by Myke Lewis
Michael Feuerstack writes soft, inviting music that evokes space and distance. His sound is like a warm autumn evening with the setting sun gently pushing through the leaves of trees and reflecting off lakes and rivers and the windows of trains passing in the distance. Calling from the Yukon to talk about his latest record, Tambourine Death Bed, seemed perfectly fitting.
While Feuerstack’s name may not be household for some, his body of work as Snailhouse, stretching back to 1994, has earned him a reputation as a hard working musician who puts in the hours and the miles to do what he needs to do. Toumbourine Death Bed is his first record under his own name.
“Snailhouse had run its course,” he says of the change. “Most bands don’t have to live with a name that long. I wanted to start fresh. [Snailhouse] wasn’t reflecting where I was at.”
Feuerstack sees starting over as a personal challenge though he acknowledges that this new venture is “easier than starting from zero.”
“Most people know it’s new,” he continues. “It’s niche and people who follow it already knew my name.” While he admits that the change wasn’t “a premeditated idea,” he was looking to stand on his own.
“When I toured with a band name, it was easy for people to assume that [Snailhouse] was a band and not my project.” He explains further saying, “I play in a lot of different bands, and I wanted use my name so people could recognize me and could then branch out to other things I do.”
When describing his solo work versus his many collaborative experiences, Feuerstack wouldn’t say one is more rewarding than the other, but are “two sides of looking at the same challenge.” He explains, “you’re trying to make something out of nothing. When you collaborate you bring something out of you that you didn’t know was inside. It differs from the introspective writing on your own in that it’s more of a direct line. The two things feed each other.”
Over and above working with other musicians, the seasons play a role in Feuerstack’s creative process.
“I aspire to be creative in the winter,” he reveals. “I consider myself half-introvert, half-extrovert, and the summer is time to go out and ride the bike and have coffee. [Summer] involves a lot of other people, and winter is my time to be with myself, to be more focused.”
With more than eight records behind him, Feuerstack’s drive isn’t wavering in the slightest.
“My goal is to make song-based music, pop or folk or whatever people want to call it, that is about real things, and actually has depth,” he explains. That depth comes “simply from living.” He continues, “if I was only touring, recording, and having no life, things would be different. I am obsessed with music. It’s always going through my head. I don’t know where it comes from.” His passion is apparent in his voice. “I’m obsessed with sound,” he says. “I hear tones in anything. If a dump truck goes by I hear the rhythm. It’s from personal experiences, whether it’s getting beaten up, having a family, everything.”
Taking Tambourine Death Bed on the road this autumn sees Feuerstack going solo, “just me and a guitar reinterpreting the songs from the record,” he explains. His reinterpretation is “more of an attitude and approach, probably pretty subtle to casual listener. It’s about staying engaged with the music that I’ve made, and not turning it into reciting”
While on the road, Feuerstack is playing anywhere and everywhere, venues, record stores, and even a few house parties. Regardless of the different settings, he describes the live show as “always intimate. It has a casual and engaged sensibility, and house shows can be perfect for what I do. The music survives best with an attentive audience.”
Michael Feuerstack will be playing Tambourine Death Bed at the Union Sound Hall on October 21st.