Cedric Bixler-Zavala has more inspiration than ever for his new project, ZAVALAZ
Known for his eccentric on-stage behavior, vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala has spent the last two decades somersaulting across stages all over the world, swinging his microphone around like it was some sort a circus act before diving into crowds of fans willing to catch him.
In case you need a crash course: Bixler-Zavala first became known as part of influential post-hardcore band At the Drive-In and more recently with prog-rockers The Mars Volta. Quite simply put, he is post-rock royalty, though in Bixler-Zavala’s newest project, ZAVALAZ (which will tour through Sacramento and hit Ace of Spades on Saturday, June 22, 2013), you can expect a much mellower performer to take the stage. Maybe it’s the fact that he’ll have a guitar strapped on, which rarely happened even way back in his ATDI days, maybe it’s because he just had twin sons. Either way, Bixler-Zavala made it very apparent in his recent interview with Submerge that he is happy with where he’s at in life and with where this band’s new softer, more “sparse” material is heading.
“Whether it be married life or whether it be having twins, maybe a little bit of both, it just gave me more confidence,” he said of the new stripped down songs. “I started writing more acoustic material and my wife would just constantly say, ‘You need to do that, I love when you do that, it’s just you and your voice and a guitar.’ I hadn’t really picked up the guitar for 10, 15 years maybe, and I just kept getting these votes of confidence from my wife.”
Eventually Bixler-Zavala started adding drums, bass and more and more layers and with them, more permanent members into the band. The lineup currently consists of fellow Mars Volta bandmate Juan Alderete de la Peña on bass/vocals, Dan Elkan (of Nevada City’s indie band Them Hills) on guitar/vocals, Greg Rogove on drums/vocals with Bixler-Zavala on guitar/lead vocals. “Everyone sort of takes the hit together to start from scratch and make a band,” he said. “It’s been a really beautiful process. It’s a great and amazing growing pain.”
In the following interview, Bixler-Zavala discusses with Submerge putting together a new band with a new sound, how he asked the universe for twins and got them and how having those twins will affect his creative output for the rest of his life.
When it came time to take your solo work and form a band, was it easy to piece together the different individuals? Is this the group of guys you had in mind or did it just sort of fall into place this way?
Kind of half and half, you know? Some of the people that played on the record couldn’t really commit because some people had kids, some people had other bands. The core of the group ended up being Greg, Juan and then Dan, who I met when Hella opened up for this Mars Volta tour we did a long time ago.
Yeah I wanted to ask about Dan, because he is in a really great band from the greater Sacramento area called Them Hills. So you first met him back in the Hella days when Dan was playing with that group?
Yeah and I kept in touch sort of sporadically here and there. He was down to take the hit and be a member of the band. One of the main important things was that everyone that was playing on it was really chiming in artistically and had such amazing things to say songwriting-wise. I loved taking the criticism, and I loved taking the direction and it was just wonderful. It’s been this amazing experience to get to learn from these people, because in this band I play guitar predominantly.
Which is still kind of a new thing for you, right?
Yeah, I mean I always did it behind the scenes but never for more than a couple of songs, you know? I’m trying to understand what even tuning is [laughs]. My approach is so make-it-up-as-you-go-along, I think that’s what the guys like. I come in the other day and I’m just like, “I discovered a thing called a capo.”
Details are very sparse about ZAVALAZ and as of now the public hasn’t heard any songs. There’s this sort of shroud of mystery surrounding the band. What can you tell me about the new music? How would you describe the sound?
Well, there was this guy that always used to open up for Mars Volta shows who is a predominant fixture at Low End Theory, a popular electronic thing over here. He has this amazing taste in late ‘60s and ‘70s sort of AM and psychedelia stuff. Mellow, mellow stuff. I’ve always liked stuff like that. Like when I listen to Roky Erickson, I love his rock stuff, but I love more of the ballad stuff. Anytime I’ve played a show with any of the other bands I’ve played in, what I listen to afterwards is lots of super corny, fucking bittersweet ballads. I love that shit. So that’s just what I would start writing…
They are just love songs that I made for my wife. I’m at a point in my life where it’s probably the biggest revolution I could ever do. Especially because I’m just known for one thing. It’s acoustic-based stuff, some of it is rock, but it’s got a very soft touch. It’s just kind of me going back in time and taking cues from my parents’ music and remembering that I actually did love that stuff.
