Radio Crystal Blue interviews Stuart Wolferman of IMAGINARY JOHNNY
interviewed February 2008, first posted 3/5/08

Share memories about growing up in Brooklyn.

Hmmm. I am certainly not a New Yorker. I grew up in Kansas City, MO (KCMO).  I've been in Brooklyn with my wife since the fall of '03. We were in Seattle for six years or so before that. However, I still feel like a Midwesterner. Some memories there include really hot summers and tons of time on bicycles, flirting with shoplifting and lighting things on fire, friends that you've known as long as you can remember and would still bail out of prison no questions asked, sugar and butter sandwiches secretly prepared by my grandmother, and homerun derby with my brother and Mark Allen.

You've probably experienced your fair share of earthquakes, having lived in 2 major quake zones.

I was in a 6.8 earthquake in Seattle in 2001! It was totally exhilarating actually. And scary. I was in a staff meeting at the youth symphony office (my job at the time). We all just sort of crammed underneath one flimsy doorframe -- like 6 of us. It would have been completely ineffective. And there was a big sturdy table we should have all been under right there. That's my one and only earthquake store. Missouri has a big fault line but it's on the other side of the state. The New Madrid fault line. Once, in maybe 1992, some guy had predicted the exact time of the 'big one' on that fault line. My high school actually had us go to the gymnasium just in case. Looking back, it was pretty weird and ridiculous. But, apparently when the New Madrid blew in the late 1800s, the church bells rang in Philly and the Mississippi ran backwards!!!

So your Brooklynite experience appears to coincide with the years you've been recording.

Yes, the only studio recording I'd done prior to living in Brooklyn was with other bands. I did, however, start doing home recording in Seattle. I took this sound production program through the University of Washington and thought I might like to work in a studio someday.

How were the first band practices, while you kindled the first thoughts of makng it big in NYC?

Well, I was involved in bands in Seattle throughout my twenties so I wasn't completely naive. I didn't and don't expect to make it particularly 'big' anywhere. However, NYC did feel different from the start. There was a competitiveness that was lacking in Seattle. Clubs booked five bands that didn't stick around to listen to one another. It actually cost more money to play a show (getting your stuff there and back) than you got paid. This was all a rude awakening. Anywhere else I'd been you could casually drive to the show, usually get a nice soundcheck, have fun hanging with the one or two other bands and get a square deal at the door. It's different here. It's harder here. But back to the question: practices were pretty good from the start. This was the first time I'd really worked on getting my own band together, letting go of my control issues and trying to collaborate. It took a long time to feel as good about the band and people I'm playing with as I do now though. There was a lot of Craigslist awkward moments and drummers moving to Brazil and a sort of constant feeling of re-starting.

Why NYC for your start and not Seattle or KC? what prompted the move to Brooklyn and NYC?

Imaginary Johnny really got it's start in Seattle. That's where I put out the first record and put together my first (very brief) band. I started writing in Seattle. And, well, you know, got my heartbroken like any good song-writer. That first record is far more introspective and intimate than the new one. Seattle's a good town for introspection.

I imagine you gathered some knowledge of the Lawrence, KS scene before heading west?

I went to Lawrence quite a bit when in high-school and summers during college. I wasn't cool enough to really take advantage of what I should have. It's an "if I knew then what I knew now" sort of thing, but I liked going to Lawrence a lot. We saw some bands and mostly just rabble-roused. I'm really attracted to the history of Lawrence. John Brown and the Jayhawkers and Quantrill's Raiders and the James Gang. Crazy stuff! Really Lawrence represented a certain freedom to us. A lot of friends ended up going to college there and when we were in high school we'd head there to feel independent. Probably the way a college town feels to any 16 year old. I have some good memories of Columbia, MO too. 

Do you plan to play Bonnaroo or Wakarusa or any of the area festivals?

There are no festival plans at the moment, but I would absolutely love to.

What is Nico Muhly's role with the band? Seems to be someone in a muse role having his experieince with classical music wedged in.

