Jeffrey Cain from Remy Zero/Dead Snares Romances The South

TIS: So, I know you lived in Los Angeles for quite a while and recently moved to Alabama. Can you tell me what prompted that decision and how it’s being readjusted?

JC: Well, I grew up in Alabama and being in the South is something I guess is in my blood. I enjoy being in the South, I really enjoy the humidity (laughs) and the romance of the Deep South. It is quite a complex place. I have always loved the south and thought I would return one day but never knew when. I never intended to be in Los Angeles for thirteen years, but it happened, and one day I had one of those moments where I realized, wait a minute, I can go, I’m not tied to this place. So I decided to bring my family and recording equipment to the south. I found an old house to put it in and decided to start recording all my music there.

TIS: Ok, and do you find a difference typing in your new location vs. LA, or does that not affect you?

JC: Not really, I can write within four walls to be honest, any small room that has speakers. He could really be anywhere, and certainly music is a good way to travel, so it doesn’t matter where he is. That being said, it certainly influences you and your life as it happens outside of those four walls. Here in the south we have those storms, and the denser air, and the heat. It definitely puts you in a different frame of mind, one that personally takes me back to being a kid, when I started creating and writing. It brings back memories of those times, which are associated with thunderstorms and other weather that happens here, so it affects me… in a good way.

TIS: Yes, Mother Nature can certainly have her influential ways with us. So Remy Zero played a couple of shows this year in memory of their drummer Gregory Slay who sadly passed away in January of this year.

JC: Yeah, we played some shows on the West Coast.

TIS: And you also released a new single called “Til The End” a few months ago. So, are there any plans for a new album or tour for Remy Zero?

JC: Well, what I’m trying to tell people is that Remy Zero was never really a band that went to rehearse and tour. We were always separate artists coming together and making music, and that was basically our vehicle. We did it non-stop for a while, like ten years, and about seven years ago we stopped touring, but that didn’t mean we stopped creating. The CD we made is actually songs we recorded during the seven years we were technically “separated”, even though we were still recording music together. So I think it’s a lifetime commitment for us. We’ll probably be old and keep recording songs. We haven’t committed to a new record or a tour, but I think we’ll always find excuses to be in the same room and make music together. And just being on this tour, we started automatically writing songs in the rehearsal room and on the road, and we’ve been shuffling music back and forth ever since we got off the road. So I definitely think there will be more stuff in the future.

TIS: Very good. So he also wanted to ask you about the tour you did with Radiohead on the tour for the album “The Bends”. I know that goes back a bit, but I’ve read that they stumbled across your album and that’s how it happened. What is the story there?

JC: Well, a long time ago, we signed with Capitol Records. We made a record that never came out, and Radiohead were our label mates at the time. Well, when you’re on a label, you have access to the music closet of what else that label is putting out and they found this CD of a band from Alabama (Remy Zero). It’s funny because they had a CD from a band in Capital that they never put out. So they really liked the music and contacted us. We ended up sending them more stuff from a record that wasn’t released. They liked it very much and said they wanted to meet us when they came to the United States. So they came, we met them, and that led to them asking us to hit the road, and that was kind of cool. At that time we struck up an early friendship. We really enjoyed listening to their music, and they liked to trade music back and forth for a while. We did those shows and we continued a relationship with their producer Nigel, who is a good friend of the band, but we didn’t really have a deep personal relationship with the guys. They were just another band we agreed with for a while. But yeah, they’re great guys and I’m very grateful for that time.

TIS: So, as we get back to the day, I wanted to quickly ask you about your Emmy nomination in 2003 for the theme song to Nip/Tuck that you did. I know you’re constantly doing all sorts of things musically, but do you often work with soundtracks or theme songs?

JC: (laughs) I guess it’s probably due to living in LA and the fact that everyone you meet is working on something. So over the years I’ve met people who used to go to our shows who were actors, directors, writers, etc. Remy Zero had just called it quits, literally that week I think. We had just moved out of our rehearsal space and I got a call from someone who worked at Nip/Tuck. He said the show was supposed to be out in a week and they weren’t happy with anything they had written for a theme song yet, and he asked if they could send me a video of the opening credits. So they sent me the video and I cut the song in a week, and it’s been going ever since. It was very fast and very unexpected, very strange. So when he was nominated for an Emmy, that was even weirder, but really cool. However, it was totally random for me, especially at the time.

It wasn’t on my radar, I wasn’t looking for theme songs for TV shows or anything (laughs). I love working with any kind of music. I love making movies, and while watching movies I see music very vividly, so when I have to do something with images, I really want to do it. The opportunities don’t seem to present themselves as much, or at least the ones that are interesting to me. When I was given the footage to Nip/Tuck, the first scene was a guy with butt implants, and I thought this was something to write about (laughs).

