An Interview with Jason Molina of Songs: Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co.

Jason Molina on riding with the ghost.

The prolific singer-songwriter, Secretly Canadian stalwart, and brains behind Songs: Ohia, Magnolia Electric Company and his own solo projects, talks about touring in the old world and his plans for the future.

.MP3: Jason Molina - Get Out Get Out Get Out

.ISM: What were the last 3 human words?

JM: Well I mean the whole song is more of a question than a… yeah it’s more of a question. It’s something even I wonder about.

.ISM: It seems to someone looking at your back catalogue that you just appeared on Secretly Canadian one year as a fully formed talented act, what came before that?

JM: Well I’d been playing music since I was a kid. You know I taught myself how to play guitar basically and just from listening to the radio I would just play along to the radio. I would throw on a record and try to come up with some version of that song. At the same time I started writing music pretty early so by the time I was about ten I could basically play to a decent enough level that I was constantly writing songs so by the time I was twelve or thirteen I was in a fully functioning band and we wrote entirely original material. So from that point on I played and toured a lot and wrote a lot of music so I had been doing it for quite a while by the time the Secretly Canadian started as a label. I ended up being one of the very first releases, but I changed, I mean the style was really evolving even from the very first record. I was trying to put a finger on how to be able to do these songs with or without a band. So you know sometimes the guitarist couldn’t make it to the show and I always felt like that’s no reason to cancel the whole show, maybe there’s a way that I could be a solo artist.

.ISM: You are definitely are someone with a constantly evolving sound, where do you feel like that is heading?

JM: I have no idea, I never have an idea about that. I once in a while have a solid idea of how I want a record to sound. Before there’s any songs basically I say this is the kind of record that I want to make and these are the kinds of songs and themes and types of lyrics that I want to work on for a few months and, you know, sometimes it’s a success, sometimes it turns out to be something totally different, but it’s always the goal to make a record that sounds different than the last.

.ISM: What were you objectives when you sat down to start making ‘Let Me Go, Let Me Go, Let Me Go’?

JM: More or less I just gave myself the challenge to compose an entire record in a studio. And I gave myself I think I had like 2 and half days basically to do it, maybe almost three days, and I wasn’t entirely sure where I wanted to go lyrically with that record, I just knew that if I got in there and worked really, really hard that all the songs would somehow be linked lyrically. And then it only took about one or two songs and I realised I had a lot of ideas for the types of songs I wanted. And because I was very happy with Ghost Tropic which basically written entirely in the studio, and also Pyramid Electric Company was also basically all written in the studio. This literally just means you’re in the studio and you sleep in the studio and you wake up in the morning and you record songs. And doing that in a proper studio is fantastic, it’s a rare, rare, rare occurrence, I have only done that a few times.

.ISM: So you go into these intense two day sessions without any lyrics or arrangements?

JM: Well basically as I said there’s at least a framework for the song , in the more recent recording sessions it’s been recording songs that we have actually had a while to work on, on tour.

.ISM: What led you to ditching the Songs: Ohia moniker?

JM: It wasn’t a… well basically it was because it had come up on the ten year anniversary of putting out record under that name. And you know I thought I was writing a different type of song, and I really didn’t revisit most of those old songs for years and years. And I really felt like that ten years was a separate entity, totally, and it was really that simple. It wasn’t a calculated effort to write songs in a different way. It’s just that after about ten years of doing it and touring a lot I realised I’d started to be less self-conscious about how the songs might be interpreted and didn’t see that happening in the early days. I would write the song and if I felt like it was a good song so be it, but if there was something that didn’t set right with me just because I felt that it would be misinterpreted or the people would have a hard time dealing with what the lyrics were all about or the types of recordings I did, you know, I would change it so that it felt more comfortable all around. But these days I don’t really write with an audience in mind.

.ISM: When you talk about interpretation, does that include the press? Is there anything we do to piss you off?

JM: I really don’t read the press and reviews. It’s a waste of time. Sometimes someone has a great article or a great review. So I understand that press has it’s place, I guess. And there are a lot of people who get their music based on what they read about a band or a review of a record turns someone on to a record that they might never have ever heard. I never buy my music based on that, and, like I never go to see a movie that I read a review of unless it is something pretty obscure really interesting that I would never have heard of.

.ISM: Must be quite tempting to read the reviews though.

JM: Well, it’s fine to just glance at them, it’s, you know, if it’s something that they get it totally wrong, they already have their opinion and it’s already in ink, I’m not going to track every interviewer down and say I think you totally misconstrued what I was saying. Like I said, it’s more interesting to me to just concentrate on writing music.