It sounds like this style of music has always been in you, but it’s just getting pulled out more now for one reason or another. That’s got to feel fresh, right?
Yeah, it does. It’s nice to sing songs that are really sparse, open and very direct in the message and to sort of exercise my personal taste in I guess what you’d call Americana. I’m sure a bunch of Americana snobs would be like, “This is not that” [laughs].
How have the songs that started as a solo project changed since bringing in the other guys? It sounds like you’re really open to their influence on the songs?
Yeah, I just started implementing a lot of what their input was. Just sort of getting it down to the core of the song and making an entire album that is really song-based. I’ve spent 10 years being known as the guy that’s part of a band that does 30-minute songs. After 10 years, that gets a little old.
Are the majority of the songs on the ZAVALAZ album on the shorter side?
Four minutes and under.
I’ve seen you perform live many times and one thing I always loved was your crazy stage antics. With this new project you’ll have a guitar strapped on. Can people expect a more mellow Cedric on stage?
I think there will be plenty of other frontmen that can do that and that have borrowed from me, because I borrowed from a lot of other frontmen. They can take it and run. I’ve done it for years. That’s not to say I’m not going to have moments when I put my guitar down and dance still. But right now I really want to embrace playing and get all my mistakes out.
Congratulations on your recent twin baby boys, by the way! Do you think having kids has changed your creative drive? How do you see it affecting your music from here on out?
I think I’ll have more to choose from song-wise. They were born premature. They came out C-section. The nurse in the intensive unit said one of the best things you can do, which is funny because I was naturally doing it already, is sing to your kids. I still sing to them to this day. I record everything because I just love to make stuff up on the spot. It’s made me really identify capturing the moment and writing it down. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t get really overcome with emotions just being around them. They just bring out this indescribable feeling inside me. They really respond to singing. One of them had to come home earlier than the other, and the other wasn’t doing really well in the hospital, so I went in the middle of the night and sang to him for a long time. The next day he came home. Then the next day, my Dad sent me an article from some medical magazine saying live music and singing to your kids is really good for their heart and their stress level. I was like, “Yeah, you don’t got to tell me.” Then Juan sent me the same article being like, “Keep singing to them!”
That’s an amazing story!
They just stare at me, you know? If they’re really fussy it calms them down a lot to sing. They are actually kind of Grateful Dead fans. Anytime I play “China Doll” or anything from American Beauty they get really calm. The most rambunctious they get is when I listen to any kind of Rolling Stones. That’s when they would kick the most before they were born. We just knew they’d love rock n’ roll. One of them just screamed the other day, this intense loud bald-eagle-type-scream, and I thought like, “Did I hurt him somehow?” I just looked at him, and he had this smile on his face, like, “Oh! I can do that?”
It sounds like you have a couple little lead singers on your hands?
They have their little attitude already. Anytime they cry or get fussy I just laugh and think about how wonderful it is. Our story goes really, really deep with wanting to have kids. Long story short, you put something in the universe, you ask for it and you get it back. I did that in a song and I played the song for my wife. She cried, and then the next day we conceived. We went on this really late honeymoon, and she was really sick and it was really hard for her. Then the next day we come back from the honeymoon, she goes to the doctor, I had to go to rehearsal. She calls me and is like, “The fucking song worked.” I realized that I had put in a phrase asking for twins in this metaphorical way and she was just like, “The fucking song worked!” I just laughed. I laughed because it’s what I asked for from the universe. Not one day goes by where I feel stressed by them because it’s such a beautiful, amazing thing.
Where do you see ZAVALAZ one year from now? What’s your overall vision for this project?
I just really want to be a fully functional band and get back in the saddle, to sort of show this other aspect. I’ve always had people ask me why this band broke up, or why that band broke up. It’s always been the simplest answer: that I would never want my tombstone to be just one color. So now I really have this whole new sort of gust of wind to show the other color that I think people have sparsely seen, but now it’s really going to be a full color. I see the band really going for it and sort of embracing how uncool pop music can be in a certain kind of acoustic and softer setting.
