Tiles Interview
Here's the Q&A between HM editor DVP and Tiles guitarist Chris Herin.
Tell me about your new album. What songs excite you the most? Why?
Our new CD is entitled Window Dressing. It's a concept album about today's visual culture - society's fixation with superficial and transient values - applauding style over substance and elevating deception to an art form (and even spectator sport). All the music was written and organized to work as a complete listening experience from beginning to end - like a book. As writing progressed certain "songs-in-progress" were chosen because they completed a piece of the overall puzzle. There is a lot of stylistic variety to give the program an ebb and flow.
I think my favorite song on the CD is "Slippers in the Snow." Like "Reasonable Doubt" from Presents of Mind, there seems to be a magical synergy between the music and emotion of the lyrics. I like all the songs (of course), but "Paintings" and "Tear-Water Tea" also rank pretty high. Lyrically the CD still holds up well for me - musically there are a few little bits I'd like to change but that always seems to be the case in hindsight.
To me Window Dressing (the CD) is an emotional and genuine recording - a little on the dark side and a bit melancholy. The CD has been out for a couple months now so we have gotten a lot of feedback - with the consensus being that it's a challenging album that takes a while to sink in - a lot to digest. Which is probably not the best thing commercially! The recording process was natural: a band playing in the studio with the engineer capturing the atmosphere of the room and the energy of the performance(s). The arrangements are dense in places but certainly not over-produced. There are minor flaws here and there as we purposely stayed away from too much "polish" (a little of the Detroit garage band influence maybe?).
You've played with Kansas... Now you've toured with Dream Theater. Sounds like some dreams have come true for you guys. What's next? How did those milestones feel to you guys?
Certainly opening for Kansas and touring Europe with Dream Theater were highlights for us. We've been fortunate to have opened for a lot great bands passing through Detroit: Judas Priest, Steve Morse, Blue Oyster Cult, King's X, Spock's Beard, and others. The DT tour had a few frustrating moments (the keyboards and my guitar equipment didn't show up until the fourth show!) but DT and their crew were great and we settled in to delivering a good opening set and winning over a lot of new fans. The limited edition version of Window Dressing has a bonus CD of board tape recordings from the tour.
The initial surge of excitement is fleeting: since a lot of business and preparation - and rehearsing - has to get done. After it's over is when the experience comes into focus. We are grateful to have been in the right place at the right time and to the people who gave us a chance and helped out. Whether we continue to be the beneficiaries of such good fortune depends on how well Window Dressing is received. But at the very least we will play a bit throughout the Midwest and Northeast this year - and we are scheduled to play at the Rites of Spring Festival near Philadelphia in April 2005.
Window Dressing. Are the themes vanity and false perception? What else? Please expound.
As we touched on a bit before, Window Dressing covers a few different topics under the umbrella of "misrepresentation" - which certainly includes the motivations behind such behavior: vanity, greed, lust, selfishness, etc... I guess you could say it's about the death of truth or honesty. The lyrics (may) challenge the listener to check their moral compass. There is no preaching or groundbreaking revelations (as human nature remains constant!) - just a bit of story telling and reflection. I place the listener in the midst of a relationship crisis dealing with deception and broken trust in (the song) "Window Dressing;" reflect upon the innocence of youth in "All She Knows" (kind of a "lack" of window dressing); "Remember to Forget" is about forgiveness; "Capture the Flag" is about greed; "Tear-Water Tea" is inspired by a children's story by Arnold Lobel that deals with empathy and being thankful; "Paintings" is about the disintegration of communication and "familiarity breeds contempt;" and "Slippers in the Snow" is about the fragile and fleeting nature of life on earth. The final song, "Spindrift," is my assessment about spin-doctored politics, biased media, and even interpersonal communication - currently illustrated by the inexplicable (to me at least) popularity of Michael Moore and his "genius" for manipulation and half-truths.
How was working with Terry Brown again? How much Rush influence do you think Tiles has?
Working with Terry for the entire project was a great experience. Previously, he had come in after the recording was finished to do the final mixing for Fence the Clear and Presents of Mind. This time, once we had all the songs written and rehearsed, Terry came to Detroit for a weekend and listened as we played through all the songs (many times!). He made minor changes to individual parts and - for some songs - substantial changes to their overall structure. You should hear some of the before-and-after comparisons! We tasked him with creating a recording that sounded a bit different from today's norm. He captured the atmosphere and ambience of the studio and kept our performances fresh - avoiding too many takes.
We bring many different influences to our music but Rush seems to be the most recognizable and the easiest way to "ballpark" our sound - although ultimately the generalization does us a disservice when taken literally. I think the influence is most apparent in my guitar playing with the chord voicings I like to use - so it's all my fault! Anyway, I've been equally influenced by Jethro Tull, Kansas, Elton John, Joe Walsh, Trevor Rabin, Steve Morse, jazz, ZZ Top, and countless other musicians. Jeff and Pat bring a lot of traditional progressive rock influence into the band through King Crimson, Frank Zappa, Yes, UK, etc. and Paul is influenced by Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Queensryche, and heavier classic metal bands.
Obviously, we don't help distance ourselves from Rush by working with Terry Brown and Hugh Syme. But honestly, we didn't start working with Terry simply because he worked with Rush, but because he is good at what he does - and he's sympathetic to experimental music. Now..., it's Terry's fault for hooking us up with Hugh Syme. But how do you turn down such an opportunity? His artwork is legendary - maybe only second to Storm Thorgerson. It's a privilege we couldn't turn down. Besides he's done hundreds of covers that weren't Rush (as Terry has done hundreds of recordings). Ultimately, I think the slight Rush-isms are just window dressing and we continue to develop an identity of our own.
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