More James Parenti
PART 2:
Songwriter, Producer, Collaborator
http://www.jparenti.com/
https://jamesparenti.bandcamp.com/
Welcome back! Let’s pick things back up by switching gears to your music career, shall we? On your site, you refer to yourself as a songwriter and not a musician even though you play instruments. Is that an accidental choice or do you see yourself more in that light?
Well, I guess the overall impact of the song as a whole is more important to me than any one instrument, or a particular performance. I spend more time working on the lyrics, melodies, and chord progressions than I do on trying to come up with a cool guitar part. Even though I play most (or sometimes all) of the instruments, all of those individual parts only exist to serve the needs of the song.
But I think it’s also a genre consideration. I’ve been hugely inspired by people like Elliott Smith, Aimee Mann, Sufjan Stevens, and Joni Mitchell. And even though they sing and play multiple instruments, and whether they play on their own or with a band, they’re primarily thought of as singer/songwriters. I guess I aspire to be grouped in with people like them!
What was the catalyst for switching gears from acting and playwriting to music?
I actually started playing guitar and writing (terrible) songs before I ever took an acting class. But they each take precedence at different times depending on what else is going on in my day-to-day life. Basically, if I get cast in a play or if I’m working on a production, music takes the back seat. But if I’m really focused on recording and mixing an album, then maybe I don’t audition for a little while. They all feed different needs, and getting better at any one of them means I’m a stronger artist overall.
Do you bring any of your playwriting or acting background to your music?
Yes, and vice versa! I mentioned in Part 1 about how writing verse is musical for me. I tend to think of various story beats as different tempos, or different musical styles. I remember in rehearsal for a reading of the play I’m working on now, I was working with an actor about a particularly challenging scene, and I said something like “Here the two characters are overlapping and building on each other, so it’s this fugue feel, then your character comes in with this military march speech,” and when she asked about the last line of the scene I said it was returning to the root chord of the song, the musical resolution. And I didn’t realize that I’d been thinking about the scene in that way until I said it out loud. I don’t know how helpful that was from an acting perspective, but I’m the writer, not the director!
As we mentioned in Part 1, in 2015 you wrote music for a new play awesomely titled POPTART! How is writing music for the stage different than writing an album? What was that process like?
Writing music for POPTART! was so much fun, and such a wildly new experience for me! Before POPTART! I mostly relied on inspiration for writing, and let songs come to me. But we were on a deadline. We had to write X songs in Y months, and not only did they have to be good, but they had to move the story forward. And be from different characters’ voices! Also, it was one of the first times I’ve collaborated as a songwriter. My wife Krystle Phelps, her sister Trish, and I, all worked together to figure these songs out, and the process was not only really enjoyable but also yielded super exciting results. Yes, maybe I’m biased.
Among other things, POPTART! deals with identity, and the difference between the authentic self and the "performed" self. The basic plot centers around a pop singer, Monique, and an indie rocker, James, who’s hired as her songwriter. So, there are songs of Monique’s, songs from James’ oeuvre, songs that James imagines would fit with Monique’s brand, and finally material that they come up with together. With all of these songs, we were concerned with each artist’s ideas of who they believe themselves to be, how they believe their audiences perceive them, and how they’d like to be perceived. It was an exciting balancing act.
Indeed! How would you describe your overall sound? Is there a difference when you’re solo as opposed to collaborating?
I guess the easiest way to describe our sound would be “indie rock.” That term is so loose that it’s almost meaningless, and can incorporate all the different aspects of what we do: the melancholy finger-picking songs as well as the jazzier improvised moments and the bombast.
I still write, arrange, and record most the music under my own name, even though we’re playing it as a band now. The great benefit of the band is that I have these incredibly talented people, who are also my close friends, who can interpret the songs and their parts through their own taste and instincts, so that the songs can come alive anew when we play them, just like a play would.
For example, a few years ago we were working on a full band-arrangement for a song of mine called “Lucky Star,” which is just voice and guitar on the record. I didn’t have any idea what Jared could play on drums, especially towards the end, so I think I just asked him to “do something weird.” And the insane, climactic drum part that he came up with has become a defining characteristic of the song; part of me wishes the live version was on the record!
