#he was. shitty midwest emo. i never liked a lot of the same music that he did. the gay car seat headrest dogs or whatever remind me of him

[crossnamara]

horrible when music reminds me of people. what do you MEAN all of a verbal equinox and fucking. dirty little secret (bc she had it on her playlist for me) reminds me of my ex fwb.... girl..........................

[agentcaboose]

Day 3: ... and they were roommates

Me and Michael (MGMT) - washboose

welcome back to the midwest emo Blood Gulch Avenue AU

some tags: washboose, onesided cabnut (donut x caboose), side grimmons, endgame chucker, some angst, system epsilon

disclaimer: still super disjointed, I'm working on timel line and relationship stuff, it's a little messy, but they are all messy twenty-somethings, (eventually I'll release full tracks and who wrote what songs and about who, I promise)

(tw: canon typical character death and mental illness)

Michael and David meet at a funeral. David had just lost his best friend, Connie, and Michael is about to lose his to grief. Caboose isn't the best drummer in Blood Gulch, but he enjoys the sound and the repetitive movements. Wash is trying to reconnect with music after losing the one person he felt comfortable making music with passes. When Church leaves Violets Are Blue, and Tucker is forced to seek out a new guitarist, he remembers that other guy who played at Tex's funeral.

They suck together. Like really suck. They can't practice in Church's garage anymore, which lands them in the shitty community center basement. Caboose has a friend at the center that is teaching him acoustic guitar, and they write songs together. His friend, Donut (Wash swears that can't possibly be his name), also drives Caboose around after the big guy got his license suspended. Wash offers to take up some of the carpool duties since he doesn't live too far from where Caboose works.

At the center, Caboose's drumming is too loud, Tucker blows out his amp, and Wash has never touched an electric before in his life. Grif overhears the monstrosity that the Blues have become and begrudgingly invite them to his garage to practice. Donut has been filling in for Simmons after a big Grimmons fight, momentarily disbanding Red Riot. Donut and Caboose play a few of their songs for the group, the songs remind Grif of Simmons, Tucker thinks about Church, and Wash can't help but feel like Caboose is only playing to him. No one notices how Donut seems to only be singing to Caboose.

Wash writes a song for the first time since Connie passed. He sings this to the group, and Donut clocks him immediately. Later, Donut has a heart to heart with Wash about how different Caboose is. How he doesn't have a good memory, he doesn't understand a lot of basic concepts, how he seems to be in his own little world, and how Caboose wasn't always life this. Donut confesses that he has loved Michael for a very long time, since they were grade school kids. Then, Michael was in a bad accident that cut of oxygen to his brain. He deteriated quickly into someone Donut didn't recognize. Yes, he was still Caboose, but not his Michael. "He can be your Michael now."

Me and Michael, solid as they come.

Time passes, and they become The Reds And Blues. Grimmons is together, Church is back, but not the same, Wash reunites with Carolina who he hadn't seen since basic, and Caboose is, well, he's Caboose. He has a new dog he found on the street, he has his best friend back, and he gets to make music with more people. Caboose follows Wash around now that he's being super nice to him. They even play acoustic together! Caboose one day decides to share a song that reminds him of Wash. He doesn't remember where he heard it, but he asks Wash to help him finish it. They play this for The Reds And Blues. Donut leaves the band that night.

All I want is you, will you stay with me? Hold me in your arms and sway me like a sea.

Okay, I think I have to stop writing or I won't post this before midnight ^^" I love this AU so dearly,,, I wish I could actually, ya know, write it.

[sinceileftyoublog]

Wild Pink Interview: 99% Literal

Photo by Hayden Sitomer

BY JORDAN MAINZER

One of the breakout indie rock albums of 2018 came from Wild Pink, the New York band led by John Ross that found success the same way The War on Drugs did: embracing the heartland. You wouldn’t necessarily think of rural America when you think of Brooklyn, let alone modern-day Philly. But Ross keeps both his music and his real stories broad enough to apply anywhere. At first a punk band who released two EPs in 2015, Wild Pink dropped their self-titled debut last year. Right then, Ross immediately started writing what would become Yolk in the Fur. At the same time, he was exploring ambient music with his solo project Eerie Gaits, something that added to the sonic expanse of Yolk. (EG released a split single with Dondadi in April.)

When I spoke to Ross a few months ago over the phone, he was at home in Brooklyn, having just played the record release show for Yolk in the Fur. (They played 7 of the 10 songs, still figuring out how to duplicate the remaining 3 due to their additional production.) Two nights ago, they started a tour with label mates Restorations; they play Empty Bottle Saturday night along with Cleveland’s Signals Midwest. If you’ve seen Wild Pink before, they may be a bit different this time around, and not just because of their new songs. They’ve added a keyboard player, and when playing in NYC, a pedal steel player.

Read my conversation with Ross below.

Since I Left You: Beyond what might be obvious to the listener, how is Yolk in the Fur unique as compared to the debut or anything else you’ve released?

John Ross: Man, I don’t know. I feel like in the past, I didn’t spend as much time on the songs. Each song on this record got its fair share of time.

SILY: What was the recording process like?

