Betrayal and Answer

Liner Notes:

The story goes that Lou Reed told his bandmates in the Velvet Underground, “No blues notes. We haven’t earned that.” That makes total sense to me. What could some artsy white kids from New York know about the blues? For that matter, what could some nerdy white kid from Alaska know about the blues? Seasonal depression? Yes. The blues? That’s a lot different. And, yet, here we are…

I have always had a deep appreciation for the blues and, like all guitarists, had gone through my phase of obsessing over the blues not just as a genre, but as high art. Blues really isn’t a genre as much as it is a heritage with a lot of genres within it and who am I to take on such a heritage? I can’t. Not really. However, I’m no stranger to acting and the actor inside of me is always looking to take on another role, another persona, another identity. This album...that’s what it is, viz.: theatre. I knew that going into it so I asked myself, What character do you want to inhabit? Like most character actors I wanted it to be something foreign to my real life, something as foreign as the blues is to that pampered white Alaskan kid who grew up never wanting for anything. The villain. I want to play the villain. Perhaps that’s the sick fantasy of all pacifists: to walk into the temple like Jesus and whip the hell out of people. 

The first song I recorded was, Laid to Rest. When one of my kids heard me mixing, Laid to Rest, they thought it sounded like Christmas. That was the idea: to sucker everybody. Strings, acoustics, some tender sounding vocals, all to lure the listener in until a little after the halfway point of the song when I deliver one of my favorite lines of the album, “Pulling you out of my trunk/My only regret is I could only kill you once.” Pretty sick. I can’t imagine doing or feeling anything of the kind in real life. As the demented, Old Testament inspired killer who stalks this album, though, I am capable of anything. 

Musically, the thought of being capable of anything might have derailed this album a bit. With each song I tried to bring something different to the table. The beautiful strings of, Laid to Rest, the lo-fi mono mix of, I Can’t Say, the marching piano of, A Loaf of Bread, the gospel feel of, Fire on the Mountain, using the body of a guitar as the main percussion instrument in, Just a Gentle Rain, etc. This might be my most inconsistent album to date, but that is hopefully also its strength. 

The two high points for me in the album are, Joan of Arc, and, In Stitches. In Joan of Arc, a song inspired by John Lee Hooker’s use of one chord blues, I move from the first person to third person narrator telling not only the most violent tale of the album but also the most heroic. Joan of Arc modernizes the Joan character and this time the voices in her head are telling her to take down the oppressive patriarchy with extreme prejudice. In Stitches asks the question, What if a modern indie rock band tried to play the blues without ever having heard the blues before? The groove was initially inspired by Elvis’s version of, Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On, and the horn section was inspired by the horns in Elvis’s live version of, An American Trilogy. In Stitches ends the album without trying to be a blues song, but perhaps demonstrates the relevancy of a typical blues structure in modern music. 

Personel:

All songs written and performed by Simon Milliman.

Recorded, mixed and mastered by Simon Milliman at Urban Jack Productions.

Simon Milliman: Vocal, guitar, bass, lap steel, harmonica, organ, piano, percussion, drums

Danelle Dullum: Vocal on Laid to Rest and Just a Gentle Rain

Bryan Daste: Pedal Steel on Fire on the Mountain