Oh Lonesome Ana Talk New Album ‘MEG/\DETH TEE’
Your latest album Meg/\deth Tee just dropped on July 15th. Congrats! How’s it feel to have new music out?
It’s really incredible. We’ve been working on this record since we started as a band over three years ago. We had hoped to put it out last year, but you know, it became difficult to do that… so we’re totally thrilled that it’s out into the world and that people have been so receptive. And to that end, thank you for covering us!
Can you walk us a little bit through the writing process? How was it different from past releases or other projects you may have worked on?
Our friend and poet Johnny Allen wrote a few beautiful pieces, we took those and crafted them into songs. One thing that was pretty unique to this particular record is that when we started as a band, we had no songs. So we were essentially “workshopping” these at every live show. As we played them more, we had a chance to refine and rework them. One example is the song “No Kind of God,” which went through a bunch of different iterations, and we ended up writing a musical transition, which works as a bridge into and out of some different ideas. These songs were intended to be recorded live, without digital editing, click tracks, quantizing or anything like that.
Were there any speed bumps or mishaps during the recording process?
The biggest speed bump really was that we had planned to play a few shows in April of 2020 and go into the studio, but COVID had other plans. When we finally got back together after over a year, we were not as cohesive a unit, and it took a while to achieve what we had prior to the start of COVID.
Was there a favorite song to record? Why?
The song “To Feel So Small” has a pretty drastic tempo change starting in the pre-chorus and leading into the chorus. There was some discussion about recording the parts separately, but we tried more than a few takes to play it live, and on day two out of three of initial tracking, we got what you hear on the record. We all felt pretty proud to be able to pull that off!
There’s a lot of fun effects in this record. Who are some of the influences you drew from while putting the album together?
Oh, thank you so much! Three big influences for the noisy/ effect-y type of stuff on the record were Dinosaur Jr., Yo La Tengo, and Grandaddy. And we were also influenced by some specific pieces of gear: the Chase Bliss Mood pedal is used a lot, as well as the Juno-60. The Chase Bliss has a thing that it does that’s very fun to play around with; it’s pretty intuitive, and it feels kind of like every time you turn it on, you get something totally new and different, but it’s just as fun. The Juno-60 is an inspiring synth. Pretty much every preset on that keyboard just sounds great and it mixes itself.
A lot of these songs have heavy subject matter. If you feel like going into it, were any of them tough to write/record? Do you feel better now that it’s taken shape as music and out in the world?
Johnny and I (Evan) talked a lot when I first read the poems, making sure that this was something he really wanted to do. We’ve been writing together in some capacity since high school, and some of those conversations were pretty emotional. Writing some of these songs, especially “The Dirt Road,” was really emotional, and I remember crying on a few occasions and telling Johnny I loved him. Some of my life is here too, and I think I was inspired by Johnny’s bravery and honesty to try to do what I could to be as honest and brave. There’s been times during the pandemic where I’ve felt truly emotionally worn down, and so recording these songs at that time felt like a good match. To be honest, though, it’s going to be nice to write some other songs, so we don’t always have to get in the same headspace when we play live, which I think ultimately is going to prove more challenging than recording them was.
Any live shows the readers and fans can catch you at?
Lol. Speaking of which. Yes. We’re only playing a few West Coast shows in support, we just came back from a little run down to Tucson and up to Seattle. We’re finishing up with a few shows in early August, Oakland up to Boise, so depending on when this comes out... our .com has shows listed. We book all our shows, so if you like the music and you want us to play somewhere in particular, please reach out.
What’s your favorite local venue to play?
We’re in Sacramento, and we love Cafe Colonial and Starlet Room/ Harlow’s. Both venues have really been doing everything they can during the pandemic to support local artists. Shit is still rough for venues and we hope both of them come through. There is currently a Go Fund Me for Cafe Colonial cause they’ve been having a tough time. If you’re in Sacramento, please support those venues. We really love them.
Is the Megadeth Tee still around?
That is such a good question, and just because it’s so thoughtful, here is the honest truth: it’s not a real T-Shirt, only a metaphorical one. And as such, it will exist for potentially longer than an actual T-Shirt, although no promises on that.
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