WKNC 88.1 FM - North Carolina State University Student RadioRandom sh*t we don’t know where else to put
The application to be a DJ here at WKNC is pretty fun, and a perfect example of that is our last “question” on the form: list the steps of making a PB&J and then draw your spirit animal eating that sandwich. It gets pretty rowdy. Here are some of the best spirit animals from our Fall 2015 applications:
Think you can top Sphinx Buscemi and Meer Franco? Start practicing your spirit animal and sandwich making abilities for our next round of applications in Spring 2016!
WKNC is proud to announce its participation in Spotify’s Soundclash, “A playlist battle to end all playlist battles.” Here’s how it works: You, loyal listener, go over to Spotify and type WKNC in the search bar. Down under playlists you will see “WKNC 88.1 FM: North Carolina State University” (or just follow this link). Then follow the playlist.
WKNC is one of 270+ 20+ campus clubs and organizations across the United States that have created a 15-song playlist. Since we love local music so much, we picked lots songs from Kooley High, Sylvan Esso, Future Islands, Polvo and other North Carolina favorites.
The organization with the most playlist followers in the next 13 days gets $5,000: half for us and half to share with a non-profit organization through DonorsChoose.org.
I sat down with Sonny Smith from Sonny and the Sunsets ahead of their performance at Harvest Records Transfigurations II Festival. When I asked Sonny to do a station liner for WKNC, he said, “Hey this is Sonny Smith from Sonny and the Sunsets, and I don’t know what I’m doing, but I know what you’re doing. You’re listening to 88.1 WKNC in Raleigh.” After recording it, he said, “I think that about sums up the interview.”
Sonny Smith is nothing short of a creative genius. Throughout the interview, we talked about his many different outlets: music, plays, films, comic books, short stories and more. He claims to have no idea what he is doing. He says he just tries to get the ideas out in whatever format they lend themselves too. A lot of times, an idea that starts out as one form of art morphs into something completely different. For example, their newest record (due out sometime early next year) started as a series of short films. Check out the full interview below to get a glimpse into the very creative mind and the many different projects of Sonny Smith.
Michael (WKNC): How are you doing? I know it’s the 3rd night of your little east coast jaunt, how’s it been going so far?
Sonny Smith (Sonny and the Sunsets): Ah, great, easy, smooth. Just some long drives with not much to do so far, just look at the landscape.
M: Awesome. So are you guys planning on trying out some new material on this tour? I know your last album, Antenna to the Afterworld, came out last year.
S: Yeah we have a bunch of new songs. We finished our next record which doesn’t come out until February. But we wanted to just freshen up, so half the set is all new songs that haven’t been heard yet.
M: Definitely looking forward to hearing the new songs. So do you have any places on the tour that you are really excited about?
S: All of the south is pretty exciting for us because I haven’t been to the south. So I’ve been trying to get every morsel that I can while I’m here. Then besides that, New York is always kind of a blast for me. It’s always exciting, you know?
M: Yeah, yeah. So you guys just had a new album come out this past summer as I mentioned earlier, and it is an incredible album that we spin all the time here at the radio station. So the album is mostly from your point of view, you take on this persona of a space being visiting earth, which kind of lends itself to some humorous insights. So what was the inspiration behind this album and this narrative point of view?
S: Well I wouldn’t say that all of them are from that point of view, but yeah, I gotcha, some of them are. I don’t know a bunch of things just happened at the same time. I was kind of having a little sci-fi phase which was nice. My mom was really into sci-fi when I was a kid, so I was kind of having this great renaissance of sci-fi movies and sci-fi ideas and comic books and stuff like that. And I was coincidentally, not really consciously, listening to some of those soundtracks like “Angelus” and synthesizer kind of stuff and post-punk beats. Which for me, somehow in my brain, I connected to that sort of synthetic world.
And then at the same time, a friend of mine died, which led to a lot of thoughts about death and life after death. In my brain, I just kind of put it all together: the afterworld, aliens, extrasensory phenomenon. All that sort of stuff we don’t know about. And anything from sort of down to earth philosophical ideas about it to pop culture pulp sci-fi, were all kind of open territory. And the songs just kind of all came out of that. And then after a while, it just started to have some cohesion. At some point, I was like this record has a very real sense of concept.
M: Yeah, yeah. And like you said, there were a lot of different inspirations and ideas behind it. But I think it ended up being a very cohesive record that delved into a lot of unknown territories.
S: Yeah, yeah, it just wasn’t consciously figured out. I didn’t say, “I want to make a sci-fi record about the afterlife.” It was just a lot of different things happening at the same time and it just turned out to be what I was paying attention to.
M: Alright. So most of your work, you’ve adopted a very narrative voice of storytelling in your songs. So what do you think drove you to this style and what were some of your biggest influences.
S: Well, the narrative part has been there since I first started writing songs. Before I started writing songs, I was trying to write screenplays and stuff. I was really into that and I was trying to write stories and stuff. So I had those initial ones that morphed into songs. So even from the get-go, my songs were very linear and story-driven with characters. And it’s just been the way it has been since. Certainly there’s been lots of different perceptions, but you can’t just approach it from a storyteller place. I wanted to tell a story that has kind of a beginning and an end.
And then, I kind of write stories in more than a few different mediums. It could be theater or short films or comic books. So it’s almost like I have this idea for a story, like a vision of a story, and then it’s kind of like finding out how it should be told. Sometimes it’s a song, sometimes it’s a short story, or sometimes it’s a comic book. That seems to be how that works.
M: Yeah, because you seem to have a lot of different creative outlets. So the ideas just come to you and you figure out how you’re going to get them out later.
