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\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n The struggle in finding\u00a0adjectives to describe\u00a0Chris Cubeta’s talent involves balancing obvious choices like\u00a0“exceptional” and “brilliant”\u00a0with the desire not to put too much on the shoulders of a guy who is just beginning to find his audience.\u00a0 Composer of\u00a0heartfelt, sharp-eyed\u00a0roots-rock songs that somehow also retain a dreamlike universality, he is the author with his good friend Danny Lanzetta of two CDs\u2019 worth of\u00a0absolutely terrific\u00a0music, 2003\u2019s Sugar Sky<\/a> and more recently the July 2006 release Faithful<\/a>.\u00a0 An admirer of artists like Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen and Lucinda Williams, Cubeta keeps it real in his lyrics, his music and his interviews.\u00a0 Our discussion ranged from the rollercoaster nature of the creative process to how you build a following as an indie artist, from the origins of individual songs to why we bother creating art at all.\u00a0 It\u2019s the only interview I\u2019ve ever done that\u00a0felt like it was over way too soon.\u00a0 Chris Cubeta is the genuine article in every respect, and a creator whose audience — if there is any justice in the universe — will one day catch up with the size of his abilities as a composer, singer, player, producer and all-around creative talent.<\/em><\/p>\n Chris Cubeta:<\/strong> The response has been basically fabulous.\u00a0 Everyone that we\u2019ve gotten the record to has loved it \u2013 the small fan base that we have, family and friends, and the people we know in the industry.\u00a0 We\u2019ve gotten a tremendous response at the last four or five shows we\u2019ve played — the band is really coming together live.\u00a0 When we get in front of a big audience, by which I mean 100-200 people, we usually end up selling 20 or 30 CDs, which to me is a good sign.\u00a0 I like to think if we were in front of 5,000, we might sell 1,000 in one night.\u00a0 Getting to new fans and new audiences is the bulk of the work right now.\u00a0\u00a0 We\u2019re trying to target the I was a member of a band for years, since I was in high school, and we put out a couple of CDs, and I\u2019ve produced a lot of records for other people. \u00a0[Editor\u2019s note: Including Frank Carillo, <\/em>reviewed on the Vault<\/em><\/a>.]<\/em>\u00a0 Sugar Sky<\/em> was really my first foray into the singer-songwriter-slash-frontman realm.\u00a0 I\u2019d always been more of a behind-the-scenes guy, a studio guy and a guitar player, not a mouthpiece for a band.\u00a0 But then my best friend and lyric partner [and co-producer of Sugar Sky<\/em> and Faithful<\/em>] Danny Lanzetta said \u201cYou\u2019ve got all these songs, man, and recording equipment and the ability to make a record.\u00a0 You shouldn\u2019t be looking around for a singer, you should just sing your own songs.\u201d So even though I never really wanted to be a frontman, that\u2019s where we are now.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n That\u2019s ironic to me, because one of the things I mentioned in my reviews was that I think your vocals are outstanding. <\/strong><\/p>\n That\u2019s a nice thing to hear, because it\u2019s still something that I struggle with.\u00a0 I\u2019ve worked with a lot of singers in the studio and I know how I want to sound.\u00a0 But it\u2019s difficult when you hear yourself back on tape, at least for me.\u00a0 You\u2019re so exposed and your emotions are so on your sleeve that it can be very unnerving hearing it coming back at you — not because of the way it sounds, but because it\u2019s so revealing.\u00a0 For lack of a better example, the only thing I can compare it to is that it\u2019s like walking into a crowded room naked.\u00a0 It\u2019s very unnerving, but it\u2019s also exhilarating when someone tells me that I\u2019ve connected with them.\u00a0 That makes it worth it.<\/p>\n I grew up listening to acts where I connected with what they were singing and what they were playing on an emotional level.\u00a0 I like intellectual music, but for me it was always first \u2013 not more, but first — about emotional connection.\u00a0 And that\u2019s something that I\u2019ve always tried to remain true to.\u00a0 I\u2019m hoping to have some sort of success, too — just enough to support myself and my wife and my good friend and my band.\u00a0 Nothing too fancy!\u00a0 But I\u2019ve always tried to remain true to the art form as much as possible, and also to make sure that it translates to other people. \u00a0My goal is pretty much to do what music had done for me, for other people.\u00a0 It\u2019s really been a savior in my life since I was a young child.\u00a0 And hopefully somewhere along the way, this music will affect someone to that extent.<\/p>\n You know, there\u2019s no secret to it.\u00a0 The one thing is, I would love to be able to be more prolific than I am right now, and than I\u2019ve been over the last couple of years.\u00a0 A lot of that is due to circumstances — I spend a lot of time making records with other artists, so usually time is too short to write as much as I\u2019d like to.