After reviewing Opus Mixtum for Sequenza 21 (http://www.sequenza21.com/carey/?p=58), I was eager to learn more about the album’s genesis; fortunately, band members Tim Harris and Tara Key were happy to oblige. We recently had the chance to discuss the recording, their approach to songwriting, and their future hopes and plans for Antietam.
CHRISTIAN CAREY: I really enjoyed your new album on Carrot Top. Some people are viewing the double album as CD 1: loud, CD 2: soft. While I don’t quite see it that way, were you looking to create distinct sound worlds or a particular theme for each disc?
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TIM: Originally, we conceived of a second ancillary disc that would go with a rock disk, consisting of a number of instrumentals written and partially recorded at home (mainly by Tara). That project had been referred to over the last few years by Tim and Tara as “Miracoli.”
Besides the fact that TnT constantly think of new projects, some of which are eventually completed, we found three strong reasons to add the Miracoli project to the rock record that Antietam was engaged in recording.
First of all, we wanted to make the work a little different, in the vast array of
music available out there.
Secondly, Tara’s all instrumental record with Rick Rizzo in 2000 (Dark Edson Tiger, Thrill Jockey) and Tara’s earlier two CDs under her own name, which contained a number of instrumentals, had all gotten positive responses for soundtracks, with some use in movies, kid’s TV, charity ad campaigns, and as background music in This American Life. As for the charity campaigns, two were notable: the creative director for a campaign to raise money for the World Trade Center memorial chose Tara’s “Farfisa Wail” because it sounded the most like silence of anything he considered. Fair enough.
The other showed how an educational program improved the lives of prison inmates, and the Rizzo/Key track showcased the downtrodden prisoners milling around the prison yard BEFORE they got educated!
However, in a noted episode of “Pete and Pete” show on Nickelodeon, Tara’s “Long Trail” erupted upliftingly at the moment love dawned on the school bus, so all soundtrack usage was not bleak.
So generally, we wanted more people to hear this ambient, soundtracky side of our music, as it is something we have always produced.
Thirdly, we wanted to bring these more disparate styles into the context of Antietam, to collapse somewhat our separate identities as “Antietam,” “Rizzo/Key band,” and the “Tara Key band.”
However, when we got into the studio, recording our rock trio, and adding additional instrumentation to some instrumental tracks we had, we began to feel that Miracoli should be intermingled with the rock compositions. As we considered sequences, we felt the instrumentals fit in an organic way. Certainly, there are some inherent considerations that put Shipshape and Turn It on Me near the top, as an appropriate place for pop songs and Tierra del Fuego at the end. But, the second disc was not consigned to experimental world, and it turns out that some of listeners’ favorites, like “Time Creeps” and “Pennants and Flags” are deep in Disc 2.
That is all a long-winded way of saying, it’s all the same piece.
TARA: There really was not a decision on our part to make the double record upfront. It was a back door definition. And I’ll cop to a sort of macho in making the decision to pair and blend the two records. We have been read as having disappeared, having made Victory Park as a reunion or a comeback-when in fact, we were trying real hard to make a record we liked.
I also thought, beyond some of the more emotional reasons for making the record as is, that it would sort of stand out a bit as a double, as it is not easy to be noticed when you have been jamming for as long as us.
Rocking in the combo is my true love, my preset, my unity point, if you will. But I have always seen the sounds I make-punk rock-synesthesia, if you will-and imagined action sequences in my head when I am soloing. I have an interest in making songs with no words…I suppose, as I have not painted very much in recent years, it lets me have a route into making landscapes. Practically, as Tim said, we have gotten good response to several instrumental tunes in commercials, movies…so I have become very interested in exploring that type of melding too. Beyond the rock.
I try to make listening to us a community experience. By this I mean that, although very real events and feelings cause me to write or come to me when I am in a writing posture, I have always liked to leave room for the listener to invest their responses in what I do. Live that’s easy-you get fired up and run around and play viscerally, and there is kinetic charge and exchange that’s very tangible if we are in the same space sharing the sound.
But I want to be in your car, in your room, in your head – but not with a stifling agenda.
Sad usually sounds sad, bewilderment, fascination, wonderment-all can be discerned pretty clearly in what we do- but sometimes without words to frame the house, memory or verve can be triggered a little easier. And when I do use words I want to speak as a fellow fallible human. My specifics are certainly probably not your specifics and my life is not so precious as to be worth dissection, but I hope to share in some common space of living it. I wanna be more of a reporter than to be in a position of having Tara Key’s life examined-what did she mean here? Is she really mad/sad/glad? Because, like as not, an emotion passed like light through a prism and came out the other side richer by being exploded, not frozen. So I want to evoke, not explain.
