Jun. 20, 2012 - Issue #870: Food Trucks
Mike Plume Band
» A songwriter from a northern town / Jen Shaw
Putting out two albums at the same time is a feat in itself, let alone re-recording two more, plus rereleasing your entire back catalogue.
This is exactly what's on the horizon for Mike Plume, who has material spanning back to 1993 when he released his first album, Songs From a Northern Town, which is being rerecorded along with Jump Back Kerouac later this fall.
"Those were my first two albums and I'm very, very proud of the writing on both of those albums, but I'm not thrilled with the production and it was because I was just a kid and I didn't know what the heck was going on," Plume says.
He compares Songs From a Northern Town to having a perfectly cooked hamburger and ruining it by smothering it with every condiment available, which he feels he did with the amount of effects added to the songs. He hadn't been in a studio before and got carried away with what was suddenly available to him. During the re-recording he plans to scale back and let the songs speak for themselves. In contrast, Jump Back Kerouac is a stripped-down album and Plume says he wants to revisit it just because the opportunity is there.
"I hadn't gotten in the way of myself yet as a songwriter, which is something I have to be very conscious of now," he adds of the lyrics on each. "When you start writing a bit, you get to the point where you turn into one of those jerks where you get in the way of yourself and what ends up happening is a lot of good songs fall by the wayside because the ego ruins them."
The writing process for Plume's new albums, which he says should see the light of day before the end of 2012, has been ongoing over the last couple of years. One will be more acoustic-based and will either be called Lonesome Town or Lonesome Guitar, while the other is meant for a full band and is currently without a title, although, he's also toying with the idea of releasing them as one.
The projects have become a revelation of sorts for Plume about the ever-changing reality of the modern music industry, where keeping fans interested is more important than ever, and gone are the days when it was acceptable to wait years between each record.
"The old mould doesn't work anymore. They broke that mould; Napster broke that mould, and good on 'em," Plume notes. "I think it's a better place to be now. The key now is to just write music for the people who actually enjoy your music, for your fan base."
Sat, Jun 23 (6 pm)
With James Murdoch
Pawn Shop, $15
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