Jeremy Enigk

Jeremy Enigk breathes deeply nowadays, a complete change from what he describes as the pressure-filled seasons of creating both Fire Theft and World Waits. That’s because on his latest, OK Bear, the former Sunny Day Real Estate vocalist lets loose on his new album, keeping the first vocal takes and allowing the songs to write themselves this time around. It’s a foreign yet freeing process for Enigk and something he’s quite happy with the result of.

Speaking with Enigk yields an even greater appreciation for an artist who’s long-since tried to simply be honest in his approach and skillful in his craft. Our conversation takes vulnerable turns here and there as he describes his inability to run a label, why he wouldn’t want to be starting out now in the current industry and why he says he “needs to get his shit together.”

SSv: How did OK Bear come together? Were there specific ideas for what you wanted to do with this collection?

Jeremy Enigk: I didn’t have a concept. I had maybe three strong ideas, but when I got into the studio the whole concept was just to write as I was in the studio. I didn’t really want to dilute it with a major vision or anything. I just wanted to let the muse speak and let what happened to happen. I didn’t want to control the sound but instead I wanted to see what comes out of nothing.

SSv: Was that attitude in the studio reactive to something?

Jeremy: I’ve always pounded my records into the ground. I’ve always had a very strong vision of what I wanted and I wanted to avoid that in this case. I think there’s been a bit of overproduction on some of my previous records – not that there’s anything wrong with that. But I tried to have that sort of attitude to liberate myself from the pressure of having to make it perfect. There’s something to be said for raw passion, going there and doing one or two vocal takes and being done. There’s something special about those first couple takes instead of 20 takes. It’s just more memorable and that’s definitely something that I tried to capture.

SSv: So it’s a result of the pendulum swinging?

Jeremy: Yeah, I just got tired of doing things a certain way and it’s nice to change things up to keep things interesting for myself. It did swing the other way completely and that was mainly just because it gets boring doing the same thing over and over again and to beat my head against the wall to find the perfect sound or the perfect part. It kind of defeats the passion, you know?

SSv: Part of that is interesting simply because the frequency of albums released haven’t been as many as some other artists, so to hear you say it’s old…

Jeremy: Well, that’s exactly it. The Fire Theft record and World Waits were very much long processes. I spent three years on the Fire Theft record and another three years or so on World Waits. It can be cool because you can perfect a certain concept or something like that, but it can take such a long time. It’s more fun to go in there and just see what happens. Of course, that’s just this record. That doesn’t mean I won’t spend another three years on my next record, but this record just happened to have this experiment. And it worked out. It relieved me in a lot of ways, relieved a lot of pressure to make it perfect. So it wasn’t just to affect the actual sound of the record but to relieve me of personal pressure.

SSv: You’ve referenced pressure several times, so was there a lot of that with World Waits?

Jeremy: Sure. I mean, if I’m scheduled to do a certain song to sing that day and my voice isn’t working, then I have to scrap that song for the day. I have to become sort of a slave to the process of perfection and wanting the vocals to have the exact cadence and I just don’t have that mood or my vocal cords aren’t capturing the song that I have to sing, then I have to scrap it for the day for that muse to sort of float through me. It’s nice to just not have to do that. It’s nice to go in and just do whatever it is that comes out.

SSv: What have you learned about pressure – the healthy pressures for an artist and the unhealthy ones?

Jeremy: One pressure that I always considered healthy was having a deadline. I tend to work pretty good if I’m on a really short deadline. I know that I only have three days to finish this, this and this and I better do it. That’s when you jam it all in, as much as you can do while keeping your sanity. I think that’s a good pressure for me is having a deadline.

The unhealthy pressure is anything from the outside – any expectations or pressure from the industry. That’s never good. For me it’s always important to… if I’m being pressured to create a certain sound from when I was 18, I just have to tune that out and remember that what I’m doing, I’m doing it because I love what I’m doing. If in the process I loved what I was doing, I think that translates to the listener even more. I just have to trust my instincts.

SSv: Did you learn that the hard way? Was there a season that you couldn’t?

Jeremy: Well, sure. Ever since I begun, I’ve second guessed myself. Since I’ve been playing music, I’ve second guessed myself. But it’s always been an on-going thing to let it go and remember just to enjoy it and reminding myself of that. But, yes, I would say that the older I get, the more relaxed I become about it. I am more accepting of what I do. I had high expectations of myself in the past for my records to be absolutely, mind-blowingly amazing. [Laughs] I wanted it to be melt-your-face type of music. [Laughs] I don’t do that stuff anymore. Now I just try to do my best. That’s all you can do is your best.

