{"id":3573,"date":"2020-04-14T18:22:16","date_gmt":"2020-04-14T17:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shindig-magazine.com\/?p=3573"},"modified":"2020-04-18T16:46:44","modified_gmt":"2020-04-18T15:46:44","slug":"further-elective-affinities-eyelids-companion-piece","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/?p=3573","title":{"rendered":"Further Elective Affinities &#8211; Eyelids Companion Piece"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>More from <em>Shindig\u2019s<\/em> bountiful roundtable with Chris Slusarenko, John Moen, Larry Beckett and Peter Buck. Talking about the passions: songwriting, a lost Tim Buckley recording, R.E.M. fan mail and EYELIDS\u2019 new exquisite LP <em>The Accidental Falls, <\/em>words by CAMILLA AISA.<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3575\" src=\"http:\/\/www.shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/JWC20190815_Eyelids_7086_final-SMALL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/JWC20190815_Eyelids_7086_final-SMALL.jpg 500w, https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/JWC20190815_Eyelids_7086_final-SMALL-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/JWC20190815_Eyelids_7086_final-SMALL-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/JWC20190815_Eyelids_7086_final-SMALL-24x24.jpg 24w, https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/JWC20190815_Eyelids_7086_final-SMALL-48x48.jpg 48w, https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/JWC20190815_Eyelids_7086_final-SMALL-96x96.jpg 96w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI told them they reminded me of the Byrds, and now I\u2019m talking about the best American rock band that ever was!\u201d Larry Beckett, the poet you probably know as Tim Buckley\u2019s lyricist, admits to being enthusiastically blunt the first time he met his new favourite group, Portland powerpoppers <strong>EYELIDS<\/strong>. No time was to be wasted after he found out about the band, as he told <strong><em>Shindig!<\/em><\/strong> in issue #102. Larry and his wife, Laura Fletcher, soon invited them to their house. As John Moen &#8211; who co-fronts <strong>EYELIDS<\/strong> with Chris Slusarenko &#8211; remembers, \u201cthey put out cheese and crackers and a bottle of white wine, like you would when your relatives come to visit\u201d. \u201cI met him and realised he\u2019d listened to our music and really fell for it\u201d, says Chris. Larry had proposed a collaboration right away. \u201cI think we were both flattered, it was sort of unbelievable. But we&#8217;re protective of what we do &#8211; not every collaboration is a good one, you know? So we were like, how can we entertain this without over-committing? He gave us an invitation to come by and look at his book of songs, and we thought maybe we could find one or two and we could do a single together. That\u2019s kind of our answer to everything: a single. We&#8217;ve done a lot of 45s!\u201d, John laughs. Visiting Larry at home changed their minds: soon that supposed single developed into one of the finest records released this year, <em>The Accidental Falls<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"EYELIDS &quot;The Accidental Falls&quot;\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/W8Ssb-U0LGU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Chris recalls: \u201cI went home that night and wrote \u2018River\u2019. Being immediately inspired, that took away a lot of our fears. I just didn&#8217;t want the record to be a sepia-toned lookback, like <strong>EYELIDS<\/strong> putting on their overalls and paisley scarves and doing this tribute. But right away we felt it was coming out of us. That was a really cool meeting that allowed us to relax and become ourselves in a way that I never thought could be possible. We sent him songs without lyrics, and he had lyrics from all sorts of decades that we went through\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Next stop, the studio. Enter <strong>EYELIDS<\/strong>\u2019 trusted producer, Peter Buck. He and Chris have known each other for some decades now: \u201cChris used to write R.E.M., and Michael and I would answer\u201d, he remembers. \u201cWe met him, he hung out with us, but he was 12 or 13. After I moved to Portland, one day I was having dinner with him and his wife and he goes, \u2018do you know who I am?\u2019. Holy shit, I said, you&#8217;re that guy from Portland that we used to always write to! It&#8217;s really an odd experience to be producing him as an adult who has a child that\u2019s older than he was when I met him\u201d. If you talk to Chris, John or Larry, they\u2019ll probably comment on the fact that Peter tends to minimise his contribution, overlooking the visionary guidance he brings to the table. Even when we get to talk about <em>The Accidental Falls<\/em> he does so: \u201cI don&#8217;t like to think of myself as a record producer. If someone I respect wants me to be in the studio, I&#8217;ll go. The <strong>EYELIDS<\/strong> guys know what they&#8217;re doing, I\u2019m there to make sure everything is okay. Some of them have an instinct to keep working on things over and over, so my job is to try to prevent