Antic Clay
Interview & Preface By: Euchrid
Button Image: Jill Williams
Antic Clay is one of the most under appreciated artists around. Even among the crowd of under appreciated artists we here at Swampland like to shower with love and attention.Upon listening to his wonderfully catchy, minor-keyed tunes one might expect Mr. Clay to be serious and curt. Instead, he proves to be humorous, kind and obliging. Quite the southern gentleman, in fact. This usually seems to be the case with people who write music such as his. All darkness and woe at first glance, but a closer examination will reveal multi-faceted, “Good Country People” with fabulous senses of humor. His music brings to mind the image of a bastard child/science experiment gone wrong involving gene-splicing between Nick Cave and David Eugene Edwards. Surely comparisons that have been made before.As sullen as his tunes may be, they're witty and showcase great lyrical and vocal talent. Some tracks are indistinguishable from that which spawned from his former, more Southern rock outfit, Myssouri. Now my children, without further adieu, our wonderful chrome-domed friend shall speak for himself! We shall speak of such topics as living in the South, literary names and potted meat products!
So tell us West Coast kids about living in Georgia!
I'm not very fond of Georgia or the southeast for that matter, I'm only here by personal circumstance--I'm divorced, with two children, and cannot leave without leaving them. I'd prefer to live in a cooler climate, close to the sea. The traffic in Atlanta is horrible, a daily burden of stress and personal reduction--that is, the road rage makes one's soul small and petty, but it's nigh-on impossible to avoid if you have passion about anything. Georgia does have lovely springs, where everything comes into full-bloom, but even that is outweighed by pollen so thick it coats everything in green, including your lungs and sinuses.
Do you consider yourself to be connected at all to "The Denver Scene"? I know a lot of your fans count you as an extension of it, rather like Th' Legendary Shack Shakers. Is it difficult to be geographically separated from that, or is the genre doing well out there?
Only connected within the spirit of the music. I certainly feel like I would be at home out there, or even further west.
Who knows, perhaps I’d become so happy that I’d write an album called "Delightful Life Blues".
Seriously though, there is no genre stronghold here, with the possible and unfortunate exception of hip-hop.
Who/what are your inspirations?
Cormac McCarthy, Flannery O'Conner, Don Delillo and the Bible for starters. And then the musical embodiments of similar schools of thought--Townes Van Zandt, Leonard Cohen, Johnny Cash, Nick Cave, David Eugene Edwards, Mark Lanegan, Michael Gira. I tend to gravitate to the archaic, no sure why. I think I was born an old man.
What is your writing process like?
For the most part I write on guitar, and carry a notebook with me for lyrical snippets that come to me.
Words and music get married somewhere down the line. I've been writing in a more formulaic style lately--that is, verse and chorus. I used to reject that, but now I've found that there's a valid staying power in traditional American folk and country/western music. The songs of everyman.
Tell us a fond (or not!) memory of your time with Myssouri.
I almost had a drink thrown in my face by Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde because she was comparing American soldiers to suicide bombers and conflating the Palestinian issue with the Iraq war and I was disagreeing with her backstage. I was trying to be very polite and I was quite hoarse from our set, so I wasn't even raising my voice. But she was tilting her drink and threatening, saying, "My drink is tilted.." This was New Year's Eve 2002/3, I guess. At least she said I was cute.
She was saying the Iraq war was a bullshit war and I'm sad to say she was more correct about that than I'd like to admit. It's been terribly mismanaged.
Photo by Jill Williams
Why did you decide to go solo?
Myssouri kept going in a more hard rock direction than I wanted. I would play shows and shout myself hoarse, and always be listening to somber-countrified music on my own time, which is where my heart was. Now of course Myssouri also did a lot of toned-down and western-flavored material and I could have steered the band in that direction entirely, but there were some personality conflicts as well that just exacerbated my desire for a change. Mostly though it was a lack of commercial success that broke us up, which happens to most bands. I'm not ONLY doing mellow stuff now, by the way. Just more acoustic based.
Are you afraid a lack of commercial success will follow you throughout your career?
The MTV pop ideal seems to have invaded the world of country music and leaves no room for darker, more folky stuff that used to fall into the category.
Yes, I’ve almost resigned myself to the notion of never being “discovered”. I do entertain a fantasy of penning a hit country song for someone else to record, which would then bankroll me. Even that process has multiple walls to overcome—the who you know element is strong, just the endeavor of getting your composition to the right pair of ears is very difficult, and I’m sure many good songs are out there wallowing in obscurity. As for my personal output, I have no illusions of it ever being anywhere close to MTV and the like.
What's the meaning behind your name?
Cormac McCarthy, BLOOD MERIDIAN. The Judge says: "If war isn't holy then man is nothing but antic clay." My real name, Michael Bradley, is fairly generic, and when you google it, you get a basketball player. Antic Clay has the resonance of a name, to me.
