NJ vocalist, pianist & songwriter Shayfer James might be described as a songwriter in the tradition of Billy Joel, but with the musical charisma, unpredictability & vagabond gin drinking groove of Tom Waits. Described as being in the noir-pop tradition, Shayfer has built up a fan following & fleshed out what that genre tag means via 4 albums, countless concerts & even at-home live internet broadcasts. His newest album, Haunted Things, was released but a month ago.
When I first started blogging music reviews my rule of them was I wanted to share music that was unique. Something with flavor. Shayfer's CD arrived early in my work & was exactly what I was looking for. When I later started a podcast I knew he was probably from day one he was always on my list as a future guest, which finally happened in the show's second season. We spent an hour live on the air talking & sharing in what ended up having an intimate feel. The show was broadcast in the shadow of his second album The Owl & The Elephant just as he was about to release Counterfeit Arcade. As part of my introduction I mentioned that he reminded me of a street musician with a monkey in tow.
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AJ: Shayfer, thank you very much for joining me this evening.
SHAYFER: Thank you. I like that monkey bit. I would not be opposed to having a monkey.
AJ: I know in your shows you've done things like folks hanging down crawling down a curtain. So I don't think a monkey would be too far off.
SHAYFER: That may be true. We've done some wild stuff. You know, I'm open to making it & growing it as an experience, not so much as I don't want folks coming to shows & folks saying here's another singer/songwriter or here's another band. I appreciate your introduction as a storyteller, because often the way I'm looking at the world, if I can translate that correctly through my music & people appreciate it, then that's a profound experience for me. Because, to me, a lot of the time, it's chaos. It's just happening. I'm writing & it's just coming out sort of spontaneously. But, I want to translate that, you know, that fire, & if it's enhanced by things like aerialists or fire-breathers & shit like that, than that's what we'll do. Just to get people tuned in to what I'm trying to say & what we're trying to produce on stage as a band as well.
AJ: Let's take care of the basics first. What is the experience of Shayfer James & company?
SHAYFER: That's a tough question to ask me, for sure.
AJ: Alright, let's get the hard questions out of the way.
SHAYFER: The experience that we have ... they're not on the line with me to introduce. My group is Dusty Jones on drums. Jeremy Gillespie on bass & Dante Edmont on keyboards. These guys are amazing musicians, but have a fire for the storytelling & the message. They get it, but we get each other. So what you're experiencing on stage is sort of this unbridled embrace of what I'm creating in this dark little room, where I'm actually sitting right now, where I'm writing this music & arranging it. Putting it out there for everyone to hear - well, maybe not everyone, but eventually everyone - but, the experience I hope people are having is you should be disturbed, you should be interested & you should be hopefully captivated. I feel arrogant even saying that, but I think that that is what we do. We work at getting better at that by being sincere. Sort of throwing everything else out & letting ourselves be the artists that we are.
AJ: Could we say walking a tightrope at times?
SHAYFER: You betcha. We sure could. I think that's true & reflected in our daily lives as well. I certainly do ... today is a good example. I'm sitting here writing & there were these fucking dogs & they just kept going crazy. You know it's unbelievable. You talk about a tightrope. I felt like Summer of Sam, like I was about to go purchase a sniper rifle. I mean, I love dogs. I think they're cute little creatures, but these particular dogs. So, tightrope, yeah, maybe we're all a little bit loose cannons, a little unhinged. But, it's in the best way, I think.
AJ: In my introduction, besides the monkey, I also used the word "noir-pop." I know this word does get used in your PR & people describe you as that. How do you describe your music? You've covered the experience, what's the music?
SHAYFER: It's my gut. The music is the real interpretation of what I'm seeing. It's through my lens, you know. So, you're experiencing exactly how my brain translates the world around me. So, the music itself, I mean, it's dark. It is dark. I've been a dark-minded fellow my whole life. So, it may seem at times, & the new record too may even seem, a little bit disturbing to folks. The new record is Counterfeit Arcade which is coming out in a couple months. It may be a little bit disturbed, but it's honest. I feel like so often people or artists are afraid to tread, you know, deeper into the water. But, I think this is shit we all think. When we're all lying in bed staring at the ceiling, it may be heavy, it may be grim, but I don't think its alien. I'm just saying it out loud.
