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.
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.
posted by tobias at 6:33 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home