WHITE WILLIAMS
Interview by Marisa Brickman
Images by Leonard Greco
There are lots of boys around right now who are a one-man show – they write, they record, they produce and they play all their instruments. White Williams slays them all. The young and bright Joe Williams writes songs that have a soft and cozy familiarity. He hints at influences you’d think would be well beyond his years and morphs them into magnificent pop tunes, touching on Krautrock, techno, classic rock and even noise.
After keeping Smoke on repeat for almost two weeks solid, I was delighted that he is as captivating a person as he is songwriter. I caught up wih Joe over Christmas while he was at home at his parents’ house in Ohio.


You’re 23 and from Ohio? Tell us about growing up in Ohio.
I’m 24 now. The city I grew up in borders on Lake Erie. A lot of people who grow up here stay here until they die. I think that makes a lot of people around here sheltered. I was sheltered. I had a lot of good times though. I was a huge spaz as a child. I skateboarded and I was really into punk music like a lot of kids around me. I eventually calmed down but I still got into a lot of delinquent behavior. I started playing drums in a band and going to shows at a young age. I witnessed a lot of different kinds of music as a teenager.

And you have an MFA in design? What school is it from and what prompted the switch to music?
I have a BS degree in design. I had started producing with computers during the summer before I left for college. I was working on music throughout college when I was not attending class or working. My school was basically a full time job, so it took me some time to really learn what I know now about recording and producing. Anyway, it wasn’t so much of a switch as a parallel process.

Why did you move to Brooklyn?
I had moved to New York when I was 20 to live with my girlfriend and work. My school has a program that allows you to work at a design firm for six months out of the year in the summer and in the winter. For the last four years I have not lived in any city for longer than three months. I participated in several Co-Ops [paid internships] while I was living in New York. Most of my closest friends from Cleveland who are artists or musicians have moved there. They’re all busy and doing really great things. It’s nice to live around that. The summer here is really fun. It feels like the city is broken open and people pour outside. You can walk around and just run into people without plans and continue your day hanging out with people. I just recently moved in to something semi-permanent in December.

What is the scene like there? Are people dancing again yet?
It seems like they’ve not been dancing in NYC for a while now. I’m not really sharp on the scene here. I’m hardly around because of all of the touring. There are a lot of great people here. I have enjoyed most of the music that I have seen at the art space Paris London New York West Nile [in Brooklyn]. I’m not sure about the dancing.
Do people dance at your shows?
Yes, certain audiences are ready to just start dancing. We like that. It’s an icebreaker. Kind of like kissing right away to avoid the awkward conversation.
Is music your main focus these days or are you making visual art as well? How do you see the two fitting together?
Without much of a choice, yes. I have had a lot of obligations to support the record in some way. If I was not touring or doing interviews, I suppose I would be working on the next record. I think of design a lot differently. I was taught to think of it as a science. My approach to music is a lot less rational. I think there is a lot behind the science of human perception that could provide a parallel between the two. Why one sound or one color or one shape is noticed faster than another or why some colors or sounds give immediate context. It’s probably better suited for a different discussion.
You’ve toured with Dan Deacon. Do you think that’s a good fit for you? I think you’re more suited to be a pop star than an indie dude! Go big Joe!!
I like Dan’s music a lot. I think we both like a lot of different types of music that differ greatly from our own. He’s also really funny. It’s enchanting to see how he can bring an audience of people together. We loved the tour. Still, I don’t know what a good fit is for touring yet because we’re so new at it. We’ve only been a band for three weeks before leaving for tour with Dan and Greg [Gillis of Girl Talk]. We are still learning. I don’t really want to be a pop star, but not that I only see it as one or the other. There is very little choice beyond how I make the record to control how one could perceive me.

