Download: Former Ghosts “Hold On”

(from Fleurs out now on Upset the Rhythm)

Thank technology for letting three musicians in three different parts of the country be a band together. Former Ghosts is Freddy Ruppert (This Song Is A Mess But So Am I), Jamie Stewart (Xiu Xiu), and Nika Roza (Zola Jesus). It’s a bit goth, but in a sort of uplifting way that flourishes on the album Fleurs and Rupert bears his soul with Shakespearean style. Make their L.A. show your Halloween destination. This interview by Daiana Feuer.

What kind of factory would you like to work in?
Freddy Ruppert (vocals/synthesizers): Maybe a factory that manufactures cakes—a baking factory. I’d work on the cupcake line. As the cupcakes come down the conveyor belt, I’d have to pour the frosting on.
The sounds on ‘Us And Now’ remind me of a factory, which is why I asked.
Freddy Ruppert: We all grew up on a lot of ’80s goth and industrial stuff, so the weird sounds come from that influence. I guess it’s surprising that I’d say a cupcake factory, but I think the record kind of mixes the sweet with the dark.
What song reps the sweet?
Freddy Ruppert: Probably ‘Unfolding’ or ‘Us And Now.’ All the songs are kinda love songs aimed for a particular person I was insanely head over heels for. There wasn’t a plan to release them. They were written in a tumultuous time when things were going badly between us and given to her as presents while we were going through this rough stuff.
What made you decide to share them with a band and release them?
Freddy Ruppert: I quit my old band, This Song Is A Mess But So Am I, because I couldn’t handle it anymore. I didn’t do music for two years then I met her and started writing and put the songs on a blog and I’d take them down after she heard the songs. I can’t justify their existence, but this record label wanted to release them, so that’s how it came together. Me and Jamie had been friends for a long time. We were talking about starting something forever. Nika, I really like her voice so I asked her to sing and then asked her to join. But it’s hard for me to justify making it public. Other than hoping to relate to someone else, if that makes sense. I guess the girl was my muse at the time. Making it public is hoping that someone can relate to having that sort of depth and suffering and confusion.
Is there hope in it?
Freddy Ruppert: It’s hard to say. At the time of writing them, a lot of the songs were hopeful. It always felt like I was crazy—on the verge of blooming or withering. Now looking back on them they don’t seem so hopeful. They’re dark, but there’s some hope trapped in there for someone to find. I have a problem with making things too personal. But that’s how I am. I don’t have a gauge or barrier for that. And that is a problem but maybe it’s also a good thing? I think a lot of the songs have a sense of desperation. It was like, ‘I am holding on to this—why aren’t you holding on to this?’ Love is a crazy thing. It skews a lot of stuff. You get wrapped up in it. It almost takes over. I don’t know how to explain it. It’s hard to know—you know how you feel but the way someone else feels could be not as strong or stronger.
Do you compose songs structurally or organically?
Freddy Ruppert: Kinda structurally. I usually have an idea in my mind, but I approach it musically first. I set the music then I go lyrically. It’s compartmentalized. I put the structure and then I mail it to Jamie and Nika and they add in their parts. Lyrics and content stuff is more organic—based on feelings—but the piecing together of the sounds is more structural.