I found myself, beginning with my work with Rick Rizzo on Dark Edson Tiger, tuning into expressing wordlessly. And I took that impulse further- recording at home – making sketches. Tim contributed many sounds, but he deserves much of the editorial credit. Because as I sat around for probably 5 years making these tracks he was the shaper and the editor (not to mention hearty encourager). Of course I was shy about unleashing this stuff-I have a very comfortable role carved out as rocking girl guitar slinger with seven league boots, but the songs that were previously Miracoli demanded to be made. They came at odd hours and places, they came without warning and were a sonic diary.
So the two of us lived with this soundtrack for a while and always had the desire for everyone to hear it, but could not figure out how to make it concrete.
The wellspring of Red Balloon Waltz, Tambo Hope, Gate Closed, Emphatic, Steel G, Tierra del Fuego – all the cinematics- I really believe was our travels, particularly to Venice and all of its beautiful decay, midnight mystery and as repository for matters of longing, regret and desire. Practically the only music I would play on our trips there (and also Rome and Barcelona) sometimes were the demos of these tunes over the course of a few years. They seemed to be borne out of some kind of rootlessness, adventure, openness that brought to mind a travel theme-and by that I mean sonically and spiritually, as well as viscerally. The act of making songs like the instrumentals on Opus Mixtum was not unlike the undertaking of an uncharted voyage and I think that vibe is reflected in the songs.
Sure-there was much consideration and slight trepidation in the decision to put those less-Antietamly tunes under the collective-to mess with the brand. But as we all make this our life and path together we are not the same people we were when we started the band and the band never existed to be in a box-it has always been permeable. That elasticity and openess to re-definition has kept us together, I believe.
The three of us are in the band to keep growing and be in process and that is an inclusive matter. I began to get tired of being asked if I was making a Tara Key record or an Antietam record when my solo records came out. In the end, making those 2 records let me step out of the band format and see that I was capable of broader sounds, but as the band became a teenager and then a young adult it struck me as silly to define what we do so tightly.
Josh played with and was a primary writer for Tralala for a couple of years. Tim played the cello in the Special Pillow. I did my thing(s). And whenever we had individual experiences foraging for creative food we brought back acorns for the trio. I began to see codification to be distraction. And I love the idea of Antietam as umbrella.
In terms of the two records and the soft/loud continuum, I do see an arc of experience if you listen from beginning to end in a sitting. I set the record up to be hopeful (hence…) and I ended the record with beauty and trouble and a hint of menace, with a rip of sonic fabric to cap it off. A nautical theme seemed to announce itself to me at some point by an aggregation of clues that were subliminal and then smacked me in the face. That was fun-it was like, when the record was done I felt I had dreamed it!
But I do think if you are in for the long haul listen it is not unlike a sea crossing. You are a little weightless, you have time to consider and reconsider staring at a shifting horizon. You pass through happy, sad, proud, uncertain, being unmoored, in motion, not static-mad, vengeful, wry, exuberant…and the sun comes out, it disappears behind a cloud, passing back and forth from cirrus to nimbus casting shadow and ray in a pattern that you can’t hold onto for any longer than a second. Then it’s night and there is nothing to settle on for reference. The next day starts brilliant and-WTF!-it’s storming! Waterspout! Then a beautiful aftermath of rollicking waves that eventually ease into an informed calm. If that makes any sense!!!
Of course the listener less interested in a long emotional voyage can curate for themselves the shorter Rock Excursion, Pop Challenge or Scenic Sampler and I’m happy too! Then in the middle of next year the one tune they kept skipping may really resonate. That’s OK. I have all the time in the world to wait…….
CC: What’s the significance of the title?
TIM: The title comes from a style of brickwork in Rome which interpolates a diagonal pattern into a horizontal/vertical pattern. And it of course is a not-so-subtle pun of our mixing styles, as explained below.
TARA: We were in Rome and a colleague of mine from the library where I work was visiting at the same time. She was telling us one morning of having been on a tour of San Clemente, a wondrous church in Rome that manages to straddle 3 different eras-from being a pagan temple celebrating a Mithraic cult (where bull drawings are extant and one can still hear the rush of water headed to the Cloaca Maxima) to a frescoed 4th century church (uncovered again only in the 1800s), to the “modern” 12th century church. She told us of the opus mixtum there-the brick work pattern Tim refers to. I was, like, DUH!-perfect title for the record. I get tickled when form and function and purpose and reality collide.