S: Yeah and a lot of times, you’re just downright wrong. You think it’s supposed to be a short film and it’s just not working. Then you have some instrumental track and you realize that the idea that you had for a short film really just perfectly fits the song. And you realize that the destiny of this piece was kind of not up to you to some extent. You are supposed to sort of be dictated by it rather than you consciously trying to stick this square peg in a round hole and be like “No it’s a song.” You know it’s like, “It ain’t a song, it’s a poem. Let it be a poem.”
M: Yeah. So a lot of these ideas that end up being songs, do you get the story of the song first then create the music? Or how does it come about?
S: Yeah, I think the stories come first, however they come. Sometimes it can be just like you come up with a title and it sounds like a story. And it starts you down a road of thinking about stories and characters. Then music is kind of being created simultaneously by fiddling around on the guitar and then it’s a little bit of a puzzle trying to figure out, ok this musical piece kind of fits with these things I’ve written. You know? Trial and error like that.
I am definitely of the camp that the lyrics should dictate the music not the other way around. When I hear music where I can tell that they created the music first and just slapped some words on there, that music is usually not as intriguing to me.
M: Yeah and I think that you can definitely tell when you listen to a Sonny and the Sunsets’ record. The lyrics really stand out to you even on the first time listening. Some other albums, you can listen to them dozens of times and still not have any idea what they said or what they were trying to say.
S: Yeah and I guess that’s just a songwriter’s kind of thing.
M: Yeah, so you’ve been writing songs for quite a while now. How has your writing process changed over the years and how has that changed since you’ve added the sunsets? Are they a part of that writing process at all?
S: Well they rarely are, if never, part of the lyrics, but they certainly are a part of the music. Once I have a song, sometimes I don’t want to even have the song very figured out before I bring it to the musicians. I want the musicians to just make it come alive. So I very much depend on them to be creative in that way. So they definitely are helping create the song and the music.
And usually it helps sometimes if I don’t have everything figured out yet so that there is some exploration and they are having to think about it, try some things, hit some dead-ends, take some left turns. It’s kind of like you are scratching in the dirt and you are uncovering something. That’s a process that I like and if I had everything figured out like some people where it almost doesn’t matter who the drummer is because they know exactly what beat they want and where they want the fill and stuff. I don’t have that quality.
M: Yeah, it’s definitely good to have those external influences that can bring questions to the table about the music. So what is the recording process like for these songs? How do you guys go about tackling an album?
S: Very cheaply (laughs). Just home jobs usually, or at a rehearsal place or a friend’s place. Just usually cheap mics into a fairly cheap tape machine. I like it to be scrappy and not too hi-fi. I like that kind of art where you can kind of see the finger prints and you know that it was made by humans. So you have to strike the right balance. But like for me to find that stuff, the conditions have to be a little bit amateur or scrappy, you know? I don’t want to get too pro. I don’t want everything to sound crystalline and for it to be played by incredible technicians; I want it to be like the Bad News Bears that make it to the World Series rather than the Yankees that make it to the World Series. You know what I mean?
A car pulls up and we have to move locations.
S: How about these cinder blocks?
M: Works for me.
S: This works perfect. This is the equivalent of a recording session for me (laughs).
M: (laughs) So what is it that made you kind of come about to that type of recording philosophy?
S: I don’t know. Well first, I’ve never had the money to go into a studio and make a hi-fi record like Fleetwood mac. You know? Who knows what I would do if I had a $100,000 to do that kind of shit. So to some extent, it comes from circumstance of not having had any real money. But beyond that, I think it just gives me more room to have trial and error and explore and enjoy the process of it. You know? Where as to go into a studio and try to have everything be incredibly immaculate sounds type-a, it just sounds anal to me. It doesn’t sound fun. So I guess it’s a little bit of both, money and just trying to be a little bit more down to earth or something.
M: Yeah, yeah and I definitely agree with what you said earlier about when you hear the music and it sounds like it was done by a human. A recording process like that definitely has a very human quality about it that shines through on the record and I think makes it more accessible.
S: Yeah, I also really like to watch a lot of movies of like the first movies of film directors that I like. You know like Spike Lee’s first movie or Gus Van Sant’s first movie. They’re incredible to me; the stories are so strong. The way that they are made is so strong and there’s so much passion and sort of realness to them. And they did all that stuff with 16mm cameras and no budget and stuff because they had to. And there’s some sort of spirit in that and sometimes it just seems like when things get to pro, it loses some magic. And I don’t know how exactly to articulate it, but we all have seen 10 million examples of it. So as long as I keep things from becoming too sterile, it’s probably a big trap for most artists.
M: Yeah that’s definitely true. I think any one of us could list off a million examples of artists who have lost that magic. But as we mentioned earlier, you have all sorts of different outlets such as plays, comic books, and so many other things. How does one person have enough creativity to bubble into all of these different outlets?
S: Well to some extent, I think it’s because I have outlets. I’m not afraid of being an amateur to some extent. Like I write comic books, but you know, compared to Daniel Clowes or Robert Cronin, they’re just doodles. But I don’t care, it works for me. Or I make plays, but they play in very small theaters for a few weeks. It’s nothing like Sam Shepard or something or like Neil LaBute or whoever is a famous playwright now.
So it’s just like, I don’t care if I’m technically an amateur because as long as the story is told well, then that’s all I need. For me, I’m okay with being like a beginner. You know? I don’t mind. And a lot of people are not, you know? A lot of people are like, “I’m not going to fucking do a play, what do I know about plays? I’m a singer.” You know? So if they have some song that’s not working correctly as a song. They don’t have that option. It just lies dead in the water, you know what I mean? It’s like, well that didn’t work. And for me I’m like, “It came out over there, so let it be that.” So maybe it’s just I’m not afraid of looking like an idiot (laughs).