‘A white sheet descends over our bodies and I watch it from a distance.’ What’s that line about? Have you ever had an out-of-body experience?
Freddy Ruppert: Not so much out of body but a feeling of seeing yourself in a certain way—or in the future with someone else that you’re with in the present. Being in this moment where you are in love and captured by them and you can see yourself and this person out of your body, experiencing something else. Not necessarily floating above my body. I have a tendency to romanticize the future. That line is about from a distance seeing your relationship come apart and hoping it can be brought back to life. Like lifting a white sheet off a dead body. Seeing the relationship die.
Are you sad or do you connect with sad? Are you Etta James or Muddy Waters?
Freddy Ruppert: I would say Etta James. I think it kind of becomes a problem when I play live. It can be cathartic to a point but then it can be painful to relive. It’s a fine line. The songs are all personal expressions of my own life. So I am more Etta James. My main concern is surviving through the day.
Why the abrupt ending for ‘Choices’?
Freddy Ruppert: I guess that song is heavy. It was like I was waiting while she was sorting herself out—and I am just waiting and waiting. I feel like that crazy build at the ending—it’s this intense thing of hoping. It represents a thought process that builds up but cuts off. ‘I am waiting and going through all this stuff but you’re not realizing it.’ Then it’s just cut and that’s it. And then what do I do with that? What do I do when it’s gone?
When something can’t be put in words, does the music pick up where the lyrics can’t go?
Freddy Ruppert: Some people write crazy lyrics and the music might be happy. But music should also be representative of the emotion being expressed. When I write a song I know what the song is about. So the emotion and feeling I want to express is there and I need the music to express it. The medium is the message in a way. The emotion would be lost without the music conveying that. For me, they are intertwined.
How did you get Jamie and Nika’s contributions if they don’t live in L.A.?
Freddy Ruppert: I live in L.A., Nika lives in Madison, and Jamie lives in Durham. For ‘In Earth’s Palm’ and ‘Bull And Ram’ and ‘I Wave,’ I sent them music and Jamie did the lyrics for his and Nika did hers. For ‘I Wave,’ me and Jamie worked together. Then I sent the music to Nika and she put in her part. It worked out that their lyrics fit the theme of the record. We just seem to work together well. Nika is completely unbelievable. The first song I sent her was the last song, ‘This Is My Last Goodbye.’ When she sent it back I was like, ‘Please join the band!’ I am completely in love with her voice. She has these moments when it comes across vulnerable but when she lets loose, it’s this really powerful thing. I’m so excited to work in depth with them for the next album—in the same room. I hope she will sing more. Jamie is here now so we can practice though Nika can’t do the tour with us. Maybe we could set up a Powerbook and do a video conference with her projected on the wall so she could sing!
If someone unearthed Fleurs post-apocalypse, what vision of the past would it deliver?
Freddy Ruppert: My biggest fear is looking like a crazy pathetic person who obsessed over a girl. I would rather them see it as a romantic gesture rather than pathetic. Something that captures a past romance. In terms of music, I think the sounds are strange­—at times they are pop melodies but dissonant and off-putting in moments. If they never heard music before, maybe that would be unfortunate.

