I think you have acheived that, its a beautiful record from start to finish. How deliberate is your writing process.? Do you just sit down and wait for inspiration to flow or do you have certain ideas/subjects in mind you wish to express when writing? Similarly how do you decide which tracks Aynsley will sing or do you write with her voice in mind?
I wish I could say that there was some method to how and when I come up with songs, but there really isnt much of one. I do know that my writing always happens in bursts, like I will write 2 songs a day for 4 days and then nothing for a month and a half. Most all of Out Like A Lamb was written in about a months time, which for my bursts of creative energy is a long time for me. I have found that usually new enviornments spark my creativity so I have moved around a lot. I have also for the past 5 or so years worked at jobs which require little or no brain activity, so all of my mind energy is focused on songs. Right now I work at a copy shop in the Chicago Loop and there are long stretches where my mind is only focused on songs. Infact over this past week I have written a new song called "In The Halls Of Able's Fault" where I wrote like one or two lines in the span of an eight hour shift. I am totally critical of my lyrics most of the time, and completely second guess them. I guess its a good thing. As for subjects or ideas in writing, I usually am just thinking of things that I as a music fan would like to hear a song about. I really got super interested in Freemasonry and thought it would be cool to write a song about some of the secretive aspects of it. There is something so beautiful about secrets. That song was 1723 off of Out Like A Lamb, which Aynsley sings. I really wasnt thinking of specific songs for Aynsley to sing, I know we just wanted her to sing a few, I think we tried her on a few different ones before deciding on Tanah Lot, Saturday Mansions, 1723, and Out Like A Lamb. I totally love her voice, it's both knowing and wise and schoolgirl choirlike at the same time. Her voice is really unlike any I have heard. I think it could be because this is the first time she has really ever done anything like this before. One thing I do remember is that I had recorded a demo of the song Tanah Lot with me singing it, it was called Cattle Rangers at that time and Aynsley said " I have to sing this song", I remember saying okay, but I was kinda sad cause I wanted to sing it haha. Well I wrote the lyrics to Tanah Lot for her because Aynsley lived in Bali Indonesia and both her and I went there in the summer of 2001. It is so sad about the bombing, it kinda makes that song a little sadder when I hear it now cause Bali is such a magical place, it is full of the spirit of music, I mean when I stepped off the plane you could feel it. It was truly paradise, I would live there in a second even with all that is happening. Balinese music is so amazing, Aynsley and I saw a Balinese dance with the Gamelan orchestras, oh my it was so beautiful.
Generally speaking I'm not that a great a fan of female "indie rock" vocalists but Aynsley has got a really great voice. It kind of reminds me of Kendra Smith (opal/dream syndicate) especially on Tanah Lot. Have you hear any of her stuff?
I dont think so, I know the Dream Syndicate though, like Days Of Wine and Roses and The Medicine Show, I love those records. I keep hearing how great Kendra Smith's solo stuff is and if Aynsley sounds anything like her I must check her out. I know what you mean about female indie rock vocalists. Honestly I have the same problem with both male and female indie rock vocals. I dont know when or where it started, but a few years ago this trend of singing in a disassociated vocal style started creeping into indie rock records and now its pretty much all you hear. I cant tell you how much I hate that, I mean there are some amazing bands out right now, who write amazing songs and have amazing instrumentation but then when the vocals kick in you have this guy who sounds like he would rather be making sandwiches than doing this vocal track . God, its so frustrating haha. I just wanna hear some soul behind it, cause you know these bands care about their songs, I mean listen to some of the dense instrumentation a lot of them are doing. I just think they want you to believe that they could care less and just threw it together and that's the reason for that vocal style. I mean they arent fooling me, I am all for disassociation, but gimme some soul behind it. Go ahead and listen to Nico's Chelsea Girl, she sounds disassociated but there is tons of soul behind it. Leonard Cohen too, he was the master of that style. Maybe I should blame Pavement for all of this shit hahahah.