I’m sure I can cop to it being a little defensive on my part as well. I kinda knew that the double disc 26 songs Antietam plus not trad Antietam would be some kind of “issue” and it is a lot to ask of anyone to take in at once.
CC: Something that’s noteworthy to me is the sense of ensemble that is evident in cuts like “1-2-1″ and “Needle and the Eye.” It seems like the band is in a really strong place musically. What do you think your extended hiatus did for the group’s current music-making?
TIM: It’s funny, but a lot of people have seen us as making a comeback, but the truth is, we have been together the whole time, practicing and writing. Some reviews have commented on how we only put an album out every 4 or 10 years but that is really more about economics than anything. We would be happy to put out an ambient album and then a country one and then a rock one!
Our discography went like this:
After two experimental albums in the mid-80s, the first Antietam discs, we released 7 full length works between 1990 and 1995, including Antietam’s Burgoo, Everywhere Outside, Antietam Comes Alive, and Rope-a-Dope; Tara’s Bourbon County and Ear and Echo; and the Babylon Dance Band’s Four on One.
After 1995, we recorded most of an album at our own expense and never finished that particular work. This took much of our attention in 1996 and 1997 – call it the Lost Album – we experimented with some different formats and it just never came together in a way that satisfied us. Again, if we had the resources of U2, we probably would have returned to the castle and recorded for another year.
As it was, TnT invested in recording equipment and began to do it ourselves. This resulted in Rizzo/Key’s Dark Edson Tiger in 2000. We had the distinct pleasure of watching something on HBO that used something recorded just around the corner in our bathroom (great echo chamber!). So, the last couple of years of the 90s involved learning recording techniques but also continuing to practice and gig with Antietam.
(On a personal note, the years around the turn of the millennium were tough for us, as TnT both lost their fathers, we lost a friend in 9/11 and a couple of other close friends and family in a short time.)
With a new record label behind us, we recorded Victory Park (Carrot Top, 2004, recorded over the couple of years before that) ourselves, with the help of Tara Jane O’Neil.
And then came Opus Mixtum. Besides running his record store, Other Music, with all of their involvement in promoting shows, creating web presence, and filming bands, Josh recorded a couple of albums for Tralala. Tim played some cello with The Special Pillow. And Tara played on the Drag City All Stars record and made the Rizzo record. But Antietam practices continued through all of these outside activities and we continually gigged in NYC.
So while we didn’t woodshed on purpose, it appears that way. And there is something to the fact that we had a lot of material we wanted to put before the public.
Certainly, our ensemble is pretty unique. After we didn’t really get over the top commercially with our flurry of record releases and touring through the first half of the nineties, one thing we really had no interest in doing was breaking up. So we continued to work together. This has perhaps led to sort of a weird situation: a band that has been together for 30 years (in the case of Tara and I) and 17 years with Madell, yet is (perhaps) recording our best music to date. Usually, if you’ve been together that long, you have some early hits to keep in circulation. Though we did pull out Orange Song from our first album the other night at Southpaw (made a little more famous by being on President Yo La Tengo), we have pretty much been playing our new album this spring.
In some ways, after playing together for so long, you accept the stylistic dimensions of your collaborators and feel your way through their quirks. We have played live together in all kinds of situations, some psychically stressful, and know how to offer each other musical support.
I feel that we have come together now better than ever before, maybe just coming into our own as a band after 25 years!
TARA: This band is making the best music of our lives. I say that without feeling weird at all. The rules are gonna get rewritten on who gets to make rock music past the age of 30. For the generation of rockers before me and Tim, it took being the Stones or (fill in the blank with Classic Rock God) to keep rocking past the age of 50, and a reliance on trotting out the greatest hits as peers fell by the wayside. For those of us steeped in punk rock, it feels just as punk to be choosing to make one’s life artistic statement in an arena traditionally youth-driven at the age of 50 as it did to be fighting the culture wars in Louisville, KY in 1980, facing off against FM rock and community horror at the safety pin trappings that punk meant to Joe at large. When I get written about as looking like some one’s mom’s best friend or a middle-aged teacher…fine-bring it on! I love the juxtaposition. I like messing with people when I get onstage and rock even though I do look somewhat my age. I have always done a version of that-the librarian by day, rocker at night thing.
There is no substitute for reading each other’s minds as we do when we play…and that comes with playing together for 17 years. The band has always been hard to define and I think that is paying off in spades now, because I am a lifer, I am interested in continuing to become the best version of myself I can be and continuing to refine my vision. But that is not heading to stasis, because it’s growth and process for me. And I’m always gonna fold something into the batter that wasn’t there before. When you take an artificial constraint like, um, “success” out of the running it is liberating. Oh, please don’t get me wrong-if we sold a million Opus Mixtums’ and I could quit my day job tomorrow I would be drunk with excitement. But a LONG time ago that ceased to be any kind of delineator for me as to whether what we were doing was successful. I would say we are successfully unsuccessful!
