This podcast is being brought to you by WXAV 88.3 FM and WXAV.com. WXAV, bringing the best podcasts to you. Hey, it's Radio Ruta, and here's my interview with Chris Connolly, musician, author, lead singer for Rolting Cox, and Sons of the Silent Age. The interview took place recently in Oak Park.
Also, big thanks to my friend, D.D. Perry, who submitted some great questions used in this interview. Hi, this is Ruta. I'm with Chris Connolly right now.
Hi there. I'm going to start talking about The Industrial Accident, the untold story of WaxTracks Records. Can you tell us what WaxTracks fans can expect to see in this documentary? I think it's a very sympathetic, often hilarious look at the rise and fall of an independent label.
And, you know, we could talk about many independent labels from that era, like Sub Pop or Touch and Go. What made WaxTracks unique was, you know, obviously their brand, the way they reached out to a lot of European artists and brought them over to America, and I think it touches on that a lot in the film. A lot of people, like myself, who lived in Europe, were suddenly offered this opportunity to come over to the States and try it out. And often had a lot more success here than they did back home, like I did.
So the documentary premiered back in April, but when can fans expect to see it in theaters or streaming services? That, I don't know. I don't know. I'm in the film, but I didn't make it.
And, you know, making a film like this is such a... There are so many moving parts to it. There are so many people involved, and it can be complicated. So I have no idea.
But maybe before the end of this year. Well, I know you can stick with me on WaxTracksFilms.com. Which WaxTracks fans did you tour and record with? I was my first band, The Finney Tribe.
We were signed to WaxTracks, and then I joined The Revolting Cox. And then everything after that was pretty much either my own solo records or collaborations. There was PTP, there was Acid Horse, basically all these ministry offshoots. When we would record, we'd record all the time.
And I'm not talking about we'd go in every day of the week. I mean, we went in for months at the time without leaving the studio. So we made a lot of music. And not all of it was perhaps specific to the ministry project or The Revolting Cox project.
So we just gave it another name and released it, because, you know, we liked it. It just wasn't necessarily what we were looking for for the Cox or ministry. So a lot of these side projects or collaborations are just that, they're ministry outtakes. So for people who are unfamiliar with the WaxTracks sound, I mean, how would you describe it compared to what's out there today?
I mean, it had its own unique sound. You know, I mean, I think that the WaxTracks sound was... I mean, I don't think it was necessarily unique. I think there was a WaxTracks sound like there was a Factory Records sound.
There was an aesthetic, and there was a loose sound. Not everybody had to buy into that sound, but it was a lot of programmed music, a lot of aggressive music, a lot of danceable music with some very aggressive sounds incorporated, a lot of distortion. But, you know, I guess what I would say about it is, within those restraints, it was very experimental. And as compared to what's going on these days, I really couldn't say.
I mean, I think that, like most things, like punk rock or, like, you know, beat literature or anything like that, it's found its own niche in what we look and listen to every day. So that kind of WaxTracks sound, you know, you might hear it being used in a club scene on TV. It's still out there. You might see it in a commercial for some hair product or something, you know.
So that's what happens with anything groundbreaking, you know. It eventually becomes part of the norm. WaxTracks Records used to be located on 2449 North Lincoln, probably one of my favorite record stores, the destination. If anything, for me and my friends, we're going to go to WaxTracks.
We used to love all the fancies on the second floor, too. I mean, do you miss that place? It was so unique. Oh, I certainly do.
I mean, it was a real eye-opener for me when I first came here. It seemed that in the UK, when I left the UK, that the record store was kind of, it was either on the decline or becoming more of a, I don't know, a niche market. Dance music was on the rise in Britain when I left. But when I came to the US and walked into the WaxTracks store, there was still a lot of more experimental, independent records that were harder to find in the UK.
But they were from the UK. It was kind of strange. But I found that the selection and the vibe in that store was kind of peerless. It was amazing.
I spent all my money there. Yeah, a lot of us did. So what lessons and advice did you get from the WaxTracks founders, Jim Nash and Danny Flusher? Did they offer you any advice as a young musician?
They did not offer me much that. They did not offer me any advice just by being themselves. They were, you know, they were like, you know, in a way, defectual parents for me when I first came over here. I was very young, I was like 21, and didn't know anything.
But I learned so much from them. I learned about collaboration. I learned about acceptance. I learned about questioning.
And they encouraged us, all of us, to push our own boundaries in every aspect of our life. But especially in music. They would essentially foot the bill for any ridiculous experiment I wanted to try. And that was a very rare and wonderful thing.
And not everybody has that opportunity. And I'm very grateful that I could go to them with an idea and they would say, sure, try it out. See what happens. They always would.
And they were like that with all the artists on the label. And I think that taught me a lot about don't try and make hit singles. Who cares? If you're going to use your art, use it well.
Push your limits. Try and see what you're capable of. Because it doesn't matter if you make a mistake. Mistakes are great.
I made a lot of crappy records. And I made a lot of good records. And I don't mind that I maybe walked on some errant path for a long time before I ended up at the destination I was trying to get to in the first place. You make these mistakes and it's just fine.
