I could really use a Drifter…the “laid back snack”.
From obscure war poets, to laid back snacks, to words of wisdom. The imaginative and in-depth answers about such an interesting group of musicians awaits your attention below. I thoroughly believe that The Library Is On Fire has embarked on an intense yet creatively stimulating adventure, and has involved AltSounds readers by giving us an insight into exactly what they are all about. With all the shallow and materialistic artists that pollute our soundscape, The Library Is On Fire definitely humbles you by showing exactly what's important to them.
AltSounds: If you had to compose a slogan to describe your band, what would it be?
The Library Is On Fire: We are the only rock band left.
AltSounds: The name “The Library On Fire” was taken after a poem written by obscure war poet Rene Char. How did you come across it?
The Library Is On Fire: I had a professor at Kent State University named Thomas Jensen Hines. He didn’t belong to the Arts department or the Literature department. I guess they didn’t know where to put him. He taught a lot of esoteric and avant-garde literature, art, and cinema – Kokoschka, Kandinsky, Schiele, Baudelaire, German Expressionism, the Surrealists, etc. He was a massive influence on me, artistically. I latched onto him as if he were my mentor. Hines lived and studied with Rene Char in France under a Fulbright Scholarship in the ‘60’s. He was in line to translate Char’s work for New Directions, but he gave it up to Mary Ann Caws. He had some interesting stories to tell about Char, and his unique perspective on Char’s life had a huge impact on me.
AltSounds: Are you a fan of poetry? If so, what genre do you enjoy reading the most?
The Library Is On Fire: I am a huge fan. Poetry is the distilled essence of meaning in words, and so much more besides – that is to say poetry is everything to someone who seriously cares about writing lyrics. Or at least good lyrics, anyway.
I don’t necessarily adhere to any one genre. I enjoy the New York School, a few of the Beats, the Romantics, and the French Decadents. Wallace Stevens is probably the single most influential poet to me, followed by Baudelaire, Shakespeare, Keats, and Richard Brautigan. Brautigan was great; I think he is extremely underrated.
AltSounds: Do you think poetry influences you at all when it comes to your music?
The Library Is On Fire: Definitely. Peppered throughout our songs are a lot of references to different poems or even poets. The things I love about poetry, the expression, the phrasing, the metaphor, the building of imagery, those things are just as easily rendered in songwriting. They’re practically the same thing. The nuts and bolts of songwriting and writing poetry might be fundamentally different, but the outcome is the same. At least if the poem or song is successful.
AltSounds: What was the first record you remember buying?
The Library Is On Fire: My mom used to take me shopping with her to Kmart. I remember walking past the shelves of 45’s, and picking out “Take On Me” by A-ha. I was 6 years old. I loved the video, which is probably why I bought the single, but the song was great too.
AltSounds: Do you remember certain songs playing in the background, courtesy of your parents, whilst you were growing up?
The Library Is On Fire: I remember my mom singing “Danny’s Song” by Anne Murray. Also, “Annie’s Song” by John Denver. We played the Muppets Christmas album during Christmas time. John Denver was played all the time in my house. She also used to sing “I gave My Love a Cherry”, which I think she learned from her mother. She always sang in the church choir and I would go with her to rehearsals when I was very small. She has a beautiful voice.
AltSounds: Has music always been an influential part of your life?
The Library Is On Fire: Definitely. I was obsessed with the one Kiss record my sister had. I think it was the Best of their solo records. I just remember all their faces on the back. My fixation on it probably frightened my parents a little bit. I remember asking my mom one time to put on some music that I could sing over, music with no vocals. I think she put on some Ferrante & Teicher or some record club piano music. I remember the record cover had guys in tuxedos with a red velvet curtain behind them. It wasn’t the type of music where you could make up lyrics and sing along with, especially not as a child. I was extremely frustrated by that. I was probably about 3 years old.
AltSounds: ‘Magic Windows, Magic Nights’ was released on April 6th. How was the experience of creating this record, from the initial composition of the music and lyrics to promoting it by touring?
