Asylum Harbour has a rich, immersive sound. How did the recording process differ from your previous work? – I think that is mostly Paul Roessler. He’s always looking to improve. And we’ve been working together for quite some time now, so he knows us intimately.
The album was produced by Paul Roessler (Nina Hagen, Josie Cotton). What unique elements did he bring to the production? – Paul brings a lot of experience, an open mind, pro-level musicianship, passion and creates an environment where it is easy to be creative. Feeling supported while you sing, for example, is really important. And he is a very patient and skilled guide as he attempts to get the best performance possible. And his musical background gives him a real insight into the creative process.
The title Asylum Harbour evokes both refuge and turbulence. What themes or emotions were you exploring with this record? – The theme of this band, at least in terms of our album covers, has been a ship in a storm. Asylum Harbour is a respite from that storm. Funnily enough it was written during my own personal “storm,” so maybe that was the goal.
How does Asylum Harbour reflect the band’s evolution since your last release? – Even more harmonies. We’ve always used harmony to an extent, but during the last few years I’ve been experimenting with, and learning more about while doing so, vocal harmonies that are denser than on the previous record, Sea of Sorrow. Even while creating the demos, I’m doing layers of harmonies, which wasn’t always the case.
Can you walk us through the writing process for Gimme Some Pain and Mirror? What inspired these tracks? – For Gimme Some Pain, I think that came about because I had just acquired a beautiful acoustic guitar. I wanted to use it Gimme Some Pain just rolled out. The lyrics also came out easily, written in a stream of consciousness pass through the song and then a few words tweaked. I don’t ever remember writing Mirror. That was written during this difficult period I was having, and I was writing a lot. But it wasn’t written any differently than the others. Sitting in my basement studio, I’ll use some kind of metronomic beat from Logic and then play rhythm guitar to that beat. If I’m lucky, something good comes out. Then I usually play that back and sing along to it. Once again if I’m lucky something good will come out lyrically and I’ll work with that.
Visual Art & Collaborations
The Gimme Some Pain video by Francesca Bonci is a psychedelic feast. How did this collaboration come about, and what was the creative vision behind it? – I was introduced to Francesca through Shauna, our publicist, as she had done something for Pete International Airport (Pete Holmstrom from the Dandy Warhols project), who Shauna also works with. As I had worked with her on the Mirror video, I knew what she could do, and I knew that she could incorporate existing video into her work. I combed through a bunch of videos and sent her a batch to choose from. There was one cool clip of me playing Gimme Some Pain on an acoustic, but we had to remove that as it would have been too hard to sync. I ended up recording the shots of me playing guitar in an office I have, where I keep a guitar. The creative vision was Francesca, as she works in her own way, feeling the song and the emotions and producing something based on that.
Francesca Bonci also directed the Mirror video. How do these visuals complement the music’s atmosphere? – What Francesca does visually is perfect for our songs. The Mirror video is very murky and colorful, with very few objects. I like that and it especially works with Mirror with the line “I can see it in the gloom.”
How important is the marriage of music and visual art to Tombstones In Their Eyes? Do you see your songs cinematically when writing them? – To me, the visual part is especially important. If I could afford it, I would do many more “real videos” but those are extremely expensive. But no, I do not see the music cinematically as I write. And after they are written, I have a tough time coming up with visual concepts except for psychedelic designs and chaotic imagery. That’s why I like to work with visual artists who can bring that kind of mindset to the songs.
Live Performances & Residency
You’re kicking off the Kitten Robot Records/Final Girl Records residency at Gold-Diggers on March 12. What can fans expect from this show? – I’m writing this after the show, which went well. We have worked hard this last year to get the singing down. The other elements of the band are solid. And I think at this show I could see that it was paying off. It’s starting to sound like I imagined it could.
How does your live performance enhance or reinterpret the studio recordings? – Our live performances allow us to reinterpret the songs a bit. We do not play them as they are on the recordings and that’s not our goal. We have four singers on stage, our bass player and I included, so it’s important to make that interesting and consistent.
