Lakes’ Kyle Rasche On Spinal Tap & Songwriting (With Audio Clips)

July 15th, 2010 by admin

Chain of Lakes is the chamber-folk solo project of Kyle Rasche. His music has the gentleness of artists such as Iron & Wine and Simond & Garfunkel, along with the orchestral vibe of Sufjan Stevens and Ribbons of Song. Sounds Good Ink recently chatted with Kyle about his music and interests.

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Sounds Good Ink: Chain of Lakes is your solo project, but do you ever play with a full band?

Kyle: Nothing that anyone would categorize as full, that’s for sure. No, I had a violin player who played with me on the record playing with me for a while, which was only for two shows. Now she’s cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico, so it makes practicing harder. I have a singer that plays with me regularly. But, no, I’ve never actually performed this music with a full band.

Sounds Good Ink: Would you prefer having a full band, or do you like just using the loop pedal and doing your own thing?

Kyle: You’d have to ask me, like, 30 seconds after I’ve walked into wherever I’m playing that night. You know what I mean? Sometimes it’s like, if I could just push a button and have it be me and my guitar then that would be great. Then there’s other times when, you know, I enjoy having a loop pedal and someone singing with me. Oftentimes nowadays I’d just love to have a drummer and a rhythm section; that would be great. Maybe even an electric guitar, which I don’t even do very often.

Sounds Good Ink: You play mostly acoustic?

Kyle: Oh, that’s all I’ve ever done with this music.

Sounds Good Ink: How would you describe your music to people have not yet heard you?

Kyle: You know, the first word out is always “mellow,” whether I mean for it to come out that way or not. Wow.. [looks flabbergasted]

Sounds Good Ink: Well, would you describe it as folk, or chamber-pop? Rock?

Kyle: Yeah, you know, I guess “pop” is something you’d have to associate with it, just because I think they are accessible melodies. But they are stripped down, deconstructed a bit…I definitely don’t stray from the “folk.” I’ve played more folk venues than anything else.

Sounds Good Ink: And you like playing those?

Kyle: I love those, I love those. Where there are people sittin’ down listening. I almost feel bad when there’s people standing up during my shows. I’m like, “you don’t have to exert that much energy for this. Please.”

Sounds Good Ink: Is there a pretty close relationship between what you play and what you listen to? It may sound like a dumb question, but very often I’ve found there isn’t a direct relationship. For instance, a lot of the folk singers I’ve interviewed say they listen to more punk than folk.

Kyle: Yeah…you know, I love Iron & Wine. I love the Great Lake Swimmers. Some of the people that kind of do the same kind of folk stuff. At the same time, what I listen to is so defined by who I am hanging out with. I’m so inspired by the music my friends make. My friends in New York play in a band that’s like this electronic, dance-pop, loud music. And I totally dig on that kind of music, too. No matter what kind of music I write, it always seems to come back to when I perform. Being limited by just you and your acoustic guitar, everything is gonna sound folk for a while, you know what I’m saying?

Sounds Good Ink: Sure. At the same time, often the most innovative bands are that way because they do so much with limited resources.

Kyle: Absolutely. Absolutely. And that’s kind of what I’m trying to do with the loop pedal. Trying to create almost string-arrangements vocally, and try to branch out that way. But, I guess to answer your question, no…there’s a huge, broad spectrum of what I listen to, but I can definitely pinpoint where on that spectrum I fit in, and that would be towards the Iron & Wine and Great Lakes Swimmers kind of stuff. But, that’s maybe 20% of what I listen to.

Sounds Good Ink: Now, I’ll try to word this next question so that your answer won’t make you sound like some arrogant prick…

Kyle: Well, I am pretty awesome [laughs].

Sounds Good Ink: Sure. But, which musical talent do you think you excel at? Wow…I guess there’s really no humble way to ask that one. But, you know, some people recognize that writing lyrics is their strong point, so they are more conscious in their efforts to constantly improve that talent. Others excel at playing the guitar, etc.

Kyle: Well, as far as what I think I’m naturally OK at, my best instrument is probably my voice. But, that’s completely dictated by the fact that I’m not very good at guitar [chuckles]. But I do love vocal arrangements. I’m a total choir dork at heart. I was in choir all through high school.

Sounds Good Ink: What about church choir? Aren’t you a good Catholic boy?