AJ: Why do you think folks are afraid to say it like you're doing it?
SHAYFER: I don't know. I don't want to generalize, as a clever politician, I don't want to generalize or alienate anyone, but truly I think people are afraid to tap into that. People want this sort of mystification of life. There's this happy place where we exist. For me it's not true. Happiness exists in acknowledging the fact that that's a myth. In fact the only way you can exist comfortably is by journeying or wading into those depths. I think people are uncomfortable with how hateful they can be or how scornful. Possibly, depending on what you believe, evil they can be. I think everyone's equally capable of it. So, I'm not necessarily afraid of that & I'll put it out there when some folks might be afraid to.
AJ: I find as a music listener & being a bit of a musician I'm a big fan of Lou Reed. People ask me why do I like him. I say that's his lyrics are great because they're dark. I've always felt that darker emotions make for realistic & powerful songs, sometimes the most honest songs, versus singing about how I love you & we're all going to get along. I've always felt people like the darker stuff because there's an honesty there &, like you said, there's a gut thing there you don't get in the nice stuff.
SHAYFER: Right, right. How fascinated have you been by, or maybe by yourself, in a conversation when you tell it like it is, how it really is? Not the way somebody wants to hear it or maybe not even like how you want to hear it, but how it actually is. You get this rush out of somebody telling you. Brass tacks. It's not pretty. That's okay & maybe that's the prettiest thing about it. So, yeah, I think that's true. I think its totally true.
AJ: Like you said, you take all this & you regurgitate it out there. You do it in a myriad of ways. You do it sometimes just you & a piano. There's also times with a full band. You've got 2 albums out there & a new one about to hit the shelf that we'll talk about soon. You also have a visual component. You're not just playing music, but there's also a very visual side to this musical persona you've created. You've done stuff on ustream. Obviously, nobody can see you right now, so 2 questions for you. One, can you tell people where they can go to find out about your music & maybe to see you. Then, can you tell me a little bit about the visual side of your world?
SHAYFER: You can go to the official site, which is shayferjames.com with links to all the other social media sites. Myspace I really don't keep up with, to be honest with you. I don't know if I should or not.
AJ: Nobody does anymore.
SHAYFER: I actually logged in the other day & put upcoming dates & told people to go to facebook. I think that says a lot about myspace. The facebook is just shayferjamesmusic. As far as the visual, when I set out I wanted to, with the site & everything about it, I never wanted anything to feel contrived. I feel like everything that I do or that the team that I have around me does, which is an amazing group of folks, the conversations been had about not so much reflecting me but reflecting the collection. So, The Owl & The Elephant's art I felt was really representative of what I was saying & I feel like the new one's the same way. I feel that the website is a general representation of how the music sounds. I can't say it's too far off from where I am. You know, you're not likely to see me without my boots or hat strolling around the town I live in. I think it's real. It's just enhanced. & I think that's necessary.
AJ: Instead of everyone seeing this big picture of your life you are basically giving them a zoom on a particular aspect. It's a little bit exaggerated.
SHAYFER: Sure, sure. Absolutely. But, the music is exaggerated too. I mean, I get up in the morning & I have my coffee & I have my breakfast. But, I don't write about that. It's not like I ...
AJ: Not yet.
SHAYFER: That will be my 11th terrible record that I write. But, do I wake up & have a glass of whiskey? No. Do I wake up thinking about it? Maybe. There are various elements to our lives & certainly I think even when we meet new people we represent ourselves in a magnified. We show ourselves in a way that we want to be perceived by that particular person.
AJ: Since we've been speaking about your music, is there a song from your last album that's very special to you?
