Interview: Chris Forsyth
Do you enjoy big guitar riffs? How about instrumental music that sets coordinates for deep space without enough fuel for a return trip? Then Chris Forsyth is the musician for you!
After playing in the experimental band Peeesseye while living in Brooklyn, Forsyth began his rise to prominence after moving backback to his hometown of Philadelphia in 2009 and the release of 2013’s album Solar Motel, which inspired the formation of the blistering Solar Motel Band. Over the past 10 years, Forsyth has continued to release both studio and live recordings, including 2022’s Evolution Here We Come, which represents a sampling of all of Forsyth’s musical personalities and introduces a prodigious new band that provides both the proper foundation for Forsyth’s interstellar guitar explorations.
Prior to opening for Garcia Peoples at The Outpost in Asheville on Saturday, April 15, Forsyth spoke with Asheville Stages about his new album, the musicians on the album and in his touring band, choosing cover songs, and more.
Scott Bunn: We're looking forward to having you play Asheville in April. Have you ever played here before?
Chris Forsyth: Oh, it's been a long time. Yeah, maybe 10 years or more. Well, yeah, it was probably like 10 years ago, the last time I was there, with the Solar Motel Band.
SB: What do you do when you come into a town like Asheville? Or are you looking to decompress? Do you try to get out and do things in town?
CF: I mostly sit around and wait for things to happen. Yeah, I mean, where are we coming from for Asheville? I think we have a day off the day before, so we're just going to drive as close as we can. The days on tour are mostly just spent in the car, you know, and then getting some place, making some phone calls or emails or whatever, trying to catch some rest and then soundcheck and play. It's not really a lot of downtime.
SB: Got it. So, I wanted to ask a little bit about the album and the tour. I'm interested in your process of selecting the band that plays on Evolution Here We Come. That band is also playing with you on the tour that brings you to Asheville and each of those people have their own musical identities.
You've got Tom Malach, who plays guitar for Garcia Peoples, and you've played with him many times. Also, you have Ryan Jewell on percussion, an old hand for you. And Doug McCombs is a mainstay of the indie music community with Eleventh Dream Day, Tortoise, and Brokeback. When you bring in these particular musicians for the album and the tour, are you saying to yourself, “I want them to bring a certain technique to my songs,” or is it more, “I know they play really well and let's see what they can do with my music”?
CF: The number one rule of band-leading that I try to follow is never be the best guy in your band. But also, all those people bring a lot and really inhabit the songs in their own way. They're also mega-reliable and don't require hardly any rehearsal. They're all good friends of mine, too, which helps. But yeah, [I’m] just trying to play with the pros, and it just makes everything a lot easier, and so you don't have to think as much — you can just go out and do it. That's usually, for me, where the magic happens anyway, when you're not thinking about it.
SB: Talking about taking the songs out on tour, you had lots of guests on Evolution Here We Come, including Marshall Allen of Sun Ra Arkestra, Linda Pitmon, and Steve Wynn. When you're playing live on tour without those musicians, do you try to recreate their contributions or do you approach the songs with a different sound?
CF: Not really. It's the same process of work [that we did] in the studio. Once the basic tracks are done — which we did relatively quickly in, like, three days with Doug and Ryan and Tom — then you can figure out what to add. So then you bring people in and they just kind of do their magic thing. And then when you go to play live, they're not there, but you just try to do a different magic thing.
I think there's a balance on this record between songs that are pretty concretely constructed, and the structures are solid, and then there's other ones like “Experimental & Professional,” for example. Even though technically it has a “verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, verse, and out” kind of structure, what happens within it is very much of the moment. We only did one take of that in the studio and it was the last thing we recorded, and so that wasn't any kind of great pre-planned event. So [performing] live, it's the same thing. That kind of changes a little bit night to night, and that's what keeps it interesting.
Whereas other other songs, like the Richard Thompson cover or “Heaven For A Few” or “Bad Moon Risen,” those tend to have consistent structures, although we find places to stretch them out — like the end of “Bad Moon Risen,” or in the middle of “Heaven for a Few.” But, you know, this will be historically cool because I've done a couple tours just as a trio with Doug and Ryan, and so having Tom in the mix again will add another voice. I always like to have one other voice, whether it's keyboards or guitar or something — another sort of voice, instrumentally.
SB: You mentioned the Richard Thompson cover, “You're Going To Need Somebody.” How do you choose a cover song? Do they fit the themes of your own compositions? Is it the melody, the words, or the sonic possibilities?
CF: In this case, it was a little bit of all of those. I do love the lyrics of that song, and I think that it speaks to faith, if not religiosity — it speaks to thinking of something that's bigger than you. There's a double thing going on in the lyrics. It also could be about your lover or your partner or something, but I think it could also be about something else. And that fits in with a lot of the things I was thinking about with the other titles and the various calamities that we all are living with, but also the knowledge that none of us know where things are going to go, and panic is not always the place where the best decisions are made. So, it's trying to massage that thought in my hands a little bit and figure it out. Those lyrics definitely spoke to that.
I just love the song, too. The structure of the song is really kind of classic and almost like an early Beatles song or something, but with much more old or aged wisdom coming through in the lyrics. I felt like I could sing it. There's songs that I like that I don't think I could sing with conviction or sing well, and that's one that I thought I could sing and convey the words believably.
