By: Lisa Steinberg
Q) Please tell us the story behind your new song “MELT.”
Buick: “MELT” is based on a couple of different real-life anecdotes that happened over the course of one year, but it’s also based on a larger realization that ties into the theme of the album. As for the anecdotes, one was a time I tried to hang out with a group of women who were already a fully formed friend group who almost seemed to be auditioning me as a future member. I didn’t make the cut at all, and on top of that, I had the very familiar experience of receiving an insult from one of them that was actually just a compliment for the man in my band. A classic. The second story was me witnessing a group of women I didn’t know and realizing how far away I’d become from those types of dynamics, that brand of familiarity. Both situations were part of my understanding that I don’t ever feel like I belong with other women, which is both painful but flatly true. I feel so profoundly outside of it—like I’m too much and not enough. The album is based around that idea of existing on the outside and trying to find pockets of belonging both within oneself and elsewhere.
Q) What do you think it is about the song that fans connect to?
Buick: Musically, the song is uncharacteristically upbeat for us; it’s heavy but melodic and almost happy sounding at times. For people who don’t connect with lyrics, there’s still an energy contained within it that they seem to respond to. But we’ve also been told that folks very much relate to feeling rejected or kicked out of something—whatever that may be—and that this song resonates on that level. I’m glad it connects in whatever way(s) it does!
Jerry: I find it to be very infectiously “boppy,” for lack of a better word. Very easy to get taken away by and celebratory while still being loud and noisy. It’s a perfect musical match to the message and I think you can feel what it’s saying without even necessarily hearing the lyrics.
Q) The video is beautifully crafted by Jerry with cinematography by Jarad Clement. How does the video for the track play into the message behind it?
Jerry: Thank you! I wanted the video to look the way the song makes me feel. Whenever it kicks in, I feel overwhelmed with energy and imagine all the colors and stuff being thrown around, but in a positive and therapeutic way. In that way, it becomes a celebration of finding belonging, and it was very important to me that we shoot the video at DRKMTTR here in Nashville, as that’s become the primary venue we play here in town. It’s our second home of sorts, and it’s where Buick and I play our music that would be considered “too loud” by some.
Q) “KEEPING SCORE” was released along with “MELT.” What made you decide to release dual singles rather than spread the tracks out?
Buick: Once the album was completed, two distinctive tonal sides lifted out: one light, one dark. There are these hyper-melodic, more lushly presented songs, and then these brutal, heavy songs. And yet they’re all friends; they all work together to tell a story. So, releasing dual singles is our way of sharing selections from each group at one time, offering both ends of the spectrum to our listeners.
Q) Your new album BEAR is set to come out in October. Can you talk about some themes that you explore on the album?
Buick: BEAR is about belonging—where it exists and where it absolutely does not. It was written in the wake of realizing I’d been kicked out of womanhood, so there’s some work about examining rejection and how that functions. There’s also work about finding pockets of acceptance in music scenes, the art world and counterculture. And there is a definite throughline of looking at how little we address the harm women do to other women and girls. The album is bookended by songs about girls being harmed by other women and/or girls. And always always always, the work is about empathy and why it seems to be in such short supply in some areas.
Q) What is your songwriting process? Do you need music before you can create lyrics?
Buick: Most of the time, I write them together. Two of the rare cases where parts of the songs existed without lyrics for a while are “MELT” and “FOUND.” I heard and figured out quite a lot of “MELT” before I even lived through the stories contained within the lyrics. It’s like the structure was just waiting to be filled in with the narratives. “FOUND” had a similar trajectory. But, usually, I hear melodic ideas and words at the same time and then sit down with a guitar and work them out. Jerry and I will shape up arrangements a lot of the time, but sometimes not. In general, I feel like songs arrive and show themselves to me and my job is to listen well and judge nothing. You can always edit later.
Buick, you and Jerry teamed up with Kurt Ballou on production for the album. What can you tell us about working with him on the album?
