Saturday, August 6th at La Cave: Indie Peddler Vol. ii Release

Songwriters: Stanley Lucas Revolution

What do you want to hear in a song?

Sean Robertson (aka Stanley Lucas Revolution): I just go for visceral responses. The melody, and if its got a good hook. If the voice changes register, it stands apart from the rest of the song. And a catchy melody that sticks with you.

So I guess the intent of music is to make it catchy, right?

Robertson: I hate seeing music when there’s nothing to really viscerally grasp onto, like there’s no hook.

But a kind of simple song can be made something more with lyrics, right?

Robertson: I think so, typically more so on record, than live. Cause you can’t hear the lyrics so much anyway when it’s live. It can happen, but…

So I heard that at 3-4am, there is a chemical released in your body that is supposed to create inspiration, is that true?

Robertson: My most prolific time always as an artist, for however long I’ve been doing it, has been in the daylight hours. It’s like a weird paradoxical thing I guess. Usually mid-morning, 11am until about 4pm. Smack in the middle of the day has been my most productive time. I think it’s just linked itself that way because that’s the time when I could physically make music. Mom would be gone at work, and for years when I lived with her, is when I pretty much developed all the Stanley stuff. When I had the coffee shop job, I would either be off a couple days a week when she was at work, or I would get home by noon everyday. So my most productive time just kind of developed into being, when I actually had time to rock out in the house without annoying anybody. I like to play loud, and I gotta do five things at once, and I don’t really write music by sitting on one instrument and working on a song. I need to do this whole thing that I do. It’s been so long that I’ve been doing this live looping bit and stepping on a button. Josh Cairns asked me if I wanted to play bass in a band that he’s starting, but I told him that I don’t know if I could even play an instrument for more than just 10 seconds in a row. I don’t know if I could play a bass for six minutes solid, all those different parts. I’m so out of the loop for that certain kind of music (laughs).

So how well do you know your scales?

Robertson: I know scales in a couple different keys, and that’s about it. I tend to lean a lot on F Minor, and then I do C Major, C Minor, F# Major. I don’t really play in a whole lot of keys. I play guitar in A Major a lot, but I don’t really know the scale. I don’t know a whole lot about music other than rhythm and melody. I don’t really know theory at all. Most everybody I know knows a lot more about music than I do.

You just recognized patterns, playing them enough?

Robertson: Yeah. There’s two different ways of approaching music I think. There’s approaching from the experiential way, versus through the calculated, learned way; which people who experienced it, learned and wrote down, so you can learn it from this side of the peak of the pyramid, or the other side. I’ve always attacked it from the experiential, that’s the most enjoyable thing about making art for me, is going through the process.

What about a hybrid?

Robertson: I always wonder sometimes if I’m too old, well not too old in the sense of age, but like an old dog stuck with my old tricks. Have I been set in my ways for so long that I don’t know if I can physically learn anymore? Plus, I don’t want to know too much, cause I think it kills art the more you know about it. I like to be a reactionary artist. Make songs in one note.

I think a lot of people rely on their calculations, but then there’s the FEEL. That’s what the whole music thing is about. If people rely on calculations, they lose that, right?

Robertson: Yeah, to a certain degree, definitely. I don’t think it’s completely exclusive, but there are a lot things. I was watching Justin Morales play something on the bass the other night at Westside Bar, and he was doing some shit I don’t really comprehend. From a musician’s standpoint, to just get floored, and be like, ‘I don’t really know what’s going on right now.’

Play something.

Robertson: (Plays “This World” acoustic, on piano). I haven’t really done that before. I never liked it, cause it’s boring if I ever do anything with it.

I don’t think it’s boring at all.

Robertson: It’s really easy, it’s a simple song, cause like I was saying, I don’t know too much.

I’m watching your hands from the outside, and trying to pay attention, but you know where everything is already.

Robertson: Well do you know the notes? When you first look? Like what is that? (Points to a few keys).

G…D…E…F…

Robertson: So you know them. That’s quick enough to know the chords. Then you’ve got an octave (plays a bassline. Repeats “This World,” while showing the chord progression).

