Difficult Music

In my capacity as cub reporter for Unrestrained! magazine, I interviewed Jim Matheos of Fates Warning and OSI a couple weeks ago. When I asked him if he listened to his own music much, I found myself totally relating to his answer.

“No, not much at all, really. And that’s one thing that I find interesting about OSI is that it’s one of the only records that I’ve done that I can listen to for enjoyment. I still put it on occasionally just to listen to and I think that’s partly because I didn’t have total control over it, and there’s still a lot of surprises to me. So I can listen to it as something fresh and kind of enjoy it as a fan. Whereas something with Fates Warning, I’ve been through it so many times it’s absolutely impossible for me to listen to it objectively.”

What he said made me think of the last Dead City Radio (Roadway) album. I recorded it with Greg and Adam in Edmonton in March 1999, then forgot about it for a while. When I visited Greg last spring, he had just finished putting the album together. On my first night there we sat down and listened to the whole thing. Apart from being reminded of how productive our sessions were, and being highly amused by what the drummer was trying to do, I was really impressed by how well these half-forgotten jams worked as an album.

So when I got back home I listened to the album some more. And some more. It went into heavy rotation. I even felt comfortable playing it around the belter. I’ve listened to it more than anything else I’ve recorded, written, or played on. It could be because it’s a mostly instrumental album, and vocals are the number one “run away and hide” factor with my own stuff. It could be the lush, homegrown mix, as inviting as the smell of fresh-baked cookies. But I’m sure a little distance—time, geography, and personal perspective—has also helped me enjoy the CD as much as I have.

These days I’m looking at the calendar and exchanging emails with Greg, making plans to go back out this summer.