{"id":1812,"date":"2011-06-10T12:46:09","date_gmt":"2011-06-10T18:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/?p=1812"},"modified":"2011-06-10T12:46:09","modified_gmt":"2011-06-10T18:46:09","slug":"in-the-distance-theyre-like-eehhhrrrrehhh-phone-calls-with-sean-nicholas-savage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2011\/06\/10\/in-the-distance-theyre-like-eehhhrrrrehhh-phone-calls-with-sean-nicholas-savage\/","title":{"rendered":"In the Distance They\u2019re Like: EEHHHRRRREHHH! Phone Calls with Sean Nicholas Savage"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
photo by Jasper Mandus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Kyra Leib<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t like to toot my own horn but I worked my butt off to get this interview, traveling across the great city of Winnipeg with t-minus two hours until interview time to acquire equipment. And even once we did connect, Sean and I were disconnected on the phone three times during the course of this interview. Nothing could faze Mr. Savage<\/a>\u2019s winning charm, however. Here is what came of our conversation\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Stylus: Motown, disco and funk influences show up very clearly on Trippple Midnight Karma<\/em>. How have your musical influences changed or progressed since you first started recording music?
\nSean Nicholas Savage:<\/strong> I\u2019ve been really into a few different albums for a period of a couple months and I\u2019m really influenced by them while I\u2019m making whatever I\u2019m working on. I was listening to Marvin Gaye and \u201980s rarities and singles. Things like less successful \u201980s R & B.
\n Stylus: Was Marvin Gaye a main inspiration?
\nSNS:<\/strong> Yeah, hugely. Midnight Love<\/em>, that album.
\n Stylus: What is it about his music that has inspired you so much?
\nSNS:<\/strong> I love his voice, I love his words, and the production on Midnight Love<\/em> is unique and cool, too.
\nStylus: How long have you been playing music?
\nSNS:<\/strong> Since I was ten. Well, I have been making up songs for my whole life. I started playing guitar when I was ten years old.
\nStylus: Is there a story behind the name Trippple Midnight Karma<\/em>?
\nSNS:<\/strong> I was playing lots of shows out of town and I had been awake for three days. I was playing a set and I started seeing shadows in the room. It seemed like the corners of my vision were really dark. And I said: \u201cMan! It feels like triple midnight!\u201d Everyone around me was laughing and saying, \u201cTriple midnight? That\u2019s crazy.\u201d
\n Stylus: So where does the \u201cKarma\u201d part come from?
\nSNS:<\/strong> Well, I wasn\u2019t going to include karma. People say that karma can be either good or bad but apparently karma is always a good thing. So it\u2019s like triple midnight\u2026 good times.
\nStylus: Are you currently touring?
\nSNS:<\/strong> I\u2019ve been doing little tours, I\u2019m going to Halifax. I am going to play in the east a bit, four shows in the east and then Toronto sometime.
\nStylus: Any chance of coming to Winnipeg?
\nSNS:<\/strong> To Winnipeg? Hmmm. I don\u2019t think I\u2019m going to drive across the country for that.
\nStylus: No? Hopefully sometime in the future?
\nSNS:<\/strong> Mm-hm.
\nStylus: You\u2019ve had a very prolific career. Do you have a favourite moment when recording an album?
\nSNS:<\/strong> I like when I finish writing a song, when I\u2019m recording it. Whenever you get the first part of the idea and then the ball is rolling. When recording and you think, \u201cAw, I\u2019m singing well\u201d and you think the words sound good or the pieces are fitting together; that is exciting.
\nStylus: So what is the biggest hurdle for you when you are writing?
\nSNS:<\/strong> If I try too hard or I\u2019m stressed out in my life I just get creatively constipated. So that can be a hurdle sometimes.
\nStylus: What is your songwriting process like?
\nSNS:<\/strong> Well, today I have been working on a split with my friend and I just finished my side of it. There\u2019s going to be nine new songs at the end of May and I wrote most of the words for it. I would have a little bit of a melody and then I would just work on words for a while.
\nStylus: So do you mainly like to come up with a melody before the lyrics?
\nSNS:<\/strong> Well, usually when I have written the melody there is a bit of words and then I just expand on it.
\nStylus: Do you have a permanent lineup of musicians that play with you?
\nSNS:<\/strong> Well on Trippple Midnight<\/em> I played all of the keyboard. The last two albums I have done by myself. I have a bassist and drummer that I have been working with. Mostly I just play all the instruments. For my last four shows and for live shows this summer I will probably have a band.
\n Stylus: You\u2019ve been collaborating with other musicians signed to Arbutus\u2014how did these relationships start?
\nSNS:<\/strong> Well Arbutus is just kind of our friends in the neighbourhood. Some of us live in the same building. I live a little south from everyone else with my girlfriend but everyone else is on the same block, most of our friends. There are a lot of musicians here in my building, not on Arbutus. Mac DeMarco from Makeout Videotape lives here and Michael Rault and there\u2019s another guy named Matt Perri. There are a lot of songwriters around here.
\nStylus: Who are the men dressed up as ghosts in your music video \u201cLike a Ghost is White<\/a>\u201d?
\nSNS:<\/strong> They\u2019re my friends. One of them is another songwriter: Matt Perri. We actually made that video right when I came to Montreal and I was meeting new people and it was really fun. They were all just friends, some were painters and others were songwriters.
\nUh-oh my friend is locked out; I have to let him in. He locked himself out the window. [Pause in interview while Sean unlocks the window.]<\/em> Yeah, I\u2019m still here.
\n Stylus: If you were any animal, which one would you be and why?
\nSNS:<\/strong> A Seagull! The seagull is my favourite animal. I like how they fly, I watch them all the time and I really like them. They adapt to the city well and they\u2019re very carefree\u2014they eat garbage and things.
\nStylus: But you don\u2019t eat garbage, right?
\nSNS:<\/strong> No, but I dumpster dive a little bit. Seagulls are nice-looking though and I like the sounds they make. When you can hear them in the background or the distance and they\u2019re like: EEHHHRRRREHHH!
\nStylus: Well I hope to see you in Winnipeg soon!
\nSNS:<\/strong> Look for a new release\u2014it\u2019s called Won Ton Jazz<\/em><\/a>.
\n Stylus: Looking forward to it! Will I be able to get it off the Arbutus website?
\nSNS:<\/strong> Yeah it will be out at maybe the beginning of June, it will be available for download on Arbutus\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

Sean Nicholas Savages\u2019 latest cassette, <\/em>Trippple Midnight Karma<\/a>, is sold out in physical form, but you can still donate and download a digital copy on the Arbutus Records website<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kyra Leib I don\u2019t like to toot my own horn but I worked my butt off to get this interview, traveling across the great city of Winnipeg with t-minus two hours until interview time to acquire equipment. And even once we did connect, Sean and I were disconnected on the phone three times during […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[843],"class_list":["post-1812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","tag-sean-nicholas-savage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1812\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}