Merch interview with Joe Medina
Joe Medina is the mastermind behind “Merch” project. They recently released this really nice psychedelic album with high quality production and orchestration. You can hear some quite unique sounds on it. So if you are for modern psychedelia go for it, but before that you should read our interview with Joe. He shared the whole story behind the project.
Interview:
Hi
Joe! How are you? We will talk about your music project called Merch, but
before that I would like to know a bit more about your background, by that I
mean what were you doing before this project and perhaps if you can tell me a
few influences on you?
Joe! How are you? We will talk about your music project called Merch, but
before that I would like to know a bit more about your background, by that I
mean what were you doing before this project and perhaps if you can tell me a
few influences on you?
I’m doing very well. It has been a warm and sunny weekend out here in
San Francisco and I’m in an overall good place in my life so I have no major
complaints. As far as my background, I was born to a middle-class family in
Fresno, California which is midway between S.F. and Los Angeles. My first
exposure to music was probably through my father singing oldies songs to me as
a toddler that he would convince me he had written. Usually they would be
pretty but morbid songs like ‘Last Kiss’ or ‘Sad Movies (Make Me Cry)’. It
wasn’t until I was a few years older when I first heard The Beatles on the
oldies station in town that I said “Dad, they’re playing your song ‘Love Me Do’
on the radio!” and he admitted that he didn’t write any of them! Listening in
the car with him and singing along (although I was an absolutely terrible
singer until just a few years ago) gave me my first understanding of melody and
what goes into making a catchy song. Between listening to oldies with my
father, hearing more adult-contemporary stuff in the mornings while my mother
got ready for work, and watching whatever was on MTV with my older brother’s
friends (I have fond memories of walking around with them while they would take
turns doing verses from the rap songs of the day)—I was thoroughly engrossed in
music. With them it was always more of a passive thing though, kind of
background noise—no one in my family actually plays music or anything like
that. I absorbed it all, so by the time I received my first guitar when I was nine
years old I was able to move around on it pretty quickly. The first time I
remember discovering music for myself was at an Asian grocery store three
blocks from our house where I would sit at the comic book rack and read while
my folks shopped. There was a magazine there whose name I don’t remember, but
it covered all these bands I’d never heard of and even had a flexi record in it
of Mudhoney’s ‘Touch Me I’m Sick’. Around that time I also came across a
cassette of ‘Axis: Bold As Love’ that totally floored me. I really got into
everything from way older stuff like Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys and
Django Reinhardt or blues like Robert Johnson and Lightnin’ Hopkins to anything
current but obscure I could get my hands on like The Boredoms out of Japan. There
was this insatiable thirst for knowledge on my part at the time for not only
all kinds of music but also literature. I was very into Nietzsche and French
Symbolists like Baudelaire, Rimbaud, and Verlaine. I definitely got into
trouble for reading that kind of stuff in school, but luckily by this time I
was in a school for the gifted so I didn’t incur the kind of ridicule I might
if I was in a regular establishment. By the time I was in high school I was
able to play back on the guitar whatever was playing on the radio and was
running with a crowd of kids that were deeply into punk rock like The Germs,
Operation Ivy, Black Flag, The Subhumans, The Exploited, and I was making all
my own clothes too. We had an all-ages punk rock venue in Fresno at the time
called Patterson Hall, so we would go to shows every week by bands like Youth
Brigade as well as ska bands like Let’s Go Bowling and Skankin Pickle.
