BEA Interview #15: RockyRaccoon

[benpaco]

Benpaco (BP just to confuse Rocky as much as possible): What's the first time album you remember listening to?

RockyRaccoon (RR): Well that's a two-part answer. The first album I listened to (and owned) was a greatest hits album. Styx's greatest hits specifically. I got it because, while on MySpace one day, I happened upon a friend's profile and his profile song was "Mr. Roboto". I really liked the song, asked him who it was and went from there.

My first actual "album", if I remember right, was AC/DC's Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. I couldn't get AC/DC on iTunes at the time and I couldn't find a greatest hits album of theirs, so I started just buying albums, and that was the first I got. I was just learning guitar at the time, hence my interest in the band.

BP: That's really interesting actually! So I'm assuming your interest in albums didn't actually start until you were a bit older? Or did you just have MySpace as a yungin?

RR: Well I always had an interest in music ever since I was young. I grew up on my parents listening to Motown and 60s pop as well as my mother's obsession with Chicago and my dad's obsession with bluegrass. I knew a lot of the songs well and was always inquisitive about the music. I remember consistently asking my dad when a song came on in the car "who sang this? What's this song about?" Stuff like that. But it was all very passive. Whenever it was on I listened, that kind of stuff. I didn't start actively seeking out music until my encounter with Styx, which was in my middle school years, so probably somewhere around 2003-2004.

BP: Alright, that makes more sense. Looking through your chart, it's apparent that your tastes have changed at least a little since then. Who is your favorite artist currently, and when/how did you find them?

RR: Damn, that's a tough question. It'd be hard to choose one. My love for Shaimus is pretty well-documented, as is my love for the glory that is Kristian Mattson. Two of my other favorites I can always come back to are Ben Folds and The Avett Brothers and both for similar reasons. I really discovered both of them when I was going through a really tough period of my life about four years ago. They both have an amazing knack for fun, upbeat music and beautifully written lyrics. I mean, I can't even begin to count the lines in Avett Brothers songs that are so well-written. That line from "Murder in the City", "Always remember there is nothing worth sharing/Like the love that let us share out name", that's probably gonna be my epitaph. Or songs like "Shame" and "The Weight of Lies" reflect this simple, beautiful honesty that I connect with so well.

With Ben Folds, it's similar. His line from "Brick", a song he wrote about a time in his high school years when he got his girlfriend pregnant and she got an abortion, where he says "Can't you see?/It's not me you're dying for" is just so damn powerful, so brutally honest. Or "Fred Jones Part 2" which tells the story of an old man who's put years of his life into a job only to be fired and quickly forgotten, which brings about this existential crisis of "what was it all for?" My wife and I danced to "The Luckiest" at our wedding, so naturally that song means a lot to me.

These artists, they just speak through their words and melodies in a way that few musicians have to me, and it's why I love them so much.

BP: That shocking moment where you didn't pick Dylan like I'd assume you would ... but that's a really interesting answer, for sure. Is it mostly just lyrical strength that you look for then? I know you referenced "fun" music but I wouldn't exactly consider "Brick" a nice little dance tune ...

RR: Well that was the other end of the spectrum. Both Folds and the Avetts can make fun upbeat songs, but they can make beautiful ballads, I guess that was the keyword I neglected to use.

As for Dylan, he's a whole other topic. I could write a goddamn essay on the beauty that is Dylan's work. The man is like Shakespeare to me, every word has a purpose, there's nothing wasted. Dylan's music means a lot to me. I could go more in depth if you'd like, it'd just be a long response.

BP: ... So you mentioned the importance of Folds in that you and your wife danced to his song at your wedding. Would you say that a lot of your enjoyment of music comes from connections to moments in your life, like this does, or are there just specific songs that you can connect to moments?

RR: As for your question, I think it can be a combination of both. With "The Luckiest" specifically, when I first heard it I said to myself "This is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard" and because of that I used it in our wedding. Now, of course, since that's kind of become mine and my wife's "song" it has more meaning to it. I think that happens with all music, I think sometimes people like songs because of moments they associate with them. I've always said you can play any song on the radio enough times and people will begin to like it because they'll associate good memories with it. They'll say "I remember that song! I was popular during the summer I met my girlfriend! Man we had a great vacation together" or whatever. It has nothing to do with the actual song, but what is associated with that song.

