Is There Hope/There Is Hope – An Interview with Wes Eisold of Cold Cave

Any article written about Wes Eisold often starts the same way: “Wes Eisold needs no introduction…” Well, yes, that’s true, but like virtually every other article that starts that way, I will spend the next paragraph explaining to you exactly who he is.

Unless you’ve been in a coma since 1997 or living under a fucking rock, chances are at some point you’ve come across one of Wes’s many, many, musical outlets. First starting with the seminal Boston hardcore punk band American Nightmare, then moving on to the San Diego super-group Some Girls featuring Rob Moran of Unbroken, Justin Pearsons of The Locust and Cody Voltato of Blood Brothers, in addition to others. From there it was on to the spastic “what the fuck?” intrigue of XO Skeletons and the hushed static derecho of Ye Olde Maids before forming Cold Cave. What seemed to have started off as a back-bedroom affair has spiraled into one of the better known modern synth acts. From the quaint romantic nihilism of Love Comes Close to the plundering heights of Cherish The Light Years and onward to this somewhere-in-the-middle we find ourselves in, the only constant thus far has been Wes himself.

First and foremost, Wes Eisold is a poet of the highest caliber, capable of bending word through rhyme with simplicity and expertise like light through a prism. They seem like peepholes into a tumultuous life. But I wondered if torture is a necessity for honesty. Lyricism, to me, has always been the balance of journalism and poetry, but can you be honest and profound as well as not surrounding yourself with the deep morass of sadness?  I spoke with Wes about the all consuming bridal reigns of the written word, his literary influence and the revelation of the lyrics behind People Are Poison and Black Boots.

Photos: Saul Torres

The recent batch of singles, especially Oceans With No End and God Made The World seem to fall expertly between the grandeur of Cherish The Light Years and the intimacy of Love Comes Close, is this intentional?

I wanted to record at home again. When looking back at LP’s I’ve made in studios, whether with Cold Cave, Some Girls or American Nightmare, I sometimes regret the immediacy that’s missing when you labor over something. I like the magic of spontaneity and I also like when there are less hands involved in the songs. This way it’s straight from the source. I’m just more comfortable with this process and it’s how I started.

Most artists work towards stadium grandiosity and then propel that sound till an inevitable acoustic album, but you’ve actually seemed to have gone, in terms of production, from a to c to b. How does it feel to, in a sense, to take a step back?

All I know is that there is an abundance of shit in the music world that is dying by the day and I’m not going to miss it. The good will outshine the dead weight in one way or another. Heart and soul has always been all that matters. In many ways production is something I rarely think about. I just think about making music that I want and it gets recorded due to conditions. This doesn’t mean that I don’t want to play in a stadium.

Between People Are Poison and the chorus outro of Black Boots (people, there’s too many people) you seem to have taken on a form of jaded pragmatism towards the human race, has working in semi-isolation as opposed to the heavily populated studio atmosphere engendered that?

No, not at all. I’ve just been around a lot of lazy opportunists. I take these lessons as positive steps in life. It doesn’t have much to do with recording.

The written word is obviously very important to you, how often do you write? Are you one of those studious types who can sit down and bang out 7 volumes of texts or a more Mayakovsky character who writes little snippets day to day?

I’m not methodical at all. It’s more like I have an idea and I write it down. And if I have no ideas I care about for months at a time then I’m writing down nothing for months at a time. I’m envious of the discipline some people have to write but I’m driven by real time emotion.

Who has had the greatest literary impact on you?

Probably Jean Genet. Elegant thug.

You’ve written quite a bit of poetry and lyrics, would you ever venture into novel form or playwrighting?

I’ll do that in the future… Probably in the near future.

Heartworm Press has seen a rise in activity lately, with the second edition of Boyd Rice’s seminal maxim No, how do you select the people you’re going to publish? Do they come to you or do you scour for them?