San Francisco and I’m in an overall good place in my life so I have no major
complaints. As far as my background, I was born to a middle-class family in
Fresno, California which is midway between S.F. and Los Angeles. My first
exposure to music was probably through my father singing oldies songs to me as
a toddler that he would convince me he had written. Usually they would be
pretty but morbid songs like ‘Last Kiss’ or ‘Sad Movies (Make Me Cry)’. It
wasn’t until I was a few years older when I first heard The Beatles on the
oldies station in town that I said “Dad, they’re playing your song ‘Love Me Do’
on the radio!” and he admitted that he didn’t write any of them! Listening in
the car with him and singing along (although I was an absolutely terrible
singer until just a few years ago) gave me my first understanding of melody and
what goes into making a catchy song. Between listening to oldies with my
father, hearing more adult-contemporary stuff in the mornings while my mother
got ready for work, and watching whatever was on MTV with my older brother’s
friends (I have fond memories of walking around with them while they would take
turns doing verses from the rap songs of the day)—I was thoroughly engrossed in
music. With them it was always more of a passive thing though, kind of
background noise—no one in my family actually plays music or anything like
that. I absorbed it all, so by the time I received my first guitar when I was nine
years old I was able to move around on it pretty quickly. The first time I
remember discovering music for myself was at an Asian grocery store three
blocks from our house where I would sit at the comic book rack and read while
my folks shopped. There was a magazine there whose name I don’t remember, but
it covered all these bands I’d never heard of and even had a flexi record in it
of Mudhoney’s ‘Touch Me I’m Sick’. Around that time I also came across a
cassette of ‘Axis: Bold As Love’ that totally floored me. I really got into
everything from way older stuff like Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys and
Django Reinhardt or blues like Robert Johnson and Lightnin’ Hopkins to anything
current but obscure I could get my hands on like The Boredoms out of Japan. There
was this insatiable thirst for knowledge on my part at the time for not only
all kinds of music but also literature. I was very into Nietzsche and French
Symbolists like Baudelaire, Rimbaud, and Verlaine. I definitely got into
trouble for reading that kind of stuff in school, but luckily by this time I
was in a school for the gifted so I didn’t incur the kind of ridicule I might
if I was in a regular establishment. By the time I was in high school I was
able to play back on the guitar whatever was playing on the radio and was
running with a crowd of kids that were deeply into punk rock like The Germs,
Operation Ivy, Black Flag, The Subhumans, The Exploited, and I was making all
my own clothes too. We had an all-ages punk rock venue in Fresno at the time
called Patterson Hall, so we would go to shows every week by bands like Youth
Brigade as well as ska bands like Let’s Go Bowling and Skankin Pickle.
A
major influence on my life occurred when I was a sophomore in high school. I
came down with meningitis and almost died. I can still very vividly remember
the feeling of being on a cold metal operating table and having that long
needle put in for the spinal tap. It was such a serious case of the disease
that complications would come up from it for many years after. From that
experience, I understood the fragility of life and how we don’t have time to
follow anyone else’s path but our own. I think that had more to do with me
leaving my hometown than anything else.
major influence on my life occurred when I was a sophomore in high school. I
came down with meningitis and almost died. I can still very vividly remember
the feeling of being on a cold metal operating table and having that long
needle put in for the spinal tap. It was such a serious case of the disease
that complications would come up from it for many years after. From that
experience, I understood the fragility of life and how we don’t have time to
follow anyone else’s path but our own. I think that had more to do with me
leaving my hometown than anything else.
I
still hung around for a few years because I had a little sister that was born
and I wanted to make sure I was there to develop an early relationship with
her. My first trips to San Francisco happened because I got involved in swing
dancing and it was a big thing there at the time. I got good enough at it that
I didn’t have to work a regular job for a while—just teaching people how to
flip over eachother’s shoulders and such.
still hung around for a few years because I had a little sister that was born
and I wanted to make sure I was there to develop an early relationship with
her. My first trips to San Francisco happened because I got involved in swing
dancing and it was a big thing there at the time. I got good enough at it that
I didn’t have to work a regular job for a while—just teaching people how to
flip over eachother’s shoulders and such.
Crossing the bridge into San Francisco represented absolute freedom to
me. Coming over in a car late one foggy night while blasting some bebop and
just having that fog suddenly open up and this vast metropolis towering in
front of me was such a magical experience. Once I had a taste of that there was
really no question. I worked something like three jobs, gave plasma twice a
week, and even delivered newspapers to get the money together to move. Once I
got to the city, I committed to not having to move back no matter what (most
people when they leave my hometown, they wind up back pretty quickly). That
meant eating rice every couple days with duck drippings or taking a long
subway-ride to eat at a homeless shelter (I was living on the outskirts). I
landed various odd-jobs at a laundromat, a library, telemarketing, all while
auditioning for bands that I didn’t feel were doing anything fresh or exciting.
