Ghost Tour (ch.3)
September 7, 1998
PHONE INTERVIEWS:
JORDAN FALK
(with Garth Hedron, New Music Press, UK)
Garth Hedron: Jordan, good to talk with you, mate. We actually met at the Reading Festival back in 95.
Jordan Falk: I think I remember that
GH: Great to talk with you again, thanks for taking the time.
JF: You bet.
GH: So, your new album is called Pareidolia, I’ll be honest, I had to look that up.
JF: So did I.
GH: Fair play! (laughing) So, if I’ve got this correct, pareidolia has to do with seeing faces in random places, Virgin Mary in a piece of toast and all that.
JF: Something like that.
GH: How did you come up with the name?
JF: Well, when you live in a ghost town, you see a lot of weird shit.
GH: Ooh, care to share?
JF: I don’t want to freak anyone out…let’s just say there’s something out there and leave it at that.
GH: Not a complete departure from your first album, really, I always thought some of those songs had an otherworldly quality to them. Mary Shelley, Golden Hour…
JF: There you go.
GH: When are you coming to the UK?
JF: Probably first thing in the new year, we’re gonna concentrate on the States first.
GH: But Pareidolia will be available in the UK next week?
JF: That’s the plan.
GH: Speaking of distribution, I want to ask about this emerging trend of digital music sharing, is it something you’re worried about?
JF: Not really. I think people will always want to hold something in their hands. You want to look at the artwork, you want something tactile. I don’t think listening to music on a computer is ever going to replace albums or cds.
—
REID FOSTER
(with Tim Harding, Radar Magazine, Chicago)
Tim Harding: Hey Reid.
Reid Foster: Hey Tim.
TH: Now, just to make sure I have my facts straight, you and Jordan Falk were the founding members of X-13 in 1992?
RF: We were two of the founding members, yeah. But Liz Carlisle and Ben Murphy were there from the beginning. Jordan and I were in another band together in the late 80s, maybe that’s what you’re thinking.
TH: Right. But you and Jordan have been the primary songwriters all along?
RF: That’s true.
TH: What’s that process like?
RF: It varies song to song. Sometimes I’ll have some chords, sometimes Jordan has some lyrics. We hash stuff out, it starts to congeal at some point.
TH: You did a bit of singing on your first album, Toss Up, it doesn’t look like you’re singing as much on Pareidolia.
RF: Toss Up was kind of all over the place so it almost didn’t matter. With our new album we wanted the songs to be more in the same universe, if that makes any sense.
TH: It does. I suppose you could say your ethereal guitar is a voice in itself, some would say it defines the sound of X-13 more than anything.
RF: That’s just the pedals.
TH: You’re too funny. Now, I want to ask about Ben Murphy, I see he’s on the new album, but did I hear he’s leaving the band?
RF: Ben’s been working on some other projects so, yeah, he’s not coming out on tour.
TH: That’s too bad. But it’s, uh, amicable?
RF: Oh for sure. Murph’s a good friend whether he’s playing with us or not.
—
LIZ CARLISLE
(with Katlyn Brooks, Rocket Weekly, Cleveland)
Katlyn Brooks: Liz, you must be excited about your upcoming tour, opening for Benzedrine?
Liz Carlisle: Yeah, we’re all big fans, so, looking forward to it.
KB: We’re looking forward to having you back in Cleveland, it’s been a hot minute.
LC: The second album took a little longer to finish than expected.
KB: Did changing record companies have something to do with that?
LC: For sure, but it gave us more time to think about what we were doing, so in the end we got a better record. The first album was kind of, uh, rough in places? which was part of the appeal, I think. But there’s also something to be said for, you know, composition.
KB: I read somewhere that you’re a classically trained cellist?
LC: That’s correct.
KB: Was it an easy transition to the electric bass? I mean, the cello is basically a stand-up bass, right?
LC: You’re thinking of the double-bass, which is tuned in fourths. The cello is actually tuned in fifths.
KB: My mistake!
LC: No worries, I’ve heard that a lot. But the electric bass is a fretted instrument, so in some respects it was an easy transition.
KB: I want to ask you about being the only woman in X-13. Do you find it challenging being out on the road with, you know, a bunch of guys?
LC: Well, we’ve all been friends for a long time, I don’t think any of us really thinks about it at this point.
KB: How about when it comes to being out on the road, playing clubs night after night?
LC: We do a pretty good job of looking after each other. I also do a pretty good job of looking after myself.
Click here to continue to Chapter Four
Interesting format to fill in some narrative points. Took me by surprise, but I like surprises. Looking forward to others ;)