A Conversation with Jim Photoglo (continued)
PM: So we've talked a lot about songwriters and songwriting, but writing songs for this band, this project, has got to be a very different process than writing for any other band, or writing for the Row. How do you describe writing for this project?
JP: Well, I can tell you, for one thing, that it was one of the most inspiring things that ever happened to me. When Josh made the call about doing this, I was on vacation in Hawaii with my wife. It was our last vacation. She was pregnant, and we knew that we would sort of be tied to home after that. So we took this great vacation.
And Josh had called. I remember sitting there, on the phone talking to him and looking out over the ocean. And he's describing what he wants to do. He wants to make this Beatles record. And I heard the music to what became "Chocolate Cake." I mean, I could see it. And that wasn't happening to me so much anymore, being a writer for the Row. You know, suddenly all the limiters were off. It was totally freeing.
Also lyrically it was wide open. It put me in a position where I was able to, like I say, just think out of the box, and think in different tonalities and in different time signatures. I did, like, sound effects and stuff on this record, and scored strings and stuff. So it was very liberating.
My two contributions as a writer to this work are "Chocolate Cake," which is very much in the Walrus period, more experimental; and the other one is called "I Took a Chance," which really is deliberately about them in their more youthful, "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" period. Much more adolescent lyric content. Like from the period of--what I remember as being called Beatles Six was the American release, but I think the original English release was With The Beatles. It was when they were just starting to--well, I can't remember the names of the songs. One of them was "What You're Doing." Another one was [singing] "When I'm walking beside her, people tell me I'm lucky..."
PM: "Every Little Thing."
JP: Yeah, that's musically where I heard this song. That's really what we were going for.
Those were my two contributions. And then you can see what everybody else did, man. Then it just became really great opportunities to do some interesting production things. I mean, all the things that you heard on Beatle records, where vocals were panned really hard right and hard left, and stuff like that, it's all on there. You know, all of a sudden the fuzz bass comes and goes. Very cool stuff. Obviously the impression that the Beatles made was so deep that everybody was able to call this stuff up and remember it in detail--
PM: Because it's in every cell of their body.
JP: Yeah, absolutely.
PM: So how are you guys marketing this CD?
JP: Well, at this point, we're sort of figuring it out as we go. I don't think we're going to go to a label, but I think we're going to put it out. We've got a website up, VinylKings.com, and we've--you know, the thing isn't even released yet, and it's been making big noise on CD Baby.
PM: What a great site that is.
JP: Yeah. Well, those guys really got it down.
PM: Derek Sivers is the man.
JP: Yeah. My solo CD was hooked up with them, so I had some experience with those guys. So when it came time, I talked those guys up, because I really felt like they were the way to go. And I'm glad I did, because everybody has been really happy with the way those guys have treated us. Derek gave us his own personal endorsement. If you look at our page on CD Baby, you'll see a quote from Derek Sivers. And then he also put us on the front page of their website for three days. We're also an Editor's Pick at CD Baby. And I think all that is responsible for the fact that we're one of their best sellers now.
PM: And it's not even released yet. But there's going to be a big CD release in Nashville.
JP: September 22nd.
PM:
Well, I'll be there, I know that, because I'm there every time I'm in
town. Let's see, what else do we need to say about the VKs?
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