This influenced me to drive my car around when I could afford gas(instead of
upsetting my housemates with the noise) and singing at the top of my lungs
until I could hit every note that I wanted to. I figured I would be better off
eventually putting together my own project than keep trying out as rhythm
guitarist or bass player for something I didn’t believe in.
me. Coming over in a car late one foggy night while blasting some bebop and
just having that fog suddenly open up and this vast metropolis towering in
front of me was such a magical experience. Once I had a taste of that there was
really no question. I worked something like three jobs, gave plasma twice a
week, and even delivered newspapers to get the money together to move. Once I
got to the city, I committed to not having to move back no matter what (most
people when they leave my hometown, they wind up back pretty quickly). That
meant eating rice every couple days with duck drippings or taking a long
subway-ride to eat at a homeless shelter (I was living on the outskirts). I
landed various odd-jobs at a laundromat, a library, telemarketing, all while
auditioning for bands that I didn’t feel were doing anything fresh or exciting.
This influenced me to drive my car around when I could afford gas(instead of
upsetting my housemates with the noise) and singing at the top of my lungs
until I could hit every note that I wanted to. I figured I would be better off
eventually putting together my own project than keep trying out as rhythm
guitarist or bass player for something I didn’t believe in.
I
managed to land a job as rock specialist at a big record store here and also
got some freelance writing jobs (working on history books) which were both big
turning points for me. That eventually led to me becoming Head Writer for a
music magazine.
managed to land a job as rock specialist at a big record store here and also
got some freelance writing jobs (working on history books) which were both big
turning points for me. That eventually led to me becoming Head Writer for a
music magazine.
So
how did it all start with Merch?
how did it all start with Merch?
Well, I wrote and did interviews for this magazine for a couple years
until it folded. I did interviews with big bands in the indie world like Spoon
and Guided By Voices and when the magazine ended I thought, perhaps naively,
that I could make songs as good as any of the bands I talked to. The curtain
had dropped for me and I realized that all these big musicians that I looked up
to weren’t really different from me and I could do it too. I put an ad on
Craigslist, managed to convince a drummer and cellist that I knew what I was
doing, then put money down for a rehearsal space. We did shows, went through
some personnel changes, just all the kinds of stuff that a young band goes
through—especially one with a bandleader who feels like he knows best but
hasn’t really found his footing yet. There were tours throughout the state and
then across the entire country. A couple of 7-inches saw the light of day
during this period as well as a full-length CD. By the point that it was time
to record that first album, our third cellist had just quite after having a
nervous breakdown from the road and out of some internal need to make things
hard on myself I decided to play all the cello parts on the album since I wrote
them all anyway. So I practiced the parts for eight hours a night for a month
and then recorded the songs in order of easiest to hardest. Amazingly, that
album got a lot of college-radio airplay and even made it as far out as
Australia and Israel. I am rather shocked by that, looking back on it, since I
can’t even listen to it. I think someday I’ll redo it as a double LP, the
original version and how I would approach it now. After a time, Merch really
stopped being a band and became my individual musical outlet with outsiders
brought in to help realize the completion of projects.
until it folded. I did interviews with big bands in the indie world like Spoon
and Guided By Voices and when the magazine ended I thought, perhaps naively,
that I could make songs as good as any of the bands I talked to. The curtain
had dropped for me and I realized that all these big musicians that I looked up
to weren’t really different from me and I could do it too. I put an ad on
Craigslist, managed to convince a drummer and cellist that I knew what I was
doing, then put money down for a rehearsal space. We did shows, went through
some personnel changes, just all the kinds of stuff that a young band goes
through—especially one with a bandleader who feels like he knows best but
hasn’t really found his footing yet. There were tours throughout the state and
then across the entire country. A couple of 7-inches saw the light of day
during this period as well as a full-length CD. By the point that it was time
to record that first album, our third cellist had just quite after having a
nervous breakdown from the road and out of some internal need to make things
hard on myself I decided to play all the cello parts on the album since I wrote
them all anyway. So I practiced the parts for eight hours a night for a month
and then recorded the songs in order of easiest to hardest. Amazingly, that
album got a lot of college-radio airplay and even made it as far out as
Australia and Israel. I am rather shocked by that, looking back on it, since I
can’t even listen to it. I think someday I’ll redo it as a double LP, the
original version and how I would approach it now. After a time, Merch really
stopped being a band and became my individual musical outlet with outsiders
brought in to help realize the completion of projects.