Kyle: I’m a bad Catholic boy. But my high school that I went to just had an incredible chorale program. It was just the best, so I think that I naturally migrated to that. And then all through college I worked with Jonathan Reed at Michigan State and Men’s Glee Club. I mean, I got to sing in these amazing cathedrals in San Antonio with, like, 110 voices that all knew what they were doing with it. I mean, that’s really powerful stuff. And I think I migrate towards that type of music, too. I grew up on the Simon & Garfunkel, Cat Stevens, and Jim Croce kind-of-stuff. I just love to sing. So if there’s anything I’d like to flaunt it would be the vocal stuff, especially the harmony parts. Every band that I’ve been in, that was my instrument.

Sounds Good Ink: That’s funny that you have been so inspired by choir music, since you are a solo artists.

Kyle: Yeah. Well, like I said, I bring that loop pedal along and there’s at least four Kyles going on that thing. I love just the layers of the voices.

Sounds Good Ink: Now, lyrically, do you try to be more straightforward or abstract with your words?

Kyle: It’s funny…my buddies all make fun of me because it sounds abstract. But I’m like, “Oh no, that’s just about me walking home from the hospital.” I do put a lot of time into it, though. If I get any credit for my lyrics it’s not because I’m as naturally gifted at it as that I’m not just going to shit something out…And, obviously as a performer, if you’re going to say it over and over and over again, then you might as well make it something that you’re decently proud of.

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Sounds Good Ink: Now, as a married person with a full-time job, what type of “songwriting schedule” do you have? Does your life force you to have a fairly regimented one?

Kyle: You know, I’ve explored that. Definitely it takes more effort to get into it; to sit down with a pen and be left alone for a while. But, I don’t know, my songs just kinda come at different paces. I just recorded one that took an hour and a half, and then I’m still working on ones I’ve had for six months. I don’t know if you’d be able to pick if you heard the finished projects. I’ve never had a regimented recipe for it. But I do set time aside every day to pluck the guitar strings a little bit, to sit down at the piano. But, that’s just kinda more for my sanity then for preparing any output.

Sounds Good Ink: Are you hoping to do this full-time?

Kyle: Music will always be there in my life. As far as where it is and how in the forefront it is, I’d make it as much so as I could.

Sounds Good Ink: I wonder if eventually most independent artists, even some of the more famous ones, will still have to have a day job, or at least a job they do when they aren’t on tour. Especially since CD sales have dropped so much. I don’t know how anyone can make that much money off of CD sales.

Kyle: Music is changing. Nowadays if you sell 500 records as a local artist it’s a whopping success. You know, when your parents ask you where the torrent is it tells you what’s happening to the music industry. But I would love to score films or something.

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Sounds Good Ink: Have you done any film scoring, or any music for films?

Kyle: No. I mean, I’ve done some projects where people have asked me to collaborate with them. There’s a beat engineer in New York, in Brooklyn, that’s about to release a record. His moniker is Hamacide, and his real name is Yusuke Hama. He sent me chord structures and beat arrangements and the BPM and had me write some stuff. Other than that, not so much. I’d love to. That’s my goal. Even more than being some touring artist, I’d like to be in the studio all the time. I love movies.

Sounds Good Ink: What are some of your favorite movies?

Kyle: Gosh, for someone who reads interviews I have no idea what to say. I don’t know how to describe my music, I don’t know what fuckin’ movies I like [laughs]. I could watch Castaway every day.

Sounds Good Ink: The volleyball scene really gets to you, huh…

Kyle: [laughs] I just ball my eyes out for Wilson. Let me see…My first favorite movie was Wizard of Oz. I love Christopher Guest movies. I probably watch three of them a week. I just want to get an amp that goes to eleven.

Sounds Good Ink: I was watching this documentary from ‘96 titled Hype. It was about grunge. And I guess a good portion of the bands who helped build up the Seattle grunge scene did so partially as a response to Spinal Tap. Because that movie, as ridiculous as it is, was in many ways a pretty accurate reflection of how dumb so much music, especially hard rock music, had become.

Kyle: That movie is spot on. That’s why it’s so good. Everything about it is such an accurate satire. I think A Mighty Wind is probably the best. My wife and I could sit up and watch his Best in Show every night.

Sounds Good Ink: Well, for the final question, is there anything of yours you’d like to point readers to?

Kyle: I just released the first record. If anyone wants to be the 31st person to buy it on iTunes then have at it. And I’m back in the studio. My approach right now is just to keep making songs. I’m hoping to put out 2 EPs in the fall. That might be an ambitious but, you know, I’ve just got to throw the dart and follow it.

To find out more about Chain of Lakes, visit: www.myspace.com/chainoflakesmusic
To purchase his album, go to: Chain of Lakes on iTunes

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