GRAYSON CONVERSE OF SPOOKY MANSION

Written over the course of several years, What About You? is a collection of tales as told through experience and hindsight. Personal, random and traumatic events, all culminating in the backdrop to which Grayson Converse regals his audience. A striking body of work that, like life, does not necessarily follow any rhyme or rhythm yet meanders slowly but surely.

Firstly, congratulations on the new album What About You? A wonderful record and one bursting with so much to say. Is storytelling at the heart of this record and the means through which you were able to canvas your unique yet highly relatable experiences?

Thanks a lot, glad you dig the music! You know the songs usually don't with lyrics and story is almost never in mind. Some point along the way of writing guitar parts, bass lines, melodies etc, I start singing randomly over top of the songs. When it's a success, some certain phrase emerges that feels like something truthful or interesting. From there the ideas just sort of create themselves. Sometimes its a story about something from my life, sometimes its a narrative about a character, sometimes its just pictures of scenes. I don't have much control over it and just let it create itself. When they're good, I'm as surprised as anyone else!

Are you able to share with us some insights into the subject matter from some of your very personal tracks and how you managed to consolidate that into song?

There are several references to some time I spent living in Cambodia. Siem Reap was the name of the town I lived in. Its in the jungle next to Angkor Wat, a temple built in the 1100s. It's a magical hot wet jungle town with bustling noodle carts by the river and expat bars buried in the trees. It was a time of joy, loneliness, and reflection. I had a lot of fun, felt pretty sad. The song describes the contrast of beauty, novelty, isolation, and melancholy. I had a friend while living there who was a young Cambodian woman. We became good buddies and I counted her as one of my few friends. She was in a motorcycle accident where she suffered severe head trauma. The last time I saw her she was in her bed with her family around her. She didn't have any idea who I was and couldn't even speak English to me. I left soon after and it felt like the whole memory of me having lived there was lost.

Would you say that there is an overarching theme to the record or more a distillation of a lifetime's worth of disparate experiences?

There is definitely some distilling of experience. Some songs like Sherrie's Song, written about my wife, were very recent and even current experiences. Some songs like Long Time Ago, take from the distant reaches of my adult memory as a young dumb 19 year old. Christmas With Mom is storytelling from my childhood. I don't know if there's an overarching theme, maybe just a picture of my life from a specific perspective in time.

There is a strong natural and elemental aspect to your work. Just how influential is the wider world and environment to how and what you produce?

I like peace and beauty as much as the next person. The backdrop of life can be ugly, dark, joyful, mysterious, stupid, funny, ridiculous and frustrating. There's always something beautiful in it though and the end goal is peace. At least for me. Take it all in, stuff it all down, then sit on your deck with your puppy and watch the trees.

Where there certain life experiences that just wouldn’t fit into song and stubbornly could not be pinned down into a crystallised track no matter how hard you attempted to strong arm it into being?

Like I mentioned, there's not much forethought or planning going into the storytelling or lyrics. Whatever comes out is usually surprising to me as well. Oftentimes the lyrics themselves are what remind me of certain memories or experiences I've had. I start singing and go 'Oh wow, that's like that time when I was broke and depressed living in my pickup truck. Forgot about that!'

What were some of the great surprises during the writing and recording of the album and equally, what were some of the biggest challenges in getting this together and putting it out there?

It takes a long time for a record to get finished and released. These songs were written at different times between 2018 and 2020 and only now are they seeing the light of day. During covid I wrote and finished a large portion of the songs in my home studio in Burbank. I was ready to release them then when a friend of mine who worked at a very nice analog studio said that we should record them more professionally and really let them mature in a way they deserved. Pete Brownlee was the guy and he ended up recording and producing the record, so thanks Pete!

Having met so many different artists and musicians across your career, during that time were there any words of wisdom spoken to you that really resonated with you and in turn altered the way you approached your craft?

I met a big time agent once who was worked for a famous musician we opened for. He really like the music and I asked him, 'so what should we do next?' and he said, 'I don't know, just keep playing the music you like playing.' I was thinking, no like can't you make us famous! And he was more like - its all a game of chance so you might as well enjoy doing it while you wait to win the lottery. That helped me to realize that its not all that serious and precious. It let me get myself out of the rat race a bit, move to the country, focus on other things and just enjoy playing and writing music that I like.

Given your fondness for travel and your upcoming tour, is there something of a tour ritual for you whereby you take time out to explore particular new horizons which, although you are touring on the back of old materials, actually goes on to form the basis on your upcoming work?

We're all close old friends in the band. As we get older we spend less and less time together, so I think just enjoying each others company is enough of a treat. We camp when we can, but this tour in November is going to be chilly, so we'll be curled up in hotel beds watching TV together and chitchatting about the old days when we used to get wasted and fall asleep on people's floors.

Can you share with us one of your favourite shows that you have played and what made it so memorable?

I really enjoyed playing Otis Mountain Festival. A great festival in upstate New York where everyone camps for the weekend. It was just a beautiful look at how much certain people really love and appreciate music. Those people seem to like music a lot more than I ever imagined liking it! It was full of positivity and adventure. I'd be happy playing festivals in the woods for the rest of our career.

Lastly, on something of a philosophical note, what does music give you that nothing else does?

A feeling of fascination and joy at something growing out of an unknown place and turning into art. I'm always interested to see what the music will end up sounding like.