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Punch Drunk Press
I have had the pleasure of having an interview/discussion with Adam over the last few days. Adam is an artist who is deeply committed to his craft both literary and musically. His vision is distinct and his message is real. He was very honest in our talk and his frankness was refreshing and revealing. Here was our talk:
Q. Because of the specificity geographically to many of your song stories I am curious to know what and/or who are your main influences both musically and literary?
A. Well, I mostly write about California. That's what the book's about, and the next one will be too. So I guess it makes sense that I like a lot of California stuff. Steinbeck's Salinas River Valley stories are big ones for me. Joanna Newsom too. I like very detailed, dense, crowded things like that. Things that feel alive and imperfect and human. When I lived there I listened to nothing but the band X. Nothing but drinking 40s and getting in trouble and listening X's "We're Desperate" over and fucking over again. That shit was my mantra. I wanted to fucking kill. I was a monster.
Q. That must have taken you to some dark places. It is from the dark we see more clearly the beauty in things I think, I'm glad to see you mention Joanna. She is incredibly detailed and dense in her work. I guess many of your stories are autobiographical?
A. Yeah, there were some dark times. I tend to tone the stories down a lot. I don't want them to be too brutal, or as brutal as real life is. But yeah, it's autobiographical.
Q. In writing your talking songs, do you start with the tune or melody and then start to apply the lyric? What is your approach to the process?
A. Earlier it was a mess. I'd record drunk, do a lot of directless improv, bring friends in, just jerk around fast and loose with it. But I was never happy with the result. Recently the music's become a much more solitary thing. I like the idea of full-band recordings but for me it makes more sense with the lyrics--which really are a loner's story, y'know someone wandering out in the wasteland--to have it be solo recordings. Lately I've gone even deeper into minimalism. I like bare, stark recordings that feel like lonely places. So the music comes first because I want to set that mood.
The Wild Homesick's the record I feel best about. I wanted it to feel like a hot, troubled summer in Texas, electricity in the skies, bats in the dusk, motels and trailerparks. So I recorded some very bare, warm, busted-up acoustic tracks and then wrote the lyrics to suit. It's not my most crowd-pleasing record, but I don't really care.
Q. Having been to Texas, I really get that. I love it. I also really like your idea of the solitude. The loner. I understand you are now living in a fairly isolated setting. Expanding on this idea of the writing is there an underlying or overarching message to your writing whether literary or musical?
A. Sure. I want to tell people, Don't live your life in a way that you'll end up disappointed with it. Because there's nothing worse than being disappointed with how your life turned out. That goes back to living in a way you're satisfied with, and with not turning your back on what you believe your purpose to be. Life's a nasty, hard, mean motherfucker sometimes and lots of assholes will tell you to live different than you should, but you can't ignore your inner-drive. There's nothing worse than someone who sees the direction they should go in and then goes the opposite way. You've got to trust your heart when it tells you your purpose.
Q. Cool. I say each challenge and experience whether it is good or bad gives you two options. You have the choice. Either be better or be bitter. What was your early life like growing up? Family? Siblings? How has your upbringing and family life impacted and influenced you?
A. I grew up close to the beach. We had money and then we were poor and in a trailerpark and then we had money again and then we were poor and back and forth. It was a good upbringing I guess. I'm an only child. No brothers and sisters. I don't know if any of that affected or influenced what I do directly. If anything not having siblings made me learn how to be okay being alone. I figured out how to entertain myself early. Didn't have much use for a lot of friends. Even now I keep close to some very good people but I don't care much for having a social group. Work is more important to me than parties, for sure. That's the big problem with being the kind of writer that writes books. You need this big gap of time every day to be alone. It's terrible to your friendships. After a while people just stop calling. But if you're going to follow what you believe is your purpose, there are some things you just have to accept, sacrifices you have to make...
Q. Absolutely. Commitment to your art or purpose involves self sacrifice. Do you have any plans for side projects such as the Faux-Hoax endeavour?
A. Yeah, definitely. I'm in this noise band called COASTS with some kids from Pennsylvania. We did an EP that was really just one long 20-minute track, that came out on the Hello America! split CD with some of my own stuff and some Ohioan tracks. It's kind of just quiet textures, lots of field recordings, everything really mellow, warm, no vocals besides some wordless harmonies. I'm kind of from the noise scene, so this is my chance to do that. We're working on a full-length right now for a tape release. Gonna be music to fall asleep to. Lots of space, lots of barely-there stuff. I'm really happy with COASTS. Nice not to do vocals sometimes. I get sick of myself.
Q. LOL! Don't get too sick of yourself. Sounds like fun stuff to work on. How was it working with an aged veteran like Dave Allen from such a legendary group the Gang Of Four?
A. Dave's a guy I know from Portland, where he lives now. I guess I met him through Danny Seim, who's in a good Portland band, Menomena. I really liked doing that track, Your Friends Will Carry You Home, but there wasn't much working together. We kind of just recorded our stuff separately and then it was put together. After that some other guys came and added stuff, Jim from Granddaddy and Modest Mouse and John from Tracker. We talked about touring it but Dave did the Gang of Four reunion thing right after that and then Menomena went on tour and I went on tour and it was done. Pretty fun to have something of mine on vinyl though. Somewhere there's a remix that's ten times better than the song Polyvinyl released.
Q. That's alright. Gang Of Four and X are from my day. Entertainment! is one of my all time fave albums. How about Youthmovies? It looks like you guys are tight. Any planned collaborations coming up?
A. Youthmovies are my best friends. Always the top notch of everything. This tour I'm leaving for next week is their farewell tour so there's no more of that. I'm pretty bummed out about it. We did an EP of songs together and a couple more that came out on their last EP on Blast First (Petite.) We're tight as it gets. Playing with them is a huge party every time.
Q. Thats gotta be fun, working with good pals like that. I see a handful of dates in Britain on your calendar. Are there more dates planned beyond this?
A. No, it's just a short one. I'll probably do some US dates when I get back but that's all in the UK for now. I have high hopes for Manchester. I've played there for the last four years and each show has been at the Nite and Day and each one has been progressively worse. This time we're playing the Deaf Institute, so fingers crossed. One of my friends who lives out there blames all the old satanic mills in the area. We had a laugh about it, but I just blame myself.
Q. Blame yourself in what way?
A. I get rattled easy. And when I get rattled I have a hard time getting through my set and when I have a hard time getting through my set I drink more and then I get mouthy and then I stop caring and then I do stupid things like challenging people in the crowd to fights. Every show at the Nite and Day, which is a fine venue, something's gone wrong that's shook me up and ruined my set. Last time my guitar pickup just died on me mid-song which made me really nervous, then I jumped off the stage and stood in the middle of the crowd to play without amplification and it was so loud on the floor I couldn't hear my guitar and I played a song and a half and left. It's always something stupid like that. Time before that, the stage lights were so hot I was sweating into my eyes so much I couldn't even see. The lights got so hot they started burning the skin on my face and I got into this big argument with the lighting guy and after that it was just a big downhill slide.
Q. Thats too bad man. Like I said earlier. Bitter or better. If you can, tell me what your five favourite all time albums are?
A. Let's go with Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run and Born in the USA, Los Angeles by X, and Donovan's Greatest Hits. Though maybe that Donovan one doesn't fly. I'm kind of only picking it because of the "Hurdy Gurdy Man," which is my favorite song. So instead of that, let's go with the first Locust CD, the self-titled 3" CD.
In addition to his mini tour of the U.K., Adam is currently working on his second novel, Friends Will Carry You Home.
Official Website: http://www.adamgnade.com
