Interview with Josh..
Posted May 21, 2007
Firescape: Interview with Josh Partington
from volume 02 issue 01 // Christian Crider
Firescape
Interview with Josh Partington
Words: Christian Crider
Photo: Courtesy of Another Reybee Production
Appearing:
May 28, 2007
The Social, Orlando
May 29, 2007
Rays Downtown Blues Club, West Palm Beach
May 31, 2007
Jack Rabbits, Jacksonville
Josh Partington, singer-slash-guitarist-slash-songwriter, sat with REAX to discuss his new side-project, Firescape. Josh is better known for his contribution to the piano-wielding pants-droppers known as Something Corporate.
REAX: What do you feel is the most innovative aspect of Firescape's sound?
JP: I didn't set out to be an innovative band. I didn't want to change music necessarily. I wanted to write an album that just had, you know, twelve great songs on it. I don't really find the need to go out and change the sound of music or anything, because I find that you write that music that you write, and when you try to write songs that aren't true to yourself, or try to push yourself into a direction that isn't organic, then it comes across as sounding bad. All of us have that album by that band that we love, who went and tried to make their experimental album. And everyone says, God, that was the worst album. And it becomes a coaster. And I think a lot of that is because bands try to become another band. We saw a lot of bands trying to do what Taking Back Sunday did on Tell All Your Friends, or theyre trying to be The Mars Volta. Those bands were just trying to be themselves, and that's a very organic sound for them. But there's a difference between pushing yourself, and pushing yourself out of the boundaries of what you write. So for me, is there anything that's super innovative? I don't think so, and I don't necessarily feel bad about that. In the beginning, there was nothing really innovative about The Beatles, either. They just took what was going on and did it better than everyone else.
REAX: Have fans of Something Corporate been receptive to Firescape, or are you looking to appeal to a different audience?
JP: It's such a catch-22 with that. I'm by no means ashamed of being in Something Corporate. I appreciate all of the support of the fans of both bands. But at the same time, we're not Something Corporate. We're not anything like it. We're a rock band. It's just in a different vein I think. It really comes up more within the industry. It's definitely a hard line for us to walk as a band, because we don't want to be seen as a side project, you know, we're a band. However, if it helps get things going starting a band and having an album come out is a really hard time. There are a thousand bands going for ten spots on different things all the time. So, anything that gives us a leg up, we're gonna be better off. On the other side of it, it's funny because I talk to a lot of guys in bands who are like, You know, I hated Something Corporate, but I love Firescape, I think it's really good. So people who would otherwise like Firescape might be put off by it. And I think that's a valid point. Not that there's a bunch of haters of Something Corporate or anything, you know.
REAX: Your album being released on June 12 is entitled Dancehall Apocalypse, does this album mark the end of the dance hall as we know it?
JP: You know, it's funny that you say that. I was talking to someone yesterday, and they said when they heard the name of the album, they thought it was going to be a dance album. And I never thought of that until yesterday. I guess with all of these quasi-rock dance albums that are coming out, like Head Automatica and Young Love, and whoever I definitely see how that could be taken that way, but the actual metaphor of Dancehall Apocalypse has nothing to do with that.
REAX: Would you like to explain?
JP: It's a lyric from the third song on the album, The Way You Are. It's about how something horrible happens at the best time of your life. A dance hall is supposed to be a place where there's fun and joy and everyone's having a good time. It's a place where things are positive, and obviously an apocalypse is not that, its the complete reverse of that. So its this dichotomy of bad things happening at really great times, or good things happening at the worst possible moment. And that's summing up the album in a lot of ways, that theme runs throughout the album.
visit:
http://www.reaxmusic.com/articles/view/firescape_interview_with_josh_partington-211
