American High Interview

The American High Interview

Q: You mentioned in the show that you started playing guitar in 7th grade,
after discovering Kurt Cobain, but how did you start? Did you take lessons?
Read books? Listen to music and try to figure it out by sound?

A: I began taking lessons when I was 12. I started off learning hearty rock
stuff, then after about a year, got bored and started studying jazz. From
there it's been a combination of reading books, sitting next to the CD player,
and going through a number of private teachers.

Q: Do you write everyday? Any particular regular time? Or do you jot notes
whenever they occur to you?

A: I write when it hits me. Usually my writing time comes in spurts. As far as
I know so far, in the short time I've been writing, my music comes in a certain
cycle. I do a slew of writing and creating, then sharing and performing, then
comes a block. The first and second parts are my favorite; the third part
mostly painful and not so good. My songs usually come from somewhere I'm
not quite sure how to find yet, but usually I'm singing them before they're even
written, but I gotta get them down on paper fast or else they go away. Anyway,
the way I write songs is pretty Tao, if you ask me - a philosophy of having not
to want it too much, but let it come naturally and not force it.

Q: How many songs have you created?

A: This is a complete guess...maybe thirty-five to forty. That includes everything
I wrote - including crap - since I began sharing my music with people. It doesn't
include stuff I wrote and then, after a short time, threw out.

Q: Which comes first: words, music, or subject?

A: Usually starts with a couple lines, a catch, something that I walk around
singing spontaneously until I can find a guitar and get it down. But, in the case
of Adam So Far, it was an old song that I never really dug the words to, but I
liked the chord changes and the mellowness of it. But I couldn't get the lyrics
right. In that sense, Adam So Far was written more uniquely than how I usually
write, when everything sort of fits together to begin with.

Q: How long does it take to put a song together?

A: The most time I'll spend on a song is a couple days. After that it tends to
get stale. Adam So Far probably took me about half an hour.

Q: How do you know how to change a song after you have a first draft?

A: Usually I can tell if it's a good song. I just get the feeling, and almost always
my feelings are resonated back to me by my compadres. A lot of the times my
favorite songs are my friend's favorites. A lot of the time I take suggestions
from people. Why not if it's gonna make the song better? I don't like to dwell
too much on revision; songs change with time. Occasionally I might find that
"something" a song's been missing months after I've "completed" it. But as a
teacher/friend tells me, and I'm paraphrasing, but a piece - be it a song, or a
poem, or a story, whatever - is always under revision, can always be made
better. You don't "finish" things, else they just die.

Q: What do you find most difficult about songwriting? Most enjoyable?

A: The only difficult thing about songwriting is right before the song comes,
because you can't always be sure it WILL come, and that's what the incredibly
hard, painful part is for me. Most enjoyable to be able to sing something that I
really mean, and that I know only in song form. Anyway, songwriting can be
sort of a sweet, surprising miracle. That is, when it isn't driving you fucking insane.

Q: Where can young musicians go to play live in your town? Where do you find audiences?

A: Coffee shops, punk rock basements. But to tell you the truth, there aren't so
many bands anymore. I haven't really developed a theory, so I couldn't say why.
You gotta go find your own way I suppose, but I haven't paid much attention to
"making it" here in Highland Park. All I'm thinking about is leaving, to tell you the truth.

Q: What's in your CD player right now?

A: Right now - Jonny Hartman and John Coltrane; Nick Drake: Way to Blue;
Tom Waits: Closing Time and Early Years Volume 2; Joni Mitchell: Blue;
Billy Bragg and Wilco: Mermaid Avenue; Ben Fold Five: Naked Baby Photos;
Bob Dylan: The Essential Bob Dylan and Blonde On Blonde; Christine Lavin:
Getting In Touch With My Inner Bitch; Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack;
Charles Mingus: Mingus Ah Um; A Stan Getz CD I can't remember the name of.
To name a few, just a few, seriously. Forgive me, I love that question.

Q: How do you come across new music?

A: Usually I find new music from little obscure radio stations - college radio is
usually best - some of my friends, the guy at the local CD store, my running list
of essential jazz albums that Dr. Hile keeps adding too - it's impossible - and
Napster...mmm, Napster.

Q: What advice would you give to any young person who wants to write songs and make music?

A: Don't take advice from anyone but Jack Kerouac. "Do what you want."

Q: If someone asked you to name five roles that you proudly play in your life, you would say...

A: I've given this a lot of thought, and I've decided that I prefer to not be so
aware of my roles. I'd rather just think about books, and write some songs if I
can, and love a lot, and if it's not so much trouble, I'd like to just lie about the
floor and drink cranberry juice without wearing shoes.