You Were A Dick: Idaho talks film, melodies and Lauryl Canyon

Jeff Martin has been making music under the name Idaho for the best part of 20 years, with the band name being associated with the sadcore/slowcore movement of the mid 1990s – more of which later – due to the slow and stately nature of much of the music which perfectly complemented Martin’s deep, sleepy vocals. After a venture into making music for film and television, Idaho has returned with the first record in six years, the wonderfully titled You Were a Dick.

The record harks back to the sound of vintage Idaho, and is a truly lovely collection of compact songs, featuring mostly Martin’s voice, guitar and piano, with some backing vocals from Eleni Mendell. The result is an affecting record, a gentle sigh of melancholia that showcases Martin’s genius guitar playing on his custom-made 4 string tenor and confirmation he’s still got much to give. We caught up with Jeff Martin at his home in California’s Laurel Canyon to have a chat about the new record and the past, stealing women from Red House Painters, and of course we had to first ask where that album title comes from.

“It’s a reference to a few people actually,” says Jeff. ”I was picked on a bit in junior high school during what must have been the 8th and 9th grade by a few fellas that eventually became my friends, once they realized what a funny and talented human I am. Yet now it seems we’ve all gone our separate ways, the connection we shared for many, many years since then has sort of disintegrated and the song You Were a Dick is kind of me lamenting this fact”. Given this lamenting of things past, I wondered if You Were a Dick was a revisit to that past, especially as the record sounds close to the classic 90s Idaho, or even that of 2001′s Levitate. ”I don’t hear the similarity but other folks have said the same thing,” remarks Jeff, ”so maybe I don’t know what the fuck I’m talking about!”

Given that the last few records have been pretty much Jeff Martin solo records under another name, what and who makes up Idaho? “Well, it’s been a duo, a solo project, an actual band, then a duo again for a couple of records, then a solo project for the last three”. So why the delay between records? It’s been six years since The Lone Gunman, and five years between that and previous record Levitate. Do other things get in the way, or is Martin just a slow worker? “Other things get in the way,” confesses Jeff. ”The last 10 years I felt I had to make some money – something Idaho does not enjoy – I’ve written music for TV and film, spent much of the middle of the 2000′s sick from a mould infestation in my house and just didn’t have any outside pressure like a record company forcing a deadline on me.”

From the turn of the century the Idaho name took a back seat to that film and TV work, with Jeff working with an artform that clearly holds an attraction for him. How does that differ from recording his own albums, and does it allow him to be as creative and free? “I don’t relish the prospect of working for others” admits Jeff. ”Some aspects of it are enjoyable but I just don’t seem to have the stomach for the rejection inherent in the process.” So what’s the process that the music goes through? ”The director wants something that sounds like his or her temp cue – what they’ve been using in the scene previous to my music – and usually there isn’t the time to make something as elegant as I’d like….that said , there’s something exhilarating about having to spit something out really quickly.” But it’s not all negative as Jeff goes on to explain, “I really love the feel of much of the music I did for a network TV show here in the states about 7 years ago called The Days. I believe that stuff exists on-line somewhere.”

But it’s not all about creating music for other people’s film work, as Jeff has also turned his hand to short film making, with a piece called The Serpent and the Shadow available with some orders of the new Idaho record. So how does he feel about that avenue? “I’m very, very interested in pursuing film. The short I made is flawed but does in fact work in many ways. It’s gotten into 5 film festivals this year so far.” It certainly sounds like this is something that Jeff is keen to pursue, but we the conversation quickly turns back to the music. I ask about the compact feel of the record; it’s not an album with long songs, most are around the three minute mark, but you wish they’d last longer. Was it intentional to make a short, sharp piece? “I’m such a perfectionist that I usually end up with very short songs that have had all of the extraneous parts removed,” comments Jeff. ”I never set out to make anything. I’m much more of the type of artist who just sort of let’s whatever is going to happen, happen. This record is a gathering of songs that span a 5 year period as well so you could say it’s a ‘best of’ type thing as opposed to a cohesive album with a vision.”

This reply seems to fit in with Jeff’s general way of working, under his own steam with no outside pressures from record companies. So does recording at home add to the more relaxed approach to making music? “I haven’t actually recorded music in someone else’s studio since 1987,” reveals Jeff, ”when I played keyboards on Toni Childs’ album Union back in ’87 . I love recording at home in Laurel Canyon. It seems to have been a popular place to write and record rock music for many folks for quite a while.”

