Hello Rockstars! Today’s Artist of the Week is Vegas Music Legend Aldred Basiga of Plaster.
We met in person to talk about his new band, his love of music and the history of music, Vegas band Loudsigh, why The Beatles Rubber Soul is a masterpiece and everything else in between. Enjoy!*
*This interview originally took place in August 2025. This is the transcript and it has been edited for clarity and time. 😉
*All photos are by the amazing Tiffany Salerno and were done on December 4th.
Please check out his amazing music on bandcamp!
VMS:
Tell me about the beginnings of Plaster and your background.
Plaster:
I guess we’re sort of college students, It’s kind of a weird band. It’s got a long history, and I can tell you some of the history in a bit. But, just with what’s going on recently, Yeah, I started the new school year, and I teach. So, I teach eighth grade, and I actually picked up a gig where I’m doing, (this is actually the second year) where I’m at a school, and I’m actually teaching geography and history of music, which is huge, like, major for me, because it’s what I do. And, of course, the kids found out because they know…
VMS:
Oh, they know you’re in a band?
Plaster:
Yeah, they have. They have internet access. They have all that stuff, so they just immediately kind of clicked in, and all they have to do is look up a name, but it’s something that you just kind of have to embrace. I used to be pretty strict about it. I used to be like “oh yeah, no, don’t do that. It’s like, “Invasion of privacy” blah, blah, blah.” But no, I mean, they found out about that, I don’t know if you know about my older bands; Home Bodies, and Special K, but they found out about that, too. And yeah, it’s all good, all good with me.
VMS:
Nice. Okay, so tell me about, well, you can always start at the beginning.
Plaster:
Sure, yeah, I can do that. I guess that would be working with my friend Jacob on some acoustic songs, This was probably 2011. We got our big break kind of because we were, you know, we were kids, so I think we were like 19 or 20, maybe even younger than that. I had this near-death experience where I was on this road trip, and I fell asleep behind the wheel, and I crashed my car and when I was getting picked up by, whatever it was; police parents or whatever. I just had to stop myself.
I was like, all right, if I died right now, would I be happy with what I’m doing, and I kind of told myself, oh no, I wouldn’t have been. Well, I wouldn’t have been alive to remember any of it, but I would have been really bummed about that, you know. So I kind of took it upon myself. All right, the one thing I really like doing is music, so I can’t really write a song, but I’m gonna do my best to try too.
So, as soon as I got back home, picked up the guitar, called up Jacob and I was, like, yeah, I think it’d be a good idea to start writing songs, so we did, and then we started on Special K, which I think to date is still technically the most, famous-Ish band that I’ve ever done around here, like, people have probably seen that band the most, people remember that band’s music the most, and I probably got the most feedback about that band the most. It was sort of like an indie rock group. Sort of ripping off Pavement and Built to Spill and everything, that was the music I really liked back then.
But then, you know, my interests sorta waned after awhile and I wasn’t really super interested in writing that stuff anymore, so kind of broke it off. Then I started off Home Bodies, which was a little less successful, but a little bit more fulfilling, you know. I got to record at my own pace. I was primarily working with four track recorders, and that one was a lot more influenced by Guided by Voices, and The Replacements. Just really focused songwriter type music, and I was working with my friend Garrett at the time. And it was really good. We wrote a lot of stuff, and I mean, a lot of stuff. I’m kind of wishing we went back and fixed it up a bit, but there’s a certain nature about the music that’s really unique. And he wrote a lot of songs. I wrote a lot of the songs, and it was a cool juncture between the two, and then after a while, this is what kind of brings us to Plaster.
I found out that my songwriting was kind of getting better, but also I wanted to get a bit more produced, so that kind of led to me doing Plaster, where I found out I could write a chorus. You know everything before was verse, guitar, solo verse, and the song was over. But now, I’m realizing, oh, I kind of know how to put together the structure of a song so I could actually have an intro and then do a verse. And then I could lead that verse to a chorus and then just I felt more confident with a whole bunch of stuff, like guitar playing, singing, and all that. So, this is my attempt at doing that.
