Does the story of the whale hold special significance for you?
JV: Oh yeah, Melville and Chaucer were the two big things for me when I went to UC Berkeley. I think anyone who tours and makes music over a long period of time must be haunted by some unknowable monster!!
SIXEYES: Just what is the plan for promoting the new album? Is the main thrust going to come from blog interviews and previews on blogs like Sixeyes, or are you going to lay down serious cash on a half page ad in an indie mag, or two, or three?
JV: Well, we're trying to do something different from our past records. I personally live on the web, so that's the place I want to push the record. We probably won't have any print ads for Emerald City. Everything is different now, and by the time my next record comes out we'll have to rethink it all again.
One thing that has to go: the three to four month lead time for a record release. This is retarded! That’s all to set up national press. Can you think of anything slower and more 20th century than doing something FOUR months in advance to get a record review? Shit, there's tons of nights where a blogger emails me THE NIGHT of a show and has written and photographed extensively about the performance they saw two hours earlier. That’s more my speed.SIXEYES: Who shot and edited the Tiny Telephone Emerald City Tour film? And did you get involved in any way with the post-production?
JV: Scott Ottaway was the mastermind. He contacted me about filming a show in Seattle and I thought he'd be a natural. He brought two camera crews down to Tiny Telephone and kept everything rolling. I wasn't very involved in the post-production. I was too busy with my pit-bulls (it's dog-fighting season here). I told Scott I wanted as few cuts as possible, and for him to keep it very natural and unprocessed. He did a wonderful job.
SIXEYES: How long a process was this? Was it an all day affair?
JV: Two 14 hour days. By the end we felt like prostitutes on Super Bowl weekend. Whatever that means :)
SIXEYES: And I'm curious about who came up with the idea to shoot the film and offer it to favourite blogs of yours? Also, was this in any way to deter the entire album appearing as mp3s as soon as it hit the shelves?
JV: It was Barsuk's idea!!! Which is great because they can't blame us if it all goes wrong. Ha!
No it wasn't done to deter any p2p sharing. More of a way to show appreciation to fans and blogs for the support. And also to prove we can actually play these songs live!!!
SIXEYES: In the song “The Tower” you mention Tarot cards and I’ve seen a deck of Tarot cards in a picture of the console in Tiny Telephone. How heavily are you into Tarot and that kind of thing?JV: Well, I love the Rider-Waite-Smith deck; I think the narrative ideas in it are fascinating. The song "the tower" is about the perils of ego and hubris. As far as my own beliefs, I am a godless soul who doesn't buy any of it.
SIXEYES: The current press release on Emerald City says that you wrote the bulk of the record while attempting to get your French girlfriend a visa, has that situation been resolved? And what did you learn, or are learning, about your government from this sad state of affairs?
JV: Well we're still dealing with all of that!!!
Well, I certainly learned that you need to constructively use all the anger these things produce, and not become bitter and crazy...
SIXEYES: Ok, on a lighter note... from photos I’ve carefully scrutinized it seems that all the members (excepting you of course) of your band are smokers. What’s it like being the odd man out when you’re on a six-week tour with three tobacco fiends?
JV: Yeah that's kind of a bummer. It’s strange I don't mind tobacco, what really messes me up is processed smokes. I used to work in a cigar bar and all that real tobacco was fine for me. I tried to get my band mates to roll their own. That lasted about three days.
SIXEYES: Now that you’re a world traveler and have seen things I can only dream about, or see on cable, where would you like to go if you could go anywhere right now?
JV: Vietnam!!
Seeing how the previous question was about 'travel', I thought I'd now ask John to take a trip down memory lane for his thoughts and feelings on the past six solo albums he’s recorded and released. And, as always, JV being a generous and open soul, he offers to pay for gas so I can come along, tells me that I'm coming along on his next European tour, and says something about blueberry pancakes, or was it blueberry blunts... here he is, on the couch:
Mass Suicide Occult Figurines (2000)
My first solo record, and my first record for a label. It’s really half an mk ultra record and half experiments in recording myself at tiny telephone. The heavy band songs (bill gates, speed lab, what did you do today, big band stars) were mk ultra songs tracked live with John Croslin. I love the title, and I love the sound of the record, but I can't listen to it. It’s too fragmented and unfocused. It wasn't until I cleared my mind of my old band that I was able to move in a new direction.Download the entire Mass Suicide Occult Figurines album here at his homepage.
