Diamond Rings: TAS In Session
Canada's John O'Regan, who goes by the moniker Diamond Rings, has been prolific over the last couple of years, releasing his debut, Special Affections, last year and just last month his sophomore record, Free Dimensional, came out.
O'Regan and his bandmates are currently touring the West coast — Diamond Rings plays San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Cruz and San Francisco this week — but they to the New York area on December 4 for a show at Bowery Ballroom.
Earlier this fall O'Regan visited The Alternate Side's Studio A with his Diamond Rings cohorts — drummer Greg Santilly, guitarist Tim Bruton and keyboardist Karl Skene — for a session and interview that will air this Friday, November 9, at 11 a.m. on 91.5 WNYE, also streaming on The Alternate Side. Watch the videos and read highlights from Diamond Rings' session now.
UPDATE:Listen to the Diamond Rings session in the WFUV/TAS archives now.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWDFXMJCM0M]
Alisa Ali: This new record sounds so much more confident. Not that your last record wasn’t but there’s a newfound confidence, even in your lyrics and the way you’re singing. Is this because of the tours? Experience? Has something changed?
John O'Regan: I think it’s probably a combination of a lot of things. I did a lot of touring with the last record and I spent a lot of time when I was writing this one just really listening to music. Trying to figure out how to put a song together. I think the arrangements are a lot fuller and there’s a certain confidence to a lot of the lyrical messages. I always write from the heart, write how I feel. It was recorded at a time when I was feeling really good about where I was heading musically and excited about having the chance to make a really full-sounding album. Damian Taylor, who co-produced it with me, started getting the tracks to a certain level. The vocal performances and the lyrics had to kind of match the way the songs felt. That was really exciting, to try to become a better singer and lyricist. I’m glad you noticed!
Alisa: You’re a self-taught musician, so talk to me about when you first began writing songs as opposed to the way you do it now.
John: I’m a little bit pickier and a little more aware of certain things like the key I’m singing in. On the first record, I never would have changed the chord structure of a song to fit the vocal melody that I was writing. Whereas we ended up doing that a lot on this record. I’d tried singing them in different keys, transposing the songs and focusing on the lyrical melodies. If there’s any instrument that I worked on improving, it was probably my voice. I’m still not a super-shredder on the guitar or anything, but as a composer and an arranger, it’s a big step for me. I’m excited about that.
Alisa: So vocal performance is what has your heart right now and main attention.
John: The next song I’m going to play— “I’m Just Me" — is, in a lot of ways, the centerpiece of the record. I think the message is really strong. It’s probably the first Diamond Rings song that written with dropped D guitar tuning, but also the first song where I scream a little. Not totally new for me! I used to play rock music and borderline punk, so there was screaming! Then I took a two-year break and it’s fun. I think that comes from the confidence of playing bigger shows and wanting to own it.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45GKYTFNIg4]
Alisa: That song has such a great message of embracing individuality.
John: I think my journey as an artist or a musician is coming to terms with what makes me different and recognizing that differences can make people the same. There’s something about writing a classic pop song that is a real challenge. In a lot of ways, it’s what I feel I need to do to prove myself. A lot more people listen to side B of David Bowie’s Low because he’d already written albums and albums of pop material.
Alisa: You can’t start weird.
John: A lot of people can. But for me, that’s not the path I want to follow. At the same time, I think a lot of the weirder sounds are on mainstream pop radio right now. We’re at a strange moment in time when I think the public is ready for sonic weirdness (laughs) as long as it’s reined in or used in a way that still follows a structure or path. That’s one of the challenges that comes with writing interesting music. It’s got to be interesting for me and the band because we’re playing it night in and night out. It’s about finding that balance; it always have to come back to something that feels familiar or recognizable. Seeing how far you can take the listener without losing them.
Alisa: Is there a particular band or song that you think is pushing the boundaries of what is accepted as pop but still fitting in that category?
John: I don’t know if I could name names. Sometimes, for me, it’s just an element of one song. I have songs that I love, but often times it’s, “Oh, I really like how the snare drum sounds on this Janet Jackson track.” Or, “How did they make a keyboard sound in this Kraftwerk song?” The more I listen to music and refine my palette, the harder it is to really hear it as one organic whole. I wish I could go back to listening like that — when you’re 12 and a song is just a song. I’m into finding those moments and figuring out how to replicate them.
Alisa: Are you hearing synth sounds and snares in your head? Or are you bringing a lot of musicians in and jamming?
John: Definitely not the latter. Some of my band members played on the record, but in specific parts and ways. Often a song will get to a certain point and I’ll think it will need something to take it to the next level. If that something is something I can’t do — or something that someone else can do better — then it makes sense to collaborate. For this album, at least, the songs were very much structured and ready to go from the beginning. I don’t have a set formula; it’s kind of like digging a really deep hole, hoping you find a nice rock or two. You have to dig pretty deep to find anything, but a lot of what I do ends up buried on some hard drive that no one will ever hear. I’m trying to pick up the drums. For this record, all the beats where composed on drum machines. I’m an okay guitar player. An okay keyboard player. I know what I like and what I want … and I think that’s what I bring to the table.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UvMUUxCSzo]
Alisa: Does a song always begin with guitar for you?
John: No, for this record only two songs. Maybe only “Runaway Love.” I originally didn’t want any guitar on the album and then there ended up being a lot because it’s so much fun to play. But most of the album was written on keys. The first one was mostly written on guitar. A lot of them were written on keys and played on guitar, which makes for interesting results. I’m having fun with those juxtapositions.
Alisa: Is this a real bedroom project or are you going to a studio?
John: I tracked most of the album at my home studio which is still in my bedroom. I have a loft bunk bed and all my gear is on the main floor below it. That’s where I put everything together. I took those tracks to a producer named Damian Taylor who is based in Montréal. We recorded vocals there, we did guitars and a lot of EQ'ing and finessing. He’s a big reason why the record sounds the way it does. If you heard the original versions, the songs are there, but they’re missing that boost. It comes down to scientific kind of work at a certain level. Once it gets into things like Hz and frequency ranges, that’s when my eyes glaze over. So having someone on board knows that and can do that is invaluable.
Alisa: It sounds like you learned a lot from Damian.
John: I wish I learned more. But a lot of times when he was messing around, I was out doing other stuff, like working on the next track. I learned more in that sense. But more than anything, what Damian taught me was to go with my gut instincts and push myself to really do something big. At first I was fighting the way the record was sounding. I was like, “No, no, no, that sounds too good. Make it more like the demo.” The fear in allowing someone to noticeably change what you’re doing — even if it’s “for the better” — there’s a fear that you lose some of yourself in that. And to a certain extent you do, but then you end up with [this album] that sounds really full and confident. It’s kind of like me, but supercharged.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maebrGrVHsc]
