Kid Millions and Sightings discuss the inspiration behind their new Brah Records release, “City Of Straw.” Out on April 13th!

Kid Millions - I know it's been a part of the band for a long time but Jon can you talk a little bit about the incorporation of electronic drums into your set up and how that's evolved and what roll you see the percussion having in the new songs? I know that the drum parts are crafted very carefully - I'd like to hear some comments on that. It's such an alien and exciting combination of approaches - I'm curious.

Jon Lockie (drums/Sightings) - The electronic components - which consist of contact microphones on drums, cymbals and assorted conventional percussion pieces, a drum brain from the early 80s with trigger pads, and occasionally a drum machine - came in before the second record, Michigan Haters, was finished, but appear first on the next record,Absolutes. The contact mic idea came from another musician who was using them for abstract soundscape stuff (for example, contact micing a metal shovel and dragging it across concrete). The "metal shovel on concrete" idea having been used, I decided to try that idea on my acoustic drums. Richard picked up the drum brain at a yard sale. Beginning on Through the Panama and continuing on City of Straw, I've been running the electronic signals through delays and other effects to create more off-kilter rhythmic patterns.

Besides the delays and effects, the application of the electronic sounds hasn't changed dramatically in terms of how I use them. From Absolutes up to City of Straw, there are songs on each record that use only electronic drums, there are songs that use both acoustic and electronic drums and there is the occasional song that uses only acoustic drums. In the context of this band where Mark and Richard have such a broad and strange palette of sounds, the acoustic drums alone feel limited. The integration of electronic drum sounds allows me to complement the texture, timbre and style of the guitar player's sounds and allows us, as a band, to work in an aesthetic not available with just acoustic drums. We're also all fans of electronic music, from 70s/80s synth and drum machine stuff to more contemporary minimal techno. I'm also a big fan of old-school rap, and I find a lot of ideas in the way those producers created new-sounding percussion styles from altering and effecting their drum samples, and then layering multiple drum parts from different sources. Percussion in all styles of electronic music is not usually played by a real drummer and, given the number of percussion parts running, often is not playable by a single drummer, so I practice emulating the complex layering in these songs (be they rap, techno, electro, industrial, whatever) using acoustic and electronic sounds together and what comes out is an odd approach to syncopation and beat construction in addition to an unusual palette of percussion sounds. So the electronic percussion component influences how I play, and not just the sounds. It's not the only influence on how I play, but it's substantial.

As far as the role of electronic percussion in the new songs, versus old songs, or at all, we work out all of our songs playing together, so if a drum part that I start playing works with what the other guys are playing and we can build a song out of it, then that's what I play. On the new record, “Saccharine Traps” and “Sky Above Mud Below” are mostly acoustic drums, with electronic accents, and those are more straight-up rock songs. “City of Straw”, “Tar and Pine”, “We All Amplify” and “Hush” are entirely electronic drums. “Weehawken” and “Jabber Queens” are mostly electronic drums with acoustic drum fills to add some punch. So I guess I would say, given the songs above, that the use of acoustic drums imbues a greater degree of ROCK in the traditional sense, whereas the electronic drums suggest something more like minimal techno or perhaps fall in the "what's doing that?" category, such as in “City of Straw” or “Hush”.

Kid - Richard, I think you're a humble guy about your abilities (or maybe not! personally it's very inspiring) but anyway - could you talk about how your technique has evolved - especially with regards to some of the more challenging jams on this new album? As a listener I feel like you're bringing in a wide palette of techniques and for want of a better word, influences - to your approach to bass playing within the context of Sightings. I admire your ability to bounce between technically challenging passages and simple figures - can you talk about you philosophy of performance if that comes into play? I feel like you have a very refined approach to the instrument which expresses itself in your performance and songwriting.

Richard Hoffman (bass/Sightings) – I think everyone in the band tries to remember the value of minimalism, and as a bass player I am always conscious of the support role bass has in a rock context. But given the textural nature of a lot of what Mark does, if I don't step out a lot of times there's no song. So I try find parts that create excitement and song development without relentlessly noodling away. Ultimately I think we try to write pop music, where there's no chaff and everything has a place. It's not really supposed to be self-indulgent. As far as influences go, it seems like a big no-no to say so in rock music, but it's all about (wanna-be) jazz for me. I learned to play by jamming with friends who were great players. We listened to Bitches Brew and Starless and Bible Black, got wasted and ruined our hearing. I basically have adopted my own half-ass conceptions of two jazz ideas as my approach to playing. Modalism, which (again my half-assed version) basically says, you can practically play any scale against any chord if you work hard enough to resolve it--tonal freedom. And Ornette's Harmolodics, which in my over-simplified take is something like, there's a melodic phrase at the root of a piece, but other than the head and tail (in jazz) no one ever plays it and everyone improvises around it in whatever time or tone they please. Basically it adds freeing the rhythm to the freedom modalism brought to the notes. Boiled down it means there are no rules, but only if you have a good enough ear to make it work!