Time Travel is Lonely (2001)
Probably my fondest memory. It was the first record i felt like I found any kind of style that was true to what I was hearing in my head. I had made a lot of breakthroughs in recording since MSOF, finding a noisier, more distressed way of tracking. This was the first record I worked with Scott Solter, who did some tracking and overdubs. John Croslin mixed it at Tiny Telephone on our (then) new Neve 5316 console.Download a couple of tracks from Time Travel Is Lonely here.
Life and Death of an American Fourtracker (2002)
This album feels a bit rushed to me, notice it was my third record in three years. some individual songs are high points for me (the mansion, 424) but the overall feel of the record is not fully realized. Some of the sonic experiments that Solter did (the percussion in "Nikki O Nikki", the drums in "Amitriptyline") are mind blowing to me today. After this record came out I decided to slow down my recording schedule, partially in response to the increase in tours.Download a couple of tracks from Life and Death of an American Fourtracker here.
Cellar Door (2004)
A new direction. The first full collaboration between Scott Solter and me. It seemed to really benefit from the slowed down recording schedule. Sonically, Scott and I have never topped “Up Above The Sea”.My only regret is leaving a track on the record that's probably the most requested song from the record. I won't name it!!
Download a couple of tracks from Cellar Door here.
Pixel Revolt (2005)
The biggest seller and many people's (along with TTIL) favorite. I really feel it's too long. If I had it over again I would pull four songs of the record and put them on a companion EP. I grew up with 40 minute LPs and, for me, that's the ideal format.The songs for the EP would've been:
1. Peacocks in the Video Rain
2. Continuation
3. Radiant with Terror
4. Crc 7173, Affectionately
Then you would've had a ten song, 40 minute record and a very interesting EP.
Download a couple of tracks from Pixel Revolt here.
Emerald City (2007)
9 songs, 40 minutes! Yes. The first record made with a band: David Douglas, Ian Bjornstad, David Broecker. Mostly tracked live with Scott Solter. No other players appear on Emerald City. It’ll take me a few years to figure out how I feel about this one. In general, my estimation of a new record is a manic-depressive cycle. One day you're stunned you let so many mistakes make it to tape, and other days you feel you'll never be able to make music like this again.From Emerald City: white dove [mp3]
Aug 2, 2007
JOHN VANDERSLICE: Live From Tiny Telephone + Interview Part 1
Emerald City, John Vanderslice's latest solo record and his first with a tried and true band backing him, was released on July 24th through Seattle's Barsuk Records, and it stands up well beside his last release, the critically acclaimed Pixel Revolt. But this time out not only is the sound pared back, but the content as well, with nine tracks which crackle, buzz, and mesmerize like the overload of media information we are inundated with each and every day (Pixel Revolt had 14). JV feels this buzz, he lives and breathes it as an avid consumer of online culture and print media, and he may understand it better than some because his new baby, Emerald City, is being promoted in a different way with print advertising being pushed to the side and JV's home away from home, the internet, being the prime focus. And the main push right now is his Tiny Telephone Emerald City Video Tour which is using nine of his favourite music blogs to host each of Emerald City's nine tracks in glorious 16 x 9 videos (go to his homepage for links to all the videos posted, so far). Sixeyes is proud to present the latest in that series, "Numbered Lithograph". Here it is, along with part 1 of the sixeyes interview with JV below... enjoy.
From Emerald City
white dove [mp3]
BUY Emerald City
VISIT:
JV homepage
JV myspace
SIXEYES: John, the new album opens with acoustic guitar, was there any specific reason you leaned more heavily on acoustic for this album? Was it because you were tired of the electric, or is it just easier to work with an acoustic in a live recording environment?
JV: Well, to be honest I find recording electric guitar very difficult. Also, Scott Solter and I call it the "cookie monster" at Tiny Telephone because it chews up so much dynamic range. It steals space from vocals and most harmonic instruments that live in the middle. It’s like going out on the town with a loud-mouthed guy who's wearing a "sigma pi" sweatshirt. Unless you're getting jumped, he may be a liability.
There’s something more feminine and subtle about an acoustic, even when it's distorted to high heaven.
SIXEYES: Sometimes it's the little behind-the-scenes things that I wonder about, such as your going out with a photographer and scouting locations (that sounds so Hollywood) for the cover shot. What is that like? Do you typically spend a day having your picture taken? And why put your mug on the cover this time out (sixeyes: this is the first time JV has been on he cover)? And who is that woman sitting behind you on the cover of Emerald City?
