Music is dead

Jeremy Freer of Fieldtree and Freer drops some serious knowledge here.

SH: Your debut album, Secret Chorus, is an incredibly eclectic set, and it’s pretty obvious that you’re drawing from a broad range of influences to create a marriage of a lot of different musical styles. Has there ever been a time where you’ve been working on something and said to yourselves, “Nah, this just isn’t a ‘Freer’ song” ?

Jeremy: No. If we play it, it’s a FREER song.

SH: Unlike a lot of bands, you guys actually seem to put a lot of thought and meaning into your lyrics. What kind of themes attract you as a writer, Jeremy?

JF: I’m glad you asked that. I don’t have a favorite theme. I don’t think or write in those terms. I just attempt to express whatever it is I need to express so I don’t lose my fucking mind. And I love good lyrics in all shapes and sizes. When the lyric and the music sound like they were meant to be it makes me tingle all over.

SH: Something that crops up again and again on Secret Chorus is the juxtaposition of natural and artificial (particularly urban) imagery. I’m thinking of lines like “In forest and in alleyway,” “In streetlight and starlight,” or the buildup to the climax in the title track where you sing “Right now we’re sick, we need the perfect melody/ You can’t find it on the radio or T.V./ It’s in a secret chorus God gave to the birds.” Sometimes these images appear diametrically opposed, and other times like they completely belong together. How do you see the relationship between man and nature, and is that an important component in Freer’s musical philosophy?

JF: There are many religions that deal with this issue. In the story of Adam and Eve they are naked in a perfect paradise, and when things go wrong the first sign of it is that they become ashamed of their nakedness and make themselves clothes. Then they get kicked out of Paradise. Mans relationship with nature is a mirror to something deeper.

SH: On your Myspace, you guys have declared an open “War on Musical Terror.” What constitutes musical terror? Are we in a worse place than we’ve ever been as far mediocre rock radio goes, or has the jukebox always been anemic?

JF: Elvis being called the “King” of Rock N’ Roll is musical terror. Pat Boone making more money off Little Richard’s “Tutti Frutti” than Little Richard is musical Terror. Johnny Cash getting kicked off of Columbia Records is musical Terror. When the Grammys paired Smokey Robinson (a genius) with Lionel Richie and some young asshole who, from what I could see was more of a circus performer than an R&B singer, is musical terror. Female pop stars who get naked every chance they get and send a message out to young girls that it doesn’t matter if you can sing or have soul and talent, the most important thing is to exploit your sexuality every chance you get is musical terror. Male pop stars who promote violence, extreme materialism and the total objectification of women is musical terror. Designer Emo bands who fake emotion and exploit pain for fame and money is musical terror. And yes, I believe we are in a worse place now than we’ve ever been before.