M: (laughs) Yeah and I think that kind of ties back to what we were talking about earlier. Like with a lot of people’s earlier work and not having access to these things. They were just starting out they maybe didn’t have this fear of failure because they were starting at the bottom.
S: Yeah, I guess I don’t mind. I mean sometimes I mind when I’m broke and I’m like why am I working on a play, shouldn’t I be making car payments? I mean that kind of shit hurts sometimes you know? But in the larger scheme of things, I like being new at shit. I think there’s a lot of magic there that is pretty exciting.
M: Yeah definitely. So I know this is a project going back 4 or 5 years now, but I thought it was really amazing so I wanted to talk to you a bit about this. Do you want to explain the 100 records project and the idea behind to people who don’t know about it?
S: Well that’s another example of like something that started out as a novel. Like I was trying to write a book just because I was like, “Fuck it, I’ll write this book. I have this story.” And it wasn’t working. It just wasn’t that great. And as I was worked on it, it just naturally morphed into this art project where I was making the fake record covers of the characters in the book. You know? And I just followed the energy of where it was going and just sort of embraced that it was becoming a project about drawing the fake record covers of the characters in the book that eclipsed the book you know? It became what it really should have been the whole time.
And then it led to another facet of all this: making songs for fake bands. It was incredibly easy because the stakes were totally low. You know? None of these bands have label contracts, none of these fake bands had gigs, none of these fake bands had records that they had to give a shit if their fans or girlfriends or people they cared about would listen to. The stakes were totally low, so I was free to make whatever. So if it was a piece of shit, the song I made for the fake band, that was fine too because that just means that the fake band was not very good. It was okay; it was just one of the characters in this project. And if a made a good song then that’s good too. If I made a high quality song with good mics, then that’s what that band was. And if I made it lo-fi, then that’s what that band was. And if I just made a 30 second instrumental and I didn’t have any lyrics to it, then I just gave it to the band that did instrumentals. That was their fake history.
So it was a genius project in that way. Not that I didn’t start out thinking that, but you could do no wrong.
M: Yeah because these were your ideas in your head.
S: Yeah and you can’t sit there and be like, “No that band didn’t sound like that,” because they are made up (laughs). Whereas, once you have an identity and you make some songs and some records, it’s very hard to break out of the boxes that we create for ourselves. Sonny and the Sunsets has a box. I try to break out of it, which is why our sound changes so much, but still you can get boxed in unintentionally. Just by virtue of making stuff.
M: Mmhmm. So what were a couple of your favorite fake bands looking back on the project?
S: Little Antoine and the Sparrows was like a mute soul singer, so it was like an instrumental soul band with a lead singer that didn’t sing that just stood up there and pantomimed. So it was brilliant. And it was because I couldn’t land the vocals on this one song so I was like, “Fuck it, the lead singer is a mute.” (laughs) So it made perfect sense.
And Earth Girl Helen Brown was one of my favorite ones because she was kind of like this girl constantly searching for love, but like the female equivalent of Buck Rodgers just cruising through the universe looking for weird alien dudes and having strange romantic encounters and never finding the right guy or cyborg or alien guy.
The Fuckaroos was a cool band. There was quite a number of bands that I wrote more songs for than others because they were just fun to write for.
M: Yeah it sounds like a super fun project. And earlier today I was at Harvest Records, and I came across another one of your projects that I didn’t really know much about. It was a copy of your One Act Plays.
S: Yeah, see that’s another example of plays I wrote just to be plays. But they weren’t meant to be plays, they were meant to be songs. So they were songs with the dialogue as if it were a play. It was like reading a play; it had stage directions, lighting instructions, sometimes dialogue that was setting the scene, dialogue between characters. But everything was sung or in the form of a song. That was another perfect example. Like everything I try starts out wrong and turns into something else. I totally don’t know what I’m doing (laughs).
M: (laughs) Well I totally love whatever you doing because it comes out sounding great. Just keep doing whatever you’re doing.
S: I just have to keep not knowing what the hell I’m doing.
M: (laughs) Once you figure it out we’ll have problems.
S: (laughs) Yeah.
M: So with that being said, what are some future projects and plans you have coming down the pipeline.
S: Well the latest record again was a series of short films. I wanted to write short films. I had titles and ideas and I couldn’t put them together, so they became songs. Then I was thinking I would try to make short films again. It’s something I wanted to do, but it keeps eluding me. You know? I’ll keep trying and maybe it will end up being films and maybe it will end up being, I don’t know, a dinner party. (laughs) Yeah so I don’t really have anything concrete right now.
M: Well we definitely look forward to whatever comes next.
S: (laughs) Yeah, who knows?
M: Well thank you so much for taking the time to do this.
S: Yeah my pleasure. Thank you.
Man it’s a great time to be living in the 919 and just in North Carolina in general. After catching up from the summertime transitions, I have come to find many local jewels in the muddy mess that is the beginning of the year. There is a TON of great local NC music! Check out WKNC’s most recent local adds below, share them with a friend, or play them all for your family. So go get that mason jar full of Cheerwine and fill your brains with the latest in local NC music!
David Childers “Serpents of Reformation” (This guy will be at our FOTL on 9/19, spread the word & bring your friends because he is literally one of the most influential songwriters from the state!)
Being such a great songwriter, Childers does not let up any of those talents in this latest album. Although Childers can be a little religious with some of his music, it is clear in “Serpents of Reformation” that David is looking to branch out and appeal to a wider audience. Experimenting with his traditional folk sound a little bit, David Childers has deep roots to NC that will just never fade away…There is a reason the Avett Brothers ALWAYS cover his songs.
