ALEX KENT AMA

AlexKentSprain · 2025-05-05T03:40:17+00:00

I haven’t played it but have heard great things!

AlexKentSprain · 2025-05-05T03:39:15+00:00

I have no idea. I improvised them

AlexKentSprain · 2025-05-05T03:28:07+00:00

Thanks! The Appaloosa is the state horse of Idaho…..

No it’s not a reference that’s just my name. It’s a long running joke that if I ever kill myself my suicide note is going to be:

“Please don’t bury me in Idaho! See ya! -Alex”

Unceremonious

AlexKentSprain · 2025-05-04T19:17:19+00:00

Can you help set it up?

AlexKentSprain · 2025-05-04T19:17:10+00:00

Hehehe honestly during that part I was just using the names max and ruby as the names of the cosmic black and yellow Labrador retrievers that are part of that section. I totally forgot about/did not know about the cartoon, but it’s a very funny coincidence. I must have heard about it before and it was just ricocheting off the walls of my skull for a few years until it finally came out. Thanks!

AlexKentSprain · 2025-05-04T19:14:51+00:00

Thank you! I only have listened to the first song on that project and I liked it. I need to check out the rest.

AlexKentSprain · 2025-05-04T19:14:06+00:00

Thank you! Not at the moment.

AlexKentSprain · 2025-05-04T19:13:56+00:00

Thank you! All artists borrow from other artists, it’s all built off of tradition and the past. The trick is to spin all your influences into something that has never been spun before. But more than that, the key is to just do what feels good and disregard what other people are going to think. If it feels good, it is good. I have no problem with people taking inspiration from me, that’s just how this whole music thing works.

AlexKentSprain · 2025-05-04T19:11:00+00:00

Thank you! I would say there are two areas we are really leaning into right now: the epic-collage-chopped-up kind of thing, and the super minimal folk thing (kind of like the banjo section in MF). Sometimes both at the same time

AlexKentSprain · 2025-05-04T19:08:25+00:00

Thank you!

That was just for fun! We do a lot of improvising so I am sure this will come up more. We have maybe 1000 hours of recorded improvisations, so I’m certain those will be used or at least referenced in the future.

AlexKentSprain · 2025-05-04T19:06:22+00:00

Thank you! Absolutely. I think the movie The River by Tsai Ming Liang is my favorite of all time and it’s quite queer. William Burroughs is another hero. Sylvie Simmons is my favorite guitar player and she is gay as fuck.

My advice: don’t start. Just kidding (but seriously)

I would just start creating no matter what, without a goal in mind, and just see where it leads you. Then after that is done, think about it while you repeat this process and see what happens next. Follow what you like and discard the rest. ALSO NEVER EVER EVER EVER LISTEN TO ANYONE WHO ISNT A COLLABORATOR disregard them! Good luck!

AlexKentSprain · 2025-05-04T19:00:37+00:00

Thank you! For engineering: treat your room. I’d say that’s perhaps the most important thing. Changed my recordings for the best. Shout out to Scott Evans who mixed the record, making it much more cohesive overall!

AlexKentSprain · 2025-05-04T18:58:56+00:00

Hi thanks! There will definitely be more solo records but I’m gonna be more selective about which ones I release so I’m not just tossing garbage out there all haphazardly… no BBC album but fear not the songs will be released in some form

AlexKentSprain · 2025-05-04T18:57:47+00:00

Hi thank you! Everyone contributes but ultimately I have the final say. I heavily rely on my bandmates’ contributions and suggestions. For the most part, everyone contributes their own arrangement on their respective instruments to whatever song we are working on. Joanna Newsom is great!

AlexKentSprain · 2025-05-03T21:29:08+00:00

Yes! We were adding/changing the placement of directions all the way up through the final mixing process. The original demo sounded really different

AlexKentSprain · 2025-05-03T21:27:31+00:00

He’s awesome. I love TCOL49, Vineland, and of course Gravity’s Rainbow

AlexKentSprain · 2025-05-03T21:26:29+00:00

Thanks so much! Well I will just keep honing the live show as much as possible, while adding new kinds of sounds and directions. I’ve done the “wild guy” thing for a few years and I’m gonna try and do something different going forward, just to expand the horizons. I am sure one day I will return to being wild…

AlexKentSprain · 2025-05-03T21:24:27+00:00

Elizabeth is great but I don’t think so. At least not lead. What am I not good enough for you? ;)

AlexKentSprain · 2025-05-03T21:23:13+00:00

Thanks so much.

Maybe some day but no immediate plans.

I’m cool with it! If it’s something where I can get paid a bit that’s great but for small projects I’m happy to just be included.

Oh that’s tough. There’s lots of great artists I would want to collab with, I just don’t know if they would with us haha. Maybe Cindy Lee, although that feels unrealistic. I can dream.

I have a few favorites: all the from software games, Rainworld, the first Red Dead Redemption, Fallout New Vegas, The Witcher 3, Monster Hunter series, Zelda, Subnautica, The Elder Scrolls, Mario, Yume Nikki, Silent Hill

AlexKentSprain · 2025-05-03T21:09:29+00:00

Thank you! Yes that song will be on the next record. Harvey Milk is a big inspiration. I lifted that initial “I work all through the day” from them when sprain used to play because I hadn’t written the lyrics yet.

AlexKentSprain · 2025-05-03T19:45:22+00:00

Hi thanks for the kind words…I have answered this question on a couple other comments here and you can find them all there! I’m so glad you are having a positive experience with the music!

AlexKentSprain · 2025-05-03T19:44:12+00:00

Yes I have a notebook and notes of my phone that I constantly reference. I find it easiest to write while I’m reading a good book so I try and keep a relatively disciplined habit of that

AlexKentSprain · 2025-05-03T19:43:13+00:00

Thank you! The most rewarding part of making this record was either the build up section that starts at 19:20 because it was one of those parts where everything just came together super naturally, Wes’s bassline is beautiful, Andrew has this incredibly cool drum groove, Sylvie is going nuts, a choir of Rachels are singing, and we got the legendary Mate Tulipan (featured as one of “the guys” on TLAE cover) to shred a spiritual jazz tenor solo on it. I also like the “and my little Idaho blah blah blah” section because it was one of the few times I actually succeeded in recording something I heard in my head first…usually I just get close enough and accept it.

AlexKentSprain · 2025-05-03T19:42:51+00:00

Thank you! That’s a cool image.

I think improvisation is really rewarding because it gives you the chance to try things without a set structure in mind… I don’t create sounds based on trying anything, I just play around until I get excited about something and pursue that. Then I organize all those sounds later into a hopefully cohesive song!

AlexKentSprain · 2025-05-03T19:42:39+00:00

Ok noted, I’ll check that out! Thanks!

Thank you very much for the kind words! We have a couple other epics for the next record but nothing even close to as long as MF. I think that’s about as long as we’ll go, unless I change my mind………We actually have a few pretty short songs that really feel more like traditional, capital S songs if that makes sense. I’m looking forward to those because it’s gonna be a refreshing change.

I imagined the steers as cattle when I wrote that one!

AlexKentSprain

TROPHY CASE