Interview with Steev Richter

Who are some of your biggest influences?

I was strictly hip-hop until I figured out the piano, but, as I did, I was immediately drawn to The Beatles-especially to John Lennon. after that it was the Dylan phase, Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, Weezer, after I heard Pinkerton, and Radiohead. Then came the two most influential in Over the Rhine and Jeff Buckley, when I really learned how to sing by emulating them to the best and worst of my ability. Since then there's been Ryan Adams, Rufus Wainwright and Jess Klein.

What do you call your style of music?

Your guess is as good as mine or anyone else's. I don't think that it's overwhelmingly original, but as of yet no one's come up with an adequate genre. I guess if all those people from the last question were to have some wild musical orgy I would be the bastard love child.

What are some things you've heard said about your music?

That's hard to answer. I've heard some beautiful things from some beautiful people about how it has affected them. I guess those are the most important things to me. Live shows to me are an extremely intimate experience and I think that there are
some people who really connect to that. My motto has always been "what you lack in talent, make up for in emotion". I guess I'm so emo I'm the whole word. What was the question again? I've heard that it's sappy chick piano BS pop music, but I think I'm the one that said it.

What is your musical background?

I grew up in church (four generations of ministers on both sides of the family all the way down to my dad, brother and two brother-in laws), so I guess the old hymns are my foundation and earliest memories, musically. My entire family on both sides are very musical, but only used it within the confines of the church, so I kind of took it for granted that everyone could sing, pull harmonies out of the air, and every woman (all pastor's wives of course) could play the piano. After that, given where I was raised (Akron),I was strictly hip-hop, and spent my time between the ages of 9 and 15 as an emcee. To this day I still believe that I was far more talented in that field of music than i am in my current one.

How old were you when started playing piano?

I think I was 15 or 16. I'd always had a piano and always sat downat it hoping I'd magically be able to play it. One day, midway through my senior year in high school, it happened, and I wrote and recordedmy first song that day. It was that simple.

Where are some interesting places you have played?

Well, for notoriety’s sake, the coolest place I ever played was the MetroChicago. it was unreal to be on a stage that I'd seen both Jeff Buckley and Bob Dylan perform on. As for my actual personal favorite places... the Town Crier Cafe in Pawling, New York - a definite musician's venue. Then there's Dixey City Limits in Mansfield, which is in Jack Dixey's basement and is, coincidentally, where I recorded my second album, "Jack's Basement". Also, I suppose I should mention Knuckleheads in Nyack, NY. It's where my first band, Jameson Steinway, cut our teeth and paid our dues, but that was in the pre-piano playing days.

Track list for your new album? (that's not really a question)

Well, there's a few that probably won't make the final cut, but here's what we have cooking for right now:

1. carried away
2. your monkey song
3. wilting rose
4. portrait artist
5. into you
6. 07-04-05
7. kool whip
8. natalie
9. leave me be
10. unreasonable
11. little sister
12. natalie
13. mantucky
14. elise

Barmaid and Tables Turned have already been cut, and more than likely two more won't make it onto the final product.

Who are some interesting people you've shared the stage with?

I played with a guy from Twisted Sister, but not the main sister. that was crazy. I also had John Lennon's old guitarist sit in with us one night and I played for Jeff Buckley's mother. As far as other bands, I've played with some pretty big names, but it usually wasn't that fun. I enjoy playing with Jonathan Hape, Rob Allen, Josh Grady, and Bill Corbett, and am hoping to do shows with Nate Phillips and Wreck of the Hesperus.

However, my most memorable evening as of yet was a couple of weekends ago when I shared an intimate musical evening with my musical idol, Linford Detweiler of Over the Rhine. He's a huge part of why I do what I do how I do it, so to share a piano (and organ) with him was pretty overwhelming. Also, he was the most genuine person I've ever come across. He didn't say a single negative or sarcastic thing all evening.

Has the process gone for writing 'Somewhere In Between' (or whatever it is you're calling it these days)

Well, what we've accomplished and finished so far has been above my fairly high expectations. I've worked with people who are great at what they and who have inspired me to go beyond anything that I've ever done before.

As this is my first all out full-band album where I have the actual musicians I want playing with me, I've been able to pull off some things I honestly would not have thought myself capable of. Speciallyconsidering the ass-backwards way in which the album has been pieced together -- no musicians have been in the studio at the same time, and almost none of the bass or guitars were recorded start to finish on any song -- it's come off surprisingly well. I have a very strange way of working that can be very frustrating, and I'm profoundly grateful for these guys who have put up with me and helped me pull these songs together in brandnew fancy clothes. However, finishing the project and getting the last of the songs completed has been unbelievably frustrating. It's dragged on from the summer until now and there's still a ways to go. I'm not a very disciplined person and I suck at bucking down and finishing anything, especially if it might besomething beneficial or worthwhile.