Yeah, I loved Pavement & Nirvana when they first came out but you hear their influence in so much mediocre & down right terrible stuff these days that you feel its hard not to feel like blaming the parents. Is there many contemporary acts that you feel a kinship with?
oh yeah, i mean i dont wanna sound like i am complaining about new music or say that "man its just not like the old days". it very well could be that times have passed me up, so i wont say that its totally the fault of newer bands. yeah there are a few bands that are around now that i feel a kinship with. well i totally love the soundtrack of our lives , they are totally amazing and sound like they might have a similar record collection as me. i really love the last damon and naomi with ghost record. when i heard that i was writing the songs for out like a lamb and i was floored by it, i think it influenced us a little and i love ghost, they are amazing too. Also there's an album by Missy Roback (produced by husband Steven Roback-Viva Saturn/Rain Parade) which is amazing. She's really nice & I'm hoping she will sing on the next Doleful Lions record. Its weird, i guess i really dont feel many kinships with other contemporary artists. i wish i did so i didnt feel so weird. i really dont buy many new records, its mostly older stuff that i feel a kinship with. oh yeah, i kinda feel a kinship with the Flaming Lips newer records "the soft bulletin" and the "yoshimi" one. but we arent even in the same universe as those mystics. but i do wish i had there recording budgets, it would be interesting to see what we came up with. we made out like a lamb for zero dollars aside from mastering. maybe one day if we keep at it we will get a little money to make a gigantic record. that would be fun, but if not we will continue making our little records for the few people that enjoy them.
Well, I think you did an amazing job production wise with Out Like A Lamb. I can't really imagine it sounding much better done in a expensive studio. Does Dave play an important part in the overall production/recording?
oh yeah totally, actually dave is the production/recording guy on out like a lamb, i cant remember if we properly credited dave on the record, i think it says "recorded by" but dave really did produce the record outright. here is a story, the first song we recorded for the album was surfside motel, we just recorded 2 acoustic guitar tracks and aynsley and my vocals. dave took it home and a week later he came back with what you hear on the record. aynlsey and i were totally floored, and we got so excited about the possibilities for these songs. i really think of dave as the garth hudson of the group, but without the cool beard. he can play just about any instrument and probably played most of what you hear on the backing tracks, i know i for one feel extremely fortunate to have met dave, he is the calculated, thinking guy of the group where i am the impulsive stoner of the group, aynsley is somewhere in the middle hah. during the time we were recording out like a lamb, dave gave me a cd of his solo stuff, its called intoner and its really great, i know its avalible through Parasol I suggest that people pick it up cause its really beautiful stuff. the band is kinda in a weird place right now, i live here in chicago and dave and aynsley are back in north carolina, so we arent really bouncing ideas off of each other all the time and stuff. i know when the time comes to start recording again we will find a way to do it. the musical relationship i have with dave and also with aynsley is much too important to me to let go on account of physical distance.
How do you see the band's sound developing on future releases?
I really cant say where we will go, one of the things i like about this band is that every release has been different to the previous one. it keeps it fun and exciting for sure. we probably have a death metal record in us somewhere down the line haha. well, the songs i have been writing for our next album are more folky, kinda like dear lazurus and when we were wolves from out like a lamb. i have been listening to a lot of dylan and the band , it is sort of creeping into what i am doing a little. i had a tape of about 15 or so songs i had written for the next album and i lost it. so i have had to go back and start from scratch, i could only remember one of the song from that tape. maybe those songs werent meant to be. the new albums title is "shaded lodge and mausoleum" but it could change especially if either dave or aynsley doesnt like it haha. some of the song titles are "tommy tells of ghost ships", "slip inside this gateway", "the ghost that haunts your world will disappear", and "watch the skies/a boys life". all the songs seem to be about death, but what songs arent right? i dont know where we will go past this record, but i hope to continue playing with aynsley and dave as the doleful lions for a long time. as long as the songs keep coming, thats the thing you never know when you have written your last song, so maybe this record will be our last i dont know. it doesnt seem like it though, i am always writing or thinking about writing, it takes up so much of my brain space. i dont think about anything else really except stuff like eating and falling in love, you know the basics. if i do find myself not being able to write again, i have enough stuff in the vault for a couple of more records anyway haha.