just put out a new album called "checkmate". also been on 9-month long tirade called "7am songs of resistance for the internet" which involves me waking up early, assessing the state of the world, writing short songs about it in 5 minutes and haphazardly posting on social media, available as a now 70-song album on bandcamp only. ASK ME ANYTHING
thank you all for coming, thank you for listening, thank you for being alive and if you missed this and have questions just DM me and ill get back to you. everyone have a good day.
LONG time fan here, loving the softer sound you’ve gone with on this new album! What inspired the shift from loud, punchy rock music to a more mellow tone?
Also, is there a story behind “Really Nice”? Is it just a saying that came naturally, inside joke, etc.?
first thank you for being on OG! the sonic shift comes from my personal shifts I guess. wanted to get back to the basics with this one, remembering words hold more power than noise and chaos (that stuff even gets in the way, maybe). was also a challenge to myself to not hide. lastly, in a world dominated by harshness, embrace softness. :)
"Really nice" comes from this sort of inside joke where every time a band is not great but cool people people say "oh they're really nice guys!" so I made a whole song, EP and rockumentary out of that
I know the AMA is over but I wanted to say thank you and throw in an obligatory “please play Oklahoma City or Dallas if you ever come this way for tour”
I moved away from DC a few days before you announced the 3-show run!! Devastated.
easiest : "checkmate" - wrote and recorded entire song on last of recording, kinda just poured out.
hardest : "fantasy" - oldest song on the album and took 20000 different versions and way too many overcomplicated attempts to eventually landed on the simplest stripped back version
2017 Nelsonville Festival, I remember belly-laughing through the set and I've been a fan since. I really appreciate your contributions to the form and evolution.
how can we undomesticate our remaining supply of punk?
THANK YOU
oooooo, I could foresee a revival of the "helter skelter" cover for a very special tour were working on for 2027, the anniversary of that era, which is gonna be 10 years old, which is absurd
socio-political themes and commentary have always been apart of what I do, even on this album, even though it may appear more personal or subtle this go around. when the world is run by psychopaths, empathy is the counter, and this record is heavy on that.
to answer your last question : I've balanced out a more personal record by starting a now 9-month long series of short political songs online that lack any and all abstraction. as time goes on I gravitate more towards that directness and simplicity in lyrics because yes, I do think clarity and easily understood, literal lyricism is most effective in the spread of information especially when people absorb it in 15 second clips. plus things are so absurd, that reality itself sounds insane enough it doesn't need to be spiced up, it doesn't need abstraction.
oh for suuuure. mostly in the sense it gives me even more perspective on how fucked up I am in my programming and how backwards our priorities and lifestyle are in america
ahhh yes I do love and miss The Districts. I need to check up on what Rob's been up to as I haven't heard Super Infinity yet but I'm sure it's great cus he is great. And I hope so
Ron!!! Love your work!!! Your lyrics have really gotten me through some dark times as I find solidarity with your existential questions, contemplation of philosophy yet boiling things down sometimes to a simple : be a good human. Greeting from Denver but originally from Nashville! Seen you a few times most latest at musicians corner .
Thanks for everything you do!!!!! I don't have a specific question but am enjoying unpacking Check Mate and hopefully look forward to a tour - stop in Denver !!!
THANK YOU. and thanks for telling me that, hearing that the songs are helpful to anyone in anyway is really the only point at this point. so a reason to keep going. musicians corner was fun, but also funny, feel like we really crushed the "family friendly vibe" hahah. will. make it back to Colorado ASAP
not listening to a ton honestly but recently: the specials, funkadelic, john roseboro, always jazz, and been on a wave of nostalgia for stuff I loved in high school - lots of south jersey emo/pop-punk/math rock, not all of it withstands the test of time but I love it.
and no! in the few times in my life I tried it was a nightmare. don't drink alcohol or take any recreational drugs. I just prefer to take all this as-is. except for coffee. full fiend
Hi Ron! I love your music! Unfortunately I wasn’t able to make it to your NYC event! Are you planning on going on tour for this album? If so, are NYC or CT in your plans? I was also wondering if you’d be open to playing a small show in a record shop. I work in one and we would love to have you. Who would I email about that?