Nico doesn't have a role in the band. He's a person I know and respect a lot. He's a fantastic composer. I especially like the way he isn't afraid to try anything. As the drummer in Imaginary Johnny, Ismail Lawal, would say "he's in the Guinea Pig club."

Brooklynite Andy Friedman, illustrator for The New Yorker, started out with drawings, and writing songs about them. Sounds like you're doing a bit of the opposite. Do you hunger to have this music be more of a visual art form as much as it is sonic?

Hmmm. Not really. I don't mind having a song stand on its own. I like using a lot of images and to tell stories and sing in first person as someone else-- someone else's story, but I don't, right now, have any desire to put images to the music. And, there has to be a reason. It can't, in my opinion, just be because it looks cool or something. I've done some sound for picture work which I like a lot. Also, I've given a song to an animator friend of mine to do a sort of video, which is fantastic (see it onYouTube!). But in that case, I simply let the animator go for it. I didn't want any creative control.

I'm still wrapping my brain around Britta's short film 'post nasal drift'. I was figuring it was some sort of elaborate surgical procedure, or a cross-pollination, or something else.What's your take?

Ha! Good question. Well, for me, it is the tale of an invasive organism.This non-native thing (like Kudzu or Pilgrims) coming in and destroying what was there. Britta is amazing at creating an environment that is completely foreign, but somehow a little familiar.

Now with the CD being released, how's 2008 looking for the band?

I'm glad you asked! It's exciting. We just got back from our first little adventure outside NYC -- to Rhode Island and Boston, with a stop in Connecticut. We were just invited to play a show down at South by Southwest next week. Next week! Jeesh. I'm really looking forward to that. The CD is officially out on April 8. I can't wait for it to really start getting out there. And we're doing a real tour in May/June, with stops in Philly, DC, Athens, Nashville, St. Louis, KC, Minneapolis, etc. It's as much momentum as we've ever had.

You chose the small, intimate, Brooklyn venue Pete's Candy Store for the cd release. Why there of all places?

Well, it's a fun room run by nice people. It's like playing in your own diorama. And, we could fill it!

What was the best advice in recording you got from Joel Hamilton in making the new CD? Joel cites some great gear on his Studio G website, namely the Fairchild compressor and the Neumann M49 mics. Did you get to use those?

We used tons of shiny stuff... I'm not a gearhead at all. I am 87% sure we did use the Fairchild though. I can't speak highly enough of Joel. He is just so fun to work with. That is the nicest complimentI canthink of. I just want to work and keep working because the environment he creates is such a blast. He also has a way of bringing out what I feel is the best in me, which is probably the Wikipedia definition of "music producer", or should be. And, finally, he has superb taste. If we're bordering on danger, he is intuitive about how far it can go, when to pull back, when a string part might distract instead of enhance -- that sort of thing. I think my songs and our sound is very well suited for him. He has a background in louder more distorted-type music and I think having someone from there work with us is important.   Also, Joel surrounds himself with really cool gear that's unique andsimilarly really cool and unique people. A lot of the guest artists are people Joel knows. Also, the assistant engineer, Marc Alan Goodman, is awesome. And, we were able to draft him as our bass player during the making of the record. He is now our one and only bass player.

What did you pick up on most between No Air and Only Chimneys?I am guessing it was the different take on the noises and miscellaneous stuff.

Well, No Air was kind of its own separate thing for me. I was lucky to play with Zach Barocas for about a year. He and his wife went off to Minneapolis and before he left we wanted to record what we were playing at the time. No Air is extremely close to being a live record. We recorded and mixed it with J.Robbins in Baltimore in two days. It's very stark. I was meant to be simple and bare-bones in a way, and it is. It was a first though. The prior records were more composerly with me at a computer 'sculpting' the songs one track at a time. No Air was a true band record. I knew I wanted to build on that for Only Chimneys. Just bigger.

How did Zach convince you to do the EP project and also get to do drums?