Don’t miss Cedric Bixler-Zavala’s new band, ZAVALAZ, when they hit Ace of Spades in downtown Sacramento on Saturday, June 22, 2013. Tickets are available for $15 at Aceofspadessac.com or at Dimple Records, The Beat and Armadillo Music. Doors open at 8 p.m. and all ages are welcome.
Pocket for Corduroy Reunites, Ponders Next Step
Long before Nevada City, Calif. attained national notoriety as a hotbed for the anti-folk scene of the mid-’00s—a breeding ground for the disciplined howls of the Russian River kids—the city’s musical landscape thrived not unlike that of the monolithic post-punk scene in Sacramento. In the late ’90s and into 2002, Pocket for Corduroy erupted like Vesuvius on an unsuspecting Pompeii, eschewing conventional rock ‘n’ roll chasms to forge an inventive urgency to their sonic explosion. In five years they played alongside some of underground rock’s biggest bands (or those who would go on to become some of its biggest bands)—Pinback, Guided By Voices and The Velvet Teen, among others. And then in 2002, it was over.
Pocket for Corduroy—Andrew Hodgson (vocals, guitar), Dan Elkan (vocals, guitar), Peter Newsom (drums), and Thad Stoenner (bass)—splintered into myriad other projects, including Black Bear, Daycare, Millionaireplanes, Holy Smokes, Hella, Casual Fog and Newsom eventually recorded and toured with Devendra Banhart. Elkan and Stoenner have been busy with the experimental pop-psych of Them Hills as well, but it wasn’t until an old friend, publicist and booking agent (the absolutely darling Jesse Locks) asked the band to play for her 30th birthday party that the band decided to dust off the PFC catalogue and reunite.
There’s no telling how long this reunion will last. As you’ll read in this exclusive Submerge interview with Elkan, the band does have one other show booked aside from the private affair of Locks’ party, at Harlow’s on Sept. 10 with By Sunlight, Bright Light Fever and Silian Rail. But one thing’s for sure: Sacramento is in for a reawakening of one of the brightest bulbs in its flickering history.
How did it feel to be back in the same room rehearsing with all of the original members of Pocket for Corduroy after seven years?
We all currently live in the same town again and are all still friends, but for whatever reason don’t get to see each other that often. I mean, we see each other at shows and barbecues and such. We’ve all played music with each other in some combination or another, but never the four of us, never playing these songs that are all between 8 and 12 years old now.
Being back in the same room with everyone, playing the old songs, felt very natural, actually. In the first practice there was a lot of smiling and laughing. Something about it feels very familiar, but at the same time there’s nothing about getting back inside of your brain of 10 years ago that is not bizarre. The way we wrote, the way Andrew and I formed the guitar structures; all of it feels pretty foreign. That being said, a couple songs into the first rehearsal and it sounded exactly like what you might expect: a Pocket for Corduroy practice.
Do you see the band possibly moving on with some more shows if the first two are very successful?
Great question. None of us know the answer. The original plan was to rehearse and play for Jesse’s birthday [on Sept. 12]. I think we figured that if we were going to put the work in for one show, we might as well do one more. I don’t think it’d feel right to any of us if we didn’t play a Sacramento show this time around. We received so much love from Sacramento at the time we were a band. It really did feel like home every time we played, sometimes even more so. We changed our plans and added another show for that reason. At this time we’ve got two shows booked and that’s it.
We hope the shows are successful in that we hope that some people (including ourselves, and hopefully some new faces) have a good time and enjoy the flashback. My hope is that anyone who wants to check it out will be able to. I’m not sure if any other measure of success with the shows would affect our decision to play more, one way or the other.
In what kind of musical climate do you find Pocket for Corduroy reuniting (if even briefly), and do you find a similarity to the contrast of how you fit in when you began and even now during this reunion?