Oh, I played something you haven’t heard, over the weekend. Both Saturday and Sunday night. Sunday I was at the Lab. And Saturday night, my stuff was falling apart. All my equipment is in the shop right now. My amp stopped working right as I was trying to set up on stage.

Which is always the perfect time.

Robertson: And I can’t use anyone’s amp, cause it’s gotta be able to handle what I’m doing to it. Which is putting so many instruments through it at the same time. That kind of fucks up amps, which is why mine breaks every couple of years. So I don’t want to do that to anybody else’s amp. No one’s really supposed to do that. ‘Can I borrow your amp? Sorry it’s blown up now.’

What kind of amp do you use?

Robertson: It’s a keyboard amp. I’ve tried a couple amps, but this particular one I have seems to work good enough.

Good enough?

Robertson: It’s hard to say, I bought one that I thought would be better once, and it sounded so bad. I don’t know why. It was a bass amp. And it’s not a money thing. Like this one, the one I have, it was from an old customer from the coffee shop, and he gave it to me. This older guy, his wife used it for playing piano at the church. And she got a new one. So one day it was, ‘Hey Sean, you want a Fender amp? We don’t need it anymore.’

So what about structure?

Robertson: That consists of little things that make a huge difference. All I really do is layering bits, and playing a pattern. Then repeat 64 times. But by adding little things on top of it, or underneath it, or taking them away, it gives the songs dynamics. Which I think is important. It gives the ear places to rest, places to get excited, rather than something that’s just constant.

And cluttered?

More consistent I’d say. A lot of times, music happens in between the notes. And if you’re just constantly playing notes, a lot of times, there’s no room for the ear to naturally go off and wander for a second. I think that’s most important sometimes, when you make the listener naturally just disappear, and start humming the melodies in their head. Whether they want to or not, they just disappear into music. I think a lot of it is what happens in between the notes, which if there’s a lot of space, you can say so much.

Sometimes the music says it better.

I wish I could pull things out of my loops once I overdub them in a certain way. It’s always going up, up, and up. As far as adding instruments, and then the next part is even bigger, and the next part there’s another instrument. I can’t ever drop it down, or break it down. I can a little bit, but it’s very difficult. I can’t do it with my looper.

You have to have the full band?

Robertson: Yeah, or I have to turn off the looper, or just play one instrument. The hardest part is ending it, isn’t it? I struggle with that sometimes, but a lot of times, especially because of the looping, I can only do one or two things. A lot of times, I tend to fade it out. Spin my fader.

When you do the big crescendo, huh?

Robertson: When it’s doing a big bang, I can’t have it ring. I can either turn the whole thing off, and just play one instrument, but that’s kind of boring, and I can’t do that on every song. Usually I just end up fading it.

So it always fading as a loop?

Robertson: Yes, it either fades with the loop, or I’ll have to end with one instrument, like a keyboard note. Can’t really have everything ringing out through the end.

Introduction to Songwriters Collection

What does it take to write a song? Why do some people string together chord progressions so effortlessly, while others slave over every piece? Is it important to tell a story, or does the inclusion of lyrics occur only so a melody to hum with exists? Do the technical musicians quell the simpler songwriters, or can a simple three-chord change inspire more overall emotion from the listener? And in the end, is it the audience member that gives the song life?

For some, songwriting is an organic process that grows in the seeds of personal practice, while others find their stride within the jam circle. Records are made in so many ways these days, whether it involves capturing rough cuts on tape recorders, tunes made in warehouses and garages on personal digital devices, or albums produced by a professional studio that house ProTools, plenty of equipment, high-powered computers, and the finest acoustics. As I carefully studied each perspective, I began to realize there was no cut and dry manner of making a song. Most musicians that spoke of his or her inspirations, stuck to specific songwriting practices of their own. Others revealed that they enjoyed reinventing themselves by morphing in phases with the style of their music, just as an individual morphs during his or her lifetime.

