(Pretty good stuff)
(Stutsian)
(Interview Below)
1. I don't very much understand the name of the band, it doesn't make sense to me, care to explain?
The Old Family comes from the old scene we used to have around where I live, and in South Bend, Indiana. The scene I grew up on. My old family. And the whole point of this project is to have a new family like the old family, by bring people together through playing songs. Different people each song. Some songs on this record are going to consist of four or five people that haven't even met in person, writing for just one of the songs. Each son is going to have a different line up of people, with the exception of a friend of mine, Yadira Ayala, and myself. Sorry for straying from the topic, but, the name is about how this new family is going to replace 'The Old Family: in a way.
2. Are you glad with the direction of your music now that you branched off more from Merchant Ships and Midwest Pen Pals, with the other bands like Park Jefferson, Sheltered, and now The Old Family as well as your own acoustic music?
I think starting off in a screamo band at fourteen years old was just a normal thing for me at the time. It was a good starting point. We weren't great, we just played simple chord progressions and "twinkled" here and there. And then with Midwest Pen Pals, we played basically the same music, only tried out singing. I liked the popppy-ness of it so when both of those bands were done and I was medicated for my bipolar disorder, I started Park Jefferson. With PJ, I really wanted to sound like Street Smart Cyclist more than anything. Street Smart and Grown Ups. So that band happened, we quit playing for a little while, got back together and wrote Weekdays, which wasn't taken the best I guess and was an attempt at sounding more like a blend of early '00s bands like the first Taking Back Sunday record (I know the two sound nothing alike but that's what influenced most of the writing, for me at least.) Then, (this may very well be the longest response to one question I've ever seen in my life. Someone likes talking about himself. LULZ) with my solo stuff, that was sort of what I wanted to do with The Old Family, but the IDEA behind The Old Family is different, and in my opinion unique.
3. What is the "idea" behind The Old Family that you're talking about?
What The Old Family is, is me and Yadira writing songs with people from all over the world. How do we record it? The idea is for the person interested in being a part of the project to record a guitar part, violin part, piano part, any instrumental part you want. Send it in to me at nickstutsman@gmail.com and tell me how to play it, what tuning you're in, etc. Then I will learn it, possibly tweak it slightly, write words over it and record it. I'm releasing this full length record on 12" vinyl, and on the insert of the record I'm going to put the credit of which people wrote on which track. Anyone can be a part of this. Just email me your part and you might get put on a 12" Full-length record. Because of the amount of submissions I've been getting in the first few days alone, I will probably end up recording somewhere between 20 and 30 songs, picking 13 or 14 of the best ones and putting them on the album, and then with the rest of the songs that didn't make it that I still like when all is said and done, will be put out on splits and such. And that's how the project will work. That's the idea.
4. Do you derive your lyrics from the people and things you do or just fucking sit down and start to write?
Everything I write lyrically is about something that's happened to me or something or someone or whatever, but hidden withing the lyrics, or just put really bluntly too, I guess. And I don't know how much you've followed my musical career as a vocalist, but I tend to recycle lyrics or steal lyrics quite a bit. That's because I have no talent. But seriously, I've tried being more unique and gut-wrenching with my lyrics and just tried being more honest about everything that's been going on lately.
5. How are you able to sustain so many bands and have a different sound for each one distinctively?
This is how I look at it, man. Why limit myself creatively? Why not start as many bands as I can, bringing out every genre I love to listen to and make personally? Merchant Ships and Midwest Pen Pals are both dead, but in place of them I have Sheltered, which I will be writing for whenever I'm in Indianapolis, which will be a bit more often in the upcoming months. But I do screamo real rarely, and then Park Jefferson is like an evolution from Midwest Pen Pals musically, so I do that when I can, whenever the other guys have time to do it because they both work a lot, while I bum at home. Nick Stutsman sort of evolved into The Old Family which I'm going to be doing full-time now. I don't think I mentioned how fucking excited I am about this project.
6. Where do you see The Old Family going in the months or years?
Wherever it needs to go. I would like for the idea to catch on and get tons of submissions a day and have to sift through them and have a ton of awesome songs by awesome people. And then maybe one day have a job and be able to fly these people out or fly myself out, travel the world, and record wherever those people are so that they're the ones recording their own parts and I don't have to do it for them and then just simply give them credit. I want the idea to catch fire. I want the band to evolve into something amazing. A cult fucking following.
7. What started up this recent band of yours?
Dude, I'm going to be really honest with you. Have you HEARD "Broad Ripple is Burning" by Margot & the Nuclear So and So's? That sons is what influenced me to write Don't Move, which then gave me the idea to start a fold band, which then gave me the idea for The Old Family. That song is SO fucking good, and they're pretty local. So nuts. So, sadly, I started this band because I listened to a Margot song.
8. How long do you see this one lasting?, it is really fantastic and has so much potential, so I am sure people want to know if it is a long lasting project?
I plan on this being my life the next few years. SUBMIT POSTS NOW. NICKSTUTSMAN@GMAIL.COM AND LISTEN TO CURRENT SONGS AT WWW.THEOLDFAMILYBANDCAMP.COM
Thanks for the interview Brandon, love you.
The Old Family comes from the old scene we used to have around where I live, and in South Bend, Indiana. The scene I grew up on. My old family. And the whole point of this project is to have a new family like the old family, by bring people together through playing songs. Different people each song. Some songs on this record are going to consist of four or five people that haven't even met in person, writing for just one of the songs. Each son is going to have a different line up of people, with the exception of a friend of mine, Yadira Ayala, and myself. Sorry for straying from the topic, but, the name is about how this new family is going to replace 'The Old Family: in a way.