And I would say it’s going well. We already kind of have this weird history of people that have left the group and are in the group and even the group right now. It’s not really in a limbo per se, but you know, we’re working on something right now. And we’re trying to focus on that. Well, we could talk about that a bit more later. Was that good for a history? (lol)
VMS:
Yeah no, that’s a great history! So you went from the first two bands, You went to Plaster and this whole time have you always wanted to be like a teacher as well?
Platser:
Yeah, no, the teacher’s a job part. It’s always been in the back of my head, you know, even with some of my favorite artists, they’ve always had some kind of weird background in education, like Librarians. Paul Westberg was a janitor at a school or something like that and Robert Pollard, who is in Guided by Voices and is like one of my favorite bands ever, he was a teacher as well. So, I don’t know. I almost thought like, I think it made sense to be a teacher and work on music because you got this time off, you’re off around three, and you could like work on music and party or whatever after, but I kind of like, things kind of changed recently, I actually stopped drinking and smoking, and all that other quote unquote “fun stuff” Because I don’t know, I actually, really, really began loving my job.
I really began loving the idea of being around for my kids and being there and supportive and not wanting to trash my body, and possibly not end up seeing my kids ever again or anything like that. So that was kind of major for me, which is ironic because the band’s called Plaster and the idea behind the band was to, you know, write these Anthemic chorus-ey sort of rock, slash Punk songs, or Indie or whatever, but kind of do this band, but have something really easy to party to and to drink to. But now, I don’t really want to do that. I mean, you know, I’m still crazy, but I don’t need the alcohol. (lol)
VMS:
No 100%, That’s amazing, though. Congratulations. So when it comes to, because I know between the first two bands and then this band, what is your writing process and how has it changed over the years? Your inspiration for your music right now versus back in the day.
Plaster:
Yeah, I Guess it’s all in the record collection, right? It’s all about what you kind of find out and listen to because, ever since the beginning, I’ve been getting the Pavement thing and the Built to Spill thing and the Dinosaur Jr. thing, and I like those bands, but I don’t listen to those bands every day. There’s bands I listen to every day. That, not like I want to be compared to them, but I just think they’re better springboards for ideas.
One guy I’m really into right now is Bill Fox of The Mice, and he goes by Bill Fox as a singer songwriter. But even that stuff isn’t really like what I’m writing, you know, it’s all kind of folk. And kind of based around that sort of stuff. And I like the Beatles, they’ve been my favorite band since the dawn of whatever, but I don’t want to write a Beatles song.
I want to write a “me” song. I think overall the process and the way it’s changed, it’s more or less kind of been about…I don’t know, I still do the same thing. I don’t force anything to come out of my head. I’ll pick up the guitar. I’ll play some songs, and if I end up singing something, I feel like, “oh I should start writing this down” then you know, then it’ll just all start flowing out. I started teaching a kid guitar, this kid Christian and he’s, you know, already writing songs and is already changing his guitar strings. He’s really, really significant, I’m super, super proud of him.
But he was asking how to write songs and I always give my kids a straight answer you know, so I just tell them with full confidence, come up with the chords, come up with the melody, and then the words will follow. I think music gets this bad reputation of being lyrics first. But really, the lyrics don’t mean anything unless you have them mean something you know. You can’t Harbor over stuff like that. I mean, unless you’re a poet, but not everyone’s poet, a lot of musicians I know aren’t really poets are just kind of, “I need words to fit in here” And I think that’s always the best way to go about it. It’s really stress free when you do stuff like that.
