Interview: Joe Pug

Conducted by Capt. Obvious


Obvious: Congratulations on the release of your Nation Of Heat EP. It's truly a memorable debut. I'm thoroughly impressed by your lyrics. Which writers, musicians and/or authors, do you think most prominently influence your songwriting?

Pug: Well, certainly Dylan and Prine are huge for me. They might be obvious, but I think that's okay. Because there's something very fundamental about both of those guys that makes them accessible, so you can go off on a tangent of your own. They taught me that a song can be original in its logic or phrasing or spirit even while its using a structure or melody that's been around for a hundred years.

Steinbeck and Whitman are huge for me. Whitman explained once that poetry isn't meant to confuse people. That trying to articulate your feelings as clearly as you can is cryptic enough as it is. You don't need to fool anyone. You don't need to prove to anybody that you know things that they don't know. Because of course you do. So just try to say it as clearly as you can. Steinbeck, for me, embodies that ethos, whether he meant to or not. You see it most strikingly in The Grapes of Wrath when he begins that harrowing passage that begins, "And this I know...". You'll never read something so lucid. I suppose right now, that's what I strive for.

Obvious: You were studying to be a playwright at UNC but dropped out after three years to pursue music. Was this a difficult decision and how did your family react?

Pug: My family, who I've always been very close with, was characteristically supportive. They just wanted me to be happy.

Obvious: What do you think the difference is between writing plays and writing songs?

Pug: Honestly I think writing is writing is writing. Whether it's a song or a play or a post-it note, it's always terribly difficult. You always think you have it figured out, only to begin your next endeavour and find yourself making the same mistakes, falling into the same traps, spilling trite words all over the page. Editing is a skill that can be learned, you can get better at that. But creating, it's not a task so it can't be learned. You just hope you get lucky enough to vomit up some material to edit.

Obvious: Where was Nation Of Heat recorded, and who was involved in its production?

Pug: I recorded most of the album here in Chicago at a studio called RaxTrax. I had a buddy who worked there. He would call me when someone canceled a session at the last minute. Because it was just me and my guitar, I was able to quietly record in their b-room and the owner, Rick Barnes, was good enough to just look in the other direction. My friend Jeremy was very patient and hands off, just letting me figure out what it's like to be in a studio. He let me learn how to pace myself, how to know when a take is good or when there's a better one left in me. It was really very simple.

Obvious: Were you exposed to folk music growing up, and how long have you been playing and writing your own songs?

Pug: I was in my first band when I was in 6th grade. Our science teacher bet us that we couldn't put a band together to play the school-dance. We covered some Foo Fighters song, "Big Me" I think, and then we just playing gigs. It eventually occurred to me that I should write original material, because that's what real bands did. To this day, I remember sitting down with a notebook and being dumbfounded. Not much has changed since.

Obvious: You're a carpenter by day. What's more fulfilling, building an album or building a house?

Pug: Let it be a matter of the public record that I am a terrible, terrible carpenter. I enjoy watching the guys who are really good, the guys who were just born to build. But I'm not one of them. I just fetch coffee and try to keep my cuts within an eighth of an inch.


Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/thejoepug

Listen:
MP3: Joe Pug - Nation Of Heat

Tags: Joe Pug, Interview, Captain Obvious