I haven’t gotten hold of the new album, ‘Jungle Bridges’ yet, but I have high hopes after such an exciting debut. Are you pleased with it and how do you feel it differs from your debut?
I'm extremely pleased with the final product. Much more so than I was with my debut album. I think it differs from the first album in the setting that the music conveys. With the first record it was more of a rainy feel without a lot of upbeat moments. I feel like it had a lot of watery qualities to it, but not water in the beach or surfing sense, but more like a really heavy storm or something. With "Jungle Bridges" I tried to go for a brighter...not just tribal, but forest or, yes "jungle", atmosphere.
How come ‘Crashers (Highs and Lows)’ from your self-titled debut album is now being released as a debut single, despite you now set to release a follow-up album in ‘Jungle Bridges’? Is ‘Crashers (Highs and Lows)’ just a UK release?
No, it's just that people became more aware of Crashers much later than it was released and I wanted to keep to a personal timeline of releasing my second album as soon as I could. However, the Crashers single itself is indeed a UK only release. It also has a version of one of the songs on the first album that I recorded specifically for the single.
Was ‘How Soon’ close to making it on ‘Jungle Bridges’? I must admit to being disappointed such an amazing track doesn’t feature.
Actually it wasn't even close to being considered for Jungle Bridges. The main reason being that it was the very first song I made, even before the first album, and it wouldn't have fit with the mood of the other songs on either album. Plus I contributed that song to the Live From Bloomington charity compilation that gets put out every year here in Bloomington and they prefer that the submitted songs not appear on any other releases. Thanks for the compliment though!
You have started off life as Spirit Spine quite prolifically with two albums and an EP in the space of 12 months. How long did you have the songs for your debut written for? Were many of them songs you had been sat on for a while?
The songs for the debut album were written specifically for it, except for the first track (Are You Ready?) and the song "New Age." Those songs were written at the same time as my first song "How Soon." All of the songs though were written over the course of four months, same as the new album.
So has this become the day job since leaving school?
Hahahahaha, no, not at all. I haven't left school and I'm not sure who told you that. I'm very much in school majoring in Telecommunications. But if it ever were a day job, that'd be pretty sweet. Actually, no. I'd rather it not ever feel like a job. I'm much happier making music because it's fun. If it ever started to feel like a day job, I'd probably stop making music in the best interests of both myself and anybody who listens because it would start to feel like a chore and not something I wanted to.
Has the extra time you have had to spend on the new album been a help or a hindrance to you? I would assume it has been a help but sometimes time can be the downfall of a musician if they end up overegging the pudding.
I haven't had much extra time to spend on the new album, at least not more time than I did for the first album. The songs were written during the same months, but I had a different mindset while doing it. I suppose it felt as if I had a little less time because I was trying to develop a different sound than the first album, whereas before I just went with whatever I was feeling. I definitely get what you're saying about having too much time to work on a record and that was something that I wanted to try and be careful of that with Jungle Bridges. Not only in the songwriting and music making process, but also with things like the track times. I tried my best to keep the song lengths as short as possible while still conveying everything I wanted to.
Whilst you should be proud that your debut album is my only ever full length purchase from itunes, it pained me to have to do it. Any plans for a physical release outside the US?
I apologize for forcing you to resort to using iTunes, but I think there actually are physical copies available internationally through Neon Aztec, but you might want to check on that. If somebody wanted to do a physical release I would totally be up for it. I just find that with the popularity of digital music, physical versions are better if they're unique or special like having it on a special edition vinyl or even cassette tapes (although I personally started listening to music towards the end of the cassette tape era). Lately I've been thinking that if physical versions were ever officially released it could be a double album since I think of the first and second albums as siblings.
Did you do the artwork for the albums yourself?
Yes. When I realized I couldn't figure out how to use Photoshop I found a much simpler replacement program that still lets me make what I want. And it was free.
I read an interview where you confessed to getting the moniker Spirit Spine it from a random band name generator, which I like because it reminds me of how my favourite band, Pixies, got their name by randomly opening a dictionary and choosing the first word they saw. I have since read that it is from a 1970s documentary about people with severed spinal cords who still feel they can walk. Are you bored of the truth already?
The truth? Honestly none of those things is the actual story behind the name "Spirit Spine." Back when I was originally starting out playing with Garageband and samples and things like that (in the same vein as Girl Talk or The Avalanches), I was looping little sections of songs trying to figure out what would sound cool. When I was experimenting with cutting things up I looped a part of an older song called "The Warrior" by Honey Ltd. where the words just mashed up together and it sounded a little bit like "spirit spine" or at least I thought so at the time.
So what are your plans for the year ahead? Are you likely to head over to the UK at any point (make sure you come to Manchester if you do)?