But as for my influences, and the way that my music store changed, I mean, I like a lot more direct music now. I’m less about avant-garde, artsy fartsy, banging on a tin pan music. Not that I was ever really into stuff like that, but I’ve definitely grown a little bit more towards the sound of The Ramones and The Muffs, just like, be straightforward. Bursts of noise, and pop music, I like stuff like that, and I really, if anything, kind of studied into the Simplicity of songs, because I think if you at least get a good skeleton, you could have great ideas come from the skeleton, and therefore you make a body of a song, so you know, I think I like that. And then the more time I spend with songs, the more I feel like I see songs a little differently.
VMS:
Yeah, no that’s cool. I feel similar, in the sense that it’s all about the music versus the lyrics. Because the lyrics sometimes are beautiful, but personally, I have fallen in love with songs that have absolutely no lyrics at all. It’s just simply about the emotion behind what they do. I think that to me is the most important thing you know. if you can find that emotion.
Plaster:
Yeah, I think that that speaks miles if you’re able to get away with saying nothing, But, you know, your lyrics end up pushing forth or whatever. I don’t know if that makes a lot of sense, but you know, because, I feel I could write a good line and I could kind of string things along, but I know that a lot of my lyrics. I definitely have play soldiers that I just keep. I have keywords that I use, and I’m just too lazy to fix it or anything and the song I wrote recently that I’m really proud of, That’s gonna be on this EP that we’re releasing (out now!) And oh yeah, I forgot,I gotta sell that thing. I’m really bad at selling myself.
VMS:
You’re good. Speaking of your EP, When does your EP come out?
Plaster:
Oh right, yeah, yeah. So that’s kind of what’s going on, I guess, like as a brief. This will be a small history of the band, and then it’ll lead to what’s going on right now. We originally had Garrett, Eric, and Me (Aldred). And then, Garrett’s focused on being a father right now, and he’s working on all that, Kudos to him. He’s got twins and another baby. And he’s having this beautiful family and I’m super proud of them and hopefully he’s doing well. Then we got Bo. And Bo’s been in amazing San Francisco bands and all these bands from the Bay Area like Ovens, Mill Ray brothers, he’s a super great musician and I fucking love the guy.
Then there is Eric, who I technically started the band-ish with him in mind, because me and him have an amazing sort of capture when it came to music and stuff, and I was like, I just want to write songs with this guy, get drunk with them or whatever. I think the more we started doing the band, the more he realized that he wanted to focus on skating more so you know, eventually, he had a small hiatus and then decided “Yeah, I’m gonna focus on this” and you know, that’s cool. He’s really, really talented at that, it’s super sick, but he’s focusing on that.
So right now, the band is me and Bo, but I already have all these songs, and I’m still writing a whole bunch of songs. So the focus is to write and record this EP. I did the first album with Garrett and Eric, and it came out really good. Eight songs recorded by my friend, Tim, we were gonna have this new stuff recorded by Tim, but the scheduling kind of got a little mixed up and the musicians that we got working on and we got, Bo, who’s got a full-time job, and then we had my friend Brett, (of Brett V Fame) to come in on bass, and He drove in all the way from California to work on all these tracks. So technically, what we do have is one full album, We have one EP and a single we’re releasing.
Then we are still kind of recording some stuff, still trying to figure out the next steps. I mean, technically, we’re looking for another guitarist, another bassist. I’m also not on social media or anything. I feel like the more I reveal about myself, the more I kind of come off as like, really strange or sheltered. Or what if the word is hermity? I guess hermity would be the word to use (haha) Yes, I don’t know, It’s kind of hard getting out there seeing what shows are happening and meeting people, but you know, I have this firm belief, not necessarily in a God, but in, you know, circumstance, something’s meant to happen, Let’s kind of meet the guy, Meet the girl, meet the person, and be like, all right, you’re in the band. But we do have all this material recorded. We’re just working on it, listening to it, mixing it.
VMS:
Tell me about the song, “You’re Not the One”. What was the inspiration behind that one?