I haven’t really given much thought to the musical climate in regards to Pocket for Corduroy in 2009. I haven’t considered the context, because I don’t feel like there is one. The fact of the matter is that we started this band about 12 years ago now and the last time we played was over seven years ago. This is a band, like any other, from a time and place. A lot of people have told me over the years that they thought we were ahead of our time and referenced that they felt that following our breakup, there were a lot of bands that were very successful with a similar but more commercial sound than we had at the time. I don’t agree, but I’ve never been a great judge of my music in that way. I never felt like we fit into any scene then, and I certainly don’t feel like we fit into what’s going on in music now. We were always just trying to write good songs and never identified with any genre or fad, probably as a reaction. Maybe that was our mistake. Depends on what you’re going for, I guess.
In what ways did you attempt to distance yourselves from the artistic mark you left with Pocket for Corduroy when you began Them Hills?
I don’t think I ever tried to distance myself stylistically from the work I did with Pocket for Corduroy. I feel like my approach has always been the same. I’m always trying to write a better song than the one I just wrote. When I started Them Hills, I definitely and consciously made the decision to have less going on, hence the three-piece, but other than that, I don’t feel like I’ve made any attempt to distance myself drastically from anything I’ve done musically in the past.
What is on the horizon currently for Them Hills?
We just finished a new Them Hills record that we’re calling Process. We recorded it all on analog tape with a friend of mine, Manny Nieto, in Los Angeles. He did a bunch of work on the last Breeders record, Mountain Battles. We were sold with the sound of it and made arrangements to go record it with Manny, raw style. We are looking for someone to help us release the record on CD and vinyl, but in the meantime we’re pre-releasing it ourselves by having the first half of the record available at shows on CD and the rest of it available soon digitally through the iTunes music store and other digital retailers. It’s already up on Emusic, but iTunes is slow to get it happening. We’ve been laying low-ish but we’re planning on playing out a bunch, and we’re excited about the new record and are getting ready to start writing the next one.
What is your overall goal with regard to this reunion? Would you like to record again, tour again, play again with this band?
The initial goal was to play for Jesse’s birthday. It turned out to be a great excuse for the four of us to spend some time together again, which has been great. We’re going to try to throw together a limited release, a CD that will compile all of our recordings plus a few more that no one has heard. We’ve got a couple shows to play. We want them to be cool. That’s really it as far as we know right now. Though, it has been pretty fun so far!
Valentine’s Day: Love it or hate it?
I love Valentine’s Day because my grandparents send me funny little cards with cartoons on them, and there’s always five bucks inside! I’m glad that some things never change.
What motivates you more to write music: love or hate?
I would say that I’m motivated across the board by love. However, I enjoy writing songs from the perspective of the sad or vengeful lover since it’s easier to be funny or creative with that kind of premise. Most of my songs are dark and kind of twisted, and I find that more entertaining than writing about how in love I am!
Do you have a funny V-Day story?
In high school, I had a boyfriend that made me a silver Green Lantern ring for V-Day. Also, when I was in elementary school, my dad dropped off a bouquet of roses for the school secretary—Ms. Johnson—to deliver to my classroom. She had to interrupt our lesson in order to put it on my desk, and everyone teased me long after. They said that Ms. Johnson and I were in love.
Valentine’s Day: Love it or hate it?
Love it, it’s pretty much a for sure night that you’ll get laid. Or at least eat a bomb dinner somewhere and get drunk!
What motivates you more to write music: love or hate?
For me it’s hard to write a bunch of love songs about the same girl. So, I think it’s easier to write hate-type songs. I try hard to not write songs about girls, though”¦ Everyone does that. The new album only has about three out of 12 songs about the ladies on it.
Valentine’s Day: Love it or hate it?
I hate it, because it is a holiday that was made up for corporate BS, to make money. Capitalism sucks.
What motivates you more to write music: love or hate?
Neither, there are way more things in the whole wide world that have way more substance and meaning then love or hate, like trees, flowers, oil and war. And outer space. And war in outer space. Galactic War.
Do you have a funny V-Day story?
Box of chocolates, blah blah blah. Who cares?
Valentine’s Day: Love it or hate it?
I guess I like it, wouldn’t say I love it though. I like it ’cause it’s just a cool day to kick it with your girl and any problems or whatever you go through, you forget about them that day and your focus is on the one you’re with.
What motivates you more to write music: love or hate?
