Micah P Hinson

Having been seduced en-masse by Micah P Hinson’s third and most recent album Micah P Hinson and The Red Empire Orchestra’ (review – here), we were very grateful to the hard working Texan for firing up his laptop and answering questions on his troubled past, contented present and unknown future with typical frankness.

Why have you chosen the accompanying title of 'The Red Empire Orchestra' this time round? I've read, contrary to assumptions, it's got nothing to do with communists or China or anything like that.

When I began thinking of a title for a new band, I clearly shot through several ideas. None of them seem to take; they didn't fit. Then the words red empire orchestra struck in my mind. It worked. It didn't make any sense, but it worked. It had this certain feeling of impending doom.

After your back surgery that preceded the Opera Circuit and the drug problems before the Gospel of Progress, do you feel this is the first album to arrive without any baggage? Or at least without a back story (no pun intended) for reviewers to hang on to?

The baggage never leaves, but I don't feel I am as much of a slack jaw that I used to be. The back problems still exist, they are worse than ever. I have to go in soon and get some metal bits inserted in my back that gonna shoot electricity into my spine and trick my brain that I don't feel the pain I am in. Strange shit, i tell you what. But yeah, life is at a different place and register now. The year in which I wrote and then recorded this record, I was trying to clean up a lot of my life. I was trying to pull together some threads that had come loose. It was a difficult year, but a worthwhile year, nonetheless. Shit, there's always gonna be a story. What would my records be without them? Ha.

Do you grow tired about the constant mentions of those early problems - "all the nice sundry things that I've done with my life so far", as you recently described them as.

The only thing i fear about my past lives is that i will speak of them so much that soon they will become a legend in my mind, leading me to forget all the things i have learned.

You enlisted the production help of Jon Congleton for this record, how was he to work with? And he approached you, is that right?

Yeah, J. Congleton approached me through email. It took months, though, for me to get back to him. I had never heard of him up to that point, which is surprising based on the fact that he has worked with some serious, and not so serious, artists. Around the time that i eventually got the email, I was working through in my mind who I would want to do it with, doing some research, and really trying to get the gears for the new record moving.

It was fate that he wrote though, cause if something can just fall in my lap; I'll take it. I was a bit nervous at first. I didn't know him from Adam, and that worried me, as I am quite particular about my songs; they are my children to a certain degree. Working with him was something else. We had a clear vision. We set off with this project with clear intention and i think you can hear it in the songs and in the recordings. I wanted something sonically superior than anything I had ever done. No lo-fi. Just clean, gentle music.

Was it the first time you've really had someone in the cutting room telling you what's what? Was that a strange/welcoming experience?

I had worked with my pals the Earlies on my first record. this was the only thing i could compare it to. But in the end, the experience was completely black and white. He didn't take my shit. He wanted the best outta me, and he wouldn't stop until he got it. It was nerve-wrecking at first being told you're not up to par, but he had his ways and I had mine and we worked well together. No guns, or knives.

Instrumentally, to me at least, it sounds like an even richer, more lusciously put together record than before - something almost not of this time - is there any reason that jumps out as to why I might think this? Any differing ways of recording, new equipment etc.

It goes back to that clear intention comment I made earlier. With my past record, lets say, I'd put six guitar parts down, or four piano parts....the songs were just full to the brim. With these songs, I didn't want that. If there was gonna be a guitar part, there was to only be one, and it was to be played the best that it could be and this was the same with every instrument. Compared to my older albums, this collection is sparse on instruments. In the end, I think that is what made for the clear recording. We also didn't use many effects; just instruments, recorded through microphones, and sent out the other end.

I believe it was recorded in a studio that was built in a converted funeral home - was it as eerie a location as it sounds?

Honestly, it wasn't as creepy as you would think. It was a beautiful, an interesting place to record. A small little shot, barely lit. I'd recommend anyone recording an album to head there. What a place.

Has married life had time to affect your song writing yet? It's not something that's immediately obvious on the new record although I realise you only walked down the aisle a few months back.

Married life has been a stunning experience. I was never sure if being married would actually have an affect on me, being that it was something I had thought very seriously on for many years. But when i was up on that stage of the old theatre in downtown Abilene, and I turned to her and said yes and heard her say yes, it was like a boulder was physically lifted off my shoulders. It was different. I had nothing to worry about for the rest of my days. The overwhelming obsession with love was finally quenched. I had found my way and it lead me home.

What's it like having footage of you on-stage proposal on YouTube? Just the 21st century's way of remembering?

I got mixed emotions on that. On the one hand, the idea that getting married is an act of proclaiming to the world that this is the one for keeps, takes on a new meaning, as through youtube, I have actually done it. On the other hand, and on a bigger hand, the moment was for me, my wife, and the attendance of that show. It was a special moment. It was lightning and just to see it shoved up on some shit public space is a tad degrading of the situation at hand. But yeah, it's the damned 21st century, we must not put anything past anyone. If it can be done, it will be done, whether we like it or not.

Do you have any more plans to work with The Earlies again? Any other collaborations you'd like to tackle?

Hell, at the moment, I haven't really been doing any collaborations. My hands are so damned full at all moments, I don't have time to think. I am a true believer in straight, hard work, so I don't have a manager, a tour manager, tour driver, etc...None of the things you'd expect a musician to have at home or out on the road. So yeah, it's a busy life, in which I only find time for my songs. Maybe someday ill give up the reigns a bit.

And what should be keeping you busy over the coming months?

I'll be busy as hell over the next few months, actually til the end of November. There is the UK, Spain, France, Italy, Belgium, Norway, Germany....the list goes on and on. I have a total of a few weeks off between now and the end of the daunting month. It'll be good, though. Idle hands are the devils playtoy, right?

Finally then after the Opera Circuit, Gospel of Progress and The Red Empire Orchestra - what's next?

We will have to see. I never know what's up my sleeve. I'm sure it won't be too long until I have another full length out. I find it important to release as much material as possible without overflooding the market to the point that people couldn't choke down another one of my records. I think it's important to not bore people, and to not leave them hanging too long.

The single ‘We Won’t Have To Be Lonesome’ is out on September 22. ‘Micah P Hinson and The Red Empire Orchestra’ is out now, both on Full Time Hobby.

Micah plays the End of The Road festival this weekend (Sept 12-14) and returns to Ireland and the UK at the end of next month to play the following dates.

October
29th Cork, Cyprus Avenue
30th Dublin, Crawdaddy
31st Galway, Roisin Dubh

November
2nd Glasgow, Stereo
3rd Newcastle, The Cluney
4th Manchester, Ruby Lounge
5th Birmingham, The Glee Club
6th London, Scala
8th Bristol, Thekla
9th Portsmouth, Wedgewood Rooms
10th Norwich, Arts Centre
11th Oxford, The Zodiac @ Academy
12th Brighton, Hanbury Club