Plaster:
That was me being kind of a dick. (VMS “LOL”) Honestly, because I know there’s, I forgot what song came first, but in the beginning, the idea of Plaster, I was just like, I really like The Ramones and The Muffs right now, let me see if I could rip these songs off really well? So, I think that was my Ramones song because I was, like, I think I can just bash on these chords and try to come up with something, but at some point there was some song called “You’re the one”, and there was some song called “You’re Not the One”, and they’re kind of like in response to each other. Just because I thought it’d be funny to have a song called “You’re the one” / “You’re not the one” and originally that was going to be like a single, like a back-to-back sort of thing. But the idea behind the song was I was just trying to write a really good Ramones song and did my best. I wrote it when I was in a good place in my life and stuff.I don’t know, I thought it was an effective sort of homage to that sort of 70s Punk thing that I like.
VMS:
I liked the album! I always choose at least three to four songs to talk about. I chose three on this one, because I just like the album in general.
Plaster:
Just as a side note, I just want to throw this in there and I don’t know if this will make it in print, but my sister runs all the social media and she’s super incredible. Pretty much anything I do with the Internet or anything I’m doing with this band right now It’s because I got people that have responded really well to the material, and I’m like, okay, that keeps me going because I’ve also reached a point in my life, I think I’m okay just not playing shows ever again and not releasing stuff ever again. But people seem to really like it. So just kind of, and I don’t know how I’m being interviewed about it right now, but honestly I should be public about it now, or whatever.
VMS:
It is so weird, seeing the evolution of how we use social media and all of this to promote bands, it’s exhausting. I know, at least from my standpoint, because I’m not in a band, but I know, from my standpoint, everything is exhausting, so I can’t imagine for you guys because it’s just a constant you have to keep putting your stuff out there. You have to keep putting the shows out there, doing the social media blah, blah, blah. It’s just a lot.
Plaster:
That’s right. I’d rather just have someone do it. I mean, she’s not doing it for free, either. And thank God she’s not because it’s a lot of work. Any show we have, I have given a percentage for my sister for putting in the work because she knows how to do that stuff. She’s smart, she’s younger than me. I’m dumb and old, you know. Like, I can’t do it. I always tell people, dude, screw all this man. I just know the music part, I know how to write a song. I know how to play the guitar and I kind of know how to sing, I can do all that, don’t tell me to do anything I can’t do. I’m not a model. I’m not an influencer. I’m not any of that, you know, regardless of what my kids might think of me. I really only have a couple of talents, and if you could even call it that (lol). But yeah, I can’t be bothered, I can’t be bothered. It drives me fucking crazy, honestly.
VMS:
Yeah And trust me, I feel you on this one. It’s necessary, but it’s just painful sometimes.
Plaster:
Yeah, it’s a necessary evil for music, and I just wish I didn’t have to play it, you know, but I try to think of the positives about everything, and I think that’s been a huge part of my life is seeing the positives in things. And I’m like, okay I can be down with, you know, having a social media presence and having all this. But if I can remove myself as much as I can from it, and just focus on making solid music, solid Art to put out there then you know, screw it, you know? Actually, I’ll put this out there right now. If you think that, you know, doing music has to do anything with having to be good at the internet? I don’t know, I don’t believe so, we’re not really that popular or anything like that, but you could do it. Whatever. (lol)
VMS:
So tell me about your other song, I think you had it as a single, “I’m an Exile”.
Plaster:
Yeah, I guess that kind of plays hand in hand with how I feel about, sort of social situations, you know, I feel like I have a really hard time expressing myself to people I really care about. And so, you know, I think that was sort of in response to sometimes I just feel left out, and sometimes I just sort of feel out of it, and also that’s kind of like my response, sort of, to like this, The changing music industry. Because I feel it’s really easy, even though with everything becoming super open and super available, I feel like that makes it easier to disappear in the fade. So, that’s sort of my response to all that. I do feel exiled, I feel alone a lot, but I think with writing songs like that you kind of put that out there not for people to be like, you know, “oh boohoo this guy”, but sort of, I can kind of get behind that, I’m trying this too. And yeah, it’s hard out there. I guess that’s a good answer. (lol)
VMS:
Yeah, it’s weird you know, because everything has changed so dramatically. Back in the day though, because (we) the older generation, we’re just simply used to going to record stores. Or, music stores and or listening to the radio or whatever, or going to a concert. And that’s just how we found people, we didn’t have any of this right now (social media). So, there’s a bizarre oversaturation, but it’s also cool because it’s opened a lot of doors to people I probably wouldn’t normally hear, you know what I mean, so it’s very weird.