JV: Well, remember Alan that I would love nothing more than to be a cinematographer. So photo shoots for me are amazing. Autumn de Wilde and I drove around for hours scouting places to shoot. She is a tremendous photographer and the only reason I ended up on the cover, I'm not sure who else I would trust that to. We shot for about 14 hours straight, and that's pretty rough. I mean to look interesting for five minutes is tiring, right!
So, we drove by an open garage door with an old lady and her son listening to Dr. Laura (right-wing self-help blabber, if you don’t know her, it's hilarious), Autumn said: "Stop!" We got out and she charmed the women into letting us take photos with her. I drive by her house everyday but haven't seen her yet to tell her she's on the cover. I'll wait until I get them back.
I wanted to put myself on the cover because I wanted to make more of a direct connection with the listener, and because my hero is Bowie and he's almost ALWAYS on the cover!
SIXEYES: A cinematographer, eh? You know, even if I don't currently own a camera (cell phones don't count) I sometimes find myself thinking, as I gaze through windows of cars, or buses, or trains, 'that would be a great shot', or 'that's a very cool location for a shoot'. Do you ever do that? And do you also, as I do, think 'oh hell, what am I doing, I'm not gonna make a movie'? Or maybe it's just me.
JV: Yes, I think of that stuff all the time, I usually take 300-400 photos every tour. And yes I know I’ll never make a movie. That would be absurd! It’s a very potent fantasy to be able to shift into another creative area. But it took me 15 years of playing and recording to even begin to figure it out, so I’m not sure if I want to go through that again!
SIXEYES: The eighth track on Emerald City is "Numbered Lithograph", a song that was previously titled "Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Numbered Lithograph". I didn't know who Mackintosh was before being prompted to search him out online, I was certain he was an artist, a painter, knowing of your interest in art history, but he's not, he's an architect (sixeyes: he's renowned as an architect, but did paint as well). How did you receive inspiration for the lyric in this song?
JV: Well, a girl I dated a few years ago did her arts degree at Stanford on Mackintosh, so I got interested in him through her. When I was in Glasgow I went to the Glasgow School of Art and the CRM cafe. Amazing!! I first found out about him through his wallpaper and tile designs. I am obsessed with anything domestic and crafty.
SIXEYES: What startled me and put me off on first listening to the album version of the song (I listened to a couple of live versions many times before getting a hold of the album), was that mysterious clicking-clacking-burbling-gurgle that wiggles it way throughout the song. But now I enjoy it, although I have to ask: What the hell is that?
JV: Ha!! It's a Rhythm Ace drum machine, one of the earliest drum machines ever made. I'm sure it's being jammed into a bunch of effects and distortion boxes. I'm glad you got used to it!!!
SIXEYES: And the abrupt ending, both lyrically and musically, what are you trying to say by ending the track the way you have?
JV: That song to me is about fragmentation and isolation. And things that are separated from their usual place or environment. The girl from the table, the cell phone from the girl, the bird from nature and the singer from friends and a healthier life. I wanted an anti-chorus, it actually doesn't sum up the emotions of the song, but makes the narrative feel more fractured. The quick and ruthless cut was part of that.
SIXEYES: Your old collaborator, Scott Solter, was once again in studio with you for the recording. You've worked together quite a bit and I was wondering if his role ever changes, or does he always contribute musically as well as production-wise?
JV: Well, his role gets bigger and bigger with each record. I LEAN on him! Some songs he hangs back, makes a few suggestions here and there, and let's it happen. Other songs he'll do a complete tear down. "Tablespoon of Codeine" is a Solter production. Top to bottom. Now, Douglas, Brock, and Ian wrote a lot of the music, but Scott shaped everything. My version of the song sounds NOTHING like the completed song. "Time To Go" is very similar to the demo I recorded.
SIXEYES: The upcoming Emerald City tour lists the touring band as David Douglas, Ian Bjornstad, Daniel Hart, and Dave Willingham. Who are these new guys and what's up with Dave (Mr. Comedy) Broecker missing from the line-up?
JV: Ha, Broecker is funny as hell. The movie guy voice he does is requested as often as some of the songs! He'll play with us in Seattle this month and always for the NW shows. He's getting married and trying to have a real life:) You can't blame him. We will probably play as a trio now with additional players as they're available. Daniel Hart is a genius. He plays in Physics of Meaning and Polyphonic Spree. He's an excellent violinist and singer. He'll add a lot to the set. Dave Willingham is the sound engineer for the Spree, we're lucky to have him.
SIXEYES: I get the feeling that you didn’t have any writer’s block when it came to getting these songs down on paper. If so, was that due to the fact you were bursting with ideas from your globetrotting tours over the past couple of years in support of Pixel Revolt?
