Once a four-tracker with more inspiration than inventory, John Vanderslice is now neck deep in the indie rock loam. He's cranked out four full-length albums, including his latest, Cellar Door, for Barsuk records. And when his home recording adventures outgrew his bedroom, he founded Tiny Telephone in San Francisco today, the studio is home base for J Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines), Bob Weston (Shellac), Chris Walla (Death Cab for Cutie) and other knob-twisting luminaries of the genre. Nada Surf and Kimchee Records artist Nedelle just wrapped up recordings there. And when Vanderslice gets the itch to tour, he grabs whichever studio friends aren't committed to their own bands and builds and ensemble. He has a fall tour in the works, and he's currently supporting Pedro the Lion (Coincidentally, he's a day behind the SuicideGirls live burlesque show in many towns).
Vanderslice is one of those rare overachievers with his hands in every aspect of music, an alchemist who can break down a song and commit it to tape but rebuild it all soul intact for a rump-shakin' live version that surprises even him sometimes.
To learn more about the JV squad, visit johnvanderslice.com.
Tyler Gray: How'd you get a start in music?
John Vanderslice: My mom tried to force me into piano lessons. At the time I got the sense it was just satisfying some projective need she had. Later on, it became important to me to move over to the guitar and kind of shift some of that theory over to rock music. Then I was in bands in high school and college. I wasn't ever serious about playing music until about five years after college. For some reason it clicked with me to play live and to start writing on four-tracks.
TG: How does a song come to you?
JV: Usually it starts with an idea of what the song's about. If I can just get a foothold on one line, one chorus, some kind of lyrical tag, then I can build a song. The melody lines can be the really hard part.
TG: Do you still record those rough sketches for songs on your four-track machine?
JV: I used to until a few years ago. I gave mine away, though. Now I just do rough sketches on the 24-track in the studio.
TG: At age 37, you've earned the upgrade.
JV: Well, yeah, I paid 25 grand for it.
TG: How has your studio, Tiny Telephone, grown out of your early home-recording efforts?
JV: I really started it because I knew once I was in the studio, I would never have the time and money to record the kind of records I wanted to record. I probably make much more of my living now on the studio. I probably just break even on touring.
TG: Your house engineers have recorded Jets to Brazil, Spoon, At the Drive-In, Unwound, Low and others has Tiny Telephone become the "it" studio independent label recordings?
JV: We really just see ourselves as part of a service industry like the local dry cleaner. We're completely anti-snobbery, and we strive to be as open as possible. Also, I really try to get other genres in the studio. I'll really push for anything that's jazz or old music, anything that's different. We've certainly had a lot of old country and some bluegrass, locals that no one had heard of, some straight-up traditional blues. The more we get away from indie rock, the better.
TG: You recording any hip-hop?
JV: Not yet, but I listen to a lot of hip-hop.
TG: Any current favorites?
JV: The new Ghostface Killa album is really incredible. I grew up on KRS 1 and Public enemy. Of course, we were suburban kids listening to that stuff.
TG: Are you still a rabid collector of recording gear?
JV: Not as much. Working as a waiter and owning a studio, I definitely did buy a lot more gear then. I made much more money when I was a waiter than when I was a musician. I really enjoyed where I worked, too this historically important organic restaurant in California.
TG: You tell a lot of stories in your music. What percentage is truly personal versus the fictional stuff?
JV: I'd say it's 80 percent fictional with 20 percent of my real life and experience obscured and changed a bit. Sometimes, I don't want people who are close to me to see to see themselves in it.
TG: Can you say what kinds of personal things make it into the songs?
JV: There's a song "My Family Tree" that's on the record. That's based on personal stuff, but I've altered my family members.
TG: For MGM Endings, the remix of Cellar Door, your studio engineer and band member Scott Solter, chops out lots of vocals in favor of the music. As a guy with very lyrically driven songs, was that weird?
JV: I thought that was great. I like it when anything's different. I love that the emphasis was placed on a lot of the percussion and rhythm and a lot of the other tracks. I thought that this would be a great way to kind of show a different side of what was going on musically -- the other stuff that we didn't have sonic space for on Cellar Door.
TG: How do you travel?