 So I never think about what Mark plays beyond root notes, and I never worry about the details of Jon's parts--where the one is, how long his phrase is--unless a problem arises. You add to the jazz stuff a band like the Jesus Lizard who made odd time rock so nicely and whose bass player was pretty out front and you get me.

Kid – City Of Straw came after a long (for you) absence to the studio. This project gave you more of room to explore approaches within a studio context than you have in the past - is this accurate? I know that you had a tighter time table in the past. Can you talk about how this might have freed you up more and discuss any new areas the music went within this context? Or maybe it wasn't so different for you - that's cool too. Why?

Richard - Not sure it was hugely different, except that every studio experience is pretty different. It was the most comfortable studio experience in general. Having Pat [Murano - of No Neck Blues Band] there for a day was a big jolt of energy. It couldn't free us too much because we came in with so much material to cover.

Kid - You've mentioned that you feel like this is your best album so far. I'd love to hear a little more about why you think this - b/c as a listener I have a lot of Sightings albums that I like a lot - for different reasons: your debut - for its brutality (and End Times for that matter) to Through The Panama for the clarity of the performance. . .care to comment a little?

Richard - This is probably a more negative thing. I think there are problems with a lot of our records, over-publishing on a couple, not having enough material or good enough performances on another. Personally the noisiness of the first few records in general drives me batty. I think this record is the best confluence of performance, quality material and recording quality.

Kid - There was a lot of material that we had to leave behind b/c of time constraints. . .can you talk about how you made the decisions about what to include?

Richard - Some stuff fell out of favor. Some stuff didn't get finished or the version wasn't quite right. Some stuff was a lesser (or less favored) version of a dynamic already represented on the record. There's at least one song that I would have preferred to have on the record (“Lilith”) but I didn't feel like the arrangement of the recorded one was right (it's just too damn long) and since “We All Amplify” turned out nicely it got the nod. There's so much accident and compromise involved in these things, I wonder how anyone could make a record following a pre-conceived plan or aesthetic.

Kid - Can you talk about the experience of recording the album - perhaps any positive ways that Shahin [Motia's - from Ex Models/Oneida] presence at the board helped shape the experience? Or steer it? The ways that you may have been steered (or not). . .

Richard - One of the best assets a producer/engineer can have at times is just to be invisible. Just not being a pain in the ass is such an underrated positive, because so many engineers are at times real pains. If we are talking specifically about Shahin....what a pain in the ass!!! Just kidding. Seriously, I think his steady demeanor and ability to communicate simple things like, I am tired, I am burnt out, I need a break, instead of acting out were really key to getting through the process. Always willing to try stuff and offer opinions and solutions without getting ego invested in them. Really just ideal. Unfortunately, with the amount of finished songs we were dealing with there just wasn't much room for creative playing around, so he really was stuck just being an engineer most of the time. But there's nothing like emotional maturity (or at least composure) for taking care of business!

Kid – Mark, I know you're not always feeling very confident about the vocals, lyrics and performing them - but I find a ton to recommend there. Your lyrics are crafted and often compelling and affecting. Can you talk about your writing process a bit?

Mark Morgan (vocals, guitar/Sightings) - The few times that I’m forced to write lyrics, I just try to think of some problem or thing that has concerned me during that time and develop it from there as some kind of internal dialogue. I’m a fan of paradoxes and contradictions in contrast to terminally dumb ass black and white world views (although there are plenty of times where 2 + 2 does indeed equal 4 and there’s nothing to think about) and am a person who has issues making up his mind/trying to understand one’s motivations so I like to try and make the lyrics give this sense of conflict. One of my usual tactics is finding an unusual turn of phrase in whatever book I might be reading at the moment and then take that as a springboard to something about my life.

Kid – Mark. . .you've developed a highly individual and identifiable guitar sound over the years. In a way it had all the hallmarks when I first saw you guys in 1998! Or 99? Anyway. . .if you feel up for it - can you talk about developing your aesthetic - some of the steps along the way? I never realized you used loops until we recorded you for instance. . .What I love about it is the complexity of the timbres and the associated emotional freight I experience through that. . .I'd love to hear your thoughts about that b/c I know it is a very personal expression for you. I.e. - you were like, "Don't comment on the guitar!" which I took to mean you have complete ownership of the results and are confident about it.

Mark - I guess in the end I could say that I love the sound of guitars and I hate the sound of guitars and have found myself swinging between those poles for almost the entire history of the band. Obviously, nothing beats a killer riff but after the first few years of being in the band, I started saying to myself, “riffs are fucking lame.” Needless to say, this absolutist logic is pretty fucking retarded as textures won’t always save the day but I can’t help feeling that way during certain moments of artistic desperation. In regards to the loops and different timbres, I’ve always enjoyed trying to make the guitar have some kind of symphonic quality where there are different sounds and rhythms working in conjunction with each other but the trick is how to make that work with Jon and Richard without totally clogging up a song.



Richard and Jon (by Lisa Corson):


Mark (by Lisa Corson):