It didn't take a ton of convincing. It was a really fun weekend down in Baltimore. I met Zach through a friend and we hit it off. Zach actually introduced me to Adam Sylvia, the current guitarist, so he's still effecting the band!

You mention on your myspace page some favorite movies. 2 of them (The Changeling, The Big Lebowski) both have an interesting connection to Washington (state); I wonder if you had picked up on that at all. Where the Buffalo Roam also feeds your interest in Hunter S. Thompson. Have you been in the journalism field..or at the least considered writing for it, or doing some beat poetry? I am guessing you also prefer David Lynch and his film-noir, such as with "Twin Peaks"

I think you have the wrong guy though I do love The Big Lebowski and David Lynch. I also love Hunter S. Thompson.

From your debut CD until now you've gone through a spectrum of expression...originally more organic and personal...to something more studio-bound, thematic, and worldly. Did you envision from the beginning wanting to make bigger and less organic sounding projects...or did it just evolve over time and with each person?

It's been a steady evolution. I think as a song-writer eventually it's just not as exciting to write about yourself anymore -- at least for me. So the themes and subjects start to come more and more from the outside.

*******

And now track-by-track with "Only Chimneys":

Fleas: I like how this track slowly introduces each principal instrument used on the album and finally your vox. Also nice to hear the layers of keys and the guitar mixed on different channels. Tiny bit of filler sound there too at the end..what was that?

There is a lot of stuff in there. There's a B3 organ, some synth, is that what you're hearing?

It'll Burn: A pattern emerges here, with the phrasing of anger and arrogance. I read over these lyrics and I think it would sound even better if you substituted "it'll" for "i'll"! Here there is a 6-count, and a rock waltz rhythm with thundering drums by Ismail. That's a low organ sound underneath it all?

But I won't burn. Hopefully. Yeah, this is probably the most "thundering"track. It's a ton of fun to play live, and man, Ismail really lets it rip. There is a Nord under there doing organy stuff.

Everyone Has A Texas Song: Did this really happen? Sounds like you opened up what one is thinking rationally in the midst of trauma. Strong guitar track, more loud drums. sounds like it was recorded left to right...the louder sounds coming first through one channel, then the other. What I think is very cool are the introspective drums, going through the incident in the story...and then picks up the pace once you get into the background. Love the violins and piano here. Great way to style a story. Best part is at the end when all the sounds are pretty much fused together, nice and orchestral.

Thanks! Yeah, I love the way this one came out. Adam's guitar playing is so little and perfect and is no more or less than you need ...I think. I am fairly certain that this never happened.

Civilizations: Earlier on the album we explored libraries and maps....now civilizations. What have you studied that inspires this tune? There's an interesting pattern here about rivers, and bodies of water, and the struggle you take to existing beside them and cross over them. Lead kick snare leading into interesting piano and guitar ambience and echo with. More strong drums here. This sounds miked differently than the above, more of a live feel to it. Is that a banjo I hear toward the end?

Yes! It's a banjo! Alex Johnston played the banjo and he says you can't hear it in the mix, but this is proof that you can. Ha Alex Johnston! I wrote this song while reading Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian. The starkness, the violence, the gothic quality ... somehow led to this. There is a lot of elemental stuff -- earth, fire, rocks, rivers -- all over the record. Maybe it's living in NYC, but the essence of things is interesting.

Do you know there's going to be a movie based on Blood Meridian? Would you want "Civilizations" as part of the soundtrack?

I think I do remember hearing that. I'm skeptical that they'll pull it off, because it's not a plot driven book at all. It could be a fantastically surreal and dark movie, but I bet they try to create a more traditional arc that will annoy me. I did love "No Country for Old Men", but that book is far more plot driven.

Perhaps there was inspiration from the 1962 horror flick Carnival Of Souls, which as I understand was partially filmed in Lawrence.

Whoa, I haven't heard of Carnival of Souls but I'll put it on my Netflix list right now... Done.

