Interview: Singer-Songwriter Jim Soule Talks About His New Album "Forget the Days"
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“Trying to find the line between personal and “too” personal is a challenge that every songwriter deals with...Heartache, depression, loss, hope and concern are all great motivators in telling great stories that relate to just about anyone.”
What are some things that inspire your creativity when writing/producing new music?
Originally when I started writing songs, it was all about the music and "does it sound cool?". I truly love great melodies and harmonies! If the lyrics were funny or clever, great, but it meant less to the 18-19 year old me. As I had some hard times and lived life a bit more, it became an outlet to cope and get how I am feeling out on paper or to at least work through it. I've also been very open to new types of music and storytelling which I think can drive or shape how I share my stories.
Being in a band with a great storyteller like Nick Leet, I feel I have had a great mentor as he is one of the greatest storytellers in my opinion. Others like Jason Isbell, Ryan Miller, Kevin Griffin and Britt Daniel have been muses as well. I think it has become a perfect collaboration between great and catchy sounds, melody and harmony, with emotionally soaked stories.
Trying to find the line between personal and "too" personal is a challenge that every songwriter deals with. One of the lines in "Cut the Tape" is a direct reference to just that. "Poison pen's had its last day; a brand new page with so much to say". Heartache, depression, loss, hope and concern are all great motivators in telling great stories that relate to just about anyone.
Congratulations on the completion and release of your album "Forget the Days". Describe for us your musical journey during the development of the album's 12 songs.
I have been writing and recording songs for years since being inspired back in high school by They Might Be Giants and their story of how they became popular in the early 80's in Massachusetts and New York. I started with a cassette deck bouncing back and forth to a VCR in my parents basement. Technology has made home studios more effective. This album spent as much time traveling through the internet between Chad Wheeling and I as we spent recording it. It's funny, the album actually came to be when the lead singer from the band I play in, High on Stress, suggested a solo (or Soule-o as he called it) release as a Kickstarter give away when we released the band's first album, "Moonlight Girls" on vinyl back in 2018.
When I approached Chad Wheeling at Triple T Studio about his involvement, I already had 5 or 6 of the songs pretty much in the can with the rest written and demoed. For example, "Face" was pretty much fully recorded in my home studio except the drums that he added and then I had my Dad play bass on it, well actually he decided he was playing bass on it.
What really drove the direction of the album as a whole was "A New Brand of Fiction". Chad had taken a really rough demo of it, worked through some of the parts (guitars, drums, solo, etc.) and sent back what was heard on the album and I decided I knew what I wanted the album to sound like. After a secret weekend recording session in January of 2019 at Triple T Studio, “Forget the Days” was well on its way.
Were there any songs that you recorded that you decided to not include on the album? If so, why didn't they make the final cut?
Yeah we had another 4 or so songs that were in contention. What's crazy to think is that this all started out as an EP originally. As we took a look at it and, to remember I've been writing and recording in a home studio for 20 years, the options became clear really fast and there were a bunch of them.
Once I decided what I thought the feel and capacity of the album was, it made it obvious which ones had to be cut. It was a hard decision for sure. It's like trying to decide between your kids. One of the songs that got cut features a good friend, Elliot Hilton, who played an amazing piano part on a song called "Natalie".
I've decided to take a few of these songs and release a "B-Sides" EP later this year featuring that and a few other songs. I think the songs are good enough to be heard. Plus, a couple are favorites in my Livestream shows. Give the fans what they want right?!
Do you plan to shoot videos for any songs on the album? If so, which one(s)?
I did a concept video for "A New Brand of Fiction" when releasing that single in early June. It's on my YouTube and Facebook pages now. I'd love to do a video for "Face" or "Flicker" at some point. 2020 has been a hell-of-a-year and focus obviously for all is in so many other places. I think it's nice to have music and art to lose yourself in or to distract us from reality but reality also makes it a challenge to do some of those things. We'll see how that fleshes out.
With the album now released, what are some of your goals musically for the rest of 2020?
Like I've mentioned before, with so many songs eating away at the back of my brain, I think finishing up the "B-Sides" EP and releasing that will be fun as well as really getting to work on the next group of tunes. Not for a 2020 release but a slow go for that of course but eager to plug away.
Outside of that, hoping to find ways to play music besides doing livestreams from the basement every couple of weeks. Don't get me wrong, I'll keep doing them and streaming on my Facebook page because it has been a blast. The response has been so cool and it has been fun interacting with people who are coping with the quarantine and social injustice alone.
Being an outlet to get away or switch your mind off for a bit is really great. But, if I can find a way to use being a musician and having a platform to engage people in discussions about health and safety, social and human equality as well as civic duty than holy hell, I better step up to the plate. We've got a lot of work to do.