JV: I had no trouble this time around. I think the best thing was taking a longer break. We have a two-year gap in between Pixel (Revolt) and Emerald (City). That’s by far the longest yet. I think the next record will be a lot faster than that. And yes the tours help, you have SO MUCH visual and emotional input that it's bound to pour out when you're still.
SIXEYES: Staying the course here, didn’t you write Pixel Revolt at your desk? I seem to recall you saying that. I want to know if any of Emerald City’s songs were penned away from that desk? Do you ever write while on the road?
JV: Yeah, I do everything on my desk. Sleep, eat. Even make love to my girlfriend. My desk is my life! I’m there right now listening to a Don Rickles interview on Fresh Air and typing this to you Alan!!!
That’s a really good question because for the first time, I wrote songs on tour. The first two on Emerald, "Kookaburra" and "Time To Go" were written in Australia when I was on tour with the Mountain Goats.
We stayed on after the tour at Killcare Beach (pictured above - photo by JV) and swam and hiked. It was one of the best times of my life.
Whoa now! Hold on good reader, this is just the end of PART ONE!! PART TWO of this interview will be posted tomorrow. Please come check it out as it features what I like to call 'John Vanderslice: a self-analysis in six parts'. Which is his own thoughts and feelings looking back on all six solo albums he has released. And there's lots more, stuff like Baghdad, Bowie, Moby Dick, shadow governments, Super Bowl prostitutes, Tarot cards, and hand rolled cigarettes to mention a few.
See you tomorrow then, thanks for reading and I know that John thanks you for listening and for watching.
From Emerald City
white dove [mp3]
BUY Emerald City
VISIT:
JV homepage
JV myspace
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
SIXEYES: John, the new album opens with acoustic guitar, was there any specific reason you leaned more heavily on acoustic for this album? Was it because you were tired of the electric, or is it just easier to work with an acoustic in a live recording environment?
JV: Well, to be honest I find recording electric guitar very difficult. Also, Scott Solter and I call it the "cookie monster" at Tiny Telephone because it chews up so much dynamic range. It steals space from vocals and most harmonic instruments that live in the middle. It’s like going out on the town with a loud-mouthed guy who's wearing a "sigma pi" sweatshirt. Unless you're getting jumped, he may be a liability.
There’s something more feminine and subtle about an acoustic, even when it's distorted to high heaven.
SIXEYES: Sometimes it's the little behind-the-scenes things that I wonder about, such as your going out with a photographer and scouting locations (that sounds so Hollywood) for the cover shot. What is that like? Do you typically spend a day having your picture taken? And why put your mug on the cover this time out (sixeyes: this is the first time JV has been on he cover)? And who is that woman sitting behind you on the cover of Emerald City?
JV: Well, remember Alan that I would love nothing more than to be a cinematographer. So photo shoots for me are amazing. Autumn de Wilde and I drove around for hours scouting places to shoot. She is a tremendous photographer and the only reason I ended up on the cover, I'm not sure who else I would trust that to. We shot for about 14 hours straight, and that's pretty rough. I mean to look interesting for five minutes is tiring, right!So, we drove by an open garage door with an old lady and her son listening to Dr. Laura (right-wing self-help blabber, if you don’t know her, it's hilarious), Autumn said: "Stop!" We got out and she charmed the women into letting us take photos with her. I drive by her house everyday but haven't seen her yet to tell her she's on the cover. I'll wait until I get them back.
I wanted to put myself on the cover because I wanted to make more of a direct connection with the listener, and because my hero is Bowie and he's almost ALWAYS on the cover!
SIXEYES: A cinematographer, eh? You know, even if I don't currently own a camera (cell phones don't count) I sometimes find myself thinking, as I gaze through windows of cars, or buses, or trains, 'that would be a great shot', or 'that's a very cool location for a shoot'. Do you ever do that? And do you also, as I do, think 'oh hell, what am I doing, I'm not gonna make a movie'? Or maybe it's just me.
JV: Yes, I think of that stuff all the time, I usually take 300-400 photos every tour. And yes I know I’ll never make a movie. That would be absurd! It’s a very potent fantasy to be able to shift into another creative area. But it took me 15 years of playing and recording to even begin to figure it out, so I’m not sure if I want to go through that again!
SIXEYES: The eighth track on Emerald City is "Numbered Lithograph", a song that was previously titled "Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Numbered Lithograph". I didn't know who Mackintosh was before being prompted to search him out online, I was certain he was an artist, a painter, knowing of your interest in art history, but he's not, he's an architect (sixeyes: he's renowned as an architect, but did paint as well). How did you receive inspiration for the lyric in this song?
