<\/p>\n
KJAG Radio Interview \u2013 Push Puppets<\/p>\n
<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Introduction:<\/strong><br \/>\n1. Welcome to KJAG Radio! Push Puppets is here with us today. How's everything going?<br \/>\nHey! It\u2019s going good. Been an exciting day with the first single being released. I<br \/>\nappreciate you having me on,<\/p>\n<p><strong>New Single & Album:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\uf0b7 Your new single, All Together On 3, is a fantastic introduction to your upcoming album<br \/>\nTethered Together. What inspired this track, both musically and lyrically?<br \/>\nLike many of them, this one evolved quite a bit between being written, demos and the<br \/>\nfinal recording. I had a melody and a chord pattern for it and was driving to pick up<br \/>\ndonuts when the verse lyrics came to me. The scene in the first verse with a \u201cgreat<br \/>\nwhite coming for the beach\u201d kinda unlocked what the song was about \u2013 needing<br \/>\nsomeone\u2019s help out of a tough situation. Then the following verses approach that from<br \/>\ndifferent angles \u2013 a house with \u201ca light that wasn\u2019t on before\u201d and a roadblock.<\/p>\n<p>\uf0b7 The song builds up to a cinematic climax with strings and harpsichord\u2014what was the<br \/>\ncreative process like in crafting that dramatic effect?<br \/>\nMusically, this was one of the more rewarding ones to work on. There\u2019s usually plenty<br \/>\nof melodic guitars or keyboards in Push Puppets\u2019 music. But the string quartet added<br \/>\nanother character in the mix. I love the way the strings pass musical motifs around<br \/>\nbetween sections as well as handing off melodies from one instrument to another.<\/p>\n<p>\uf0b7 You mentioned math rock influences in this song. How did you incorporate those<br \/>\nelements while keeping it accessible for a wider audience?<br \/>\nTrue Math Rock guys would laugh at me for even raising the comparison, but ATO3 has<br \/>\nsome dropped beats in the choruses and in the outro the musical phrase is a different<br \/>\nlength than the vocal phrase, so the words fall on different chords each time. I think<br \/>\nthat makes it more interesting for a repeated phrase because it\u2019s crashing against a<br \/>\ndifferent chord each time through.<\/p>\n<p>\uf0b7 Tethered Together features a string quartet on many tracks and even a horn section on<br \/>\none. How did that orchestration enhance the overall sound of the album?<br \/>\nI\u2019ve done a little string arranging before \u2013 such as on \u201cPerfect Picture\u201d from the<br \/>\nAllegory Grey album – but certainly nothing this involved. The bridge in ATO3 seemed<br \/>\nlike it could benefit from strings, so once it was decided to have strings on one track, I<br \/>\nstarted getting ideas for how they could play a part in more songs. That definitely<\/p>\n<p>reduced the number of guitar solos on the album, but I still managed to get a few in<br \/>\nthere.<br \/>\n<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/unnamed-13-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-38512\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/unnamed-13-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/unnamed-13-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/unnamed-13-420x420.jpg 420w, https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/unnamed-13-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/unnamed-13.jpg 425w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Songwriting & Production:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>6. Erich, your songwriting has been praised for its introspective and poetic nature. What<br \/>\nthemes or emotions did you explore most in this album?<br \/>\nBreakup has been a recurring theme in my writing for some time. It\u2019s kind of a go-to<br \/>\nsubject in my music \u2013 even if it\u2019s not what I\u2019m experiencing at that moment. But during<br \/>\nthe writing for \u201cTethered Together\u201d, I was going through a breakup after several years.<br \/>\nI wasn\u2019t really thinking about it consciously while writing, but now I can see where past<br \/>\nrelationships worked their way into some songs.<br \/>\nBut there is a pretty wide variety of themes. One of my favorites on the album is called<br \/>\n\u201cTell Colleen to Calm Down\u201d and it tells about a girl standing near me losing her mind<br \/>\nat a concert (kinda like a Beatle-maniac). The takeway in that song is that it\u2019s best to<br \/>\njust her do her thing even if it\u2019s annoying.<\/p>\n<p>7. You worked with Doug McBride at Gravity Studios for production and mastering. How<br \/>\ndid that collaboration shape the final sound?<br \/>\nThis is the second album that I\u2019ve worked on with Doug. We have very similar tastes \u2013<br \/>\nsuch as a big appreciation for Jellyfish \u2013 so our ideas are usually pretty<br \/>\ncomplimentary.<br \/>\nWe generally start with demos I\u2019ve made, then Doug and I work with the bassist (John<br \/>\nWilliam Lauler) and drummer (Greg Essig) to get their parts grooving and interesting.<br \/>\nThe rest of the track is starting to build up at this time as Kyle Magnusson (keyboards)<br \/>\nand I bounce ideas around and I lay down guitars. I\u2019ll periodically run that by Doug to<br \/>\nmake sure we\u2019re agreeing about the direction. And I\u2019ll inevitably have way too many<br \/>\ntracks playing throughout the whole song. So Doug during the mix will bring elements<br \/>\nin out out to keep things changing.