The Library Is On Fire: It felt charged when we finally stepped in the studio. We felt like we were doing something very exciting and good. We would get excited as new songs came up in practice. For the months leading up to the studio time, we wrote a lot, and we hashed out all the details beforehand. It was mostly to save money so we weren’t ignorant or confused while the clock was ticking in the studio. But once we got in there, we were a crack team. There’s nothing like that feeling of it all coming together. It took a long time to finally come out because we went through some label changes, so there was a bit of a lull in late 2009. But the momentum has picked up since the album was released.
AltSounds: It’s been said that ‘Magic Windows, Magic Nights’ is “the sadness, hopelessness, rage, and redemption that accompanies great loss [that] had become acute in Five’s songwriting coming into fruition.” Would you say there were more positive elements to your music as well as all these aspects?
The Library Is On Fire: I’d say overall, celebration is a main element. The songs “Magic Bumrush Hearts” and “Supernatural Disasters”, which more or less open and close the album, are celebrations of the things in life that color our particular way of making art and music, or viewing life. Those things may be tragic or sad, but ultimately its about survival, which I think can be a joyous thing. Survival is essentially ultimate positivity – hey, look at you! You’re still here! – so I think that beyond all those more gray elements there’s a certain sanguine nature underlying all of it. I would feel like I wasn’t telling the truth if we weren’t to convey those less positive aspects in our music, they’re so closely attached to my life experiences. That, and I have trouble writing “happy” songs, or songs that aren’t emotionally charged. Maybe someone like James Murphy can successfully do that every time around. For me personally, I don’t think I’m concerned enough about being witty and to do so just feels fake.
AltSounds: You recently toured the U.S in 2009 with a British band called My Device. How was that experience for you?
The Library Is On Fire: Talk about the travelling boys’ club. My Device are probably the funniest and most ridiculous group of lads to cross the pond. They’re like the Beatles trying to play The Fall, but on crack. And to be there when they experienced the American Midwest for the first time, well, that was an experience that could never be recreated again in our lives. It was pure fun.
AltSounds: Do you plan on coming over to the UK any time soon?
The Library Is On Fire: We would like to, but we have no definite plans to do so this year. Perhaps in 2011. Unfortunately My Device just recently played their final show, and they were our closest friends in the UK. I hear they have some new things in the works, so hopefully we’ll be able to get our arses over there. I could really use a Drifter…the “laid back snack”.
AltSounds: If you could perform with anyone, dead or alive, who would you choose?
The Library Is On Fire: Maybe we could share a bill with Roxy music circa 1973, T Rex circa 1970, Fleetwood Mac circa 1977, and Nirvana?
AltSounds: 2009 seemed like a very busy year for you, especially since you managed to write over 40 songs as well as touring. How did you manage to balance touring as well as creating new, fresh songs?
The Library Is On Fire: Well, we didn’t tour much, maybe for two or three weeks, though we did play a lot of shows regionally and in NYC. But I was getting my Master’s degree from New School, and working on a book that was my thesis, while also bartending. And we made a handful of music videos, so we were very, very busy. I guess it was just a lot of hard work. We were extremely determined and focused. On a personal level, I told myself, “You have to do one thing every single day involving the Library is On Fire, whether that be songwriting, making videos, booking, or promotion.” I think that was a big part of getting so much done.
AltSounds: How important do you think social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace are for promotion these days?
The Library Is On Fire: For smaller bands, I think it has completely changed the way people know about shows. A lot of shows get booked and bands don’t even make flyers. They just post an event on Facebook, list it on Myspace, and send out an email blast. We still enjoy Xeroxing and putting things together, but sometimes shows get booked so fast that the only way to really promote it is via the internet worldwide superhighway web.
AltSounds: Do you still believe that music magazines are just as important and influential as online sites?
The Library Is On Fire: Unfortunately, anymore I don’t think print magazines are read as widely as online publications. Its really disheartening, and its just one symptom of music culture’s technological changes. I was reading a Creem retrospective put out a few years ago, a coffee table book. The washed out, bright colors, the fonts, the bleed of the photos, it just felt rock’n’roll, and it was an artefact you could hold in your hand, with pages to rip out and post on your wall. Walking into a record store and hanging out in front of a 7-11 reading a rock magazine, those are the types of pastimes that American youth just doesn’t have anymore. It sucks, to put it plainly.