My plans for the year ahead are to play some shows hopefully and then begin work on my third album. I'm going to be spending a little more time on it since I've been thinking about it since November of last year and hopefully it's going to sound nearly opposite of my current two albums. I already have the album art made for it as well as the album title. I know what it's going to sound like, I just need to sit down and write down all of the songs. But if somebody wants me to play a show somewhere, I'd be more than happy to do so. And if I'm ever in England, you can be sure that I'll make an effort to come to Manchester. I'll also be contributing to the World Cup compilation being put together by Indiecater Records. It's got 32 songs on it and they're having bands each pick a country and write a song for them. I'll be writing a song for Cameroon.
Tell us a bit about where you’re from then. What should we know about Bloomington, Indiana? Is there much of a music scene there?
I'm originally from Greenwood, IN which is about an hour north of Bloomington, but I'm here for school. People should know that Bloomington is one of the coolest little towns that anybody could visit. There's a huge music scene here, but it's not definable in any way. There are always bands coming through or local bands playing in basements. If you can't find a show to go to on the weekends then you're just not looking hard enough. There's a really strong support here for local musicians and they usually get asked to open for some of the bigger touring bands that come through here. We have like 2 music festivals here every year too. One is called Cultureshock which is completely free and it's put on by the student-run radio station WIUX in mid-April. They've brought bands like Xiu Xiu and Beach House and Four Tet. Another one which is going on in March is the Pit Stop Music Marathon where it's a bunch bands on their way to SXSW who stop by to play shows.
Band of the decade?
Either Radiohead or Animal Collective. While Animal Collective released more albums than Radiohead, Radiohead's Kid A is one of my top ten albums of all time. None of AC's albums are in my top ten.
Album of the decade?
"Since I Left You" by The Avalanches. Honestly, if you haven't listened to it, make an effort to. And if for some reason you can't, just watch the music video for "Frontier Psychiatrist." That album is one of my top ten of all time.
Film of the decade?
I was going to say "O Brother Where Art Thou?" but I checked and it turns out it came out in 2000 and just barely missed the cutoff date so I'll say "Kill Bill Vol.1 and 2."
Book of the decade?
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. I know, I know, he fabricated a lot of the parts of the book, but I can look past that and just see it as a really good and interesting story. But think about how much attention it got for that very fact that he made up some of the stuff. Plus it got Oprah really mad which means it has to hold some kind of importance if she's willing to care about it. I thought she handled the whole situation really poorly though. She was way too harsh on Frey.
TV show of the decade?
Malcolm In The Middle. I used to watch that everyday when I came home from school. I still do whenever it's on.
Website of the decade?
Easily Wikipedia. I don't think there's any other site that provides as much information and at the same time opportunities for vandalism as Wikipedia. I think it's changed the way people think about knowledge because of the way it has collected all the information of entire cultures. If somebody wants to know anything, chances are they're going to go to Wikipedia to find out. I think it's really mind blowing just easy it is to know anything. Plus any errors in Wikipedia tend to get sorted out within a day or two.
Hero of the decade?
Steve Jobs: iTunes. iPod. Macbook.
Villain of the decade?
It's a tie between Pat Robertson and Glenn Beck. They're both terribly irresponsible with the amount of influence they have over their audiences. It might be more Glenn Beck though because sometimes I think he consciously knows how stupid the things he says are. However, I'm pretty sure Pat Robertson earnestly believes everything he says, which is sad.
Sport of the decade?
Soccer/Football. Not sure if there's any other sport that gets people so emotional and involved.
Country of the decade?
New Zealand not for any particular reason other than I want to go there.
City of the decade?
NYC. I don't know why, I just know it's true.
Lettuce of the decade?
It'd have to be between romaine and buttercrunch. Out of fairness I'd have to go with romaine since I've never had buttercrunch, but the name implies that it would super delicious. Plus romaine is used in caesar salads which I'm fond of.
So now for your 'Tips for 2010'. You got any other bands/musical artists you think everyone should listen out for next year?
Junk Culture is really awesome and I think he's going to make some pretty cool things. I think The Avalanches are due for another album to come out. There are always rumors about that happening, but I think 2010 is their year. I want Julianna Barwick to come out with a full length album that's longer than 25 minutes because I need more of her music. There's a local band in Bloomington called Tammar that I think are just about the coolest people ever. They opened for Beach House when they came here and it was great. I highly recommend people checking them out along with another local band called Pantree Owl. Some awesome random finds on Myspace have been Sascha Gray, Playground and Ectoplasm.
And finally - complete the following sentence: Spirit Spine is better than...
Spirit Spine is better than having no spine at all.
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