by Ken Geiger
Brook Pridemore tends to fancy himself as a doom musician nowadays. If you are familiar with his music and have a stereotypical sense of what doom is, you are probably thinking by now "Brook Pridemore is fucking nuts making such a claim!" I used to think that myself, but now I cannot help but agree with him. Breakup Songs, with Horns is a jarring collection of songs that can leave the listener feeling somewhere between the lines of joyous and uncomfortable at times. It's a heavy and odd collection of tunes, played mostly by a man on an acoustic guitar, which just makes it all the stranger. "Apostatic Song for M. Gira to Sing" does sound a bit like a quirky Swans outtake of sorts (making it a fitting title), and "Occupation Blues" is a slow-burning, heavy tune that sounds like Melvins being fronted by Tom Petty. Those two are my favorite tracks off the record, and the record overall stands as my favorite thing Pridemore has released thus far. But I wanted to know what Brook Pridemore himself thought of the release, as well as where his future in music stands, which ended up resulting in a great chat with a musician who has been through and seen more than most of us have during his tenure in the DIY landscape.
Brook Pridemore: What's the deal, Kenny?
Ken Geiger: I was waiting for you to message me actually!
BP: Sitting here all greased up, ready to do this.
KG: Haha my bad. Yeah man. I've got a couple questions in mind, but I want this to kind of be more casual and such. So I guess I have to start by asking you, is this technically the Brook Pridemore doom album I've been waiting on for so long?
BP: This is not the metal record I've been threatening to make. This is an EP of things I had recorded over the last couple of years, things intended for splits and / or projects that never got off the ground.
KG: Damn. I hope that's finally unleashed on the world. Although there are heavier parts of this new release that made me think it was influenced by your recent metal taste... What is the most recently made song? And what's the oldest off the record? Also, what kind of projects? Were they just splits or were you going to do other bands?
BP: Well, I recorded tracks one and two on 1/3/2015. "Occupation Blues" was written for me to sing by Mike Rechner of Prewar Yardsale (as was "I'm Gonna Fuck My Way Out Of Depression," by Thomas Patrick Maguire). That was the first of the projects that never quite got going. I asked a ton of people to write songs for me to sing, and those are the two I got. I wanted to do a whole album of original songs by other people. In March 2015, I recorded "I'm Gonna Fuck My Way Out of Depression," "Too Much Talking," "For The Worst Of It," and "Awkward Questions About Anal Sex" with the bassist and drummer I'd been working with for a few years.
"Too Much Talking" was supposed to be the beginning of a dance record. "For The Worst Of It" was supposed to be the beginning of a record about a girl. Another record about a girl. I couldn't do that, anymore. I can't be this bro-y singer, writing songs about exes. It's just so tired, and then I spend years singing songs about people that they'll never hear.
KG: Your ambitions seem like they have gone all over the place. Why'd these concept records (like the dance one) fall through?
BP: Well, there was a fourth concept record in there, those three short songs in the middle. I wanted to write an album of, like, hardcore folk songs. Songs that didn't stretch past the thirty second mark. But inspiration doesn't work like that with me. I only got three songs out of it, so here we are. And the Kung Fu Crimewave cover was supposed to be my side of a split record with them, that never got finished, and it felt like the perfect closer. And I had all this stuff sitting around, and it felt good, and I wanted people to hear it, so I cobbled together this weird track order, with these two different lineups.
KG: Well, despite all the unfinished projects, this record turns out to be really coherent in sound as far as I'm concerned. Which makes me want to turn to your future... Will the next Brook Pridemore release be something you sit down and write all together? Or do you think it'll be something like this, a compilation of songs from various time periods?
BP: I have a new album ready to go, it's all recorded; just needs mixing. It's called Metal Is My Only Friend. I played almost every instrument on it, barring two drum tracks from my friend Charlotte Kahn. It's the heaviest record I've ever made, but it's not a metal record. I was going for a feel along the lines of late 90s Smog records, with this one, like Knock Knock or Red Apple Falls. It's my Drag City record.
KG: Damn your work ethic is almost Melvins-level, which is something I've always admired about you. You're always updating about making records, playing shows, or listening to Hall & Oates. How do you keep up such a massive workload after all these years, especially in a somewhat chaotic time in the music industry, as well as our country in general?
BP: I took a long time off, starting in 2010. I had to do some other stuff. That may make it seem like I'm doing a lot of work right now. My last album was recorded in 2011, and only released in 2015. After that, I reissued an old album, and this new one was stuff I'd been sitting on for a while, so it's kind of a glut of new material, in a short amount of time.
But the honest answer to your question: I believe in working hard. I believe in moving forward. I believe in continuing to learn, and continuing to grow as an artist. I believe in spreading light and warmth and love, in times of war as well as in times of peace. My life for many years was devoted solely to the pursuit of art, and it almost killed me. I had to learn how to live. I had to cultivate the non-artist side of my life. But the non-artist side never got quite big enough to eclipse the creative side, and I found myself drawn back to this stuff. Now, I make time to work on art, every day. If I carry a sketchbook to work with me, and draw on my break, that's when I get the chance to work on it that day.
KG: Wow. That's amazing honestly. I feel similarly about the value of hard work on your art. But this puts it more in perspective for me. It's definitely hard to balance the life of an artist and non-artist together. It seems like you have it down though. I want to wrap this up because this honestly been a great interview, but let me finish by asking two things. First, what else is in store for the future of Brook Pridemore beyond the record and tour you have planned? Second, if you could tell the readers about anything new and exciting or any music you've been seeing, what would it be? A new band, DIY space, record label, anything.
BP: Next up for Brook Pridemore is finding someone interested in releasing / working Metal Is My Only Friend and plenty of touring / videos / etc around that. Secondly, here are some homies making great music: Two Houses, Ray Brown, Teenage Halloween, Caged Animals, Fraidycat, Long Neck, Hiccup, Cottontail, HIRS, Dazeases, Michael Cera Palin, Kate West, Little Waist, Out of System Transfer, Prewar Yardsale, Endless Mike and the Beagle Club, and some rap group I heard last night called Da Crack Babiez. Also, I'm stoked about the new Sleep record, even if it means there won't be a new OM record any time soon.
You can check out Brook Pridemore's Breakup Songs, with Horns on his Bandcamp page. Also, if you want to hear his ridiculous references to the song "Uptown Funk," follow him on Twitter @Brookpridemore
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