Interviews

Chuck Ragan

Interview with Chuck Ragan on Nov 26, 2007 by

A bunch of my friends in Chicago kept telling me how nice of a guy Chuck Ragan is. So, when he decided to come to the Midwest for a one-off acoustic show with Chris McCaughan [Sundowner] and Matt Skiba of the Alkaline Trio, I thought it would be a good time to see if they were right. They were. Chuck and I sat in the basement of the Metro in Chicago drinking Guinness and smoking cigarettes for almost forty-five minutes. We talked about his new records, Feast or Famine and Los Feliz, as well as the way the music scene has changed over the years. Chuck is an amazing fella and I am honored to say I got to sit and chat with him. Enjoy!

By: Ian Lashbrook

You wanna go ahead and introduce yourself first?

Chuck Ragan: Ohh, yeah! My name is Chuck Ragan and I'm here talkin' with you. I'm here to play a show with my buddies Chris [McCaughan] and Matt [Skiba] and Neil [Hennessy] and Eli [Caterer].

You've been kind of out of the [touring] circuit for a bit since Los Feliz and Feast of Famine came out...you're heading over to Germany and Europe...

CR: Yeah, I'm actually not on tour, my wife and I just flew in for this show in particular, but we are gonna go over with Muff Potter, a German band over there, in September and October and we're gonna be doin' dates in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, and some UK dates. I'm gonna do a bunch of stuff on my own as well while I'm over there.

Do you do anything in particular to prepare for goin' out since this will be your first time touring in a...while?

CR: Uhh...I work a lot when I'm home. I'm a contractor, carpenter, so when I'm home, I'm workin' 24/6 pretty much...some times 24/7 [laughs]. It's brutal, ya know? I love it and ya gotta do it...well, I have to do it. I enjoy it and it's just what I do but when I'm not workin' we try and get out and play a few shows here and there. I'm not really amped up on doing long tours at all anymore. I'm just kinda at that age where I enjoy being home and I enjoy having my time and spending time with my wife, fishing and working and just learning more of my trade and everything. I enjoy getting out and playing a week of shows here, couple weeks here and there. This European tour is actually the longest...we're gonna do this stretch and after we do that, I just don't wanna do any stretches as long as that anymore. But we figure, if we're goin' that far over...and it's a hell of a lot different tourin'; it's just my wife and I when we travel, so when we go out, we're super low maintenance and we stay where we wanna stay and we go when we wanna go and it's good that way. It's a lot different than travelin' with seven other people and basically living on an agenda based on a group of people. You don't always exactly eat where and what you wanna eat, you're not always where you really wanna be, most of the time there's not a lot of personal space. So, it's different, entirely, which is why I'm doin' it.

Does your preparation as a performer go any different now than it did with a band?

CR: My preparation includes comin' home from work, firin' up the grill, and if my guitar is layin' around, pickin' it up and sittin' down and pickin' some songs.

Sounds like the right way to prepare.

CR: Honestly, since we've been doin' it this way, I gotta say, it's truly, truly liberating. And I don't take anything for granted. I've done a lot of work to get to where I am now, with the help of being in How Water Music, of course. That's why I'm able to do a lot of this stuff, that's why labels were interested, and that's why, right away, there are a few people out who wanna see the show. I was really lucky in that sense and feel blessed for that.

How did the relationship with SideOneDummy come about?

CR: That came about...I was playin' a little joint down the street from my house called the Silver Lake Lounge and a friend of ours came out by the name of Ashley. She, actually, is Joe Sib and Bill Armstrong's assistant. She works for SideOneDummy and also is one of the producers for Complete Control Radio. And we were just hangin' out and Jill and I were talkin' to her and she mentioned that she worked for Joe Sib and that I should come in and play on the radio. I was like, "Yeah, set it up, I'll be there." So she set up a time and I went in and played a couple songs on Complete Control Radio and...I've known Joe Sib for years, so it was good seein' him again and we just kinda rekindled our acquaintance and just started talkin' from there. Then they came back and said that they were really interested in puttin' out some music and it kinda went from there. How Los Feliz and all this came about is...I had already been hooked up with No Idea Records, I had done the 7" singles collection and I had a whole bunch of songs that I just...ya know, I write a lot, or as much as I can. Usually I have a collection of songs. I was pretty prepared and said, "Ya know, if guys are up for doin' some records, I got songs and let's do it!" I actually had a couple live recordings. One we were sellin' on the road as a bootleg, a recording called Live at the Troubadour that we did. We were sellin' that and originally, SideOne, they were like, "Well, we could take that and we could put that out to just kinda help promote the studio record that was to come." I thought that was a great idea but then some people at SideOne had the idea of trying to book another show and set it specifically to record and do it just in a small place and invite some friends and I was cool with that, so we did it and it worked. But I actually recorded Los Feliz, played that show and recorded that record, and tracked Feast or Famine all within the same week pretty much. I went into the studio, started tracking Feast or Famine and we tracked for about six or seven days straight, took one day off, played the show, and then went right back into the studio. It was kinda cool for me, I mean, I recorded two records in a week. So that's how that came about.

