A Conversation (part 3)

As promised, here is the third and last part of the email conversation Richard Vernon and I had recently.

The purpose of it was for Richard (pictured above adorned with Calamateur paraphernalia) to find out more about the making of my new album. Did I mention you can buy it here? 🙂

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R: What is your creative process? How has it evolved?
A: I started off writing lyrics on bits of paper and then finding chords on the guitar to go with them, or the other way round. It’s still the same, but I tend to write songs in my head a lot more. My day job involves a lot of walking around on my own and I’ve found myself writing songs to occupy my mind and keep me company. I then try my best to remember how they go when I get home and find some paper to write on and get a chance to pick up my guitar.

R: I like that. Do you ever think about your songs in terms of “art”?
A: I see art, not as something hard to understand that’s purely for the elite, but as just making things that hopefully say something about the person making it. It’s creativity, self-expression. The paintings my 4-year-old bring home from nursery are as much “art” as anything hanging in a gallery.

R: Do you think about your songs in terms of “craft”?
A: I’ve become more and more interested in seeing it as a craft recently, which is an attitude that can fly in the face of the opinions of those in the ‘cool’ indie scene. When a songwriter says a song just came out of nowhere it sounds a lot more interesting and magical than someone who sat down at a desk with a guitar and a writing pad for hours at a time. But I think an element of discipline is necessary for those moments of unique inspiration to arrive.

R: How important to you are the technical aspects of playing, arranging, miking, recording, setting recording levels, mixing, mastering, etc.? I ask because there’s always at least some element of lo-fi, or of rough-edges showing, which is obviously a philosophical and aesthetic choice at this point; since you record and produce for other musicians and you could presumably turn in very polished “product” if you wanted.
A: The lo-fi sound has to an extent been an aesthetic choice, but a lot of times it’s actually just been the best I can do with the time, equipment and knowledge I’ve had. I think I’m better at it now than I ever have been but having had someone else, Iain Hutchison, take over that side of things completely with this new album, I can see myself never going back. I could never have made the album sound as good as it does if I’d recorded it myself.

R: You’ve been discouraged at times about your progress in terms of success and so on; I for one am always glad you keep making up songs and making permanent records of them. What keeps you going when you can’t see any practical point in doing so?
A: For one, I’m not good at doing anything else. And I just seem to have a drive that keeps me going. Some of it comes from within myself, but I think most of it comes from without. When I sit down with a guitar I feel like I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing.

R: If you had to pick one song to represent yourself and everything you’ve recorded, what would it be? Okay, that was funny – which song that you’ve made up or covered would you pick?
A: Possibly ‘Jesus is for Losers‘ from my last album (of the same name), which was originally written by Steve Taylor. Feelings of failure have plagued me for a long time and that song helps me see that failure doesn’t have to be a bad thing. I also played and recorded it all myself and am close to 100% happy with how it turned out.

R: Talking of faith, What is the intersection and interplay between faith and art? How does the tug of commitments – God, family, making money, feeling useful, making music – affect you? How does it affect your music?
A: When you read the bible, the first characteristic you find out about God is that he/she is a creative God. The first thing you read about humans is that we were made in the image of God, which means that we are creative beings. So were made to create, write, paint, draw, sew, sing, play, blog, etc etc. That’s got to be the starting point of any discussion about the Christian faith and art, whether or not you believe the creation story in Genesis to be literally true or not.

I love making music but it’s got to not be at the top of my list if I’m going to be a good person, husband, dad or friend. But I hope making those things more important ultimately make the music more honest, powerful and relevant to anyone who’s going to listen to it. I tend to take a long time to write songs as well and have found that also helps them turn out better in the end, so sometimes having other things to do in my life is a way of ensuring I don’t rush the creative process.

R: How did you get here today?
A: Someone believed in me when I had no self-belief. Someone loved me enough to let me spend way too much time making music. Lots of good friends encouraged me to keep going.

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Thanks for reading – feel free to comment if you disagree or agree with anything I’ve said 🙂