It’s
pretty obvious you are a fan of psychedelic music. What are some perhaps less
known bands, that had an impact on the band itself?
pretty obvious you are a fan of psychedelic music. What are some perhaps less
known bands, that had an impact on the band itself?
These aren’t really lesser known artists, but I was definitely listening
to a lot of Love’s ‘Forever Changes’ while planning out ‘This Betrayal Will Be
Our End’. I probably listened to that everyday for a while. Greg Ashley [This
Betrayal’s producer/engineer] turned me onto Dungen which I hadn’t heard before
and now adore. Some of that probably seeped into there. I recall also listening
to some Roy Harper, 13th Floor Elevators, Moby Grape. There was also some
United States Southern metal like Baroness that I was listening to that has
some psychedelic touches to it. Stoner metal like Electric Wizard too. There’s
also all the Bay Area psych stuff happening now like Thee Oh Sees, The Fresh
& Onlys, Kelley Stoltz, The Sandwitches, Ty Segall, Sleepy Sun, Six Organs
Of Admittance. ‘Odessey & Oracle’, ‘Pet Sounds’, and ‘Smile’ were all
pretty big for me too.
to a lot of Love’s ‘Forever Changes’ while planning out ‘This Betrayal Will Be
Our End’. I probably listened to that everyday for a while. Greg Ashley [This
Betrayal’s producer/engineer] turned me onto Dungen which I hadn’t heard before
and now adore. Some of that probably seeped into there. I recall also listening
to some Roy Harper, 13th Floor Elevators, Moby Grape. There was also some
United States Southern metal like Baroness that I was listening to that has
some psychedelic touches to it. Stoner metal like Electric Wizard too. There’s
also all the Bay Area psych stuff happening now like Thee Oh Sees, The Fresh
& Onlys, Kelley Stoltz, The Sandwitches, Ty Segall, Sleepy Sun, Six Organs
Of Admittance. ‘Odessey & Oracle’, ‘Pet Sounds’, and ‘Smile’ were all
pretty big for me too.
This
Betrayal Will Be Our End is a mixture of »indie« psychedelia with some other
genre touches. Is there a concept behind the album?
Betrayal Will Be Our End is a mixture of »indie« psychedelia with some other
genre touches. Is there a concept behind the album?
I
went through a terrible break-up with someone that I thought I was going to
always be with. I think it would be impossible for me to convey to someone how much
a broken love can destroy you (especially that big first one) unless they have
been through it too, but I did my best. I wrote the lyrics and basic chord
structure for all the songs in a flash fever of a couple weeks. It really
seemed at the time like it was either do that or perish. I initially thought
this would be more of a singer-songwriter type record with just voice, guitar,
and maybe a bit of cello. Once I really looked at what I had though with these
songs, I decided that I needed to prove something to myself to get through that
time. I wanted to take various genres of music whether it be 70s AM radio like
‘Bread’, black-metal, noisy indie-rock, country, whatever. I decided to take
different types of music I had absorbed over the years and channel that into
making one of the greatest break-up albums of all time—something that could
shift through styles much like how one goes through various kinds of emotions
during an occurrence like that. I knew that the lyrics seemed probably so over
the top that they might not work on just an acoustic guitar. I didn’t want to
change a word of it since it’s all true and it was important for me to not go
back and retouch any of the words so I constructed this grandiose soundscape
around it.
