Scott Wolfson and Other Heroes

Q: Okay, which one of you is Scott and who are these “Other Heroes” you speak of?

Kirk: (Kirk Siee) I'm Kirk and I play upright bass.

Matt: (Matt Laurita) I play guitars - usually only one at a time.

Chris: (Chris Kelly) I'm Chris. I hit circles.

Skyler: (Skyler Bode) I play the things with keyboards and/or buttons on them, and I'm the one who blurts strange things out at awkward moments.

Miah: (Jeremiah Birnbaum) I pluck and strut and spend a lot of time tuning my mandolin! And I’m personal vegan chef to our fearless leader.

Scott: (Scott Wolfson) I’m the one with facial hair…

Q: Congratulations on your new album "Life on Fire." What can you tell us about the songs? Is there a theme that runs through the record?

Scott: It wasn’t planned, but there is. I like to choose a line from one song that I think speaks to the overarching theme of the whole album when I come up with a title. “Life on Fire” comes from a lyric in “1972.” “What did you think you’d do when someone set your life on fire?” I realized that each of the songs involves a character whose life is altered dramatically by some external force, and the choices they make in the aftermath.

Q: Nice! How does your songwriting process work? Can you describe typically how a song develops?

Scott: I’m not very typical with my songwriting. Some of the songs like “Nothing to It” rush out of me completely formed in about fifteen minutes. “Brooklyn Mermaids” popped into my head after seeing a slogan on a t-shirt, and I wrote the lyrics and music on the subway ride home. But then others, like “Blood Work” take weeks and multiple versions. Usually, I’ll have a story or a character in mind before I sit down to write. But the initial thread may begin from a phrase or melody that’s popped into my head. I do find I tend to write more when I’m spending more time listening to music. I’ll often have an idea influenced by something else I’ve heard. And each of the songs on the album went through the New York Songwriters’ Exchange; the weekly songwriters meeting that Jack Hardy ran for decades. The member critiques were definitely invaluable as far as knowing what worked and what needed to be improved.

Q: And how do the arrangements come about?

Chris: Every night, the arrangement gnomes come by the studio. When we wake up, there's sheet music waiting for us.

Kirk: Scott usually gives us a feeling or rough direction for the song.

Skyler: He does the demos on guitar pretty much always, and his playing sort of makes the "seed" of the arrangement. We eventually cover it with so much of our own instrumental chattering that he has to pare it back to single chords or set his guitar down altogether. But he likes that.

Matt: Scott will have the basic structure worked out, and maybe have some ideas about the other parts, but we really have a lot of autonomy to throw in our own ideas and make up our own parts. And then we make suggestions to one another.

Kirk: We all throw our two cents in, then we take away the pieces that don't add up.

Skyler: I mean, Scott will have an idea or an image in his head, and sometimes we'll go through a few parts before we find something that works, but mostly I think we just tend to dig each other's style.

Matt: And then he’ll say something like, "make it sound like stars falling," and somehow after a couple of tries, we do.

Q: I know you just started getting these CDs out the door and into folks’ hands… How has the response been so far?

Chris: The response has been great! People seem to like it, and the casualties have been kept to a minimum.

Scott: Actually, we’ve had some wonderful things said about the album. So far, we’ve heard nothing but good things from people.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Wow! Since this interview, “Life on Fire” has…

Hit #2 on Roots Music Report's Weekly Top 50 New Jersey Album Chart

Hit #8 on Roots Music Report's Weekly Top 50 National Album Chart

Hit #28 on the Folk DJ Album Chart

Featured on "Mostly Folk" at WIOX (NY)

Featured on "The Alternate Root" - THE NEW RELEASE RACK (Editor's Pick)

Hit #13 on WVIA’s AAA Chart (PA)

Hit #29 on WFDU’s Americana chart (NJ)

Hit #72 RadioFreeAmericana’s Americana chart (Internet)

Featured on Radio Crystal Blue (Internet)

"Brooklyn Mermaids" Climbed to # 5 on the Top 40 at WAGS / WJDJ (SC)

and is currently in rotation at a number of stations across the country and in Canada.

Q: Chris and Miah recorded all of the performances. What was that process like?

