As The Slambovian Circus of Dreams prepare to tour the UK to support their ‘A Very Unusual Head’ album, Jason Barnard speaks to their lead singer/songwriter Joziah Longo.
‘A Very Unusual Head’ was recorded over a four year period. What was the writing and recording process?
The writing process is pretty constant for me. I’ve always got a good twenty songs or so landing and taking off from the docket in my head. I find the one wanting the most attention playing like a soundtrack behind daily activities and harping on a topic that needs contemplation. There’s always several albums waiting to be manifested.
The recording of this album happened by Tink (my multi-instrumentalist wife) and myself being invited to work in a studio in Canada with engineer Dio Tadin. I went up with a couple of guitars and recorded 8 songs I had in my head in 2 days. Each went down in a take or two and became the basis of the album. Dio followed me back to the States with his esoteric gear in tow and recorded bass and drums to those tracks with Bob Torsello and Felipe Torres in about a week’s time.
What led you to collaborating with Dar Williams, Kolson Pickard and Anthony Thistlethwaite?
Kolson Pickard came by to help us get a handle on working on the songs in Mac’s Logic Pro and wound up putting trumpet and background vocals all over the album. Tink put down keyboard, cello, flute, theremin and backing vocals as well.
Tink heard Anthony Thistlethwaite was in town (we were fans of his from his Waterboys days and did a couple of shows with him and the Saw Doctors in the States). She gave him a call to see if he wanted to play on the album He graciously came over and played on several tracks: bass, mando, sax etc. He is a wonderful, very natural musician who just adds magic to whatever he plays on! Thanks Anto!
Dar Williams lives in our neck of the woods but we are all constantly touring and don’t get to see much of each other. Dar recorded one of my songs ‘Sullivan Lane’ for her amazing new album ‘I’ll Meet You Here’. Tink gave her a call about singing on ours. She came over and put clusters of crazy cool madrigal backing vocals on ‘Brilliantly Dumb’.
‘A Very Unusual Head’ seems to be even more diverse in styles than some of your previous albums. Was this a conscious decision?
I was raised immersed in the music my grandfather and father played my own stuff spans anything from 1920’s hits to Hank Williams hillbilly fare to Floydian anthems. Also because Tink and I were picking and recording stuff before the rest of the band got their hands on it a lot more of the quirkier stuff was able to sneak onto the album.
The lyrical topics are varied too – are there any particular themes that thread the record together?
Yeah religion, science, politics all seem to be at new heightened levels of conflict these days conflict usually leads to conflict especially when everyone knows their point of view is the right one. In Slambovia we have a saying “Everyone’s dumb in their own special way.” Little picture framed versions of the slogan hang in most Slambovian living rooms or kitchens to remind us to be open to possibilities and avoid dogmatic governors.
This album has a lot of Slambovian takes on present world topics, tongues firmly in cheeks.
How do you write generally – do you start with a musical phrase or lyric?
A lot of the time my songs come from contemplation of such topics and the rhythmic patterns of the words that flow out suggest melody and atmospherics. The songs are usually little movies in my head that I spend time in as they suggest things to me about out of the box possibilities of approaching these topics.
How did the group form?
Tink and I were in a band called the Ancestors in NYC.We were the first American band to play mainland China and were doing gigs in NYC from CBGB’s to Carnegie Hall just due to friends that were into working with us. When the major labels came after us Tink and I left the City and vanished into art school for a couple of years then re-emerged as Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams just for the absurdity of it. People liked the name and we started getting offered a lot of gigs. We shortened the name due to gasoline prices and marquee space but here we are the Slambovian Circus of Dreams.
How has the group’s sound evolved over the years? Has it been shaped by who has been in the line-up at the time?
Yes! I always write with the players in mind. The uniqueness of the people in the band always informs the songs. We’ve been blessed with great musical friends.
People often compare you to David Bowie and Syd Barrett. ‘Look Around’ also seems to have a nod to The Beatles’ ‘Dear Prudence’. Are they formative influences and which other artists inspire the group?
Yeah I spent time in the basements of Bowie’s insane asylums around the ‘All the Madmen’ period and hung on by a thread during Syd’s Madcap ‘ ‘Laughs’ period; I was seeing and talking to a lot of ghosts back in those days and their dances through those realms gave me some assurance that I was okay.
So much of my stuff is influenced by the British Invasion in America Beatles, Kinks, Zombies were the fodder for my band gigging band The Atomic Reaction when I was 13 or so.
Later bands like Incredible String Band and Fairport’s ‘Liege and Leaf’ album added to the palette.
Where are you based and what is the musical scene like there?
We are based just north of NYC and south of Woodstock in the Hudson Highlands. There’s a lot of musicians and artists and troublemakers hiding out here. You can do a show in some little known club in this neck of the woods and have someone like Garth Hudson from The Band show up and sit in with you. Wondrous!
It’s great to see you’re playing at Cropredy and Wickham Festivals as part of your UK tour in August.
Yeah we are so happy to be doing those festivals. We’ll get to play for a lot of folks who have never heard us. We love coming over and playing for the cousins!
Very inspired that both these festivals saved our spaces on their main stages despite the times we couldn’t get over because of the “cooties”.
I felt the holy ghosts of Sandy Denny and Judy Dyble working to get us into the Cropredy Festival. Can’t wait to play for that gang!
Do you approach festival sets any differently to regular shows? How do you choose your setlist given your range of material?
We’ll be sure to put in some deeper catalog classics for people who have never heard us as well as stuff from the new album kind of a Slambovian Sampler. The audience just like the players effects how deep or high or fun the sets can go. We are so looking forward to ‘tripping with the cousins’. We’ll bring and do our best for you. The possibilities are endless.
What other tracks of yours would you recommend and why?
‘Solve It All Dali’ about the importance of coloring outside the lines and ‘Force of Nature’ – the latter about Stephen Hawking and the other clevers’ dance with the Divine Feminine.
What are your future plans and how can people find out more about you?
We are currently working on an album of love songs for the people of China called The Book of Better Things to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Ancestors concerts in Shanghai and also working on an album with some jazz friends featuring Eric Person sax player extraordinaire who played on the first two Ancestors albums back in the day. When we all hit the reset button the future is going to be wonder filled.
