• Brad Trent

Kate Tucker: "Where Are You (I Am Already Gone)"

** Kate Tucker plays tomorrow night, Friday, Jan. 22nd, at the Comet with Goldfinch / Hallways / Drew Grow & the Pastor’s Wives. Then she’s heading to New York for shows and songwriting. She spoke:

“Where Are You (I Am Already Gone)” seems like a heavy hitter. There's weight and urgency. A combination of your words and voice. It seems intimate. Did you purposefully set out to be revealing? Or are the lyrics more objective?

Tucker: I wrote this song alone in our practice space a week before we went into the studio, just playing and singing, music and lyrics, all of it came together in one night. At that time we had already chosen thirteen songs to track. I wasn’t looking for another, wasn’t trying to write, was really just focused on preparing for the session. But I’ve learned that whenever I need to be doing something else, that’s when a song will come and almost force its way into life. There was a period of time this past summer where I’d go to the space and as soon as I turned on my amp, there’d be a song, almost all there, sometimes missing a verse or a line, but there. There are four songs on the record that came last minute like that, but “Where Are You (I Am Already Gone)” was the last of the crew, and the least expected. I don’t think I really knew what I was talking about at the time. I mean, I did, but I didn’t want to acknowledge it. Music is always true, good music at least, good songs know what they’re saying even when we don’t. Sometimes I think I write to the future, maybe there is something to the idea of self-fulfilling prophecy. But it’s a future determined by the past and the past is something we all know well enough.

And the reference to Neil Young’s “Ohio”. A reference to where you're from? Or the wars the US is involved in? Or maybe an internal war or struggle?
I think you’ve covered all the bases. I almost didn’t leave that line in there, thought it was filler as it came so fast and obviously isn’t mine, but I couldn’t find a better way to say it, so I let it be. Was thinking of home as I wrote the song, so maybe that’s where my subconscious pulled it from. It ended up conveying more meaning than I anticipated or could have expressed on my own.

What’s the instrumentation for the song? What are you playing? How many vocal takes did you do? How did the song come together?
I don’t remember how many vocal takes, probably two or three. We would usually do three just in case. Blake was really pushing me to go for performance on this album. I wanted it to sound real and it was difficult for me at spots to let things go, but as I got into it, I started to believe in in it more. It's a fine line to walk. Nobody sounds good crying. I played my Epiphone ‘Elitist’ Sheraton (awful name for their fabulous custom series) through a late sixties AC30. We used the same pre-amps on the guitar that were used on the Beatles' Abbey Road. I wanted it to sound a little like Jeff Buckley’s guitar on "Hallelujah" and a little like the guitar on Cat Power’s "The Moon". The song really wasn’t together at all when we went in. I tracked it in the wrong key. It didn’t sound right. I retracked it and waited for string arrangements that weren’t ever to come. When the strings fell through we decided to throw down some background vocals. Blake sang a couple layers, I added one on the last chorus. Then we backburnered it till we came up with something more. We’d been listening to the remasters of Abbey Road and Magical Mystery Tour to give our ears a break. Blake wanted to try out some Mellotron, so he came up with those two themes and they ended up elevating it in exactly the right way. Simplest song on the album. Felt very lonesome tracking it.

Your songs are personal. And being revealing isn’t always the easiest thing. But your being personal adds to the songs. It’s a tricky thing, but you pull it off well. It’s all inherent with your sound. How do feel about being open? How do you feel about being perceived?

Well, I don’t really think much about how I’m perceived, perhaps this record will teach me better. I write what I write. I don’t have a lot of choice in the matter. I suppose I could choose not to let anyone hear it, but I’d rather risk it I guess. As much as I enjoy listening to an artfully layered composition, with surprising twists and turns, I’ve always loved simple songs, simple shapes and progressions and sounds, classic sounds. What I want to hear most of the time is a mood, not a composition. So I guess I don’t shoot for much more when it comes to my own songs. I’ve got a voice and a guitar and something to say most of the time. That’s where it starts and ends.

You are getting ready to go to New York. How often do you play out there? Where will you be playing?
I play NYC at least twice a year. I love it there. What’s there not to like about New York? I’ll be playing Rockwood Music Hall 1/24, 11th St Bar 1/26, Pete’s Candy Store 1/28, and The Living Room 1/30.

You’ll be staying at the Chelsea Hotel? What’s this about a haunting? Please divulge. What happened? How were you haunted?
I was out there to play CMJ and a friend of mine was staying at the Chelsea. We were doing a photo shoot there and she let me crash with her that night after warning me it was haunted. I didn’t quite believe her, though the shoot did feel kind of spooky. I came in after she was asleep totally unprepared for the haunting. I can’t go into details for fear of attracting the ghost since I’m headed there again soon. But I will say that I had a strange out of body experience and woke the next morning convinced something was there with me. My friend checked out early and I stayed till noon, determined to write a song and understand what had happened. I wrote two songs and still don’t understand what happened.

Any other plans for the trip? Do you think you’ll be haunted again?
I’d like to write a song a day while I’m there. Not sure yet what I’ll be doing with the songs, it depends on how they turn out. I’ve been doing a little research on the hotel and hope to ‘repurpose’ some old stories and voices. It might just be the starting point, but I figure I’ll have plenty of time in the afternoons to chill with the ghosts. I don’t plan on sleeping.

How was recording with Blake at Litho?
Amazing. I love Big City. That’s his real name. This was the first time I went into the studio without having all the parts mapped out and under control. It was also the first time I went in without ‘my band’ so to speak. In the past I would spend months with one lineup preparing to record. But I felt like I knew what I was going for this time more than ever and Blake totally understood my vision and was more than capable of communicating that to everyone involved. Spontaneity made the record.

How much did he evolve the songs?
Blake was very much a part of the process. I had the songs sorted out beforehand, lyrically, melodically, even structurally, but he shaped them to express the somewhat variegated vision I had attempted to communicate from the beginning. I knew it was meant to be when I sent him the first email, my manifesto of sorts, on how I wanted this record to be informed by The Black Angels, The Black Keys, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Cowboy Junkies, Innocence Mission, Low, Fleetwood Mac, Rolling Stones, Neil Young, and Neko Case. He totally got it. Even before I really did. He also played a mean lead guitar on the record that I would never have been able to pull off. But my favorite Blake Wescott contribution has to be the background vocal arrangements. He was all over that shit. Sometimes I sang the parts, sometimes he did, and when he did he sure nailed something special.

Is that lineup going to be playing with you live?
Our live lineup is a bit different, though I’m sure we’ll play some shows in that original lineup when the stars align. For now Blake and Casey are on tour with Dave Bazan. I’ve still got Ed O’Brien (bass) and Ty Baillie (organ), thank my lucky stars, and then the fortuitous addition of Bryn Lumsden on guitars, Brian Papenfuss on drums, and Johanna Cranitch on keys and back ground vocals. There are a LOT of bgv’s on the record so Johanna might be the most important member of the band at this point.

How and when is the album coming out?
I was hoping to release this record on my own little label, Red Valise Recordings, as I did the last two. But we are out of money at this point so I’m looking for a label to call home. I’m gonna do my best to get this record out by summer. I’ve got lots of new songs to lay down.