More and more it seems the artists I enjoy listening to and want to interview aren’t necessarily hard-partiers or binge drinkers however; that doesn’t make them any less interesting or desirable to talk to. That’s why I’ve decided to do a new interview series – to accompany
Bands and Booze – called
Headphone Favorites.
Today’s interview, the first Headphone Favorites ever, is with the extremely talented Hrishikesh Hirway, better know as The One AM Radio. Aside from releasing the acclaimed A Name Writ in Water in 2004, Hirway recently signed with my favorite record label of 2006, Dangerbird Records, and is getting ready to put out his third full-length album, This Too Will Pass (see Chris Walker Vs. Dangerbird Records).
Much like The One AM Radio’s music, the man behind it is very thoughtful and genuine when answering questions. Today, Hirway talks about how he came to sign with Dangerbird Records, what's in a name, and the mis-adventures of getting stopped in South Carolina.
First of all, congratulations on signing with Dangerbird Records; I think they’re a great label. How did the union between you two come about?
Hrishikesh Hirway: A friend of mine introduced me to Jeff at Dangerbird because he was looking for someone to come help out at the label. I’d just moved back to LA and was looking for design work. We got along really well, and around the same time, I was finishing up my album and looking for someone to release it. Over the next few months, I got to see first-hand what a great label they were and they got to know me and [my] music, and we all eventually decided that it would be very exciting and would make a lot of sense to have the record come out on Dangerbird.
Picture taken from Dangerbird Records website.
Will Dangerbird be re-releasing your back catalogue – A Cloud’s Fear of Kites: A Kite’s Fear of Heights, for example – in the future?
HH: We’ve talked about it, but there aren’t any immediate specific plans. I did put up that EP on iTunes, though, so it’s still available in some form, even though the actual physical copies are sold out.
Now, I’ve heard “In The Time We’ve Got” and it’s everything I’ve come to love about your music; what can fans of The One AM Radio expect from the new album? Will it be a progression of the sound we’ve come to associate with The One AM Radio or a departure into an entirely new realm?
HH: I'd say this record is mostly a progression, hopefully an evolution. The sound of it, I think, is bigger and darker than what I've done before, and I think it's a little poppier, too, maybe.
I remember reading a while back on The One AM Radio’s official site you were done recording under that moniker and wanted to start making music – or art, at least – under your real name, Hrishikesh Hirway. What made you change your mind?
HH: A friend of mine, Nat, from the band Transistor Transistor, said something that I thought was pretty wise. He’d come to hang out at Godcity, the recording studio where I was tracking some drum parts for the album. We were talking about my then-recent decision to do away with the name “The One AM Radio”, which I came up with and had been using since I was 19. I felt like I’d outgrown it, that it no longer fit. He said that band names are much like babies’ names; you can never know how fitting or how well-suited a name will be at the beginning. As time passes, things might turn out to be different that what you’d imagined, and though the name might not always seem perfect, that’s part of the adventure of it all. That idea rang true to me, and I’d been finding it increasingly hard to sever myself from the history I’d had with the name and not feel like it was a mistake. So after some weeks of trying to lose it, I re-adopted it.
Picture taken from The One Am Radio’s MySpace profile.
Going back to art for a minute, I know you had an art exhibit at The Raven in Arizona, are you planning any new showcases this year?
HH: I don’t have anything set up. I’m making new work, but I’ll be touring for the majority of the year, and I’ll mostly be focused on that.
I can imagine that will dominate most of your time. Now, I know you’re not much of a drinker but I also know you’ve done a fair share of touring and traveling – with more to come, as you’ve said – do you have any outlandish, funny, or memorable stories from the road?
HH: One of my favorite memories from being on tour was getting stopped by the cops in South Carolina in 2003. It was just me and Joe Grimm (aka The Wind-Up Bird) in a sedan, with all our equipment. The cop asked us what we did, and when we replied that we were musicians, he looked at the gear in the back seat. He asked, “What’ve you got back there? Some guitars? A violin?” We confirmed, and he went on to ask us if, in addition, we had any of the following items: “Beer?” No. “Marijuana?” No. “Cocaine?” No. “Crack, angel dust, PCP?” No, sir. “Any knives?” No. “Guns?” The list went on. Somewhere in the middle there, without the slightest sign he might be joking, he asked us: “Any swords?” But luckily, we didn’t have any swords with us. That day.
Well that’s fortunate. Did you make any New Years resolutions this year?
HH: The usual ones: be healthier, call my mom more often.
Are you sticking to them?
HH: As usual, only somewhat.
Picture taken from The One Am Radio’s MySpace profile.
All right, one more question; which are better: Vikings, ninjas, or pirates?
HH: This is tough. I like the deadly stealthiness of a ninja. Ok, I'd say Vikings aren't really in the running. I think Sir Francis Drake is pretty cool; he helped England defeat the Spanish Armada in the 16th century and was knighted and yet was also considered a pirate. Still, clichés though they are, the R rolling and the eyepatches, the scurvy and the peglegs, these are all strikes against the pirates. I'm going to have to go with ninjas.
---
For more on The One AM Radio, including tour dates, mp3s, pictures, and more visit the links below:
[Official Site] The One AM Radio.
[MySpace] The One AM Radio.
[MP3] The One AM Radio: In The Time We’ve Got
0 comments:
Post a Comment