went through a terrible break-up with someone that I thought I was going to
always be with. I think it would be impossible for me to convey to someone how much
a broken love can destroy you (especially that big first one) unless they have
been through it too, but I did my best. I wrote the lyrics and basic chord
structure for all the songs in a flash fever of a couple weeks. It really
seemed at the time like it was either do that or perish. I initially thought
this would be more of a singer-songwriter type record with just voice, guitar,
and maybe a bit of cello. Once I really looked at what I had though with these
songs, I decided that I needed to prove something to myself to get through that
time. I wanted to take various genres of music whether it be 70s AM radio like
‘Bread’, black-metal, noisy indie-rock, country, whatever. I decided to take
different types of music I had absorbed over the years and channel that into
making one of the greatest break-up albums of all time—something that could
shift through styles much like how one goes through various kinds of emotions
during an occurrence like that. I knew that the lyrics seemed probably so over
the top that they might not work on just an acoustic guitar. I didn’t want to
change a word of it since it’s all true and it was important for me to not go
back and retouch any of the words so I constructed this grandiose soundscape
around it.
One thing, that really strikes me is the cover artwork, which seems really
interesting…
That kind of came together at the last minute. I was toying with a few
concepts and wanted something with a darkly cinematic feel to echo the music.
It was also important to have something that would catch the eye in a record
store, since this was first-and-foremost always going to be vinyl. A
photographer in Brooklyn agreed to license one of her pieces for the cover, but
ended up asking for more money at the 11th hour. I ended up finding an old
photograph through Creative Commons that had been used before but to evoke a
very different mood. There was also some help to get the Merch logo to look
appropriately Argento-ish.
concepts and wanted something with a darkly cinematic feel to echo the music.
It was also important to have something that would catch the eye in a record
store, since this was first-and-foremost always going to be vinyl. A
photographer in Brooklyn agreed to license one of her pieces for the cover, but
ended up asking for more money at the 11th hour. I ended up finding an old
photograph through Creative Commons that had been used before but to evoke a
very different mood. There was also some help to get the Merch logo to look
appropriately Argento-ish.
As I understand this project is not really new and it’s actually a few years
old…What
happened, that you finally decided to release it?
old…What
happened, that you finally decided to release it?
The only real story there is that everything took a lot longer than
expected. The basic recording of the album only took two-and-a-half, maybe 3
weeks. A couple labels showed some interest but weren’t offering anything that
couldn’t be done independently—all they really did was slow things down. Then
it was the matter of getting a mix which showcased the music off properly. That
was a real learning process and took months. Getting the money together for the
mastering and then the pressing of the record then pushed things back even
further. Finally, once it seemed like everything was in the clear—there were
issues with the test pressings and it had to be done over again. None of this
is uncommon, I just wasn’t prepared for it. I’m just happy it’s finally
beginning to get in people’s hands where it belongs.
expected. The basic recording of the album only took two-and-a-half, maybe 3
weeks. A couple labels showed some interest but weren’t offering anything that
couldn’t be done independently—all they really did was slow things down. Then
it was the matter of getting a mix which showcased the music off properly. That
was a real learning process and took months. Getting the money together for the
mastering and then the pressing of the record then pushed things back even
further. Finally, once it seemed like everything was in the clear—there were
issues with the test pressings and it had to be done over again. None of this
is uncommon, I just wasn’t prepared for it. I’m just happy it’s finally
beginning to get in people’s hands where it belongs.
It’s
released on Sassafras Records & Distribution. I don’t know much about Sassafras
Records and if you could tell us a bit about it. We all would really appreciate
it.
Sassafras is the name I gave to a stuffed toy lemur of mine that I used
to take on tour with me. The first Merch album I released under the name
Sassafras Records even though it wasn’t a real company at the time. I decided
to distribute the vinyl of ‘This Betrayal Will Be Our End’ myself (at least
domestically), but once I started the process of doing so I realized for the
amount of work I was putting in that I should offer the service to other
artists/labels. Within a couple weeks of putting the word out about the
service, I had a roster of a few really great labels/artists. That was just a
few months ago and I’m adding new labels every month. Sassafras focuses on
vinyl and cassette distribution and is currently just focused on record stores
in the United States, but will expand soon. I’m always on the lookout for
interesting labels/artists and also overseas distributors to work with.
