I recently spoke to Nick Stutsman about his new band Canadian Wedding, the current music scene and awesome guitar tunings.
Hi Kelly Doherty!
How would you describe your music for the unacquainted?
I guess I would first ask them if they've ever heard any twinkly band ever and tell them it probably just sounds exactly like that. Or, you know, a whiney teenager that lacks originality crying all over his guitar.
I guess I would first ask them if they've ever heard any twinkly band ever and tell them it probably just sounds exactly like that. Or, you know, a whiney teenager that lacks originality crying all over his guitar.
I'd say I'll try and promote the first description a little more, haha. What are you up to at the moment?
A few months ago, my band (Park Jefferson) kind of fell apart. I moved to Philadelphia, our other guitarist moved to Tennessee, and our drummer was already in a few other bands (most notably William Bonney), so we sort of decided to just call it quits. While in Philadelphia, I started a band (pennypack!) that went nowhere, mainly because I moved home to Michigan. Philadelphia just wasn't a good fit for me, I guess. Since I was tired of starting bands that sound like all of the past bands I've been in, and only last a few weeks or less, I had it in my mind that I wasn't going to make music anymore for anyone other than myself and maybe my friends if for whatever reason a guitar was laying around and yeah.
So. I went a few months without writing anything. Right now, I'm working on a new band called Canadian Wedding that started off as basically just my solo work, but with a full band. I don't really want to release anything as Nick Stutsman any time soon, or maybe even ever again, but Canadian Wedding is practically just my solo work full band-atized. It was going to be just me, with maybe some friends recording the other instruments, but recently, a few permanent members have been added to the lineup. We've spent the last month or so going over to my friend Dave (Park J bassist)'s house and writing/recording songs for a full length. We've got about nine or ten songs written/recorded, but I feel like we're probably going to record a ton more, because I'm not happy with the way everything's turning out. I don't mean that the recordings themselves are bad, or anything. I just want to make sure I don't half-ass this record, like I've done with everything I've released since the first few Merchant Ships EPs. So, I guess to FINALLY answer your question: I've started a new project that you probably won't hear anything from for a while. Lots of writing/recording is happening. I'm just trying to put out the best record I can, so that I'm finally content with something I've written. So that I can show the record to someone and be genuinely proud of what I've created. Whether or not the record is released to the public is still something I'm trying to decide. Sorry for the book-long response.
A few months ago, my band (Park Jefferson) kind of fell apart. I moved to Philadelphia, our other guitarist moved to Tennessee, and our drummer was already in a few other bands (most notably William Bonney), so we sort of decided to just call it quits. While in Philadelphia, I started a band (pennypack!) that went nowhere, mainly because I moved home to Michigan. Philadelphia just wasn't a good fit for me, I guess. Since I was tired of starting bands that sound like all of the past bands I've been in, and only last a few weeks or less, I had it in my mind that I wasn't going to make music anymore for anyone other than myself and maybe my friends if for whatever reason a guitar was laying around and yeah.
So. I went a few months without writing anything. Right now, I'm working on a new band called Canadian Wedding that started off as basically just my solo work, but with a full band. I don't really want to release anything as Nick Stutsman any time soon, or maybe even ever again, but Canadian Wedding is practically just my solo work full band-atized. It was going to be just me, with maybe some friends recording the other instruments, but recently, a few permanent members have been added to the lineup. We've spent the last month or so going over to my friend Dave (Park J bassist)'s house and writing/recording songs for a full length. We've got about nine or ten songs written/recorded, but I feel like we're probably going to record a ton more, because I'm not happy with the way everything's turning out. I don't mean that the recordings themselves are bad, or anything. I just want to make sure I don't half-ass this record, like I've done with everything I've released since the first few Merchant Ships EPs. So, I guess to FINALLY answer your question: I've started a new project that you probably won't hear anything from for a while. Lots of writing/recording is happening. I'm just trying to put out the best record I can, so that I'm finally content with something I've written. So that I can show the record to someone and be genuinely proud of what I've created. Whether or not the record is released to the public is still something I'm trying to decide. Sorry for the book-long response.
I thouroughly enjoyed the sole pennypack! song, actually. You're quite diverse in your musical output. Do you find it difficult to stay within the boundaries of the same genre, what with being in so many bands? Or is it just that you like all of the genres?
I personally think that Park Jefferson sounds like what Midwest Pen Pals would have sounded like if I had done vocals. And Midwest Pen Pals sounds just like Merchant Ships without the screams. The only bands I consider myself to have ever been in are those three, everything else I just sort of don't include in my "bands" list. But really, what I mean to say is that I don't think I've even begun to write outside of the whole twinkly emo genre. Which is the reason I'm taking my time with this new record I'm working on, I don't want it to be just another repeat of what I've been doing for the last five or six years of my life.
So I mean, thank you for seeing differences in each of the bands. I, personally, think it all sounds the same, which is something I'm trying to avoid this time around.
What can we expect from Canadian Wedding's sound? You've said it's like a full band version of your solo stuff, so is it a more indie sound? Or can we expect a Conor Oberst does Bright Eyes type sound?
