A Conversation with Cory Chisel – HuffPost 7.2.12

Mike Ragogna: Let’s get into your track “Times Won’t Change” from your new album Old Believers. I know it had been associated with the Wisconsin recount, can you go into that?

Cory Chisel: Well, it certainly speaks to a much larger subject matter than what’s going on in my home state, and I just started to see a lot of the struggles in my home state were sort of on a smaller scale, the sort of frustration that a lot of us are feeling throughout the entire country, so it sort of worked to parody on that.

MR: So how do you feel about the results?

CC: I’m disappointed, to be honest. I don’t think much of this Governor Walker. I hope that I’m wrong, though, for the sake of the state. That, to me, seems arrogant and short sighted, and into a type of politics that I think worries about budgets more than human beings. It’s pretty split. People think he’s either the savior and that he’s being unjustly picked on, or there are those of us who believe that he’s been almost involved in illegal activity, if not actually illegal activity. I kind of wrote the song so that either way, whether he won or lost, the song would be relevant, so it still is, to me.

MR: You think that people are finally understanding something or seeing something, and then comes the backlash.

CC: Yeah, and it’s a fairly obvious riff on one of my favorite songs of all time, “The Times They Are A-Changin'” and I do think that that’s true and I do think that my song is true. I think that we’re kind of locked in the middle. I think there’s a social consciousness that really is booming. I don’t necessarily know that it’s taking over. I think we’re in a new age of discovery and thought, and while that is definitely true, I think the system is just an older way of thinking.

MR: Right, and let’s tie that into the album theme, being, well, Old Believers in a new age.

CC: Yeah. Well you know, that’s sort of the juxtaposition that I definitely feel, to feel like an old soul who’s alive in a very new thought era. I think that there’s a lot of people that feel like they’ve heard these problems before in this lifetime or another lifetime, and that we’re making small adjustments, but that more is needed to actually achieve the world we want to live in.

MR: Absolutely. All right, let’s get to some other songs on the project. The album starts out with “This Is How It Goes,” a song that your partner Adriel Harris sings. Can we get into how Old Believers came together?

CC: Well, it came together rather slowly. It’s been three years since I put out a record, and there are a lot of reasons for that. But I think some of it had to do with exhaustion and workload. There’s an incredible amount of energy you have to put towards rolling out a record, and I’ve always been really rejuvenated by the experience of playing live, so I’ve stuck to the road for the past three years. I think that’s where I come from, and what’s comfortable for me is to play in front of live audiences. But eventually, there comes a point where I had so many songs stacked up that I started sharing them. I’m always sharing them with Adriel, but I started sharing them with my friend Brendan Benson, and he convinced me–and he’s a rather persuasive person–that it was time to stop sitting on stuff and start making a new record. He lives down in Nashville, which is now where both Adriel and I have made a move to live down here as well, and we went through the process very quickly of making the record. It was really only a two-week span of showing him a set of songs and then dropping the needle and rolling tape. It was like recording a live show in some ways.

MR: You get the vibe of the actual performances throughout the record. You’re involving more than just the studio element of overdubbing.

CC: Well, it’s never really been my thing, to be perfectly honest. I really like sort of putting out the call to a group of people that for a small amount of time, we’re going to populate this space, discuss ideas, and then inevitably pull our guitars out and speak to what’s in our brains. It’s just really one of my favorite times when we can actually get around to working up the energy to say, “I’m making a new record!” There’s a certain level of narcissism you have to be ready to engage in, which is just like getting really involved with what you think. Once you can work yourself up to that point where you think you have something to say… You know, down here in Nashville, we’ve just been lucky to have so many talented people that have migrated here that, really, we’ve been sort of covered in amazing thinkers and players.

MR: Now, going back to “This Is How It Goes,” it sets up the album even though it’s not your vocals.

CC: Yeah, and I think Adriel does that with a very beautiful effect on the record, and I really like the idea of a preface. There are a couple different ways to get into a record, and the best way I could think to grab everyone’s attention was to sort of highlight my favorite singer, which is Adriel, and have her sort of offer a way in and not make any excuses for what we’re about to talk about.

MR: Now I also wanted to ask you about the song “Never Meant To Love You.” Is that a bit autobiographical? It has one of my favorite concepts: “I never meant to love you, but there you go. I did!”

CC: It is. I think a great many things in my life can be attributed to the powers that be. We’re constantly creating a level of our existence, and sort of powerless at the same time to live at the mercy of these urges. I could say the same thing about making music. I never meant to try and make a living with this, but here I am thirty years into my life, and trying to figure that out too. I think love has definitely been that way. It sort of found me in that sense. I’m always fairly preoccupied until I find myself well in the middle of something I never meant to walk into.

MR: Do you feel like that’s the case with most people and how they fall into relationships?

CC: I think that they’re honest about it. There are many different kinds of relationships you can fall into. I think through playing that song, you find out how many of us there are. You can really get blasted in the side of the head by something you weren’t totally aware of in the moment. It’s tongue-in-cheek as well because there’s certainly a lot of intention towards people that you want to get to know. Hopefully, it’s a song a lot of people can relate to.

MR: What’s your favorite song on the album with a back story you’re just burning to get out of you?