to take on tour with me. The first Merch album I released under the name
Sassafras Records even though it wasn’t a real company at the time. I decided
to distribute the vinyl of ‘This Betrayal Will Be Our End’ myself (at least
domestically), but once I started the process of doing so I realized for the
amount of work I was putting in that I should offer the service to other
artists/labels. Within a couple weeks of putting the word out about the
service, I had a roster of a few really great labels/artists. That was just a
few months ago and I’m adding new labels every month. Sassafras focuses on
vinyl and cassette distribution and is currently just focused on record stores
in the United States, but will expand soon. I’m always on the lookout for
interesting labels/artists and also overseas distributors to work with.
How about concerts? What are you planning?
I
have no interest in playing concerts until I can present the music as grandly
as I would hope to.
So
what are some of your future plans?
My
aim is to release records that will sound good today, tomorrow, and fifty years
from now. One of the next ones will be with a full orchestra recorded in
Eastern Europe. There is one coming out before that next year, but I don’t want
to ruin the surprise of what its going to be.
aim is to release records that will sound good today, tomorrow, and fifty years
from now. One of the next ones will be with a full orchestra recorded in
Eastern Europe. There is one coming out before that next year, but I don’t want
to ruin the surprise of what its going to be.
The
album has some pretty unique sound, that’s why questions about recording
sessions are necessary…Tell us more?
Almost everyone involved in the record was going through a death, a
break-up, or some other kind of loss which, I think, made it that much more
intense. The album was recorded to 1-inch tape on a 16 track reel-to-reel. I
asked Greg Ashley to produce the album since he only does analog recordings and
he’s sort of an underground psych hero for fronting Gris Gris. I remember
listening to ‘Sunrise/Sunset’ by the band The Dutchess & The Duke and
thinking that I wished someday I could make an album that sounded that good. I
realized only later that it was Greg that produced that album and he had already
agreed to make mine! The crew of musicians that I assembled had a great deal to
do with the sound. I made sure to get people from various musical backgrounds
so that we could really play anything. For example, I recruited Zach who is
primarily a death metal drummer but also Charles Boschetti on upright bass who
is more versed in things like tango. Top, who played saxophones, is a jazz cat
who I recognized when I was hopping the train to the studio. I literally
grabbed him, agreed on a price (along with a bottle of whiskey), and had him
laying down his tracks an hour later. Sam Bass, is arguably the finest electric
cellist anywhere and a really great guy to boot. I met him through a festival
that an incarnation of Merch performed at and I always remembered what a
phenomenal talent he is. When it time came to record the LP, he was absolutely
my first choice for cello. Along with the lush layered acoustic cellos on the
record that he did, some of what people assume is guitar is really Sam. The
wild soloing at the end of ‘Osmosis, for instance, that’s all Sam.
Greg was really helpful in the studio. He’ll be the first to tell you
that this record turned into the most ambitious thing he’d ever worked on and
it got a bit stressful at times. He also really allowed me to blossom and try
out different things and let me run with an idea even if he wasn’t sure if it
was a good one. I never felt tethered in the studio which is a big part of how
it ended up like it did. Picking sounds that captured a wide dynamic range made
all the difference too, which Greg deserves a lot of credit for. It was a great
deal of fun (which was really important in completing such a dramatic piece of
work) figuring out where a song needed a low growly ancient synth to add some
bass or a ukulele to cover the high-end.
that this record turned into the most ambitious thing he’d ever worked on and
it got a bit stressful at times. He also really allowed me to blossom and try
out different things and let me run with an idea even if he wasn’t sure if it
was a good one. I never felt tethered in the studio which is a big part of how
it ended up like it did. Picking sounds that captured a wide dynamic range made
all the difference too, which Greg deserves a lot of credit for. It was a great
deal of fun (which was really important in completing such a dramatic piece of
work) figuring out where a song needed a low growly ancient synth to add some
bass or a ukulele to cover the high-end.
