Thursday, September 5, 2013

Paper Armies [Interview # 141]

1)     Where do you keep your paper armies?
2)     Is it weird to be from Ithaca, because you’re from NY but not NYC?  I’m worse off though.  I’m in CT now and we’re just a pit stop between Boston and NYC.
3)     You are part of the Bridgetown Records Family.  How many cassettes do you have to release on other labels before you can start your own label and join the Cassettes Illuminati?
4)     You released a split tape with Desert Hiatus, which other Bridgetown band would you really like to split with?  (Hint:  Naming a Juniper Tree Songs band gets you closer into the Cassettes Illuminati.  Choosing Vehicle Blues disqualifies you)
5)     Your cassette on Bridgetown is called “Tell Me To Give Up”.   Since releasing it, do you find a lot of people yelling “Give up!!” at you?  I feel like if I saw you on the street I’d cross traffic to tell you.
6)     Do you agree that cassettes are the premium form of musical listening enjoyment?
7)     Would you ever form a Bridgetown type of tour that would play the east coast, of course skipping Connecticut because that’s what good tours always do?


8)     Final thoughts, shout outs, rock paper scissors tips, etc…??


1)  I actually don't own any paper armies.  I used to play miniatures (LOTR) back in the day; that might be the closest thing I have hiding away somewhere.  

2)  I don't really think about it too much.  There may be less going on than in a place like NYC, but there still are a lot of great musicians around, and there are some great bands that come through the area.  In a smaller town I feel like I can get away from everything much easier, which I find very soothing.  I need to be able to get away from people in order to make music comfortably.

3)  I imagine you would just need to release one to start the label!  That's all it takes I think.  It's just a matter of finding people who will listen.  

4)  Kevin (of Desert of Hiatus) is actually the one that first introduced me to Bridgetown Records and is in a way probably the reason that Tell Me to Give Up got released the way it did (thanks).  There are so many great artists that Bridgetown supports, but I think it would be great to do a split with Brahms.  I really enjoy the minimal aspect of his compositions and I think our music would fit well together on a split.  He just released a new tape with the last Bridgetown batch called shimmer//suffocate that you should definitely listen to.  It's incredible.  

5)  I haven't, though if someone did I'd be grateful.  I've been secretly waiting for it to happen.  Or maybe not so secretly.

6)  I love cassettes.  When I listen to a cassette I feel the need to listen to it all the way through, which I guess happens with vinyl as well but to a lesser extent for some reason.  Creatively this is so much more inspiring than listening to individual songs on an iPod or computer.  The fact that you can't listen to specific songs as easily makes you appreciate the work as a whole, which to me is very important.  

7)  Something I would really like to do at this point is go on tour.  I don't get out of the house much.  Playing live is something that I like doing though it can be immensely stressful for me.  Most of my songs aren't written to be performed exactly, so reworking them into something I really like that can be performed is challenging and difficult.  In the end it is very satisfying to hear music I've made played incredibly loud for others to hear.  I hope they feel the same way.

8)  It may take awhile, but new music is on the way.  I hope it comes sooner rather than later.  Whatever happens, thanks for listening, and for your support.

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