December 1, 2006
Val Emmich

C = Cath, V = Val

C: How would you describe your music to someone who’s never heard it before?
V: I hate that question. It’s a hard question, that’s why I said that. The hardest thing to do is to explain music in general. I would hate to pigeonhole it. I don’t know. I guess it’s something with universal lyrics, catchy melodies, and hopefully meaningful issues. Stylistically it varies from upbeat, aggressive stuff to mellow, moody stuff. As far as mentioning other artists, I can’t do that, but does that help?
C: Yea.
V: Ok, cool.

C: The rest of your band is called “The Rescue Effort”. How did they get that name? Is there any meaning behind it?
V: It was just kind of something that came up and sounded good to me. I stopped playing in bands because I wanted to do my own thing – I wanted to have more control over the songs. I was always writing the material in the bands I was in, but I never got to make sure that it happened exactly how I wanted it to happen. When I went solo, I quickly realized that I couldn’t really be fully solo. I needed a band to fully realize my songs and that’s where the idea of “The Rescue Effort” comes. If they’re rescuing anyone, it’s me.

C: Your new record just recently came out. Did it turn out how you had envisioned when you first went into the studio?
V: Yea, I think so. The idea going into it was just to make something that sounded fresh and sounded like maybe you could be there in the room. I wanted to hear talking and I wanted to hear imperfection and I wanted the songs to go all over the place from an acoustic song to a really loud-ish song with strings. I think it ended up the way I wanted it to.

C: Is that why you chose to record the album live?
V: Yea. I definitely wanted a certain sound for the record, and one of the ways to do that was to do it live. Probably more importantly, I just wanted to have fun doing it. In the past it wasn’t always fun recording because, for whatever reason, – I guess to make music more perfect and leave less chance for error – you don’t play together very often with your fellow musicians in the studio. It seemed very odd to me that you write these songs and play these songs live & in rehearsal with other people, and when you get into the studio, you do it in pieces, separated by glass and doors. We literally had no separation when we recorded this. We were all in the same room; there were no barriers between us. I just wanted to do that because I thought it would be more fun, more emotional, more spontaneous, and more like the real experience of playing in a band with other people.

C: Do you have a favorite song off of the album?
V: It changes over time but I really like “Cover Up”. We only did it three times, and the third take is the one that you hear on the record. Jason, the producer, came out and just said that was the take and we don’t have to do anymore. I didn’t have a chance to get bored of that song because it just happened so quickly. I really enjoy when that happens.

C: On your blog, you said that you had 25 songs that you had to narrow down to the 14 that made it on the record. Is there a chance that we’ll ever hear the songs that didn’t make it?
V: Yea, I would like that. I recently, out of my own boredom, gathered all these songs and thought, “What could I release?”. I have about 40 good recordings of songs that people have never heard that I want to release someday, whether it’s in a series of b-side records or whatever. I happen to write often and a lot. I don’t know when it will be released, or in what format, but I think it would be funny. There are some songs that don’t sound anything like me, just because I really self-edit myself when I make a record. But there is some good experimental stuff that I would like people to hear at some point.

C: Were there any tracks that you had a really hard time deciding not to put on the record?
V: Yea, there were. We recorded 18 songs, so we had to cut 4 from the record. It was really hard to do and there was not agreement amongst the band. Ultimately it was my decision, and I just thought it made a better record. The songs that didn’t make it, I can honestly say each one was painful to cut. I wanted to cut the record down even further than 14, but I couldn’t manage to do it. I guess you feel like they are part of you and some songs just mean more to you than others. It’s hard to let them go, but I think the ability to edit yourself is really what separates good artists from great artists. I really think that goes as far as picking songs for an album to picking words to put in a song or choosing what to do within a song. The ability to cut yourself down is important… I failed miserably on this record -laughs-.
C: No you didn’t!

C: Are there any major themes in the album that you’d care to elaborate on?
V: Do you see any?
C: I don’t know, that’s why I was asking!
V: That’s kind of a dangerous thing to get into. I have my own ideas of what themes and… One of the first reviews I got for this record was by a friend of mine here in New Jersey, who thought the record was all about this one thing. I was really kind of hurt by that because I didn’t see it that way at all. It was a quick lesson that, once you put something out into the world, people are going to see it however they want to see it. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. I try to make my songs open and never too specific so they can be interpreted in different ways. To me, the record is about resilience and honesty and not ignoring the things that are underneath. Like, asking why they’re there and trying to question those things, whether it happens to be problems with love, or whether its problems with society, or family, or whatever. This record is about putting some light on those subjects - “sunlight” - and getting through those things.

