We first heard from the Toledo-based singer/songwriter Tim Korenich this past September, with the release of his EP Change of Pace, six songs composed for the indie short film “Monhegan Light“. Now, we have news that Tim is preparing to put out his What A Weird Thing LP, later this summer. While a release date is yet to be announced, this week he previewed the “dreamy, Motown-esque” single, “Darlin‘”, off the upcoming album. In addition, Tim was recently kind enough to take some time out of his busy tour schedule for a short interview about the LP, his creative process, and current tour…
LET: Let’s start with the upcoming album, What A Weird Thing. What can you tell us about the recording process? Listening to “Darlin’“, it sounds like it was a studio effort–though, these days it can be impossible to tell. In addition, are you accompanied by other musicians, and if so who joins you on the record?
TK: Good ear, this was a studio effort. We recorded at Sixtyten Studio in Northwood, OH, not far from Toledo. I played guitar, bass, trumpet, and sang, but we had a few friends and super talented musicians help out. Nelson Overton bearing most of the work by playing drums on almost all of the tracks. Dean [Tartaglia] (Nah Collective, Silent Lions) played saxophone on “Darlin'” and a few others. Steve Warstler engineered the sessions and really helped me get the sounds I wanted for certain songs. There was a lot of pre-production work for this, and Steve worked his ass off and I think it really shows in the recordings.
LET: Were the songs for the upcoming record fleshed out before working in the studio, or does some of that work happen during production. Related to that, what’s the relationship between your writing process and the recording process for this record?
TK: As I mentioned before, Steve and I did a lot of pre-production work for this. Almost every song had a full pre-production demo recorded before we went into the studio, so we had a good outline of what we needed to record for each song. The track “Tim vs. The Weasel” is one that we wrote in the studio, and it might be one of my favorites.
Most of the songs on the record stemmed from a need to have songs that I could play by myself on solo tours. So some of them I’ve been playing as far back as the Summer of 2014, but they really got the full treatment when recorded, and most tracks involve more than just me and an electric guitar. I like to think that’s part of what makes them so listenable–they’re minimalistic songs that have been filled out just enough with added instrumentation.
LET: As the songs on What A Weird Thing have the dual function of being more fleshed out album tracks, as well as songs that can be played solo while touring, what can you tell us about the actual writing process? Do you have a particular working method as far as writing music, or does it happen as the inspiration strikes? During the writing of a song like “Darlin”, for instance, do you hear a more fleshed out track, or are you writing towards what you can accomplish with voice and guitar?….In addition, are there singer/song writers that you look to currently for inspiration or guidance?
TK: Some of my favorite singer/songwriters are Andrew Bird and Vic Chesnutt, with the former coloring more of my previous EP, and the latter possibly having some influence on this record, though not very noticeably.
I write most of my songs pretty differently, depending on how I’d like them to come out. “Darlin'” was mostly inspired by my love for old soul/doo-wop groups like The Impressions. I haven’t nearly 1/1000th the soul that Curtis Mayfield had, so my song sounds far different. But for a song like Darlin’, once I have a couple licks together and an idea of where it’s headed, I start on instrumentation and really getting a feel for how much is going to go into the finished product. Lyrics for a song like this are generally written on the spot with revisions later.
Other songs on the record, like “Natural Light“, involved me coming up with some interesting ambient sounds and piecing the song together overtop. Generally my process is music first, lyrics second, but I do spend some time with lyrics if I really need them to suit a song.
And I’ve had about equal success writing songs on purpose or just upon random inspiration. I take a lot of phone recordings. I was a lifeguard for 7 or 8 years and I’d work the morning shifts, watching lap swimmers and coming up with songs in my head. Then on break I’d run to record whatever new bass line or vocal melody I’d thought of. I sort of miss being forced to just sit in a chair and think. I came up with full songs that way sometimes.
LET: OK, hopefully not switching gears too much, but how did the EP Change of Pace come about? Those six songs were written for the film “Monhegan Light“. Did you write the songs with certain scenes or actors in mind, or were the songs chosen later by the film maker?
TK: I wound up doing the music on the movie because it was a smaller production and they couldn’t pay to license some of the music they wanted. I sort of convinced the director, Joe [Battaglia], that splitting the cost of studio time with me would be cheaper and mutually beneficial. I’d have an ep for half the price, they’d have a recording of great aural quality for cheap. It happened to work out that a couple of the songs I had been working on were sad/peaceful/minimal and really fit the story. So I lucked into that part.
The stuff I wrote more for the movie, “Mr. Brown’s Blues” and “Traveling Music” (a reprise of the bigger “Intro“, that didn’t fit the movie but sounds great on the CD!), were done more with the scenes in mind. The blues was to play on a record player in the main characters opulent home as he unwinds from a stressful day with a few glasses of wine in the company of a girlfriend he wasn’t really in love with. When you have a simple scene with as much of a picture drawn out for you, I find it’s a little easier to sort of feel what type of song to write.
