Oops!

It looks like you don't have flash player 6 installed. Click here to go to Macromedia download page.

Ready Fire Aim

Rader: Yeah, it was a pretty wicked show, as I recall. Shaun gave me a copy of the Ror-Shak record, which I fell in love with immediately. I sat down and recorded an electric violin improv to one of his tracks. He liked it, we met for coffee and talked about maybe sharing some sketch tracks we each had.  That was it; from then on out we pretty much started working regularly.

Morris: Sage sent me a couple of sketch tracks that he'd been working on, and the two of us began sending files back and forth, and then pretty soon after started working pretty steadily in the studio for a year, until the record gradually took shape.

When did your collaborations go from swapping demo recordings to sitting down an creating a real album? Was there a specific moment when you decided to get more serious with the project?

Rader: We started working together in the studio almost from the very start. The file-swapping was an integral part of the process of making the record. Every night after work, I'd log on to AIM and he'd hit me with the latest mix or a new idea. We'd discuss and then meet the next morning and work from there. It was pretty full on. For my part, it was the most fun project I've ever worked on. The process was virtually effortless when it came to collaborating with Shaun. When it comes to sounds and a sense of where the song wants to go, we generally dial in together immediately. After we'd each put our sketches together, developed them and written new ones,  we started to hear a sound that we were going for. For me, it's all about the emotion of a sound. What does this feeling sound like? How can I communicate and recreate that feeling in the listener through the use of beats and chord progressions? Shaun is a brilliant editor and goes at it from a very direct and scientific approach; what would sound good with what we have, and what do I need to do to get those sounds? It's the perfect storm really – high pressure system meets low pressure system – totally different approaches, but we agree on the sounds when we hear them.

Sage, you're a published writer and actor as well as a musician. What have you brought from your previous artistic endeavors to this particular project?

Rader: A sense that you can do anything if you put your mind to it, and a  lot of gratitude for having been able to be creative in a truly cross-platform way. Learning your mark, your lines, where camera is, how to engage a room – all these things are critical to any kind of performance. From a poetic perspective, I've also had a lot of fun for years playing with words, so it was a new challenge to actually write a structured song. Telling stories in rhymed couplets is one thing. Crafting a half-decent song is fucking daunting, sometimes. This was my first attempt as a record lyricist, so I just did what I always did – sat down and tried to tell a story – only this time I had the benefit of music to help me access that part of my brain that wanted to say something. Turned out to be an easier learning curve than I thought, but there's always room to grow.

Did you have to adopt a different approach from your poetry and spoken word material to write more structured song lyrics?

Rader: Yes, in many ways it was totally new. It's like trying to write within a structure that, given my need to eat and live at peace with my landlord, needs to be accessible to some market somewhere so I can pay my bills without waiting tables. This makes me want to puke occasionally. However, instead of thinking of anything commercial, I play mind games with myself. I set up some basic parameters for myself, like I had in college when I had to write a series of sonnets, villanelles or sestinas. It's not that you can't write whatever the fuck you want, you just can't write what you want and call it a sonnet. I enjoy pushing myself to grow and innovate lyrically, finding new ways to say what I need to say.

Shaun, this is also a pretty big change in direction from your techno recordings. What elements from your previous production work did you bring to Ready Fire Aim?

Morris: I spent most the '90s – actually late 80s – into the 2000s in the UK rave scene and then drum 'n bass, so with that being my roots, I think that it comes through in everything that I do, but it's hard to put into words or pinpoint, as it's mostly on a subconscious level, like your instincts. But I'd say mix-down techniques, synth and beat choices, distortion tricks and editing styles, attention to detail and manipulation of sounds, that sort of stuff.

How difficult was it to shift into more of a pop music mindset?

Morris: I was a big fan of electronic music from the '80s, which was basically pop music and which in my mind paved the way, at least in part, for the rave scene. It was the same electronic movement, some of the same producers moved with it, and it had the same passion for synths and manipulation of sounds, sampling and the like. So it wasn't really a reach for me to get back into that mindset; it was more like going full circle than anything.

Who were your biggest musical influences in recording This Changes Nothing?

Rader: We were listening to a lot of Thom Yorke, The Notwist, Goldfrapp, Junior Boys, Bob Dylan, Marilyn Manson (believe it or not). I listened to Coldplay to study how Chris Martin crafts his songs – I  think he's a great songwriter – as well as  Depeche Mode, and Jane's Addiction for inspiration on the art of getting naked and staying raw. There was also a French electro listening period, which was kind of short-lived. All of these artists have things that consciously or not made their way into our sphere of reference and then, in some form, onto the record.

Similarly, who are your favorite musicians in general, whether or not their influences were incorporated into your album?

Rader: Tool, Slayer, Lamb of God, Mastodon, pre-Black Album Metallica, Marilyn Manson, Radiohead, Depeche Mode, Beck, Nine Inch Nails, My Brightest Diamond, Justice, Nigel Godrich, Junior Boys, Moby, The Rapture, Goldfrapp, MGMT, Guns 'n Roses, Hot Chip, Daft Punk.

What are your favorite songs on the album, and why?

Rader: 'As If It Were That Easy.' I was in a really desolate place and came home one night after being abused by the rich and semi-famous at work and sat down to a 16-bar loop Shaun sent me on AIM. I  immediately started scribbling and what came out ended up being a cry for some kind of deliverance. I love my job for giving me this song.

'End of Over.' We had so much fun sound-mining and taking things through combinations of analog and digital signal manipulation and then sampling the vocals and pitching them to loop as a part of the  song. The whole thing at the end is swirling like a million thoughts in your brain when you are in the middle of break-up, personal loss or regret. I think it's the best example of how we work to convey emotion through really specific production.

Have you toured for the album yet? Do you plan to? Do you have any other upcoming plans you can share with us?

Rader: We'll be playing in our NYC back yard for the next couple of months through CMJ in October.  After that we have tour plans which we'll be announcing soon that will take us up and down the eastern corridor and through the west, all the way to Vegas. From there we are looking to hit college campuses nationwide and tour pretty hard for the next year. I love life on the road and look forward to  getting out there and honing the live show.