\u00a0 As far as theories about songwriting, Stevie Wonder used to say he would write a song every day.\u00a0 And somewhere along the way he came out and said he wrote a lot of shitty songs — but he also wrote a lot of great ones.\u00a0 For me it\u2019s always been about just capturing a moment, sitting down with a guitar or a piano and really connecting with a certain moment in time and space.\u00a0 It can be a big moment in my life, or a small moment, or just a random moment in the middle of a day that doesn\u2019t really have any meaning.\u00a0 The key is this very small burst where you feel very connected and willing to let something out, and usually those moments come naturally and spontaneously.\u00a0<\/p>\n I wish I had more control over that, but when they do come it\u2019s very important to embrace that — and then the work kicks in.\u00a0 That\u2019s the easy part usually, getting the spark or the germ out.\u00a0 The hard part for me, and I think for a lot of artists, is taking that spark and saying, how can I make this into something that other people will understand and connect with?\u00a0 That can be in terms of just finishing off a song, or trying to create a story around a specific moment that people can relate to.\u00a0 I also co-write a lot of my lyrics with Danny, who is a tremendous writer and poet and novelist, and he sometimes is able to help me hone in on some of those moments and tie them into something that maybe can translate to the rest of the world.<\/p>\n I love it.\u00a0 For instance, there\u2019s a song called \u201cClementine\u201d on the record that is probably my favorite song that I\u2019ve ever written, and it has a story behind it.\u00a0 Danny and I actually took a trip right after the New Year, we left on New Year\u2019s Day from Sometimes it can be frustrating while you\u2019re waiting for it to come, but when it does, it\u2019s amazing.\u00a0 The hard part is, when it\u2019s not there you feel like it\u2019s never going to come back.\u00a0 There\u2019s times when I tell myself \u201cI\u2019m never getting that back.\u00a0 I wrote my last song, it\u2019s never happening again.\u201d\u00a0 Knock on wood, so far that hasn\u2019t happened in my 10 or 12 years of doing this.\u00a0 I always find one more, you know?\u00a0 It\u2019s the reason — besides the people in my life and the support that I have, which is huge — that I get up in the morning.<\/p>\n I write 95 percent of my material with a guitar in my hands.\u00a0 Which is funny because I actually grew up playing piano, which was my first instrument as a kid.\u00a0 When I got to be a teenager, I found guitar and fell in love with rock and roll.\u00a0 I\u2019ve always found guitar to be a little bit more of an expressive instrument for me.\u00a0 That said, piano and drums are two instruments that I play quite often and there are certain times and certain aspects of composing where they\u2019re really helpful.\u00a0 <\/p>\n Sugar Sky<\/em> was quite an amazing experience because, since I have the ability to play all four of the basic instruments well enough to put them down on record, I was in total control of that album, and I made it in a very haphazard way simply because I could.\u00a0 I pretty much did the whole album in my basement when I lived upstate.\u00a0 I would just go downstairs into my basement and decide to do a drum track and if it came out, it came out.\u00a0 <\/p>\n That being said, I don\u2019t think of either one as being a better or worse experience, they were both fantastic in different ways.\u00a0 The band on the new album [Editor\u2019s note: John Passineau on bass and background vocals, Jeff Berner on guitars and background vocals and Marc Capaldo on drums and percussion]<\/em> has been nothing short of astounding.\u00a0 I\u2019ve known John for many years and the other two guys, Jeff and Marc, who are the newer guys in the band, have become very good friends of mine and their contributions on the album have been priceless.<\/p>\n As for the future, I\u2019m going to do a small EP in the fall that might be ready for the holiday season.\u00a0 That will probably be four or five songs with just me and a guitar.\u00a0 That\u2019s been something I\u2019ve been wanting to do also — strip it down and try to capture a couple of songs that are as bare bones as possible.\u00a0 I\u2019ll record live with no overdubbing and no additional musicians or anything like that.\u00a0 So then I\u2019ll have the full range — an album I did playing all the instruments, a band album, and an EP of just me and a guitar or a piano, very sparse.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve always liked records that have that dynamic.\u00a0 I grew up listening to albums, but I know in this day and age with the iPod generation — which I am a part of — it\u2019s a little different.\u00a0 People are almost creating their own albums using playlists.\u00a0 In some ways it\u2019s very cool — I think it\u2019s a neat technology if it\u2019s not abused, but by the same token it\u2019s a little bit troublesome for me because the art form of the album is not quite as important as it used to be, and I think it\u2019s still a very valid art form.