SSv: So was there a fun and innocence on this album that wasn’t there in the past?

Jeremy: I guess you could say that I was a deer in headlights on some of this. The fact that I recorded this in Spain and the fact that I was not familiar with the language and the environment I was recording in, I was a fish out of water. There was some innocence there, because I really had to adhere to the customs and the way the producers went about recording. I really had to follow their lead. I’m not sure if that answers your question because I’d never really thought of that.

SSv: Well, I bring up innocence in the sense of a child-like quality to it, since you mentioned getting rid of the pressures.

Jeremy: Oh, I know what you mean. It was going back to the basics. I definitely tried to simplify the whole thing.

SSv: That’s got to feel different in the songs themselves and the life they take on. Do you hear that in the songs yourself?

Jeremy: Yeah, absolutely. Because the songs created themselves. I really didn’t put my hand in there. I didn’t throw in a bunch of spices this time. It was truly a discovery sort of process where now I can still listen to some of these songs and go, ‘Woah, where did that come from?’ It’s not so engraved in my brain because I didn’t work on it for three years. It just happened in a day. I sat down and wrote a basic skeleton of a song in 20 minutes. Then the producer and the musicians go in there doing their parts. Then I say, ‘Wow, there’s a song. All I did was lay a basic idea and sing on it.’ There’s definitely a simplicity to that.

SSv: That’s really fascinating because in talking to artists all the time, some of them discuss this notion of serving the song or letting a song develop on its own.

Jeremy: Again, you have to trust your instincts. You listen to a song and you have to know that throwing in that harmonica is overdoing it. You want to get that bluesy or country feel or whatever but ultimately it’s easy to hear what is supposed to be there and what is out of place. I’ve also heard musicians say that the best songs are already written and all you have to do as a musician is just grab it out of the air and process it. The more you do that and try to control it, the more it will sift through your fingers. You just have to channel what’s already there and let it flow and not strangle it. It will slip through your fingers, at least for me.

SSv: I wanted to ask about your career for a minute. In terms of the “sky is falling” industry take right now, I’m wondering how you’re navigating things at this stage in your career?

Jeremy: Well, I tried to walk away from that and formed my own label, which is really just me, my manager and Josh Myers, who also runs the label. That’s the biggest step that I’ve taken to walk away from the industry. I wouldn’t recommend it for any new bands. Signing to an established label is important for a new band because they’re going to have everything at their disposal – possible tour support and financial support. But for someone like me, I think it’s possible to make a living and do it in a humble way. I do have my own fan base. It’s by no means huge but they’ve been very dedicated and supportive of me and I think I can pull that off.

SSv: So you’re unaffected by a lot of the tidal shifts taking place?

Jeremy: No, I’m definitely affected by them and that’s the reason I started my own label. I was just having a tough time being in this gray area with labels. I’m not selling that many records, so my deals just aren’t that profitable. It’s just this gray area. So I’m definitely affected by the economy and the state of labels, but also with the Internet, it is possible to get your music out there without doing things the old-fashioned way. That’s the benefit of having a long-standing career. Like I said, if I were starting right now, it would be difficult to get my name out there. There’s a whole slew of bands out there right now that are trying to get their stuff out there. It just gets shuffled under everybody else.

SSv: Any further plans for your label other than what you’re already doing?

Jeremy: I’d like to. I’d love to put out other bands but I’d want the deals to be fair and good for the bands and right now I’m just not in a state to do that. I don’t know how to run a label and I don’t want to rip anybody off. It’s also a matter of finding amazing music. It’s hard to find gems and find something that I would really want to put out myself. And if I was in love with a band, would I really want to torture them by putting their music out myself? [Laughs] They’d be better off signing with Sub Pop or something. [Laughs] So that’s something i would definitely love to do but I need to get my shit together.

SSv: So what’s on the horizon at this point?

Jeremy: I’m trying to figure out touring for this record. I want to do something in the States for June and July. I don’t know how much touring I can do because financially it’s difficult to go out with a full band right now. This is a rock album, so I’m going to need drums, bass, guitars, all the stuff. So I’m looking at the logistics of that.

But other than that, I’d love to do something creative with video. I’d love to shoot some video for the album. But things are pretty mellow right now. It’s just a state of planning what to do next.

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