What are your future plans (musically speaking)

I'm gonna keep killing time until I get famous. It's only a matter of time now. I'd like to not have to work a "real job" and I'd like to live somewhere and beable to eat from time to time. I miss having a bed, so I guess my plans are to find a way to turn my music into a bed that I can sleep on...a bed made out of solid gold and record deals. And feathers.

Chris Mills on Radio Free Tobias (podcast)

Chris Mills and travelling drummer Gerald Dowd stopped in today at the WOBN studios to promote their show tonight at the High-Five Bar in Columbus. If you'll remember, The Wall to Wall Sessions, Chris's 2005 release, got my Top pick of 2005 on my top 11 list.

Anyways, you can listen to the interview here. There are four or five tracks off the album and some witty banter to boot.

I'll hammer out the RSS details later.

My microphone sounds a little crappy and due to circumstances it was transferred from audiocassette, but that's ok! It's still gold.

Power Hour with Jason Quicksall

RFT: How do you feel about about the recent movement towards the kind of alt-country sound?

JQ: The old alt-country stuff was written a ways ago, you know? And uh, I definitely have those roots. But I even like going back further to, you know, like Hank Williams, and I like the music when jazz and blues and country was all the same thing. When there really wasn’t a whole lot of difference except maybe from how you sang it.

RFT: What are some albums that you are listening to right now?

JQ: I haven’t been able to put down the Ray Lamontagne Trouble album. I listened the other day to the first song to the new Fiona Apple record, Extraordinary Machine. That could be the song of the year. Doesn’t sound like anything I’ve ever heard out of her before. I can’t say I’m the biggest fan and that I’ve been following her with all her works. But yeah, that song’s awesome.

RFT: What genres would you say influence your music?

JQ: Definitely, you know, I think the whole, I got into that whole alt-country, the Old 97’s, I listened to Wilco and things like that. I really latched onto that, I enjoyed that, and I took it back further, you know? So I definitely have a country side. And of course, if you’re a solo artist, you’re always going to get the folk label. I don’t really know what folk is. I think too often, it implies without a melody or something. That’s a long story. But I definitely have gotten into the jazz, like the old time swing. Like, Benny Goodman. I got this Benny Goodman’s greatest hits at like half-priced books. I love it. It’s awesome. And I just think there’s an element to pop that’s kind of been forgotten. Where a lot of newer people are taking their roots from, it’s kind of missed this whole section: jazz. Not really the wind instruments, but the style, I guess. The chord progressions and the melodies.

RFT: What do you think about the Columbus scene?

JQ: I don’t know what to think about it anymore. I think there’s a few bands with some promise, and a lot… some...that uh, don’t have as much. (laughs) Like, I don’t think there’s a proportionality between the bands that um, are getting the press and even getting the fans. I think the best bands in Columbus are pretty much unknown, for the most part. A lot of people will be like ‘who are they?’ but they’re really good. And I think that’s probably half the bands’ faults. A lot of bands sometimes take pride in not promoting themselves and just going out and rocking every chance they get.

RFT: What do you think the Columbus sound is?

JQ: I don’t know what the Columbus sound is. I think there’s definitely, a huge jazz scene in Columbus, and I think a lot of songwriters are coming out of that. And bands like The Spikedrivers, they’re doing something really cool, but it hasn’t really caught on. I mean, actually, they have a great draw, but it’s kind of the hippie draw. So they’re not really well-known.

RFT: How do you think you fit in the C. Scene?

JQ: Well, I don’t know. Based on my typical draw, I guess I don’t. (laughs) You know, I had a pretty good turnout at my CD release party, but I had to bribe a lot of people. No, I didn’t, but I did have a nice turnout for that. It’s been tough, it’s kind of like, a general singer-songwriter thing. A lot of time I’ll spend playing solo, and unless you’re Tim Easton, no one really has a draw when they’re a solo player in town. And he’s not even really local anymore. But yeah, I don’t know. I’m trying to find my place. I’m just trying to... I don’t really think about where I fit in. I just kind of like playing music. Put me where you want me, here I am.

RFT: What do you think about being compared to Ryan Adams?