Yeah, it's great because whenever we talk to them, they're always psyched about their bands and doing whatever they can. And they have a roster to be psyched about...

CR: Yeah, that whole gang down there, they work so hard and they are so good at what they do...mainly because, it's simple, they just care. They care. A lot of them have been there, been in that position, been in bands and been on the road, they know what's goin' on, they know how hard it can be, know how frustrating it can be and a lot of them are on the other side of it now, where they just...I mean, I am proud to work with them, but I consider all those people our friends. And to have a working relationship with someone and feel that way about it means everything to me. That's why we're on that label; I just can't see it any other way

Why did you decide to do Los Feliz before Feast or Famine?

CR: It was kind of a last minute thing where it was like, "Well, we have this now, let's put it out just to get something out there." The more I started thinking' about it, the more I liked the idea of a live record comin' out first. What I'm doin', it's not that fancy, it's not that groundbreaking; I'm a guy with acoustic guitars and harmonicas and it's something that's been done for years and years and years by hundreds and hundreds of people. I enjoy playing songs that mean something to me and having fun with it. And to put out a live record, especially that one cause it was a great night and the recording...I hear it and it just feels and sounds exactly the way that night felt to me. It was just a bunch of friends in a room goofin' off and havin' fun and it didn't matter that there was a tape rollin' and it didn't matter that there were mics set up and whatnot, it didn't matter. That, to me, is as real and as stripped down and raw and live as it gets and it meant something to me to throw that out there and be like, "This is it. If you come see the show, this is about as good as it's gonna get." If you like that, cool, if not, that's fine, too. Ya know? That's it. It is what it is. I like the idea...it's backwards than the way most people do it.

That's what I kind of liked about it...it was almost like an appetizer to the full course, but a good appetizer!. You got a good sense of the songs before Feast or Famine came out. It's interesting because having a live album come first, it's like an introduction, it's like meeting somebody, and then Feast or Famine is like hanging out with somebody.

CR: I got you.

And it's good to me cause you get somebody as a complete artist as opposed to just knowing them through a studio, which is very impersonal. It‘s great, but it can be impersonal. But the live album, it's like you said, it's like you're there. You could raise a beer just listenin' to it while you got on your headphones.

[laughter]

So, do you prefer being in the studio, the freedom of the studio, or do you prefer being on the road and playing to an audience?

CR: I love them both. I love'em both in completely different ways. I love...I loved this Feast or Famine, that whole session was awesome to me cause it was really the first time that I had ever been able...I mean, in Hot Water, me and all my guys, we did a lot of stuff together and we all had a blast doing a lot of sessions, a lot of writing, a lot of recording. But when you're collaborating with three other people, or however many people are in your band, you're always...you have to agree, you have to be on the same page. It's a give and take kind of thing. Sometimes, you write parts everybody likes and sometimes nobody likes it and vice versa for everyone and it's like, "Nah, we're not gonna do that," or "Nah, we can't do that," or "Yeah, let's do that," or whatever. And this session was the first time that...it was so liberating because I wrote it and it was like, as long as it makes sense and feels good to me, let's call it a song, let's do it. And to have the freedom to be like, "Yeah, I wanna put an accordion there. I wanna banjo to come in here. Raise that. Lower that." And I was workin' with Ted Hutt, a great producer, and he was super cool to work with and was really game on my ideas and he had a lot of really great ideas himself, so I just felt like that was the most free I've ever felt in the studio before. There was really nothing to hold me back other than myself. That's what I enjoyed about that. But it's different...there's nothing like playin' live and playin' in front of people. It's scary as shit, but that's what I enjoy the most about it.

