A brief aside from mathmanmrt -- This interview took place in an exchange of e-mails and I have left Adam's responses in the state of punctuation and capitalization in which they were sent because I think they convey the flavor of his style much better than if I had edited them. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.
mathmanmrt: Your myspace page says you're from Arkansas.Is that where you grew up? If not, where did you grow up?
Adam Faucett: yep. Arkansas born and raised. I've lived all over the state but mostly in the small towns of Benton, {where sling blade was filmed} and Russellville. It was in Russellville where I started the band Taught The Rabbits with an old friend from Benton high in 2001 while working on my BFA.
mathmanmrt: When did you first get interested in music and performing? Was there a friend, relative, or artist who inspired you interest? Talk about that if you would.
Adam Faucett: i have been telling stories, and writing songs my whole life. before i could play the guitar i would sit at the old up right piano in our benton home and peck out soundtracks to movies i have yet to make and pretend to put on operas for my cat cosmo.
mathmanmrt: You were previously in a band called Taught the Rabbits. In what way or ways do you feel like that experience helped you grow as a musician?
Adam Faucett: That band was my child, and all my efforts outside of art school were poured into the four piece. I wrote all the songs, 98% of the instrumentation, lyrics, the whole damn shark. It drove me fucking bats, and that band had a couple of casts. one guitar man, my best friend at the time, freaked out on all us dark ones and dumped our sonic venture into college space and time travel for the lord jesus christ. im still very good friends with him but he won't let his kids call me uncle.
mathmanmrt: Speaking of Taught the Rabbits, have any of the members of that band helped out with any of your current recordings?
Adam Faucett: thats where ryan robinett steps into the taught the rabbits thing. we together with drummer kid edwards recorded ttr's only LP "mallet and watch" the band broke up when i decided to move to chicago. kid came with me but was put out with me for not wanting anything to do with our old songs or old ways of playing loud loud spacey rock. he literally took the money and ran. i still hang out with ryan. he helps with album art and moral support, bourbon if you will. we have spoke about him joining my current band a fair bit, but i now hide in little rock about 90 miles south of russellville and tour often. i haven't played with the rabbits guys in over two years. it was my time with them that made the shift in me from bedroom songwriter to frontporch harpie. the band im in now "adam faucett and the tall grass" is the best one yet. we keep it simple. hell they will even tour. HOLY SHIT! they are on my last LP "the great basking shark" and are very present on the new one "show me magic show me out" due out in october.
mathmanmrt: What is the songwriting process like for you?
Adam Faucett: there is no process to writing that i can tell. its my life, no matter how full of shit that sounds, its the truth. i give everything away for it. its the only straight and narrow i can imagine. sometimes i feel as though i'm so far down that rabbit hole with silliness and melodies that my loved ones have a hard time seeing that there is a reason behind all of this. there is a thin thin screen of inescapable truth for us all, but the point is to take that gift and from the inside out transform it into everything it deserves to be. the processes that concern me most are ones like stopping at red lights and staying unmarried.
mathmanmrt: The first song of yours I heard on the 61 was an upload of California as part of the Blue Tint Records uploads. What made you decide to create your own account there?
Adam Faucett: mike at blue tint records set it up for me. i spend little time on the internet and when i do i'm often confused or begging folks for a show.
mathmanmrt: What expectations, if any, did you have about the 61? Have they been met?
Adam Faucett: as far as the 61 goes, i suppose it works great. this is my first interview after all. i'm not too sure where or what i'm expecting out of music. i'm not the star type or a 'business man'. i just want to write a few tunes that make people feel free from trend or an evaporating youth. i know in this age it is pretty uncool to be this silly or specific. i look horrible with a hairdo, can't fit into tight jeans and a straight face always curls up my cheek turning this hipster into a mid twenties santa claus always trying to convince the cops that i have a ride waiting for me else where. sorry for the ramble. i just have little to say about the 61. i'm really thankful for mike and everyone who helps with any promotion. also i hope i'm not coming off as an ass, it's much more light-hearted on our stoop.
mathmanmrt: Talk about how your music does or does not fit into the American folk and roots music traditions.
Adam Faucett:i'm not too sure if i'm folk or americana or what to be honest. i just want people to like it for a more simple reason like loving a car just because its yours. thats a pretty american outlook i think... so americana, sign me up twice. i started my public love of music as a dude and a finger picked guitar or banjo, the band always comes later.
mathmanmrt: Many of your songs seem to be located in a west of metaphor, California and New Mexico and points west seeming to stand for both rootlessness and an ultimate destination. How deliberate is that or am I misinterpreting things?
Adam Faucett: i think maybe the love of the west comes from a simple place. It isn't arkansas, texas, for sure not chicago. montana is my place. butte montana. stuck in a time that is too cool for cool. god bless butte montana. my lyrics on the subject are almost always from the same idea, anywhere but here.
At different places on the web you've listed comics, musicians, and murderers as influences. Have you ever thought about yourself as a jester or minstrel whose stock in trade is melancholy and dislocation? Or is that too pretentious?
Adam Faucett: most of my heroes are stand up comics. i like the truth with a smile please. my hero as far as a songwriter is erik satie but he was kinda a comic of sorts for his day and venue. and as far as the murderers, well.... i want my friends to be real people and my monsters the same.
mathmanmrt: What would you describe as your greatest strengths and weaknesses as a musician?
Adam Faucett: my greatest strength as a musician is that i'm tied to nothing and have only this to lose. that would probably be the weakness as well.
thank you for interviewing me. once again i hope i answered the majority of you questions well enough to write about. sorry for mumbling.
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