C: If there was one point you could get across to anyone who listens to your music, what would it be?
V: I would just hope they focus on the details. It sounds weird but… I learned quickly that I probably listen more intensely than other people. I pay attention to the small things, the details, like “why does the writer misspell a word in the booklet?” and then it creates a pun or something. I love the little details, whether it’s a vocal thing, a guitar sound, or a lyric. I put all those things in my songs on purpose, and I would just hope that they would notice, at least some people. I wrote that in the liner notes of my record. I’m thanking people for reading the fine print. I did the artwork. The artwork took a long time for me, literally searching for the pages in my journal where I wrote these songs. In some cases, songs were written years ago. I found them and I realized lyrics had changed, but I just put it all in there. I notice that in other artists and I would just hope that some people took the time to look.

C: In early 2005, you wrote a diary entry on your website that talked about how Epic sent you back into the studio so that you could re-release a 3rd “Slow Down Kid”. Then, a couple days later, the journal entry disappeared. What happened?
V: Honestly, I don’t know. It was a really weird thing and I can only assume that they took it down. No one ever got in touch with me about it. It wasn’t me that took it down, and I wasn’t ordered to take it down, but it was taken down. They cared so little about what I was doing that I found it really funny that they would actually notice something like that. I wonder if they have some kind of search engine that anytime when the artist has the word “Sony” on their website, they check it or something. I have no idea. But I do remember that, and I was really pissed off at the time that I was being asked to refine my work further. I was annoyed that they couldn’t find something to work with there. It took awhile for me to know how to deal with that. I guess, at that moment, I thought I would just tell the people that were fans of mine, my side of it so if ever a third release came out, they would know it wasn’t my doing.

C: There are only two diary entries on your site for 2005. Did they do this sort of thing more than once?
V: Well, 2005 was like a non-existent year. It was frustrating because I got sent to so many different people. They wanted me to write with people, so I did a lot of writing and then I realized I didn’t want to do that anymore. I just wanted to get off the label. So, I got off the label and then moved to Woodstock to write and demo stuff. It was more of a regrouping period and there wasn’t much to tell. We did a small tour with Better Than Ezra… We barely were on the road, you know? That had nothing to do with them, but I figured that I’d rather have no news than just me complaining about the label. That’s all the blogs would have been if I had written them.

C: Was it difficult for you to go from being on a major label to being back where you started?
V: No! It was like the best thing ever. All I care about is control, and it was the hardest thing for me to be on a label like that and have no control. I am a workaholic and I’m more of a perfectionist, and I need to constantly be doing things. I get anxious. They were just slowing me down and inhibiting me. Being off there is amazing. It’s so stupid that the second I got off, I made a record and released it in a 2 or 3 month period. That’s so sad that they couldn’t do that. I’m just trying to make up for lost time now. I want to release another one, you know? The only regret about not being on a label is that it provides you with a little bit of security – someone helping you out a bit financially. But that stuff sometimes feels like blood money anyways. I feel a lot better about my life right now.

C: You haven’t done any nationwide tours in awhile now. Do you think there’s going to be any in the near future?
V: Yea. It’s certainly not my own doing that we haven’t been touring – it’s just the financial thing. It’s really frustrating that I wasn’t able to tour more on Epic’s dime, so to speak. But it’s definitely in the future. We just hooked up with a new booking agent; we’re getting ourselves together and just trying to figure out how best to do this. My desire is to hook up with another label to release music with, but I’m not sure what kind of label that would be. It would have to be someone I trust, and someone that would allow me some control, and that seems to be impossible on a large-scale. We’ll see what happens.

C: If you had the chance to interview your biggest musical influence, who would it be, and what’s one question you would ask them?
V: I have a few. The Beatles and John Lennon – obviously I can’t talk to him, but that would be a big one. I have a lot of respect for Eddie Vedder and Thom Yorke. It seems weird that these two are in similar places in their careers, in the sense that they do whatever they want and no one really bothers them anymore. It seems that they both experienced a huge level of success and then settled back into a place where they felt comfortable and said “Fuck off” to anyone who didn’t like it. I would love to talk to any one of them. They are brilliant artists and they have a lot of integrity, which is so rare in this business. I think it would be a good talk over a cup of coffee with those two.

C: What’s your favorite thing to do, outside of playing music?
V: I do whatever I can to learn as much as I can. I try to soak in information from whatever source. I read a lot, & watch a lot of movies. I’ve also been writing some fiction. I’m happiest when I am creating something. Then again, I’m also a big sports fan, so I’ve been watching a lot of football.

C: If you were stuck on a deserted island, what 3 things would you bring with you?
V: I’d probably bring 3 other people - a guy and two girls. I think that would be more interesting than bringing inanimate objects. At least, more fun. They would have to be people who know a thing or two about survival because I know nothing.

C: That was my last question. Any closing statements?
V: None. Thanks for the interview.