JR: We went with Justin [Pizzoferrato] of Sonelab in Western Mass. We did two days with him. There are a few songs I started recording at home, but then I brought it to Justin.

SILY: What influenced some of the sonic shifts from the debut--increased use of synthesizers, space, etc.?

JR: I think I just wanted it to sound bigger. After that first record came out, I started using synthesizers on my solo project Eerie Gaits. So I wanted to incorporate them into these songs.

SILY: Did doing Eerie Gaits, apart from having synthesizers at your disposal, have an influence on the aesthetic of Yolk in the Fur?

JR: Absolutely. I love ambient music. I think Yolk in the Fur has ambient music in its DNA. Everything that I do has some roots in that world for sure.

SILY: Lyrically, the new record has quite a bit of a sense of time and place. There are a lot of specific references to specific places and things. To what extent are they based on events or people, or are they based more on ideas or feelings?

JR: It’s all pretty literal. Like 99% literal. So every time there’s a time and place, it’s nonfiction. Or at least coming from an actual time and place. Maybe there’s some liberties taken here and there.

SILY: How do you decide what stories you want to tell?

JR: I don’t know. It becomes clearer when you spend time with an idea, whether or not it’s gonna make it or not. It kinds of becomes clearer, if that makes sense.

SILY: What about the title track made you want to name the album after it? Or did that come in reverse?

JR: The album title came after the title track. The lyrics around the title are a good representation of what I think the record is about.

SILY: A lot of lines are broad and sweeping and suggest a long period of time, and it fits with nostalgic, expansive music. Can you talk about the interplay between the music and the lyrics?

JR: It’s not anything I’m aware of doing. I gravitate towards and dig emotional music. Not emo, but emotional music. Sweeping, romantic stuff. It’s just what I enjoy listening to. That’s how the songs end up.

I like cinematic music. My music, to me, has a cinematic quality, and the lyrics are pretty narrative and lend themselves to a cinematic feeling.

SILY: Have you ever written a film score?

JR: Yeah. I’ve done the music for some short films and a feature film several years ago. I write a lot of commercial music. So putting music to video is something I enjoy doing.

SILY: What’s the story behind the album art?

JR: We knew that we wanted to have the same format as the first record. It’s the same dimensions, just a variation in the color and image. It’s an image from NASA of the Kuwaiti oil fires of 1991. In the same way I don’t exactly know why “Yolk in the Fur” is about knowing when you need to stand up and be tough, that image is just kind of looking at a huge representation of how shitty humanity can be. The striking image, at first you might not even be able to tell what it is, then when you do know, you’re like, “Oh fuck. There’s something seriously wrong with people who would do that to the planet.”

SILY: The shape of it almost looks like the Grim Reaper.

JR: Oh, cool! My opinion, at first glance, it looks beautiful, but when you study it more, you see the horror in it, which is a cool dichotomy.

SILY: A lot has been written about the difference in tone between your first two records, this one a bit more optimistic. How would you say that the new record balances between a sense of acceptance about the way things are and will always be and a yearning to make things better?

JR: I think the record is definitely more optimistic. I think the first record is loosely about how shitty things are in the world today. This record is definitely about that as well, but also appreciating people in your life and still trying to see some optimism in the world. There are a few songs on there about seeing something mundane that has some beauty in it. 

SILY: What gives you optimism on a daily basis?

JR: I love working on music every day. That’s huge. Honestly, my dog.

SILY: Animals may be less intelligent than us, but you never question their innate goodness.

JR: They’re pure.

SILY: Do you still identify with the aesthetic of your early material that’s a bit more punk and raw?

JR: No, but as soon as something’s released, you kind of just move on. Actually, for some reason, I just listened to the Good Life songs for the first time in 2 or 3 years, and it sounded like a totally different band. But I’m glad it started there. I’m glad it’s where it is now, too. I don’t really listen to a ton of punk music.

SILY: What's next for you?

JR: I’m writing another record right now, so I hope to start recording it at the end of this year or early next year at the latest. I’m also working on another Eerie Gaits record.

SILY: Do you have any idea what shape either of those records are going to take?

JR: I have some ideas--I don’t want to say too much and paint myself into a corner--but I have some rough ideas. I am writing quite a bit.

SILY: Is there anything you’ve been listening to, watching, or reading lately that’s caught your attention?

JR: Ken Burns’ Vietnam. I’m really enjoying the new Middle Kids record. I always like Bruce Springsteen. A lot of ambient music. I also just found this Ethiopian jazz guy I’ve been really liking, Mulatu Astatke.

Wild Pink & Restorations tour dates:

10/11 - Columbus, OH at Big Room Bar w/ Signals Midwest 10/12 - Cleveland, OH at Grog Shop (Signals Midwest's 10-Year Anniversary Party) 10/13 - Chicago, IL at The Empty Bottle w/ Signals Midwest 10/14 - Milwaukee, WI at Cactus Club 10/16 - Hamtramck, MI at The Sanctuary 10/17 - Toronto, ON at The Garrison 10/18 - Buffalo, NY at Rec Room 10/19 - Asbury Park, NJ at Asbury Park Brewery 10/20 - Brooklyn, NY at Rough Trade 10/21 - Philadelphia, PA at The First Unitarian Church