Keep Austin talked with Imp Of Perverse about his debut solo record, Somehow Something Wrong Somewhere, and what it was like for the long-journeyed drummer to step away from the kit and compose entirely a project of his own.
From the opening track, the first thing that jumps out to me are the beautifully layered guitars. And that really follows for the rest of the album, an expansive stereo mix and some really impressive and nuanced riff writing. But the tones are equally captivating. Tell me about your writing process when it comes to guitar.
Usually I’ll come up with one guitar part that I base the whole song around. When recording I might break it up into multiple guitars if I want them panned a certain way or to create a call and response between parts of a riff, or if I just want different tones for certain sections. Then I usually spend a lot of time just improvising more parts over the track as I work on it.
I also cannibalize old ideas of mine pretty frequently when I’m writing. I’ll often take my favorite parts of various song ideas and combine them together, which was what I did for the first track on the EP. I took my favorite parts from three different songs I wrote over a few years and mashed them together.
Sticking with guitar work, what was the most important pedal or effect for this record? What pedal will you look at down the road and go, “Hello, old friend”.
The ZVEX Instant Lo-fi Junky, although I’ve mostly phased it out of my board now as it can significantly dull your guitar tone. It has a really cool sound though, and up to now it’s probably been my most used pedal.
What does this collection of songs mean to you? Are there any overarching themes or concepts that we should be aware of?
I primarily just wanted to use it as a way to try and experiment with different writing and recording techniques. The content of the songs themselves isn’t necessarily related, but the attitude towards making them is more so what they have in common. I think I used a different drum mic’ing setup on each song, so each one sounds a little different, but that willingness to have an album where you might have inconsistent sounds (or styles) in order to experiment is what unifies it.
How was this collection recorded? What gear did you use?
I have a small home studio that I’ve built up over the last decade where I record everything by myself. I acquired a pretty big haul of gear a couple years back and this was the first thing I released where I really sat down and started getting used to using it. This album was recorded onto my old laptop, but I finally got a new computer shortly after finishing these sessions which I’m very excited about.
My laptop was very difficult to mix on as it couldn’t handle all the processing and was constantly glitching out. It’s great being able to just do everything at home, but in the future I’ll probably go back to hiring someone else to master my tracks.
Tell me about your approach to singing. You have a mellow, almost whispered tone which, on top of the rest of the upbeat instrumentation, makes for a unique, fresh mix.
That’s sort of just how I settled on doing it after forcing myself to sing for a few years. Singing is by far my least confident musical ability, and I’ve never really thought of myself as a singer. It’s the part of the recording process that causes me the biggest headache, and there have been a couple instances where I just couldn’t pull it off and got a friend to sing instead.
There’s plenty of bands I look to, like Yo La Tengo and Sonic Youth, as a source of motivation for not needing to be a “good” singer to still make enjoyable music, but it’s something I consistently struggle with.
You’ve played in various groups around Austin for the last decade. What was the transition like to recording this collection entirely on your own?
It was a fairly easy transition for this album, but it wasn’t always. I’ve been working on this project off and on for about 8 years, and had done some home recording before then, so I’m acclimated to it now. At first though I was teaching myself how to do everything, and felt very overwhelmed. I started this project originally as a way to practice songwriting and recording but pretty quickly it became an outlet where I could be creative without being dependent on anyone else.
I definitely prefer playing in a band, but it’s nice to have something where you aren’t waiting on other people to get things done and you’re free to just explore your creativity without any conflict. The biggest difference is coping with the increased workload. When you’re responsible for the entire process of every song you end up spending so much time on each one that you can get burned out and start to question your judgement, but you just have to power through and trust yourself.
How long did this project take you? How did the idea for the collection of songs take shape?
I recorded these songs over about a six month period, but I took pretty long breaks between each song. Once I have the original idea recorded it usually only takes me a week to write and record the rest of the song. Mixing is where I usually get hung up and waste way too much time.
I originally planned to do two short EPs, but decided I wanted to just focus on one batch of songs and use them as a platform to get used to using some new gear and experiment with it.
You’ve primarily been a drummer in various Austin groups which is evident on the fidelity and inventiveness of the rhythm section in these songs. Was there a specific approach to writing lyrics and guitar melodies over your own drum grooves? Was there any insights that came up into your musical approach as a drummer versus a guitarist or lyricist?
Thank you! I don’t know that there’s any specific drum related insights that I’m aware of. With this project I generally like to start with a guitar part. I’ll then add the drums over the rest of the track, although I do like to experiment with what stage of the process I add each new instrument. Sometimes I’ll just get one guitar track then do drums, sometimes drums will be the very last thing I record. I’ll do the same thing with any other instrument as well, including vocals.
I think changing the order and stage at which you incorporate different aspects of the track can alter your approach for each instrument. It can change what you focus on to inform each new part as you add it. The biggest intentional difference is that I allow myself to improvise drum parts much more on this project than in bands. Some songs have fairly written out drum parts, whereas others are completely improvised and I’ll just record a few takes and pick the best one. The song "Despair Puff" is just completely improvised and what you hear is probably my fifth or sixth time playing along with it.
Improvisation is something I like to incorporate when I can, as I’m not always able to do it when playing with a band, but to me it’s one of the most exciting things you can do as a musician.
Do you have a specific plan to perform these songs live? If so, what venues are you most excited to play?
It’s very unlikely that any of these songs will ever be performed live. I’ve occasionally played one of my songs with whatever band I happened to be in, but I’ve never made any attempt to put together a live group for this project. I am very excited to play some shows again though, and hopefully that will happen soon. Cheer Up Charlies is probably my favorite place to play in Austin, but from what I’ve heard they haven’t been hosting many bands since the pandemic which is a bummer.
How did you get your start playing music in Austin?
I went to Texas State University down the road in San Marcos and played in several bands there throughout college. I met and played with a bunch of Austin bands during that time, and once I graduated I moved here.
How do you feel about Austin as a city for independent musicians? Have you noticed any changes since venues have opened back up?
I haven’t noticed many changes recently, but I’ve been fairly out of the loop. Austin definitely has a great music history, and a large music community with lots of people working on cool things. Unfortunately it’s getting more and more expensive to live here which I think is harmful to nurturing a local music scene.
What’s next for Imp of Perverse?
I’d like to try and record some music that’s a little more experimental than what I’ve done up to this point. I’ve recently been very into artists like Cornelius, Beck, Caribou, and this amazing album “Beyond Life” by a band called Gooms, and I’d love to try and do something like that.
Songs that feel more like studio creations, not restricted by trying to sound like a band or any one specific genre, and that can drastically vary within the context of just one song. Whether it’ll be the next thing I put out or not, it’s definitely the direction I want to move in.
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Imp Of Perverse's debut EP, Somehow Something Wrong Somewhere, is out October 1.