So you're going to be touring with Rolting Cox. November 17th at the Metro. You're going to be performing Big Sexy Land. What other band members will you be touring with you?
Well, there's me and Paul Barker, Richard, 23, Luke Van Acker, and we have drummer Dan Brill, and Jason Nobeck, who I'm with in the band Culture, is playing guitar, keyboards, all sorts of other things. He's kind of the band leader. So were you on that record, Big Sexy Land, or were you on this two years? Not at all.
Yeah. I mean, the way our show goes is we play Big Sexy Land, and then there's a big show in two parts. There's a Big Sexy Land part, and then the second part I come out and we do sort of everything after Big Sexy Land. Okay.
So you guys have 12 dates so far. Do you think you'll be performing more shows? Uh-uh. No, 12 is fine.
I mean, I love touring and everything like that, but we're not 20 anymore. We have other commitments in our lives, and so 12 shows is plenty. Okay. So what is currently going on with your other band, Sons of the Silent Age?
Do you guys have plans to perform anytime soon? Yeah, we're going to be performing in the early fall. It's always a strange dance because, you know, Sons of the Silent Age is a band made up of a bunch of people in other bands. So we're all in other bands.
We all have families and commitments and jobs and stuff, so scheduling stuff is tricky. But we love doing it, and so I'd say maybe in the early fall we'll start playing again. Cool. Also, on your Facebook page, you posted some demos for Jackie Town, so is this going to be a solo record coming out?
Yeah, it is. I have a few records coming out in the next year, the first of which is called Arts and Gender. That's going to come out later, early fall, this year, and then the album that Jackie Town is from will come out the year after in early 2018 probably, and I have a couple of others. I mean, I've had a busy year.
Good, that's great. So the music industry, I would think has changed a lot since the Wax Rax days. So what type of advice do you give to young musicians trying to get into the music business? Well, I'd say that door is pretty much closed or non-existent now.
Forget about it. Forget about the music industry and focus on your own thing. You can very cheaply make your own records at home, and you can very cheaply put them out there. If you're going to invite a middleman into the equation in the form of a record company, you're just asking for disappointment.
They've never been very clever, the music industry. Nobody's ever been very smart, and that's why it collapsed, because it was run by a bunch of idiots. And it really was. It was a bunch of yahoos who happened to up on these amazing jobs, and then there's been periods of time in the music business where there was all this money, and so you know what happens when you get stupid people money.
And, you know, a lot of bands were... Their careers were killed very early, not only by the stupidity of the record companies, but by their own misfortune or whatever. It's hard to tour these days. It's hard to get support for what you're doing and the way the music industry has become.
I mean, I don't know what you're going to get out of it, but you can be creative at home, and you can fashion your own aesthetic without being told what to do. One of my biggest problems with record companies in the past has always been where they try and suggest what you do. It's not that we're stubborn as artists. It's just, well, we wouldn't be doing it, we didn't know what we were doing.
Right? Don't tell me how to paint my painting. Sure. You know, I'll do it.
And if you do it by yourself at home, no one's ever going to question you. Nobody's going to tell you what to do, and at the end of the day, you will love what you did. And if you don't, you can go back and change it. It's easy, you know?
So I would say invest in yourself before you invest in trying to find some moron behind the desk. I think that's great advice. So what path led you to work here at the School of Rock? How did you end up here?
I think that it came about from my own mistakes. I realized, you know, I was born with a good voice, I have a nice voice, and I sing well, but I wasn't getting out of it what I could be getting out of it. So I started researching what I could do to improve my singing voice, and, you know, realized that I've been making records since the mid-80s for a very long time, and I've learned a lot about, you know, writing and singing, being in the studio, being economic with time, working with other people in a band. I've done all that stuff.
I've toured, I've done everything. Without sounding pompous, I thought maybe I could impart some knowledge to someone else, and I mean, I would never pretend that I'm knowledgeable about a lot of things. But I do think that I've learned the hard way about a lot of paths you can take in music through touring, through recording that are maybe the wrong path, or my successes, you know? And by success, I don't mean record sales, I mean success as in finding a sound in the studio that's really good, finding a quick way to sing vocal harmonies, working with other people to come up with harmonies, just nuts and bolts, stuff like that, that's really useful to people.
And so that's why I approach school about working with it. That's great. I'm sure a lot of students will appreciate that. So my last question is, so when you do find some time for yourself, what do you like to listen to in a car at full volume?
What's your go-to music? Oh boy, I mean it changes. I have a really good music collection. I like, I listen to a lot of old glam rock, stuff I listened to when I was a kid.
I listen to a lot of soul music, you know, R&B, I listen to Curtis Mayfield, Rufus. Yeah, I listen to a lot of soul music, I think, for the car. And that's, I say the car is pretty much the only place I listen to music. But that's what I enjoy.
I listen to a lot of German music like Cannes, Kraftwerk. It's good driving music. But, you know, I like all kinds of music for sure. Thanks so much for taking the time out to talk to us at WXAD Radio.
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