1. Thank you very much for your time! Before we introduce your new release to our readers – what kind of drink would you recommend to sip on while they listen to your new music?
A 4th pint glass of lukewarm instant coffee with milk. This was one of the fuels I relied on while writing and recording this album. And plenty of water!
2. Please give us an update about – new single, new album, tour dates, new videos?!
This album is kind of like one big song that talks to itself. I had a complex crisis from 2022 to 2024 and I needed to make this album to see myself on the other side of the crisis. I’m particularly happy with how track 3, Lost, turned out. I did a lot of experimenting
3. We live in times of many conspiracy theories. Which, harmless, theory would you wish were true? (For example Dinos living inside Earth or E.T. living in a home in California)
Conspiracy theories are totally problematic. The real conspiracy isn’t some quiet secret thing, it’s all right in front of us in every institution.
4. What fashion style or brand would best describe your music?
A little punk, a little hipster, a little sophisticated radish in a burlap sack.
5. Tell us more about your songs! Topics! Message!?
This whole album is a concept album. It’s about disability, psychosis, hospitalization, recovery, sobriety… Ultimately it’s about acceptance.
6. Beside music, do you have any special talents?
Graphic design is a passion of mine. I love photography and drawing and combining it all into digital artwork and zines.
7. Name 5 things we all should know about you as an artist?!
I think my stuff gets better the more times you listen to it. I purposely put A TON of information into my songs, and I believe repeat listeners are rewarded.
I worked for 8 years in a community arts space running music programs and I’m very grateful for those years and the community building that came out of it.
My music is fully self-produced. I played all the instruments myself except for viola and cello on tracks 4 and 15.
I really love when songs interact with each other, playing with repeated lines or melodies that connect each piece to the larger fabric of the album.
This album is about my lived experience… so I guess I paid a publicist to basically tell strangers that I’m crazy! What a life!
8. The road so far…. who or what was your biggest support??
I have a strong and lovely community of weirdos making beautiful things. It’s a joy to create alongside other queer/neurodivergent/sober/
9. A question you’d like to answer, but never been asked in an interview before?! + Answer pls
Q: What albums influenced Farewell Strange Hotel?
A: There’s some Canadians folky punky influence from The Weakerthans‘ Reconstruction Site, the interweaving lyrics and melody from Adam Green’s Gemstones, some fuzzy vocal melancholy punk like on AJJ’s The Bible 2 and the expansive and experimental production from The Flaming Lip’s Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots. It’s kind of a cosmic gumbo.
Instagram: @themadhatteroffact