The residency features underground legends and emerging indie acts. How does being part of this scene influence your music? – It is a pleasure to be amongst such good company. We also want to get out there with some of the happening bands in our genre(s), which is a kind of psych rock, shoegaze and doomy rock and roll.
Influences & Sound
Your music blends psychedelic rock, shoegaze, and dream-pop. Who are some of your biggest sonic influences? – With this band, starting about 11 years ago, I was way into bands like The Brian Jonestown Massacre, the first few Dandy Warhols records and a bunch of other lesser-known bands in that scene. But that’s just where my tastes ended up after many years of being seriously into music, starting with the Rolling Stones, early Beach Boys into Aerosmith and Kiss, then punk rock starting at 15 and from there into many genres – psychedelic rock, neo-psych, the indie scene of the late 80’s, early 90’s, noise rock, doom rock, a bit of industrial, goth, sludge and on and on. So, to me, what I write is based on a mix of those elements. It is the only music that I can write well, and it took me a long time to come around to where I am now, a lot of bad songs.
John Treanor, as the primary songwriter, where do you draw lyrical inspiration from? Are there recurring motifs in your work? – I am drawn to the darkness, the sad songs, the struggle. That’s a lot of what I listen to, and I tend to express myself better in those areas. I have been quite open about my own struggles with depression, anxiety, drug addiction and generally feeling like life is like being on a ship in the storm. I write mostly from my subconscious mind, but it ends up giving me real stuff that I, and hopefully others, can relate to and feel less alone. When I am down, I write a lot of songs as that helps me a lot. It is my spirituality, to an extent.
The band’s sound has been described as “kaleidoscopic.” How do you achieve such dense, layered textures in your music? – I think that goes back to all the music I have listened to over the years. It is my own interpretation and consolidation of all these influences. The denseness just comes out from the various ideas I have as I am writing the song. Sometimes there are multiple layers of rhythm guitars with different tones, then there may be a melody going through various parts of the song and another at the bridge. Sometimes I will add keyboards, or Paul will do that in the studio. And then there are the vocals, backing vocals and harmony vocals. Sometimes it is too dense, and we have to cut things out.
Industry & Future Plans
Kitten Robot Records has been a strong supporter. How has working with them shaped your approach to releasing music? – Kitten Robot Records has been incredibly supportive and are helping us get the music out there. They have more experience and contacts so are very helpful in that way.
What’s next for Tombstones In Their Eyes after the residency? Any upcoming tours or new projects in the works? – We are just about done with the next record so that will be in the pipeline soon. And we’re still focusing on honing the live thing so that we can do some more high profile LA shows with similar bands and do some out-of-town shows. Touring for an extended period would be tough, but we will see.
With the current resurgence of shoegaze and psych-rock, where do you see the band fitting into today’s music landscape? – I think that it’s nice to see your music alongside other bands that I like and respect in our areas of music, that’s a great feeling. And it is a growing scene with lots of younger bands doing their thing.
Fun & Personal
If you could collaborate with any artist (living or dead), who would it be and why? – That’s a tough question as most of the artists I think of are/were so strong in doing their own thing that I can’ t see where a collaboration would go. But I am going to go with Mark Lanegan, as I would love to write a song or two for him to sing and help put together.
What’s the most surreal or memorable fan reaction you’ve received to your music? – There was a comment from a fan on Facebook shortly after the album Sea of Sorrow came out. It was about the song “Numb” which is a repetitive mantra-like song about drug addiction. Verse: “I’m numb from all the drugs” repeated four times. Chorus: “I wanna numb myself from all this fuckin pain /I wanna numb myself …… again and again.” The fan wrote something like “I’ve never suffered from depression in my life. This song showed me how it feels” I looked for that comment but could not find it. It was cool, especially since the song was not specifically written to show what depression is like. But it did show my motivation for using drugs when I used to do that.
If Asylum Harbour were a film or a place, what would it look like? – I imagine it as a rocky cove along the North Atlantic somewhere, where it is calm and safe while a violent storm rages just outside of the cover.