Interview w/ Adam of Big Big Buildings

Kicking off the week with another installment of my ongoing series of interviews with former Artist Spotlight subjects! Today, we check back in with one of my favorite up and coming musicians and my best friend, Adam McElreath. You may also remember him as guitarist for the local Boston band The Okay Win, and also has another musical project that he splits time in between for called Big Big Buildings. For this interview, we caught up to find out what he's been up to since the last time we chatted, and how his new album with Big Big Buildings reveals his true musical persona and shows how comfortable he is in his own skin. And here is the transcript from that interview:

First off, it's been awhile since we've last chatted, how have you been and what have you been up to since our last interview?

I've been all over the map, Pete. Life has been triumphant, depressing, exciting and devastating since we last spoke. I've immersed myself in a ton of different projects, but I've mostly been hard at work on this new record. As you know, I'm also in a band called The Okay Win and we've been writing and recording a new album as well. I feel very odd when I'm not working on something, so my time is a flood of different kinds of creation. This is without a doubt, the busiest I've ever been. It's fulfilling. Like when Bruce Willis hangs up his raincoat in "Unbreakable".

- How did you come up with the name "Full Color Pharmacy" for the album and the design of the artwork?

I was so ripe with ideas and directions for this record, that it was almost deafening. This is such a strange time we're living in, musically and spiritually. The world is experiencing itself through the screen of a smartphone and it's not hard to find yourself disheartened. Our leaders lie to us on the regular and our college degrees mean nothing of fulfillment or prosperity. Despite this structure for which we are the pillars, human beings connect and care for each other in new ways every day. I really wanted to make a record about the human experience, as broad or pretentious as that may seem. In order to do that, I knew I had to be as open as possible about my own experience. I wanted every aspect and outlook to be accounted for. Every color. The title appeared in my head and I immediately knew that it represented this record. I also like the idea of the record being a place you can go. It also reminded me of your brain scrambling useless corporate imagery, like fucking up the departments of a wal-mart.

- Take us behind the creation of your latest album "Full Color Pharmacy" and the influences surrounding it?

Full Color Pharmacy, in many ways, is a record that represents my attempt to get a stronger grip on everything I do and to do it like a grown man. I've been playing and writing songs since I was 14, but only in the past few years have I started finishing complete musical thoughts. I'm at least somewhat well-adjusted now, but I carry a great deal of social anxiety that had kept me frozen and self-conscious for a long time. The early Big Big Buildings EP's and demos were always just sketches and experiments that I had a blast discovering. Some more elaborate than others, but experiments nonetheless. These days, I listen to so many different kinds of music and all of it's majesty just fascinates me. I'm even inspired and influenced by music I don't like. You will see some strong influences on this record because of that, but you will also find many departures into freewheeling experimental planes. I have always recorded my own albums, but Full Color Pharmacy is definitely my first actual work as a producer. I poured every bit of my heart and brain and instinct into the recording and production of this album. Everything from lyrical content, to composition, to the artwork & inserts for the CD's. Dave Chardo and Ryan Ward from The Okay Win joined me initially to play some live shows as Big Big Buildings, but ended up also contributing to the record on songs like "Just Over Young", "There Is A Wall" and "Sink Large". Those guys are my best friends and hearing them play on it just makes me so happy. I will never be entirely satisfied with anything I create, but Full Color Pharmacy is the closest I've ever come to fluently materializing an image in my head. 

- What does this effort mean to you personally? Does this represent another step in your musical evolution or does it mean something else entirely different?

Personally, it's nothing more to me than an attempt at mental and emotional transparency. The record has many moving parts, but it's scope is the simplicity of honesty through the complexity of circumstance. I think it represents the struggle to be totally present and honest, even when it feels like your thoughts, feelings an questions don't belong in this world. Art and music are the only things to ever make perfect sense to me and I want to play my small part in the ever-evolving creative conversation that stretches on forever. Essentially, this record means that I can go back out and make more records.

- Lastly, what are some of your favorite tunes off "Full Color Pharmacy" that you're most proud of and feel best characterizes the album?

The last song I wrote and recorded for this record is called, "Sink Large" and it's my favorite track. It is all at once the most complete song on the album, yet feels like it's some incomplete thought that never ends. I emptied a lot of beautiful gripes with life, relationships, government, religion and human nature into that song. It seems to represent being passed a torch that represents hardship, emotional bankruptcy, and spiritual loss instead of all the glistening promises of perseverance you were fed in your youth. Also that song houses my favorite couplet I've ever written:

"Drop that burning sun into my hands / Let them fold their costumes on my bed" For whatever reason, those lines hold some truth that I may never decode.

Thanks once again to my buddy Adam McElreath for taking some time out to do this interview. Adam has been one of the most fascinating and intriguing musical subjects that I've ever covered on the blog, and the way he approaches crafting and articulating these compositions has completely altered my perception of what's decent and honest about music, and he is definitely one of the most important people in my life that has shaped my musical tastes in some aspects to this point. Please check out Big Big Buildings latest effort "Full Color Pharmacy", now available for purchase on their Bandcamp page located right here.