.ISM: So what attracts you to coming to Europe and playing places like the Luminaire?

JM: Nothing special. This is in particular a fantastic venue, it sounds great, there’s a very devoted music audience here who really appreciate the bands, I have friends who’ve played here and have had similar experiences, so once in a while you have a really fantastic venue. But to me any show in Europe, or wherever, it’s just another show. I definitely don’t do this for fun, it’s not a vacation for me. I don’t really get to see the world, it looks like I do, but I see the fucking highway and I see the crummy backstage of a club and then start over the next day and do the same thing.

.ISM: Do you enjoy your time on stage?

JM: Yeah, I mean that’s the main, the main draw for me, is that in that hour or so that I’m on stage I really am able to reconfigure songs and lyrics and change it around. So to me I don’t consider myself really a performer, I’m just a songwriter. And yes I’m on stage and yes there’s an audience there and I appreciate that they pay their hard earned money to come see live music and buy the record and support the band. But yeah that hour on stage is really, it means everything to me.

.ISM: How does the experience differ when you are with a larger band like with Magnolia?

JM: It’s well, I mean, you actually have a musician or group of musicians to interact with rather than just you and the audience. Cause’ some nights it’s just interesting to talk to the audience and make jokes and other nights it’s more interesting to just bury yourself in the set and not really have a verbal dialogue with the audience, but you know with the band the concentration is on the dynamics, and given the limited structure of the songs and the basic framework of it, how can we reconfigure it in real time. Both experiences are great but I don’t prefer one to another.

.ISM: So what kind of music is coming out these days that gets you excited?

JM: Well I mostly listen to old country music and old blues these days. I’d say that I really don’t keep up with current music. You know every night I get to play with a support band and sometimes I see three bands in that one night that I was really excited about and I’ll buy their records or they’ll give me a copy of it. So basically I’d just say the stuff that’s exciting are the bands that are playing live a lot, touring around and really working hard at delivering their songs in a way that’s not just getting it from a record shop, getting it from a computer. I like the human element.

.ISM: So do you find is more attractive about music that was made in days gone by?

JM: Well just because there’s a limitless amount of it, and I’ll be long dead and gone before I would ever make it through probably half of the early country that got recorded. I don’t think that there is a higher value to older music versus now, I don’t have that opinion that bands aren’t creative or original or really strong important artists now. Yeah there’s no Otis Reading right now but in 30 years someone will be recognized as doing something at a level artistically and all round it’s integrity is intact. And also another appeal to the older stuff is that there wasn’t a hundred years of recording history where musicians learned how to play songs from a recording. These are people who the only way that they ever heard music was to go see it performed live. They weren’t listening to songs on the radio and getting ideas, they were getting ideas from seeing the stuff happen for real in front of their faces. Now a lot of people are writing songs and learning about music exclusively from having heard thousands of records and songs and having studied them.

.ISM: You do a lot of interviews, what kind of question do you wish that you were asked more often? What do you wish that people were interested in?

JM: Basically I mean I like to talk about the craft of writing music and the difficulty of writing music, how it is always a struggle and a learning experience when you wrestle with an idea to try to get it into a song. That’s interesting but it’s also nearly impossible to articulate what that is.

.ISM: Do you feel that you are getting better as an writer?

JM: No I just think that I’m getting, I don’t have to edit so highly anymore. I used to write 20 songs before I’d ever commit one to tape, because it felt like it was taking that long to come across a song that I was truly happy with. Now I write at the same pace but I’m not throwing away quite as much music.

.ISM: What have you learned from your years in the music industry?

JM: I wouldn’t call my experience having been in the industry. If anything I have done quite a lot intentionally to remain far away and hands off from the over-exposed commercialized self-promoted type of world that this really is, this music world. Like I say it’s way more interesting to just play the music. I’ve made quite a lot of decisions that other bands would probably think are just insane, like not taking the opportunity to do a feature interview or a cover story on a magazine. Sometimes the high-profile stuff is interesting, sometimes the people are very very good writers, good interviews and you never know. But I’d say that one of the thousands of thousands of things that I’ve learned after doing this for so long is that there’s no experience in the world for a musician that is better than travelling around all over with a guitar in your hand and going to a place you’ve never been before. Your friends aren’t there to support you and especially when you are starting out you don’t have records out. I was already touring before I ever had a record out and that’s inspiring still to me to see bands doing that.

.ISM: Have you ever considered forming Molina Records?

JM: That would be terrible. I am a terrible, put it this way, I don’t have a head for business, but I think I have a good ear for new talented stuff because I see it ever night, like I said I’m seeing sometimes three support acts, sometimes these people have never made a record. I would never see myself working on the other side of the record.