JQ: I guess with the singer-songwriter thing, it’s almost kind of unavoidable. I think anybody that like, sees someone doing a folky, alt-country thing, solo on stage, you know, melodramatic and what not, that’s like the next person they’ve heard of. You know what I mean? Younger people say Ryan Adams, older people ask me if I like Jim Croce or James Taylor, it’s just whoever someone thinks of. It’s whatever they’re, if it’s not something they typically listen to then…

RFT: Do you mind being compared to RA?

JQ: I wish I had his draw. (laughs) Uh, no, it’s, I just think it’s like, I guess it depends on the context, you know? If I’m being dismissed for that then that's bad. I don’t think I mimic him. I do cover him sometimes, and I do think he’s a good songwriter, but I think if you just dismiss it and say “oh, he’s doing Ryan Adams again” then you missed something. I don’t mind it. I guess it’s not a bad description, you know, "kind of like Ryan Adams". I'm not as obnoxious. I’ve never kicked anyone out of a concert... I have better teeth, I think.

RFT: What would it take for you kick someone out of a concert?

JQ: I think they’d probably have to steal my guitar.

RFT: You’d just give ‘em the boot, then?

JQ: Yeah, definitely.

RFT: What inspired you to write “A Touch Broken”?

JQ: Uh, well, I think the album wasn’t really, even though I like to think it sounds pretty cohesive as a unit of songs, thematically, it kind of has a pretty wide, it spans… as far as the songs I wrote, it was kind of pieced together. It’s kind of a representation of all the songwriting I’ve been doing so far. It’s kind of a cross-section of it I guess.

RFT: So you’ve been working on this material for awhile?

JQ: Yeah, like the first song, you know, the most recent song on it, was written over the summer as I was recording the album, and you know, the oldest song was probably written I don’t know, about four years ago.

RFT: Which one is the oldest song?

JQ: Hearts and Sighs. Actually it was probably written about 2003, so I guess, 2002-2003. Hearts & Sighs and Suffer Through the Silence were written around the same time. But I guess my motivations for writing the album is my motivations for writing at all. I guess self-medicating. My most healthy way to give myself therapy.

RFT: So what would you say is the mood or theme to the album?

JQ: Yeah, you know, I guess there’s a lot of frustration in it. And I try to be hopeful, but I think that I definitely have a negative slant. Maybe it’s just my inner angst, or I guess better described would be, the shit I see going on around me. Positions where we’ve all put ourselves in kind of thing. I don’t know, I just try to be, I guess the mood is supposed to be in the moment, and maybe showing just a different side of things.

RFT: How do you know the supporting musicians on the record?

JQ: A lot of them are just friends of mine. I’ve been playing on and off with them for several years. I dated Megan Palmer for awhile. Jimmy Castoe was the only one I didn’t really know going in. He plays all over town. If you peruse the bars on any given night, whether it’s Dick’s Den or Oldfield’s, he’s probably in there. The guy’s awesome. He’s kind of a local legend, well amongst the music scene, there’s a lot of respect for him. We’re actually golfing buddies now. I’m teaching him how to play golf.

RFT: That’s cute.

JQ: (laughs) Yeah.

RFT: Who arranged the other instruments?

JQ: It was definitely a collaborative effort. In individual rehearsals I’d work with them when I could. But when you get into the studio it’s a while different animal. I mean, I tried to leave the improvisation aspect open, and I don’t know. None of the musicians were ever in studio with the other ones. It’s all different tracks. So a lot of the arranging just kind of came, and if I had an idea, I would just give it to them. And I tried to speak in general terms. You know, give it this kind of feel, or imagine you’re a sailboat. Sometimes it worked, and if it worked it went on there, and there’s a lot of ugly stuff that nobody will ever hear again.

RFT: How long did you spend recording this whole thing?

JQ: I don’t even know. It was probably over a six-month period. We had to take a nice chunk off because apparently there’s some glitches to Pro Tools sometimes, so we ran into some technical difficulties here and there.

RFT: Did you lose recorded material or something like that?

JQ: No, we didn’t lose anything, but the hard drive just crashed, and we weren’t able to record for a few months. Well, maybe about a month and a half. Once we got that down, we just… and a lot of it is my mood too. I tend to get, I kind of have a hard time completing things. I’m kind of a procrastinator, and I’m also kind of afraid of failure. So periodically in the recording process, I would feel overwhelmed and stop doing it.

RFT: So do you feel a sense of accomplishment since you had a release and had a write-up and stuff?

JQ: More like relief. Not so much accomplishment, but sort of like, yeah, I knew I could do it. There you go. Now work and promote it, you know? Now comes the hard part. ‘Cause I mean, the songs were there, I just needed to get my ass in gear and do it and put in the time, and put in the effort, and stop being afraid of making mistakes. Put it out there and don’t have any regrets.