that, keep it lively\u201d. \u201cThe first day I got into the studio\u201d, Peter says, \u201cthere was this guy, I wasn\u2019t even sure who he was. I met Larry on the couch. I\u2019ve seen him lots since, at shows\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3577\" src=\"http:\/\/www.shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Screen-Shot-2019-09-16-at-11.47.46-AM-SMALL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Screen-Shot-2019-09-16-at-11.47.46-AM-SMALL.jpg 500w, https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Screen-Shot-2019-09-16-at-11.47.46-AM-SMALL-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Peter had been a Tim Buckley fan for a long time: \u201cI don&#8217;t remember hearing his stuff until the end of the 70s, when I first started reading about him. I bought <em>Happy Sad<\/em>, and that made a lot of sense to me. But in the South Tim Buckley was pretty much unknown. I don&#8217;t remember selling maybe more than two of his records in my whole two or three year record store career. I would always look at the liner notes, but I didn&#8217;t really have any real knowledge for Larry until the 80s, when people started writing articles about Tim and Larry was interviewed and mentioned. I was quite surprised to find out he also lived in Portland\u201d. \u201cLarry was in the studio every day with Laura\u201d, Chris enthuses. \u201cIn terms of finding the head space of each song, he gave us complete freedom. He was so encouraging. Making the record was really freeing\u201d. John concurs: \u201che really is so free as an artist. And giving. Isn\u2019t it amazing to offer decades worth of very personal poetry to a couple of knuckleheads?\u201d. Peter admits that \u201cknowing that Larry is a poet and some of these songs date back to the Sixties made me feel a little more responsible about making the record tell its story\u201d, whilst John talks of \u201cnervous stomachs a little bit in the beginning, while we found our footing. But everyone was so encouraging. As songwriters and as co-producers of the album, we were treated like we knew what we were doing. Which is hilarious!\u201d, he laughs.<\/p>\n<p>One of the songs they set to record was an old jewel Larry had written with Tim Buckley, \u2018Found at the Scene of a Rendezvous that Failed\u2019. \u201cIt was inspired by an actual life event in my youth\u201d, Larry explains. \u201cIt was recorded along with everything else Buckley and I had written when he first got signed to a manager. We had gone to a studio in the San Fernando Valley and recorded everything, including \u2018Found at the Scene\u2019.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Eyelids - Found at the Scene of a Rendezvous that Failed\u2019\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NrS5LPGDzoM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Subsequently over the years the tape went missing and has never been found. But part of that project was also to create sheet music for some of the songs, and \u2018Found at the Scene\u2019 was one of those. When the manager died, those lead sheets were found among his possessions and sold. My friend Jeff Gold, a rock and roll collector and archivist, bought them and transmitted them to me as JPEGs. The sheet music for \u2018Found at the Scene\u2019 was missing two bars but I remembered what they were, so I wrote them in and gave them to <strong>EYELIDS<\/strong>. It\u2019s certainly the only remaining strong Beckett-Buckley song that exists\u201d. Talking about the recorded <strong>EYELIDS<\/strong> version, he points out: \u201cthat&#8217;s my myself playing piano and Peter Buck improvising the bassline behind me in tears. You guys\u2019 music is why I became a musician, he told me later\u201d. \u201cI didn&#8217;t know I was gonna play on it until five minutes before it happened\u201d, Peter adds. \u201cWe played it like one time, and that was it. A really intense experience\u201d. It does sound special; remarkably, it also fits in in the most flowing way with the new songs Chris, John and Larry wrote together. \u201cI think it\u2019s a cool seamless record. It sounds like us, but it reads like Larry\u201d, says Chris. The collaboration, both he and John believe, made them honour the process of lyric writing. John explains: \u201cwe came up in a time when words were mixed lower in a rock song &#8211; it was more about the passion of the moment than the actual poetry. Digging in with Larry&#8217;s material made me realise that I really like writing lyrics myself, too\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3576\" src=\"http:\/\/www.shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/MaybeMore_Live_untreated-SMALL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"334\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/MaybeMore_Live_untreated-SMALL.jpg 500w, https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/MaybeMore_Live_untreated-SMALL-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>You find yourself talking to these men and you keep thinking of all the notes under their belts. Tim Buckley, R.E.M. Guided by Voices, Decemberists, Elliott Smith &#8211; you name it. Also, all the new music that\u2019s