The Best Laid Plans Of Mice, Men And Wisely

March 13, 2008 by poprockcandy

Pop- Rock Candy Mountain

If there’s one person whose opinion on music we trust, it would be the one of writer/director/producer James Gunn. We read through Gunn that “Willie Wisely Is Playing Tonight in LA” (thank goodness for MySpace). We checked out Wisely and the rest is Pop-Rock Candy Mountain history.

From his home page: “With a foot in Silverlake and a hand in Hollywood Wisely played Twister under the palm fronds. He chatted up Beck at parties, enthused about Eleni Mandell, and got cast in the first episode Six Feet Under. He released another album with now fellow Midwest expat Fields, composed a few indie soundtracks, and produced a wide range of artists. Time flew. The opportunity came to work with producer Linus of Hollywood and the resulting Parador revealed another leap forward. The LA Times quickly declared it his “most accomplished album.” Jenna Fischer of The Office enthused on her blog and wait, that’s her in the video for “Through Any Window.”

“In the meantime Wisely became Mr. Wisely with a Mrs. and, some time later, Daddy Wisely, soon to be double deluxe gate-fold. He wrote, recorded, erased, recorded, and wrote. With 76 acoustic demos in-hand Wisely called his friend Petur Smith and they went down into the basement.

“I was painfully aware that spending six months working on an album, earning little or no money, was gonna be a huge burden on my family, while Kay sat listening to drum takes through the floor, gestating our 2nd kid. There could be no artifice. Just beauty. All architecture. NoÉ musicals.”

To read the Rock Candy Record Review of Wisely, click here.

Pop-Rock Candy Mountain recently spent some time chatting with its good buddy Wisely about the new record, really geeky technical stuff and what’s next for the LA Troubadour ( and no, not the popular nightclub).

Pop-Rock Candy Mountain (PRCM): Describe your creative process—do you use a four-track recorder or Pro-Tools? How do things go from ideas to a Wisely song?

Wisely (W): In fact, I demo many of my songs with drum loops stolen from my years of cassette four-tracking. I have a digital studio in my home, and made the “Wisely” record there, except when we recorded in Sweden, and a couple tracks in Mpls (sic).

For this record I had compiled more acoustic guitar demos than ever. Almost 80. My co-producer Petur Smith chose the songs he felt played well together and we fully arranged and recorded those. Most of the vocals you hear on the record come from my demos… we tried to stay true to those early vocal performances. We built the band around the voice. Does that show?

PRCM: What are some things that influenced both the sound and songwriting of Wisely?

W: Well for this record, the sadness in the songs come from the time before Ella was born in 2005, our first kid and daughter. All the upbeat subject matter and music feel comes from whatever Ella brought with her. Fatherhood has impacted me profoundly. Winston, our little nine month old son now adds to that love… and watching those two kids show each other love, often times with unprompted gestures, is the greatest joy I’ve known.

PRCM: How were you able to give Wisely such a warm feel? Did you use vintage gear? Why do Fender Rhodes always sound so amazing?

W: People like the Rhodes because of how it phases back and forth,actually many people hate exactly that element of it’s sound. It was built to mimic a vibraphone, methinks… a more portable vibraphone…which has circular mechanical flaps that make the sound go to and fro like that. But here’s the surprise… we only used Wurlitzer Piano on Wisely, no Rhodes. Listen to Paul Simon’s STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS and you’ll hear the difference. Tommy Barabarella, who played
those tracks is an awesome keyboardist… toured and recorded with Prince for six years!!! So I credit him with the fantastic sound.

The vintage sound of the tracks comes mostly from Chuck Zwicky, who treated the record with a fantastical series of analog compressors and amps. Chuck actually delivered us the same record with a totally different sound on his first draft. We then asked for a different treatment and within days came a wholey different beast. Chuck is wildly versatile. Again, you’d be surprised at how much mixers can influence a record. Maybe one day I’ll release those mixes for fun.

PRCM: Did you play a majority of the instruments on the new album?

W: Petur Smith heard my songs and as co-producer, made the excellent decision to play the bass and drums himself. He knew exactly what he wanted, and knew exactly what those vocal tracks were begging for. I play most of the guitars and backing vocals and many keys… but I wouldn’t say I play most instruments. I did more programming and sample manipulation than keys.

PRCM: You’ve told me that you’ve played “living rooms” etc. across America. Do you enjoy touring and meeting new people along the way?

W: My manager tells me I’m TOO available to my fans, mostly because of my love for these private events. Also due to my addiction to email, I wind up getting close with people who express their having dug my songs. I suppose if I were more of a prick (Bob Dylan) I could scare the universe into giving me greater renown… but I don’t care to behave that way… in fact Paul McCartney is a great model of being a pleasant person, but a shrewd business man… except apparently when it comes to pre-nuptial agreements.

PRCM:What’s your vision for Wisely in 2008?

W: Finish my next records that are mostly done, one produced with my Willie Wisely Trio band mates (early 90s band) with Ed Ackerson, and also another record with John Fields who did my SHE and TURBOSHERBET albums. This is really a question for my management, as I have a very hard time setting out how time will be shaped. I’m good with details–the details of making music and playing shows… careers are made of other things… so I just keep scheming about how to get my idea for a
stage musical made, how to finish those records, how to play over in Japan with more frequency (going again in May) and how to stop working on it all until two AM every morning. I need to keep letting the songs guide me.

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