Olds Sleeper Interview by : Rev. Nix

THE NEW album is called PLAINSPOKEN. What significance does the title have?

I wanted this batch of songs to be about everyday life—there are themes of loss, leaving, death, spiritual awakening, everyday struggles. I wanted the language to be direct, like common speech. Like in the title track, it seems to me like the narrator of that song is just sitting next to you at bar, telling you what hes been through. AND another song, “this dirty floor”, I imagined a mother talking to her children. I wanted these songs to feel like you were listening to someone talking, in a plainspoken way..in a way that’s earnest, heartfelt, true. I think a lot of times people arent really listening to one another as much as they are waiting to say something themselves. There’s a lot of poetry in everyday language, in the way different people talk…people from different areas, people of different ages.
Plainspoken also to me also has a ring of truth to it. When someone is plainspoken, they say what they mean. No bullshit. No hidden feelings. No hidden agendas. Those are the people I gravitate toward. People who are willing to disagree with you because they respect the truth. I wanted these songs to embody that idea.

How did you go about designing the cover?
The cover is a piece of artwork by Andrew Wyeth. He painted in Pennsylvania quite a bit…I go the Brandywine River Museum almost once a year to see his work. I feel like his visuals are very influential on my lyrics. I feel energized everytime I leave that place or look at his work. He paints a lot of brown, autumn Pennyslvania landscapes, and the mood is so tangible, because its what I see every year…the browning of the Pennyslvania hills, fields, and trees. When I see his work, I sometimes can “smell” it. Its so real. Its very dream like too.
I felt the crows really captured the mood of the album, which is mostly dark. Black birds have so many symbolic representations. It just seemed to fit on many levels for this album. I was really happy to come across it. It fit and I “stole” it.

Some of your music strays in and out of folk genres…can you comment on that?

I really love folk music. I love old time banjo music, country blues, bluegrass, and old folk singers like Clarence Ashley and Doc Watson. I was into straight edge punk as a teen, then alt-punk and alt- metal like Jesus Lizard and Steel Pole Bathtub. And so I have these moods where Im feeling a certain way—overwhelming at times- and I need to get it down and get it out or Im gonna go get destroyed and do something stupid. Sometimes that mood is created with just an acoustic guitar and sometimes its with lots of distortion and drums and sometimes its just a banjo. I like to lay down something acoustically, but then add distorted elements over it…to try and create something entirely different. I think, that after five years of doing this very seriously, Ive created my own sound in a way. It feels honest, because it really represents whats going on in my head. Im not trying to make things up. I just write what Im thinking about.
Your banjo- I hear it has some family history?
My playing the banjo is a gift I got from my grandfather, Clyde. He was a bluegrass musician, he played banjo and guitar, and had these big parties when I was little. Guys picking and singing into the night while the grandkids ran around and swam in his pool. I used to ball up at the bottom of that pool-like nine feet deep- and just sit there holding my breath in the glow of the pool light- and I still remember the reverberations of that music in the water.
I think he first put a banjo in my hands when I was 14. I didn’t get it at that time, it was strange, heavy, too big. Then, I moved out West in my twenties, and part of my nostalgia for home was the sound of bluegrass- a Bill Monroe tape that just happened to fall into my hands. The sound of that music cut right to my guts. I didn’t realize it had seeped into me so deeply.
I moved back East and started to visit my grandfather and try to learn banjo and songs from him. It was cool to kind of show him that I wanted to do what he was doing. But he had grown old, and his fingers werent the same…he had undergone surgeries that left his hands humb. It was hard for him to play. That was tough to see.
It wasn’t long before he passed on, and I inherited his Gibson Granada- it’s a spectacular instrument. After he died, I kind of started playing it out of respect for him, like a remembrance. When Im playing banjo, I think about him and my grandmother a lot. It’s a very real connection to them. “Birds and a funeral”, off the new album, is about my grandfather. I didn’t know that when I recorded it, but realized it later. I have two banjos, the other one is a Gold Tone. It rocks as well.
So, why should anybody pay $8 for the new album. You usually give away most of your music, right?
Yeah. Ive thought about that for a long time. I give most of my music away because its helped me connect with lots of people. But, Im pretty broke right now, and my studio needs work if I am going to keep recording. And I want to try and press a physical CD sometime in the next year. So, I kind of think of it like a KICKSTARTER project, hoping people will being willing to pay $8 for two albums- there’s a bonus album included with the download- so I can put together some funds , record more music and give it away in the future. I am so thankful for the people who have nice words and response to what Im doing. I feel like, especially with this set of songs, Im bearing my own demons out there- my doubts and fears. Sometimes I think all art is about fear. How much of myself do I want to share? It feels very vulnerable. But then, someone will write me a short email and tell me they like a certain song, and it just makes my whole week. Seriously. It makes the whole thing make sense.
I think a lot of people out there have this artistic inclination in them. Sometimes its just too scary to actually try to pursue that vision and possibly fail. I failed for years until I found my sound. The fear of failure or looking stupid looms large over you- it can feel self-indulgent at times too. Especially if you come from an environment that discourages expression.
But you have to make decisions about being who you are. You have to listen when that vision shakes you, when you feel the nudge of some idea tuggin at ya…if it’s a painting, a poem, a song, a sound, a photograph you want to take….you have to listen to that. You have to trust yourself and follow it. Don’t let discouraging people around you dismiss it for you—fuck em. After the right amount of work, you will find an audience or even just one other person who says—“yeah, me too”. It’s a way of shedding old skins, and connecting to the big mystery around us. It’s a way of escaping loneliness. And if you ignore it, my feeling is you will bear regret at some point in your long life. No one needs that.
And, if youre reading this, and you don’t have $8 to spend- Ive been there—just shoot me an email. I will take care of ya.
oldssleeper@yahoo.com

Angie by Olds Sleeper
www.youtube.com
from the album Plainspoken www.oldssleeper.bandcamp.com www.thecrackerswamp.com