so persistently vital and utterly gorgeous. You realise they have something in common: it\u2019s not just the \u201cI\u2019m a total fanboy\u201d Chris conceded while talking about his schizophrenic record collection. They are each other\u2019s most ardent admirers. Think of what it\u2019s like to meet a future favourite friend, all the things to discover about them, all the loving energy &#8211; and imagine converting all that into chords and lines, whether it\u2019s new recordings or fierce live performances. \u201c<strong>EYELIDS<\/strong> is one of the best indie bands there even is\u201d, Larry reiterates. \u201cNever mind Portland, Oregon. In the country. And I think I&#8217;ve discovered part of the reason of why that is. Chris kind of embodies the power of 50s music: if you ever see him actually strum chords for a song, you realise that this guy is school of \u2018Hound Dog\u2019. On the other hand, John embodies the grace of Sixties artistry. Now, these guys are in the same band, song after song, fusing those two powerful beginnings. And they incorporate all the nuances of all the music that has happened since then. They are completely literate in that. It&#8217;s a whole universe of music that they inhabit\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3574\" src=\"http:\/\/www.shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/JB187_Cover_3K-SMALL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/JB187_Cover_3K-SMALL.jpg 500w, https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/JB187_Cover_3K-SMALL-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/JB187_Cover_3K-SMALL-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/JB187_Cover_3K-SMALL-24x24.jpg 24w, https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/JB187_Cover_3K-SMALL-48x48.jpg 48w, https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/JB187_Cover_3K-SMALL-96x96.jpg 96w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><br \/>\n<em>The Accidental Falls<\/em> is available from Decor Records<a href=\"http:\/\/decor.limitedrun.com\/products\/654016-eyelids-the-accidental-falls-pre-order-for-feb-14th-release-limited-edition-with-book-lp-cd-and-download\"> HERE<\/a><\/p>\n<span class=\"synved-social-container synved-social-container-share\"><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-facebook nolightbox\" data-provider=\"facebook\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share on Facebook\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Findex.php%3Frest_route%3D%252Fwp%252Fv2%252Fposts%252F3573&#038;t=Further%20Elective%20Affinities%20%E2%80%93%20Eyelids%20Companion%20Piece&#038;s=100&#038;p&#091;url&#093;=https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Findex.php%3Frest_route%3D%252Fwp%252Fv2%252Fposts%252F3573&#038;p&#091;images&#093;&#091;0&#093;=https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FScreen-Shot-2019-09-16-at-11.47.46-AM-SMALL.jpg&#038;p&#091;title&#093;=Further%20Elective%20Affinities%20%E2%80%93%20Eyelids%20Companion%20Piece\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px;margin-right:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Facebook\" title=\"Share on Facebook\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/facebook.png\" \/><\/a><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-twitter nolightbox\" data-provider=\"twitter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share on Twitter\" href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Findex.php%3Frest_route%3D%252Fwp%252Fv2%252Fposts%252F3573&#038;text=New%20post%20on%20our%20site\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px;margin-right:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"twitter\" title=\"Share on Twitter\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/twitter.png\" \/><\/a><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-mail nolightbox\" data-provider=\"mail\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share by email\" href=\"mailto:?subject=Further%20Elective%20Affinities%20%E2%80%93%20Eyelids%20Companion%20Piece&#038;body=New%20post%20on%20our%20site:%20https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Findex.php%3Frest_route%3D%252Fwp%252Fv2%252Fposts%252F3573\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px;margin-right:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"mail\" title=\"Share by email\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/mail.png\" \/><\/a><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More from Shindig\u2019s bountiful roundtable with Chris Slusarenko, John Moen, Larry Beckett and Peter Buck. Talking about the passions: songwriting, a lost Tim Buckley recording, R.E.M. fan mail and EYELIDS\u2019 new exquisite LP The Accidental Falls, words by CAMILLA AISA. \u201cI told them they reminded me of the Byrds, and now I\u2019m talking about the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3577,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[725],"class_list":["post-3573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-eyelids"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3573"}],"version-history":[{"count":-1,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}