And when I saw Hans Hoffman’s paintings done in his 80s and found them to be my favorites of his-or when I see JMW Turner’s late-life watercolors that just threaten to evaporate in a splendid burst of light off of the page, I am heartened and emboldened. It just so happens that Rock Music has the baggage of being a young MAN’s game. Tough!
CC: The new recording incorporated some fine guest contributions. Trumpeter Mark Howell did a wonderful job on “Hasten.” How did you come to work with him?
TARA: I am so lucky to have pals in my life who are my “go-to” crew for guest stints. On this record Rizzo’s contribution to On the Humble made me laugh when I got the track-it was like I went to the riff vending machine, put in a dollar and said “I want some Rizzo!” It is essence of Rizzo! Katie Gentile is my violin gal-she plays with so much passion and wit-and she tolerates my descriptive requests with patience and engagement.
Mark is an amazing musician. He is an extraordinary guitar player as well as trumpeter and has played with Fred Frith, Cassandra Wilson, Curlew-he had a band called Better Than Death.
And he is a scholar of ethnomusicology- in particular Pre-Colombian music.
We met through many years ago via an introduction from Rick Brown, (of Fish and Roses/Run On/Man about the LES music town since the late 70s). Rick and Mark first collaborated in Timber a good while back and they have an absolutely astounding duo currently called Inconvenient Music. The sounds of your life (and mean the brash bold beautiful terrible lush startling comforting off-kilter ones all at once) put through a particularly unique pop machine.
On Victory Park I was lucky to have Mark make a guest trumpet appearance and he agreed to do so again for me on Opus. I gave Mark the tune with just my acoustic and vocals-we never played together- and he came in one Saturday morning and just nailed it! Where he plays- where he doesn’t play-his breathiness and his assertion-the vistas he creates- are so emotional, done with a shy breezy swagger…he is wonderful and irreplaceable. I would strongly encourage folks to check out Rick and Mark’s work.
CC: Who did the string arrangement on “The Gate Closed?” How did that piece come about?
TARA: The Gate Closed was one of the Miracoli children. I tracked the acoustic first and layered from there. I am responsible only for the theme of the strings at the end. There is a shadow track of a synth playing that through the whole end of the tune.
Tim and Katie came in, began with that structure and improvised, on Katie’s part the chorus and second verse, on Tim’s part the whole cello part that departs from my couplets on the end. On the spot. Kinda brilliant, eh? I’m a lucky girl…
CC: “Needle and the Eye “is another standout track with an interesting arrangement. Could you trace its origins for me?
TARA: One day Tim was late for rehearsal so Josh and I started jamming and came up with the verse’s slow strut and hover. Then Tim showed up and immediately started playing the part that is the part. The chorus was a second jam we did that night-not in the context of being the chorus of the song. The cool thing about Needle is that is emblematic of a certain new way of working we tried on Opus. At that point I went home, dumped my 4-track rehearsal recording into Pro Tools, made an arrangement of the two parts, bounced it to mp3, sent it to Josh by 2am, and the next day we had Needle and the Eye to play as if it had sprung from our foreheads whole. I had not, to that point, really used PT in such a rapid source-to-complete collage machine. That was incredibly exciting!
CC: What’s next for Antietam?
TARA: Well, I’ll tell ya-we are all absolutely hot to get back into the studio with Josh Clark at Seaside and plan to do so before the end of the year. The one thing about Opus that we have not yet discussed is huge-the discovery of Josh Clark and the contribution that he made. Josh M. had recorded with him with Tralala and we started out by doing basics for the rock songs. It became quickly obvious that we all shared something really special and he gave me such a shot in the arm by his interest and commitment. He was SO enthusiastic about the Miracoli stuff and so on our wavelength about the marriage of the two records that that was the final shot of bold we needed to decide to make it the double record.
Not only did I find an ace engineer and producer but an important collaborator, and now he is family. He has been performing live with us to play behind Opus on 2nd guitar and keyboards and I finally have someone that will jam with us and play both keys and guitar in the same song if I need him to! We, Antietam, have recently done some recording with Clark as he works on a record of his own and we play live to back him up on occasion. I could not be more excited about having Josh C. in our lives-having the Seaside Lounge as “clubhouse” is kind of a dream of mine….
-Christian Carey
Photo: Dawn Sutter Madell
5/01/08
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