.ISM: Have you read any good books recently?

JM: We I just got Billy Joe Schaver book but I haven’t opened that yet but I know that’s going to be great.

.ISM: Any books that have influenced your music?

JM: Well, I mean I read all the time so of course. Any music that I hear ultimately is going to influence my writing, maybe it’s not conscious. And the same thing with reading and any kind of art that I’m exposed to. But with touring so much recently this year be I can’t say that I’ve read a lot cover to cover.

.ISM: What would your desert island book be?

JM: I think, an unabridged dictionary.

An Interview with James Elkington of The Zincs

The Zincs avoid the A.A.A. (Asinine Answer Area).

.MP3: The Zincs - Head East Kaspar

James Elkington of the Zincs tells us a little about his new album, and competing with Modest Mouse.

.ISM: Your new album is being released on a truly epic day for music that also sees releases from El-P, LCD Soundsystem, Willy Mason, Modest Mouse, Joss Stone and… groan… Good Charlotte. How do you plan on keeping up with the competition?

JE: Well, it seems like there’s always a good reason why you shouldn’t put out a record on a particular date. Summer’s bad because school’s out, winter’s bad because everyone’s clearing the shelves for Michael Bolton’s Christmas album and…I don’t know…its snowing and the trucks are moving slower, perhaps? We may struggle a bit for review space this time round, but I’m not sure that anyone’s going to have a problem deciding whether they’re going to buy our album or Modest Mouse’s. In fact, I’m expecting an almost unanimous decision on that question…

.ISM: What is an unprepared piano?

JE: As you probably know, a prepared piano may have paper clips or pieces of wood on the strings to change the pitch and tonality of the notes – when Nathaniel sat down to play his eight bars of piano, he wasn’t sure what he was going to play at all and we had to piece it together bit by bit. I suppose it wasn’t so much the piano that was unprepared but the player.

.ISM: In the days leading up to the recording of ‘Black Pompadour’ what were you thinking about? Reading? Listening to? Eating?

JE: I had been listening to a lot of guitar bands that pre-dated my more mature appreciation of music, just to re-visit some stuff that I had written off for a long time. It seems to be a common characteristic of people in the their 30’s to start reviewing their life as if it was someone else’s, and I was interested in hearing the music that dominated my early/mid-teens like The Smiths, The Go-Betweens and The Wedding Present. There’s a sort of un-self-conscious energy to those records that’s undeniable. At least it’s undeniable to me. I can’t really remember what I was reading but probably some John Hawkes books because that jump-started me back in to writing words. As for food – I’ve been on all carbs for a couple of years and its going just great.

.ISM: What is the most important element to creating a great record?

JE: I’m not sure I would be the best person to ask that question since I’ve been involved in less ‘great’ records and more ‘workable’ ones. I would imagine that great records are made by great bands with great songs but I might be wrong. Some of my favourite records are made by bad bands with questionable material so, like I said, I’m not the person to ask. Maybe having central air?

.ISM: What would you say to anyone reading this interview to persuade them to listen to ‘Black Pompadour’?

JE: Well, John McEntire recorded it nicely and the words are not too terrible – I’ve kept the swearing to an absolute minimum. People seem to think that it doesn’t sound particularly like anything else which is unusual for a four-piece pop band that plays three minute pop songs, but don’t get your hopes up…its not that different. A convincing argument if ever I heard one!

.ISM: Do you think that Britain would make a good 51st state?

JE: I think it always has been to an extent. I grew up immersed in a totally trans-atlantic culture and my favourite music and books were all American. The combination of my moving to the US and getting older has brought out the Englishness in me in a kind of creepy, ex-pat, PBS way. Now that our toadying to the US has been exposed in the most embarrassing way to the rest of Europe, I’m hoping that it’ll quickly subside.

.ISM: Do you have a mantra? If so, what is it and where did you find it? If not, could you maybe make one up?

JE: Me and my brother have been saying ‘Who Dares Gins’ for decades but I don’t really know what it means. My friend Ian says ‘Sometimes you have to run towards the train to get out of the tunnel’ and I seem to be doing that a lot.

.ISM: Do you believe that the quality of music is determined by how popular it becomes or is there some higher standard of quality that music can be held to? How do we rate music as art?

JE: That’s a question that I have thought about quite a bit – to the point that I don’t have an answer anymore. Although I grew up in the 80’s and that music is a part of my life as much as anything else, it boggles the mind to think that a band like Yes could put out an album like Relayer (which is a fucking huge piece of work to say that least) and play actual stadiums all over the world with it. AND fill them! Maybe they didn’t fill them, but I think people demanded more of their rock bands than they do today. This, I should point out, is not a fact but just a feeling I get. On the other hand, I’m not a massive fan of Radiohead but I’m impressed that they can push themselves into different areas and still appeal to so large a crowd. This probably tells us that it’s the rock bands who aren’t trying hard enough. So there we have it, I don’t know.

