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Carl
- A 'Fifth' Catholic -
Ireland
11546 Posts |
 Posted - 09/15/2007 : 10:40:04
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PopMatters.
REID PALEY [Photo: Butch Belair]
The Brutal Truth at Last: An Interview with Reid Paley
[14 September 2007]
One of America's best -- and most
underrated -- songwriters talks
about life, liquor, Pittsburgh, and
what it's like to write songs with
Frank Black.
by Jennifer Kelly
"I’ll see you again ... when the sun begins
to shine”, Reid Paley belts in a rough-hewn
growl that falls somewhere south of
guttural. With his black-suited, minimalist
band—just Paley, Jim Murray on drums, and Eric Eble on Czechoslovakian
upright bass—Paley has been known to tear the roof off any number of
dives, even, one night last year, at the Hammerstein Ballroom, opening for
long-time friend and songwriting collaborator Frank Black’s band the Pixies.
His songs, infused with liquor and failure and glistening-edged sarcasm, are
as true as pulp fiction and twice as gory. Think of him not as a peer of
Ryan Adams or Nick Cave or Tom Waits, but as a latter-day Bukowski or
William Kennedy, a dive-bar poet whose lopsided, gin-soaked grin just
might hide a hint of tragedy. “There’s people gonna tell you / That your
life can go to hell / But how you gonna get there / When you’ve got no
soul to sell?” he sings on the 9/11-influenced “Everything Is Going Wrong
(& That’s Alright),” paradoxically, one of his most upbeat sounding songs
ever.
Paley’s third solo album, Approximate Hellhound came out this May, self-
released after a long and fruitless battle with indie label indifference. Paley
says he started on the current album in 2004, and hoped to have some
backing with it. However, as the months slipped by, he resigned himself to
doing it all. “The actual recording took about two weeks,” he said. “It was
getting to that point that was difficult.” But he adds, “That the usual (and
unusual) obstacles were somewhat more numerous this time was a little
challenging, but I’m glad that it turned out just fine. It pretty much always
has.”
The result, however long in coming, is a barroom brawl of a album, full of
braggadocio, venom, and the occasional moment of bleary tenderness. Its
stand-up bass comes from jazz, its bent and sliding vocals from blues, its
lyric lilt from country ... and yet it is none of these things. “Of course, it’s
rock ‘n’ roll,” says Paley, when asked. “It may not be run-of-the-mill rock.
I hope it’s a little more intelligent than that. But what else would you call
it?”
Born in Brooklyn, Paley says that whatever jazz creeps into his metier comes from his father, a clarinet and saxophone player, or his mother, also a music lover, who “saw me as their little research project”. Even in before he was born, Paley says, his dad would hold up a tuning fork to the womb, hoping to inculcate little Reid with an innate sense of perfect pitch.
Paley left Brooklyn as a teenager, heading to gritty Pittsburgh for college.
There he formed a punk band called The Five, still fondly remembered among
punk archivists. (Maximum Rock and Roll called them “One of the
great undiscovered American bands”.) “One writer said we were a band
that had the feeling of blues without any blues progressions,” says Paley.
“It was rough. It was brutal.” In Pittsburgh, Paley would get gigs for the
band by paying afternoon visits to deadbeat bars, telling owners he could
pack the place with 300 people within a month, then hauling Pas and
equipment in for shows. “It would take a couple of weeks,” he says,
“before the owner would figure out that he could put his guy at the door
and make all the money.” At that point, it was time to find a new bar.
The band moved to Boston in the
late 1980s, a compromise move
that still befuddles Paley. “Most
bands, when they want to make a
move, will go to a city like New
York, Los Angeles, or London,” he
says. “We went to Boston.” They
encountered a scene where nearly
every band called itself
“gargage” (this was during the
Lyres’ heyday) and it was not
unusual for bands from suburban
Newton or Westwood to show up
for gigs in cowboy boots and silver
buckles. The hard-living Five, Paley
observes, stood out. Yet they built
a following, and sometime in the
late 1980s became large enough to
offer an opening slot to another
emerging Boston band just starting
to make some waves. That band
was the Pixies, and it was around
this time that Paley entered into
a long and mutually beneficial
friendship with Charles Thompson
(aka Black Francis, aka Frank Black).
By the early 1990s, the Five split up, and Paley headed back to New York.
Still writing songs, but with no one to play them with, he took a series of
odd jobs, mostly in set construction for ads, cable television, and music
videos. This period of his life included work on sets for Salt-N-Pepa, INXS
and others, he comments. One day, he ran into his old friend James
Murray, then working at a recording studio. Murray urged him to come into
the studio and get the songs he was working on down on tape. “Mostly we
were archiving songs that I’d already written,” Paley says. “Pretty soon, I
had a whole shelf full of tapes with my name on them.”
Lucky’s Tune, Paley’s first solo album, recorded on “one
1955 Gretsch, one ‘65 Fender tube amp” and produced by none other than Frank Black
himself, came out in 1999. It won fervent underground praise; Village
Voice called Paley the owner of “a voice to turn good girls bad” and
Pittsburgh City Paper hailed his “Reduce-you-to-tears razor wit”. Revival
came next, in 2000, this time produced by Eric Drew Feldman, and again
reduced a circle of critics and fans to putty. One obscure zine writer (okay
me), called the album “Brutally honest and quite funny ... Simple forms hit
so hard by passion, intelligence and humor that they stretch into
something surreal”.