BP: That's really interesting and something I've never really thought about, thanks for sharing. Looking at your chart, it's a wide variety of subject matters over the course of albums, is there anything in particular that you look for discussion about lyrically in an album?

RR: One of the things that appeals to me most when it comes to lyrics is honesty. Music can be an intensely personal thing, often times it's a musician bearing their soul for the public, and when someone is able to do that and be truly honest in their music, when the music feels like it's come from the heart, that really speaks to me.

Good example of that is Shaimus' "Without A Sound". It was never released on an album but it's on YouTube, look it up. It's a song of crisis, of a broken person. He sings "I'm losing my mind, losing my soul/Falling behind, falling alone/Losing my sight, losing control/Going too fast, growing too old/So I'm leaving my roots deep in the ground/Where they can rest, without a sound". To me, that is someone bearing it all, being brutally honest with the listener. And that's beautiful.

BP: Alright, that all makes sense. Now that we've talked a bit about what you like in music, may I ask what really bothers you in music? I saw you've rated Drake, Xiu Xiu, and Fiona Apple fairly low, why is that?

RR: Well let me preface this by saying that I don't believe that an album is necessarily "bad" but rather it just didn't click with me.

For Fiona Apple, I actually generally like her, it's just "The Idler Wheel" I wasn't a fan of. It sounded contrived to me, like it was trying too hard. I'll be honest it's been awhile since I've listened to it and I plan on revisiting it, so perhaps it'll click with me then.

For Drake, I've just not been able to get into him. I've tried and tried, and he's getting more tolerable, but I just don't see it. Lyrically he seems mediocre at best and godawful at worst. The hashtag rapping and moronic machismo is just idiotic to me. Just not appealing. Perhaps one day I'll get him, but it hasn't happened yet.

For Xiu Xiu, I'll admit, it's been awhile since I've heard "Dear God, I Hate Myself"
so my opinion will likely change as I relisten. As I recall, it just didn't sound appealing at all. It sounded disorganized and chaotic, and not in an interesting way. But again, my taste has changed a bit since then, I'll have to give it another chance.

BP: All of that's perfectly fair, I was just curious since I know some people really do find those lyrically strong albums and that does seem to be your preference. Next Q: Are there any realy "classic" albums you've yet to listen to? Or any that the site seems particularly keen on that you just haven't given a listen to yet?

RR: I've made an effort to attempt to listen to all the "classic" albums. When I was first really getting into music, I used the Rolling Stone Top 500 as a guide, especially since I was such a dadrocker at the time, and since I've joined here, I've attempted to listen to all the albums regarded as "classics" here, so I've heard a lot of them. In fact, looking at the sites top-100, the only album I haven't listened to is Portishead's "Dummy", which is in the queue for sure.

BP: Eh, tbh, you're not missing all too much there ... so how does the music you listen to impact the music you make?

RR: It affects my guitar playing I think more than anything. As a guitarist, I obviously always tried to emulate the styles of the musicians I listened to, and the one that I really hooked onto was Jeff Beck. I loved his "less it more" approach. He didn't need to shred every song, he didn't need to show off, he did what the music needed. So that's what I try to do with the music I make, I want it to be what it needs to be. I don't need to show off in my music, I create music that I think will be enjoyable to listen to, and if that means shredding on guitar or something, then so be it, but if it means playing something simple, that's what I'll do. I've seen far too many guitarists try too hard to make something complicated, and then it becomes completely uninteresting. I heard an interview with Ritchie Blackmore once, and he said that all the time people would come up to him and give him grief for how simple the riff to "Smoke On The Water" was, and his response was "Well Beethoven's Fifth is pretty simple too, the 'dun dun dun dahhhhh dun dun dun dahhhh', but it's iconic". His point being that it doesn't have to be complicated to be good, and I've always taken that to heart in my music.

BP: So let's talk about a thing that's not music for a second, just to see how your other tastes compare. I'm going to rapid fire if that's alright. Favorite movie? Favorite painting? Favorite piece of art of any form? Favorite food? Favorite color?

RR: It's hard for me to pick a favorite movie, but I can list a couple of my favorites, those being The Usual Suspects, Se7en, Airplane (my favorite comedy), This Is Spinal Tap (my second favorite comedy). There's tons of movies I love, my favorite director(s) are the Coen Brothers, I love virtually every movie they've done.

Favorite painting is another tough one to choose. I've always had a love of Van Gogh's Starry Night. I'm also a big fan of Dali's stuff and Jacek Yerka, though I'm not as well-versed in art as I'd like to be.