So far I’ve been fortunate that most projects have come to me. I have to believe in the person and their work all around to release a book. It’s really a commitment to do so because of the small scale of Heartworm and not really having employees, touring a lot, etc. I have to be inspired by the person and feel an urgency in the project.

Certain lines have appeared in multiple Cold Cave songs, for instance Life As An Affectation from New Morale Leadership has lines which made it onto Catacombs, what is the significance of this?

Some times a song is just a demo of an idea for another song or sometimes I really like a line and want to emphasize it. There’s no rules to writing.

You’re known for, amongst other things, your incredible fashion sense, usually wearing labels such as Rick Owens, Carol Christian Poell and MA+, and working with Alexander Plokhov on the Black Boots video, how important is fashion to you?
Favorite article of clothing?

I really feel a relation with certain designers because of the ideas behind their clothing. I think a lot of people, especially in underground music, scowl at or find even the word fashion so trite, and of course so much of it is… but I find it really inspiring that there are people who want to create their own world. Just like a musician or architect or writer. We don’t have a choice with the bodies we’re given but we can clothe them to fit our personal tastes.

I like a black jacket, t-shirt, black jeans and black boots. Good uniform.

You’ve experimented with all forms of releasable media(cassettes, 12 inches, 7 inches) however all of your recent outputs, save for one, have been 7 inch format, it’s very 1960s, collecting these singles, was this intentional?

I wanted to release all of these 7″s because I love the format of a single and I also like what it represents, which is a singular idea. I was making these songs that I knew weren’t for an album in idea or sound but still wanted to release them. I want my next album to be in line thematically from start to finish.

You’ve finished a world tour, and were stationed for a bit largely in the Far East reaches of Asia, did the geography affect you when you were out there?

I grew up traveling a lot due to my parents but never was really in places where I was so foreign that people would come up and take photos right in my face. When Amy and I would walk through cities we would see guys cover their girlfriends eyes as to not look at me while scowling at me. It took a lot of patience at times… People would test me constantly because of how I looked I guess. Shoulder checking. Spitting near me. Blowing smoke in my face. Then of course some people were so gracious and so kind and it made the days so splendid. There’s a real split in terms of tradition in a lot of the ‘smaller’ Chinese cities with the younger and older people. I loved the trip though. Playing in Kathmandu and Bangkok and Shanghai and Seoul was just incredible. The world really opened up for me then in terms of what’s possible with touring. It was certainly surreal to fly in to NYC afterwards and have it seem really, really small after being in some of the Asian cities.

What would you consider to be a shocking influence on you, something people would never expect?

Hip hop and comedy. On tour all we listen to is comedians, interviews with comedians.

Did you ever want to do anything else?

Honestly, I never wanted to be anywhere else than the path I’m on.

You spoke in length about your sobriety to consequence of sound, if you don’t mind me asking are you still sober? What prompted this change?

Yeah, I just needed to be more productive. It was a way of getting out of the routine that you can get sucked in to. I don’t want to spend my 30’s in bars listening to people talk about their ideas or horrible bands.

You recently embarked on tour with the architect of noise music, Boyd Rice. It cannot be looked over that there was a backlash in certain pockets of certain cities, did that affect you?

Not really. I found it pretty boring.

Is there anyone who you would still like to work with?

Yes, but less and less in music. More in fashion and film. There are some artists I’d like to make beats for.

You’ve elected to play at locations one wouldn’t expect, such as the Guggenheim museum, the Getty Center – why is this?

I was asked to play at those places and jumped at the opportunity. I love playing non traditional venues and I love seeing performances in different places. I just played atop of a hay maze in Winslow, Arizona as part of the Station To Station project with Jackson Browne and loved it.

I must ask, is it strange to have generated such a cult of personality? I’m sure it’s flattering to see your words tattooed on someone’s arms…

I’m really humbled by my fans. Very much so. That people have for me the same love and adoration that I have as a fan to others is the greatest gift on Earth and a reason to continue.