RFT: Do you think you were being a perfectionist while recording it?

JQ: Not so much a perfectionist. I mean, I think anybody that knows me knows that I probably am not really a perfectionist, but maybe I would claim as perfection, like as being a perfectionist, but it’s more like procrastination. It’s a fine line between like tweaking it and to the point where it’s just done, let it go, let it be done. Because once you get to that point, where you say it’s done, now it’s open for criticism. Out come the axes.

RFT: I noticed that, like you were talking about, a lot of the backing instruments seemed improvised. Do you prefer this spontaneous stuff, or the organized and arranged parts?

JQ: I definitely think it depends on who I’m working with, as far as like, how much rehearsal you need. I always want to keep that avenue open where something cool can happen that has never happened. That’s fun for me, that’s fun for them, and it’s fun for the audience, too. And it’s fun to see musicians playing off each other. When it comes to an album, it needs to be organized and it needs to be cohesive and it needs to repeat itself. If someone comes up with a cool riff, he might just play it once or twice, but we might put it in a couple other places just to give the whole take a bit of togetherness. I never want to lose the spontaneity, but in regards to recorded music, you can’t just have a drunken mess.

RFT: Which is more you?

JQ: When I play live, a lot of the times, that’s when I try out a lot of the new material. I’ll usually save a couple songs that I’ll just kind of play, but it will be just kind of off-the-cuff. I mean, I’ll know it, but it will just be kind of vague, like, just knowing the chord progressions, but it might not have any lyrics. I find that I feel most creative when I’m not altogether comfortable with my surroundings. I’ll get inspired by strange hotel rooms or a massive depression or something. It’s hard getting inspired sitting at home in the same place It’s just nice to be able to change locations and allow the chaos to let things happen.

RFT: What are your goals? I mean, I guess that’s kind of obtuse, but what are your goals?

JQ: I don’t know. I guess I would just like to have some success being a musician. I just want to not feel like a loser, you know? I want to feel like I haven’t wasted my time making this album and playing out. And I don’t know if that’s possible to make through album sales, but I think it’s just like Rodney Dangerfield, I just want some respect. I mean, it’s not that simple, but I guess I just want to have the opportunity to get out there and just be a musician.

Some Q & A with Eric Rottmayer

RFT: What kind of reactions do you get to your band name? I know the first thing I think of is the tiara in the "Pretty Pretty Princess" game.

Eric: Trust me, I've gone through all forms of like, you know, are you guys an all-gay band? "Are you-", this happened on the phone, "is this an all-girl band? Are you the manager?" You know, stuff like that, you know. So, I've been through it all and I don't know what to say, I don't even know why we kept that name, but we did, and it's been ten years now. It actually started out as my solo recording project, I was doing like four-track recording. And it developed into the band.

RFT: You guys record a lot of your own stuff right? I read somewhere that you bought all your own equipment?

Eric: Yeah, I'm really interested in audio stuff and have been for ten years, and hadn't really invested too much money until just the past few years. And now I have a 24-track studio setup in my basement. And that's what we did half of the album, the new album on. We did the other half at Workbook, the new Workbook. Which was a return, because the album before that, we had recorded half of it ourselves and the other half at another studio in Columbus called The Diamond Mine.

RFT: So how do you choose what to record where?

Eric: Well, the last album, we chose Diamond Mine because we went to the studio and it was really cool. It had a nice big room for drums. We wanted to have a big sound, for live recording. And that's what we did, we recorded all the tracks with all of us playing together at the same time, and then overdubbed with vocals guitars and keyboards. And we did that with this album as well, except for the home-recorded tracks. We did those sort of in layers, starting with drums, building up with bass, adding guitars, and then doing vocals. But with the Jon Chinn stuff, we did that live too. And I think that's one thing you can have in a studio, a big room and a nice sounding room. Because they record bands all the time and they know how to make it sound good. So that's, yeah, that’s why we chose there. And we wanted to record with Jon Chinn again, because we hadn't done it for awhile and we really like him. He's familiar with our sound and he knows, you don't really have to communicate a whole lot.

RFT: Do you still like your old music?

Eric: Yeah, I still like it. I barely ever listen to it. I listen to the Metronome stuff more because I like remixing it or something, you know. I mean, it's weird going back and listening to that stuff. I was just starting out and trying to write songs. The first record, me and Brian co-wrote some of the songs together, so that was kind of cool.

RFT: What do you think is Tiara's niche (as a pop band) in the Columbus scene?