Haha, I guess you could say that. I don't know, honestly. Because we're still in the process of writing the record, I'm trying out different things so that it doesn't sound like I'm ripping off Mike Kinsella or Conor Oberst or whatever, and trying not to sound like things I've done before. It's still going to have the overall Nick Stutsman solo shit vibes, but, I don't know. Honestly. I feel like maybe I should just send you a track that we have recorded that I know we're going to use and let you decide for yourself what you want to call the sound.
Sounds awesome! Are you planning on doing any shows with Canadian Wedding in the upcoming months?
Yeah, I'm sort of planning on doing a record release show in my hometown for my friends, where I'll pass the album out for free, probably just on a shitty burnt cd or something. And if we're offered other shows, do them, but probably just Derek (one of the other guys in the band) and I playing acoustic guitars and singing together. Probably very few full band shows.
Yeah, I'm sort of planning on doing a record release show in my hometown for my friends, where I'll pass the album out for free, probably just on a shitty burnt cd or something. And if we're offered other shows, do them, but probably just Derek (one of the other guys in the band) and I playing acoustic guitars and singing together. Probably very few full band shows.
How do you go about writing a song? Does it just come together naturally? Or do you sit down and aim to write a record?
Writing songs for me is like journaling for other people. I have literally hundreds of songs written/recorded poorly on my computer that will never see the light of day. Like I said earlier, I kind of half-ass everything I do. Most songs I write are written in under an hour. I write a guitar part I like, sing nonsense over it to get the melody, and then sing more nonsense over it until I sing something that I like, and go from there. The problem I seem to have, I think, is that once it's written, I can't ever make myself go back and try to rewrite the song so that it's better, you know? Once it's done, recorded, I tend to just forget about the song and am ready to write the next one.
Good stuff. Where does your lyrical inspiration come from?
I just write about whatever's going on. Like I said earlier, it's my way of venting, or journaling, or whatever. I tend to reuse and steal lyrics because of either how much I like them or the fact that I feel I can use it again, but make it about something completely different, and that, to me, makes the lyric itself new.
I just write about whatever's going on. Like I said earlier, it's my way of venting, or journaling, or whatever. I tend to reuse and steal lyrics because of either how much I like them or the fact that I feel I can use it again, but make it about something completely different, and that, to me, makes the lyric itself new.
What's your opinion on the scene at the moment? There's a lot of great bands coming up and gaining popularity that they couldn't have gained without the internet and whatnot, how do you feel about music in general, right now?
With every scene there are obviously going to be pretentious, shallow assholes that think they're Jesus Christ because they wrote a record that a couple hundred kids like from the internet. I think I let a few bad experiences with some people like that kind of distort my view of what the scene is like today. I made some remarks about how "everyone is like that" and whatnot, and I'd like to take this opportunity to take back my statements.
Because lately I've come to find that there are a lot of people starting bands that are really blowing me away. Every time I'm in a different city that I had no idea had a thriving scene, their local bands make me feel like I should just give up on music altogether. For example: Indianapolis, Columbus, and, though I knew Philly has been putting out a lot of really amazing bands the last few years, I found a ton of sweet locals that aren't getting as much attention as they should be in Philadelphia/surrounding areas. And something I've noticed is that the people in these bands seem to be getting younger and younger as years go by. I saw a band while living on the East Coast that consisted of three 17 year-olds called Toasted Plastic, and it honestly made me want to be a better musician just by watching these kids that were younger than me fucking kill it. I also think that the whole "twinkle daddy emo" bullshit is finally dying out. It got to the point that everyone was ripping off Algernon Cadwallader and every band was putting out the same record as the last band, and I think everyone's ears just need a break from that whole thing, and people are trying, now, to push themselves to write better music. And the results are fucking awesome.
I'll shall check Toasted Plastic out! What bands do you personally listen to? You've done splits with the likes of Cameron Boucher and Slurred Terms, is that because you're a fan, or just that you've find their music to be compatible with yours?
No, I used to be friends with Cameron, and Ethan is one of the sweetest guys in all of Indiana. I just decided to put the splits out with them because they're good guys and I didn't see why not to do them. The music I personally listen to doesn't almost ever change. I almost never download new music, but I really should, especially since all of these tight locals are popping up all over the place. My all-time favorites are bands like Why?, Death Cab, Owen, I really like Bon Iver's first album, really into my friend Dylan's band Tiny Moving Parts. Other local bands you should check out, all awesome people and musicians: Vowel, Tiny Moving Parts, Toasted Plastic, Marietta, Flare Jeans, Modern Baseball, Eureka Driver, PESSOA, deadghost., there are honestly so many, but those are probably my favorites.
So, do you have any particular favourite guitar tunings?
Haha, nice. My favorites I feel I've over-used in my last few bands. A lot of FACGCE, DAEAC#E, DADF#AD, you know. All of that. Actually, if you want to know my favorite guitar tunings, go to www.ultimate-guitar.com, search Owen, and open any of the tabs that come up, copy the tuning, and voila! My favorite tunings. (Probably should come up with some of my own so I'm less of a "Mike Kinsella rip-off", maybe?)
Awesome. Final question, if Nick Stutsman's music was a pizza topping, what would it be?
Oh man. Probably pineapple or some other topping that some people really enjoy but others really hate. I don't think I can say it any better than that.
Final words?
Thanks for interviewing me, good luck with the site and all that!
Comments
Post a Comment