Museum Mouth “Alex I am Nothing”
This album has been played frequently over our airwaves the past few weeks and that is because it is awesome, beautiful, and emotional in all the best ways possible. Museum Mouth gets in your face with their fuzzy punk feel, combining very honest and heartfelt lyrics that make you want to scream (possibly cry) along with them.
Circuit Frost “Keepers From 2014”
Hailing out of our very own Raleigh, NC, Circuit Frost seems to have a lot of potential with their smooth indie melodies. With not a whole lot of material out yet, this band is definitely one to keep on your radars.
Hiss Golden Messenger “Lateness of Dancers"
This is the fifth album by the local talent M.C. Taylor. Recorded in a tin roof, the songs of this album seem to smoothly flow easily into one another, and capture the peaceful setting that it was recorded in. Taylor harmonizes perfectly with Alexandra Sauser-Monnig (Mountain Man) on a lot of the songs in the album which just makes it just that much better. If you missed out on his latest performance at the Cat’s Cradle then I feel bad for ya son.
Old Hours "Even in the Sun”
This is a wonderful indie folk group from Durham, NC. Old Hours creates music that is very soothing, but still full of shouts and some electric guitars. The band is made up of duo Anna Carlson & Nathaniel Walberer who are able to harmonize perfectly to put your mind racing through the trees and clouds above.
So those are some of the highlights folks! I hope you enjoy them and can spread the knowledge to your beautiful friends of the Triangle or to those far beyond the Triangle. Help us show the world the overflowing amount of musical talent that North Carolina has to offer!
There’s an undeniable charm that comes from seeing an angsty college band play a show in the soggy, rundown quarters of a musty basement. Moldy walls hug the pseudo-tortured souls inside as cigarette smoke slips in from under the door frame.
When I finally arrived at Area 15 in Charlotte, the building seemed like less of a venue and more of an abandoned screen printing shop. In fact, the street level is a small business incubator housing miscellaneous companies from real estate agents to fitness consultants. The actual show is in the basement of course, down the stairs past some abandoned rooms filled with discarded furniture. But that’s what you would expect of an Alex G and Elvis Depressedly tour.
I identify Alex Giannascoli quickly by his iconic shoulder-length black hair and slouched shoulders. He is sitting in the back of the venue, behind some merch strewn out on a lawn table. Although he is next to his bandmate Sam Accione and chatting occasionally with fans who approach him, the 21-year-old songwriter seems distant from everyone in the room.
I’m nervous initially when I introduce myself to Giannascoli, but his warm, inviting smile quickly puts me at ease in the first few seconds and we fall into a comfortable conversation. I can see soon that he’s just a normal college kid, slightly surprised by his own success, but mostly just taking life as it comes to him.
Giannascoli began uploading his songs online under the name Alex G when he was 17. His raw, emotional lyrics eventually caught the attention of Mathew Lee Cothran – frontman of the band Elvis Depressedly occasionally recording under solo project Coma Cinema. Cothran already had an established internet presence at the time and was signed to indie label Orchid Tapes, so getting the word out about an incredibly talented new artist was in his field. Giannascoli credits Cothran with his renown.
“Mat definitely helped me the most, you know Mat,” he motions to another room where I assume Cothran is waiting. I nod and his eyes brighten as he talks to me about his mentor. “He posted about me on his band’s website and that got me a lot of recognition.”
Mathew Lee Cothran
Over the next few years, Giannascoli released music on his bandcamp at a steady rate, gaining increasing recognition for his work as more people were exposed to it. DSU, his first full 12” vinyl was released this summer through Orchid Tapes and made reviews on Pitchfork, CMJ, and The Rolling Stone.
I ask Giannascoli if he’s ever felt like giving up on music, but he’s confused with the question. I rephrase it asking him if he’s ever lost faith in his ability to produce something good. He immediately rejects the idea.
“I never let myself think of it as a career,” states the song-writer. “I make music for me because I really enjoy it. I would just record songs every time I felt like I needed to personally. I never had any intention other than making noise I like, in order to avoid disappointment.” He thinks about it for another moment. “It’s kind of like having a girlfriend or boyfriend. If you love them, you don’t want to think about marrying them because if it didn’t work out, you would be so disappointed.”
Giannascoli first started playing guitar when he was 15 in a band with his friends called Skin Cells. I ask him about the first show they played in his high school’s library, put on by its own radio station The Screaming Females.
“We were pretty bad, but it was our first show,” recalls Giannascoli. He looks over at Accione who was in Skin Cells with him to trigger his memory. “I remember I couldn’t get my guitar in tune. I had just learned guitar and I switched with one of my friends right before we played. But it went alright I guess, for a first show.”
Sam Accione
Giannascoli’s success with his last album keeps faith in the DIY, bedroom recording music scene. Just as he looked up to Cothran, many emerging song-writers look up to him now. I ask Giannascoli if he has advice for young artists.
“Make some good music, send it to a lot of blogs, play a lot of shows.” He considers it more. “You have to do it because you love the process, if you do it for any other reasons, you’ll get discouraged.”
Giannascoli performs a short set later mainly playing songs off DSU. The small crowd screams the lyrics to Animal along with Giannascoli. He ends his set with Message, the final songoff of his album Rules, closing with the somber lyrics But I’m just stuck here by your window / Oh look how you have changed.
Giannascoli said if he DJ’d for his college radio, his DJ name would be “Spicy Boy” and he would play Jessica Lea Mayfield, Lucinda Williams, The Knife, and Aphex Twin on his first show.