Plaster:
Yeah, I think I just need to learn how to work within it, and I’ve been doing that, and I still get out, And I still see bands, and I still see a lot of local bands I really like and off the top my head, I can’t really name a whole lot, but you know, there’s cool bands playing at The Grey Witch, there’s cool bands that play downtown. I think it’s super important to still support no matter what, even if you’re not in any of those. A lot of the shows I’m going to are the hardcore shows, and then catch goth shows every now and then. I think those are great scenes.
It’s good to just be there just to support, see what’s up. But as for using these things to get popular or anything like that, I just don’t understand it myself. I just know the songwriting part, and I think you know how to speak of the concept of Exile. It’s like, if you’re not part of it, even remotely, you just kind of fall behind in a weird way, and I’m okay with that. I think because of my absence, it’s like I’m just living in my own world. Someone once told me, “oh yeah, it’s really dangerous to do that, because now you’re the only person, right?” It’s like, no, not really, I feel like now I have to sort of be open to the people I do meet in real life and the way that people do reach out.
For example, I met some friends, I was doing work at a coffee shop. Then since I have social media, I just kind of looked at a bulletin board, and I just saw a thing for an open mic and a kava bar, and then for the next three months, I’d be there. I’d be talking with all those guys, and I’d just be making those connections and those were my really solid friends for a good second and are still great people. And you know, I just think about the connections you make when you really go out there and you try. And I think the key word here is trying, which I think would be kind of like my main difference with me growing older. Is that I feel like I do have to try now. Through that effort, you find some really beautiful things in life.
VMS:
Definitely. Tell me about your song “Burnt Out”. I liked that one a lot.
Plaster:
Yeah that was one of the later songs I wrote for the album. My ex just passed out on the couch or something after a long day at work, and it was just one of those things where I get into these weird modes of when the songwriting bug does hit. I just have to sit there, and just write and write and write. And try to come up with stuff, so that came out in a good bunch of things, and I think there was some response to sort of just like.
It probably had to do with co-workers, or teachers, they could either be the best people you meet in this world or the most egotistic. I feel like I’m a good mixture of both (lol). Maybe more on the latter side (lol), but, you know, I think I was going through some work frustrations and some of those elements kind of landed in there. I think there’s something about “the sword that fell me is back up” or whatever, which kind of references when you think something’s over, “oh look it’s back”, And it’s even worse than ever.
But that song’s on the last ones we would do. And the last ones we would really give a lot of focus to before the album was out. That’s sort of the story, wish I had more. I do have this, like, weird thing about that song and this other song called “Nothing Now” on the album, that they kind of sound similar, so if we play one song, we’re not playing the other on the set, but it’s probably just a me thing. (lol)
VMS:
So when it comes to the music scene, are there any potential bands that you like that you’re listening to, or anybody that you would like to do a show with?
Plaster:
To do a show with, Let’s see…. I don’t know. I would like to give a shout out to Spring Breeding, they’re really good, they’ve been around. They’ve probably been doing this for as long as I have. But they make legitimately, really, really interesting music. I feel like if I were to name anyone, they’d just be sort of like an oldish band, and you already got your damn credit, but I love you. I love you all, guys. I don’t know. Really bad about the main local scene, but I think just overall, Whenever I do see new bands, I just want to encourage that sort of thing because, you know, I don’t want to say it’s a dying art, I don’t want to think about this as a dying art, but I think it’s important to get out there to be part of something.