How did your current band come together?
I’ve been playing music with my friend Jared Mancuso for many years, since we met in college. I had been playing bass in his band at the time, The Jared Project, along with our friend Audrey Lobdell on drums. Since the musical and personal chemistry there felt so right, it was an easy shift for us to start playing my music as well. In addition to being wickedly talented, they’re also multi-instrumentalists: Audrey plays bass in my band and drums in Jared’s, and Jared went from singing and playing guitar to playing drums with me. It’s a crazy little game of musical chairs we play at our joint band practices.
Let's talk a little business. How do you go about scouting and booking gigs? Do you work with a manager or agent of some kind?
Currently, I’m doing it all myself. After a decade or so of playing in NYC (and maybe four years of actually playing decent ones), I have some relationships with venues and people who consistently want to book us, which is a great privilege.
For shows outside of the city, it’s mostly just cold-calling people. I’ll look at an area or city we want to play, look into venues that seem like they’d be a good fit, and then just send them an email with my music. Just like trying to get auditions, it’s kind of a numbers game: if maybe five to ten percent of people get back to you, the only way to get a considerable response is by reaching out to as many people as possible! I definitely wouldn’t rule out working with a booking agent, it just hasn’t come to that yet.
Who or what influences or inspires your music?
I draw from so many things! Anything that’s emotionally engaging can open a door to a new song or sound. Recently, I’ve been really excited by using non-musical art forms as entry points to my own music. In a kind of synesthesia, I like to try to make a song sound like a particular painting or film or book. That said, I don’t know if it’s the most helpful way of collaborating. How would you respond if somebody said, “Try to play this song like Water Lilies."? It really gets the wheels turning for me though.
This is a really fascinating concept. What would a song like Water Lilies even sound like?
Well, Water Lilies was an example I pulled out of the air. But that’s a good question! In my music, I guess a song like that would have an indistinct, psychedelic quality, like you couldn’t quite put your finger on what you were hearing. Something that feels simultaneously distant and enveloping. Now that I think of it, I was trying to do something similar with the beginning of my song “Hope That You Know.”
And I have to say, I spent a long time staring at those lilies at the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris. They’re deceptively overwhelming. On the surface they seem so tranquil, but there’s an obsessiveness on Monet’s part that feels at odds with the tranquility. Like you’re staring into your own subconscious or something. It really got under my skin.
How does a song come together for you?
Lyrics always come first for me. If I have a musical idea first, and try to apply lyrics to it, I seize up. Without fail. I try to find ways to circumvent my self-conscious, critical mind. It’s usually a multi-step process: I start with free association, just filling up pages with anything that comes out. Then later I’ll revisit the mess of words and pull out things that still feel resonant, and basically collage them together. So even if I have an idea about what I’m getting at, or what a song’s about, I can still find ways to surprise myself. Then those words inform melody, and the song builds from there.
To date, you’ve put out three albums, Maybe That's Why We Lost, Don't Be Gone Long, Ellen, and You Look Like Hell. What goes into writing and recording a full album. Do you work with producers? How was the process different the second or third time around as opposed to the first?
I take pride in engineering and recording everything myself, and playing most of the instruments. I started recording many moons ago on my parents’ PC, and have just been learning by trial-and-error ever since. Blogs and YouTube tutorials have been super helpful, but really the only way I learn to do something is by doing it. I have a handful of versatile microphones and a multi-channel interface, and I record and mix everything in a program called Logic Pro X. I record 90% of the instruments in my bedroom, and then pack up my stuff and go to a rehearsal studio or a friend’s place to record the drums. It’s decidedly DIY and not very glamorous, but I’ve figured out a process that works for me. The acts of recording and mixing are often just as enjoyable to me as writing the songs.
On my first album I was especially concerned about style, and how best to present those songs in a way that was both emotional and cohesive. I had all these ideas and no way to organize them. So, I gave myself a very narrow framework inspired by a few of my favorite artists’ first records. Limited to a smaller palette, the otherwise-infinite musical possibilities didn’t feel so overwhelming, and I was able to make something I was proud of.
