Interview: The Clouds are Ghosts CD Release [Beauty Bar / Tonight]

Congratulations on the release of your new full-length -- is this your debut album? Where was it recorded?

This is indeed our debut album. It was recorded by Kevin Butler at Test Tube Audio. He also produced the album and, while recording, became so entwined in the process that he was assimilated into the band. He is now our 5th member, playing percussion and synths. He is also involved in the writing process a bit as well.

Tell us more about your influences and inspirations?

We actually all have slightly different influences. As for how they permeate our music, I would say our soundscapes are influenced by Radiohead, Depeche Mode and Gorillaz -- with a little Blonde Redhead and Björk thrown in for good measure. For the skeletal beginnings of our songs, a more twitchy approach to the beat programming is used, keeping it simple while trying to make it as interesting and sonically pleasing as possible. This was an area where our engineer/producer, Kevin Butler, really got his hands dirty. Steven Paul (beats/guitar/synths) often comes up with electronic beats, and Kevin brings the organic side to that equation, forming an electro/organic percussive foundation. Once the shapes have been drawn, Jason Flitcraft (violins/synths) and Erin Fillingame (piano/rhodes/clavinet) begin to color the songs with strings and piano. Regardless of who the progenitor is, we are all involved in the song-writing process employing an honest no-ego approach.

The last steps are the vocals and lyrics (Jason Morris) who tries to frighten people into feeling empowered and hopeful. The world is a crazy place filled with good and evil, and we try to be a reminder of that fact. We are inspired by those who are courageous enough to paint the cross-hairs on their own foreheads, but we try to keep the political side of the lyrics as subliminal as possible. Everyone knows what is happening. They don't need us to remind them. We simply try to stay within the warmth of the music we create and say what is appropriate. Those who want to hear anger will hear it, just as those who want to hear hope will hear hope. In short, we are an android rock band with a capacity to love and learn.

Image from The Clouds are Ghosts’ MySpace

As far as we can tell, everyone in this town is either in a band or knows 20 people who are. This is a good and a bad thing -- good in that there is never a shortage of new and cool bands to listen to, and bad in that it is extremely hard for any band to break through. There may be a million venues, but there are a billion bands trying to get the opportunity to play the best venues on the best nights. This, in many cases, leads to a very competitive approach from a lot of bands. As for us, we try not to get just good shows, but we try to build full bills with bands so that we may champion each others' passion.

Music is merely a form of communication, and there is no perfect form of it. You have to create your own scene in this town, and that is what we are trying tirelessly to do. The Austin music scene could benefit greatly from a little more teamwork. Not to assume where the onus truly lies, but we feel the brunt of the responsibility falls on journalists such as yourself to help people find what they are looking for, whether it be on a Tuesday at a less popular venue or a Saturday at a more crowded place. The venues are unfortunately forced to consider the business side of the equation. If a band does not draw, they are going to find it very hard to get attention or good shows. Because of that, the bands with the most friends have a tremendous advantage, which brings us to a solution. Lots of bands in this town play a lot of shows, and while we would not begrudge them their approach, we do disagree with it. There are obviously two approaches to gaining the attention of a particular market: play a lot and gain name recognition, or play less and make shows more of an event. The latter enables more bands the opportunity to play the coveted night in the best venues and to help everyone find bands with whom great shows can be organized. My feeling is if our band isn't going to make it to the next level, then I hope we help give someone else a boost.

What do you aim to accomplish for the remainder of 2009, and then looking ahead to 2010?

With the remainder of '09, we intend to promote this album as much as possible. We are also embarking on a tour from Austin to Brooklyn and back. For 2010, we are hopeful we will get into SXSW, and release another album around that time.

Thank you for speaking with Austinist.