Yet mainstream success continued to elude Paley. He spent the better
part of a year and a half in negotiations with an unnamed label before his
deal fell apart. Although he refused to talk details, the experience seems
to have been ugly. “I just know that every time I ask a label for
anything—and with few exceptions, anytime I get someone else to drive
the bus for me—I end up in a ditch on the side of the road with my legs
cut off,” he observed.
Paley kept busy in the interim, writing songs, playing shows, and
reconnecting with his old friend Frank Black. Black chose a Paley song,
“Take What You Want” as the b-side for his “Everything Is New” single in
2003. Later, he included “Another Velvet Nightmare”, a song co-written
with Paley, on his 2005 album Honeycomb. Fast Man Raider Man included
four Paley/Black collaborations, written during a few days of what Paley
calls “songwriting camp” in California.
Asked what was different about his songwriting process and Black’s, Paley
pauses to reflect. “I’m a lot more instinctual about the whole process. He’ll
want to know what’s going on in the song, and what the rhyme scheme
is...” he says. “I say, m’Man, you make me feel like a fucking hippie by
comparison.’”
Paley says he doesn’t write songs with anyone else, and he’s still not sure
why the process works so well with Black, but he likes it. “Sometimes the
original idea of the song will come from him, and sometimes the original
idea comes from me, and sometimes it just happens,” he says. “And there
are some that sound more like him, and some that kind of stink of me. You
could probably tell ‘I’m Not Dead (I’m in Pittsburgh)’ was one of those.”
After numerous tours supporting Frank Black throughout the US and
Europe, Paley and his trio were invited to open for the Pixies at one of
their revival shows in NYC at the Hammerstein Ballroom. Asked if he ever
thought the band that opened for The Five all those years ago would
become this huge, he says, “I always thought they were a great band.
And they were huge in Europe almost right away back then” But then he
adds, “It’s not so often that good things happen to good bands. Watching
it happen was like watching the metal ball travel through one of those
mazes where, incredibly, it drops through the right hole every time.”
Paley’s path has certainly not been as smooth or as well-timed ... but at
least the struggle has given him material to write about. His third solo disc,
Approximate Hellhound came out this spring, and it’s another installment of
boozy brilliant, uncategorizable rock/jazz/blues songs. “Better Days”, a
mid-tempo survivor’s stomp, swings with belligerent bravado, perhaps best
capturing the Reid Paley experience in the verse that goes: “Hangover
sunrise Sunday morning / Half-dead on Bedford Avenue / Some people
say / These things happen every day / And I think it might be happening
to you.”
You can catch the Reid Paley Trio at shows in NYC, or at an as yet
unconfirmed series of shows this fall in the UK and Europe. Check the
website or MySpace for dates.
 Multiple songs MySpace |
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Ziggy
* Dog in the Sand *
United Kingdom
2463 Posts |
Posted - 09/15/2007 : 12:26:29
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| I would really like to see Paley live. Let's hope that the Euro tour comes off. |
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kathryn
~ Selkie Bride ~
Belgium
15320 Posts |
Posted - 09/15/2007 : 13:32:30
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He was wonderful opening for Frank last October. Thanks for posting, Carlito.
the cure make me want to die, but in a good way -- mr.biscuitdoughhead
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fbc
-= Modulator =-
United Kingdom
4903 Posts |
Posted - 10/05/2007 : 12:32:11
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| I was excited by the news RP was touring with FB this year (until it all fell through) because I enjoy the songs they've written together. Not sure about Pittsburgh, though. I think I can count on one hand the times I've listened to it. One of (if not, the only) Frank Black song I can't replay in my head. I'm trying to now, but no go. |
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houstonguthrie
- FB Fan -
187 Posts |
Posted - 10/05/2007 : 15:57:00
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quote:
Originally posted by fbc
I was excited by the news RP was touring with FB this year (until it all fell through) because I enjoy the songs they've written together. Not sure about Pittsburgh, though. I think I can count on one hand the times I've listened to it. One of (if not, the only) Frank Black song I can't replay in my head. I'm trying to now, but no go.
Pittsburgh falls into the "didn't do it for me until I heard it live" category. It's one of the ones I picked off of 93-03 for that reason. That version is nice - but nothing can match the feel of everybody dancing around and singing along with at the show.
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donothing
- FB Fan -
USA
11 Posts |
Posted - 10/06/2007 : 00:17:24
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| Saw him open for Frank at The Irving plaza last year and was quite impressed. |
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Carl
- A 'Fifth' Catholic -
Ireland
11546 Posts |
Posted - 11/05/2007 : 09:23:18
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JimSullivanInk.com.
