Aaron Sterling

It's so funny, I was just listening to [Born and Raised] and every measure that goes by, it's like a Soundcloud thing.There are certain wave forms, it has a little thing on it and it goes [demonstrated annotating a waveform], "I remember taking a walk to buy that guitar on Bleecker Street," or something. So there's all these moments that go by that are so lovely. And they disappear, sadly they disappear in a couple of years. I just heard Continuum back on the plane yesterday and I was like, I don't really remember every impetus for this, but all that's left is the music, which is beautiful, but for a moment you remember, like,—those cymbals. Aaron Sterling, who plays the drums on eleven of the twelve tracks, he and I had the experience of he's on one side of the studio and I'm on the other side of the studio, and he's going [sings part of chorus to "Age of Worry" while miming cymbal hits] and we're looking at each other having a blast. And I said going into this record, I just want to cook it with love. I just want everyone in it to be so loving.

And it’s nice to have these guys who are the backbone of the record. I couldn’t play these—these tunes don’t sound like these tunes without these guys playing on it, you know, Aaron has this lope on the drum [mimes drumming]. And without it it doesn’t—you know, all these great bands that we love, it really came down to the players because they’re just playing blues. You know Allman Brothers or Rolling Stones are a blues band but you take one guy out of the equation and it’s just [plays simple blues pattern on guitar]. Aaron’s function in that is not just being the drummer, it’s like, he’s playing the riff. The drum is playing the riff, really.

is no one asking about Speak for Me... is that foreshadowing ur throat or what

No, it was sort of a “born at the wrong time” lament. @Sterloid and I played his drum kit together for it. One of my fave memories.

DW: You put together an incredible group of musicians — many of whom are becoming a true repertory company for you. Tell us about them...

JM: Well I've been lucky enough to have met and played with some of the best musicians on earth, and I can't tell you how good that feels as a writer to know that there's no musical idea that can't be played to perfection by assembling a certain crew from the world around me. Again, I'll hit you with the movie director analogy – there's no scene I can write that I don't already know the best actors to be in, and that sense of freedom is priceless. Having Aaron Sterling and Sean Hurley back in the fold was a treat. We all worked together on Born and Raised and Paradise Valley, and I knew that was the gang for these songs.