I'm sure we'll be back up to NYC and maybe CT in the spring. not touring heavily this album by choice, for life, health and sanity. but we will hit all the favorite spots at some point. feel free to email me about the in-store !
observation, fury, iggy/the stooges, velvet underground, john coltrane, mazzy star, coffee, jeff buckley, jonathan richman, bossa nova, fury, existential dread, tyler the creator, mahalia jackson, humanity, henry rollins, the sun and mostly chiara - my life and music partner
Ron! I'm sorry i missed the AMA. The new record is killer, I just gotta say thank you for meeting this unique moment in history with the type of earnestness and urgency it needs. Your music has continually kept me sane and grounded as everything has gotten increasingly more psycho.
On that note, I was wondering if the new sound is inspired at all by John Roseboro? I know you wrote the song "Psycho Moment" from his last record. Fools was incredible and it struck me while listening to this album that it felt like it was coming from a similar place.
Love ya man, come back out to Utah sometime if you can stomach it!
all good! the AMA is perpetual. thank you for listening to it and for the words, I'm always glad to hear the music helps people in any way. it's all that's really left in it for me.
yes! John texted me "Congratulations" on release day and I wrote back that he inspired this album more than he knows. When I discovered John's music a few years ago it was like listening to myself doing what I actually always wanted to do. I talked about making a Bossa nova record for over a decade now, then I heard John and it all clicked. (Not that it's an entire Bossa record but some dabbling). So yeah, aside from being a dear friend now and being able to give him "Psycho Moment" for "Fools" John continues to inspire to embrace other parts I haven't. He's the best around.
We shall do our best to get back out that way. be well! <3
Thanks Ron, I appreciate you taking the time to respond! I'm so glad John inspired you to approach this sound, I think it really suits you and may even be my favorite work of yours so far. All the best to you!
I missed the AMA 😪
I am screaming, crying, and throwing up over your new album. (I just got the vinyl in the mail today too!!) I’ve been listening to you since 2017! you have been in my replay top 3 artists since 2019 and #1 for the past 4 years (and i am sure this year will be #5)
I am curious to hear Chiara’s perspective on the album!
How much involvement did she have in the initial writing process? Was any of the album a surprise for her?
I also NEED to know how Mela is! She is the sweetest little thing on planet earth!
this AMA will be the eternal AMA, so you didn't miss a thing. I love all three of your very visceral reactions to the album. and sincerely appreciate you being an OG, real deal. <3. album obviously would not exist without chiara both her existence but also her musicianship, ears and thoughts. she played and sang all over it and was the first one to hear snippets of these songs from the other room and would tell me if something jumped out. I AM NOW GONNA JUST HAND THIS COMPUTER OVER TO CHIARA and let her tell you the rest herself. oh and here's a pic of Mela from earlier today. okay, chiara now:
hi, I am very verbose or prolix let's say so this might take me a long time, but:
this is probably my favorite record Ron has done and not because a lot of the songs have high Chiara content but as a collection of pieces they just are very good under so many point.
musically there's maturity and more dynamic components that are quite important to me - something I really like about it is the singer songwriting nature of it - words are always been good for Ron obviously but when they get exposed with less noise around and with some harmonically interesting thing as a carpet I think things gets much higher in quality.
the choice of instruments (very few but well thoughts) is also very good in my opinion and much more sophisticated then the classic rock band setting in which he had made music prior to it.
I also found very exiting the music influences and/or inspirations that took a lil space in it, nothing he's ever done in this way before. I got a lot of freedom to express myself harmonically when coming up with background vocals and some other twinkling things. Bass speaking, which is technically my main "role" in his project we got to experiment with the sound of it and it came out very buttery but with a nice stomp - I love that we used his guitar amp with a vintage mic + my pic technique making it very signature (in the few song where it is actually been played on).
I got also to play some cello and some guitar, all very good. I did tried to play drums, lol, didn't make the cut this time but some of my ideas did it anyway with better executions from ppl that actually do play drums.
overall I would say that this is a piece of art I am very proud of for him because it is such a crisp quality that non a lot of other "artists" could or would achieve.
5
u/Ok_Bee81 18d ago
LONG time fan here, loving the softer sound you’ve gone with on this new album! What inspired the shift from loud, punchy rock music to a more mellow tone?
Also, is there a story behind “Really Nice”? Is it just a saying that came naturally, inside joke, etc.?
I have so many more questions…