Christian Williams is a singer/songwriter currently living in Lawrence Kansas. On his three albums (one of which we've reviewed) Christian has explored the dark underbelly of America with his style of "gothic country". He recently answered some questions for us...
Sepiachord: Not that long ago you pulled up stakes and moved from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Lawrence, Kansas. What prompted the move?
Christian Williams: A combination of things. The most important was that my girlfriend, who had been living in Milwaukee for the past few years, was homesick for Kansas. She grew up in Topeka, which is only about 30 minutes from Lawrence, and missed her family. Staying with her was a lot more important to me than staying in Milwaukee, so it wasn't a hard decision for me to make. I'd lived there for nine years and the place still didn't feel like home to me. I just never felt comfortable planting roots there. For that matter, I never felt like planting roots in the Chicago suburbs either, where I grew up. It remains to be seen if Kansas is that special place for me but I've lived in or near a city all my life and I welcome the change of scenery and change of pace that a place like Lawrence provides. It wasn't easy leaving my parents and close friends behind but I know this is where I'm supposed to be right now.
SC: Has Lawrence been treating you well or will you be moving on again? Have you made connections with any musicians in Lawrence?
CW: If we're talking about the town and the people, Lawrence has treated me very well and I can't imagine living anywhere else right now. The music scene has been a tough nut to crack, but I expected that. A lot of it has to do with the fact that I'm not a full-time musician. I have a full-time job that I actually enjoy and I do music in my spare time. Because of that, I don't have a lot of time to meet other bands or booking people and "schmooze" my way into the scene. When you operate the way I do, it takes a while for booking people to know who you are and for people to recognize your name and start coming to shows. Fortunately, I have met some very kind musicians who have gone out of their way to help me get my foot in the door, most notably, Jake Kersley from Sterilize Stereo, whose band just moved from Lawrence to Portland, Oregon. He's been a wealth of information as far as the venues in town and the scene in general. And I would be remiss if I didn't give credit to Sepiachord for making Sterilize Stereo their Song of the Day back in June, which is how I found out about them.
SC: You've described your newest CD, "Defiant", as "A collection of toe-tapping lamentations and epitaphs." Death seems to crop up in every one of your songs, why do you feel so drawn to the end of things?
CW: Like most folks, I've experienced the ups and downs of love and I don't know if I have any new insights on that subject. But when it comes to death, all we know for sure is that it's going to happen – what happens next is anyone's guess. I see a lot more opportunity for new ideas with that subject than any other. On a personal level, I find the concept of death fascinating and probably think about it too much. When I was younger, religion always had a quick, clean answer to what happens to us when we die. But when I outgrew the faith of my childhood, those answers no longer made any sense to me and I had to start asking questions all over again. Writing songs helps me organize those questions in my head and analyze whatever answers I come up with. Aside from that, if you're trying to figure out a good way to end a song, nothing beats death in some form or fashion.
SC: Most of your songs are a bit somber. But "PBR & Crackers" off the new recording is almost upbeat sounding, perhaps even a touch hopeful. How did writing this song differ from others that you've written?
CW: "PBR & Crackers" is my kind of love song. There have been plenty of great songs written about the romantic fantasy of love but the reality is that life and love are often at odds with one another. To me, true love is being able to stand hand-in-hand and smile while the world around you falls apart. "PBR" is also an example of how my surroundings directly influence my writing. I wrote that song one sunny afternoon on the beach in South Carolina. In contrast, I wrote "Upstairs" on a dreary Sunday afternoon in Milwaukee, dreading that I had to go to work the next day.
SC: Unlike your last outing, "Built with Bones", the packaging for "Defiant" was professionally assembled. Why did you move away from the handmade feel of that recording?
CW: "Built with Bones" was a labor of love. I enjoyed every aspect of hand-making the 200 copies of that album but it ended up being very costly in terms of time and money. I was also disappointed that with all of the work I put into making that album, it still didn't look like much more than a glorified CD-R because of the limitations of my computer and printer. With "Defiant," I wanted everything about the album to make an impact, from the songs to the packaging. I think that was most apparent with those who own "Built with Bones."
SC: With two albums released in one year will it be some time before you put out another collection?
CW: It's turned out that while I'm recording one album, I'm already writing new songs for the next one. After "Built with Bones," I already had half of "Defiant" written and the same is true for the next album. So, the short answer is I've already begun recording the next album. Depending on money issues, I'm hoping to release it next spring or summer. I've also met a kindred spirit in Texas, who's a fantastic artist. He goes by the name Dark Hallelujahs, and he'll be doing the artwork for the next album. I highly recommend everyone check out his work on his MySpace page at www.myspace.com/prairielandtherapy.
SC: Back in September you posted a list of "... people, places, and things that shape" your music in your blog. Many of the people who influence you are authors, not musicians. Do you find the works of people like Mark Twain and Carl Sandburg merely interesting writing or do they have an effect on the way you tell stories in song?
CW: I've always been attracted to writers who said what they wanted in as few words as possible. I love reading poetry but I get frustrated when the writer takes forever to get to whatever point they're trying to make. My favorite poem is "Red Wheelbarrow" by William Carlos Williams: "So much depends upon a red wheel barrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens." That poem takes about 10 seconds to read but you could spend forever breaking it down and picturing the images. Each of my favorite authors influences me in their own way: Twain through his satire, Sandburg through his ability to find beauty in the mundane, Edgar Lee Masters through the way he exposed hypocrisy. I guess it's also worth saying that I don't come from a musical background. I've always loved music but it wasn't until about three years that I seriously tried to make music. Writing has always been my strong suit and before music, I had a few one-act plays produced and some limited success with poetry. For those reasons, I approach song craft as a writer, not a musician.
SC: At least two of the writers you take inspiration from, Vachel Lindsay and Richard Brautigan, died by their own hand. Despite his suicide Brautigan's work was generally upbeat, even naive. Do you find your appreciation of their work colored by how their lives ended?
CW: I think my appreciation for their work is colored more by how they lived rather than how they died. The first book I read of Brautigan was "Tokyo-Montana Express," and I was floored by how simple and beautiful his writing was. The random musings he provided in half-page chapters made me look at the world around me a lot closer and find the beauty in things I'd taken for granted. I guess that's a round-about way of saying he made "stop to smell the roses." Lindsay and his whimsical illustrations and poetry remind me to not take life so seriously. He spent his career pleasing others by giving away his work and traveling the country to perform for people. It's unfortunate that in the end, he let the worries that he had spent his life dismissing finally catch up to him.
SC: If troubled souls like Brautigan can make such optimistic art, does that mean artists who create dark, troubling work are more at peace in their soul? Do you feel at peace?
CW: I do feel at peace and only because I know that I'm making the most of what I have to work with. It's hard for me to pinpoint why my work comes out the way it does, other than to say it just feels right. I don't know if, in some cosmic sense, my songs are meant to help others but even if they aren't, I need to get them out. I don't want to say that I'm trying to purge negativity through my music, but maybe I am. And maybe troubled souls like Brautigan never quite figured out how to balance things; how to keep a little more of the optimism for themselves. I don't know – that's a really good question.
SC: What's the next stop for Christian Williams? Are you content with the track your on?
CW: In addition to writing songs for the next album, I'm also working on a concept album based on the various themes explored by Edgar Lee Masters in "Spoon River Anthology." I'm not sure how it's all going to fit together yet but I've been writing some original songs based on the poems (epitaphs) from the Anthology. Other than that, I'm just trying to make ends meet so that I can continue to make and release more music. And while it's been frustrating at times, it helps to remind myself that I'm not trying to make a career out of music – I'm just trying to share my songs with folks who want to listen.
