Chris Walker Vs. My Brightest Diamond: A Thousand Shark’s Teeth Interview

Several months ago I separated the music blog-styled posts from the Versus and it was a good decision. There are always exceptions, though, and today is one of them. One of my favorite artists, Shara Worden, perhaps better known as My Brightest Diamond, is releasing a new album next month: the brilliant A Thousand Shark’s Teeth. Shara was nice enough to talk with me about the forthcoming album, the plight of an artist in today’s musical climate, and what the future holds for My Brightest Diamond.

Chris Walker Versus: So, it’s been a while. A Thousand Shark’s Teeth is finally here, or it will be on June 17. Would it be accurate to say this album is much darker than Bring Me The Workhorse?

Shara Worden: Dark is such a relative thing…I always feel like a fluff cake next to Tool or Portishead or [Nine Inch Nails] or Jesus and Mary Chain. I think I might be a pansy or a pink fairy. As for Shark’s Teeth, I do think the colors of the marimbas, bassoons and bass clarinets are darker sounds, but the lyrics feel much lighter and more playful to me than Workhorse.

CWV: Maybe ‘intimate’ is a better word to use.

S. Worden: Yeah for me, it is generally more intimate. The nighttime atmosphere is a good one. Interesting creatures come out at night. It’s good for brooding. Maybe I need to leave the comforts of my dark velvet curtained apartment in Brooklyn and go to the summertime vibe of the west coast so I can write in major keys.

CWV: I was amazed to hear you used a Tricky sample on the new track, “Like A Sieve.” How’d that come about?

S. Worden: Massive Attack is so bad ass and I also really like a lot of Tricky’s solo stuff. He has a tune called “I Be The Prophet” off of his solo record [Nearly] God and there is this amazing string sample that is so bizarre and irregular. So, for a long time I played around with my impression of that lick and wrote “Like A Sieve” based off that riff but finally I broke down and wrote Tricky a letter and said, “Hey dude. You rock. Can I please use your exact phrasing in my tune? I’ll love you forever…” and he said yes, so at the end of the tune we recorded that lick and it makes me happy every time it comes around.

CWV: So you recreated the sample instead of just, well, sampling it; that’s really cool. I know some songs from Shark’s originated in the Workhorse sessions, will any b-sides or song ideas from the Shark’s session make their way onto the next album?

S. Worden: Nope. I wanna start with a clean slate. I like using singles as a way of sneaking out older material or misfit songs, so some of them will be released that way. The songs from Shark’s Teeth span six years of writing and I thought at many times that I should just let the past lay where it fell and move on, but I had put so, so, so, many hours and a great amount of thought and energy into these songs and their arrangements that I felt I needed to honor that work. But now that it’s done I am so excited to leave off old ideas and begin with the present.

CWV: Addressing the album’s title, I was pleasantly surprised to find the one we’d all come to know it by really ended up being the final title. What does the idea, or the theme, of “a thousand shark’s teeth” mean to you?

S. Worden: Ha! Me too. It was picked rather arbitrarily four years ago, but like a kid growing into it’s clothes or something, it seemed to fit the final result, so we kept it. The title comes from the song “Goodbye Forever” that is talking about the things that prevent us from giving and receiving love and if, say, one could be free of the blockages, then one could hear the singing of the stars more vividly, feel the light of the sun, like the warmth of love, prickling all over your skin, like a thousand tiny shark teeth.

CWV: The musical climate has changed quite a bit over the last couple years, what, with bands giving away entire albums for free, and album sales dropping in record numbers…unless you’re Mariah Carey. What are your thoughts on the way music is obtained now? And how would you say it affects My Brightest Diamond?

S. Worden: Yeah, it’s an awkward subject. I think no one wants to hear an artist complain about it because people want the freedom, and frankly so do I. I mean, I downloaded Portishead’s record before it was out and was ecstatic. I am very hypocritical because I have a lot of illegal music but I also still buy a lot of music. Shark’s has been “leaked” and, of course, I am thrilled that people are excited about it. On the other hand it kinda puts a pain in my chest ’cause I survive as an indie artist completely off of album sales and I feel really strongly that concert ticket prices should be as low as possible and I don’t want to make music to try and be in car commercials. There is really nothing else that I have to offer people to buy than what I have recorded. I guess I need to make a perfume line? At the end of the day, I have to keep making art whatever the situation and whatever life doles out to me, I have to accept that. I mean, global warming and the situations in Iraq and Africa are far more concerning than downloading.