Oh yeah, I guess I could throw in my Students band, Loudsigh, and they’re really really good. Yeah, they’re all young, I think early high school, and they sort of write stuff that’s akin to early American football and early emo music, and I just went to go see them at the Eagle Aerie Hall, and they were really, really good. Just super got it together. Great guitar sound, and everything and the drummer’s really good, and everyone’s really good with the band. Now if we are a good fit for a show, I don’t know. But I love them, they’re really good. Honestly, if you’ve seen me in a crowd, I’d most likely like your band just because you’re doing stuff. And it covers all bases, right? (lol)
VMS:
Speaking of the younger generation, over the past couple years, I’ve just been really impressed with the younger generation of Bands that I’ve seen come up, and how strong they are. If you had any, what would be your advice for the new generation?
Plaster:
I mean, as someone that is (a teacher), I observe these things all the time and the kids or anyone that plays music, that’s usually the first thing that they notice about me as a teacher is that they’ll ask about the whole music thing, and I don’t know if I have advice, just as someone that has seen all this as it’s been coming up, I think that the Advent of tik tok, specifically with the short bursts of music has been introducing this new generation, It’s amazing music and a lot of people kind of have, a lot of my friends at least, It’ll kind of feel like, “they didn’t learn about the hard way”, and I do feel that way, sometimes about a lot of that stuff, but I think overall, it’s cool that they find out about this stuff right away.
So, you’re not just spending three years or whatever finding out about my Bloody Valentine, it’s just there you know? So, I think with Tik Tok being really good for finding music, and also with music tutorials online and learning instruments and stuff, I think it’s a lot easier for people to get proficient quickly. Whatever you’re interested in, right? So, I think with all those elements sort of combined and also what’s just like the need to have that sense of immediacy when you’re young to do something. I think that’s why we have such great music coming out from people that are super young, I’m impressed, too.
You know, because I am not that old, I’m 31, but I did have to go relatively through the ranks of, all my music was online, but it’s a file dig and then not even that, you had to borrow CDs still and you had to borrow records from friends and all that, and it was, it was still a lot of work to find really cool stuff. I mean, it does feel rewarding, sure.
But I think ultimately, it’s just finding it you know? If you’re finding it, and it means something to you, that’s awesome. With my students, if they like one band, I’m like, okay, have you heard this one? I do what my friends did with me, I just tried to introduce a whole bunch of stuff and whatever clicks clicks, you know? But advice, I don’t know. I guess the advice is in the words there. You know, like Nike, just do it or whatever (lol) do what you must.
VMS:
I know that you have been in the scene for a long time, how for you personally, because I know it’s changed dramatically. Do you think, regarding pros and cons, do you think it’s gotten stronger? Do you think it’s gotten weaker? What do you think of seeing then versus now?
Plaster:
I think the answers are in the question, it’s just gotten different. You know it’s harder for me, because I’m old, but I’m also the type of person to be really stubborn about change, which I’m also trying to ironically change in myself. But I do think it’s difficult if you’re used to a certain way of doing things, but it’s not difficult if you’re in the hive mind. If you know who to talk to and it’s always been like that. So I think that’s fine, whatever crowd I play for, it’s the crowd I play for, if I’m not playing for a room full of packed people because that’s not my demographic anymore, I could probably give less of a shit as long as I’m playing for people that want to hear what I’m doing. That is there to see the songs and be there for the music and stuff, I’m cool with that.
Even in the early days of playing in my first band, I didn’t really like playing house shows because, even though I was partying at the time, I was like “Dude, I worked so hard on these songs, I want to play for people that are gonna listen”. But for people that are gonna use it as music to thrash too or whatever, that’s cool they’re into it, but I’m like, I don’t know, I worked really hard on putting these songs together. It’d be cool if people liked listening, you know, or whatever my definition of that is, I don’t know, but is it any easier or harder? I don’t know. I guess that’s harder for me, but it’s probably easier for people that are more in it.