All of his music can be downloaded off sandy.bandcamp.com
I caught up with Tim Presley, the man behind White Fence, at Phuzz Phest before his set that night at Krankie’s Coffee. We sat down by the railroad tracks and talked for a while about his writing and recording process, punk ethos, the DIY aesthetic, and some other cool stuff. He just announced his new album, To The Recently Found Innocent, which was produced by Ty Segall and is due out on Drag City July 22nd. Check out the full interview below:
Michael (WKNC): How are you doing today?
Tim Presley (White Fence): I’m doing very well. Thank you very much.
M: So what brings you out to Phuzz Phest? How did this come about?
T: I got an email about us playing it, and it seemed like a cool thing to do. I like looked back at past events. It seemed cool. We don’t really play North Carolina besides Asheville. And so it just seemed like a fun thing. They flew us and treated us good. You know it sounded like a good idea.
M: Yeah there are some really great dudes who run this festival. They are doing some cool stuff and it gets better and better every year.
T: I actually kind of know Anthony. Is that his name? From easy tiger? He runs the record store.
M: Yeah, yeah.
T: I met him a long time ago in San Francisco because that’s where he was living before here. So that was like some small world shit. So yeah then I saw that No Age, who we know from Los Angeles, and Kool Keith were playing, so it seemed like the deal just kept on getting sweeter.
M: Yeah. So is there anyone you are going to get a chance to see tonight that you are excited about?
T: Ex-cult from Memphis. They are friends of ours too and they are a great band.
M: Yeah they always put on a heavy show. So I wanted to talk to you a little bit about your recording process. You were in a couple different bands. You were in a punk band starting out, The Nerve Agents, then the psych band Darker My Love. So what made you want to take off and do your own thing?
T: What made me change? I don’t know, I like music and I thought at that time the whole punk rock thing got swallowed up and became too many rules. And I liked a lot of other kinds of music anyways. So in my heart, I’m like a hardcore punk dude. But I don’t know, I don’t think there is anything applying that ethic and ethos to any type of music. And as far as like DIY, I believe in that and that’s what White Fence is pretty much. I record the music at home and I don’t have to answer or compromise to anybody and to me that’s kind of like punk in a way. You know? Music is music; it’s good or it’s bad. It doesn’t need to have a label like that.
M: Yeah, yeah definitely. You can have a difference of lifestyle and music. They don’t have to be the same.
T: Yeah, yeah. And as far as changing musically, I just thought that I could apply this aesthetic to any type of music. I mean I know hardcore dudes who act like fucking rock stars. You know what I mean? It’s all weird. I’m still like a punk dude, I think.
M: Right. So you’re from San Francisco right?
T: Yeah the Bay Area.
M: Alright so how would you describe the music scene there?
T: Well I moved to LA 10 years ago before everyone started moving there (laughs). And like back when I did it, people probably considered me kind of like a sell-out for doing it and now everyone is doing it so I guess someone’s got to be a martyr (laughs). So to be honest, I don’t really know because a lot of the music that was from San Francisco moved down to LA. But there are still awesome bands in San Francisco you know? So no love lost there really. It’s still good.
But yeah there’s still a lot of awesome bands you know? Just because a couple dudes move doesn’t mean that music is dead. And in fact, I think because a lot of people are moving because of financial issues because it is becoming very expensive to live there that’s almost like a good thing. Like almost like how Reaganomics was in the 80s. And that’s a horrible thing, but it will make for good music I think. Because people are pissed and angry people tend to make good music.
M: Yeah, yeah that’s definitely been true throughout history. So you’ve released records on a couple different labels? How did that kind of come about?
T: Well, the first record was put out by a friend Eric and it was on Make A Mess, the first LP.
M: Yeah that was the self-titled right?
T: Yeah, he just pressed a 1000 of those and he just wanted to put it out which was awesome. And then Woodsist wanted to do the next one and then our relationship kind of started from there. And then I did a couple records with them, then did a record with Castle Face, then just finished a new one and that’s going to be on Drag City.
M: That’s awesome! So how did you meet the Woodsist guys, how did that relationship form?
T: Oh, well it’s not a very good story. I think it was like over the computer. (laughs) You know? Like they dug the record and contacted me over email.
M: That’s awesome that someone believes in your music that much to just reach out to you over the internet and want to put out your stuff.
T: Well I had met Kevin, who’s the bass player in Woods and he has this band The Babies and he has his own Kevin Morby solo thing now. But he was kind of like the broker between me and Jeremy, the owner of the label and he’s also the main dude it Woods. So yeah, it’s not that good of a story.
M: (Laughs) Well that works. So you mentioned earlier the album that was released on Drag City which was the collaboration with Ty Segall. How did that collaboration come about?
T: To be honest, I think he was just a fan of the first two white fence records and he came up to me and asked if I would be interested in doing a split record. So I was like, “Yeah sure whatever.” And it was kind of always in the back of my mind. Then I ran into him again and he was like, “We should do it,” and then we were just kind of like, “Yeah let’s do it!” And I just thought it was going to be like, he takes the A side and I’ll take the B side kind of thing. But then we got together and started writing songs and it turned into a total collaboration as if it were a band you know? And it’s kind of like a band basically, between me and him. Like its total equal creativity which is awesome, seeing as I thought it was going to be totally separate you know? But it turns out that we work really well together
It’s really strange like… Like we could speak different languages. Like he could speak French and I could speak Ethiopian or something and it doesn’t matter. And it doesn’t matter because when it comes right down to the music part of it. It’s totally like the same language, and it’s like really strange. It’s rare.