FORMER GHOSTS WITH THE L.A. LADIES’ CHOIR, POCAHAUNTED AND MORE ON SAT., OCT. 31, AT SYNCHRONICITY SPACE, 4306 MELROSE AVE., LOS ANGELES. 8 PM / COST TBA / ALL AGES. SYNCSPACELA.COM. FORMER GHOSTS’ FLEURS IS OUT NOW ON UPSET THE RHYTHM. VISIT FORMER GHOSTS AT FORMERGHOSTS.COM OR MYSPACE.COM/FORMERGHOSTSSLEEP.

Download: Avi Buffalo “What’s In It For”

(from the upcoming Settled Tigertail full-length)

Avi Buffalo wouldn’t be allowed to play the Echo if the venue hadn’t bent the rules and made the band’s May residency an all-ages affair. So the little ones are invading, but by the sound of their music, it’s safe to say the kids are alright and may be onto some great new wave of folky blues goodness. This interview by Daiana Feuer.

Since you’re graduating high school this year, what are your plans for next year?
Avi Buffalo (guitar/vocals): The plans are to maybe sign up for some city college classes, maybe doing whatever for now. If something comes up—things are not—I have no idea what’s going on next year! Our drummer still has another year left in high school so we have to figure that out if we want to tour. Other than that, we’re all on board. We’ll see what happens, I guess.
I’m sorry, I can’t believe you’re in high school.
I think it’s just that I had some really fortunate experiences. I’ve learned from a couple amazing people. And I got some opportunities most young people don’t. This old bluesman guy took me under his wing and showed me the ways, and I played in a club with him and some other old guys starting in 8th grade. And he would just bust my ass all the time but in a way that touched on things that music teachers don’t teach you. It was a really intense experience but it’s been such a massive influence and really helped me a lot.
What are some of the most salient lessons you learned about how to approach music?
There was a lot involved with conveying emotion in music that he was able to touch on, how to find balances, what musical maturity is, what musicianship is. I guess that’s my background so it’s limiting in some ways, but he was very encouraging for me to strive for creativity—but at the same time was this really intense tough-love crazy guy. The first night I went to the club with him I got owned really hard and I had no idea what I was doing. But that was how the guy Joel—Joel Weinberg was his name—kind of brought me up to show me how much more there is to it than just getting up there and playing what you know. Being up there, even though it sucked a bunch, you just learn a whole lot real quick. The people there were always really supportive and kind to me, just playing blues. All the nuances that are in that genre really set the stage for a lot of other things, and those basics that are in there can help you out way more than people could ever imagine.
How’d you find each other?
He was a family friend. My older sister and his son used to carpool together. He saw me playing guitar in a music shop when I was thirteen and was like, [gruff voice], ‘Hey, come down to my jam, come to my jam.’ I’ve known him for a long time, but later in my life, he just decided to show me a lot of stuff. It’s trippy. But I just love to play music a bunch.
How’s your new album coming along and does it have a name yet?
I like it. It’s different from the stuff I was doing before because Aaron Embry helped out and has been another guiding force for me. He showed me the ways of Pro Tools that I didn’t know before. I used to record on a computer microphone and do really lo-fi stuff. Switching over was a really interesting and weird transition. I’m getting situated in it now and trying to get that going but it’s a different way to approach things. I think it’s going to be called Settled Tigertail and should be done sometime in the next few months.
Are you and your bandmate Rebecca Coleman still dating? [Avi first started writing songs about her when she wasn’t into him, then he asked her to join the band because she was a good singer, then she fell for him back in 9th grade.]
Well, not at the moment. I guess—it’s not—we’re not dating. But, don’t worry, everything’s OK. We all love each other. Everything’s fine. It’s a good thing and stuff.
So this is one of the first if not the first times the Echo has had an all-ages residency. What bands are you excited to bring out with you?
One of my favorites is my friend Nial Morgan. He’s 16, lives in Long Beach and he’s just going really hard at doing noise and ambient music. He’s a really inspiring and incredible musician. It’s pretty much his first show. Bobb Bruno is someone I’ve really admired a lot. He does beautiful things. That’s exciting. There’s a group called Starburst Crystal Ensemble with this guy Bill Cutts. He booked this thing in Long Beach when our band first started called Outsider Folk, and when I started the project it was a solo thing but he heard my music on Myspace and was like, ‘Hey, do you want to play?’ So I put the band together. I consider him to be pretty much responsible for the existence of the group. He has this really interesting—I don’t want to give a genre to it, but he comes from a Long Beach experimental punk background, doing this folkish stuff. It’s totally its own deal. That kind of stuff is good.
Do Long Beach bands feel like a separate entity from the rest of L.A.?
There’s not a huge difference but I feel connected to Long Beach bands. There’s a little more isolation from L.A. stuff. There’s some ‘thing’ going on in Long Beach. There’s an interesting culture. It’s an incredibly diverse place and people are in tune with doing their own thing. Mostly the stereotype of Los Angeles would lead me to say there’s a separation.
Do people actually go to the beach in Long Beach?
No. It’s a pretty gross beach. It’s not a healthy beach. It’s pretty dirty. From what I know—I’m not sure how accurate this is—there’s a lot of trash that builds up and most people go to Huntington Beach.
Is there somewhere you dream of performing?
I think actually no place actually. Maybe by ourselves. It doesn’t even matter and I don’t want it to ever matter where we are. Playing in different places is all about adapting. I would never want us to pick a spot. Is that weird?
If each of your band mates were a kitchen utensil or appliance, which particular one would they be?
I think that Arin Fazio, the bass player, would be a spork character. Sheridan Riley would be a spork, too. I think I would be a weird spoon a lot of the time. And Rebecca Coleman would be a fork. She would be a real fork. We’re all spoon and forky and hang out together in the silverware drawer.

AVI BUFFALO WITH GREATER CALIFORNIA, FAMILY BLANKETS AND THE WILD BUNCH ON TUE., MAY 26, AT THE ECHO, 1822 SUNSET BLVD., ECHO PARK. 8:30PM / FREE FOR 21 / $7 FOR UNDER 21 / ALL AGES. ATTHEECHO.COM. VISIT AVI BUFFALO AT MYSPACE.COM/AVIBUFFALO.