VMS:
On a side note, it’s weird, I feel like we still need the crowds to be stronger sometimes. I mean, I guess it depends on who the bands are, but even then, a month ago, one of the shows I went to had an amazing lineup, and it was a weird demographic, because I feel like I should have had a bigger crowd than it did. And then the people who did show up, they left right after one of the bands performed and they didn’t stay for everybody else. So the dynamic here for Vegas it’s still very fickle.
Plaster:
Yeah, I’m noticing it’s sort of like a local thing too,I don’t know how to put this. I will say that our promotion can be better. There could be better word of mouth on things, and I feel like because I’m not on social media. I’m sure that people are talking left and right about shows and stuff. But even when I ask friends that are actively in the scene and online, they say, “I don’t know if any shows are going on”. It’s either that or they don’t want me popping up because I’m annoying or whatever (lol). Which I highly doubt because I’m so likable, I’m kidding (lol) But It just sounds like the promotion for these things is kind of crap at times.
You’ll get such short notice.Then also with bands dipping out at the last minute, if you got friends coming to see your band and they leave immediately, I don’t know if that’s a regional thing, but it happens all the time here. It’s happened forever. Even in the early days of playing, every time I call up friends I’m like, “hey you coming?” He’s like, “what time are you gonna play because we’ll just dip right after you”. That kind of sucks, you know.
So, I think that’s always been how it’s been here, but honestly I’ve been in the scene for a while, I have my mindset on how things are. I visited Ohio this summer to see Bill Fox, the songwriter I was talking about earlier, and it was sort of a local show because he’s a local musician. So it was him being supported by two other bands, and I don’t know, there’s something about that that felt a lot more together.
There’s actually this thing I want to do next summer, because I’m not working on school stuff anymore, I’m not working on College, I kind of wanted to find some type of temporary living thing, and kind of live there for a while and work on music and see how that goes. Maybe try that out, because there’s a part of me that does feel relatively, not exile, not outcast, but I think the things I do here are different, which can be good. But also I just think, what I could be doing could be stronger elsewhere. I’ve been thinking about moving somewhere else, but I think it’s important to have bands like what I’m doing here, to give that sense of variety.
VMS:
I was gonna ask you about your album, This is before I knew you had a new one coming out (out now*).
I was gonna ask you about your self-titled one “Plaster”. Do you wanna talk about that more?
Plaster:
Yeah, I can talk about it at all. I mean, what other questions do you have about that first?
VMS:
Let’s see, because I was going to ask you about your album, self-titled one “Plaster”. And then I already asked you about that……..(looking at notes*)
Plaster:
You want to know the title for the next one?
VMS:
Yeah!
Plaster:
So it’s called “Plaster”. It’s gonna be, I guess I’m ripping that idea off of Bay Area bands, but the front cover is going to be very similar to how this one is sort of keeping with the aesthetic nature of it, and then on the back it was just gonna say two, so I guess in a way it is “Plaster Two”, but then the EP is gonna be Plaster as well, on the back’s it’s gonna say “Ep” I guess. In theory, the first one should have said “One”, but I didn’t really think we were going to be making too many after that.
VMS:
Regarding the sound versus the album right now versus the new one, what’s the evolution of your sound that you’re going for.
Plaster:
More clean? I think it’s less, there’s still those Punky songs on there, and there’s still sort of a lot faster songs, but I think the main focus that’s keeping it all together, is sort of in the choruses. It’s in the structure, but I think that structure is stronger this time around. I’m doing more stuff with the songs and I’m still trying to keep it to the idea of If I were to get drunk I should be able to play this, you know?