You’re so young and your influences seem to date pretty far back into the past. Can you tell us who some of your musical inspirations are – past and present – and why you find them inspiring?
I like a lot of music from Germany from the ’70s and ’80s. It seemed that there was a lot of freedom for approaches to construct songs and a lot of people had home studios. It was also a time when synthesizers were used to replace traditional instruments. A lot of music from the time blended experimental music with pop music. I really respect the work of Connie Plank, Cluster, Neu!, Cabaret Voltaire, Iggy Pop, John Cale. I know that David Bowie was really influenced by Can, Neu! and La Düsseldorf. I like David Bowie’s work as a producer as well. Iggy Pop’s The Idiot is one of my favorite records. I think most journalists just skim the surfaces to find influences. I have a lot of modern influence as well. I love a lot of electronic music. Aphex Twin, Jamie Lidell, Autechre, etc. I learned a lot from listening to these artists.
How often do you write songs? Do you write everyday?
Usually yes. Not lately however. I’ve lost momentum from all of the touring and press work. Also, over the summer I didn’t have a place to live. I was staying with friends a lot. Although my “studio” is really quite small, I didn’t feel comfortable trying to work on music in someone else’s space. I like having my apartment as a place to work. It’s nice to have the choice to be spontaneous.

What makes up your studio?
Computer, soundcard, monitors, Preamp, monosynths, polysynths, a selection of pedals, tube microphone,
ribbon microphone…
Your record almost seems like proof that you can master any genre – “Lice In The Rainbow” is like a noise/techno track . “Route To Palm” is like a synthesized Beatles dance tune,“Headlines” – Talking Heads / Devo. “In The Club” is reminiscent of T. Rex. Like a good DJ who can mix old and new, you somehow manage to do this on one album that sounds cohesive. Were you trying to do this? How did you put the album together?
I don’t think it was intentional. I think its more something that is inherent in our generation. We are exposed to a lot more music than people ever have before. Older music, experimental music, underground music genres, indigenous music; its all much more accessible. I think that soon most people will forget about the difference between something that was made five years ago and 15 years ago. Also I think for producers and DJs, the ability to sample makes people competitively hunt for unheard music. I think that turns a lot of producers on to music that they weren’t originally influenced by. Most of the songs are made just from toying around with my equipment until I find something desirable and start to track guitars or put together some vocal phrasing. Then I spend a lot of time treating the instruments with effects, re-pitching, re-quantizing, or un-quantizing, cutting and pasting, etc.
You recorded your album piece by piece all over the place on your laptop. Where was the most bizarre situation that you recorded one of your songs in?
Nowhere obviously bizarre. It was recorded in many different places. Parts of the album were recorded in Cincinnati [three different apartments], Cleveland, New York, and San Francisco [two apartments]. It was mostly because of my work and school situation that I described earlier. Field recording is a more recent interest of mine. I wish that laptops had stronger battery technology because I would most likely take some things outside for recording.

Where would you most like to do field recordings?
The most important thing about field recordings is discovering the sound or harmonic content of something you never thought sounded interesting. I think that it’s all about spontaneity. I had a shower that would oscillate at a certain frequency when the water was at a really slow pour. It sounded like a deep bass note. Also noticing the different timbres of materials, metal, glass, wood. It’s always surprising.
Were some of your songs really algorithmically created?
Yes, the drums in “Going Down”, pianos and synthesizer in “In The Club”, synthesizer sounds in “We Know The Shadow”, the drums in “Smoke”.

Are all the vocals on your album you actually singing?
Yes, except for at the end of “In The Club”. My friend Erin says ‘We’ll spit the Venom’, but it was later
re-pitched.
How did you select your band members? And then how does it work putting together the live show?
It was extremely difficult to choose people, and I had a short amount of time to decide. I had two months after we agreed to do the tour. I dragged my feet. It took me a long time to decide because of the amount of different sounds that are on the record. Some of my songs have 20-40 tracks in a session, so it was really hard to be decisive and filter that into two other people. I knew that I couldn’t assemble a five-piece band, and I knew that I needed someone who could pull off more than one task. Basically we settled with a standard guitar and bass player, but they play their guitars in a way that replaces a lot of the non-guitar sounds. We only got to practice for three weeks accumulatively. We’ve basically been touring since then.

You have a really busy first half of 2008! Are you excited? What are you hoping to achieve?
I’m excited to travel. We’re going to Europe for a month. All that I am hoping from all of this is that I can meet new and interesting people who create, and to continue to make music. I hope to find more opportunities to collaborate and produce. Also, to promote my friends who make art.

artist=White Williams
interviewer=Marisa Brickman