All in all, it’s an incredibly daunting and tedious process, just like writing a novel or a play or making a film. The only way to get through it is to focus on the concrete steps immediately in front of you rather than the big picture, most of the time. And, to a certain degree, every time feels like the first time and the fact that I’ve done it before doesn’t necessarily make me more confident that I’ll be able to do it again!
That said, now that I’ve done it a few times, I’ve developed more confidence in the process. I allow myself to try and fail more than I did at first. I also know now that a song could be nearly completed but still need to be completely torn down and rebuilt before it works. Maybe even multiple times. The only way out is through!
Was there something you wish you knew before you started putting together your first album?
I learned a lot while making my first album, and I’m really pleased with how it turned out. But in the albums since, I’ve found it helpful to write much more material than I’ll use, and pick the songs that are strongest or that fit together best. Why We Lost, on the other hand, was a collection of the twelve most recent songs I’d written at the time. But I’ve since learned that an increase in quantity can also lead to an increase in quality, even if that means I have to "kill a few darlings!" A friend of mine calls this the “leave the tap running for a while if you want hot water” effect.
That makes total sense. In other interviews, you’ve described your latest album, You Look Like Hell, as a horror-film love story. I love that, can you elaborate on what that means? Do your other albums reflect the same theme?
Thank you! This album was inspired in part by a screenplay my wife wrote, also called You Look Like Hell. It’s a horror story about a grieving young woman whose depression literally turns her into a monster. I found that theme extremely potent. Who among us hasn’t felt monstrous and unlovable? How do we accept love if we’re damaged? So, I attempted to incorporate the literal horror elements from her story into the themes that I was writing about. It’s like a parallax view of her screenplay, from my own messed-up perspective.
Also, some of my favorite films are (arguably) horror movies, or they mix some elements of dread with deep tenderness. Films like The Piano and The Fountain. I wanted to make something that would feel akin to those. Also, Alien.
I think Don’t Be Gone Long, Ellen and You Look Like Hell are thematically similar. But I think the latter relies a little more on allegory and fictionalized elements, and therefore holds together a little more concretely. Like Picasso said, "the lie that tells the truth." Whereas the former holds together thematically but the threads are a bit looser. You could think of You Look Like Hell as a novel and Don’t Be Gone Long, Ellen as interconnected short stories.
You seem to have a natural attraction to adaptation. Is it purely about exploring another person’s voice or point of view for you or is there a personal element there as well?
At some level, I think all art is an adaptation. Someone hears a concerto, or watches a film, and says to herself “I really like elements A, D, and E, but B, C, and F weren’t for me.” Then she goes back to the drawing board and has to supply pieces of herself to fit the holes, and try to fit them with the existing elements, which necessarily change from how they started. Voila! New piece of work.
That’s why I think there are so many adaptations and reimaginings of something like Hamlet. It’s an incomplete puzzle. The pieces that are in the text are amazing, but you can only bring pieces of yourself to complete the puzzle. So, your finished puzzle will look different than mine, since we had different things to give. With Violets, however, I decided to throw out two-thirds of the puzzle pieces, rearrange what’s left, and make something totally new!
This reminds me of something that many of us can fall into now and again. I’m talking about the crippling “It’s all been done already” effect. I've heard a number of wise people say that the thing to remember there is that everything HAS already been done before. But that it shouldn’t stop you because no one is going to do it like you will. Do you agree with that?
I totally agree with that! I don’t think we should be daunted by the fact that someone else had a similar idea, for two reasons. First, no one’s going to do it exactly like you. Just like a fingerprint, your brain and your creativity are completely unique to you. Second, if someone does happen to make something that looks a lot like your idea, that’s an opportunity, not a roadblock. You can use that as a chance to deepen your idea, make it more specific to you and your unique point of view. And you can use the other person’s work as a foil: what do you like about their execution? What would you do differently? What can you learn from them?
For example, there’s a novel called Ophelia which seems a lot like May Violets Spring at first blush. It tells the story of Hamlet from Ophelia’s point of view, as imagined by author Lisa Klein. I read it after I wrote Violets. It’s great! It’s being made into a movie with Daisy Ridley that’s also probably awesome. But guess what? It’s not in verse. It doesn’t deal with Ophelia’s bodily autonomy. It doesn’t deal with systemic sexism in fictional Denmark as a metaphor for the same in the U.S. The fact that the two pieces have a few cosmetic similarities doesn’t nullify either one, in my opinion.
