Oops!

It looks like you don't have flash player 6 installed. Click here to go to Macromedia download page.

Umbrella Brigade

Sterling: After the demise of Stiffs, Inc. I completely dropped music. I had to let it go, though part of me knew it would come back at some point. I remember wondering if I would put it down for five years and do other things, and sure enough, that is exactly what happened. After five years, I found myself in the position where my life had for all intents and purposes come crashing down around my ears. It was when I reached that point of having nowhere else to go that I knew it was time to return to the realm of music. My first thought was to reform the band, and I tried. When it became clear that it wasn't going to happen, I knew I had to do it on my own. It's for the best, really, as I think this direction was where I had to go, and I don't know that it would have meshed with the others so well.

Although musically it's very different, Umbrella Brigade seems to have a similar visual theme as Stiffs, Inc. How does the aesthetic of Umbrella Brigade relate to the 'post-Orwellian Victorian' imagery of Stiffs, Inc.?

Sterling: It's a rather direct progression, from my perspective. I don't think we were unusual in this respect, but Stiffs, Inc.'s aesthetic/imagery was nothing more than a logical extension of who we were, just like the music. It was never planned or decided upon - it all came out naturally. I mean, we grew up on Terry Gilliam and the Marx Brothers and the like, so it was embedded in us. So when the band ended, it wasn't like all of that dropped off. It was at that point, at least for me, inextricable from my everyday life. As it is still there on some level, it only seems natural to carry it forward. However, my hope would be that it is indeed moving forward, and not just repeating anything the same. Umbrella Brigade plays more to the militaristic and fanciful elements that perhaps were less manifested prior. I think the combination of those two plays to an interest in duality - the usual chaos/order stuff. And I have no interest in being stuck in the past or playing to any kind of hard and fast rules about eras and such. I always thought that something to avoid. I like the idea of taking things gone by and smacking them down into the present. It's the clash of these that brings things to life. And at this point, I am far more interested in breathing life into things than death.

An important note is that I would be remiss if I did not mention that working with my friend Jorden Haley, who also does the artwork for Mindless Self Indulgence, played a tremendous role in developing things. He and I mesh really well in our aesthetics, and we sat down and kind of went over the basic arena of where this would be, and then he just ran with it. A huge part of the development of all of this is due to him. In fact, I would never have done all I have with this if he had not been my partner in this (we've made shirts and patches and stickers and art prints). He's really inspiring, and I am grateful for that. I consider him a part of the band in this regard.

Your debut album, Ex Nihilo, features members of The Brides and Autodrone, among others. Tell us a little about how those collaborations came to be.

Sterling: Those are people who had been dancing around my life for years now. They all were around in the days of Stiffs, Inc.; members of The Brides were in The Brickbats, who were our contemporaries. When it became clear that I would not be working with my former band mates (and current friends), I had to look elsewhere. People had come to me previously and asked what I was doing and suggesting that I work with them. I was in my no music zone, so I always politely declined (at least I hope politely). And then Jeremy (of Autodrone) came to me at the right time and said he'd do it. I warned him that it would be very different than what had come before, and he said he was game, so that was that. The Brides had been lurking around the corners for some time, too, and eventually I figured they should be brought into the fray, if you will.

Tell us about writing and recording this album. Though it's heavily electronic, there are also a lot of guitars and other instruments. Did you record together as a band, or were the parts recorded separately and then put together in the studio? Or was it a mixture of both?

Sterling: Keep in mind that I had let go of anything musical for years. I was used to writing songs with dinky Casio keyboards, my guitar, and a four-track. Towards the end of Stiffs, Inc. I'd be writing songs with something like 16 tracks and they'd be a muddy mess. I'd know what was going on, but I don't think anyone else could hear it all. So when it came time to write this album, I had no idea what I was going to do. And then I found Reason - absolute and utter kid in the candy store. I found its depths unfathomable, and wrote part after part after part. I know that is probably run of the mill for most electronic musicians, but for me it was a new heaven. Truth be told, I think I overwrote a bit. I could make songs with as many tracks as I wanted, and I'd say I buried some things under layers and layers. I started to learn not to do that as I went along, and I think I've got a much better handle on it now. At any rate, the core of the songs were written that way, and then I'd bring them to the others and they would add other backing vocals or instrumentation such as guitars or Angel and her Moog or other keyboards, and loops and such. Then we went into Leopard Studios, and we would take the Reason tracks and fiddle with them. The others would come and go and add their parts when they could. I was always thrilled with what they brought to the table, as Angel and Jeremy and Erin had great ideas, and I far prefer the result of a collaboration to my solo workings, which I fear to be too idiosyncratic. It's that wonderful combination of different minds that makes the mystery beast that no one can lay claim to.

Is there a uniting theme to Ex Nihilo? What ideas or emotions tie the songs together?