“Eleni and I have only somewhat recently become friends.” Jeff remarks of the album’s only other contributor, singer Eleni Mendell. “We’ve known of each other for a while however, as we had shared the same booking agent in Europe in early 2000.” So does Jeff give much thought to who he collaborates with, and how their contribution might complement the work of Idaho? ”I usually don’t do much brainstorming about who will sing backup vocals on a record. I simply call up whoever is around at the time. Eleni has a beautiful voice and since we get along so well I thought why not give it a try?” And why not? Mendell’s light vocals provide a lovely counterpoint to Jeff’s deeper vocals on a number of the songs, adding a brightness that might otherwise have been absent.

Back in the mid-90s, Idaho and bands as disparate as Low, Red House Painters, Codeine and American Music Club were all classed as being part of the slowcore, or sadcore, scene. This was mostly because it was an easy way for critics obsessed by grunge and Britpop to quickly pigeonhole a collection of bands set apart from the mainstream, whose only real connection was a commitment to independence and a thirst for making music that was inventive, deep and sometimes took time to unfold its petals and reveal hidden beauty. So did Jeff and Idaho feel any connection or camaraderie with the aforementioned bands? “I never really saw how Idaho and the bands you mentioned were similar enough to justify lumping them together under some heading or genre,” reveals Jeff. ”That’s probably an issue of perspective for me I guess but really, it just seems that it’s a vague overall sense of mood we share? We did tour with Low who were wonderful people and felt a sense of camaraderie with them.”

Jeff then tells a tale of touring with Mark Kozelek’s Red House Painters, and what went on backstage: “Red House Painters and Idaho toured together and I remember them complaining to our manager in common that we were stealing all of their girls. Like they would meet woman while we opened for them and when they took the stage we would swoop in and woo them over to our camp….Ha!! Oh well.”

We go on to discuss some of the songs on You Were a Dick recalling that period of the 90s, with the uptempo moments of ‘Impaler’ and ‘Up the Hill’ calling to mind the more explosive moments of the marvellous Bedhead. Did it feel like that period to Jeff? “They didn’t feel like that actually. Maybe they’re just more of a return to a simpler rock format…more primitive.” And what of the record’s themes? There’s a sense of contentment on many of the songs, the sound of a man happy with his place in the world, maybe even resigned? Jeff disagrees: “No theme. I just write lyrics that pertain in some form or another to what my existential challenge du jour is.” Less angsty perhaps, as he gets older? “Definitely,” he agrees. “Still pretty angsty but nothing like the full tilt reckless abandon, gotta get outta my head escapism of the Three Sheets to the Wind era back in ’96 for example.”

At 47 years old, is Jeff more content with his place within the industry now? “I don’t know if I’ll ever feel totally comfortable with where I am musically,” admits Martin “Once that state was/is achieved I may not want to right music anymore.” Jeff considers this for a moment and continues. “But come to think of it, my moving over to film making may be an indicator that I’ve reached some type of conclusion with the music? Hard to say, check back with me in a year. I believe that I have, for the most part, made the music I wanted to hear. I’m not impervious to the outside pressures to succeed though and I may have second guessed some aspects of the creative process to cater to what I thought would be more accessible at the time.” This is an interesting revelation, which might mean that Idaho takes a back seat again to work in other artforms.

The conversation turns towards instrumentation; Jeff has played – almost exclusively – on custom made four-string tenor guitars for almost all of Idaho’s existence, so what does he play and what is the preferred instrument of choice? “I played everything on this last record. The guitars are the same custom four strings other than one acoustic six string on the song ‘Reminder’. I probably feel most at home with the piano which is why I really need to stay away from it as much as possible. I’m hoping the next record is mainly guitar based.” Martin is an incredibly talented guitarist, and much like Mark Kozelek’s recent work has seen him play classical guitar, Idaho will always be remembered for the virtuoso guitar playing of the man behind the name. But who influenced Jeff when he started playing music, and when he came to make the songs found on the new record? “When Idaho started I would guess that my influences were perhaps Joy Division, Pavement, Swans, Codeine, Brian Eno.” And what about now? ”Now I would say Brian Eno, Bill Callahan a little bit, but really less and less outside sources influencing my sound.”

So finally, what does the future hold for Jeff Martin and Idaho? Given our earlier discussion about turning more to film, this question may have already been answered. “I’m getting into film making now but I’m sure I’ll need my Idaho fix by next year at some point.” And what of touring? Turns out that’s not really Jeff’s thing. “No touring as that is a huge time suck and doesn’t seem to really be worth the effort in a monitory way.”

There’s no doubt that we’ll be hearing more from Jeff Martin in one form or another in the future, however given the not-so-prolific nature of the Idaho project, it might not be in the next year or two. If it’s more of the quality of You Were a Dick though, then it’ll be worth that wait.

You Were a Dick is available now through Talitres.