Chris: It was a fun process. We brought a bunch of gear down to Skyler’s place so we could use his gorgeous piano.

Miah: We recorded the main track bed in the rumpus room of Skyler's home. It's also where Scott recorded previously. We figured we could either go into a space that we didn't know and didn't feel comfortable in and spend a ton of money just to get tracks, or we could spend that same outlay on better equipment and building out the space for future recordings, which is what we did.

Chris: We built some gobos, and then tracked it all live to my old Fostex VF160 hard disk recorder.

Miah: We now have a great lineup of gear and pro-quality studio baffles, which will make future recordings that much easier. Getting everything balanced and working out all of the bugs in the motley array of begged, borrowed and inherited equipment - some of which hadn't been used in twenty years - took a little while, but we wound up getting everyone in the room, with enough clarity and isolated enough so that we could edit later, but with enough bleed and vibe for a true live sound.

Chris: After I transferred it to the computer, we did all the vocals, strings, horns, washboard, etc., at the place in Jersey City. Scott and I were able to get really creative as far as arrangements went, and having our own studio helped a lot with the flow. For example, one day Scott had an idea for horns on “Blood Work” -- which was as simple as me setting up a mic and playing trombone, rather than trying to squeeze it into booked time.

Miah: As a producer/engineer, my favorite step is always tracking. It's always an emotional time, but the payoff was evident in the beautiful moment when we tracked "Memory of a Fall" completely live, and watching the smile erupt on Scott's face listening to the first playback.

Q: What were some of your favorite parts of the recording process?

Skyler: I'm fascinated by the gadgets, personally. I love learning about good recording practices, how to set up the room, what mics to use on what sounds... it was great just eavesdropping on Chris and Jeremiah working out the kinks in our sort of homegrown, Frankensteiny setup. And of course, that feeling of euphoria when you nail the song to the wall with a terrific take after a few false starts and hiccups, just sitting looking at each other with big smiles while the last chord is still ringing.

Matt: Definitely the live aspect, with everyone playing together.

Kirk: Recording live, laying the songs down for posterity with everybody there.

Skyler: Seriously, if you're not recording live in the same room together, you're missing out.

Matt: Layering in other parts afterward is fine, but nothing beats the sound of the band playing together and feeding off of each other's energy.

Kirk: Being finished. There's always the temptation to do "one more take."

Scott: I like being finished. That’s my favorite part as well…

Miah: Bagels in Skyler's kitchen, riding the NJ Transit train home with everyone, moreover, getting EVERYTHING tracked in our limited time with no compromise.

Chris: The part where we made an album. I love recording!

Q: What about LEAST favorite parts?

Scott: The part where we made an album. I hate recording.

Kirk: Recording live - the stress of not wanting to be the guy that ruined the perfect take.

Chris: Setting up our makeshift studio for the live tracking - troubleshooting is always fun!

Skyler: The isolation stuff. All the soundproof panels, headphones, cable spaghetti. Hell, Scott couldn't stand up or sit back down without someone coming over and opening up the nest of mics, wires, Lexan panels... it's a little claustrophobic. And then you're all wired in, strapped up and positioned properly, okay guys, let's make it rock! Only don't move too much while you do. Hahaha.

Scott: What he said. Can I hate that, too?

Skyler: We only had one day to record the basic tracks, so we had a lot of material to zoom through in a short time. I don't think we did more than 4 takes of anything, and most were 3 or less. At the time, I hated that. I'm the kind of guy who'll want to go over and over until we get it right; I don't like to stop at "close enough". But I think the time pressure actually got better performances out of us than if we'd had an easier schedule. More focused, more like a live performance.

Scott: I prefer to do one take or less.

Matt: Other than one long tiring day in the studio, there really wasn't anything about the process that wasn't enjoyable. I mean we just powered through and the end result sounds pretty amazing. What's not to like? Well, my bagel wasn't super fresh, I guess.

Miah: At the last minute, we switched from a computer-based DAW to a hard drive unit from the 90s - a good piece of equipment and the right call, but because of its legacy ports, SCSI drive for those of you interested, we couldn't back it up after the session. Talk about stress! I held that Fostex to my chest like a wounded kitten, and didn't let go of it till we were safely back in Jersey City.