2. Are you glad with the direction of your music now that you branched off more from Merchant Ships and Midwest Pen Pals, with the other bands like Park Jefferson, Sheltered, and now The Old Family as well as your own acoustic music?
I think starting off in a screamo band at fourteen years old was just a normal thing for me at the time. It was a good starting point. We weren't great, we just played simple chord progressions and "twinkled" here and there. And then with Midwest Pen Pals, we played basically the same music, only tried out singing. I liked the popppy-ness of it so when both of those bands were done and I was medicated for my bipolar disorder, I started Park Jefferson. With PJ, I really wanted to sound like Street Smart Cyclist more than anything. Street Smart and Grown Ups. So that band happened, we quit playing for a little while, got back together and wrote Weekdays, which wasn't taken the best I guess and was an attempt at sounding more like a blend of early '00s bands like the first Taking Back Sunday record (I know the two sound nothing alike but that's what influenced most of the writing, for me at least.) Then, (this may very well be the longest response to one question I've ever seen in my life. Someone likes talking about himself. LULZ) with my solo stuff, that was sort of what I wanted to do with The Old Family, but the IDEA behind The Old Family is different, and in my opinion unique.
3. What is the "idea" behind The Old Family that you're talking about?
What The Old Family is, is me and Yadira writing songs with people from all over the world. How do we record it? The idea is for the person interested in being a part of the project to record a guitar part, violin part, piano part, any instrumental part you want. Send it in to me at nickstutsman@gmail.com and tell me how to play it, what tuning you're in, etc. Then I will learn it, possibly tweak it slightly, write words over it and record it. I'm releasing this full length record on 12" vinyl, and on the insert of the record I'm going to put the credit of which people wrote on which track. Anyone can be a part of this. Just email me your part and you might get put on a 12" Full-length record. Because of the amount of submissions I've been getting in the first few days alone, I will probably end up recording somewhere between 20 and 30 songs, picking 13 or 14 of the best ones and putting them on the album, and then with the rest of the songs that didn't make it that I still like when all is said and done, will be put out on splits and such. And that's how the project will work. That's the idea.
4. Do you derive your lyrics from the people and things you do or just fucking sit down and start to write?
Everything I write lyrically is about something that's happened to me or something or someone or whatever, but hidden withing the lyrics, or just put really bluntly too, I guess. And I don't know how much you've followed my musical career as a vocalist, but I tend to recycle lyrics or steal lyrics quite a bit. That's because I have no talent. But seriously, I've tried being more unique and gut-wrenching with my lyrics and just tried being more honest about everything that's been going on lately.
5. How are you able to sustain so many bands and have a different sound for each one distinctively?
This is how I look at it, man. Why limit myself creatively? Why not start as many bands as I can, bringing out every genre I love to listen to and make personally? Merchant Ships and Midwest Pen Pals are both dead, but in place of them I have Sheltered, which I will be writing for whenever I'm in Indianapolis, which will be a bit more often in the upcoming months. But I do screamo real rarely, and then Park Jefferson is like an evolution from Midwest Pen Pals musically, so I do that when I can, whenever the other guys have time to do it because they both work a lot, while I bum at home. Nick Stutsman sort of evolved into The Old Family which I'm going to be doing full-time now. I don't think I mentioned how fucking excited I am about this project.
6. Where do you see The Old Family going in the months or years?
Wherever it needs to go. I would like for the idea to catch on and get tons of submissions a day and have to sift through them and have a ton of awesome songs by awesome people. And then maybe one day have a job and be able to fly these people out or fly myself out, travel the world, and record wherever those people are so that they're the ones recording their own parts and I don't have to do it for them and then just simply give them credit. I want the idea to catch fire. I want the band to evolve into something amazing. A cult fucking following.
7. What started up this recent band of yours?
Dude, I'm going to be really honest with you. Have you HEARD "Broad Ripple is Burning" by Margot & the Nuclear So and So's? That sons is what influenced me to write Don't Move, which then gave me the idea to start a fold band, which then gave me the idea for The Old Family. That song is SO fucking good, and they're pretty local. So nuts. So, sadly, I started this band because I listened to a Margot song.
8. How long do you see this one lasting?, it is really fantastic and has so much potential, so I am sure people want to know if it is a long lasting project?
I plan on this being my life the next few years. SUBMIT POSTS NOW. NICKSTUTSMAN@GMAIL.COM AND LISTEN TO CURRENT SONGS AT WWW.THEOLDFAMILYBANDCAMP.COM
Thanks for the interview Brandon, love you.
really big ego, desperate to be huge, the way you talk about music seems devoid of passion
ReplyDeletewho would think a band trying to be street smart cyclist and grown ups would suck so hard
ReplyDeleteNone of the anonymous people know Nick Stutsman, I bet. I don't.
ReplyDeleteNick is full of ego and vision but this shit's never going to happen. I expect this to barely make a digital release.
ReplyDelete"Dude, I'll be honest with you. I'll write anything as long as there's going to be 16 year old vagina somewhere listening to it on the internet"
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI disagree. This is just ambitious. And that's great, I think.
ReplyDeleteAt least someone is trying something new. Hell, if you care about the art community how could you criticize a project that brings people together to make music? I totally support this and I think if you legitimately care about art then get over yourself and your ego to see this for what it is: a good idea.
His music is fine, it's not my favorite but it's not terrible. But he seems like a douche and thats what kills it for me.
ReplyDelete