SHAYFER: Let me think about that for a second, because certainly when I was writing the songs ... because they take on their own life after you write them especially after you record them, you find a place for them so you can re-translate & regroup & assign new meaning so it stays fresh & interesting for you as you perform it over & over again. But, I think the song "When Heaven Closes" still resonates really deeply with me, for sure.
AJ: Great. I'll tell you, there's not a bad track on the album. You have an incredibly strong output, so I was curious about what you would choose if anything. When you write, obviously you're churning out your worldview within confines of the idea you have for the song or album or whatever, do you ever write something where maybe you get a little bit too personal or too dark, to the point of thinking you can't share it?
SHAYFER: No, never.
AJ: Never?
SHAYFER: No. If something is too dark or too personal that means I'm on the right track. Its the other stuff that I'll tend to throw away or walk away from. I don't like things that aren't ... a lot of times when I'm writing the initial ideas will come at a moment that's completely random. I'll be crossing the street & a line for a song will happen. In a particular situation recently I stopped in the middle of a crosswalk to question myself. 'Why that? I don't even know what that means.' You dig a little deeper & you get personal & you realize, or I realize, that my mind is telling me something maybe a little bit deeper or darker than I expected. At those moments I get really excited about writing, because I know that I can really dig in & see what's going on. It's often inspired by a moment of complete spontaneity. It comes from out of nowhere, like struck by lightning or something.
AJ: What's the hardest part of composing for you?
SHAYFER: The hardest part ...
AJ: Or challenging.
SHAYFER: I guess the most challenging part at times is being patient with myself. I think inspiration can be, & I said this to some friends, inspiration is a bit of a whore. She goes off & she does whatever she does & then she comes back. You get a little bit upset about it, then you realize she learned a whole lot while she was gone & you can embrace that. So, I think the most frustrating thing is being patient enough with myself. Not to pressure myself to write. I try not to. I try to just wait. I want to write. I want to constantly be creating, but there are some days when you get up & if you're trying too hard you're making a terrible mistake.
AJ: Speaking of patience, you actually go into something I've heard you talk about in other interviews & I want to bring it up just briefly, because you're the only person I've heard had this situation & this is a situation that called for patience. That is the story of learning to play piano as therapy for your hands. Would you mind sharing again how you got started on the piano? You know the story I'm referring to.
SHAYFER: From what I remember. When I was very young I lived on a rather large property & there was a tractor used to haul & move things. I was on my father's lap. He put me down. The tractor was running. There was a hole in front of the tractor. I stuck my hand in front of the tractor & the fanbelts stripped away a good part of tissue, you know, scarred flesh, twisted, cracked some knuckles. So, just under 2 years old I was sitting with my hand stitched on to my abdomen to graft skin on for the damage that had been done. Doctors said to my mother, 'He'll write, but it will have to be with his left hand. He'll not be able to this. He'll not be able to do that." My mother refused to believe that, of course, so she thought the best way to have therapy would be to sit with me at the piano. She would sit with me on her lap & she would exercise these 2 damaged fingers on my right hand & get them working & get them to a place. I never went with the doctors' ...
AJ: Recommendations.
SHAYFER: Yeah, with all that happened. They thought I would be in special classes or what have you & never have that problem. Eventually, years later, when lightning struck the first time & I decided to write a song, it wasn't the guitar, it wasn't the bass, it was the keyboard that attracted me. I think that's for a really really heavy & personal reason that I didn't even really fully understand even at the time.
AJ: It was just ingrained, the piano, the fingers. It moved beyond the therapy. I will add something else to the health benefits of playing an instrument. I have a friend here in NYC, 96 year year old piano player Irving Fields [in 2015 he turned 100 & still playing weekly]. He still performs 6 nights a week here in Manhattan. Probably one of the oldest folks I know performing this steady. He has horrible disfiguring arthritis in both hands. He says the piano playing keeps the pain away, because he doesn't take medicine. He's not in pain.
SHAYFER: Now that's some crazy shit right there.
AJ: He says he won't stop partly because his fingers will cramp up again. So, a piano, unlike other instruments, has mysterious healing properties that people may or may not realize.