M: So did you know him at all before you started working on that record or was that really your first experience with him?
T: I mean kind of but not really. I mean I had seen him play a couple times and met him in bars. But we weren’t like chums you know?
M: Okay so that collaboration was kind of your first experience together. So what was it like, meeting each other in a studio like that?
T: Well like I said, we didn’t really talk that much because there wasn’t really much to talk about besides, “We’re going to do this.” And that was all that needed to be said. Then we just got together and sat down and wrote a song. And it just kind of went back and forth. You know? Like the first song that we worked on was “Scissor People” that’s on that record. I was like, “Check this riff out.” And he was like, “Cool, check this riff out.” And then we just turned it into a song you know?
M: So was the record done all in the same time frame or was it done over several different periods when you had free time?
T: Yeah but it all went down in a matter of a couple of weeks. Not consecutively, you know but like 6 days here. Or how did it go? I don’t even remember. It happened so fast, I don’t even know. But it wasn’t a long drawn out thing, it was pretty quick. And that’s another thing; we both record and create shit similar. Like write the song. Get it on tape. Done.
M: Yeah because both of you guys write and put out a lot of records in a short amount of time.
T: Yeah and like with that theory of making music, that’s how we both click that way. It’s real easy and fast.
M: So the quick song-writing, is that just something that happens naturally or do you feel this pressure to do that?
T: Well I’ve been on both sides of the coin with that. I was in a band Darker my Love, where we took a lot of time writing a song and a lot of like pre-production and a lot of basically just like dissecting everything. And there’s something to be said for that, but I think I’m the best when I can just get it down immediately. Like for example the other night, I was like going to bed and I thought of an idea. Some would just say like “I’ll remember that tomorrow.” But instead I jumped out of bed and went home and put it down on a little recorder real quick. I have a horrible memory, so I’m just afraid of losing any kind of thing or inspirational moment. You got to get it down as soon as possible or else I’ll just forget. And if you let it go too long, you lose the initial pizzazz that it had. The longer you wait; I feel like the more watered down an idea gets. I don’t know that’s just me though.
M: Yeah I mean it definitely seems to work for you. I love the albums. So how does the writing process work for you?
T: I wake up, walk down the street get coffee, go back to my apartment, smoke a cigarette, and play guitar. And if a song happens, then it happens. And if it doesn’t happen, then I’ll just go back into some old recordings and tweak it more.
M: So how does the recording process work, after you have a song fleshed out?
T: A lot of it, I would say 70% of it, is written on the cuff. Just have a little idea, like maybe a verse or maybe a verse and a chorus, and then just like put it down on tape. And just keep building throughout the day and night or for however long it takes. Yeah that’s the process. It’s different for every song really, but most of the times I try to get it all down before the moment is gone.
M: So do you ever enlist other musicians on the records?
T: No it’s just me. Like if I can’t get a certain drum part right, I will try every means to make that happen. Whether it’s banging two carrots together or something you know? I just try stuff. It’s good, experimenting with what you have or my ability. And I also chop up old drum beats too, which is a secret, but not anymore (laughs). And then tweak them to sound different so I don’t get sued.
M: (laughs) I gotcha. So do you think that has played a lot into your music; the fact that you might not have everything available to you and that it’s just you, as opposed to having everything at your disposal and being able to do whatever you want?
T: I think that part of being creative and inspired is figuring stuff out on your own. So if fit was all there for me, it would take the fun out of it. And plus, when you’re figuring stuff out on your own, you come across happy accidents that you couldn’t calculate. It’s just the moment you know?
M: Yeah. So the final mix on the record, what goes into that? Is it a lot of those spur of the moment recordings where you have an idea and you go down and record it or do you come back and revisit those and re-record them later?
T: I do both. Most of the time, it’s the spur of the moment trying to get the idea down and then add things to it later until it sounds right. But there’s other times where I’m like, “Ah man I wish I had added another chorus or another verse or something.” And then I’ll go back into it. I’ll sometimes re-record but most of the time it’s just spur of the moment. “What you hear is what you get” kind of thing. That was the thought of the day.
M: Okay. You’ve been doing White Fence for a good number of years now. So has the process changed at all during that time?
T: No, I think I’ve just gotten better on the 4 track (laughs).
M: Okay so you’re a big believer in recording that way, just straight to tape.
T: Yeah, yeah. I just think that if I wrote a bunch of songs like normal people and waited a month to go into the studio to record it, I think I would be deluding myself. I think it’d be deluded. Like oh shit there’s a flute right here, I’ll grab it and play it. Or like there’s a shaker here. No one has enough money to get really experimental and weird in the studio, you know?
M: Yeah I really like that idea of getting as close to that point of original inspiration as possible. I think that’s really cool. I think it makes the music more honest.
T: I think so too. Yeah because that’s the emotion and the feel that you have at that second and hopefully it comes across that way on the record. Instead of waiting and like watching the fucking Wire for a week, and then recording.
M: Yeah and I’ve seen it happen to a lot of bands. You hear demos and you see them live and it sounds great. Then it comes out on a studio album a year later and it’s just been so watered down.
T: Yeah see that’s the thing. A lot of people who like good sounding records will think White Fence just sounds like a bunch of demos. And that’s fine because that’s what it is and that’s when the song was hot in the mind. So fidelity wise, if they don’t like it, they can just fuck off, you know? I don’t care. But at least it’s the honest way it should have been, I think. So I don’t really care, I just know that at the end of the day, that’s what that song was supposed to sound like. Whether it sounds like trash or whatever (laughs).
