I feel like it was an opportunity that even being depressed, you can’t pass up. I love this band. I saw them in 2001 when I was in college when Jim [James] was barefoot and had a deer skull he was singing through or something like that. And I love them as people because we played a bunch of shows together. And Jim and I have been friends. All that stuff.
So, when I started, I was like, “I’m going to write songs for them,” in the sense of to the quality that they deserve as musicians. I almost was able to step out of myself and write for them. Then, quietly, I wrote it for myself. I know this sounds like multiple personalities but it was a psychological process that I was able to get to that point.
And like you said, the concise nature of Eraserland because our goal was that…and I’m glad you picked that up, because we kinda modeled it after Dark Side of the Moon. I’ll propose this. If you think about Dark Side of the Moon like I do, I feel like they’re jamming the entire time. In memory I feel like [David] Gilmour is soloing the whole record but then when you listen to it it’s so orchestrated and precise, and there’s not that many guitar solos as I think. That’s what we did with Eraserland where in your mind you feel like there’s, even for me I feel like “Forever Chords” is 20 minutes long and it’s actually 9 minutes, but in my memory Bo’s keyboard solo goes for five minutes but in reality it’s three bars and it’s done.
I love that in my headspace as opposed to Hard Love that I just wanted everything loose, everything completely organic and in the dirt. Then, Eraserland, through the help of all of us, it quickly took shape. A song like “Forever Chords” is two chords, C into E minor, but every single bar of that song is choreographed of dynamics. It took us so long to get that way, and I’m so much more proud of us doing it that way instead of me looking at four amazing musicians and like, “Let’s just do it, guys! Whatever! We’ll see where it goes.”
That’s how I exist a lot as an artist. When I play live, when I play solos, my bandmates call it “Sherlocking” because I’m discovering the mystery of the guitar. (laughs) I’m not quite sure if I’m going to hit the right note. And that’s how I love it. I like to be wild but I think the Jacket guys understood that and at the same time was able to understand the arrangements more than I learned. I got friends that have told me, “This sounds like the Strand of Oaks I always thought you were.” (slight laugh) And it’s funny that it took My Morning Jacket to make me sound more like Strand of Oaks and not like Jacket.
JPG: I can see what you’re saying about Dark Side of the Moon. My notes on Eraserland mentioned that “Weird Ways” reminded me of The War On Drugs in the sense its atmospheric with a 70mm widescreen cinematic feel to it….
TS: Widescreen is a good word.
JPG: …and the rest of the album is a combination of The Drugs, My Morning Jacket and Neil Young “On the Beach” era mixed with his live album “Arc-Weld”…
TS: Oh yeah! Oh yeah! Very much.
JPG: …but concise.
TS: That was definitely Kevin, who produced it. Whenever you hear those guitar parts on “Visions” or something that’s sounds like a Pterodactyl swooping in, that’s Kevin. What he added was all those flavors of beautiful ugliness (laughs) that exists and that static-y…I’m trying not to talk about drugs at all during this press cycle because I spent way too long on Hard Luck and too much energy in it, it diminished the results of the record but I will say this, a lot of this record feel like the last hour of your acid trip. It feels like it’s that static electricity when the reality is blending with what you just experienced and you’re in that limbo. I think that’s what Kevin’s guitar parts and certain elements we have these residual effects that linger, echoing of that experience, and that ultimately led to the finale of “Forever Chords” where all of that culminates into that maximalist arrangement there.
JPG: In a way, it goes back to surfacing.
TS: Yes, surfacing! That could have been the title of the record. It’s a beautiful word.
JPG: I was watching videos of you online — interviews and performances — and I met you a couple years ago. We’re around the same size. Both with long beards. And according to the situation and my mood I could be intimidating to strangers.
TS: Yeah, well, my dad always says, “Don’t tell a stranger that your dog’s nice.” (laughs)
JPG: So, what I’m getting to is that if I didn’t know you but got in a bar fight, just by looks I’d pick you to be on my side, (Tim laughs) but you have a very empathetic, intellectual and emotional side. So, having that look, is it enjoyment? A facade to hide behind your sensitive self? Just complex?
TS: I think it’s complex. It’s not like a direct line to explain me. Like some pieces of art, it makes absolute sense in a sentence to sum it up but I don’t think I can do that because part of it is I just love everything when it comes to music and aesthetics and even fashion. Some days I’ll be wearing a poncho and neon green Nikes, and the next day I’ll look like Lemmy [Kilmister of Motorhead].