Between acting, playwriting, and music is there one outlet you gravitate towards more than the others or is it equal?
That really depends on my mood, and the weather, and what I did the night before. Each form satisfies a different need. Writing plays and songs is very solitary and I can kind of live in my cocoon for a while, but they can lead to community and collaboration. Acting is all about interpreting the playwright’s and director’s intentions, and being publicly vulnerable. They all scratch a different itch, I guess.
Definitely. What are you working on now? What’s next?!
Well, I’m slowly writing another play. I’ve started writing and recording some new songs. I have some shows lined up with my band, and I’m doing a play in the spring. I’m also playing bass with my buddy Jared Mancuso’s band a lot, and I think I’m going to help out with recording his new album. Just keep doing all the things!
Tackling so many creative endeavors isn’t easy, let alone ones that put you in front of an audience on a consistent basis. Do you ever experience fear or doubt? How do you manage those feelings?
I have fear and doubts all the time. If it’s a performance, I comfort myself by remembering that I’ve had plenty of time to prepare: I’ve laid the track, and now I just have to ride the train.
It helps that I’ve also had plenty of terrible performances, and as it turns out, I survived! If the worst-case scenario is embarrassment, I know I’ve been embarrassed before, and there’s always something to be learned from failure. I also remind myself, when I’m feeling particularly self-conscious, that most people are too busy worrying about themselves to worry about me.
In times of stress, how do you relax, take care of yourself, or indulge yourself?
I’m very fortunate, because I have an incredibly supportive partner in my wife Krystle. If I’m in over my head on a project, she makes sure I eat and sleep and drink water.
Otherwise, I find exercise helps me connect to my body and stay centered. I can be particular (fussy?) about getting eight hours of sleep and making sure I eat enough every day. It sounds so silly and obvious, but the basic fundamentals of physical health go a long way toward my emotional health.
Not silly at all, I absolutely agree. So what makes you feel strong or powerful?
Honestly, preparation. Whether it’s for a performance, or a recording session, or a meeting, knowing that I’ve dedicated enough time to really have my ducks in a row adds significantly to my self-confidence. And deep preparation allows me to be more comfortable feeling loose and improvising, which ultimately leads to work that’s stronger and more alive.
What do you do when you feel stuck creatively?
Anything else! Take a walk. Forget about the project I’m working on, and watch/read/listen to something completely different. Eat a sandwich. It’s a cliché, but I’ve made some breakthroughs while brushing my teeth or washing the dishes.
I also really love to drive. Something about half of your brain being focused on the task at hand while the other half can drift and free-associate is really helpful for me. Unfortunately, it’s not really feasible for me to have a car here in NYC. So, when the band is out on the road or when Krystle and I take a road trip, I love to be the one behind the wheel.
You've already alluded to it a bit, but what’s something else you like to do besides act, write plays, and make music?
I love going to the gym. I’m not Mr. Fitness Guy, but pushing myself to new accomplishments in running or lifting is really gratifying and exciting. I think there’s a connection between developing physical strength and mental toughness.
I’m also really into cooking! Making meals for people is a really fun and low-stakes way to stay creative, and in a weird way it’s also one of the ways I demonstrate affection. “I like you. Are you hungry? Let me take care of you.”
What is something you wish you knew before you started any of these projects?
Unfortunately, I’ve spent a lot of time waiting around to feel "ready", or to get permission from gatekeepers. Part of me is stuck in sophomore-land, like I’m just waiting til I’m a junior or senior when I’ll magically be ready. But I’ve learned that no one’s ever ready. The only way to start is to start, and make peace with not being good at something for a long time. Little by little, by being bad at it, you get okay at it.
What are you most proud of in these experiences?
I’m really proud of creating my own work on my own terms. While working with a record label or having a play of mine produced by a huge theater might ultimately mean that my work could be seen by more people, I’m proud that I dove in and started making stuff without waiting for permission, or waiting for the stars to align.
