Stars Turn Me On

Clem told Justin that she wasn't sure what Kind of music she wanted to make, but she knew she wanted to try to write the best Songs that she could. Songs that would lift you up with words that come directly out of the heart with as few impediments as possible. Labels of types of music were always confusing to her, and she was never cool enough to know how bands fit into genres or what genres were the Taste du Jour or any of that. She just liked songs that moved her, sometimes because they were Loud and sometimes Quiet, sometimes Obnoxious and sometimes Gorgeous, songs that were Wordy and songs with just a piano. She liked the way that certain people had songs that seemed like totally different genres from each other on the same album. She didn't want to make particularly Retro music because she was already playing drums in a retro band, Zepparella, that she loved, but that was enough looking back for her. Even though she knew that everything we do spills out on a big silver wave of the past she wanted to get airborne into the future. Although the only future she could see being involved in was her own, and Music in general, with all its industries and labels, would have to go its own way. What she wanted for her future was a way to clear out the channels and get to a bright place. The moon shines in the lake every night, but only on some nights is the lake still enough to reveal it. She wanted to still the lake. Justin said that all sounded good, that he had fun living out his Guns and Roses fantasies when they were playing in The Solid together, but that he loved writing Songs too, in particular songs that told stories the way the country artists he loved did. In fact, he had a handful of Songs that he had named after his father's mules, Josie, George, Charlie and Kitty, and he gave those to Clem and she started to write some words for them. They tried all kinds of ways of writing, but after trying sometimes silly and kind of embarrassing ways usually it came down to a guitar and Clem's voice. Sometimes she gave him an electronic drumbeat and he would write to that, sometimes he wrote the music to his own drumbeat, since he played drums too. But most of the time, it was the guitar and the voice and the Song, which they treated delicately and let develop its own destiny. After a while, they figured it was time to record the Songs for other people to hear, so they headed into GetReel Studios with Robert Preston, who is one of the Best and Funnest and Sparklingest people in the world, and for 12 days they all just listened as closely as they could to what the Songs were asking for. Some of the Songs had been pretty enigmatic about what they were going to require but then once they got in the studio they got a little high-maintenance, asking for Piano or B3, which Honky-Tonk Bill (Cameron) provided. A couple of others wanted Drums, and they wanted Jim Bove for that, and then Judah Collins was summoned for Lap Steel. Rob found himself on the Bass, because he's good at it. Most of the time, the songs wanted everyone to be pretty clear-headed, but a couple of times they requested that Sake be ordered, and pretty much required non-stop Tecate. At the end of two weeks, 11 Songs were recorded. And now GOLDRUSH the album is completed and will be released on January 1, 2012. Clem was walking through the streets of San Francisco one night, and was thinking about how happy she was that the Songs had found Justin and her. She had let go of so much over the past few years. In that lake, the moon shone through the glassy water a lot of the time. The moon made her happy. The stars turned her on. The green and red lights of the city streets were deciding her path. The Songs had found their way through the alleys and sidewalk cracks of her heart. From hers to yours Welcome to the music project of Justin Caucutt and Clementine!