Definitely hate. Without hate all you would have is people just happy with the way things are, and that’s not me. I’m not happy with the way some things are, and I’d rather fight for what I believe in.
Do you have a funny V-Day story?
This one time, at band camp”¦
Valentine’s Day: Love it or hate it?
I wouldn’t say that I love it, but I definitely don’t hate it. It’s just a good excuse to throw a tie on and act like a baller. Well that is if you have a date of course.
What motivates you more to write music: love or hate?
I’m not a big fan of hate, so I would have to say love. But I probably have written a few songs while I was pissed off so you can call it what you want. Love makes everything better and music is no exception.
Do you have a funny V-Day story?
A few years back neither my friend nor myself had a date for V-Day so we thought we would just hang out. I had the bright idea to go to drive-in movies with him on the most romantic night of the year. So there we where surrounded by a bunch of cars full of guys and girls all trying to get some action. It wasn’t till our windows were fogged up that we realized maybe two straight dudes in a steamy car wasn’t the best way to pick up on chicks that night. Pretty embarrassing. I think we turned a few heads.
Valentine’s Day: Love it or hate it?
We all agree [the whole band] that it depends: If we are dating it is a great night out, lots of fun. If we are committed, V-Day can be a nice reminder of how much you love your honey or a sick reminder of how corporate America has made love a commodity. If you’re single, usually it is depressing!
What motivates you more to write music: love or hate?
Everything outside the norm! Love can really get some rocking tunes out of us where as depression, hate and fear push for a more relatable song for a fan. More people notice the bad emotions over the good, creating a want to hear that you are not the only one feeling a specific emotion or being in an irregular situation.
Do you have a funny V-Day story?
My senior year, I asked a guy to homecoming and he said yes just to say no two days before the dance. Well, after high school, he and I got together and three years later for V-Day he decorated our garage like our senior homecoming and took me to the dance! We’ve been together for six and a half years now.
Valentine’s Day: Love it or hate it?
I love any excuse to appreciate people I adore, eat too much sugar and wear red. Those candy hearts with the writing on them are so tasty, especially the purple and white ones! And flowers, you get flowers! I might add, though, that every day should be treated like a truly special occasion and that love should be expressed consistently, not just when Hallmark, See’s Candy and jewelry stores unite to tell us we should.
What motivates you more to write music: love or hate?
Well, I think that hate is maybe just another form of love. Perhaps the truest opposite of love is apathy since one has to actually care about someone else to hate him or her. The human experience in general motivates me to write me music, every loving moment of it.
Do you have a funny V-Day story?
Well oddly enough, the only time I’ve ever had a special someone on Valentine’s Day, we parted ways. My valentines have always been the many loves of my life: My family and circle of friends.
Valentine’s Day: Love it or hate it?
While I definitely don’t have any strong love for the holiday, I do appreciate the irony of it. The fact that a pagan festival celebrating fertility has slowly morphed into one of the most consumer oriented and materialistic holidays under the guise of proving one’s “love” is endlessly hilarious to me. Luckily all the girlfriends I’ve had have been cool enough not to give a damn about chocolates or teddy bears.
What motivates you more to write music: love or hate?
I’m probably guilty of writing a couple hate-based songs back when I played metal. These days I find love to be much more of an inspiration lyrically. I can’t write love songs about boys and girls, but I write about loving dirt and furry creatures and the like. I am also fascinated with the many ways love can manifest, how it can be used to hurt as well as heal, and how something as beautiful as love can be twisted to make people do terrible, horrific things.
Do you have a funny V-Day story?
We had an anti-Valentine’s Day party once. It resulted in several fistfights, random hook-ups, naked dancing to Beyonce, and eventually one of our friends being tied to a chair.
I thought it was funny.
Valentine’s Day: Love it or hate it?
Love it! But not for the reasons everyone else does, I guess. I think it should be about all sorts of love, so that’s how I look at it. Family, friends, romantic, or even the love we should extend to strangers.
What motivates you more to write music: love or hate?
Most of my songs definitely center on the love of something, whether it’s a person, a thing or just life in general. I’m definitely not a person who can relate to the feeling of hatred. Love is just something I’m more in touch with, and it’s something I’m much more inclined to share.
