motel void

MOTEL VOID: You’re from San Francisco, California. How would you describe the current music scene there? Do you feel that you’re part of it?

MICHAEL JAMES TAPSCOTT: I live across the water in the East Bay, a small but meaningful distinction. In the 16 or 17 years I’ve lived in California, I only lived in San Francisco for one, best-forgotten year. The current music scene is full of enthusiastic characters who are much younger than me. It’s good to see, I’m glad that music of this genre I’ve dedicated so much of my time, money, and thought to can continue to be part of the inner and social lives of people.

That said, I’ve been making and releasing music for 20 years, I’m in my 40s, I have a family, and there are limitations on my ability to dedicate myself to a “SCENE.” I have many friends and acquaintances here, and almost all are in the music business one way or another, so while I’d like to think of myself as an outsider artist, a loner, a rebel, this is probably wildly inaccurate.

MOTEL VOID: Could you recommend some of your favorite local artists and venues?

MICHAEL JAMES TAPSCOTT:

Artists:

Andres Miguel Cervantes
Country Risque
July
Jeff Moller
Aux Meadows
Sister Exister
Sarah Bethe Nelson
Indianna Hale
Dust Collector
Assateague
Channelers
Sawyer G.
Katsy Pline

Venues:

Little Hill Lounge
Make-Out Room
Thee Stork Club

MOTEL VOID: You’ve just released a new EP ‘Charlie No-Face’. Could you tell us more about the recording and writing process of your songs?

MICHAEL JAMES TAPSCOTT: Typically, I’ll record a demo as I am writing a song. I’ll come up with a melody or chord progression, decide on the structure of the song, and then begin to fantasize about what the song could possibly be about. This is the exciting part, the act of creation. Everything after these moments is trying to recapture the moment of inspiration. Sometimes that reveals new things I never would have imagined, other times it ruins the necromancy that inspired me in the first place. For me, there are bad songs that make great recordings and there are great songs that make bad recordings, and never shall the twain meet. This is hyperbolic, but I’ve found it difficult to capture what’s in my head in a recording. This could be a financial or an intellectual problem!

MOTEL VOID: Your biggest music inspirations right now?

MICHAEL JAMES TAPSCOTT: I take a lot of inspiration from mysterious lifers like myself, Frog or Elephant Micah or Pauline Anna Strom or Dorothy Carter, who toil on in the face of an indifferent and unsympathetic public. Also, from my friends who I play music with, Josh Housh, Jeff Moller, Raphi Gottesman. It would be hard to keep going if nobody at all was interested in going there with me.

MOTEL VOID: Your plans for 2024?

MICHAEL JAMES TAPSCOTT: A little touring, hopefully a new Pacific Walker album, my mycelial ambient project with Raphi and Isaac Edwards, continued weathering of the storm.