<\/p>\n Ironically, my song \u201cMe And The Radio\u201d is about how much I love hearing a new song on the radio.\u00a0 The tagline at the end of the song is, \u201cIt\u2019s still my favorite way to hear a song.\u201d\u00a0 I can remember when I was a little kid driving in the car with my father and a song I knew would come on the radio and you had no control over it and if you caught it at the beginning and you had two and a half verses left and the chorus, you were psyched.\u00a0 Still occasionally in this day and age, I\u2019ll turn the radio on and hear a song that I love or something new that\u2019s out that I haven\u2019t heard before, and it\u2019s still something that I cherish.\u00a0 So I have these two sides — obviously I love albums, but I really do love just a great song that happens to hit you at the right moment.<\/p>\n Absolutely, it\u2019s a special feeling, less isolated.\u00a0 That\u2019s a really neat aspect of radio which I hope will survive all this technology and b.s. that\u2019s going on in the music business.\u00a0 <\/p>\n We actually didn\u2019t have a title until a few days before we sent the artwork out to be printed.\u00a0 The title of the record is somewhat ironic.\u00a0 It might not be obvious, but I\u2019m not a huge proponent of organized religion.\u00a0 I was raised Catholic, with Catholic guilt and these ideas of abstract faith that I\u2019ve spent a lot of my life pushing away because I\u2019m a believer in free thinking and intellectual learning and things like that.\u00a0 We called the record Faithful<\/em> because after all these years, I still have faith in music and art.\u00a0 For some reason, I and the few people who are very close to me have a tremendous amount of faith in it, not only in what we do but in what other people do with music and the arts and moviemaking and literature and poetry.\u00a0 It\u2019s very difficult at times in this society to continue doing it, so it does require a tremendous amount of faith.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Daily Vault: How’s the response been so far to Faithful<\/i>?\u00a0 I know you\u2019ve been working it for about a month now, playing shows in the
I understand Sugar Sky<\/em> wasn\u2019t technically your first CD like I thought it was when I reviewed it. <\/strong><\/p>\n![\"chriscubeta_sugar\"](\"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/08\/chriscubeta_sugar.jpg\" "\\"chriscubeta_sugar\\"")
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What I get from your albums is that you\u2019re singing like you mean every word, and every word is important.\u00a0 A lot of acts that are looking for commercial success sound like they\u2019re focused on that, instead of really investing themselves in the song. <\/strong><\/p>\n
A worthy goal. \u00a0\u00a0About your songs — they tend to pack in details, but still feel impressionistic and dreamy in places.\u00a0 To me, that gives them kind of a timeless, universal feeling.\u00a0 Do you feel like there\u2019s a secret to writing like that?\u00a0 Or is that just how it comes out for you? <\/strong><\/p>\n![\"dannylanzetta_150\"](\"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/08\/dannylanzetta_150.jpg\" "\\"dannylanzetta_150\\"")
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Danny Lanzetta<\/em><\/div>\n<\/em><\/div>\n<\/em><\/div>\n<\/em><\/div>\n<\/em><\/div>\n
As a writer, I\u2019m always interested to hear how other people\u2019s creative process works.\u00a0 I know just what you mean about that moment of connection and inspiration.\u00a0 It can feel incredible.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n
Talking about composition and where the songs come from, I know you play a lot of instruments.\u00a0 Is there one in particular you\u2019re most comfortable writing on? <\/strong><\/p>\n
Back to the new album.\u00a0 I know on Sugar Sky<\/em> you played most of the instruments yourself, and for Faithful<\/em> you had a band working with you.\u00a0 How did having a band in the studio change things in terms of your creative process and the making of the album? <\/strong><\/p>\n![\"chriscubeta_liarsclub_170\"](\"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/08\/chriscubeta_liarsclub_170.jpg\" "\\"chriscubeta_liarsclub_170\\"")
Chris Cubeta & The Liars Club<\/em>
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One of the things I really enjoyed about both albums is that you do pace them to build and fall back.\u00a0 On both Sugar Sky and Faithful you\u2019ve got some band songs that have a strong build to them, and then you\u2019ve got some quiet, sparse ones. <\/strong><\/p>\n
I think the thing about the radio is you feel like there must be a bunch of other people out there who are listening at the same time and feeling the same thing that you are, so it\u2019s kind of a group experience. <\/strong><\/p>\n
Do you feel like there\u2019s a particular theme or idea that the Faithful <\/em>album is built around?\u00a0 I commented on the title in my review in terms of being faithful to a songwriting tradition. <\/strong><\/p>\n
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