Do you have a funny V-Day story?
I used to not celebrate it in high school, because I had such hard feelings about the day. I had not had much luck in the guy department up to that point. It was very Meg Ryan of me. I used to just sit in bed with a bag of Pirate’s Booty, watching old movies instead.
Valentine’s Day: Love it or hate it?
I love Valentine’s Day because I’m the type of girl that loves to spoil the person I care most about in this world. Plus it’s another reason to go to Victoria’s Secret!
What motivates you more to write music: love or hate?
Mostly hate motivates me more when it comes to writing music. It’s a way for me to get any frustrations or bad memories out of my system and the resolution becomes the song itself.
Do you have a funny V-Day story?
Well it didn’t happen on V-Day, but it is a funny story that has to do with love. In the beginning of our relationship, my boyfriend wanted to make the first time we had sex very special. He planned this romantic night and made me wait in the other room while he set up the bedroom. He had rose petals all over his bed, great contrast to the white comforter of course. This was the first time for both of us having sex on a bed with rose petals, well there were hot candles all around and it was some hot sex. The petals sort of melted. Don’t ask me how! But when we were done we got up and his white comforter and sheets had pink and red all over it and the petals were not so pretty anymore.
Valentine’s Day: Love it or hate it?
It really takes a lot to inflict such powerful emotions like love and hate for me”¦a lot more than a holiday. But really, hate is a useless emotion anyways, so I try and let go of it as quickly as possible.
What motivates you more to write music: love or hate?
I believe music tells a story, and it transforms experience. Love and hate usually play a role in all our lives, so it will always be reflected in music. I don’t usually find much inspiration in hate and I’d rather ponder on the beautiful things of life.
Do you have a funny V-Day story?
One time I dressed as a giant heart and walked up and down the mall yelling for people to, “Mind the ways of the olden days,” and, “Don’t take your time and life for granted,” and. “Eat fiber,” and, “Squirrels have feelings too.” I guess everyone found all of this extremely offensive, especially on such a sacred and beloved holiday such as Valentine’s Day. The great Richard Valentine himself was stirring in his grave while I was taken out of the mall in handcuffs. And all I really wanted was a date for the night.
Valentine’s Day: Love it or hate it?
I don’t really care about it; I’ve barely ever paid attention to it. At this point I think it’s just a way for Hallmark and florists to make bank. And chicks dig it. I don’t hate it; it’s just corny!
What motivates you more to write music: love or hate?
Well, they say there’s a thin line between love and hate, and my songs celebrate both with equal enthusiasm. Things I love, things I hate and things I love to hate. Each day is a celebration of life and love it or hate it, you have live it on your own terms. You’ve got to make that hate work for you!
Do you have a funny V-Day story?
I truly have no noteworthy stories! It was cool back in the day though, getting like Smurf and Pac-Man Valentines and eating candy. Good times!
Valentine’s Day: Love it or hate it?
Three cheers for Valentine’s Day! How else would we know when to be romantic? Or when to buy flowers or candy? How else would we know when to put on a red dress and go out to dinner? Or when to have sex? Thank God for Valentine’s Day!
What motivates you more to write music: love or hate?
There’s definitely more hate than love in my songs. It’s easy to get all fired up by the bad stuff. Anger! Yeah! And I guess love is just kind of private to me.
Do you have a funny V-Day story?
Years ago, I decided I’d give my boyfriend at the time some photos of me posing in lingerie. I blew up red balloons and taped them to a wall in the shape of a heart. My sister came over and took the pictures with me standing against the wall, inside the heart. Well, they came out really ridiculous! I had bad hair and couldn’t pose provocatively for the life of me. Plus, that was back in the days before digital cameras—when you had to get your film developed. Yikes!
Valentine’s Day: Love it or hate it?
I love it because it’s all about the love, hate it because I have to be all love-y and stuff and spend a lot of money on flowers, dinner, etc. when I’m always broke. And the corporate BS of Valentine’s Day? Really?
What motivates you more to write music: love or hate?
Love, because music is life. Really without it, what else is there? It’s true expression of what’s inside and no matter what language you sing, speak, yell, scream”¦ you know where the band or artist is coming from.