CC: Well, there’s a lot of different ones, I guess. One of my favorite tracks on the record, mostly because it’s not autobiographical–it’s actually written for a friend–is a song on the record called “Laura.” It was written for a friend living within the ashes of a relationship that was still sort of lingering in the house. The failure of the relationship was really romantic, and my friend was really seeking to reconcile these emotions that he had, and it’s kind of fun with a song because you can’t always offer advice or you can’t always offer to take anything away. But by making a piece of art out of the situation, there’s a healing component to that, and I’ve been excited about that.

MR: I know you’ve been writing a lot of songs, but what’s been going on between the albums creatively?

CC: I’ve had the pleasure of writing and working with other artists that I’ve really admired, one of those being Rosanne Cash, having the opportunity to work on a song with her and mainly this whole crew that is living down in Nashville, Tennessee, from traditional players like the great group called The Howling Brothers and, obviously, my friend Brendan Benson. And Adriel as well is working on a solo record that will be coming sometime soon, and I’ve really enjoyed the collaboration aspect of songwriting. I got into that on my last record, Death Won’t Send A Letter. It was something I’ve always been sort of fearful of. I don’t know if it’s the punk rock school of thought where you don’t write with anybody else, and I really found I’ve gained a lot from that experience.

MR: Let me also ask you these accolades that have been coming your way. For instance, you won the Wisconsin Area Music Industry Award for Artist of the Year in 2010 for you.

CC: It’s always a nice thing to be acknowledged for the fact that you’ve made something that resonates. Awards are a tough thing to get used to because you’re skeptical of your ability. It gets in your head of not wanting to fall short of that the next go around and all those things, but I think we’ve done a good job of letting it go and not worrying about getting any sort of recommendation but just making a good record.

MR: Oh and I don’t want to sell you short here. The song “Born Again” was also named a Record of the Year…

CC: …yeah, I appreciate it. It’s a great thing, but it’s sort of got to be in one ear and out the other. I’ve still got a job to do, and I do appreciate how much people responded to it.

MR: Yeah, awards are nice, but you can’t believe your own press, you know? You just have to live your life.

CC: It’s an art killer, for one, because your objective has to be to express yourself honestly, and sometimes, that doesn’t win awards, but that’s still your job. Sometimes it does and you can’t get obsessed with the idea that it needs to win awards to be the real thing.

MR: How many times have you watched Cleaner to see your song “Little Bird” appear in it?

CC: I’ve actually never seen it! I saw the clips that we were in when we approved the song, but I’ve never sat down and watched the entire movie. I think, again, there’s something uncomfortable about hearing the sound of your own voice, and that may have something to do with it. It certainly doesn’t have anything to do with Samuel L. Jackson because I love him no matter what movie he’s in.

MR: How many times have you seen The Avengers?

CC: I have yet to see it! It’s been on my list. I have a little nephew who is quite critical of my absence of seeing that movie, so I’ve got to suck it up and check it out.

MR: (laughs) Hey, I’m very critical of that.

CC: I know! I’ve got to step it up. I’m slacking a little!

MR: I’ll just go down and say it, that was my favorite movie of the year.

CC: Wow! Well now I really have to see it because I’ve had several very discerning palates of different ages give it that sort of award, so now I’ve got to see it.

MR: On the other hand, I have to confess, I’m looking forward to seeing the next Batman and Spider-Man movies. Just sayin’.

CC: Well, I think Spider-Man needs to be done again, and better, so I’m excited to see that.

MR: Hey, we likes da Tobey Maguire, and we like the fact that he was an awesome Spider-Man and Peter Parker, but yeah, that last movie pretty much put the nail in the coffin. Poor Tobes.

CC: Everybody knows that! (laughs)

MR: Cory, what advice do you have for new artists?

CC: The thing I can say wholeheartedly is that it’s a worthy life to live, to spend pursuing making art and the hope of making the world more beautiful. There’ll be thousands of reasons to not do this job as far as not making money and not being recognized, but the best thing I can tell you is a job that’s healing you every time you give something to it is a great way to live your life. Anything that’s wrong about this career can be fixed by the same means. I can get up on stage and take care of myself.

MR: That’s really a beautiful way to put that. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anybody say that in all the times I’ve asked this question.

CC: Well, that’s certainly been the most obvious reason to continue doing it in my life. It’s restorative. It brings you back from whatever it puts you through.

MR: Right, the cathartic element, and I guess that’s why people have music as the soundtrack of their lives.

CC: Yeah, it’s a food that you need. It’s a substance that has great power. There are ways you can get disillusioned by deciding to do this job and have an expectation that it pays for the place you’re going to live in and those things can be really critical. But the best part is that you can still ease any of those worries with the same thing just by writing a song about it or getting it out through that.

MR: Cory, we haven’t spoken in a while, but every time we do this… I really feel like you’re giving such a straight answer when I talk to you. There’s nothing showbiz about you, and I mean that as a compliment.

CC: Thank you. I will take that as a compliment, for sure. Thank you!

MR: Okay, let’s wrap it up. Words of wisdom?

CC: I hope that people check out a couple of records that are out right now, too. There’s this other group called Shovels And Rope that’s out, and if I were to give you wise advice, I would say to check that band out as well as buy our record, please, and thank you.

MR: And you’re magnanimous. Look at that. Cory, thanks for the time, and let’s do this again the next time you have a project or the next time you have some big news.

CC: I enjoyed talking to you again, man. Hope you’re doing well.

MR: Getting better, sir. All the best!

CC: Same to you!

Transcribed by Kyle Pongan