Trash Mutant Interviews (TMI): Cars & Trains
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TRASH MUTANT: First off: what's the story behind the Cars & Trains name, and does it have anything to do with the 1987 Steve Martin and John Candy classic "Planes, Trains & Automobiles"? CARS & TRAINS: Well, I am a huge fan of that movie, and have probably seen it thirty-plus times since it came out; it's possible there's some subliminal John Candy influence there. Seriously though, it was kind of a more abstract and drawn out process: I think I was reading a lot of stuff like "On The Road" around that time, so if my memory serves me correctly I was drawing an image in my head of how Americans perceive themselves, the whole car culture/road adventure sort of thing, and at the same time the stark reality of how things really stand versus that mental image folks have. Not so romantic or poetic, but there it is. Whenever I listen to a Cars & Trains record I get into this very calm, thoughtful mood. Both your voice and the music make for a very elevating and relaxing combination for me. It makes me wonder if you’re this Zen-like kind of guy in your day to day life. Do you consider your music to be a good representation of you as a person? I think in some ways it is. I can definitely be pretty mellow and introspective, relatively even keeled. Like most folks I've got my swings though, I suppose. You put out two three-song EPs this year, “History of the Night” and “Moon and the Earth”. Are these short format releases something you will be doing more of in the future? Do you prefer working on shorter, more frequent records to full-length albums? The plan is to certainly have more frequency with my releases, so that'll likely include more EP format releases. I do have a new full length instrumental record I've been working on for a while though, so that's going to be a big focus for me in 2015. It is kind of liberating to only have to work with a couple of songs at a time though, to focus on them and hone them like I couldn't necessarily with a whole album. Nature, in all of its aspects, is a common theme in your songs and a big part of Cars & Trains’ style. A lot of your lyrics and the imagery within them, seem to be based on the relationship (or clash) between the urban, or man-made, and the natural. What do you find the most interesting in these themes? What draws you to them? I grew up outside of New York City, so there was a lot of that dichotomy in my life. Spending a lot of time outdoors, but also spending so much time in the city, it was an interesting contrast and it obviously had a lot of influence on me. There are different parts of the city, mostly on the periphery, where there are these near wild areas butting up right against the urban environment. In some of them, even in Central Park it can be kind of easy to lose yourself and forget you're in a major urban center, even if just for a moment. I love the opposing forces, thinking of how they work against each other but also how they can be integrated to be stronger in contemporary life. It's also fascinating to think of the power of nature to reclaim, to think of how things will be reshaped once we're gone. Are you involved in any ecological and environmental movements? I've been vegan for twelve years, and for most of that time I haven't been as active as I'd like to be. I've been slowly trying to change that and get involved with more local animal liberation oriented groups. At the same time I'm trying to broaden my perspective and start working with social justice groups, but that hasn't materialized yet. It's all interlinked; exploitation is exploitation whether on the animal level or the human animal level. Other than managing your own career, you also work as the label boss of Circle Into Square, which is a partner label to Ceschi Ramos’ Fake Four Inc. How did this partnership came to be and what exactly does it entail? Ceschi and I knew each other via common friends, and had been fans of each other's music for a while. A long time ago when Circle Into Square was just a small thing that I had started to put out my own music, I ended up building what at the time was a pretty state of the art webstore. In and of itself it was kind of just a waste of features, so when Ceschi hit me up to see if I'd been interested in joining forces, I was pretty down to do it. Fake Four was just starting up too at the time, so the store gave them a great advantage out of the gate. Eventually the relationship grew to the point where Fake Four was able to start helping to fund Circle Into Square releases, which was a huge boon. Eventually we got to a place where we were funding ourselves via sales and licensing, so we don't do that anymore, but we still do work together. I tend to help Fake Four with their tech needs, help maintain their site, and just generally help with stuff when I can. Over the years, it seems like your music has been moving from the more beat-based electronic sound towards the more organic, folk end of the spectrum. While it’s still a folk/electronic combination, it seems like the proportions have been gradually changing, if that makes sense. Was that change something you consciously pursued or did it just happen as you recorded more and more music? I just really liked the idea of pushing the boundary of what "electronic", sample based music is. Getting it to the point where it's so organic it's hard to tell where the live instruments end and the sequencing begins. I feel like I hit that boundary and have been kind of bouncing back from it a bit. Some of my newer stuff is a little more electronic oriented again. Continuously I'm trying to find new routes to solve the same problems, so it will be interesting to see where it goes next. If my research is correct then last year you were involved as a composer in a vegan documentary called “Live and Let Live”. I haven’t seen it, so I’m wondering if this was all new music, scored for the movie, or did it use Cars & Trains music? Is working on music for films something you’d like to do more of in the future? Yes, I did a few things for that. Most of it is existing tracks, from The Roots, The Leaves I believe. There are a couple of spot things I did that are more or less ambient improvisations. It was fun. I'd love to do more work like that in future, but unfortunately don't know where to start. You can find out more about the documentary here, by the way: http://www.letlivefilm.com/en/ You’re often doing features and remixes for other artists. Your production and vocals on Sole’s “My Veganism” (from “No Wising Up No Settling Down” – one of our favorite records of 2013) made for one of the best Sole songs in recent years and a definite highlight of the album. How (if at all) does your production and writing process change when you’re working with other artists, especially the ones working in different genres than Cars & Trains? It's a fun way to step outside of what I'm doing and look at things from a different perspective. Tim (Sole) and I had been talking about doing another song together for years, so it was great that it finally happened. I had tried a few tracks before but this was the first one I did for him in a while where everything just fell together quickly. I had a lot of fun producing that song. I guess overall it enables me to try some things I wouldn't necessarily do under Cars & Trains, for stylistic reasons. I can get darker, heavier, more aggressive. Or more upbeat and poppy, whatever works for the given situation. Tim and I are tentatively working on an EP together, but I'll let you know more about that if it materializes. I'd love to be doing more work like this as well, it's a great way to try out fun and weird things. What’s next for Cars & Trains and Circle Into Square? Other than the tour later this month, what do the fans have to look forward to in the near future? Cars & Trains: hopefully a brand new instrumental full length next year, some more collaborations. Big Pauper and I have been talking about doing a psych-folk collaboration for years. Other than that, I've got a few other projects I'm working on--- some heavier stuff. Playing in a hardcore band with some friends, amongst other things. Circle Into Square: Our next release is a vinyl full length by The Harvey Girls. Circle Into Square is unfortunately going on indefinite hiatus after this fall, so I can focus on my own projects for a while. Running a record label as a volunteer can be pretty rough on top of everything else, so I am going to step back and take it easy on myself for a while. It's been fun and hopefully it will come back in some form in the future. In the meanwhile you can help fund the new Harvey Girls record here. Thanks for the interview! ____________________________________________
For more on Cars & Trains music, info and tour dates make sure to visit the official website. You can also keep up with all the news by liking the Facebook fanpage, or following C&S on Twitter. If you're looking for more good music, check out other artists from both Circle Into Square and Fake Four Inc.
And if that's STILL not enough, check out more of our music articles and interviews. Tagged: music, TM Interviews. |
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