Midwest Scorpions: How did you get the echo/atmospheric sounds on this one? I hear a guitar amp or something snarling as well in the quiet parts. One of my favorite parts of the CD is here while the piano chimes and the electric guitar churns (almost resonating like a piano here)....just before the choir and strings leap forward. I guess you did more experimentation with the sound...as the guitars appear mixed differently in one channel than the other, and your sound a bit centric and the choir to the right...not a typical setup..very pleasing. Here again is reference to the underground. Is there some other world underground?

Joel definitely pulled some tricks out of his sleeve on this one. He might have to kill me if I told you what he did though (not that I'd  get it right anyway). This is, at the moment, my favorite song on the album. The entire Midwest really was underwater. I spent a lot of time as a kid digging for fossils on the Kansas/Missouri state line. So, that is for real.This was a very long time ago. There is now an underground aquifer called the Ogallala in the middle of our country -- so it's flipped around. And we're going to run that thing dry some time and then where will we get our corn syrup??

Falling Into Itself: Indeed, the 59th Street Bridge puts you pretty high up, a different world than the old streets. You seem to insinuate that making choices, whether simply being high above the water, or with your beloved is of choice....or perhaps something so magical that you could doubt yourself into thinking 'too good to be true'. Again here, the use of falling, the erosion....a body of water collecting the earth around it. Interesting organ hum starts off...then more of the same sound arrangement as previous. Neat part where one drum beat is skipped as do the strings, then all chime in. Was that a spontaneous decision?

Yes, there are some 'pregnant' pauses in in the middle. This is certainly, in my opinion, the prettiest song on the record. It's actually a little too pretty for me to comfortably play live a lot of the time,but I think it works nicely in the middle of the album. I think what I'm going for is that it can be a random meeting, a random moment or touch or word that can start everything -- can change everything. In this case in a good way.  I love the strings on this one. Minna Choi wrote that string arrangement and it gets me good.

Duct Tape: Feels you're speaking right to the  listener...drums and vox  front and center again....organ very strong at the lead. This sort of answers "Falling Into Itself'. ....as you say NYC is  falling...or sinking on its own weight.....but you also say believing's not gonna do it this time. You seem to put more emphasis on solid choices rather than blind trust...which may be at the heart of where this album is coming from. Also, the word about absolutes (same as with the famous line about absolute power and corruption).

You nailed it. It's a song about faith and absolutes and closed-mindedness and, well, I don't want to ruin it.

Your Slice: I hear a Korg almost burying the guitar. The ringing guitars resembling the keys once again. Also seeing the continuing pattern; the ocean as a metaphor, and sense of power, and water boiling, the seething emotional energy.

No Korg in the room, but there is a Nord and a B3 and plenty of stuff slithering around in there. Seething. This was probably the most pleasant place I've ever written a song (usually in the dark on the side of my bed or on a plane). I was just sitting on a piece of driftwood in Mendocino County, CA. Ahhhhhhh.

Tiny Moving Parts: Solo tune has noticeable resonance, which lingers between each line...even mixed finely on one channel while piano is heard in the other. Sounds a bit raw,which i'm sure was intentional. Did you come from a line of civil service workers? More use of earth imagery is evident..the ground cracking..the shaking and the shaky foundation.

No. My dad made English muffins. But, this is about a sheriff who's dad and granddad were sheriffs and how things have changed. This was written hours after the Virginia Tech massacre.

Between The Days: Good amount of experimentation and toys in the final with some white noise panning, setting up for the final jam, my favorite bit on Only Chimneys.. which reminds me a bit of New Order's "Love Vigilantes", about getting home from war, instead of getting up from bed as your song dictates. I think I hear a flugelhorn!

It's a French horn! It's actually also on It'll Burn and Falling Into Itself. Danielle Kuhlmann plays a mean horn. Yeah, this was a fun one because we just sort of set it up as a huge pool that we needed to fill up. We probably could have gone on and on for days but we had to stop eventually. The money was running out.

Radio Crystal Blue debuts a track from “Only Chimneys” on 3/9/08 on RCB:Novus Ordo program, focusing on CD releases