Some people call me flaky. I’m not flaky. It’s just that I like so many different things. I might say that this band is my favorite today and then a new band is my favorite tomorrow because it’s true. There’s always that rotating thing in my head, especially how I somehow have come to look. Sometimes, I look in the mirror and think, “Who the hell is this guy?” But, I do love it. It’s kinda my costume in a way. Maybe Freud would tell me, “Your beard literally is a mask to hide.” And I’d be, “Good job, Freud. You’re fucking right. It helps me exist.”
My best friend in the world gives me my tattoos. Every single one means the world to me. So, those are special. My wife basically dresses me, which is a saving grace for me, especially shit I wear a lot she tells me, “Wear shit that you won’t be embarrassed you were wearing in 10 years.” Keep it simple. To me the neon green Nikes don’t keep it that simple but that’s just my flair (slight laugh), and I buy all the sneakers that my parents couldn’t afford when I was little. Now, I get the Reebok Pumps and everything.
JPG: Among the videos I watched was your “What’s In My Bag?” segment for Amoeba Records from three years ago… By the way, you picked up Peter Gabriel’s Security. Great choice! That’s his absolute best album. He literally took a drum machine for that album, wiped out its memory and went around banging pipes, busting glass and stuff in order to create new rhythms.
TS: It was the height of getting label money and actually doing good things with it. (laughs) Getting an endless budget actually producing incredible results.
JPG: During that a viewer can see the wide spectrum of styles and artists that you hold dear. So, were there any particular artists that inspired you in making “Eraserland” or the involvement of the members of My Morning Jacket or coming out of your depression?
TS: Like surfacing? Musically, what helped me surface was Talk Talk and specifically the album “Spirit of Eden.” If you listen to that and put on “Eraserland,” although I cannot compare “Eraserland” to maybe one of the best records ever made, but the tone of “Spirit of Eden” you’ll hear instantly where “Eraserland” came from, because there’s this overwhelming sense of space that they create.
We didn’t even talk about it in the studio but all of us love Talk Talk. Even Carl came to me one day when we were recording and said, “I went home and I hadn’t listened to Talk Talk for years…” I was like, “Wait! What prompted you to do this?” “I don’t know. I just felt like it.” I thought, “Yep, it’s in the water, for sure.”
For me a lot of the stuff when I was down, the one thing I did do was, I always dabbled in visual art, and I started being creative visually. A lot of that was oil pastels, smearing and stream-of-consciousness creating. That really informed the record to a certain extent. I know it’s the biggest trope in the book, “Oh great, the songwriter’s getting into painting.” (slight laugh) But it definitely helped.
JPG: Have you hit that point where you’re willing to show your work to someone other than your wife and maybe a close friend?
TS: I like it. The reason why I like it is because I don’t know how to do it. So, I don’t know if I’m doing it right or not, and that’s really fun for me. But, right now, if you come into my office where I have my little studio, my walls are filled with it. (laughs) Maybe eventually down the line I’ll get the courage. For now, it’s just a nice representation to inspire me in a different way. It helps me write songs, for sure.
JPG: It’s creativity with innocence and there’s nothing attached to it.
TS: Very much! I know how to make music to a certain degree. I constantly have to fight to not industrialize it and not take the magic away from it. What’s great about if I get an equal balance of doing visual art is that’s all magic because I don’t know how it works, and I don’t know methods or any training at all. That allows me to go back to my music and be like, “I know how to shift this chord structure and chorus but I’m not going to think about that for this one as much.” I’m writing new songs and it’s so fun. I think I’ve opened up a new door. “There’s a lot more melodies I haven’t discovered yet. This is great.”
JPG: That brings up a couple things that sum it all up. The song “Weird Ways,” if I’m interpreting it correctly it’s turning your back on the darker days…
TS: Yeah.
JPG: …and with the line “And the scene isn’t my scene anymore” as well as the line in the album’s credits, “To everyone that listens: “If you believe you can be loved, You’ll outlive your past.” (the line is from “Forever Chords”)
TS: That’s the bookends of the record. I spend those 10 songs trying to answer why I don’t feel it anymore and find some kind of clarity through that. That line in “Forever Chords.” I think that’s my proudest line I’ve written ever. It sums it up; what I’ve been thinking, working for or fighting against my whole life. Perhaps, a lot of people feel that way. Directly after that is
[the line]
“I hope it never ends.” That’s, maybe, the most positive thing I’ve ever said in my music. (laughs)
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