SHAYFER: I can play other instruments & I've written on other instruments, but there's something about the piano. It's just such a beast. Just crazy. Maybe it's appreciated by some people, maybe under-appreciated by a lot of people, but it really is a profound instrument.
AJ: & we all have an instrument that we connect with. There's certain instruments that better bring out music in you than another instrument.
SHAYFER: Sure, sure.
AJ: & then there's other instruments ... the ukulele isn't happening for me. I'm not getting any inspiration out of this kazoo.
SHAYER: It's true. I can't play the cello, but there's no instrument I've heard so far that makes me feel like the cello does when I listen to it. You know, when I listen to the piano I hear piano. When I hear other people play piano the performances are beautiful. I enjoy listening themselves through any instrument. But, good God, the cello. There's just something in that instrument that just resonates with me that is just absolutely incredible. But, I can't play it. I wish I knew every celloist in the world so I could call someone everyday & say 'Hey, you want to come by & play the cello?' & never feel like I was imposing on a friend.
AJ: I understand that. The cello has this very nice tone. I have something with trombones. I hate trumpets & saxophones. It's like they are too tinny, so I don't listen to horn music much. I can't hear what they're playing. But, if you pull out a trombone it's like I'm swooning. I can't play any horn at all. Then, when you're getting into that mood it brings out things in you, like albums, like The Owl & The Elephant. When I first heard this album, a year or so ago when you sent it to me, & I could feel that there was an artist or a composer behind this writing a book, writing a story. Now, I didn't necessarily get the story on the first listen & that's normal, but I could feel that there was this flow of people & places & things. Later on I read an interview with you that said, either you described it or the interviewer described it as a book with 2 parts & an epilogue. Will you tell a little bit about your album? Or, I should say your novel?
SHAYFER: I wrote the album rather quickly & it was during a time of ... recently my father had died, there was a lot of heavy heavy, you know, unpleasant stuff happening. So, that was the inspiration for it. It was sort of a tunnel. You know, they say, I could have gone about my days & just dealt with it the old fashioned way, whatever that means, but I decided to just go deep into what I was feeling & what I was experiencing. So, a lot of the album is about that, particularly my father's death & what that relationship meant. & then as I analyze the relationship with him I analyzed the other relationships in my life & what they meant. It was really self-exploratory. The album begins in a way ... even as I was writing it I knew what the order of songs would be. It's sort of bizarre in that respect, as I knew how it would go. When you say a novel you're not too far off, because as I was creating it I had ... I didn't go out at it saying I'm going to write this plot, but as I was writing it was like they all made perfect sense together in this particular order.
AJ: They're strung together.
SHAYFER: Yeah, yeah. You often hear artists say how the album order would go & that it was a pain in the ass. The album order was actually the easiest thing for me. It went without saying. So, yeah, I think there are 2 parts. I think they are pretty distinct. You finish "Tombstone Road", which is track 5 & then you get a song called "Your Father's Son" & from there it sort of slips back downward into the depths. The epilogue is, of course, "For Now Goodbye." The interesting thing about "For Now Goodbye" & "For When Heaven Closes" is they were after-thoughts. Those 2 songs were actually added during the recording process. I had written them both really after most of the album had been recorded. After I wrote them I said 'These have to be on the record. They have to be on the album. This makes perfect sense.' I actually ditched a couple of songs in favor of the new songs that made sense. & the great thing about the couple songs that I ditched is I don't even remember what they sounded like. So, I know this was a good addition.
AJ: No bootleg Shayfer James recordings.
SHAYFER: Not for those anyway. Plenty exist, but not those.
AJ: At the same time, your songs do string together, but yet they can be taken out of context. So, you're not struggling with a live concert where you have to do the songs in this order to tell a story. They can be mixed & matched & they still breathe & are understood.
SHAYFER: Right. I think that part of songwriting is when you're struck with an idea you take it & you mold it in a way that's not dishonest, but makes sense so that it can exist. Because what's the point in doing something so cryptic & so removed from yourself? Because if its so cryptic & removed from yourself, so bizarre that no one will understand it, then where's your message going? It's going as far as your bedroom. So, there's a way to write a song, I think, again I don't necessarily think about it, but I don't believe you should just kinda purge & think 'oh yeah, this is good enough.' Sometimes things are for you. They are totally personal & that's okay, you know.