The Middle East's 20th: Eclectism on Parade ... and a
chat with Reid Paley
Saturday, 10 November 2007
Sat. Nov. 10
There are many reasons you might want to be at the Middle East Upstairs Saturday
Nov. 10 at 8. To celebrate the club’s 20th anniversary, or the birthday of original book
Billy Ruane, who helped put tonight’s eclectic bill together, or to help raise money for
Stephen Fredette (former guitarist for Scruffy
the Cat, now with Pony) who was diagnosed
in August with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.
(Fredette will be at the gig but will not likley
play; Pony plays T.T. the Bears Nov. 16, and
Fredette says, from a strength point of view,
that’s about all he’s got in him.) The Middle
East bill includes the Hallelujuh the Hills,
the Thalia Zedek Band with Chris
Brokaw (no doubt performing some of
what they used to play regularly in
Come), the Empty House Cooperative,
MG Lederman, IV Diffusion, Helms and
Drug Rug. But in this space we’re going to
focus on the Reid Paley Trio – which should
come on just before Thalia and company –
and raise a ruckus with his dark, yet
celebratory, raw rock ‘n’ roll. Think of a zone
somewhere between psychobilly and punk rock and toss gruff Tom Waits-like vocals in
the mix.
Some time ago, Paley (in photo) formed the Five in Pittsburgh. He moved the band to
Boston for about five years and now lives in Brooklyn, playing solo and with his Trio. He
opens shows – and writes – frequently with his pal Frank Black, aka Black Francis of the
Pixies. (The Pixies were fans of the Five and used to cover their songs early on.) We
checked in with Paley – who just released a CD called “Approximate Hellhound vs. The
Monkey Demon” - about what he’s been up to. First we wanted to know what an
“approximate” hellhound might be…
“There’s a little more self-awareness in what I do than in the common run of un-self-
aware faux rebellion that is being marketed,” says Paley. “I realize the world ran out of
irony ten years ago. Irony is being used by too many people, like people too young to
handle the ramifications use fireworks. It all started with MTVRock as a career choice.
Architecture or rock? Jazz is based around a unique personality of an instrumentalist.
Rock is more song, singer-oriented and hence it’s easier to steal. Most people that are
successful in rock are cartoons, you have to be one or two dimensional. People get
confused when more than one thing is being said. Everything is styled after advertising.
To me, I do what I do. If you have any intelligence, you have to have a fiercely
ambivalent attitude toward everything. I don’t specifically dumb it down. People call me
cynical, but the least cynical thing you can do is write a song and play it.”
Paley’s music cover a lot of turf – smart ‘n’ dirty, raucous and occasionally tender, full-
throttle and clanging. “It’s a weird animal, what I do,” says Paley, “but it’s not that weird
I think, I think it’s a good timey fun record. I’m the most good timey depressed guy in
the world.” Which leads into a discussion of embracing duality. “Call it manic depression,”
Paley says, “or just having a personality.”
Paley tries to remain as self-contained as possible. “I’ve had labels, booking agents,
but it’s usually been better for me to do it my own,” he says. “Every time I let somebody
drive the bus I end up on the side of the road with my legs ripped off.” But, he says,
there’s really no other choice but music. “I’ve been doing it my entire life, obviously I
can’t stop,” he says. “This is something that chooses you. I never wanted to be a rock
star. It’s a pathology, what I do. I beat on an old guitar and yell to a roomful of drunks,
they applaud, then buy me drinks and tell me how nice I’m nice I am. I wanna take what
I feel in my gut and stick it in yours. And hopefully make you think and walk in my shoes
for a minute. I like playing for people, that’s part of it. As long as anybody wants me to
play I’ll play.”
Parting thoughts (though he actually said this early in our talk): “Happiness is relative. I
never got the whole idea. Back to Sartre: Hell is other people.”
472 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, 617-864-3278 www.mideastclub.com
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joe FITZ of molly BANG
= Cult of Ray =
USA
349 Posts |
Posted - 04/06/2010 : 12:41:21
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quote:
Originally posted by Carl
PopMatters.
REID PALEY [Photo: Butch Belair]
The Brutal Truth at Last: An Interview with Reid Paley
[14 September 2007]
One of America's best -- and most
underrated -- songwriters talks
about life, liquor, Pittsburgh, and
what it's like to write songs with
Frank Black.
by Jennifer Kelly
"I’ll see you again ...
You can catch the Reid Paley Trio at shows in NYC, or at an as yet
unconfirmed series of shows this fall in the UK and Europe. Check the
website or MySpace for dates.
Multiple songs MySpace
what a great interview. i had no idea they knew each other for that long. does anyone know where to geta copy of an album by the five?
________________________________
my band: www.myspace.com/mollybang
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Broken Face
-= Forum Pistolero =-
USA
5155 Posts |
Posted - 04/06/2010 : 17:40:03
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I had a vinyl copy that was lost in a flood.
- Brian |
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joe FITZ of molly BANG
= Cult of Ray =
USA
349 Posts |
Posted - 04/08/2010 : 04:51:38
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goddam you and your flood!
:)
________________________________
my band: www.myspace.com/mollybang
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ClassicalRey
- FB Fan -
USA
56 Posts |
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joe FITZ of molly BANG
= Cult of Ray =
USA
349 Posts |
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Reid Paley interview!
