Interviews

Posts in Indie

Max Bloom, Yuck

After talking to guitarist and songwriter Max Bloom of Yuck on the phone recently, I have an image in my mind: Bloom and his bandmates jamming loudly in his parents' house, so loudly that they wake the neighbors, who come out and shout up at the bedroom window, "Turn that f***ing music down!" Typical young kids, I guess. It's almost a stereotype.

Only it's true. Bloom and co-songwriter Daniel Blumberg write and demo all the Yuck music in Bloom's parents' house. And when they play, the neighbors get angry. This house is also where they recorded the album. According to Bloom, it's the only place he feels comfortable enough to write; it's clearly where he gets his best writing done. So while Bloom is at the age when most young adults (at least here in the US) would do anything to get out of their parents' house, Bloom wants to get back in. Though he still has some trepidation about the neighbors' reaction when the band starts recording new material...

Indie Rock, Indie, Fat Possum RecordsBen OpipariMay 25, 2011daniel blumberg, max bloom Comments

Jona Bechtolt and Claire Evans, YACHT

You'd be selling YACHT short if you just called them a band. Sure, Jona Bechtolt and Claire Evans make music that has been praised by many, including Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, and the New York Times. But they are, in their words, "a belief system," and the two spend a lot of time on the visual aspect of the band as well: the shirts, the logos, the web design, the videos. So when you think of YACHT, don't just think of two people who make music, think of two artists. And when you read about their creative process below, it's easy to do. Their new album, Shangri-La, is out June 21 on DFA Records. Listen to "Dystopia (The Earth is on Fire)" from the album:

Synth Pop, Indie, Electro Indie, DFA RecordsBen OpipariMay 19, 2011claire evans, dfa, dfa records, dystopia, jona bechtolt, mystery lights, shangri la, single, the afterlife, yachtComment

Nat Baldwin, Dirty Projectors

Nat Baldwin has two things going for him that are unique among the songwriters I've interviewed. The Dirty Projectors' bassist lives on the coast of Maine, an environment perfectly suited to the ideal writing environment he needs in order to be creative: total seclusion. And his background as a basketball player provides him with the inherent discipline needed to spend hours in such seclusion, immersed in the creative process.

Alternative, Indie, Western Vinyl RecordsBen OpipariMay 17, 2011dirty projectors, nat baldwin, people changes, weightsComment

Marissa Nadler (2011)

It's easy to see how Marissa Nadler's experience as a songwriter is informed by her extensive experience as a visual artist. She studied illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design, where she received both her undergraduate and graduate degree. In fact, she started as a visual artist before becoming a songwriter. The intensity and honesty she exhibits as a visual artist manifest themselves in her songwriting, as you'll read, though poetry also influences how she writes. Songwriting and illustration, she says, is about "trying to find the beauty or ugliness" in a subject, using the artist's ability to approach that subject from a unique point of view. It's also about "compressing life into a couple of lines," as a good poet does.

Americana, Folk Rock, Indie, Indie Folk, Sacred Bones RecordsBen OpipariMay 11, 2011marissa nadler Comment

Josh Epstein, Jr. Jr.

Josh Epstein and Daniel Zott have gotten a good amount of ribbing (and worse) in the music press for naming their band Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. But how is it that while Epstein and Zott get ribbed, plenty of indie rock darlings get a pass for their names? We have bands named after racquet sports, punctuation marks, makeup, and primates who live on the North Pole. There are artists named after zoo animals. I mean, I'm a huge Echo and the Bunnymen fan, but come on!

All band names have meaning in their own way. There's an element of absurdity in many of them, but there's also creativity in that absurdity. Which was kind of the point when Epstein and Zott named their band. And if you miss this point, then you've missed the very reason why they named the band Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. in the first place.

Indie, Indie PopBen OpipariMay 9, 2011big hassle, dale earnhardt jr jr, daniel zott, it's a corporate world, josh epstein, quite scientificComment

Heather Robb, The Spring Standards

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

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

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

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

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

Ben Ottewell, Gomez

Ben Ottewell, vocalist and guitarist for Gomez, released his solo album Shapes and Shadows this month. It obviously offered Ottewell much more freedom in his creative process: as you'll read, everything went "a lot faster" since the buck stopped with him. Read my interview with Ottewell about his songwriting process after the video.

Alternative, Indie, Indie Rock, Singer/Songwriter, Indie Folk, Folk, Folk Rock, ATO RecordsBen OpipariFebruary 28, 2011ben ottewell, gomez, interview, shapes and shadows Comments

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