This is the first in what will hopefully become a fairly regular thing here at YASR, the Relevant Interview. First up, Kenniwick, WA's favorite indie adopted son, Aaron Schroeder.Aaron is a self described "avid reader" who also makes great music ranging from indie Americana to 60's pop...His 2nd album Black & Gold was finished recently and I have been lucky enough to have been enjoying it for the past couple of weeks. Aaron took the time to answer a few questions last week:
Q: My favorite song on the album is "Fake Crimes" can you talk a little bit about the writing of that song and its origins?
A: Musically, Fake Crimes is my attempt at stealing from Dan Bejar's "Thief" record - particularly the"Canadian lover/ don't demean yourself" track. I was hoping to create a song with a lot of momentum right from the beginning that kept building upon itself without the whole soft/loud-Kurt Cobain dynamic.Lyrically, the track is about a pair of lovers who stage a kidnapping. Near the end of the song, thenarrator offers to take a bullet in order to save the police from shooting his lover ("Since your body isworth more than mine/ They can aim their guns straight toward me"). To me, the lyrics are actually very tender and sweet.
Aaron Schroeder -- Fake Crimes
Q: Your bio has you living in Kennewick, WA...what is the musical scene like there?
A: There really isn't too much of a scene here - what you have is yours only because you've made it. I moved her two years ago and I didn't really step into anything resembling a scene, but now I have the most amazing friends who all happen to play music. It's definitely laid back, which allows us all to create and focus on good work, rather than losing track.
Q: How long was the recording process for Black & Gold? Did you have all the songs ready to roll or did you write in the studio?
A: We didn't actually do any of the recording in a "studio". It was all done in living rooms andbasements. What I do is create the demos which the band then sort of siphons through. Once we have a good batch of songs we're all excited about, various people will just play whatever they think sounds appropriate on each song. Cramer (the drummer/ main producer) then edits everything together and we all go back and forth fucking with levels until we're all satisfied.
Q: What are the most important albums of your summer?A: I have started out the last few summers making a Belle & Sebastian mix CD which is always a wonderful thing to walk around town listening to. I do the same thing with my Jay-Z albums as well. I listen to the Byrds a lot in the summer. The first Phoenix album, particularly the track "Funky Squaredance" is a great summer song. There's also a buddy of mine who writes amazing songs named David Bello, I'd recommend him for some interesting summer music.
Q: I write about politics as well as music...what is your favorite politician/leader and why?
A: I've enjoyed both of Barack's books on both personal and political terms. I'm also very interested in thisnew Colbert running for President thing - I think it will be interesting to see how that pans out.
Black & Gold is out now and you can pick it up from Amazon here or directly from the artist here.