JV: In a '94 Club Wagon with a trailer behind it. It has 186,000 miles on it, 146,000 of which I put on it.
TG: Your family tree of band members is ever-changing why is that?
JV: It's something I have to do, unfortunately. All the people I play with, they're all in other bands. I really have to get lucky to get people. The timing has to be right. Sometimes, they go away for a couple of tours, and they come back. That's the kind of tough thing about being a solo guy who's hiring people.
TG: Is it like starting over with each tour?
JV: It is in a way, it can be difficult. I'm sure it's set me back, as far as the way I present my music. But we don't have a stable vision of all of these songs. I don't ever ask for fidelity between the live version and the recorded version. Sometimes it's exciting to me if it's not close to the record. I'm sure there are some people in the audience who wish it was more true to the record, though, and I'm sure there are some people who like when we change it. The only complaint comes when people really have a couple of songs that they want to hear. The thing with changing lineups is we can't address all of the songs that are called out. We only have time to learn about 20 songs.
TG: You make up for it by spending an unbelievable amount of time with fans before and after the show, why is that so important to you?
JV: I don't think there should be any division between people watching a show and people playing a show. I'm just as bored and lonely and as available as anyone else is. If I didn't like engaging people, I don't know why I'd be a musician.
TG: Does it ever get weird with, say, an over-adoring fan?
JV: Once in a while, it'll get intense. Usually people are very respectful of boundaries and stuff. And usually there's so much going on, I can pull away. Mostly, I'm pretty low-key. It makes people feel a little bit mellower.
TG: Is it right to assume, judging by the smiles you flash at your band members, that the songs continue to evolve as you play them each night, too?
JV: Yeah, it's organic. I just let stuff happen. People who I play with are usually savvier than I am on their instruments. And there's definitely a wide area where people can pull off of what we're playing. And even just small variations go a long way. I really like how we are live.
I micro-manage other aspects of my career.
TG: Like?
JV: Like touring and the way that the record's released and the ways I'm marketed by my label and who they work with. I'm always the person choosing the soliciting company and the radio company. I'm the one choosing the bands we're supporting. It's probably a fault. Every T-shirt design, everything that comes out, Im really involved in.
TG: Why?
JV: Because I have a unified or narrow vision of how I want to be represented. The high-falutin word for it is "aesthetic." I just realized that I never want to regret anything. It's my life, so I might as well be involved in it.
Vanderslice is one of those rare overachievers with his hands in every aspect of music, an alchemist who can break down a song and commit it to tape but rebuild it all soul intact for a rump-shakin' live version that surprises even him sometimes.
To learn more about the JV squad, visit johnvanderslice.com.
Tyler Gray: How'd you get a start in music?
John Vanderslice: My mom tried to force me into piano lessons. At the time I got the sense it was just satisfying some projective need she had. Later on, it became important to me to move over to the guitar and kind of shift some of that theory over to rock music. Then I was in bands in high school and college. I wasn't ever serious about playing music until about five years after college. For some reason it clicked with me to play live and to start writing on four-tracks.
TG: How does a song come to you?
JV: Usually it starts with an idea of what the song's about. If I can just get a foothold on one line, one chorus, some kind of lyrical tag, then I can build a song. The melody lines can be the really hard part.
TG: Do you still record those rough sketches for songs on your four-track machine?
JV: I used to until a few years ago. I gave mine away, though. Now I just do rough sketches on the 24-track in the studio.
TG: At age 37, you've earned the upgrade.
JV: Well, yeah, I paid 25 grand for it.
TG: How has your studio, Tiny Telephone, grown out of your early home-recording efforts?
JV: I really started it because I knew once I was in the studio, I would never have the time and money to record the kind of records I wanted to record. I probably make much more of my living now on the studio. I probably just break even on touring.
TG: Your house engineers have recorded Jets to Brazil, Spoon, At the Drive-In, Unwound, Low and others has Tiny Telephone become the "it" studio independent label recordings?
JV: We really just see ourselves as part of a service industry like the local dry cleaner. We're completely anti-snobbery, and we strive to be as open as possible. Also, I really try to get other genres in the studio. I'll really push for anything that's jazz or old music, anything that's different. We've certainly had a lot of old country and some bluegrass, locals that no one had heard of, some straight-up traditional blues. The more we get away from indie rock, the better.