Sterling: The different forms of suffering and the growth that comes out of it. No doubt. And obvious as it may sound, death, but this time as part of the cycle of rebirth as opposed to death for its own sake. This was a highly personal album for me. It was my way of clawing out of the deepest pit I had yet been in. I was coming to terms with a lot of things. So for me, the album is a confessional of sorts. Some of the songs stick to describing suffering in various guises, but I hope it comes through that those states also lead somewhere. It's a reminder, I suppose to myself as much as anyone, that when those times come again, it is up to us to make something out of it, and that yes, they too will pass. I laugh as I say this, but it's kind of like the anti-Joy Division, if that makes any sense. Yes, things can feel terribly wrong, but stick through them and you'll come out the other side. Don't hang yourself the night before embarking on a big tour. If you feel awful, feel awful, but keep going. You'll be glad you did.

The album takes its name from the latin phrase 'Ex nihilo nihil fit,' meaning 'Nothing comes from nothing.' What does this phrase mean to you, and why did you choose it for your album title?

Sterling: On a purely superficial level, it fires my brain. It's a silly logic game, and one can vacillate between celebrating the nothingness making nothingness and the absurdity of the fact that everything that exists seemingly has impossibly come from nothing, thus rendering this statement false in its way. But that's all just mind game stuff. On a more personal level, it was what got me off my backside and started me to making the album. I could either sit there and let the nothing that was going on continue, and in a way let that define me, or I could do something about it. The phrase is a self-fulfilling prophecy if you let it have its way with you. If I continue to do nothing, then that's just what I will have: nothing. So it's up to us to decide if that is what we want in life. I should also admit that it's a bit of a joke about my musical past for anyone who might be paying attention.

The song 'Return' features a Gaelic refrain. What is the story behind that, and how does it relate to the concept of the song as a whole?

Sterling: Not to state the obvious - but I am about to - 'Return' is a meditation on death. Just in case the chorus didn't already tip that off. I had a friend named Arthur who died some years ago, and I think a part of me had never processed it. And I had my own personal fantasy of my relationship with death. It's going to sound ridiculous, and that's why I'll confess it now, but I thought of death as my mistress. I sought her out and asked for her to be in my life, and yes, that was full of silly romanticism and not enough life experience. Well, I kind of got my wish at one point, and boy was that an interesting time, interesting in the sense of that Chinese blessing 'May you not live in interesting times.' Again, I think another in the necessary steps of growing up. So this song was my way of setting myself free of that past notion of her having a special role for me, and telling her that she can go her own way and I wish her the best, whilst also knowing that you don't ever really get to be free of her. Kind of saying that I'm OK for now, and if you might just occupy yourself elsewhere for a bit, I'd appreciate it. So the chant, and I have no problem revealing this kind of thing as with the Internet it's impossible for anything to be esoteric anymore, is the Charm of Making, which, as I understand, can be used as a way of manifesting something that you want. And, as we all learn eventually when these things happen, careful what you wish for. And it all ties into King Arthur, and my friend Arthur, and a few other references and movies of my childhood in there that I'll let people figure out if they like, etc. And to be fair, I also have a thing for Helen Mirren, so make of that what you will.

'Penguin Stepping' is one of the album's most evocative songs, and its images are especially menacing given the recent popularity of penguins in film. What's the story behind that song? Why penguins, specifically?

Sterling: First off, I wrote this before all the penguin hoo-hah, but on the flip side, who doesn't love penguins? It's not like I was hitting some secret before the others; I think it became time for penguin stuff, and so there it was. But why penguins in this case? The simple answer is that it is based on a dream. Much of the imagery in this song comes from there, though of course filtered through the conscious mind with some links and sense that probably weren't there in the original. Without dissecting the song and making it too concrete, I'd say it addresses the inner beings we have that we deny and in fact are there to help us, and how they may manifest in ways that confuse or scare us, but it's up to us to work with them and recognize the role we play in shaping the world that we see around us. Or to be more direct, the deus ex machina is within. I could pick apart lines and explain how they fit into this, but I'm not sure how much fun that would be for people, so I'll leave it to them to do what they want with it.

What are your plans now that Ex Nihilo is released? Will you be touring? Do you have any other plans or projects you're working on at the moment?

Sterling: It's all very open at the moment. I'm working with letting things unfurl and going from there. We could tour if the atmosphere seemed right or an opportunity presented itself, or we may just play a few shows and then set to work on the next record. I view releasing this as both a culmination of many years and groundwork for what comes ahead. I've already written another batch of songs, and the next step is to make them whole with the members of The Brides and see how they develop, which should determine the next album. I think I can say that it will have a rather different feel than this record. Then again, if I've learned anything, it's one never knows what the future holds. Reminds me of one of my favorite jokes: How do you make God laugh? Tell him your plans. And much as I like to say I think I've caused enough laughter for a while, I think there is plenty more to come.