SB: That ties into another question I have: You've done a lot of instrumentals throughout your career, but lately you've also been composing songs that have lyrics and you’re singing them, as in “Hey Evolution” on the new album. How do you approach songwriting in terms of instrumentals and when you decide to sing? Do you have lyrics that you want to share? Or is the song’s melody one that you feel needs words to go with them?
CF: I came to singing lead and writing songs completely by myself [and] relatively late — or at least writing songs with lyrics and words relatively late. It's a challenge to keep things different and interesting and try to get better at it. Right now, I have a project that I'm doing here in Philly that I'm excited about called Coca Leaves and Pearls, which is a band that does sort of reverent but not imitative versions of Neil Young songs. We had our first gig last week and it was a blast. So that's another challenge to get the vocals up to the level and to be at least in the ballpark of the guitar playing.
Some songs just kind of tell you, “Oh, this should have words.” With “Hey Evolution,” I liked the groove and the chord progression, but I didn't feel like it was sustainable in and of itself and that it needed another layer. Whereas other songs like “Experimental & Professional” and “Long Beach Idyll,” they have song structures to them: verse, chorus, [and] bridge. I felt like there was enough ability to sustain and keep them compelling without having to have a voice on there.
SB: You mentioned Coca Leaves and Pearls. I'm a gigantic Neil Young freak. I am really interested to hear that it wasn't just a one-off performance and you hope it will be something somewhat permanent.
CF: It's a good band, so we're going to keep doing gigs, and it's an awful lot of fun. It's me and Nick Millevoi, who used to be in the Solar Motel Band. He's playing lap steel. And then the rhythm section is Joey Sullivan and Jared Radichel, who are playing in a band called Florry. You may become familiar with them because they're young. They're like 23 or something, but a really good band who I know they've got a buzz around here and I think are potentially headed places and into people's ears all over the place.
Those guys are the rhythm section and the key [goal] is reverent, but not imitative. We're not trying to pretend that we’re Neil Young and Crazy Horse or anything like that, although a certain amount of that bleeds through just [with] influence. We're kind of taking some liberties and just trying to have fun with it and treat it like material to be molded. We're playing in New York, we have another gig in Philly coming up, and I think that'll be an ongoing thing.
SB: I've listened to you and bought your releases through Bandcamp. You've had a lot of live recordings of your work that you've put out on Bandcamp, but you also seem to be taper-friendly. NYCTaper is essential for me to check in on and see what they've got, and they've been putting out recordings of your live gigs for a long time. Do you have a philosophy on taping, or is there a policy that a potential taper should know?
CF: I love it because I get to hear [the live recording] back. It's useful because it's very difficult when you're actually playing to judge what the hell's going on in terms of its quality or how it translates, so it's interesting for me to hear that stuff. Tapers are always welcome. I think it's cool. The concerts change enough, so different things happen that might be more compelling one night than the next. So, yeah, I'm all for it. It's not like anybody's making any money off the recorded music anyway, so spread the wealth around least in terms of people hearing the music and coming out to your gigs.
SB: Speaking of gigs, I read about your efforts to start Jerry's On Front in Aquarium Drunkard a few years ago. What's currently going on with it?
CF: Well, it's funny. You caught me covered in dust right now because we're actually building Jerry's III right now, which is just music rehearsal spaces. And Jerry's On Front is still going. We just had a show there the other night: a band from Portland called Eyelids that has former and current members of Camper Van Beethoven, Guided by Voices, The Decemberists, and a bunch of other Pacific Northwest bands. They played with a band from Philly called Honey Radar, and that was a great show. I've been doing shows in the storefront there periodically.
The venue aspect of it is not a part of the business model. It's just for fun, really. The buildings kind of keep themselves afloat by being rehearsal spaces that people need — legal, clean, soundproof rooms where [artists can play] safely and not bother anyone and not have anyone bother them. That's the thing that I do when I'm not playing music. It comes in bursts — like right now, I'm kind of racing to finish this latest one before this tour starts soon.
SB: I’m wondering if you’re also busy with time for writing and recording new music. I saw you on social media recording with Chris Schlarb of Big Ego a couple of weeks back. Do you have anything new in the mix?
CF: That was his music [that we were working on]. So, that was funny because me and Ryan and Doug finished our tour in Joshua Tree, and he was recording out there the next day and so he invited us. We went and did three or four of his songs, so it was cool to be a kind of a session band for hire. That was fun.
But no, to be honest, I have not. I'm not sure what's next. I haven't been doing a lot of writing. I've been really busy touring and also with this [Jerry’s III] stuff. Hopefully later this spring and summer, more things will come into focus. But yeah, I haven't written a song — a complete song, anyway — since Evolution Here We Come came out, but that's kind of how I am. I’m not somebody who's just sitting around constantly writing songs from nine-to-five or something. Things come to me and I feel like if I'm on a deadline or if I've got a project in the works, then that gives me the motivation to focus on it and kind of hone it more. But yeah, I don't have any solid plans for the next record or anything like that at this point.
IF YOU GO
Who: Garcia Peoples + Chris Forsyth
When: Saturday, April 15, 7 p.m.
Where: The Outpost, 521 Amboy Road, ashevilleoutpost.com
Tickets: $15 advance/$20 day of show
(Photos by Ryan Collerd)
