Interviews

Posts in Indie Pop

Sherri DuPree-Bemis & Stacy King, Eisley

Last Friday I caught Eisley at the Rock n' Roll Hotel here in Washington, DC. I'm a newcomer to their music, so after interviewing sisters and bandmembers Sherri DuPree-Bemis and Stacy DuPree-King, I wanted to check them out live. Leading up to the show, what struck me about their music was its strong melodic element. And live shows by a band whose lyrics I don't really know are a way to confirm this; the music just sounds good even though I may not be able to make out the lyrics. And that's what happened at the Eisley show that night.

What I heard Friday confirms what DuPree-Bemis and DuPree-King told me: that in the first stages of their songwriting process, melody comes naturally. It's so effortless, in fact, that DuPree-Bemis even writes songs in her sleep, literally, as you'll read. And according to DuPree-King, "The melody is a language in itself." Of course, it's not as if the four siblings and their cousin who make up the band are short on lyrical content: the band went through a professional divorce (from Warner Bros.) and a personal one as well (DuPree-Bemis divorced in 2007 before recently remarrying).

Indie Pop, Indie, Indie RockBen OpipariFebruary 21, 2011ambulance, eisley, sherri dupree bemis, smarter, stacy dupree king, the valley Comment

Chris Farren

Chris Farren, the vocalist and guitarist for Fake Problems, is a disciplined man when it comes to songwriting. When he's in one of his "writing cycles," he gets up early, eats, takes care of distractions, then sits down to write. In fact, he compares this process to an "office job."

And when he writes, he almost always begins with a single line in his head, not music. That's something that I haven't heard too often from the songwriters on this site, who usually begin a song with a guitar and music, letting the lyrics emerge from the chord progressions. And this discipline is reflected in how Farren's songs are created: he writes them in a linear fashion, in the same manner you hear them as a finished product.

Indie, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Punk, SideOneDummy RecordsBen OpipariJanuary 31, 2011chris farren, fake problems, real ghosts caught on tape, sideonedummyComment

Jesse Tabish, Other Lives

Stillwater, Oklahoma is not the hotbed of indie music in the way that Los Angeles and New York are. But let's face it, the reality of the music business is that many indie artists struggle financially. And living on the expensive coasts doesn't help matters.

So what does Jesse Tabish, the singer and songwriter for Other Lives, do with the rest of the band? They live in Stillwater, where Tabish pays $370 a month in rent. It's an easy decision, really: he can spend more time on the creative process and less time making money by teaching guitar lessons. And that creative process was revamped for the new album, which Other Lives finished last week. It's their second album on TBD Records, having released their first in 2009. Whereas Tabish used to begin writing a song with the traditional guitar or piano, for this new album he started with "a simple medium like a single piano note or some sort of drone." According to Tabish, "I was tired of sitting down with an acoustic guitar and saying, 'I'm going to write a song today,' and falling on the same chord, the same movements."

Indie Rock, Indie, Indie PopBen OpipariJanuary 26, 2011jesse tabish, josh onstott, kunek, other lives, stillwater, tbd recordsComment

John O'Regan (Diamond Rings)

Sure, when you first see the face of John O'Regan, aka Diamond Rings, you might notice all that colorful makeup across his face. And you might notice the shiny lips as well. And you might call him "glam" and not pay attention to much else.

But I think you'd be missing the point.

Because, you see, this is about a lot more than a guy wearing makeup. It's about theatre, and while Diamond Rings is, in his words, "fastidious" in his songwriting process, he also likes to engage his audience in the visual aspect of his craft. After all, he's been an illustrator for longer than he's been a songwriter. It's a creative outlet that, as you'll read, informs his songwriting process. For one, the way he approaches the subject of a painting resembles the way he approaches the topic of a song. But what's interesting is that he has no idea what a song is going to be about until he picks up a guitar and starts playing. He's not one to approach songwriting with a ready-made idea.

Electronic, Electro Indie, Indie, Indie Pop, Synth PopBen OpipariDecember 2, 2010diamond rings, durbervilles, john oregan, something else, special affectionsComment

Bethany Cosentino, Best Coast (2010)

Sure, Best Coast is bikini beach lo-fi pop, and Bethany Cosentino says that she doesn't think too much about her lyrics. But she is a huge fan of David Foster Wallace, arguably one of the most influential and creative writers of the past twenty years, and that gives her instant street cred in the literary world.

Best Coast is one of the hottest indie bands of the summer, and their album Crazy For You dropped at the end of July. You can read any one of the endless interviews with Cosentino on the internet, but this may be the only one without a mention of her cat. I chatted with Cosentino for a few minutes this week about California, creative non-fiction writing, David Foster Wallace, and how the weather affects her creative process.

Alternative, Indie, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Mexican Summer RecordsBen OpipariAugust 18, 2010best coast, besty coasty, bethany cosentino, bikini beach, bobb bruno, boyfriend, california, converse, crazy for you, mexican summer, snacksComment

Laura Burhenn, The Mynabirds

First year writing courses, those introductory classes that many students are required to take in their first semester of college, can sometimes be a challenge for teachers. I taught it as a TA when I was getting my PhD. To be sure, I always loved it because I got to expose first-year students to lots of great writing from a variety of genres. I wanted my students to be as enthusiastic as I was about writing and about great works of literature. But the reality is that not everyone shared this enthusiasm. However, every so often a student would show up on that first day of class whose obsession with literature matched mine, whose eyes also lit up at the mention of a Galway Kinnell poem.

Enter Laura Burhenn, leader of the Mynabirds, her new band. I was Laura’s first year writing teacher. Laura and I caught up on the eve of the tour to support the band’s acclaimed debut What We Lose in the Fire We Gain in the Flood on Saddle Creek Records. Given the amount of literary references she drops in this interview and the impressive awareness of her writing process, I’ll take credit for most of her success! Ok, that’s a bit of a stretch, but you won’t see many songwriters who claim Wallace Stevens and Elizabeth Bishop as influences. Laura’s writing process is very animated—literally—and she is a big believer in freewriting as a way to generate ideas (she thanks one of her college professors below—ahem—for teaching her about it). As you’ll see, she has a keen sense of what works for her.

Saddle Creek Records, Indie, Indie PopBen OpipariJune 18, 2010black cat, burhenn, catholic university, georgie james, interview, interviews with writers, laura burhenn, mynabirds, saddle creeek, tour, what we gain in the fire we lose in the flood, writing process Comments

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