Like you said, you listen to the demos and you’re like, “This is cool.” But by the time you get to the studio record, it’s watered down. That happens all the time. A lot of the times you notice, you get like old records with like bonus tracks which are demos and those sound awesome you know? Sometimes those versions are better.
M: Yeah definitely. So ideally, how would you like someone to hear White Fence for the first time? Would you rather it be at a show or in their room listening to the record?
T: I don’t know, in my mind I’m still like that 22 year old dude who smokes grass all day and listens to albums. So that’s how I would rather it be. I would rather have someone like smoke some weed or something (laughs) or whatever. But just like listen to the album at home whether they are drawing or like they’re knitting or whatever. You know? I’d rather that. Live is another thing. Live is a whole other beast. Like live is like more of a rock and roll thing. Sorry maybe we should pause this.
*train goes by
T: You ever jumped a train?
M: No I haven’t, have you?
T: It seems doable though.
M: Yeah especially this one.
T: Well I think that like the live show is more designed for like a rock and roll show. If I’m at home, I think the vibe is set a different way and those are the records. Live I feel like, if someone is drinking a couple of beers or they’re stoned or they are just there to have a good time, if you amp up the energy a little… To me, that’s what I would want to see I guess. It’s hard to say. But then again and I’ve said it before, but once you get on stage, you kind of get this jolt of like electricity, and you kind of want to rock. Rock is a weird word. I don’t know. The energy is different.
M: Right because the crowd is all into it and you feed off that.
T: Yeah, yeah. It’s just a different energy. At home it’s a more vibe-y thing than live. There’s electricity when you go out; people are talking, people are hanging out. You know? There’s loud music.
M: Yeah. Now is the live setting you think about at all when you are recording or is that something you just worry about when it’s down on the record?
T: Never, never. I used to work like that, and I don’t know if it worked or not. A long time ago, I used to do that like in punk band stuff. Like, “Oh this would be good live.” But I don’t do that anymore.
M: So you just sit down once the record is done with the band and try to translate those songs into the live setting rather than worry about it beforehand?
T: Yeah, once I’ve made the record and we’ve got to play a show. We just kind of go through what songs we think would be cool live or what songs are doable live. Because there’s like a lot of weird stuff going on in the recordings and it’s kind of hard to manipulate you know? So I mean we’re not like Radiohead and we don’t know how to do that shit (laughs). But I think there is a cool beauty to be a little stripped down and add like a rock and roll element to like the live show. It’s kind of like the best of both worlds really. That’s why the live record was cool, because it was a rerecording of those songs that were on the album and they just sound really different to me. I mean you could do that thing where you try to recreate the record, but I feel like that would be really boring and like pretentious or a little too artsy or something. I don’t know.
M: Yeah and I like the fact that the record and the live show are two different entities. Well this is a question that I like to ask all of the bands. So if you could describe the White Fence sound as a room, what would be in the room and what would it look like?
T: Okay hmm. Well I would say one of those Midwestern downstairs basement rooms, carpet, shitty orange couch, amps, a table for drawing, an easel for painting, a cat, and a coffeemaker. (pause) And a jacuzzi, an indoor jacuzzi in the room.
M: (laughs) I could listen to a White Fence album in that room.
T: (laughs) Definitely.
M: Well it’s always interesting to see where people take it. But thanks again for taking the time to talk with me and good luck with the show tonight!
T: Yeah dude. Thank you man. It’s been rad.
WKNC interviewed Gerald Clayton, leader of the Gerald Clayton trio, before his performance at the MotorCo Music Hall in Durham, NC. The trio, which circulates various members of Clayton’s musical “family, featured Joe Sanders on bass and Justin Brown on the drum kit. Listen to the full interview to hear Gerald discuss his related and non-related musical family, his thoughts on musical composition and performance, and his upcoming projects and tour.
Full Interview here
Need some motivation to study for exams and get those final papers done? Just put this playlist of WKNC’s The Lounge videos on repeat.
While you are at it, let us know which ones are your favorites. We will be submitting contest entries soon and want to pick the best one.
I had the chance to sit down with Keegan DeWitt and Jeremy Bullock of Wild Cub before their performance at Cat’s Cradle on March 30, 2014. They released their first album, Youth, in the beginning of 2014 and are currently touring the U.S. alongside Vampire Weekend and American Authors. Below are some highlights of our interview.
So you guys are familiar with Raleigh?
Jeremy: I grew up here. Cat’s Cradle was the kind of venue growing up that I would look at the concert calendar and that’s how I would discover bands.
How did you both come together in Nashville?
Keegan: Jeremy moved there initially with Pico and my sister was in a band called Roman Candle, which was originally from Chapel Hill. I was in New York for the last eight years and decided I wanted something different. So I came to Nashville and that’s how I met Jeremy. At the time I was doing singer/songwriter stuff and I was kind of stealing him away from Pico whenever I could. Eventually Pico transitioned into something else and I knew I was in a similar place. We had the idea to begin this project so we started recording “Thunder Clatter,” took over Jeremy’s house, and started recording the record. Then the record suddenly was done and we were like, ‘okay I guess we should do this!’
Was “Thunder Clatter” the first song on your Bandcamp?
Keegan: In some ways, the record is a year and half old because we recorded it before we were even a band. In January we re-released it to the world.
You guys are signed to Mom + Pop Records alongside some other WKNC favorite artists such as Polica, Andrew Bird, Cloud Nothings, Sleigh Bells. So what made you decide to go with Mom + Pop?
