1. Growing Up
Paul McCartney and Wings. Band On The Run. 1973. My first musical memory. My father played guitar. My mother sang to me traditionalIrish nursery rhymes – haunting, sad, always with unhappy endings.
2. Inspirations
Classical musicians. Because they’re outsiders, and I relate to themmore than rock musicians. I can’t stand most rock musicians, they’re unbearable company. I listen to soundtrack music. It’s something else entirely. I live in Cambodia; it’s a noisy place full of weird sounds – temples, monks chanting, loudspeakers blaring, egg sellers and vendors. I need that chaos, and I think it helps that it’s in a language I don’t understand.
3. Your Band
I met Jason [Reece] in high school. We were rejects, thatsame old clichéstory. Music is likea common language; if you don’t speak the same music then you can’t really understand another person properly.
4. The Music You Make
All I know is that if I stopped being creative, I wouldn’t have any otherreal purpose.So perhaps it’s simply an act of survival, knowing that by being creative I’m contributing to the human experience, and when I stop doing that then it’s time to leave.
5. Music, Right Here, Right Now
There is no music scene at the moment. Just file sharing. The biggest obstacle musicians have to overcome is indifference. In termsof live inspiration, Isaw The Jesus And Mary Chain recently; they were old but sound the same. For new music I go totwo or three friends whose taste I trust. We exchange albums illegally.
[Photo by Courtney Chavnell]
out now through Superball.…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead play at Manning Bar on Friday August 14 with The Red Paintings supporting.