AJ: You feel it, what you're trying to say. Outside of here you don't think about this stuff. I want to talk about the new album. But, before I do I want to say there's so many great songs you've done & they're all a little different. There's just piano. You've done stuff with the band. Some are up, some are down. That's a compliment, as you've crafted something where it's hard to pick favorites as they all show different sides to your personality. If you have a single from the album it's certainly "Life Is Beautiful." I know you have a video already for this on youtube & it's the lead-in song to the album. Shayfer, I like your arrangements. I like the quirkiness, for lack of a better word, & unpredictability of your playing. It feels different, even if it's compositionally not. I find that one of the most attractive things in your playing style.
SHAYFER: Thank you.
AJ: You are unpredictable & quirky both in your piano playing & singing.
SHAYFER: Thank you.
AJ: But, you've mentioned that The Owl & The Elephant was in the shadow of your father's death. If I'm right you've had some other deaths & some things in your circle that have fed into the new album, Counterfeit Arcade. Let's talk about this new release.
SHAYFER: The album will be available next month & then soon after the formal release event will be at NYC's Bowery Electric. When you talk about the new album as more personal than the last ... it was written over the course of a year, rather than a few. The last album was written quickly, but there were some songs that were, you know, that I had time to sit with & you know ...
AJ: Flesh out?
SHAYFER: Yeah, to flesh out & to think about & say 'Where do I go with this? Is it right? Yeah, it was right.' Sometimes what I'll do is I'll take a song completely in the wrong direction & then go back & put it on the record the way it was when I first wrote it. You know that's sort of part of the process. So, while the last album wasn't long term, it wasn't as fast as the new album, which was really truly written over a year. I think because of that it's more of a journal. It's more of a personal exploration. I feel like the storytelling is still there, but it's definitely closer to me. In fact, the guys in the band will tell you when we left the recording process I sort of had this weird decompression where I felt as though I had accomplished nothing. Maybe it's some sort of post-postpartum bullshit. I don't know what it was, but I really was sort of at odds with what I had just done. Then a few weeks later I listened to it & said 'I did it. This is exactly what I wanted.' That's how personal it actually was. The passing of my grandfather was just massive to me. He was a part of my life. I can't put into words, so I guess that's why I wrote the song. It's called "L.V.S. (Your Lady Waits)", which are his initials. I can't think of anything more solemn than his dying, but he was a beautiful life & want to celebrate. But, certainly he is missed every moment. He's my mentor in many ways. He taught me to be the man I am, so its definitely complicated & equally beautiful & dark in its own way.
AJ: What does the album name mean or imply?
SHAYFER: There's a song called "Weight Of The World", which is the first track on the new album, & "counterfeit arcade" is one of the lines. The line is: "Beneath the crumbling arches of our counterfeit arcade." To me it means many things. It means a personal illusion. We have this idea of ourselves, what's right & what's wrong & all stuff often goes to shit in the face of various circumstances. & we live within these false walls, false columns, under false lofty beautiful ceilings of stained glass. But, what it is really? You know, we made it pretty, but how much weight can it bear? But, I think it also extends, because some of the album is reflective of the nature of the world, of our race, of our species, & we are very much built just that a counterfeit arcade, I think. We're past the point of no return in a lot of ways. So, I think it has a few meanings. That's why that line from the record. I don't really like naming albums after songs. I don't think a song defines an album. I think a concept does & what was the best line from the record that sort of encompassed everything & I felt like that was it.
AJ: I like what you just said. ... This album may not be the story that The Owl & The Elephant was, it's more of a journal. Obviously on a personal level you have gone through some difficult stuff. You've hinted at how Shayfer James has changed as a person & how this is a more personal album, but how has Shayfer James changed as a musician with the new album?