Still get nervous?

CR: Yeah, absolutely. But that's the beauty of it. It's like walkin' up to the foot of a cliff and sayin', "I'm gonna climb that thing." Gettin' to the top of it, lookin' down and bein' like, "Man, I just did that."

How is a song written for you? You talked about barbequin' and hangin' out...does stuff just sorta pop up?

CR: Yeah, a lot of them, the majority of them, I constantly come up with little bits and lay'em down and record ideas and I've got stacks of bits and pieces and pages and pages of...either a full page of lyrics, or just a sentence that really means something, I just don't know what, ya know? It varies all the time. Sometimes, I'll have a part that I've been messin' around with for ages and then one day it kinda clicks and everything falls into place. Sometimes, I just kinda feel the angst or the need to sit down and just kinda get my thoughts out and I do that, and if I like it or it makes sense, I'll come up with a melody for it. Or sometimes, it begins with just a melody. But a lot of these songs, the majority of these songs, came from...my wife and I, Jill and I, go to this place in June Lake, California, over by Mammoth, and we have a friend who owns a little modest cabin up there in June Lake, so we go there sometimes and rent out their little cabin and either go there in the summer to fish or whatnot, or we go there in the winter to snowboard. And it's a little two bedroom cabin, and my wife, she writes screenplays, she's a phenomenal writer, but we'll go up there and wake up, have our coffee in the mornin' and then she goes to her room and I go to my room and I work on music and she works on her writing and we come together to have lunch and go snowboarding for a little bit and come back and do our things...

That sounds just about the right thing to do!

CR: Yeah, absolutely. It's amazing. Originally, that's where I wanted to record Feast or Famine and the way I wanted to do it was to just pull a bunch of friends together and grab a bunch of gear and my buddy Mitchell Townsend, or an engineer, and just go up to the cabin and just pack everybody in to just live up there for a couple weeks and just record it in a very old school way, just set up mics in the room and just kind of document that time, just run tape and just play and record whatever comes out, keep what's good, throw away what's bad and make some sense of it all. Unfortunately, the budget we were workin' with didn't work. But one day...a majority of the old records, a lot of the old classics, that's how a lot of them were recorded. They didn't have the technology they have today where you can mess around...ya know, you've got one guy on the other side of the country layin' down guitar tracks and sendin' them back to California. So, it's like, "Alright, the time is now. Let's work on this song until it does not get any better." And them when everyone looks around and is like, "Alright, let's cut it," hit that fuckin' button and do it. That's the way that I would like to do a record. I'm stoked with Feast or Famine, I think it came out great, I'm super, super proud of it, but I'm just amped to do the next one. I'm ready.

Well, Feast or Famine seems to walk a fine line between the personal and the political. Do you find one side or the other easier to commit to tape?

CR: To me, it's kind of one and the same. I guess what you're probably talkin' about bein' a political song is totally personal, too. I don't know how to answer that; I guess it's all the same. Like I was sayin' before, just kinda bein' one guy, when it makes sense to me and when it feels right to me, and it flows and there's no hang-ups or kinks and I'm like, "Alright." It may not be the best song ever written, but to me that feels good, that's the song and let's record it. In a sense, they're all personal, whether the lyrics or the energy dabbles in the politics or love or cutting wood.

How has the audience reaction at the live shows you have played been to the acoustic approach?

CR: Man, I gotta say, I'm just overwhelmed with the response and the support and just the energy that people have shown. I had no idea and I had no goals other than that I just wanted to make a record, that's it, I just wanted to write a record and put out a record. The fact that people are so fired up and into this stuff is just beyond me. I don't know. It's hard to even begin to express the gratitude that I have not only for all the old Hot Water friends and fans that have been with us from years back or anew that have come and check it out and been like, "Man, I love what you're doin', this is great and different." There's been a number of people that don't know anything about Hot Water, don't know anything about the last fifteen, sixteen, seventeen years of my life and they're just there by circumstance or just there by a friend goin', " Hey, come and check this out." And all ages, too! Little kids, four, five year old kids who dance around and enjoy playin' harmonica with me to sixty, seventy year old people who are like, "I heard this song and it reminded me of when I was in the war." It's intense. I don't know how to even answer that other than that I'm just completely overwhelmed and filled with gratitude that people are into it.