JV: Well, a girl I dated a few years ago did her arts degree at Stanford on Mackintosh, so I got interested in him through her. When I was in Glasgow I went to the Glasgow School of Art and the CRM cafe. Amazing!! I first found out about him through his wallpaper and tile designs. I am obsessed with anything domestic and crafty.SIXEYES: What startled me and put me off on first listening to the album version of the song (I listened to a couple of live versions many times before getting a hold of the album), was that mysterious clicking-clacking-burbling-gurgle that wiggles it way throughout the song. But now I enjoy it, although I have to ask: What the hell is that?
JV: Ha!! It's a Rhythm Ace drum machine, one of the earliest drum machines ever made. I'm sure it's being jammed into a bunch of effects and distortion boxes. I'm glad you got used to it!!!
SIXEYES: And the abrupt ending, both lyrically and musically, what are you trying to say by ending the track the way you have?
JV: That song to me is about fragmentation and isolation. And things that are separated from their usual place or environment. The girl from the table, the cell phone from the girl, the bird from nature and the singer from friends and a healthier life. I wanted an anti-chorus, it actually doesn't sum up the emotions of the song, but makes the narrative feel more fractured. The quick and ruthless cut was part of that.
SIXEYES: Your old collaborator, Scott Solter, was once again in studio with you for the recording. You've worked together quite a bit and I was wondering if his role ever changes, or does he always contribute musically as well as production-wise?
JV: Well, his role gets bigger and bigger with each record. I LEAN on him! Some songs he hangs back, makes a few suggestions here and there, and let's it happen. Other songs he'll do a complete tear down. "Tablespoon of Codeine" is a Solter production. Top to bottom. Now, Douglas, Brock, and Ian wrote a lot of the music, but Scott shaped everything. My version of the song sounds NOTHING like the completed song. "Time To Go" is very similar to the demo I recorded.
SIXEYES: The upcoming Emerald City tour lists the touring band as David Douglas, Ian Bjornstad, Daniel Hart, and Dave Willingham. Who are these new guys and what's up with Dave (Mr. Comedy) Broecker missing from the line-up?
JV: Ha, Broecker is funny as hell. The movie guy voice he does is requested as often as some of the songs! He'll play with us in Seattle this month and always for the NW shows. He's getting married and trying to have a real life:) You can't blame him. We will probably play as a trio now with additional players as they're available. Daniel Hart is a genius. He plays in Physics of Meaning and Polyphonic Spree. He's an excellent violinist and singer. He'll add a lot to the set. Dave Willingham is the sound engineer for the Spree, we're lucky to have him.
SIXEYES: I get the feeling that you didn’t have any writer’s block when it came to getting these songs down on paper. If so, was that due to the fact you were bursting with ideas from your globetrotting tours over the past couple of years in support of Pixel Revolt?
JV: I had no trouble this time around. I think the best thing was taking a longer break. We have a two-year gap in between Pixel (Revolt) and Emerald (City). That’s by far the longest yet. I think the next record will be a lot faster than that. And yes the tours help, you have SO MUCH visual and emotional input that it's bound to pour out when you're still.
SIXEYES: Staying the course here, didn’t you write Pixel Revolt at your desk? I seem to recall you saying that. I want to know if any of Emerald City’s songs were penned away from that desk? Do you ever write while on the road?
JV: Yeah, I do everything on my desk. Sleep, eat. Even make love to my girlfriend. My desk is my life! I’m there right now listening to a Don Rickles interview on Fresh Air and typing this to you Alan!!!
That’s a really good question because for the first time, I wrote songs on tour. The first two on Emerald, "Kookaburra" and "Time To Go" were written in Australia when I was on tour with the Mountain Goats.
We stayed on after the tour at Killcare Beach (pictured above - photo by JV) and swam and hiked. It was one of the best times of my life.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Whoa now! Hold on good reader, this is just the end of PART ONE!! PART TWO of this interview will be posted tomorrow. Please come check it out as it features what I like to call 'John Vanderslice: a self-analysis in six parts'. Which is his own thoughts and feelings looking back on all six solo albums he has released. And there's lots more, stuff like Baghdad, Bowie, Moby Dick, shadow governments, Super Bowl prostitutes, Tarot cards, and hand rolled cigarettes to mention a few.
See you tomorrow then, thanks for reading and I know that John thanks you for listening and for watching.
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