CWV: No, no car commercials please. I agree that global warming, and subjects like international affairs are far greater concerns than downloading on the grand scale of things, but music – how it is obtained, digested, and changing in our digital age – is still important because it’s something that affects us every day on a personal level. It has influence. People bond over music, it shape lives and identities (for better or worse). It’s important to ask questions like, and you don’t necessarily have to answer these: with the ease of downloading do albums, as a long player listening experience, still matter? Will kids today be moved by albums the same day you and I were, or our parents were? How does downloading affect the quality of music? How do consumers view artists and how do artists view consumers? And this is going off on a tangent but I often wonder if we’re reverting back to the Fifties when everything was single driven: you heard it on the radio, it was pressed to vinyl, and sold with a b-side. The end.

S. Worden: Dude, you are preaching to the choir here. Amen brother, amen!

CWV: Thanks. There’s just an optimistic part of me that thinks people still care about albums and supporting quality artists. I mean, I downloaded Shark’s when I found out it had been leaked, but I’ve also pre-ordered it on vinyl and CD. And I’d like to think I’m not alone; people know that purchasing albums by their favorite artists is vital to the longevity of this thing we all love. And, at the risk of sounding like a gushing school girl, I think people need an album like Shark’s, especially in the indie world where lately it seems like anything female fronted is garbage. She & Him? Forget it. And Scarlett Johansson has an album? Give me a break; I might steal that but I’ll never buy it. I think your band, your albums, are reminders that art is still alive in music, and if enough people realize that they’ll shell out the $11/$12 to own a physical copy. Or at least support you by buying it off iTunes, digitally.

S. Worden: Thanks for the love, Chris. I appreciate it. I, of course, am with you on the love of the album, the art of album making. But no matter what happens in popular culture, I think there will always be an underground of album lovers. As an artist, of course you want people to like what you do and support you, so that you can make more more more music the way you want to and have your life stuff: rent, bills etc. taken care of, so that you don’t have to have the day job. I don’t know where things will end up for me. I think the balancing act is working that line between dreaming big and working within your resources and at a certain point, it is out of the artist’s control. One foot in front of the other. One day at a time. Cue a Dolly Parton song here or something.

CWV: On a lighter note, the bonus EP that comes with the pre-order on Asthmatic Kitty sounds cool. Do those demos date back to the Workhorse sessions, or are they newer? Older?

S. Worden: We first started recording for Shark’s in September of 2004, (predating Workhorse) and then I added a lot of other instruments on to those initial string quartet recordings so that’s what’s reflected in these demos. They are kind of the final moment before they “hit the trash can” and I started over. In some cases, like for “Pluto’s Moon” I abandoned the string quartet direction and took a very different approach for the album. To me, showing the demos is a way of kind of revealing the skeleton, the process of the album and also a way of honoring the people that have helped me along the way, but weren’t ultimately represented on the final recording.

CWV: You’re going on a brief tour before and after Shark’s hits store shelves, will their be a larger tour to follow or is that it for this year?

S. Worden: Yes, yes! Tour, tour, play, play, play! We will be doing string quartet tours in the fall.

CWV: Good to hear. So, have you come across any Chateau l’affite 1984 lately?

S. Worden: No, these days it seems like it’s only bottles of wine from 2006.

CWV: So sad. Well, it’s been a pleasure, as always. Anything you’d like to say before we conclude?

S. Worden: Hip hip hooray! And a toast to you!

A Thousand Shark’s Teeth, in stores June 17, is available for pre-order in both LP and CD format (with bonus EP) at Asthmatic Kitty. Be sure to catch My Brightest Diamond on tour. Remaining show dates (before Fall):

06.09.08 Other Music (Instore), New York, NY
06.14.08 Hultsfred Festival, Hultsfred, Sweden
06.17.08 Blender Theatre at Gramercy, NYC, NY
06.20.08 Berklee Performance Center, Boston, MA
06.27.08 Le Rock dans tous ses Etats, Evreux, France

Pre-order A Thousand Shark’s Teeth.

My Brightest Diamond [Official] [MySpace]

Posted: May 28th, 2008 | Author: Chris Walker | Filed under: My Brightest Diamond | No Comments »

Chris Walker Vs. Airport Security… Again

I didn’t have to take off my shoes this morning. Neither did anyone else on my flight. Or on any other flight departing Guadalajara, for that matter. And guess what? All the planes made it to their destinations unscathed. Will wonders ever cease?

