Tag: sun kil moon

BGS 5+5: Cale Tyson

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Artist: Cale Tyson
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee by way of Fort Worth, Texas
Latest album: narcissist

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

This is going to sound self-deprecating, but my favorite show of all time was at this dumb barbecue restaurant in Kentucky. It was the first show of a three-week tour and I had assembled my favorite band of musicians. We rehearsed a ton beforehand and I was promoting the hell out of the tour for weeks leading up to it. Anyway, the barbecue restaurant was the first show. We were supposed to play for like an hour and a half, and about 30 minutes into our set, the sound guy came up to the stage and was like, “guys, no one is here…just stop playing.” So we did. I could immediately tell that the tour was going to be a major success.

What’s the toughest time you ever had writing a song?

Every single song I’ve ever written has been a tough time. I honestly have no idea how anything of substance ever comes out. Every time I sit down and write a song that I’m somewhat proud of, I’m like absolutely floored. I don’t understand how it happens. Then, I proceed to freak out and convince myself that it’ll never happen again and that was the last song I’ll ever write. Fast forward a few days, weeks, or months, and somehow it happens again…fingers crossed.

What rituals do you have, either in the studio or before a show?

Before a show, I like to drink a bunch of herbal tea and use a Neti pot, then completely counteract that with beer, tequila, and some shitty food from my rider. I’m working on getting better at this.

Since food and music go so well together, what is your dream pairing of a meal and a musician?

Obviously, this would be Mark Kozelek (Sun Kil Moon) and a nice bread bowl of tomato soup from Panera Bread. I like to imagine that Mark eats at Panera as much as he mentions it in his songs. Panera sounds really good right now actually.

How often do you hide behind a character in a song or use “you” when it’s actually “me”?

I used to do this a lot, but lately I’m pretty transparent about it. If there’s a character in my song, there’s about a 95% chance the character I’m referring to is myself…or at least shares some essential qualities with me. I think my biggest personality flaw is oversharing brutal details of my life, but I’m working on convincing myself that it’s good for my songwriting.

Photo credit: Bridgette Aikens

Nick Zubeck, ‘Shoot Straight’

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Nick Zubeck has seen a lot. As a musician, he's performed with Polmo Polpo, Great Lake Swimmers, Barzin, and Sun Kil Moon, while also maintaining his own solo career. In his personal life, he's dealt with the loss of both parents and a brother, and raised a son as a single father — all before turning 30. That Zubeck spends time thinking about doubt, then, shouldn't come as a surprise, and it serves as a driving force for his upcoming solo venture, Skydiving.

Releasing via Caldo Verde Records on March 11, Skydiving is Zubeck's fifth solo album, his first since 2009. This exclusive premiere of Skydiving track "Shoot Straight," which gives a taste of the genre-defying material Zubeck worked up with producer Sandro Perri.

"This song deals with the idea of doubt, which is a recurring theme throughout the album," Zubeck says. "The abstract chorus lyric — 'I should just shoot straight into the sun, the sun is the one, the moon a reflection' — came from a discussion I had with a former neighbor who was studying philosophy. He was really into the Greek philosopher Plotinus, and told me about his major idea of 'One' — beyond all ideas of being and non-being, transcendent, containing no division, existing in all of us. He talked about how he compared it to the sun, and the moon to our soul — a reflection of the 'One.' Very abstract, but something about it resonated with me and led me to this idea that doubt is divisive and making choices is a way to combat doubt."