listening for creativity

Q: Congrats on the new album - I’ve been listening to it non-stop (especially Townies and Wound Up Here) and I was previously kinda having a lull with my songwriting and getting bogged down but since listening to Bleeds I’ve felt so full of ideas ! Born again Wednesdian ! What I really want to know is what you listen to when you get writer’s block - old stuff, new stuff ?

Thanks for everything !! Here’s to many many many more songs for both of us forever <3

A: Ideally, I’ll seek out some music I’ve never heard before when I feel a little stagnation creatively.

NTS radio shows or just texting friends like “hey what have you been listening to?” are my go to’s for discovery atm!

Listening to life altering music you’ve never heard before is soooooo fucking exciting and energizing !!! so glad our music has provided you with some of that<3

songs u actually like

Q: Hey Karly, rad new album! I live in a small appalachian town called athens, oh near west virginia and the lyrics you wrote fit so well with raw appalachian culture. But in a cool punk way. I love to see a historically looked down upon region be celebrated in the way y'all do.

As a fellow song-writer I wanted to know how you evolved to writing music you liked? I think it can be so easy to write a song. But for me it seems it is all about whether I would actually listen to one of my songs itself that determines if it is a good song. How did you get there in your songwriting? To actually enjoy what you wrote and not be embarrassed to play it? Is it something that came from playing with your bandmates more? Do you find yourself wanting to listen to your songs?

Y'all should come out to our pawpaw festival one year it's so appalachiancore and beautiful. Thanks for creating cool shit!

A: YOOOOO! We played the university in Athens, OH (for lobster fest) in 2023 riiiiight after Rat Saw God came out and it was fucking awesome.

As far as your question… I put out multiple albums worth of music before I started writing music I actually liked!! For me it was purely just a practice and time thing, although I know that’s a boring answer. It definitely helps to have bandmates that challenge you to write shit that meets their and your personal tastes. It’s 1000000 times more fun to play music you really love. Rat Saw God was the first time I fully felt like I did an albums worth of songs I loved, but on TP and IWTTDYTS there were a few songs that I really felt like I tapped into something… and they guided me to write more in that vein. (Fate Is…, Billboard, How Can You Live, Toothache, Twin Plagues, Handsome Man, November) Those were songs that I truly identified with really informed the next albums and we still play a lot of those old songs for that reason.

I love listening to our songs when we get the first mixes back… but once the music is out I almost completely stop listening to them so I can move on to the next thing I’m writing,

PS I add tags at the bottom of these questions for songwriting so if you want more advice in that vein just click on those <3

Blogging / process / solo project??

Q: Hello!! Fan writing from Columbia South Carolina. A friend and I have been discussing a blossoming indie sleaze revival (Anonymous Blogging, Social media account deletion, cutting off nearly every single original hem of the band t-shirts in our closets), and I was wondering how you went about creating this website. This could be a phenomenon localized entirely within my friend group, but I've been kind of hunting for something similar to this for a while now, any tips would be LOVELY!

Do you have any particular writing process for songs? Your lyrics seem to just have this special quality to them that feels like you just uncovered them in the music itself; I can only imagine that that comes with years and years of practice and four-- soon to be five-- original albums, but if you had any breakthroughs in your perspective on writing while developing your skills that would be wonderful to read about.

Not to glamorize or put you on a pedestal, but I admire your lyrics for the way that the south is portrayed in an honest way. I find it to be absurdly common to have the south demonized in popular (and underground culture) and seeing your love for the south spill through in your lyrics hits home and it makes me feel like i'm not crazy for loving the south despite it's flaws. If u r ever in Columbia on a Friday or Saturday night, stop by New Brookland Tavern! It's a smallish music venue (about 300 cap?) that I run sound for sometimes.

P.s., do you have any hopes for a solo project in the future? Either music or another medium?

A: I just made this website with Squarespace! Neocities is another website building hub to try that’s more accessible $ wise, although the learning curve seems steeper there. There’s website building stuff in the “Resources” tab of this website!

I’ve answered a few asks about my writing process on here! They should be archived under tags underneath posts like “process” or “creativity” or “songwriting” etc. I’ll tag some of those categories on this post for easy access but here’s a direct link to the song writing tag!

https://www.prisondivorcebombshell.com/answering-ur-questions/tag/songwriting#show-archive

No plans for a solo project anytime soon, I love playing with my bandmates too much <3

I have been experimenting with writing in other mediums though, more info on that eventually!

Soup and Raw Talent

Hi, I hope you’re doing well!! Pick Up That Knife has been an obsession for me since it came out, I think I’ve listened to it like 7382828 times. What a great song !!! Anyway I just wanted to ask, what is your favorite soup? Also a more “serious” question, how much of making art do u think is working at it/practice vs “raw talent”? Does that make sense lol haha. Thank you so much for the wonderful music and also for having this space where we can ask u questions. I hope I can come see ur show in DC this fall!!!

A: Fave soup is ummmmmmm Matzah Ball Soup <3 Jewish penicillin

As for how much of art making is “raw talent”…? Idk… I think good shit just comes from a deeply strong desire to create. If you want it badly enough you figure it out! I think one can teach themselves to do pretty much anything… just takes lotsa practice and a deep need 4 it!