Buick: We did! This was our second time making an album with Kurt, the first being our last album MASS. Plus, he’s been mixing our work for over six years now, so the relationship is fairly lived in. Making BEAR with him was a great experience and one that I’ll always value. We (FC) always arrive with fully written work and Jerry and I know who we each are in the project. Kurt’s a terrific third collaborator because he’s efficient, enormously talented and decisive. Plus, he’s funny and easy to be around, which counts for a lot when you’re spending long days together making something that matters to all of you. The way we track with Kurt is that Jerry does the drum tracks first, with me playing scratch guitar in the room with him (my rigs are isolated in the studio basement). Then, Jerry does the bass tracks to that scratch guitar and his own drum tracks. Then, the room completely rearranges to make way for my guitar days, of which there were four for BEAR. It was an incredible amount of guitar tracking this time around. And then I come back to Nashville and track my own vocals. Sometimes Jerry adds keys; he definitely did this time. And then Kurt mixes it all at the end. I love working with Kurt and Jerry. It’s a dream team.
Jerry: Buick pretty neatly summed it up, but I can say that there’s a lot of talking and hanging out. Sometimes you worry it’s too much and you’ll run out of time, but it makes for an extremely meaningful and memorable human experience and I can’t wait to do it again. His tones are the best and it’s impossible to imagine recording with anyone else or our records sounding any different than they do. Every time we work with him is better than the last time.
Q) I’ve been enjoying the album and some of my favorite songs are “DRIPPING SILVER,” “MIDHEAVEN” and “IMPERFECT.” Are there certain songs on it that hold a special place in your heart and why?
Buick: Thanks so much! I love that list of favorites. It’s very difficult for me to pick favorites in my own work, but I’m also very partial to “IMPERFECT.” It’s such a true set of sentiments for me, I love the rougher energy of the track, and singing it was a real release. “FOUND” has a special place in my heart because it’s a powerful track, but also I had such a breakthrough when I wrote it about belonging to the art and music itself, not to the approval of outside entities; it’s a love letter to the source of the music which is wild, crushing empathy and interest in/concern for other people. And “KEEPING SCORE” is the mother of the album, so I feel a fondness for it and probably always will. “DRIPPING SILVER” and “X” both hold some grief about lost friends for me, and I think they’re both such cool tracks.
Jerry: Those are great favorites and mine are continually moving, but I always come back to “X,” “MIDHEAVEN” and “FOUND.” “X” is just a perfect, sound-scapey, big heavy song with beautiful chord changes and vocals and I’m so happy it’s ours. “MIDHEAVEN” is a big musical exercise and the extended sections where Buick and I are just playing together are moving and cathartic to me. “FOUND” just rocks really hard and I love the arrangement and all the ups and downs it goes through, and it’s kinda bizarrely the longest song on the album while also being one of the poppiest.
Q) Are there any songs from the album that you’re especially looking forward to performing live?
Buick: We’ve been performing “KEEPING SCORE” live for two years now and I always love playing it. Really looking forward to all of them, but “MIDHEAVEN” is going to be an athletic event, “DRIPPING SILVER” still chokes me up and “FOUND” is one of the most involved arrangements we’ve ever attempted. So, all of those should be exhilarating on stage!
Jerry: I’m both scared of and excited to play “MIDHEAVEN,” and it will be all about getting past that opening fill which I’m very likely to mess up every now and then. “FOUND” will be great because it will be maybe the first time we’ve played a song where we have to get quiet(er) for a period, and I’m stoked to have some faster tempos back with both “NEW” and “IMPERFECT.”
Q) What do you hope listeners take away from listening to your new album as a whole – either as an emotion or message?
Buick: You’re never the only one experiencing something, including rejection. Say it out loud, find others like you. And take that information about how it felt and turn it into the greatest superpower one can possess: empathy, and the ability to love, create, and protect what’s good with courage and integrity. We’re the ones who get to do that because we’re the ones who know. And you can always come sit by us. I also hope people think the record rips!
Jerry: I feel like this is a very serious and at times dark record, but it goes in a lot of different places energetically and emotionally and I feel uplifted after listening to it. I hope everyone else who listens to it does too.
Q) Who are the artists/musicians that you are currently listening to and why do you dig them?
Buick: Great question! I’ve been loving the new Redman album, MUDDY WATERS TOO (shout out to Method Man on “LALALA”); also love the recent Bad Plus album, COMPLEX EMOTIONS. Jazmine Sullivan’s HEAUX TALES rips and so does that last Kvelertak record, ENDLING—especially the title track. I listen to music that makes me feel alive, or like driving too fast in my car, or that transports me to a different place. All of that music does so.
Jerry: I love CAR BOMB to death and think they’re one of the only modern heavy bands doing something that’s truly unique. I’ve been listening to a lot of CULT LEADER and SHUDDER TO THINK as well. Not a lot of new stuff. I need to work on that maybe.