Valentine’s Day: Love it or hate it?
I’m not a hater, but I think I lean more towards disliking V-Day. I’m really not a fan of the whole, “card giving” thing. I have received so many cards from people in the past, but I have never been one to return the favor. You can take your girl out any other time of the year. It’s just another holiday that I feel obligated to spend money I don’t have. This V-Day I am playing a show! But don’t get me wrong; I will be spending some time with my girl on the 14th.
What motivates you more to write music: love or hate?
Definitely love. Although a lot of my songs are about the harder and more complicated parts of love. I’m more motivated to write when I’m going through a difficult situation regarding love, rather than when I’m extremely happy.
What motivates you more to write music: love or hate?
Love, because music is life. Really without it, what else is there? It’s true expression of what’s inside and no matter what language you sing, speak, yell, scream”¦ you know where the band or artist is coming from.
Valentine’s Day: Love it or hate it?
Hate it when I’m single, hate it even more when I have someone to take out because I’m probably going to be spending hella money to make sure I have a date for next Valentine’s Day just to spend more money. “What you won’t do, do for love”¦”
What motivates you more to write music: love or hate?
An artist’s best work is made when they’re depressed about love, more specifically about not having love. So love and hate pretty much go hand-in-hand when it comes to inspiration.
Do you have a funny V-Day story? Back in elementary school this girl that I was hella diggin’ gave me a Barbie Valentine card with a tip on how to do your own French manicure at home. I was so confused.
Valentine’s Day: Love it or hate it?
I love it. It’s the one day of the year when single ladies are going to want to have more fun due to having no boyfriends. Your chances of sexy time are increased on Valentine’s Day.
What motivates you more to write music: love or hate?
Hate, hate, hate. When you got that anger brewing inside of you and you start a song, you’re going to want to spit murder at someone or at something and words seem to fall and go together in a form that I like, so hate on.
Do you have a funny V-Day story?
No, but if you want to make a funny story with me, ladies, you can hit me on our Myspace, and we can make some magic. Or not.
Valentine’s Day: Love it or hate it?
Valentine’s Day is one of the many holidays I feel really neutral about, along with Independence Day, Halloween (though at least that’s another excuse to wear a costume) and New Year’s Eve. I don’t think I’m above it, like those people who brag about not owning a TV; I just have never had a valentine on Valentine’s Day so I’ve never known the joys of it.
Valentine’s Day is an aisle of cheap candies and stuffed animals in shades of red at Longs that I walk through on my way to buy a bottle of shampoo. This year I’m playing a Valentine’s show at Vox Gallery in West Sac, it’s a benefit for a local art group—yeah! That’s what love is really about.
What motivates you more to write music: love or hate?
Love! I may be moody, but I don’t write songs about hate.
Do you have a funny V-Day story?
Ah I wish! Someone promised me a Valentine surprise this year though so maybe.
Valentines Day: Love it or hate it?
I never really thought about it before. I guess I don’t really love it or hate it. It seems to me like it’s just another one of those Hallmark holidays to get you to buy candy and cards for your loved ones. But hey—at least it’s about love.
What motivates you more to write music: love or hate?
Both of them, love and hate, each one has its positives and negatives and both of them have motivated me to write music. I would say I have written more songs about love, but they aren’t necessarily love songs. Some of my songs are about spreading more love to one another while others are about love gone wrong, which could turn into hate.
Valentines Day: Love it or hate it?
I’ve never felt an attachment to Valentine’s Day. I don’t think I’ve ever had a girlfriend that was too into it either. I just proposed to my girlfriend, so I’m not sure if I need to do something extra special this year or if the proposal covers the next couple holidays. I’m hoping for the latter.
What motivates you more to write music: love or hate?
I couldn’t really say love or hate fuels my writing. Obviously I love music, but I’ve never felt that romantic “inspiration” everyone associates with musicians. I don’t fall in love and go running to the piano. I need a neutral mind to compose properly.
Do you have a funny V-Day story?
When I was 18 or 19 I dressed up in a suit and brought flowers to my girlfriend while she was at work. I wasn’t trying to be funny at the time, but I guess it’s kind of funny now looking back.