Well, I certainly approve of renaming oneself with literary references. It looks better in type too! Do you see your name as a statement on spiritual warfare, or war in general?
You mean your real name ain’t Euchrid?! Madame, this conversation is over.
Just kidding. I would like to direct you to McCarthy’s monologue (via The Judge) on war and the nature of man. I agree completely with him. Pages 248-9 of Blood Meridian. Everyone reading this interview should read the book. Unfortunately, it’s a heavily Nietzchean point of view, and doesn’t hold well with someone like me who also wants a beautiful world for his lovely daughters. There’s a major dichotomy to life.
Are you tired of being compared to Van Gogh?
As long as I manage to avoid his same cause of death it's no problem. Someone suggested I go by the name Bloodbeard. But, you know, the pirate thing...
I take it you think the pirate thing is played out? There's nothing less piratey than mass-marketed billion dollar summer blockbusters...
Well, I don’t mean it that way—I think Disney’s pirate films are great. It’s just not something fitting for any one who wants to be taken seriously, that’s all.
Tell us about your new project Sinners and Songriders.
It's really a logical step since my music has been becoming continually more countrified.
I've always had an affinity for all things western, and so have my bandmates. Actually Chris Jansen, the original drummer for Myssouri, is in S&S. Chris, Donn Aaron who played with Mary My Hope, Henry Derek from Blood Promise, and Gibson Fenning from Legend of the Giant Squid are all in S&S.
We cover the classics--vintage country--from Ernest Tubb and George Jones to Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings. Mostly the stuff categorized as "outlaw". There's really not too much meaning to that term--just like "punk" or "alternative." But it helps folks know what kind of music to expect.
Old country music has blood, soul, that just doesn't seem evident in most modern music.
This is also a mercenary enterprise--gets us playing out regularly and making money. It's hard to get folks to come to shows of exclusively original material, at least in Atlanta. Like pulling teeth, really.
Your new album is called "Hilarious Death Blues". Care to elaborate?
Again inspired by McCarthy's BLOOD MERIDIAN, from a classic scene in which an impromptu band of American soldiers is massacred by Comanches "grotesque with daubings like a company of mounted clowns, death hilarious, all howling in a barbarous tongue and riding down upon them like a horde from a Hell more horrible yet than the brimstone land of Christian reckoning..."
I like to add blues to song titles as a non-sequitur. I have a song "Mechanically Separated Blues" which I left off the album, that will be available for electronic download.
Speaking of mechanically separated things, have you ever eaten canned meat products? How'd that go?
I have tried Spam in my day, and I remember liking those “deviled” potted meat products in my school lunches. But it’s been decades. Do you know Spam’s competition? “Treet”. That kills me. Mmmm Treeeeet.
Are there any artists you'd like to tour with?
I'd like to TOUR, period! I really need to get an agent. Managers, booking agents, are hard to come by, and they're always in demand. I really believe my music could and should reach a wider audience.
But specifically, I would be honored to play shows with Woven Hand, Neko Case, Jesse Sykes and of course Nick Cave. Myssouri played with Angels of Light and I have played with Jarboe. I'm actually in a new project of hers, called "The Sweet Meat Love and Holy Cult." It's sort of a psychedelic folk concept project. I have several songs written specifically for it.
How did this collaboration come about?
We all live in the same town, and share many of the same influences. Moreover, all of us have been Swans fans since the 80’s, and of course you know Jarboe was in Swans, so she’s kind of like the godmother of the project. When I say “we all”, I’m referring to the other members of the “cult”. It’s a loose-knit project, and it’s been difficult getting it off the ground, mostly because we’re all adults with many other commitments (try being in 3 bands with kids and a day job). But we’ll be shopping a demo this summer and hopefully things will blossom forth from there.
Myspace page: myspace.com/thesweetmeatloveandholycult
Photo by Ted Rosendorf
What's the best way to get hold of your albums? Directly through you?
Cdbaby.com—there will be a link from anticclay.com as soon as they put the albums for sale. Myssouri records are available through there as well. Also: stickfigurerecords.com. They’re helping me distribut “Hilarious Death Blues”.
It’s been postponed repeatedly, and I apologize for that. The albums are done, and the covers are done (completely constructed by me: silver foil stamped and embossed double gatefold black sleeve, with a printed lyrics sheet for each disc. I’m trying to make them as affordable as possible. Also it will be available on Amazon. The least expensive and easiest way will be cdbaby though. Just a matter of days now!
Say something! Anything you like!
This book contains wisdom, I’m curled up inside. It hides and I seek and I cannot find a way not to be weak, a way not to be blind.
Have I turned a deaf ear to the song of the mind? What is provided by knowledge but some vague comprehension of the failings of man and his many torments? Or some corporeal ken, and embrace of the dense. Such as knowing a woman, in the Biblical sense.
Antic Clay Myspace
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