Keegan: That’s one of the reasons we chose Mom + Pop. As you grow you have these couple moments where you have to make strategic choices about how you want people to receive your music. It’s a really precious thing how they encounter the music and how they contextualize it for themselves. We just felt like we’re making pop music that’s hopefully going to reach a lot of people and will speak to a large amount of people. Mom + Pop represents a record label that is so curated and so tastefully put together and has so many artists who kind of skate that same line where we are, which is yeah, we’re making pop music but there’s depth to it. We really labored to make it thoughtful and feel like something special. To say that we signed to Mom + Pop was a big point of pride for us.
Jeremy: You can just look at their roster and it just looks handpicked and it feels like it represents one big family. So that’s kind of how Wild Cub operates.
Where have you guys found inspiration for your sound and how did it develop?
Keegan: We use a lot of organic sounds like with “Shapeless,” we used a little Casio home keyboard. A lot of it was trying to make the record as organic as possible because a lot of what’s happening in music right now is that it’s so sleekly produced- especially electronic music. It’s just so airtight. What was important for us was to make electronic music that still felt really authentic almost like you found someone’s diary with a bunch of photographs stuffed into it. So, although some of the songs are electronic in some formation, it still feels like there’s a breath to it. Jeremy brought in a fourtrack, which had to be the same fourtrack I used when I was like sixteen learning how to write songs. Our producer, Dabney, had the idea to take all the drum parts and all the synth parts we had recorded in the computer and run them onto the tape. It gave it a kind of grittiness to it and made it feel authentic.
Jeremy: We say that we turned my bedroom into a studio, but I don’t know that you’d actually call it a studio. A lot of it, like the Casio keyboard, was stuff that was just lying around. We were just limited to what was around us and the sounds on the record kind of reflect that.
Keegan: It’s sort of funny, we’ll get into a rental car in L.A. and hear Thunder Clatter on the radio we’ll think, “that’s kind of hilarious; we recorded that in a bedroom.” I hope that somewhere that’s why people connect to the song and the record in general. It’s a record that is now reaching a lot of people but it was created in this teeny-tiny way and a lot of us just saying, “I think that’s how you mix a record?”
In terms of influences, a lot of the non-sonic stuff was filmmaking and poetry. I was really digging into this poet, Philip Larkin, who was hinting at the same stuff thematically that I am trying to talk with on the record like growing up, aging, and what it means to get a little bit older. Also, to kind of look back on the developmental years of your life.
My big moment for the record happened two or three years before we formed the band when I came here to UNC and looking at the incredible collection of Walker Percy diaries. He kind of coined this phrase called ‘the sad little happiness.’ That phrase for me was such an exciting idea. The idea of this intimacy that you share with somebody that’s not like the big kiss or the first moment of meeting them. It’s like sitting in a car and listening to a song you both enjoy. You’re both connecting but not talking at all. There’s this intangible, smaller thing. Walker Percy was a big jumping off point for me as far as lyrics.
So, it was kind of those little fleeting moments that really inspired you?
Keegan: Yeah I feel like those are the ones that last. You don’t remember the moment your dad died but you remember how silly it was driving home that night when “Life Is a Highway” comes on and you think ‘this is ridiculous.’ It’s those cool, interesting contrasts that you have in your life. Yeah there’s the big spark moments that seem all impressive but it’s these small, like you said, fleeting things that you appreciate the most.
Random question: what are you guys currently digging right now in music?
Keegan: My favorite record right now is Warpaint’s but I say that too much. The guys in the van really have to suffer through me listening to a lot of Warpaint.
Jeremy: We saw them at SXSW and I think on their last record they were the band that we caught maybe more than we should. Maybe four or five times?
Keegan: Yeah we got addicted. We saw them once and were like ‘let’s just go catch them again!’
How did it go at SXSW?
Keegan: It was great! It feels a little bit like boot camp. It’s the thing where you play ten shows in seven days and I try to keep my voice and still try to talk to people.
Jeremy: I think this was our eighth year? We’re used to it by now. It’s nice you get excited about it but you’re preparing for it mentally. You’re like, ‘alright well, it’s gonna be a lot of vodka Red Bulls!’
Keegan: A lot of tacos at 2am. I remember two or three weeks beforehand we were sitting in Albany in a blizzard in a polar vortex and that was our carrot at the end of the stick. We just thought, ‘okay, two weeks from now we’ll be in Austin eating tacos!’
You guys played on Jimmy Fallon! How did that go?
Jeremy: Oh it was terrifying. It’s the kind of thing where you have a really early load-in and you sound check one song at 11am. Then you sit around until you play at 4:30pm. So you’re like, ‘alright I’ll just pace around our green room and think about the one song that we’re about to play on national television.’
Keegan: We had a great thing where one of our amps didn’t turn on for the first time we did the song so it was especially terrifying. After we played the entire first song we thought, “oh, we’re doomed!” Then, Jimmy came over and was like, “that was awesome. You’ll just do it again. It’ll be fine.” Then we relaxed and did it again but I felt like I aged that day. We’re hoping when we do Conan next week, we’ll just walk in super relaxed. We’ll just high-five the camera man.
For centuries, man has partaken in the art of gaming. The Romans dueled each other in brawling games of Tic-Tac-Toe, overthrew queens in Chess, and became dizzy over the red and black squares of Checkers. Most importantly, they marveled at the vicious fighting spectacles in the blood splattered walls of the Coliseum.
As WKNC staff members, we envied the ancient Romans and their entertainment. But now, WKNC staff, guests, friends, we can all rejoice in jubilation for the arcade machine has been rightfully restored to it’s fully functional capacity. The glorious sounds of Tetris blocks falling into place, Ash capturing Pikachu in his Pokeball, and Karts slipping from the dreadful slime of banana carcasses on the treacherous courses of MarioKart will fill the halls of North Carolina State University’s raucous music laboratory.