What is the best advice you've been given? In your career or otherwise.
“Fuck it.” In an acting class in college, I was struggling with staying out of my head and living in the moment onstage. I wanted to be great, and so I had a hard time dealing with being just okay. The difference between where I was and where I wanted to be felt so vast and overwhelming, and that was basically making me freeze up. My professor, who excelled in giving extremely simple and actable feedback, pulled me aside and gave me the two-word mantra, fuck it. It was the perfect mix of stupid and spot-on. Fuck it. Make a mess. Just do a bad job for a while, let it be what it is, learn from it and grow.
AMEN. What is a favorite memory?
In Paris, on a boat on the Seine, the tower lighting up as the sun goes down.
What is a creative experience that moved or changed you?
Similar to NaNoWrimo, there’s something called JoCoAlbMo (Joe’s Concept Album Month) in which people write and record a concept album in the month of March. Krystle and I did this last year under the name Fear of Blushing, and it was an amazing experience. Part of what’s wonderful about the idea is its absurdity. It usually takes me more like two years to do everything that goes into making an album, and we did it in thirty-one days! It was challenging to keep up the pace, but also really confidence-building to keep up the quality level while doing so.
I learned a lot about the beauty and power of starting before you think you’re ready. And since the breakneck pace kept us from being too precious or overthinking, I learned that it’s possible to make something really cool when you just follow your first impulses and trust your instincts. I’d like to learn to apply that fearlessness to the rest of my work.
Who’s your idol?
I used to have some idols that I used as standards to hold myself and my work to. But nobody’s perfect, and no two people have the same path or process. So, I guess right now I’m just trying to figure out how to be my own idol. (But also, my wife is my hero.)
What’s your favorite song or album? (Or closest you can get to it). And why?
That’s a tough one. I guess I’d have to say Either/Or by Elliott Smith. It’s just absolutely perfect from end to end, and every song is devastating in its own way. Also, the band at our wedding played “Say Yes” from Either/Or, so that song is particularly special to me. A close second is his album XO.
What’s your favorite piece of literary work?
That’s another tough one! I recently read To The Lighthouse and loved it. East of Eden is an old standby. If plays count as literary work, Angels in America is a top one for me.
What is your favorite restaurant?
There’s a place called The Bonnie down the street from us here in Astoria. It’s a little pricey but the food and atmosphere are great. Sometimes we go there for special occasions that aren’t quite special enough to warrant leaving Queens.
Who is on your guest list (alive or dead) for your perfect dinner party?
Jane Campion, Catherine Bigelow, Ava Duvernay, James Cameron, Sigourney Weaver, Aimee Mann, Courtney Love, Kendrick Lamar, Miles Davis, Sufjan Stevens, Elliott Smith, Cleopatra, Virginia Woolf...and I guess Shakespeare can come but we’d probably get in a fight.
What would your last meal be?
The steak-frites from Le Relais de l’Entre-Côte in Paris. It’s the only thing on the menu.
Where is your favorite place on earth?
Next to my wife.
I’ve also spent some time in Woodstock, Portland, St. Martin, and Paris, and they’re all pretty great. I have a love-hate relationship with NYC.
What’s one thing you can’t live without?
My fingers, so I can play music and write. I guess that’s ten things.
Let’s end with a final piece of advice. If you could talk to someone interested in starting something – whether it’s a business, a new career path, a new adventure, a relationship – what would you tell them?
Just start. Just start right now. Any big project that’s really worthwhile will feel incredibly overwhelming at first, but don’t let the towering nature of the whole project to be a reason to never start. Just pick one thing, something you can do right now, and do it. Then do the next thing. And just keep doing the next thing until it’s done.
Similarly, I’ve seen this idea compared to building a house. Looking at a beautiful, finished house, it’s easy to feel daunted and even give up before you start. But you don’t build the whole house at once. In fact, the whole process is just putting down bricks, right? And you just put down one brick at a time. And if you spend a few weeks just showing up and putting down bricks, eventually you’ll look up and realize that you’ve put down a ton of bricks, and the finished house isn’t so far away! So, you just keep putting down bricks.
Read PART 1 of this interview.