AltSounds: What words of wisdom could you give to your AltSounds readers?
The Library Is On Fire: To paraphrase a close friend who is much wiser than me, “You are a point of consciousness in the universe, a source of light and illumination. Never forget that.”
AltSounds: If you had to compose a slogan to describe your band, what would it be?
The Library Is On Fire: We are the only rock band left.
AltSounds: The name “The Library On Fire” was taken after a poem written by obscure war poet Rene Char. How did you come across it?
The Library Is On Fire: I had a professor at Kent State University named Thomas Jensen Hines. He didn’t belong to the Arts department or the Literature department. I guess they didn’t know where to put him. He taught a lot of esoteric and avant-garde literature, art, and cinema – Kokoschka, Kandinsky, Schiele, Baudelaire, German Expressionism, the Surrealists, etc. He was a massive influence on me, artistically. I latched onto him as if he were my mentor. Hines lived and studied with Rene Char in France under a Fulbright Scholarship in the ‘60’s. He was in line to translate Char’s work for New Directions, but he gave it up to Mary Ann Caws. He had some interesting stories to tell about Char, and his unique perspective on Char’s life had a huge impact on me.
AltSounds: Are you a fan of poetry? If so, what genre do you enjoy reading the most?
The Library Is On Fire: I am a huge fan. Poetry is the distilled essence of meaning in words, and so much more besides – that is to say poetry is everything to someone who seriously cares about writing lyrics. Or at least good lyrics, anyway.
I don’t necessarily adhere to any one genre. I enjoy the New York School, a few of the Beats, the Romantics, and the French Decadents. Wallace Stevens is probably the single most influential poet to me, followed by Baudelaire, Shakespeare, Keats, and Richard Brautigan. Brautigan was great; I think he is extremely underrated.
AltSounds: Do you think poetry influences you at all when it comes to your music?
The Library Is On Fire: Definitely. Peppered throughout our songs are a lot of references to different poems or even poets. The things I love about poetry, the expression, the phrasing, the metaphor, the building of imagery, those things are just as easily rendered in songwriting. They’re practically the same thing. The nuts and bolts of songwriting and writing poetry might be fundamentally different, but the outcome is the same. At least if the poem or song is successful.
AltSounds: What was the first record you remember buying?
The Library Is On Fire: My mom used to take me shopping with her to Kmart. I remember walking past the shelves of 45’s, and picking out “Take On Me” by A-ha. I was 6 years old. I loved the video, which is probably why I bought the single, but the song was great too.
AltSounds: Do you remember certain songs playing in the background, courtesy of your parents, whilst you were growing up?
The Library Is On Fire: I remember my mom singing “Danny’s Song” by Anne Murray. Also, “Annie’s Song” by John Denver. We played the Muppets Christmas album during Christmas time. John Denver was played all the time in my house. She also used to sing “I gave My Love a Cherry”, which I think she learned from her mother. She always sang in the church choir and I would go with her to rehearsals when I was very small. She has a beautiful voice.
AltSounds: Has music always been an influential part of your life?
The Library Is On Fire: Definitely. I was obsessed with the one Kiss record my sister had. I think it was the Best of their solo records. I just remember all their faces on the back. My fixation on it probably frightened my parents a little bit. I remember asking my mom one time to put on some music that I could sing over, music with no vocals. I think she put on some Ferrante & Teicher or some record club piano music. I remember the record cover had guys in tuxedos with a red velvet curtain behind them. It wasn’t the type of music where you could make up lyrics and sing along with, especially not as a child. I was extremely frustrated by that. I was probably about 3 years old.
AltSounds: ‘Magic Windows, Magic Nights’ was released on April 6th. How was the experience of creating this record, from the initial composition of the music and lyrics to promoting it by touring?
The Library Is On Fire: It felt charged when we finally stepped in the studio. We felt like we were doing something very exciting and good. We would get excited as new songs came up in practice. For the months leading up to the studio time, we wrote a lot, and we hashed out all the details beforehand. It was mostly to save money so we weren’t ignorant or confused while the clock was ticking in the studio. But once we got in there, we were a crack team. There’s nothing like that feeling of it all coming together. It took a long time to finally come out because we went through some label changes, so there was a bit of a lull in late 2009. But the momentum has picked up since the album was released.
