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Interview: The Hush Sound (Pt. 2)
Interview: The Hush Sound (Pt. 2)
- Genre : More Music
- Type: News
- Author : Super Admin
- Date : Fri, 13 Jun 2008
Do you get to write a lot on the road too?
I do, but I don't get to write a lot on piano, because there's not really enough space to set up an extra keyboard. I've been writing so much on guitar and mandolin, and it'll be fun to transfer those things to piano, if I choose to. Maybe I won't though. I may just play guitar on our next record. Who knows?
When did you start writing on mandolin?
Well, Alex from Phantom Planet and I went to this music shop one day, and I bought a violin, and he bought a mandolin. Now, he's been playing his mandolin everyday.
The album has a real emotional push-and-pull. What sparked that?
Bob and I had been best friends for years, until we started the band. Once we started touring together, everything just fell apart. We just decided that we were going to do separate projects and that we didn't want to work together anymore. Then when we went on our headlining tour in the Fall of 2006, we realized that all of these people really care about our band. We're doing a cool and unique thing, and we can make it work, because all of the little stuff going on between us wasn't half as important as what we can create together. So out of that whole period of time, I was writing so much music, and Bob was writing so much music. When we went in to make this record together, the only conflict was making a cohesive record. Some songs initially sounded like they could've been my solo project, while others sounded like they could've been Bob's. So we had to really compromise a lot. Out of the conflict that we had, a way better record emerged, because we had to really challenge each other to get there. I'm really proud of it. It took a lot of emotional energy to get here. For the next record, we're totally ready to sit down and write together, and that's what we want to do.
That conflict does come through at points on the record, but it makes things even more interesting and dynamic.
Well, I hope so! Bob and I offer totally different flares. For example, as a solo singer/songwriter, so many guys would not listen to me, because, sometimes, they don't want to listen to the Carole Kings of the world. Meanwhile, a lot of girls don't want to listen to Elvis Costello-style rock. With Bob and I being a team together, it gives people a wide spectrum of stuff to listen to.
The album feels very honest for you, too. Was it tough to write because it goes so deep?
Yeah, it's a very honest record. It's never tough to write though, and, for me, it's never tough to be honest. It's almost tough to hide the honesty a little bit and disguise things so the people I'm writing about don't know that it's about them [Laughs].
Many artists these days end up falling into a formula or box, but you guys stand alone, in terms of sound and aesthetic.
You think so? Well, that's cool. That makes me feel good. That's just what I'm hoping. I don't want to ever compare us to anyone else, and I'm trying to make comparison an impossibility. We're just doing what we want and what we love so much. I want to create music that I would love to listen to that doesn't exist yet. We're on the path to doing that.
There's also a classic sense of catharsis in your music.
Even if I'm singing a song that's sad or that holds a lot of emotional significance for me, I never want to make people sad. I want to make other people feel hopeful. I think that might be why we sound different. Even if I'm sad, I don't want other people to feel that way. I want them to recognize that they feel that emotion too, but that it'll pass.
The lyrics have a real literary sensibility. Do you read a lot?
I guess so. When I was in high school, I was reading a classic book per week. I would take down East of Eden one week, and then read Moby Dick the next week. That was my project. I feel like
I do, but I don't get to write a lot on piano, because there's not really enough space to set up an extra keyboard. I've been writing so much on guitar and mandolin, and it'll be fun to transfer those things to piano, if I choose to. Maybe I won't though. I may just play guitar on our next record. Who knows?
When did you start writing on mandolin?
Well, Alex from Phantom Planet and I went to this music shop one day, and I bought a violin, and he bought a mandolin. Now, he's been playing his mandolin everyday.
The album has a real emotional push-and-pull. What sparked that?
Bob and I had been best friends for years, until we started the band. Once we started touring together, everything just fell apart. We just decided that we were going to do separate projects and that we didn't want to work together anymore. Then when we went on our headlining tour in the Fall of 2006, we realized that all of these people really care about our band. We're doing a cool and unique thing, and we can make it work, because all of the little stuff going on between us wasn't half as important as what we can create together. So out of that whole period of time, I was writing so much music, and Bob was writing so much music. When we went in to make this record together, the only conflict was making a cohesive record. Some songs initially sounded like they could've been my solo project, while others sounded like they could've been Bob's. So we had to really compromise a lot. Out of the conflict that we had, a way better record emerged, because we had to really challenge each other to get there. I'm really proud of it. It took a lot of emotional energy to get here. For the next record, we're totally ready to sit down and write together, and that's what we want to do.
That conflict does come through at points on the record, but it makes things even more interesting and dynamic.
Well, I hope so! Bob and I offer totally different flares. For example, as a solo singer/songwriter, so many guys would not listen to me, because, sometimes, they don't want to listen to the Carole Kings of the world. Meanwhile, a lot of girls don't want to listen to Elvis Costello-style rock. With Bob and I being a team together, it gives people a wide spectrum of stuff to listen to.
The album feels very honest for you, too. Was it tough to write because it goes so deep?
Yeah, it's a very honest record. It's never tough to write though, and, for me, it's never tough to be honest. It's almost tough to hide the honesty a little bit and disguise things so the people I'm writing about don't know that it's about them [Laughs].
Many artists these days end up falling into a formula or box, but you guys stand alone, in terms of sound and aesthetic.
You think so? Well, that's cool. That makes me feel good. That's just what I'm hoping. I don't want to ever compare us to anyone else, and I'm trying to make comparison an impossibility. We're just doing what we want and what we love so much. I want to create music that I would love to listen to that doesn't exist yet. We're on the path to doing that.
There's also a classic sense of catharsis in your music.
Even if I'm singing a song that's sad or that holds a lot of emotional significance for me, I never want to make people sad. I want to make other people feel hopeful. I think that might be why we sound different. Even if I'm sad, I don't want other people to feel that way. I want them to recognize that they feel that emotion too, but that it'll pass.
“I never want to make people sad. I want to make other people feel hopeful.”
The lyrics have a real literary sensibility. Do you read a lot?
I guess so. When I was in high school, I was reading a classic book per week. I would take down East of Eden one week, and then read Moby Dick the next week. That was my project. I feel like
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