\nIntroduction:<\/p>\n
1. Welcome to KJAG Radio! Push Puppets is here with us today. How’s everything going?<\/p>\n
Hey! It\u2019s going good. Been an exciting day with the first single being released. I
\nappreciate you having me on,<\/p>\n
New Single & Album:<\/p>\n
\uf0b7 Your new single, All Together On 3, is a fantastic introduction to your upcoming album
\nTethered Together. What inspired this track, both musically and lyrically?
\nLike many of them, this one evolved quite a bit between being written, demos and the
\nfinal recording. I had a melody and a chord pattern for it and was driving to pick up
\ndonuts when the verse lyrics came to me. The scene in the first verse with a \u201cgreat
\nwhite coming for the beach\u201d kinda unlocked what the song was about \u2013 needing
\nsomeone\u2019s help out of a tough situation. Then the following verses approach that from
\ndifferent angles \u2013 a house with \u201ca light that wasn\u2019t on before\u201d and a roadblock.
\n\uf0b7 The song builds up to a cinematic climax with strings and harpsichord\u2014what was the
\ncreative process like in crafting that dramatic effect?<\/p>\n
Musically, this was one of the more rewarding ones to work on. There\u2019s usually plenty
\nof melodic guitars or keyboards in Push Puppets\u2019 music. But the string quartet added
\nanother character in the mix. I love the way the strings pass musical motifs around
\nbetween sections as well as handing off melodies from one instrument to another.
\n\uf0b7 You mentioned math rock influences in this song.<\/p>\n
How did you incorporate those
\nelements while keeping it accessible for a wider audience?<\/p>\n
True Math Rock guys would laugh at me for even raising the comparison, but ATO3 has
\nsome dropped beats in the choruses and in the outro the musical phrase is a different
\nlength than the vocal phrase, so the words fall on different chords each time. I think
\nthat makes it more interesting for a repeated phrase because it\u2019s crashing against a
\ndifferent chord each time through.<\/p>\n
\uf0b7 Tethered Together features a string quartet on many tracks and even a horn section on
\none. How did that orchestration enhance the overall sound of the album?<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve done a little string arranging before \u2013 such as on \u201cPerfect Picture\u201d from the
\nAllegory Grey album – but certainly nothing this involved. The bridge in ATO3 seemed
\nlike it could benefit from strings, so once it was decided to have strings on one track, I
\nstarted getting ideas for how they could play a part in more songs. That definitely<\/p>\n
reduced the number of guitar solos on the album, but I still managed to get a few in
\nthere.<\/p>\n
Songwriting & Production:<\/p>\n
6. Erich, your songwriting has been praised for its introspective and poetic nature. What
\nthemes or emotions did you explore most in this album?
\nBreakup has been a recurring theme in my writing for some time. It\u2019s kind of a go-to
\nsubject in my music \u2013 even if it\u2019s not what I\u2019m experiencing at that moment. But during
\nthe writing for \u201cTethered Together\u201d, I was going through a breakup after several years.
\nI wasn\u2019t really thinking about it consciously while writing, but now I can see where past
\nrelationships worked their way into some songs.
\nBut there is a pretty wide variety of themes. One of my favorites on the album is called
\n\u201cTell Colleen to Calm Down\u201d and it tells about a girl standing near me losing her mind
\nat a concert (kinda like a Beatle-maniac). The takeway in that song is that it\u2019s best to
\njust her do her thing even if it\u2019s annoying.<\/p>\n
7. You worked with Doug McBride at Gravity Studios for production and mastering. How
\ndid that collaboration shape the final sound?
\nThis is the second album that I\u2019ve worked on with Doug. We have very similar tastes \u2013
\nsuch as a big appreciation for Jellyfish \u2013 so our ideas are usually pretty
\ncomplimentary.
\nWe generally start with demos I\u2019ve made, then Doug and I work with the bassist (John
\nWilliam Lauler) and drummer (Greg Essig) to get their parts grooving and interesting.
\nThe rest of the track is starting to build up at this time as Kyle Magnusson (keyboards)
\nand I bounce ideas around and I lay down guitars. I\u2019ll periodically run that by Doug to
\nmake sure we\u2019re agreeing about the direction. And I\u2019ll inevitably have way too many
\ntracks playing throughout the whole song. So Doug during the mix will bring elements
\nin out out to keep things changing.
\nSteve Frisbie (backup vocals) and I work out the harmonies with some input from Doug
\n\u2013 and more times that not that\u2019ll mean recording like 4 passes of each part in a four-
\npart harmony to give it a big sound like Queen or The Cars.<\/p>\n
8. With four albums under your belt, how do you think Push Puppets’ sound has evolved
\nsince your debut?<\/p>\n
For the first two albums, I was doing nearly everything myself \u2013 except for drums. I
\nwas working with a different drummer at that time \u2013 Chris Morrow. I was mixing it
\nmyself as well.
\nNow that there is a regular band of killer players and Doug is helping with the
\nproduction and doing the mixes, the new stuff just sounds more like a real record that
\nthe early stuff, even though I still appreciate those songs.
\nInfluences & Style:<\/p>\n
9. Fans of bands like ELO, Crowded House, and Elvis Costello will find a lot to love in
\nyour music. Who are some of your biggest influences, and how do they manifest in
\nyour sound?
\nI\u2019m a big fan of Elvis Costello. I have a slice of pizza that he handed me when I met him
\nusing a fake backstage pass. I had it preserved with epoxy and it\u2019s in a shadow-box
\nframe with the pass, album cover, etc. I think his vocal style has definitely had a
\ninfluence on mine as has his use of rich jazz chords and melodies.
\nI appreciate hooky pop, so it\u2019s probably no surprise that I am a fan of Split Enz and
\nCrowded House. I listened to True Colours all the time, so the Finn way of crafting a
\nmelody has probably had some impact on me.
\nI get a kick out of when catchy music has melancholy lyrics \u2013 like The Smiths. I
\nsomewhat put ELO in that bucket \u2013 where the el<\/p>\n
10. The album nods to the artistic excesses of the ’70s. Were there any particular
\nalbums or artists from that era that inspired your approach?
\nI\u2019ve always enjoyed the massive sound of bands like Queen, The Cars, Jellyfish, or
\nXTC. I like to think that the possibilities of a recording are endless \u2013 and not limited by
\nthe instrumentation of the band. So I may put a ton of guitars on something that we
\nwouldn\u2019t be able to pull off live, but then the live version will just be a different
\ninterpretation.<\/p>\n