Favorite food is probably pizza (I'm boring), I could literally have it every day and not get tired of it. Favorite color is blue, and like a deep blue, like the color the sky gets sometimes in the early evening.

BP: Damn you're near poetic even just in the description of blue. I see why you love lyrics so much. Winding down, do you have a favorite way of listening to music? Digital, vinyl, CD, cassette, etc?

RR: Haha thanks.

My favorite way of listening to music is vinyl. There's just something about it that's so great to me. Like, the artists who made that music, they heard the mix they made, the balances, the treble, the bass, all of it and said "That is how I want to present my art, that is the message I want to get across" and then it was pressed on vinyl. I feel like you lose something digitally. Nothing major, but a little something. Maybe I'm just crazy. I just have this affinity for vinyl. I collect records, I've probably got upwards of 150-200 albums including a first edition Meet The Beatles, a copy of Some Girls with the retracted cover and a copy of Shout At The Devil with its retracted cover.

I use digital the most though. I've got an old iPod I use ok the go, sometimes I use spotify. I've got a pretty good size collection of music, just over 300GB, on an external hard drive. I do love digital music, the sheer accessibility is fantastic. And I think the quality can still be good too.

BP: OK, couple more questions I've thought of and then I think we're done! Is there any misconception about you, either as a person or just about your musical tastes, that you'd like to clear up?

RR: Misconceptions? I'm not entirely sure honestly. Not sure what the general perception of me is here. I will say that, no matter what, I always do my absolute best to give music a fair shot, regardless of what it is. I want to like music that I hear, I don't enjoy complaining about music. Every album I listen to, I want to love it, I want it to be one of my favorites, so I'll give it that chance. And I'll always do that with every album someone recommends to me. I know sometimes people will recommend an album to someone and think "they're not gonna actually listen to that", but I always take recommendations seriously because I know they come from a place of caring. When someone recommends something to me, it's because they want to share the joy they experienced when listening to that album, and I appreciate that.

BP: Alright Ben, last question - pretend you were interviewing someone. What would you most want to ask that I've not yet asked you, and what would you answer?

RR: Oh that's an interesting question. I think one question I can think of is "What is your favorite (or one of your favorite) moment in a song?"

My answer to that would be that B4 in "Nessun Dorma". I firmly believe that aria is one of the most beautiful pieces of music in human history, and that B4 at the end of the song, that last "Vincerò", it's beautiful. It gives me goosebumps every time. It's so passionate and so triumphant, so beautiful. There are few moments in songs that can consistently cause that reaction, that give me goosebumps every time. Songs can lose their luster over time, but not that song, not that moment. That moment is perfect.

BP: I've had to go and look that up, but it is a striking moment, I see what you mean. You've reminded me of one final question with that, and then I'll let you go. What album has had the most impact on your life in general: musical tastes, relationships, friends, healthy lyrical advice, however you want to define it.

RR: That's a tough question. It's probably Blood On The Tracks though. There was a time I lived and breathed that album and I still come back to it a lot. I love it for all the reasons I love Bob Dylan, and I've already gone at length about that. I've learned most of the songs on the album, performed them. It's an album that's had a major impact on my life and one I'll always love.

So are we all set?

BP: I think so!

Thanks to the real Ben P. for a great interview even from pretty generic questions!
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. . . 2016 . . . 2015 . . .

Things I Make

[Mercury]

Bloody brilliant interview! Bravo to both of you!

And don't listen to Ben, Ben. "Dummy" is an excellent album.
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-Ryan

ONLY 4% of people can understand this chart! Come try!

My Fave Metal - you won't believe #5!!!

[RockyRaccoon]

Also, if anyone's interested (Mercury, you may appreciate it), I did actually end up writing a thing on my feelings about Bob Dylan if anyone cares to read it:

[Mercury]

Yeah, Bob is basically the undisputed G.O.A.T. No doubt about it. Nice lil essay.
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-Ryan

ONLY 4% of people can understand this chart! Come try!

My Fave Metal - you won't believe #5!!!

[benpaco]

[Goodsir]

This is why both Bens are two of my favorite users

[Antonio-Pedro]

Great work, by both, principally by Ben, and you too Ben, even That I think that Ben was more focused than you Ben, but you guys were too good in this one, liked it, good answers, good to know more about you.
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Top 100 Hits you must hear before the u... of beauty