American Airlines schedule flights under the assumption everything from time spent taxiing on a runway to getting your bag off a carousel will go according to schedule. Do they ever? Of course not. So while 40 minutes between flights may seem like a lot of time… it’s just not. Which is retarded.

Sprinting out of customs at Dallas-Fort Worth, I managed to navigate through the blundering idiots at bag re-check only to be stopped by the long security checkpoint line where no one, including the people trying to get through airport security, seemed to care about anything. I caught a break when a airport employee announced a security checkpoint with virtually zero traffic was just one corridor over. I didn’t have to look at a clock to know it was my plane’s official boarding time so, I went for it. I think that was maybe the second time ever, in the history of mankind, an airport employee has actually been helpful.

Like a whirlwind, I ripped off my incredibly dangerous Chuck Taylors and equally unscrupulous belt, and threw my things onto the conveyor belt… which takes them through the imaginary box. The tubby, mustached TSA representative waved me through the metal detector, which I passed with flying colors, except I was still carrying my passport and flight itinerary with my boarding pass, which is evidently forbidden. “Well, what do we have here?” Mr. Tubby-Mustache asked, rhetorically. I handed over my potentially dangerous collection of papers and stepped to the side. “Wait just a minute,” Mr. Tubby-Mustache snapped. “You’re not going anywhere, you stay right there.” He had my passport, he had my boarding pass; WHERE WAS I GOING TO GO? Yes, my paperwork was actually a diversion; while you inspected it I was going to leave my shoes, my laptop, my camera, everything, and run over to the Coffee Bean to grab a latte. Thank goodness you stopped me. Seriously, why does every single airport security personnel have to be a nerd who never amounted to anything, was faced with the option of being a checker at Kohl’s or a pretend officer for the airways* and chose the latter, and has henceforth spent everyday making people’s lives hell, while simultaneously keeping airports a whopping zero precent safer?

On my flight to Reno I witnessed one of my favorite people: the flight attendant who takes her job way too seriously. You know them, the kind who has to get a verbal “yes” from each and every person sitting in the emergency exit rows. This one took it to the next level; this miserable looking spinster, with short, spiky hair, and an exquisite FUPA** not only had to get a verbal “yes,” she lectured everyone in the exit rows about how they shouldn’t take on the responsibility if they can’t handle it, how it’s a big deal to sit in the exit row, and they really should ask themselves, “Am I strong enough to open the emergency door?” Because we all know, in the unlikely case of an emergency, that’s how we’re getting out. It happens all the time. Planes hitting the ground and exploding into flames and everyone dying? Never happens. Safely crash-landing, popping open the emergency doors, and gallivanting out? All the time.

By the way, why does James Marsden look dirty — like, legitimately unbathed — throughout the entirety of 27 Dresses? Not that I’ve watched 27 Dresses or anything. It just happened to be playing on the plane and I looked up and, yeah, I know, shut up.

* Don’t kid yourself, airport security is in the same class as mall security, movie theater stub-ripper, and the guy who inadequately towels off your car after it’s gone through the wash. You want a real security job? Be an Air Marshal.

** Fat. Upper. Pussy. Area. for those who don’t know.

Posted: May 25th, 2008 | Author: Chris Walker | Filed under: Idiots, The Dumbing Down of America | No Comments »

Chris Walker Vs. John Mayer And The Mixtape

Bring. Back. The. Mixtape.

I found those words in the April 2008 issue of GQ, exactly as presented, in “Treat Me Right!” a six-page spread about, you guessed it, how to please women. When I read women, or at least the ones made up by GQ*, still appreciate the mixtape I got so excited I hi-fived myself. I love the mixtape. Much of my high-school dating career can be attributed to the mixtape. There are former-teenage girls who still possess my intricate song selections, cataloged on tape, and encased in a plastic shell. That’s not even wishful thinking, it’s fact.

Of course, Bring. Back. The. Mixtape. came with a stipulation… as do most things involving women. Sure, they want the mixtape back but they also want to tell you which songs you can’t include. Of those that made the short-list:

“Fuck You Tonight” by the Notorious B.I.G. featuring R. Kelly
“The Stroke” by Billy Squire
“Ain’t No Fun (If The Homies Can’t Have None)” by Snoop Dogg and friends.

