Interview with Jim Ward (At The Drive-In, Sparta)

Back in 2008, I met with singer / guitarist Jim Ward of At The Drive-In / Sparta fame. Ward at the time was out on the road supporting the new album from his solo project, Sleepercar.

It was interesting re-visiting this interview years later because at the time, Ward was avoiding all ATDI talks or reunion possibilities. I went into the interview not anticipating even talking about that but it sort of just came up.

ATDI would eventually reunite in 2012 for a brief run before disintegrating once more.

I met with Ward before Sleepercar's NYC debut at the Mercury Lounge over a beverage and a loud jukebox at The Library Bar.

A lot of people think Sleepercar is your new band but it's been your project for a couple of years. Why was it on the backburner for so long?

Jim: At the time, I had been figuring out how to do this. Initially, I was just going to start a country band. I didn't want to mimic what I liked. I wanted it to be infused in what I am and how I write. It took me six years me to learn how to sing the way I wanted to. It has to be a slow progression. It's like learning how to play an instrument. Your first band is never the best one.

Interview with Sergie Loobkoff (Samiam)

I spoke with Sergie Loobkoff, guitarist of Samiam, back in 2010 as the band was about to hit the road for a string of East Coast dates.

During the interview we talked about the band's upcoming show in NYC, which at the time was their first in close to a decade, new music, and more. Read on!

How did Orphan Works come together?

It wasn’t our idea to do. We played at The Fest in Gainesville. We had a really cool show [but] it was a total disaster because our bass player didn’t come so we had to teach the guy from Less Than Jake and Chris Wollard from Hot Water Music how to play Samiam songs five hours before we went and played in front of a couple thousand people. It turned out well but it was crazy. I didn’t really have that much fun because it was so crazy. They both did a fantastic job. I could never learn that many songs in a few hours. Regardless, after the show, I reconnected with Var [Thelin], who owns No Idea Records who I met on our first tour back in the 1800s [Laughs]. We sort of kept in touch a little bit. We put out a 7-inch when No Idea was actually a fanzine and not a label. They put out 7-inches every once in a while and we did a split with Jawbreaker. For the last fourteen years or so, every once in a while, I’d be in Europe and see some graffiti on the wall. He’d be on tour with some band like Small Brown Bike and he’d notice that we were playing three weeks later and he’d go,” Hey Sergie, what’s happening?” When we played The Fest and I saw him, it was like, “we totally known each other for years but we haven’t been face to face in fifteen years.” But we talked that night and the next couple days about maybe recording a record. Which is kind of a big, hard ordeal with Samiam because we’re such a ragtag group of assholes. The more realistic thing was to put out our two 90s records that were on major labels, that were out of print for the last decade or so. We hired a lawyer to deal with that. We were talking and since making a new album fizzled a little bit and it’s obviously going to take a long time to deal with a major label to try and weasel your records back, [No Idea thought] “why don’t we put something out in the interim.” It was actually just my idea just to do outtakes and live things. There’s two songs were from Clumsy that we recorded then but they never came out. I thought it would be kind of cool to limit the songs to be songs from that era of Clumsy and You Are Freaking Me Out. So when those [reissues] eventually came out, it would be a trio of records that documents that little time in history. It’s not going to sell a million copies. It’s not like “let’s try to squeeze some cash out of some dorks that buy everything.”

David Kilgour of The Clean

This past fall, I reached out to New Zealand-based indie rock icon David Kilgourof the Clean and the Heavy 8’s for an interview. I’ve been a megafan of the man’s work for quite some time and you can hear his influence in a variety of bands, from Guided by Voices to Pavement to Parquet Courts.

It has been a busy year for the singer. In August, Kilgour and the Heavy 8’s released their latest album End Times Undone on Merge Records. Merge also revisited his illustrious backcatalog by reissuing the Clean’s comprehensive boxset, Anthology.

Both bands toured the States throughout the summer but there were rumblings of this last batch of shows being the final ones for the Clean (in the States atleast).

In our brief e-mail chat, I asked David about writing, painting, the recent shows, and the unfortunate passing of his former bandmate Peter Gutteridge.

When you are writing and recording songs, do your musical influences clearly push the direction of the songs at all or is it more of a stream of conciousness kind of approach?

DK: More and more it’s a stream of consciousness approach and what follows is quite often the thought. First idea-best idea / first rule-no rule. I try not to overthink music. It often helps if there’s a vague seed of an idea but that’s not always needed. Songs still come to me semi-completed but I never “complete” them until recording.

Interview With Henry Rollins

In 2008, I spoke with Henry Rollins. The man's credentials seem endless; lead singer of Black Flag, Rollins Band, spoken word artist, author, actor, activist, and more.

One thing that always stands out to me about this interview was how strategic in speech Rollins was with me. Very put together, very timed, and never wavering. I wouldn't expect anything less though.

At the time, he was out on the promoting his upcoming IFC specials and taking a break from his tv show. He was on the road doing a spoken word tour and we had a chance to talk when he had some downtime in Athens, GA.

In the interview we discussed his experiences traveling the world, his thoughts on the upcoming Presidential election of 2008, his routine on the road, and more.

I know you’ve been traveling around a lot lately with the tour. One of the stories I saw on the website that I thought was really interesting was your experience in Cape Town, South Africa. Can you expand on everything you experienced?

Henry: It was mind-blowing. I’ve been to Africa seven times and of all the trips there that was the one that really moved me the most. Unless you just sit in the hotel all day, you end up seeing things that are very moving and extremely beautiful, very sad and sometimes scary. Life and death is so in your face there. It’s very real. In South Africa, what was interesting and much different than Egypt or Morocco was the white/black dynamic. There’s a lot of white people, there’s a lot of black people. I wasn’t use to seeing so many white neighborhoods in Africa. The apartheid, which is in the past, is still a topic. You can’t not talk about it. What I saw was a lot of people dealing with the aftermath of it. Trying to get move on past it and get on to what the new chapter is going to be. That was the fascinating thing.

Interview With Mark Ryan (Mind Spiders, Marked Men)

I spoke with Mark Ryan of the Marked Men and The Mind Spiders back in 2011, just around the time of the Mind Spiders' released their first self-titled record.

In this interview we discussed the formation of the band and recording their debut album.

Were you thinking about doing The Mind Spiders record for a while?

While the Marked Men were going, I had been screwing around with side projects. I did this other thing briefly called The Crying Jags. There was at least one song I had with that band that I used with this record. I knew it didn't fit with The Marked Men.