Was this something that you wanted to do while you were in How Water?

CR: As far as doin' a solo record, absolutely. I think any musician that really loves all aspects of music and playing and writing and recording, if they write themselves, all of them have that dream somewhere in the back of their head where they wanna make that record where they play bass and drums and guitar. At least all of my friends did. Everyone in Hot Water, we all talked about it all the time, among hundreds of other friends who were in music. I guess, yeah, I've always wanted to do a record myself, but time never served. We stayed busy as a band for a long time and as far as the styling goes, it wasn't any different; I played Hot Water stuff but then always sat around on my porch and played. I grew up in a pretty conservative Southern Baptist home, so I heard old southern gospel and bluegrass and old tunes like that from an early age on. Met up with a buddy of mine who's dad used to build skateboard ramps and he would blast Credence Clearwater Revival while we were little and that was when I kinda got into carpentry and learned about CCR and it was kind of a strong turning point. I guess I've always loved the styling of the music I'm doin'. It's always been there.

Are there any other areas of music that you would want to dabble in?

CR: Ohh, absolutely. Right now, there's an artist, a friend of mine, great guy, named Austin Lucas, I don't know if you've ever heard of him. Fantastic artist and he's gonna be touring in the States comin' up pretty soon here. He actually lives in Prague. He's from Ohio, I believe, but just a phenomenal musician, phenomenal vocalist, and he's just got it. But him and I, we did a split together on a label called Hometown Caravan out of Germany. We did that split and played a couple of shows when he was over in the States last year and him and I started talkin' about doin' a full on, very strict, traditional bluegrass record. His dad is really tied in with an old scene, a lot of old players around West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, this whole bluegrass circuit. The whole idea we had was that we wanted to do six originals and then six old standards and put it out just for the fun of it, maybe play some shows here and there with that stuff, just to have it for us and our friends and our families. So, that's something we're talkin' about doin' around Thanksgiving. Just a very, very strict bluegrass, straight up bluegrass record. But there's a lot of stuff that I'd love to play, but I don't know if I'd ever be able to play [laughter]. I cut my hand a while back...

Yeah, I just read about that today while I was researching some stuff. It was some pretty crazy shit...

CR: Yeah, it was a scary time because I didn't know if I was ever gonna be able to use this thing again, ya know? And between my carpentry work and music, I mean, there goes that; I'm too old to be a pro skateboarder, I don't think I'd go too far! But it was tough. I severed four tendons, an artery, and all the nerves and it was just a mess. But when I did that and I was goin' through months of physical therapy, the idea was that I wanted to start playin' flamenco and classical cause I figured it would be good therapy...but I'm just horrible at it! [laughter] I'd love to play that style, but...

What were your influences, when you first started How Water and first started being in a touring band, versus what you draw inspiration from now? I'm sure it's changed over the years...

CR: It's changed, but a lot of it is completely the same...

At this point, Chuck's phone went off and he had to take a call. We soon continued our talk.

CR: Jill manages everything.

Yeah, that was great when I got the email to do the interview, it said to just call Jill.

CR: She's amazing. It's not that...we tried management at first and it just didn't work for us. We work really fast together. I mean, it's the two of us, so there's nothing to run by anybody else, we just look at each other and agree or don't agree and move on.

How is it balancing a career with a family?

CR: Well, we don't have any kids right now, so we're...we spend the majority of our time doing preparation for releases and tours and whatnot and Jill does most of that work and I'm out in the field cuttin' big sticks into little sticks.

Umm...

CR: Where did we leave off? What were we talkin' about? Take your time, man...influences?

Yeah, influences. What do you like now versus then?

