Greg W. Locke: Tell me how this record with Magick Magick Orchestra came to be. Did you approach them?
John Vanderslice: Well … basically, Nina Troy, the director and arranger of the Orchestra, had emailed me when she moved to San Francisco with this incredibly bold idea where her orchestra would be the house orchestra of Tiny Telephone, the studio I own. I thought it was incredible. So I was totally intrigued to meet her and see the shows she was doing. She was doing straight classical, very well-curated shows that were just incredible shows. Just great shows. So from that point she started working a lot with bands at my studio – Death Cab, Dodos, tons of bands. So it was just a really natural decision for me at that point to have her arrange an entire record for me. So the record was very collaborative between Nina and I.
GWL: So then the record was recorded at Tiny Telephone?
JV: No, it actually wasn’t because there were too many people. We couldn’t fit everyone in – there were 24 or 25 people tracking at once. So we went to a studio in Berkeley called Fantasy Studios, this really historic and fantastic place with this huge room to play in. So we recorded there in two days. We did it all in two days, so nothing was really overdubbed, music-wise. Then we went to Tiny Telephone to finish up the vocals and mix it.
GWL: So this was a whole new process for you then. You normally record at Tiny Telephone.
JV: Exactly. It was very different for me on every level. It was eye-opening and challenging and, for the most part, better. I mean, it’s better not to spend six months recording a record, for sure. This was a lot more pre-production than recording. There was a lot of rehearsal, so most of the heavy lifting was done ahead of time.
GWL: The thing that really stood out for me right away was the vocal. Something seemed instantly different to me. Was there something different in the process that changed something along the way. Or is it just me?
JV: Man, that’s such a great question. I haven’t shared this with anyone yet, really, but my wife got two kittens right before we started recording and I realized that I was insanely allergic to these cats – and it really changed my voice. In some ways, it made my voice rougher and more fucked up sounding. I mean, I loved the cats, but I was really kind of mad at first that they were there. Then I started listening back to the tracks and was like “man, this is really cool; this sounds nasty and dirty.”
GWL: You mentioned that the process was different and there was more rehearsal and preparation involved. While putting these tracks together did you worry at all about how you’d play them on stage?
JV: Oh yeah, definitely. But I always really worry about that for every record. Pixel Revolt, for example, has a lot of orchestration and Celeste and Orchestron and Mellotron and songs with two drum kits. Time travel is heavily overdubbed as well. So from the get-go I made the decision that I wasn’t going to worry about how things translated at all; I was just going to do different versions of songs live and completely commit to whatever band permutation I was in at the time. That’s actually, in some ways, more fun that doing straight versions of the songs.
GWL: You’re out on the road right now with Damien Jurado. How did you two hook up? Is there a history there?
JV: Yeah, I’ve known Damien for five or six years. We played together in Europe a few times. I really love Damien and am good friends with both him and his wife. So when this idea came up it was just brilliant. A brilliant idea. (Sniffles.) Hold on, I’m having some allergy issues. (Sniffles. Other noises.) I just pulled in to Denver and this is like our first nice day since being on the road. I’m so fed up, man, with this weather. Is it nice where you are?
GWL: It’s fine now, but it was raining earlier today.
JV: Ahh, okay. But it might be nice when we’re there. I’m hoping this whole weather system changes because it’s been fucked up the whole time we’ve been out. (Sniffled.) But … so Damien and I have a lot of history and we’re both really happy to be doing all this touring together now.
GWL: Speaking of Indiana, I saw that you guys are doing three or four shows here on this one tour, which is pretty uncommon for an indie rock artist. Most come and play one, maybe two cities – or just skip us all together. How did this come up? Do you have anything to do with the booking?
JV: Oh yeah, man, I pay attention to all that shit. I like playing places I’ve never been and I love smaller cities and towns. Playing in Philly was great, but you’ve been there a hundred times. There’s something exciting about pulling up to a place you’ve never been, ya know. And I just love small towns. I grew up in small towns. I love open, under-populated towns with history. I feel very much at home in those places. My booking agent, also, is in Indiana, and my drummer is from Bloomington. So I have that. And my label is in Indiana. Also, I never say no to interesting shows.
GWL: Every time one of the Bloomington labels books a show here it sells out …
JV: … Oh shit. Hey Greg, I just saw Damien pull up and need to go talk to him. Can I call you right back?
GWL: Yeah, sure.
[BOTH HANG UP]
GWL: A few more questions.
JV: Okay. (Sniffles.)
GWL: I’m curious to know more about Tiny Telephone. How much time is spent at the studio and how much is spent on your own music. What’s the balance?
JV: It’s usually 50/50, but it’s been a wee bit worse because I opened a new studio a couple weeks ago. So it’s considerably worse because it’s way more studio stuff than before. So it’s way more studio than before and I’d say that the next four or five months will be rough. I’ll just have to shut down between this tour and me European tour and focus on the studio.
GWL: Has your studio evolved to the point where it can function well without your constant involvement?
JV: Well, it functions with out me when it needs to. But there are things that happen that ruin everything. For instance, yesterday was fine until 3 p.m., when I get a call about this console we have from 1976, saying that it’s down. We had a client there waiting for the console to be fixed, so I end up on the phone for six or seven hours before the show. So those things happen.
GWL: A guy I know has an all-analog studio. He told me that your studio either is or was at one point all-analog. Are you still running it that was these days?
JV: Tons of analog gear. Tons. But we do have Pro Tools now. We just have to; we’d go out of business if we didn’t have it, unfortunately. But we do run tape decks and offer free tape to clients because we prefer that people record on tape.
GWL: Is there anyone you worked with recently or are scheduled to work with that you’re especially looking forward to?
JV: David Jay, the bassist from Bauhaus, is coming in from Finland in a couple of days. So I’m excited about that. There’s always something like that going on … lots of interesting bands coming in and out.
GWL: Between your records and tours and studio, you’ve worked with and been around so many great, interesting artists over the years. Are there any one or two artists you’ve spent time with that stand out. Ya know, experiences you return to in your head or find yourself talk about?
JV: Touring with The Mountain Goats was the most impactful thing for me. Ever. Also, touring with Spoon and watching Spoon play a lot of shows was huge. Very big.
GWL: This interview is going to run on a website that focuses equally on music and film. I’ve seen here and there where you have displaed a deep interest film, so I was wondering if you’ve ever worked with anything having to do with the medium – you know, on the music side. Listening to your music and knowing your studio history, it seems like somewhere you’d go at some point if you haven’t already. So has anyone approached you for a score or anything like that?
JV: I would love to that. I mean, I have, on an uber-indie scale with no money or budget involved. But it’s so hard to sink two weeks or a month of your life into that, ya know. But I definitely would do that. I LOVE film, so if something like that came up, I’d shut down to do it because I’ve always been into movies. (Pauses; talks to someone in his van.) But I do have to say that I’ve always liked less music in movies – like more Dogme 95 stuff. Or, like the Dardenne Brothers, where there’s like hardly a note of music. I kind of love that.
GWL: I agree, absolutely. One more question. I know that you just released a record, but you’ve always been prolific, so is there anything in the works for us to look forward to? JV: Oh yeah, definitely. The next thing will be another record with the Magick Magick Orchestra. That will be out next year and we’ll probably record it sometime later this year after the Europe tour.
GWL: Great. Thanks a lot John.
JV: Sure. Well hey, Greg, will I meet you at the show? You’d better say hi to me.
GWL: Yeah, I’ll be at one or two of the shows. JV: Okay. Well, you’d better say hi.
GWL: I will, man.
JV: Great. Take care!
