Chris Michael is a Brooklyn-based singer, songwriter, bass player and guitar eater.
In this interview feature, we have a virtual pow wow with Chris to discuss influences, the new project, and much more.
Full Q&A, links and streams can be found below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
I’m from the very center of North Carolina, a place called Asheboro, but I’ve been living in Brooklyn for the last 7 years. Since I’ve been in New York, I’ve mostly been doing the singer-songwriter thing. Writing songs and singing them in loud bars and coffee shops with just an acoustic guitar and my feelings.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to stay the course?
I’m from a pretty musical family. My dad plays guitar and was always in bands when I was little. My mom was in a bluegrass band way before I was little. Lots of my uncles, cousins, aunts, grandparents and other relatives all played music. I think part of it is being from the south. There seem to be a lot of little corners of the south that are intensely musical. The place I’m from in central North Carolina is one of those. Even the school band program is really strong. That’s actually where I first started playing music seriously. On Trumpet. And later Tuba, which is what led my dad to decide I should be the new bass player in the family.
I think most of us who make music on this unknown level do it because it’s part of our identity. Part of the way we define ourselves and understand who we are in the world. That’s definitely the case for me. I’m not really a happy guy if I don’t have some sort of musical outlet.
But I think another thing that allows us to keep going are the communities of musicians and music supporters out there. I found a strong community of songwriters when I lived in Asheville for a handful of years. That pushed me to really work on my songwriting. We would have parties and get togethers and “contests” which really motivated everyone to write more and better. Jenny Greer-Fares, who I believe still creates spaces for this sort of thing down there, was the center of that. She’s a hero. In New York I found groups like The Local Correspondents and Big City Folk, which are these amazing communities full of big-hearted people that exist because of heroes like Jessi Robertson and Niall Connolly. Who are both amazing musicians in their own right. Seriously, go look up their music right now. A number of people, amazing songwriters, have come to the events hosted by these groups at a point where they had essentially given up on music. Only to leave so reinvigorated that they pick it back up and release some of their best work yet. I can’t overstate the importance of groups like this. It keeps us going. It makes us better.
Who or what are your biggest influences when it comes to your creativity?
I like reading. Especially books. Fiction, non-fiction, any books really. Lately the songs I’ve been writing have been increasingly inspired by the books I’ve been reading. I’ve been trying to do more non-song writing as well. I’ve found that to be a great outlet in its own right, but also a way to get ideas flowing when I’m feeling stuck.
And again, I can’t overstate the value of having communities like the Big City Folk collective. The other songwriters who are involved in that community are a constant source of inspiration. They’ve made me a better writer and a better performer, just by watching what they do.
How is your new release different than previous ones? Did you set out to accomplish anything specific?
This is my first full length record and I’ve been working on it for about three and a half years. I started working on it with my friend Matt Cranstoun, who’s an amazing singer songwriter – as well as a Local Correspondent and Big City Folk guy- and does lots of recording in his apartment, especially when he’s just sketching things out. He offered to help me get a few songs down and I didn’t have any recording equipment at the time, so we thought we’d make an EP. I thought maybe I could sell enough of those to help me buy a few things and make a full length record. But because I had been writing for so long without making a record, and because all my songs were/are often in the 2.5 minute range, I didn’t feel right just making a 4 song deal. So I wanted to do like a 7 song EP. Which everyone thought was a really strange thing to do. And said so. Loudly. So it morphed into a 10 song album pretty quickly. Meanwhile, Matt got really busy with life and his own record and I started accumulating some recording gear. A lot of it from friends. Paul Tabachneck for instance – another Big City Folk songwriter – gave me a stand-alone DAW on the condition I finally make a record. The song God’s Own Lover from the record was completely recorded on Paul’s old DAW. So I ended up recording about 4 1/2 songs with Matt and the rest in the spare bedroom of my apartment.
Do you face any challenges as an indie musician in a digital age? On the flip side, how has technology helped you (if it has)?
I think I face a lot of the same challenges that my father and his generation, and I imagine my grandfather’s generation, faced. Especially when you are trying to carve out a songwriting path under your own name, there’s just a lot out there and it’s really difficult to convince people to even give up the precious seconds to listen and see if maybe this thing you worked on might be their kind of musical diversion. That part’s always been hard I think. The major difference for me is that I can record lots of relatively high quality takes in my bedroom. My dad couldn’t do that with the bands he played in. Back then, on this level, you were lucky just to get some studio time. Now we can all be the Beatles. But I think maybe the other side is that there seem to be a lot more people doing it on this level now because the barrier to entry is so low with digital technology. It feels like the signal to noise ratio is a little noisier than it used to be. Even from when I was a kid, which was not so long ago.
How do you feel about streaming services? Any romantic attachments to the physical formats: vinyl, 8-track, cassettes, CDs?
I’m at peace with Spotify. And I think Soundcloud and Bandcamp are wonderful. Really, for me as an unknown songwriter, having more ways to potentially get in the ears of a few more people is one of the most important things. So I’m fine with the ones that feel a little troubling like Spotify, and I stand and applaud the ones that really make life easier like Soundcloud and Bandcamp.
My dad’s way of music education was to sit me down with a tall stack of albums and have me listen to all of it before I could go to bed each evening, so I do have a special love for old dusty vinyl records. I love the smell, I love holding them, I love the weird lo-fi flatness of making sound by scratching a needle across grooved discs. And now that everybody else is having this nostalgia moment too, it’s really easy to get turntables and cartridges!
I do NOT like new vinyl. People put out CDs and then use the same master to print Vinyl, and then have the balls to charge 20 bucks for it. The way this old school technology works severely attenuates high frequencies. If you use a CD appropriate master it is not going to sound good as a vinyl album. It’s going to sound dull and muffled. People had to work very hard back in the day to make a master work for the turntable. It doesn’t seem like the average indie act really understands that from what I’ve experienced.
Where can we follow you online and hear more music?
My Bandcamp page is probably the best place to get my music: http://eatthatguitarchrismichael.bandcamp.com
My new website is the best place to learn about all the new things I might do: http://eathatguitarchrismichael.com
And this WordPress site is the best place to read about how much I like Halal carts, how I trained to eat a guitar, and what I think about Yelp reviews: http://eatthatguitarchrismichael.wordpress.com
Anything else before we sign off?
Mostly I just want to say thank you to you guys for letting me do this interview and for writing about the new record. Like I said earlier it can be a hard road doing this solo songwriter thing, and I really appreciate the opportunity. Keep up the good work.