In the end, the hunt for the key to songwriting became clear: it is about self-expression, and discovering a Harmonia with yourself and your bandmates. To be culturally aware is to be an artist, and the truly great songwriters speak and play from their heart in reference to the world around them. They create with the intention of portraying the emotions felt by humanity, but that most individuals are unable to express because they are not practiced in the process of artistic interpretation. That being the case, it is never too late to start thinking about the music we choose to listen to, and why it is relevant in our day-to-day life. Then, as an audience member and fan, it is always possible to be part of the journey of songwriting.

Keep and eye out for interviews from:

The Growlers

Billy Kernkamp

Stanley Lucas Revolution

Honeypie

Echo Echo

Tyler Ellis

Omaha

Railroad to Alaska

Snakebit Drifters

Drums and Color

The Dawn of Stanley Lucas Revolution

Report Subject: Stanley Lucas

Date: February 2000

Department: Tavistock Internal Research Center, Montana #41336

Status: Top Secret

To Whom It May Concern,

Patient Name: Stanley Lucas has escaped the facility and his recapture is of the utmost importance. Due to his sociopathic behavior, he is dangerous to himself and those around him. His extreme revolutionary perspective is detrimental to the ways of society if he is given the opportunity to spread his extremist ideas to normal civilians. Patient possesses ability to manipulate the minds of others and cause anarchy, and in some cases, reckless derangement. A complete background, protective precautions, and possible whereabouts is included below.

* * * * *

Insanity is merely one perception of the man. A violent attitude will be used as a mask, mainly to cast fear towards any paranoid onlookers, keeping them at bay. Behind the façade, Lucas has actually achieved an extremely high level of clarity that may only to be reached after severe mental, emotional, and physical torture. While housed at the Institute, Lucas was chosen by Dr. Teller as an ideal candidate for The Epicurean Procedure due to his highly evolved brain patterns. Historically, such experiments had continually caused dementia and split personality in patients. Dr. Teller anticipated that when the mind is able to withstand excruciating pain, a higher level of mental clarity can be reached. Patient Stanley Lucas was one of the very few to survive this process, but not without said side-effects. Despite his success in withstanding the trauma, Lucas retreated from any human interaction; locking his thoughts deep inside windows of glassy eyes, unwilling to cooperate with his superiors at the Institute.

Soon after Dr. Teller and colleagues began to notice violent outbursts becoming more routine in Stanley. In efforts to keep Patient Lucas mentally balanced, the Institute prescribed a daily combination of Lithium and Seconal. Initially, the doses given by the Institute meant to render Stanley into a docile state, making his actions easier to study. In turn, his subconscious adapted further by concentrating on creative, dreamlike tendencies to settle the restless monster that was growing inside. Lucas turned to these mental outlets, and quickly proved to be a proficient writer, painter, and composer.

During various manic episodes, Stanley threatened staff nurses that he was designing propaganda, meant to spread “his message” to the public. Now that he has escaped, Lucas will most likely begin his quest within an underground ring of society. Individuals possessing similar creative tendencies will undoubtedly serve as his only human connections while in the outside world. His instability will force him to remain absorbed in a personal hideout. Look for him at night, most likely in a major American city. Lucas is a sleeper cell, patiently waiting behind receptive eyes, generally bound to the conventional manners that accompany normal human interaction. He was adept to covering his tracks at the institute, usually leaving little or no traces behind of his mischievous actions. In order to prevent manic attacks, he will most likely acclimate a daily routine that involves consuming illegal pills and possibly marijuana. This intake of drugs can be assumed to be mostly handmade and smuggled.

A chance of recapture means discovering his local hideouts. Without the creative outlets to funnel the chaos into, his attitude will quickly become maniacal. Under these conditions, Stanley becomes completely unpredictable, and loses all sense of guilt and shame. Unless he is returned to his mental shackles at Tavistock, he will spread the news of our existence, and the experiments conducted here. Stanley Lucas knows too much. He must be stopped, or all progress made will be destroyed in our efforts to conduct the De Banco Experiments.

Sincerely,

Dr. Robert Stockholm

Tavistock Supervising Technician