With this new record, I didn’t have scenes or scripts to push me in one particular direction. It’s really just music I wanted to make, and felt passionate enough about to want to document. Having talented friends like Adam and Dean and Steve helping me along with great musicians made it much easier to accomplish that goal.
LET: Right on! Okay, speaking of talented friends and great musicians, do I understand correctly that you recently relocated from Pittsburgh to Toledo? How is the music scene in your new city, and how’s the adjustment to the locale?
TK: Yeah I moved to Toledo from Pittsburgh in September/October of last year. Pittsburgh’s music scene is interesting because there’s almost too much music for the city…that’s just my opinion…I truly love Pittsburgh and it will always be my home.
Toledo’s music scene feels like taking one of the many scenes of Pittsburgh, and bringing it to the forefront. There are a few small bars and venues that put on shows that AREN’T PAY TO PLAY [ed: a practice at some Pittsburgh venues]! And people come to them! It’s cheap to live here, and there are lots of creative artistic people who just want to help each other succeed. I’ve been really lucky to have a lot of support so far.
LET: I know you are currently on tour in the Midwest with plans to make it out to NYC later this month. How are the shows going so far? Are you playing solo, or with a backing band? Have you hit any new cities or venues on this tour? Any favorites or notable stories from life on the road this winter?
TK: The shows have been a good mix of weird so far. I’ve started off with some one-off shows in Michigan and a show in Toledo. The first show of the tour was in Port Huron and I split the bill with a schizophrenic guy who couldn’t finish most of his songs because he was laughing too hard. He was very nice to me, and I ended up talking with him the most that night. We agreed to send demos to each other. Not something I expected to happen.
Most of this tour is going to be in new cities for me. All of this is a solo tour, so it’s a lot of long drives and lots of thinking. Since it’s so early on yet, there haven’t been too many super memorable moments, but being by yourself lets you sort of observe more. Or at least I would assume so. I haven’t toured with anyone before.
On my last tour, I had to leave Muncie, IN very early for my next show. The path I took led me down a bunch of roads through cornfields trying to get to a more major highway. I left in the darkness of the morning and was in those cornfields when the sun rose. Seeing a horizon of white, red, and black over the tops of the corn stalks and the distant silhouettes of those tall telephone-wire scaffolds was really beautiful, and a memory I haven’t forgotten, despite the hangover I was working off that morning.
So maybe that’s not a crazy story about forgetting the bass player at a gas station. Solo tours of any extended period leave time for a lot of introspection, and a lot of observation. And lots of podcasts.
LET: Do you normally book your own gigs for a tour like this? If so, is there any advice from your experience that you can offer to a young musician looking to head out on the road for the first time?
TK: Dean booked my tour for me, but if I had any advice to artists getting ready to tour, it would be try hard, be punctual, be patient, & be nice. (and jam econo). If you’re going on one tour, you’ll probably go on another, but it will complicate things in the future if you’re a dick to the sound guy or rude to other artists. I’m still new at this, and I have Dean helping me, but for most bands in this situation, it’s a learn-by-doing kind of thing. Learn as much as you can.
LET: What’s next musically? Any plans for writing or recording after this tour? Do you have anymore tour plans in mind for later this summer, after the record comes out?
TK: Hoping to have a band with me for a bigger tour upon the album’s release. I’ve had a bunch of different ideas as to what my next album is going to sound like, which means I should probably do another EP and figure things out.
LET: OK Tim, thanks for answering our questions! To finish up, how does doing an EP, as opposed to going for something LP length, help with figuring out ideas, sound, etc.?
TK: I think an EP has less pressure. I could try 4 new styles with 4 new songs, and then decide what works and what doesn’t. Then put more money, time, and effort into a full-length release knowing what sounds the best.
Tim Korenich is currently on a solo tour of the Midwest, with a NYC stop planned too. Here are his remaining dates…
3/20 Be Here Now Muncie, IN
Skyline Social // Green Means Go // No Good RIders // Indigo Wild
3/21 Backwash Bloomington, IN
Indigo Wild // Bonesetters // Patchwork // Tim Korenich
3/22 Blind Bob’s Dayton, OH
3/25 The Clubhouse Youngstown, OH
3/26 Casa Nueva Athens, OH
CASA NUEVA 3/26 Tim Korenich, Fluff, Ben Stalets3/27 The Cartref Charleston, WV
Everyone Leaves @Cartref (w/ A Story Told, Letters, Tim Korenich)
3/28 Black Sheep Huntington, WV
3/30 The Rock Shop Brooklyn, NYC
4/2 The Sickhouse Pittsburgh, PA
4/2 The Color and Sound / W.C. Lindsay / Tim Korenich / Swampwalk / Seventy and Sunny / ?Luminaire @ The Sickhouse
4/3 Nico’s Coffee Pittsburgh, PA
4/4 Ottawa Tavern Toledo, OH
