No Pain In Pop

Swinging Jaw: Arch M

Full transcript from an email interview conducted with Corey Reid, whose Arch M has featured numerous times on the transient pages of No Pain In Pop.

Article proper to run in the next issue of The Stool Pigeon.



MP3: Arch M - Cat Grave

How long have you been living in London and where were you beforehand?
I’ve been in London four years, before I moved here I lived in San Francisco, CA.

What’s a typical day involve?
Sitting around thinking about my past and my future.

How quickly and where do you write?
It depends. With Mountain Tan, everything came naturally, which is why it sounds sloppy and naive. It’s done very quickly. I’m finishing Moon-Tan now and it’s a hassle. The songs come quickly… but I usually scrap them five days later and question daytime TV.

Do you write at all, or just record? Is Arch M a pre-conceived thing or does it involve jamming until something interesting comes together and then producing/sequencing the basic elements?
Again, it depends. I write a lot of songs that I will most-likely never record. Those ones are a bit more coherent and might be played live at some point. Other songs are rocket science and I’m not sure I’ll ever play them live. And if I do play them live I will probably never do them justice.

What made you want to start the Arch M project?
A lack of people to play music with.

How did the radio show on Viva come about?
Matt Werth offered me the show and I gladly took it. I’ve been slagging lately, though.

Is there anything you can pinpoint that you think links the tracks and songs you play on your show?
It’s hard to say. The show just evolves depending on what I’m listening to on any given week. The first show was a lot of experimental music, some no wave, gamelan and rai. There was a cheesy electro phase… but now I think it’s run full circle and I’m playing more of what I played initially. Most of what I play is tragic or sappy.

Do you feel Arch M is closer to The Beatles or The Belleville Three?
Do you feel you are closer to Dolly Parton or Jennifer Lopez?

Is there anything you look for in other people’s music?
Honesty.

Any influences outside of music?
I enjoy nature. My parents grounded me on prom night. I was meant to go with Katherine Clary.

Would you record in hi-fi if you had unlimited wealth bestowed upon you by some mysterious benefactor?
Moon-Tan is in hi-fi… though your question makes me question this statement.

Tracks like ‘Cat Grave’ and ’21st Union’ seem able to articulate a reflective and trance-like state of mind very eloquently - are there any particular images or ideas you strive to reach or realise with those recordings?
I’m just trying to fill a hole. It’s all just nostalgia and it’s too particular. One moment has inspired the songs I attempt to write. This was on Highway 1.

Do you ever experience unexplainable or uncommon phenomena, for example sleep paralysis, acute delirium, hallucination, bliss?
I’m not sure if those are unexplainable or uncommon, other than bliss. I can say I’m trying to be normal. Anyone who has abused drugs has experienced one of the symptoms you mentioned. Not trying to be punk any more.

What part does/should nostalgia play in your recording process?
It’s everything.

What part does/should an imagined future play in your recording process?
It doesn’t play any part at all. That would be too vain.

Better to say ‘ark em’ or ‘arch em’?
McDonalds.

Do you have much planned for the next year or so?
Not much, just getting Moon-Tan out there and a couple 7”s. Playing some shows in the States and relaxing.

Tags: arch m

2 Comments to Swinging Jaw: Arch M

1. 

   he is one of the only good things in the london
A Grave With No Name on April 3rd, 2009
2. 

   Who else would you have in there?
Kev Kharas on April 3rd, 2009

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