You mean to tell me songs that encourage sex with entourages or to forgo wining and dining for “fucking” and leftover spaghetti don’t get chicks in the mood? I don’t believe you.

While the first three do-not-include tracks were clearly placed for humor, I found the fourth pick, “Your Body Is A Wonderland” by John Mayer, to be a little more baffling. I remember a time not too long ago when “Wonderland” was thee panty-dropping anthem. If a woman was in your bedroom anywhere between late 2001 to mid 2002, and you played that song for her, she would immediately take off her pants and mount you. Women could not control themselves. I played “Wonderland” at a party one time and it turned into a full-on orgy. It was insane. And that would be a completely true story if I didn’t just make it up.

But seriously, there was a time when every woman loved “Wonderland” and yearned for a man to utter that orgasm-inducing phrase to her (I preferred: your body is a junior-high playground). But now you mention “Wonderland” and a woman’s vagina dries up quicker than the Serengeti during drought season. Why? I dusted off my ol’ Room For Squares CD and gave track four a spin. It’s still great. Compare the following excerpt from “Your Body Is A Wonderland” to any current love song:

“There’s something ‘bout the way the hair falls in your face
I love the shape you take when crawling towards the pillow case
You tell me where to go
And though I might leave to find it
I’ll never let you head hit the bed without my hand behind it…”

Still sexy. So sexy, in fact, I want Mayer to make love to me.

There can only be one explanation as to why women now cringe when they hear “Wonderland” and it’s so obvious I should kick myself for not realizing it sooner: millions of women were duped by this song. How many young co-eds do you think found themselves in this compromising situation: she goes home from the club, bar, foam party with a guy she only has the intention of mashing faces with and/or giving a tug job to; he puts on “Your Body Is A Wonderland” and – tada! – she decides, “Well, I might as well have sex with him now.” I’m sure that scenario happened to millions of women. And not once. No, the same girl was probably involved in heavy petting elsewhere, talking about “taking it slow” and “commitment,” when Mayer came on crooning about a deep sea of blankets and if you want love, we’ll make it and before she knew it she was completely naked. “Wonderland” undoubtedly evokes a lot of bad memories of questionable hook-ups for women everywhere and therefore; they hate it. Not since Silk’s “Freak Me” has a song had such powerful influence over woman’s desire to “give it up.”

Silk: Freak Me
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIzb32F6ZLA&hl=en]

I think John Mayer gets a raw deal. Sure, he’s written a couple “gay” songs like “Waiting On The World To Change” and “Daughters” (in fact, you can pretty much ignore 2003’s Heavier Things) but Mayer also penned “City Love,” a song about drinking at a bar until 2 AM with a chick that leaves her toothbrush at his apartment and wears his shirts to work. Any guy who’s ever hooked up with a girl for an extended period of time, whether he lives in a big city or not, can appreciate that song. And “Vultures”? Mayer’s song “Vultures” is cool and it will make women dance to blues guitar. Not the women that typically dance to blues guitar, we’re talking about attractive women. Or how about “I Don’t Trust Myself (With Loving You)”? While it may sound super sensitive, it’s actually a song in which Mayer admits he’s non-committal, makes no apologies or vows to change, and saying: get all the dick you can while the gettings good.

Do I even need to mention the copious amount of women he’s slept with? There was Jessica Simpson, pre-Romo (and pre-Moomoo). From there he hooked up with Minka Kelly. Who is Minka Kelly, you ask?

That’s Minka Kelly. And while that scorching piece of tail would probably domesticate the average male, it didn’t stop Mayer. He was like, “Yeah, you’re hot and all but I think I’m going to go bang Cameron Diaz now.” After Diaz he nailed Jennifer Aniston. Then he hooked up some random over the weekend, went back to hang out with Aniston poolside and Aniston was like, “It’s cool. You’re John Mayer, you need to bang chicks; I’m just happy to be here.” Keep in mind, these are just a few of the high-profile females we know about; how Mayer’s head hasn’t exploded from all the hot ass he gets is beyond me. The man is certifiably awesome.

* I cannot confirm GQ made up the women polled for their “Treat Me Right” special; it’s just a hunch.

Posted: May 15th, 2008 | Author: Chris Walker | Filed under: John Mayer, Women | 5 Comments »