But I think now, I don’t think I’d be able to drink and play this. Not that I do drink anymore at all. There’s more chords, and I think I’m leaning a little bit more into the 60’s influence of a lot of the songs, and by that, I’m not talking about Austin Powers fluffy shirts, I’m talking about structure and sound, you know, because me and Bo are super into pop and psych from the 60’s and super influenced by stuff like that, so I guess it’d be a mixture of that. With that Ramone’s sound I was talking about. I think we’re trying to focus a bit more on fidelity this time around.
The reason I wanted to get away from Home Bodies in a way is just because I was tired of the tape sound, but then the first album does have that tape sound, but I think it came out more warm rather than Lo-Fi. This time around there’s more focus on layering, and fidelity, song writing and all that good stuff.
VMS:
Do you have a specific album from that time frame?
I know there were so many, It was a huge movement.
Plaster:
I don’t know if I mentioned it earlier in the interview, but I’m teaching a history of music class, and not to talk about me being a teacher again, But looking at the curriculum, the second quarter out of four quarters, this is all just based on 60’s music, and I just had to sit back and think I’m literally shoving in 70’s, 80’s and 90’s into one quarter, and then 2000 for the last one and 50s and 60s. Oh no, the 30’s to 50’s in the first one, but the 60’s is literally one quarter, that’s like eight weeks. I’m like, holy crap I could talk more about it.
It’s an understatement to call it a musical evolution because there was so much going on, but I guess to answer your question in a bit more straightforward, one album from the 60’s that really influences what we do. Oh man, I hate to say it, I think Rubber Soul by the Beatles, I think it’s perfect. I think the Oedipus of it is near flawless and as well as others that shouldn’t have been flawless, but it totally is. I guess that would be like the best undercurrent of what I’m trying to do is it’s a mixture of, like, I guess if the Ramones did Rubber Soul.
VMS:
Yeah, that’s awesome. No, I love that. I love that album, and it’s funny, because when people talk about their favorite, I know you’re talking about that time frame. But I know when everyone mentions the Beatles, they always mention the other ones, but nobody ever mentions Rubber Soul, so that’s very cool that you did. That’s great. I feel like that album is very underrated.
Plaster:
Yeah, I feel that era held Rubber Soul, that’s when they were still a band to me, because after that; Revolver, Sergeant Pepper’s, Magical Mystery Tour, amazing, the best band in the world. I’ll say that it’s my favorite band ever, but there’s a time frame in which they are sort of unobtainable. In terms of wanting to write like that because I’ll tell you I love Sergeant Pepper, so there’s never a day where I’m sitting on my couch listening to that song, the album on headphones and going, “oh I could do that”. There’s no part of me that thinks I could do any of that, any of it. I don’t even want to cover it or play single chords of all that stuff. I just want to listen to it.
But Rubber Soul, it still sounds like guys in a band. It still sounds like I can do this, and I feel like that’s a big theme with not just Plaster, not just Special K, to say anything I’ve done. I wanted to be like, I’m not that great at this, and I’m sure you could do it better. I think that’s why I like Rubber Soul so much because it still feels obtainable. And I think that’s the media that really reaches me the most. Anything that feels like, anyone could do this. Of course that’s not really the case with any of the bands I like, but it’s the idea that, we’re all humans, we could try. We could try to do something about that.
VMS:
Is there anything we didn’t cover that you do want to talk about?
Plaster:
I feel like this project has turned into something that means a lot more to me than anything I’ve ever done. Because not only do I feel confident about these songs, but for the people that have been listening to it and that get back to me about all these things, it’s a lot of positivity. It’s a lot of good shit coming out, and I really appreciate that. This has probably been the most positive music thing I’ve been a part of, and I think it really transitioned into something just awesome that I look forward to. These songs are really good. I feel like I should say something controversial here or something, “it’s the best thing you’ll ever listen to in your life, if you think so.”
VMS:
You could always do the classic Beatles, “That you’re better than Jesus”
or something.
Plaster:
Or better than the Beatles thinking they’re better than Jesus (lol).
No I’m kidding. It’s very funny to say that (lol).
—-VMS