Scott: I’ve told you numerous times to stop holding wounded kittens!

Q: When it came time to mix the record, were you looking for a certain sound? Why did you choose The Wind-Up Shop for this project?

Chris: Scott had known Jay already, and when he played me a YaYas record, I knew he was the guy. It helps that he's fun to hang with as well!

Scott: It’s actually funny. I knew we didn’t want to mix it ourselves. Even though Chris and I have lots of mixing experience, it was never with this style of music. I also always think it’s great having an outside ear so that you don’t limit yourself. I listened to all of these albums from people I knew and I said, “that’s the sound I want”. It turned out that they were all worked on by Jay. We were both confident he was the right person, and we have been nothing but pleased with that decision.

Q: Thanks, guys. I like you, too. Now, where was I? Ah yes, was there anything that surprised you while making this record? Any unexpected thrills?

Skyler: Well, the one moment that keeps coming back to me was when we threw out the arrangement on "Memory of a Fall" because it just wasn't working, sat down, and cold improvised our way through a whole new approach to the song. One take and we knew we had our album track and our new arrangement. Just being able to trust each other to step up and create something like that in real-time... that's the kind of band-magic I've never been a part of before.

Matt: I wasn't there for the violin or cello recordings, so it was pretty cool to hear them mixed in for the first time.

Miah: What surprised me is how Jay took the pieces that we'd made and brought out subtleties that we didn't hear when tracking or editing...he managed to take something that was almost complete, then stripped it down to its bare elements only to rebuild it in a way that made it sound even truer to the original sound in the room.

Chris: I was surprised that Skyler and Matt played trumpet!

Kirk: Hearing the final mix of “Ten” with the backing vocals just floored me.

Q: Who are some of the band’s champions out there?

Scott: We’ve had some pretty awesome people supporting us in just the few years we’ve been around. Niall Connolly and the folks at The Path Café – who gave us our first early gigs; Michael Kornfeld at AcousticMusicScene.com and Karen Finkenberg for helping us get out to Long Island fans; Richard Cuccaro at Acoustic Live; Gordon Nash and The Budgiedome; Joe Pszonek at WMSC; And everyone associated with the New York Songwriters’ Exchange who are far too many to count. And we're excited about the reception the album has been receiving from DJs, and all of the radio play we're getting, thanks to Lisa Grey.

Q: Would you like to give a "shout out" to anyone?

Skyler: The ghost of Jack Hardy – Scott, Kirk, and Jeremiah all share a connection with Jack, and some of our first appearances together were at memorial shows where we covered Jack's songs.

Kirk: Jack Hardy gave me my late start on upright bass as well as being the catalyst that brought Scott and I to play together.

Scott: Jeremiah also played with Jack, and Skyler and I played at the Fast Folk Café back in the 90s.

Q: Do you have any favorite places to play or areas to tour? What makes them special for you?

Chris: I'm absolutely loving the folk scene: Falcon Ridge, NERFA, etc. The fans are supportive, the shows are amazingly fun, and I get to play with all sorts of great artists.

Skyler: We haven't been able to do a lot of touring, but we've had a lot of fun helping to build up the nascent live music scene in Jersey City. Lucky 7's is always fun and the outdoor concerts we've played in JC are run by some terrific people.

Kirk: I like the Harsimus Cemetery in Jersey City. Good folks taking care of a historic place as well as some great vets.

Skyler: We spent a chunk of this past summer playing around Long Island too, and that was great. They love us out there.

Q: Sounds great. Okay, so where can people buy your CD?!?!

Scott: The album is available through our website, cdbaby, iTunes, and, of course, at our shows!

Q: So what's next for you?

Chris: Radio support for stations that are playing the album. We have all sorts of videos for the album planned for the next year as well.

Scott: We've got a lot of festivals coming up as the weather, hopefully, gets nicer. We were selected for an official showcase at the New Jersey one-day NERFA Conference, and we'll be doing mini-tours in CT, Rockville for Scott Moore Music, a Doylesville show through our association with the Philadelphia Folksong Society, and John Platt's "On Your Radar" in New York City. And after that? Probably some flavor of world domination.