SHAYFER: Great question. For me, it's more generally upbeat than the last one. When I was doing the arranging & the writing I found myself moving my body a bit more when I was writing the grooves. It may not be upbeat as compared to say punk or any number of genres, but for me there's sort of a danceable aspect to it. That was something I flirted with on "Tombstone Road" & "Your Father's Son" on the last record. & I just sort of pushed that a little bit, not to say I didn't push the ballads either. I think I pushed those further as well. There's a new song called "Peace", which is actually just simple drone, prepared piano, cello & vocal. I wrote it as sort of ... I've had pretty extreme nightmares most of my life & I felt like I needed to create some sort of oral representation of those. So that's what I set out to do with that song. That song is called, ironically, "Peace." I think I've pushed it. & working with the guys in the band in the studio, whereas The Owl & The Elephant was really based around music that I had recorded, then bringing in musicians & having them play with the stuff I had done already. It was a backward process & I'm very proud of it, but it was, in terms of the recording process, it was very backward. & what's amazing with Counterfeit Arcade is I went in with a live group who knew these songs & we'd rehearsed these songs, so the rhythm section was allowed to be a rhythm section, you know. Dusty Jones [drums] & Jeremy Gillespie [bass] were allowed to breathe with the parts rather than The Owl & The Elephant which had to be very regimented & very strict in the way I was presenting it. The arrangements were true, but the way we had to translate it to tape was very strict. This breathes, it moves, it's not cut to grid, it's not edited within an inch of its life. It's just real & I'm very very excited about that. I think all the guys are too, because I think it represents their personalities as players.
AJ: It's interesting, as you've said this is an album written in light of tragedy, but it's the most upbeat & free-flowing of the music you've created so far.
SHAYFER: Definitely.
AJ: 2 extremes in the same sentence.
SHAYFER: It's the truth & I think that's pretty much how it goes generally anyway.
AJ: Shayfer, we've coming to the end of our time together. I've enjoyed & am very pleased to be able to talk to you tonight. One of these days when you perform in Manhattan I will come & introduce myself. I want to ask if there's anything we've not touched on that you want to share still?
SHAYFER: I am forever grateful for my band & everyone whose involved & supports me. I've been lucky enough to attract a group of people who are not just on board to play music, but who actually believe that what I'm doing is something special. I think that is, you know, I couldn't be more grateful & more appreciative of that. That's really the most important thing I have to say. I could be all fire & brimstone. I could be all self-promotion. But, I won't be. I think I'll leave it at that. I'll just keep making music & hope that folks like you continue to appreciate & spread it around.
AJ: That's my job. This is my music. My music is to share your music. So, for the last hour together we've been in a band together & you just didn't know it.
SHAYFER: I haven't been drinking nearly enough if that's the case.
AJ: The night is still young. There is one more question I want to ask you. On one hand maybe it's a very simple question, on the other hand it could be very difficult. Outside the new album, what is the future of the music of Shayfer James? Where does he want to go next?
SHAYFER: I'm already halfway through writing the next record.
AJ: Alright.
SHAYFER: I finished the 5th song today. So, as far as where I want to go, I'm really already there. Creatively speaking. I think in terms of touring there's a lot to be done, there's a lot of ground to be covered. I'm lucky to have brothers-in-arms who will go there with me. I think a lot of it lies now, the album will come out & we will just wear down our boots boots as thin as we have to to get it out there. The creatively speaking is I don't really stop & I can't stop writing or creating, so I've never necessarily had a drought. I'm sure it will come at some point. Like I said, she's a whore & she leaves me once in awhile, but she comes back & she's ready to participate. I've never really had down time. I wake up in the morning & I'm writing. Normally when I'm falling asleep I'm writing as well. It's what puts me to sleep. But, I think there's a lot of work to be done & a lot of ground to cover otherwise to get this music out there.
AJ: So, Shayfer James, the man whose writing puts him asleep. I think we'll leave that one off the promo.
SHAYFER: Now you made it sound terrible. I'm boring myself.
AJ: But, my audience loves it.
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