CR: It hasn't changed really hardly at all. Basically, the majority...I mean, Hot Water, we had tons of influences, it ranged all over the place. George [Rebelo] and Jason [Black] came from a very jazz oriented background in their schooling, they were schooled musicians. Chris [Wollard] and I were totally self taught and all of us listened to punk rock and rock n roll. Everybody grew up with classic rock or whatnot, all kinds of stuff. So, musically, the influences were all across the board, but once we kinda got rollin', our main influences and everything on which we based the band around - and that's musically, ethically, the way we worked, the way we acted towards each other, other bands, promoters, venues, whatever - came from learning from friends and other bands who were on the road. And we just turned into a well-oiled, strong touring machine and we had it down better than I can ever imagine; we just did it and we knew and we went and made it happen and covered all our bases. But the way we were able to do that was from watching bands and learning from bands and asking questions, ya know? Bands like Avail, they were huge for us and a turning point because when we were kind of kicking off, those guys had already been on the road for six, seven, eight years already, something like that. It was people like that and it just went on from there. Bands like The [Alkaline] Trio and the Bouncing Souls and Flogging Molly and the list just goes on and on, but we pulled a lot of our inspiration and influences, our ethics and a lot of our street smarts from bands who we were neck and neck with and travelin' with on the road. And it's still that way for me in a lot of ways; I have a lot of classic influences and whatnot, but I kinda look around at what my friends are doin' and what we've done and what I've learned from all these guys and all these years that I've been out touring and whatnot and it's where it comes from.

It's funny, too, because Tim [Barry] from Avail went and released his record on Suburban Home and Chris [McCoughan] from the Lawrence Arms, it's interesting to see all these guys putting out folksier renditions of what they used to do or are still doing. Especially Tim's record; I was blown away. That record spoke to me like I couldn't believe.

CR: Yeah, it's fantastic.

It blew me away. It's the epitome of somebody really putting down exactly what they think.

CR: Yeah, absolutely. He's livin' it.

It was strange to hear that and then hear that Chuck Ragan was gonna do a solo record...and Tim, I think, was on Feast or Famine and did some back up vocals...?

CR: He was actually on the 7" that was put out...his vocals didn't make it on the record, but his sister and Josh Small, who plays with them, are on Feast or Famine, but he was in that session. They came in on day one and if they had been there a few days later, they probably would have been on there a lot more, but they were literally there on day one and we made something happen.

So, you did this 7" singles club, a very DIY, vinyl release thing with No Idea [Records] and it seems like that, especially vinyl, is really dying away, especially in the last four or five years as punk rock goes more mainstream. What are your thoughts on that kind of release versus the advent of the internet and things like Myspace and Purevolume and the digital marketplace. What do think of that switch in the way someone gets their art out there?

CR: I think for bands, those sites that you mentioned and having that tool is crucial nowadays and it's amazing and it makes things...it's kind of a catch twenty-two because I personally think it makes things so much easier for bands to get their music out there immediately. But, at the same time, it makes it a lot harder for bands to make a living at it because the record industry is changing, not as many records are basically sold, so it's making it harder for bands to actually make a living on it, at least from what I know. I feel like I try and learn as much as possible but I still feel totally ignorant in the game at the same time. As far as you asking about vinyl, personally, I don't think the vinyl cult will ever die. To me, it's gone when I get rid of my records and that's when what I know as I know it is gone. And I don't ever plan on doin' that. I think that there's thousands upon thousands of people out there like that. There's something about holding a piece of wax that has music physically pressed into it, etched into it, and holding that material and that piece and putting it on and listening to it time and time again and hearin' scratches and inconsistencies and all that. There's something about that, there's something about it that somehow carries a certain part of the soul over, just like a digital recording. It's the same argument with...I talk to a lot of friends and artists, it's the same argument about recording on Pro Tools or cuttin' straight to tape. Everybody has their own preferences and ideas and whatnot, but it's just...I don't know. I hope that the vinyl world doesn't ever go away. I really don't think it will. There's always gonna be people there. It may grow and shrink at certain times, but I think it'll be there. One way or another, somebody's gonna make it happen. And the more limited and rare it is, to me, sometimes that's more special records.

Awesome. Okay, we'll finish up; what's your favorite drink?

CR: Uhh, Limeade.

Limeade?

CR: Yeah.

Favorite drink with alcohol?

CR: Ohh. Jameson with ginger ale.

We don't do that no alcohol bullshit.

CR: Well, you asked me what my favorite drink was! [laughter]

Favorite venue in the world to play?

CR: Ohh, man. That's a really, really, really tough one. I'd have to say, possibly, the Art House in Melbourne, Australia. Yeah. It's a damn fine establishment.

Do you have any last words or any questions for me?

CR: No, man. I wanna thank you and shake your hand and just show my appreciation to you. It's really cool and thank for takin' the time.

Thank you.

A big thanks to Chuck for taking the time and providing the beers. Also, thanks to Alexis over at ID PR for setting everything up.

www.chuckraganmusic.com

www.myspace.com/chuckragan

www.sideonedummy.com