motel void

MOTEL VOID: I haven’t found much information about you on the internet. Could you tell us where you are from? And do you feel like you’re a part of any music scene?

JAVAHEAD: I just moved from Boston back home to California; I’d spend the last twelve years out in various parts of New England and had (on and off) felt really connected to some of the music scenes there. I’ve been in southern California for only about two months now so aside from going to work and seeing a few friends, a lot of my time has been spent in my bedroom making music alone.

MOTEL VOID: I really love your new song ‘if you have time to spare’, it sounds very unique to me. Will it be a part of your new album?

JAVAHEAD: I just recently started putting together ideas for a javahead LP and I’m not sure if the track will be on it yet. I tend to write and record quickly, a lightning-in-the-bottle type thing, and then let the song exist as just that. Writing the song did open a lot of doors for me creatively, especially realizing that I could fingerpick my acoustic for the first time in years. I also found myself layering instruments in a way I hadn’t in the past.

MOTEL VOID: Could you tell us more about your writing and recording process?

JAVAHEAD: A lot of my songs start from an emotion. If I’m not feeling something that strongly it’s difficult for me to pick up a guitar or a keyboard and find the right chords. I can churn out a series of verses or bridges pretty easily with that emotion, but I always have to sit and ponder on the chorus. Choruses are kinda my weak spot. I never was a fan of repeating something I’ve already said, but I’m coming around to it.

Since I do all the writing and recording myself, the recording process is truly another instrument in the process. I might record the entire guitar track first, or it might be bass or keys. Really depends on what I felt like picking up or what the song sounds like in my head. Once I get that basic idea from my head recorded, I spend most of my time jamming over loops of the recorded demo. I’ll find little things I never would’ve played on my own or come up with had I not been playing to my previously recorded self.

MOTEL VOID: Your music is influenced by artists like Emitt Rhodes and Kevin Ayers. Honestly I’m not that familiar with their records. What is it that you like about their music?

JAVAHEAD: They’re artists that knew how to work with themselves and make something sound much larger than just a solo project. I admire a lot of songwriters who are able to accomplish that. Rhodes writes amazing songs and how they come out of his ability with the keys is just incredible to me – and the way that Ayers crafts this larger-than-life sound was always inspiring to me as a recording engineer.

MOTEL VOID: Your plans and goals for the rest of the year?

JAVAHEAD: I have a few musical projects I’m starting to work on but I’m mostly focusing on sharpening my songwriting skills. I want to write songs that are about anything besides relationships and my mental health, two things that are, for better or for worse, constantly on my mind. I’m hoping that by the end of December I’ll have a deluge of javahead songs that I can pick from and assemble into something I’m proud of.