AltSounds: It’s been said that ‘Magic Windows, Magic Nights’ is “the sadness, hopelessness, rage, and redemption that accompanies great loss [that] had become acute in Five’s songwriting coming into fruition.” Would you say there were more positive elements to your music as well as all these aspects?
The Library Is On Fire: I’d say overall, celebration is a main element. The songs “Magic Bumrush Hearts” and “Supernatural Disasters”, which more or less open and close the album, are celebrations of the things in life that color our particular way of making art and music, or viewing life. Those things may be tragic or sad, but ultimately its about survival, which I think can be a joyous thing. Survival is essentially ultimate positivity – hey, look at you! You’re still here! – so I think that beyond all those more gray elements there’s a certain sanguine nature underlying all of it. I would feel like I wasn’t telling the truth if we weren’t to convey those less positive aspects in our music, they’re so closely attached to my life experiences. That, and I have trouble writing “happy” songs, or songs that aren’t emotionally charged. Maybe someone like James Murphy can successfully do that every time around. For me personally, I don’t think I’m concerned enough about being witty and to do so just feels fake.
AltSounds: You recently toured the U.S in 2009 with a British band called My Device. How was that experience for you?
The Library Is On Fire: Talk about the travelling boys’ club. My Device are probably the funniest and most ridiculous group of lads to cross the pond. They’re like the Beatles trying to play The Fall, but on crack. And to be there when they experienced the American Midwest for the first time, well, that was an experience that could never be recreated again in our lives. It was pure fun.
AltSounds: Do you plan on coming over to the UK any time soon?
The Library Is On Fire: We would like to, but we have no definite plans to do so this year. Perhaps in 2011. Unfortunately My Device just recently played their final show, and they were our closest friends in the UK. I hear they have some new things in the works, so hopefully we’ll be able to get our arses over there. I could really use a Drifter…the “laid back snack”.
AltSounds: If you could perform with anyone, dead or alive, who would you choose?
The Library Is On Fire: Maybe we could share a bill with Roxy music circa 1973, T Rex circa 1970, Fleetwood Mac circa 1977, and Nirvana?
AltSounds: 2009 seemed like a very busy year for you, especially since you managed to write over 40 songs as well as touring. How did you manage to balance touring as well as creating new, fresh songs?
The Library Is On Fire: Well, we didn’t tour much, maybe for two or three weeks, though we did play a lot of shows regionally and in NYC. But I was getting my Master’s degree from New School, and working on a book that was my thesis, while also bartending. And we made a handful of music videos, so we were very, very busy. I guess it was just a lot of hard work. We were extremely determined and focused. On a personal level, I told myself, “You have to do one thing every single day involving the Library is On Fire, whether that be songwriting, making videos, booking, or promotion.” I think that was a big part of getting so much done.
AltSounds: How important do you think social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace are for promotion these days?
The Library Is On Fire: For smaller bands, I think it has completely changed the way people know about shows. A lot of shows get booked and bands don’t even make flyers. They just post an event on Facebook, list it on Myspace, and send out an email blast. We still enjoy Xeroxing and putting things together, but sometimes shows get booked so fast that the only way to really promote it is via the internet worldwide superhighway web.
AltSounds: Do you still believe that music magazines are just as important and influential as online sites?
The Library Is On Fire: Unfortunately, anymore I don’t think print magazines are read as widely as online publications. Its really disheartening, and its just one symptom of music culture’s technological changes. I was reading a Creem retrospective put out a few years ago, a coffee table book. The washed out, bright colors, the fonts, the bleed of the photos, it just felt rock’n’roll, and it was an artefact you could hold in your hand, with pages to rip out and post on your wall. Walking into a record store and hanging out in front of a 7-11 reading a rock magazine, those are the types of pastimes that American youth just doesn’t have anymore. It sucks, to put it plainly.
AltSounds: What words of wisdom could you give to your AltSounds readers?
The Library Is On Fire: To paraphrase a close friend who is much wiser than me, “You are a point of consciousness in the universe, a source of light and illumination. Never forget that.”