An Interview with Joey Burns

Calexico escape Irvine.

Calexico are becoming veterans of the alt-country world and are currently at the height of their powers after releasing a heartrending EP with Iron and Wine in 2005 and the majestic Garden Ruin last year. .ISM asks pivotal member Joey Burns a few questions he has probably answered hundreds of times.

.ISM: What is your ultimate objective in making music? What are you aiming for?

JB: I don't normally have such a specific thought when making music. I tend to work more intuitively, but if I was to muster up a direct response it would be to make a positive and engaging scope of songs and sounds that stand the test of time.

.ISM: How does the ever-changing band operate in terms of song composition? Did this process have to change when collaborating with Iron and Wine?

JB: Some of our very permanent band members would be offended by your "ever-changing" comment. Martin Wenk, Volker Zander are from Berlin and Munich, Germany respectively and have been playing with our band since 1998, Paul Niehaus, Nashville TN, we also met and played with in 1998 but he joined in the year 2000. Jelle Kuiper our front of house soundman who is practically a band member is from Utrecht Holland and is on every tour of ours. Last but not least, Jacob Valenzuela is born and raised in Tucson and has been with us since 2000 as well.
There is no formula to the song writing process. I usually get my bets work done sitting with a guitar and playing with John Convertino on drums. Then we normally fill out the parts one step at a time. On the last album, Garden Ruin, we changed that process to having everyone present at the time of constructing songs and arrangements. It was a lot of fun and I think you can hear a difference. In regards to working with Iron and Wine, Sam Beam brought in the songs already written and we all worked together on the arrangements.

.ISM: How do you deal with the pressure of constantly being expected to produce new and interesting music? Do you read reviews of your albums?

JB: Making music is propelling, traveling helps to meet a lot of other musicians and inspire collaborations. If I feel pressure then I usually try to allow things to happen as opposed to forcing them. We all enjoy what we do and feel lucky to be doing it. There is a definite musical community that spreads across the world and meeting other musicians, labels, journalists, artists helps keep the focus on the positive aspects when the long hours of travel can wear down spirits. As far as reviews, I do read some of them, especially the ones where I felt there was an interesting discussion exchanged.

.ISM: How do you feel that the South Western desert of America has shaped you as people and shaped your sound?

JB: This is a question that is asked many times, and everyone in the band, both the American and European band members, feel an inspiration from the Southwest especially the connection of Tucson and the cultural diversity. However, I feel there is more influence from the massive spaces that make up its landscape. I think it was our first visit to Japan when we went to the Zen Rock Garden of Kyoto. I was overwhelmed by the beauty and depth of experience sitting in front of this garden that was about space and minimalism and it is in the four corners or on the Pacific Coast that there is a similar feel one gets being surrounded by nothing but nature.

.ISM: Most Southern Californians reading this magazine don’t rate the music scene of Irvine, California very highly. What does Irvine mean to you after all these years?

JB: Wow, this is a question I've never been asked. Going to school at UC Irvine was a good incubation time for digesting musical ideas. I was involved in their classical music department and at the same time was playing with a garage band and an experimental jazz trio in Los Angeles. So there was a lot of driving back and forth listening to music in the car thinking about studies and seeing the reality of what it might take to play music after studies. At the university there was a good radio station where I spent a lot of time listening to albums and talking about music. I took as many opportunities as possible while living in Irvine to do creative projects or perform on campus. I recall writing a fugue for sitar that I bought and invited some of the members of the school symphony to accompany me. Unfortunately, the sitar is tuned in the key of F# which made it very difficult for the violin section.

.ISM: Sticking with the theme of geography, you are a band that seems very comfortable traveling the world. To me, your music always evokes that atmosphere of the highways between Southern California and Arizona. How do you feel that your sound translates to audiences worldwide?

JB: I suppose that our music generates some references to the Southwest, there are others as well, like Eastern European gypsy, jazz, Cuban son, indie rock, experimental and atmospheric, and maybe this diversity of sounds is what intriguing to audiences both at home and abroad. It's a tough question, one that I am never certain of the answer only can guess.

.ISM: If you were put in charge of a major record label today, what would be the first change you would make?

JB: Exclusivity and perpetuity.

.ISM: What question do you wish interviewers would ask?

JB: What is a good book you read?

Check out Calexico's archive of live shows for loads of great free downloads.