Chris Porro mixed the record and did a fantastic job. I really wanted to
avoid making the album sound tied specifically to ‘now’. We had some hiccups at
the beginning, but then I brought in some albums that I liked the feel of and
Chris worked from there. I recall those being Neil Young’s ‘After The Gold
Rush’, Black Sabbath’s ‘Paranoid’, Nachtmystium, and Kanye West’s ‘My Beautiful
Dark Twisted Fantasy (interestingly enough).
avoid making the album sound tied specifically to ‘now’. We had some hiccups at
the beginning, but then I brought in some albums that I liked the feel of and
Chris worked from there. I recall those being Neil Young’s ‘After The Gold
Rush’, Black Sabbath’s ‘Paranoid’, Nachtmystium, and Kanye West’s ‘My Beautiful
Dark Twisted Fantasy (interestingly enough).
What do you think about the current psych scene?
Like it, hate it or love it?
Like it, hate it or love it?
I
think the scene is very healthy right now. It’s really great seeing my friends,
colleagues, and just people that I admire getting recognition and doing well.
The Black Angels just played to a huge crowd at Coachella. I think with all the
avenues that we have to explore that things are only going to get better. Like,
if one of the bands wanted to release a four-hour song online they totally
could. In turn, because all the music can so easily be made available online,
those of us that want to make vinyl it challenges us to make a record good
enough front-to-back that someone would want to lay down money in order to put
it on their turntable. I was in a record store a few weeks ago and they were
playing ‘This Betrayal Will Be Our End’ on the speakers and there was a copy on
display with 13th Floor Elevators and Scott Walker. I feel if all of us in the
scene set the bar high so that we belong in record stores amongst greats like
that (instead of necessarily competing amongst ourselves), the music will only
improve.
think the scene is very healthy right now. It’s really great seeing my friends,
colleagues, and just people that I admire getting recognition and doing well.
The Black Angels just played to a huge crowd at Coachella. I think with all the
avenues that we have to explore that things are only going to get better. Like,
if one of the bands wanted to release a four-hour song online they totally
could. In turn, because all the music can so easily be made available online,
those of us that want to make vinyl it challenges us to make a record good
enough front-to-back that someone would want to lay down money in order to put
it on their turntable. I was in a record store a few weeks ago and they were
playing ‘This Betrayal Will Be Our End’ on the speakers and there was a copy on
display with 13th Floor Elevators and Scott Walker. I feel if all of us in the
scene set the bar high so that we belong in record stores amongst greats like
that (instead of necessarily competing amongst ourselves), the music will only
improve.
Well, thanks for taking your time! Would you perhaps like to say any
final words or a message to It’s Psychedelic Baby readers?
final words or a message to It’s Psychedelic Baby readers?
Well, to any of the It’s Psychedelic Baby readers out there that are
also musicians: keep open ears. No matter what style of music you’re playing,
listen to as many other sounds as you can. It’s that mix of the various things
you absorb that makes something original come out of you. Also, thank you so
much for all the support for this record that everyone has been giving. If your
local record shop doesn’t carry it, you can send them to the Sassafras Records
& Distro site (sassafrasrecords.wordpress.com) to get copies for their
store. You can also order copies directly on sassafrasrecs.bandcamp.com and, as
of this writing, Aquarius Records has exclusive colored copies of this first
pressing of the vinyl (as opposed to the standard black-vinyl copies that all
other retailers carry).
also musicians: keep open ears. No matter what style of music you’re playing,
listen to as many other sounds as you can. It’s that mix of the various things
you absorb that makes something original come out of you. Also, thank you so
much for all the support for this record that everyone has been giving. If your
local record shop doesn’t carry it, you can send them to the Sassafras Records
& Distro site (sassafrasrecords.wordpress.com) to get copies for their
store. You can also order copies directly on sassafrasrecs.bandcamp.com and, as
of this writing, Aquarius Records has exclusive colored copies of this first
pressing of the vinyl (as opposed to the standard black-vinyl copies that all
other retailers carry).
Interview made by Klemen Breznikar / 2012
© Copyright http://psychedelicbaby.blogspot.com/ 2012
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