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In
the wake of the release of Last
Time I Saw Grace, the follow-up to their
debut album Voices
In A Rented Room in 2013, Terrascope was
pleased to catch up with NEW BUMS, the very
occasional project of Ben Chasny (Six Organs
of Admittance) and Donovan Quinn (Skygreen
Leopards). Here they kindly indulge rookie
pitcher IAN FRASER in a game of
call-and-response softball.
Terrascope:
It’s been seven years, seven long years. What
kept you?
DQ:
In the infamous winter of ‘13, we were in a
hotel on the last night of a long tour when Ben
had a vision. In the vision a shadowy doctor, in
full plague get-up, told him we could only
release another record “when you found yourself
lost in a drug store, wearing a mask, and yet
searching the aisles for more masks.” This
vision, which seemed improbable at the time,
took 7 years to happen.
BC:
I was on a lot of cold medicine at the time.
What
really prompted the rekindling of the musical
partnership?
BC:
We’re always working on something, but sometimes
that thing isn’t New Bums. For instance, I
helped Donovan mix his last solo record a couple
years ago. The New Bums songs took their time
being written. We didn’t rush it. When we felt
we had the songs down we decided to do a record
with them. Originally we were just going to
release it on a cassette by ourselves but then
Drag City said they would be interested in
putting it out on vinyl.
DQ:
We talk pretty much every day and would often
work on songs or record. It’s just that we
didn’t want to release anything until it felt
like the right time.
When
Terrascope last spoke with Ben (at ATP, Camber
Sands back in December 2013) he enthused about
the New Bums project as
“a rock
and roll acoustic album like Johnny Thunders
playing acoustic guitar or Nikki
Sudden-style Jacobites or Big Star acoustic
balladry kind of stuff.” Does
that assessment still hold of Last
Time I Saw Grace do you think?
BC:
I think so. In a way that’s just sort of
short-hand to let folks know what to expect more
than a goal that we are trying to reach in our
recordings. Our inspirations are pretty varied
but when it comes down to it and people ask what
the music sounds like you need to give it some
sort of framework
that they can imagine. There’s probably a fair
bit outlaw country in the music as well as far
as inspiration.
The
feeling is that the deliberately lo-fi approach
has been reigned in somewhat and that Last
Time I Saw Grace is a more polished affair
leaving fewer un-dusted recesses and scratchy
surfaces.
DQ:
Ben handles the majority of the production and I
follow his lead. Neither of us, in any of our
projects, have been married to one specific
production sound.
BC:
Yeah I rarely think in terms of “I want this
record to sound like it has this or that level
of production.” It’s always a bit more, “how
much change do we have in our pockets? Nothing?
Ok, we’ll record it ourselves.”
The
blurb for the new album hints at some
interesting dynamics between Ben and Donovan -
an image of New Bums as a latter day Odd Couple,
with a love/ hate/ indifference relationship all
playing out before lunchtime. Does this help
grease the wheels of artistic endeavour or just
make for interesting drinking sessions (and a
good line in imaginary eulogies)?
DQ:
It’s pretty harmonious most of the time. I
certainly have never imagined his eulogy but Ben
has told me “I’ll dance on your grave, Quinn”
many times.
BC:
Donovan kids. He’s a kind and wonderful friend.
Most of the time.
How
did they approach the writing and recording
process during these interesting times?
DQ:
Most of the record was done before the pandemic
so not much changed. We’ve been able to
accumulate a decent home studio and often work
remotely even when it’s not mandatory. No one
wants to hear me mess up a vocal fifty times in
a row so a little isolation can be nice.
BC:
We recorded it in waves over the last few years
so really we were just working on mixing it
during these times, which was easy enough to do
long distance.
How
do the song-writing credits stack up? Do they
share these; fly solo, or is one of them Simon
to the other guy’s Garfunkel?
DQ:
A pretty even mix. A couple songs were older
solo jams we thought would sound good with the
band. Most of the others were primarily written
by one of us and then the other added to it in
some way (a bridge, verse, new melody, etc).
BC:
Credit wise we always consider everything 50/50.
It’s ridiculous to try to figure out what
percentage someone gave to a song, especially
when you think about how inspiration can be
nebulous or subconscious. Who’s to say who came
up with what? Plus, you hear about these bands
where one member has taken all the publishing,
like in Creedence or something, and you just
think, “God, what a dick.”
What
inspires these compositions lyrically? Is there
anything we need to home in on as being
particularly meaningful or profound?
DQ:
Nothing particularly meaningful that I’m aware
of. Lots of inspirations but I’ll limit myself
to a couple. “I met her at the Burger King/ We
fell in love by the soda machine”. Two lines,
courtesy of The Ramones, and your mind instantly
fills with a vivid world complete with story.
William Gaddis and Witold Gombrowicz also
provided some paths to go down.
Some
of our older readers may remember something
called “gigs” (Terrascope’s last foray into such
pre-apocalyptic frippery being 2019’s Woolf II
shindig). On the understanding that we can all
look forward to one day bursting with Covid
antibodies, what plans do New Bums have to face
us down in person?
BC:
We try not to look too far into the future,
especially nowadays. We’re just trying to get
into next month.
What
next, jointly or severally, for Donovan and Ben?
BC:
I have a new Six Organs coming out on 3 Lobed in
the middle of the year and some other things
that are a little more secret at this time that
will be coming out at the end of the year on
Drag City.
DQ:
Just finishing up a new solo record with my
buddy Jason Quever (Papercuts). Ben added some
tracks as well. It’s based around this concept
of the “cult of strangers” that I’ve had for
some years.
Any
last words?
DQ:
I appreciate your time, Ian! This was fun.
Terrascope gave me my first review back in ‘01.
Always happy to see it still turning out great
articles.
BC:
Wonderful to catch up with you all again.
Terrascope is one of the greats. Thank you for
your time and interest.
Last
Time I Saw Grace
by NEW BUMS is out now on Drag City Records New
Bums - Last Time I Saw Grace | Drag City
See
our review here: Terrascope
Reviews for March 2021
l-r
Ben Chasny, A Horse with No Name and Donovan
Quinn - New Bums - another Photo by Apollo
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