Eric: It's hard. I mean, I think a lot of midwestern towns, there’s not a lot of pop music. Because they're either like, a rebellion going on, or whatever. There's a lot of punk rock, I think. There was a lot of punk rock. And now there's some hip-hop, which is getting really really popular. And then there's like, a couple of metal bands that are really doing it. But there's not a whole lot of like, straight pop-rock type stuff.

RFT: It seems to me like a lot of people listen to it, but there aren't a lot of people playing it.

Eric: Yeah, I know. I don’t really know the reason for that, but that’s how it’s always been. The Columbus scene has always been kind of strange, I think. For us, at least, we started playing in a totally straightedge, punk rock house, and that’s where we played our first show, it's called the Neil House. And that was strictly out of necessity, I mean, that was the place we could play. We made friends with some of those people because they accepted us into that scene. We weren't playing punk rock at all. But it helped us get out foot into the door, meeting a lot of people. We were sort of accepted even though we were playing a lot of pop things. We would have people boo us. I mean, we don’t really fit into a lot of these different things, so some night we would be booed, and some nights someone would come up, out of the blue, some crazy punk rock kid would come up on stage and be like "I really understand what you’re doing". And that was really cool. So, it's hard if you’re really trying to do something that’s not typical. It wasn’t that we were really trying to do something that wasn’t typical; we were just doing what we liked.

RFT: Is Austin as full of hipsters as I’ve heard?

Eric: Austin is a very hip city. It’s the only thing in Texas that we like besides just driving through it.

RFT: How did that happen?

Eric: I don’t know! It’s the college, it’s a college town. Four of five years ago, it was a lot like Columbus but even more advanced in the scene, a lot more happening musically with bands than Columbus.

RFT: What do you think the overall mood is of Chained to the Crown?

Eric: I think it's really hopeful, for me which is kind of strange. Because after Matt (Weaver) left, we weren’t really sure if we were going to want to continue as a band, because he was such an integral part of the band. I didn't know if I wanted to do it. A lot of the songs came out of that, they’re sort of hopeful in that we'll keep doing business.

RFT: How would you say that’s different from other albums?

Eric: It's definitely a contrast. A lot of the other stuff is a little more emotional. I wouldn't say emo, but a lot of people put that tag on it. It's just something I that’s from, like, when I write, I'm writing about things that happen to me. I mean, sometimes, I write about other people, but it's something that’s moving me to write about something. And a lot of the time it's not something pleasant. I think it’s really hard to write happy songs. I think it’s hard, for me at least. I have a lot of respect for people who write happy songs.


RFT: How have positive reviews in various music media outlets, such as All Muisc, affected your songwriting?

Eric: It didn't pressure me or anything. Touring is really difficult for me, so I think if anything, that has a lot of influence on the songs. I mean, I think getting press is good and it has its place, but for me, it's not a huge influence or anything. It's not much of a boost. I mean, it's definitely cool, like when we got the CMJ thing. We were getting added and we were in the top five adds in the CMJ charts, and they sent out an article in the press version of CMJ that goes out to all the labels and distributions and things like that. And that only lasted for a while. We went back to square one.

RFT: What's in the future for Tiara in the next few days/months/years?

Eric: Well, I mean, weeks, we’ll be practicing, you know, playing that show at Used Kids will be really cool. Used Kids is a place I've gone to for 15 years. Some of my fondest memories getting music is at Used Kids. So that will be fun. And for months, we'll be working on some new songs. We pretty quickly go to the next batch of new songs. I'm constantly trying to move on. I get bored of something really quickly. And then years, I don't know about years, you know? We'll see. Three-fifths of the band are married now, and my wife has a ten-year-old daughter, so that's because a big part of my life. And it's great, and I love it, but it makes things difficult with touring for a long time. I don’t think that’s going to stop us from making the music, so I want to keep doing as long as it's fun, years from now.

RFT: How old are you anyways?

Eric: I'm 32. I'm going to be 33 in December.

RFT: I was going to guess about five years younger.

Eric: Yeah, a lot of people say that. My mom and dad both look young. My wife looks younger too, so people see us together and think "aww, a new couple." And we’ve been married for like three years. I mean, it doesn't matter. It's probably a plus for me, how I look younger. I can still get out there and trick people.

RFT: What would you be doing with yourself if you weren't in a band?

Eric: Well, we all have full-time jobs. We're not really living off our music at all. We're lucky if we break even. But still, if I wasn't doing music at all, I'd probably be doing something involved with art. I went to art school. Music started being a creative outlet for me after I got out of art school. I might be working in a art school. I mean, I like coffee a lot (points at coffeemaker).