TIS: Haha, right on. So I wanted to talk a bit about your current Dead Snares project. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t familiar with it, but after doing an interview with Aimee Mann, Annissa (Aimee and Jeffrey’s mutual publicist) mentioned the album to me and you know how that can be sometimes…

JC: Haha, oh yeah.

TIS: Right, but he also mentioned that he was Jeffrey Cain from Remy Zero, and that’s when I really got interested. Needless to say feel the album, I loved it and here we are. So can you tell me about Dead Snares from its inception to the release of the album?

JC: Yeah, well I guess that’s another thing where after Remy Zero was disbanding, I felt really open to music, collaborating with different people and working on a bunch of different records in my studio. However, at night, when everyone left, I found myself alone in the studio and I started writing these songs, and for the first time in a long time, it wasn’t just music. I love writing for singers, I love setting the backdrop for people, that’s where I feel comfortable and what I really love. So I guess when these songs started coming up with lyrics, I was surprised and started documenting a couple of them, but I didn’t really plan anything.

I had two songs that came very quickly, almost in a self-writing attack. So I recorded them with my gear, which I love, I have a really cool gear. So after these two songs, I felt like a kid, but I wasn’t quite sure what to make of them. So I decided to send them anonymously to radio stations etc. I didn’t want people to tell me they liked me just because of my associations with other things. I didn’t know if I necessarily liked them. I knew I made them and wondered why I was doing them. The name Dead Snares came to me as a band name, so I wrote it on a CD and mailed it out to a couple of radio stations in Los Angeles. The CD just said Dead Snares and the name of the songs, nothing about who was on it, etc.

However, later that week I heard it on the radio and I felt like a kid again, like when I was fifteen and I heard myself on the radio for the first time, because there wasn’t a whole machine behind it. A record label, a publicist, people pushing me to do it. I was just sending my music hoping it would connect with someone, blindly. So I started letting some friends listen to it and they wanted to know where the rest of the record was. That’s when I put energy into figuring out what the rest of the story was, and the songs started to evolve basically in the order that the record is presented. The record is pretty concise. It’s exactly how many songs I cut.

TIS: Wow, that’s really cool. So are you going to tour in support of the album?

JC: Yes, in my mind I always had a vision of being on stage and playing the album live, but in that vision I always saw Gregory, my friend and drummer on stage with me. So I guess when he passed away this year, it really pushed me out of my comfort zone. I thought I knew what the future was and everything changed. So it took me a while to get back to a place where I feel safe and ready to go, or even wanting to go on stage. Although playing with Remy Zero these past few months has really renewed my love for being with people and sharing music with people in a live situation. However, I definitely want to play it.

TIS: Well, I hope you’ll try and include the East Coast if you do. Guitars and amps aside, can you name three pieces of equipment you couldn’t live without?

JC: Ok, are the guitar and amps already there?

TIS: Yeah, those are fully taken care of by you, so what else do you need?

JC: Ok, I definitely need tape machines. I need tape delays. Those are instruments for me. I need a tape that I can manipulate, because I slow things down, I speed things up, and I throw things out of tune, so I would definitely need that. I would also need a piano and a tambourine (laughs).

TIS: Great, I’m sure you could definitely make something happen with that lineup. So, to wrap up, I’m going to ask a bit of a cliché question which is, “what is one of the most defining moments in your music career and why?”, and I’m asking because you’ve honestly done a lot. , in so many different facets musically, and even though it’s a cliché, I’m genuinely interested.

JC: Oh my gosh, man.

TIS: Haha, I know, I’m sorry.

JC: Geez, man, that’s really hard because honestly, I’m blown away every day, and I’ve been for years. I would have to say just the opportunity to be able to make music as my career, and to share that with people and let people in. I guess the first thing that struck me was the first time I saw someone in the audience singing along with our songs, seeing the power of communication that music has and what it means to people. But I do not know.

TIS: Honestly man, that’s probably the best and least clichéd answer I could have asked for. Awesome.

JC: Well, it’s the truth, you know? I never want to get tired of it, and I don’t think I ever will. Anytime I’m performing music and seeing how it affects people, and knowing that we can share that with others, when I can do that with people, what more can I ask for?

TIS: That’s really a cool thing. JC: Impressive. Well, thanks for calling me and looking at the album. Now your site is called The Independent Spiritualist? I like that.

TIS: That’s right, thank you. It is an eclectic mix of everything under the sun fused with a non-dogmatic spirituality.

JC: Yeah man, it’s really cool. Love that.