<br \/>\nSteve Frisbie (backup vocals) and I work out the harmonies with some input from Doug<br \/>\n\u2013 and more times that not that\u2019ll mean recording like 4 passes of each part in a four-<br \/>\npart harmony to give it a big sound like Queen or The Cars.<\/p>\n<p>8. With four albums under your belt, how do you think Push Puppets' sound has evolved<br \/>\nsince your debut?<\/p>\n<p>For the first two albums, I was doing nearly everything myself \u2013 except for drums. I<br \/>\nwas working with a different drummer at that time \u2013 Chris Morrow. I was mixing it<br \/>\nmyself as well.<br \/>\nNow that there is a regular band of killer players and Doug is helping with the<br \/>\nproduction and doing the mixes, the new stuff just sounds more like a real record that<br \/>\nthe early stuff, even though I still appreciate those songs.<br \/>\nInfluences & Style:<\/p>\n<p>9. Fans of bands like ELO, Crowded House, and Elvis Costello will find a lot to love in<br \/>\nyour music. Who are some of your biggest influences, and how do they manifest in<br \/>\nyour sound?<br \/>\nI\u2019m a big fan of Elvis Costello. I have a slice of pizza that he handed me when I met him<br \/>\nusing a fake backstage pass. I had it preserved with epoxy and it\u2019s in a shadow-box<br \/>\nframe with the pass, album cover, etc. I think his vocal style has definitely had a<br \/>\ninfluence on mine as has his use of rich jazz chords and melodies.<br \/>\nI appreciate hooky pop, so it\u2019s probably no surprise that I am a fan of Split Enz and<br \/>\nCrowded House. I listened to True Colours all the time, so the Finn way of crafting a<br \/>\nmelody has probably had some impact on me.<br \/>\nI get a kick out of when hooky music has melancholy lyrics \u2013 like The Smiths. I put<br \/>\nsome ELO in that bucket.<\/p>\n<p>10. The album nods to the artistic excesses of the '70s. Were there any particular<br \/>\nalbums or artists from that era that inspired your approach?<br \/>\nI\u2019ve always enjoyed the massive sound of bands like Queen, The Cars, Jellyfish, or<br \/>\nXTC. I like to think that the possibilities of a recording are endless \u2013 and not limited by<br \/>\nthe instrumentation of the band. So I may put a ton of guitars on something that we<br \/>\nwouldn\u2019t be able to pull off live, but then the live version will just be a different<br \/>\ninterpretation.<br \/>\nLive Performances & Fan Connection:<\/p>\n<p>11. With the album dropping on May 16, are there any upcoming live shows or tour<br \/>\nplans in the works?<br \/>\nThere will be an album release show in Forest Park (Chicago area) at Robert\u2019s<br \/>\nWestside on Friday, May 30 th . It will feature Sly and Katherine on violin and viola<br \/>\nrespectively in addition to the full band.<br \/>\nWe\u2019ll likely be doing some regional shows and I\u2019ll be doing some solo shows all over.<\/p>\n<p>12. What has been your most memorable live performance so far?<br \/>\nWhen I think back about memorable performances, two painful incidents come to<br \/>\nmind. One was when I was playing guitar with my teeth at a small club and broke my<br \/>\nfront tooth. And when I was unloading to perform at South by Southwest and slammed<br \/>\nmy hand in the door. I was still able to play, but it was black the next day.<\/p>\n<p>13. Your music has a warm, melodic quality that feels deeply personal. How do fans<br \/>\ntypically connect with your songs? Do you hear any interesting interpretations of your<br \/>\nlyrics?<br \/>\nFor the most part, I try to be pretty genuine what I write. I don\u2019t set out to write a song<br \/>\nthat sounds like something else. Once I have an idea, I just try to nurture it and bring it<br \/>\nto it\u2019s potential. And I think people sense that it isn\u2019t fake.<br \/>\nFinal Thoughts:<\/p>\n<p>14. What message or feeling do you hope listeners take away from Tethered<br \/>\nTogether?<br \/>\nI like the idea of the album offering an escape for listeners for forty plus minutes. And<br \/>\nhopefully it makes them feel less alone.<\/p>\n<p>15. Where can fans follow you, pre-save the album, and grab a physical copy when<br \/>\nit drops?<\/p>\n<p>Spotify Pre-Save:<br \/>\nhttps:\/\/distrokid.com\/hyperfollow\/pushpuppets\/tethered-together<br \/>\nPre-Order CD:<br \/>\nhttps:\/\/www.pushpuppets.net\/shop\/<br \/>\nOn Facebook\/Instagram\/BlueSky and YouTube as: @pushpuppetsband<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KJAG Radio Interview \u2013 Push Puppets Introduction: 1. Welcome to KJAG Radio! Push Puppets is here with us today. How's everything going? Hey! It\u2019s going good. Been an exciting day with the first single being released. I appreciate you having me on, New Single & Album: \uf0b7 Your new single, All Together On 3, is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38511,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,482],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-33737","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nws","8":"category-written"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33737"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38521,"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33737\/revisions\/38521"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjagradio.com\/themic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}