TG: You recording any hip-hop?
JV: Not yet, but I listen to a lot of hip-hop.
TG: Any current favorites?
JV: The new Ghostface Killa album is really incredible. I grew up on KRS 1 and Public enemy. Of course, we were suburban kids listening to that stuff.
TG: Are you still a rabid collector of recording gear?
JV: Not as much. Working as a waiter and owning a studio, I definitely did buy a lot more gear then. I made much more money when I was a waiter than when I was a musician. I really enjoyed where I worked, too this historically important organic restaurant in California.
TG: You tell a lot of stories in your music. What percentage is truly personal versus the fictional stuff?
JV: I'd say it's 80 percent fictional with 20 percent of my real life and experience obscured and changed a bit. Sometimes, I don't want people who are close to me to see to see themselves in it.
TG: Can you say what kinds of personal things make it into the songs?
JV: There's a song "My Family Tree" that's on the record. That's based on personal stuff, but I've altered my family members.
TG: For MGM Endings, the remix of Cellar Door, your studio engineer and band member Scott Solter, chops out lots of vocals in favor of the music. As a guy with very lyrically driven songs, was that weird?
JV: I thought that was great. I like it when anything's different. I love that the emphasis was placed on a lot of the percussion and rhythm and a lot of the other tracks. I thought that this would be a great way to kind of show a different side of what was going on musically -- the other stuff that we didn't have sonic space for on Cellar Door.
TG: How do you travel?
JV: In a '94 Club Wagon with a trailer behind it. It has 186,000 miles on it, 146,000 of which I put on it.
TG: Your family tree of band members is ever-changing why is that?
JV: It's something I have to do, unfortunately. All the people I play with, they're all in other bands. I really have to get lucky to get people. The timing has to be right. Sometimes, they go away for a couple of tours, and they come back. That's the kind of tough thing about being a solo guy who's hiring people.
TG: Is it like starting over with each tour?
JV: It is in a way, it can be difficult. I'm sure it's set me back, as far as the way I present my music. But we don't have a stable vision of all of these songs. I don't ever ask for fidelity between the live version and the recorded version. Sometimes it's exciting to me if it's not close to the record. I'm sure there are some people in the audience who wish it was more true to the record, though, and I'm sure there are some people who like when we change it. The only complaint comes when people really have a couple of songs that they want to hear. The thing with changing lineups is we can't address all of the songs that are called out. We only have time to learn about 20 songs.
TG: You make up for it by spending an unbelievable amount of time with fans before and after the show, why is that so important to you?
JV: I don't think there should be any division between people watching a show and people playing a show. I'm just as bored and lonely and as available as anyone else is. If I didn't like engaging people, I don't know why I'd be a musician.
TG: Does it ever get weird with, say, an over-adoring fan?
JV: Once in a while, it'll get intense. Usually people are very respectful of boundaries and stuff. And usually there's so much going on, I can pull away. Mostly, I'm pretty low-key. It makes people feel a little bit mellower.
TG: Is it right to assume, judging by the smiles you flash at your band members, that the songs continue to evolve as you play them each night, too?
JV: Yeah, it's organic. I just let stuff happen. People who I play with are usually savvier than I am on their instruments. And there's definitely a wide area where people can pull off of what we're playing. And even just small variations go a long way. I really like how we are live.
I micro-manage other aspects of my career.
TG: Like?
JV: Like touring and the way that the record's released and the ways I'm marketed by my label and who they work with. I'm always the person choosing the soliciting company and the radio company. I'm the one choosing the bands we're supporting. It's probably a fault. Every T-shirt design, everything that comes out, Im really involved in.
TG: Why?
JV: Because I have a unified or narrow vision of how I want to be represented. The high-falutin word for it is "aesthetic." I just realized that I never want to regret anything. It's my life, so I might as well be involved in it.
VIEW 8 of 8 COMMENTS
Yaaaaay. GO BUY ALL OF HIS MUSIC EVER. Yes, it will cost you a lot of money. You have to buy everything MK Ultra too.