{"id":5731,"date":"2009-09-21T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-09-21T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/life\/a-good-recipe-marisa-predisik-talks-about-paper-city\/"},"modified":"2009-09-21T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-09-21T13:00:00","slug":"a-good-recipe-marisa-predisik-talks-about-paper-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/a-good-recipe-marisa-predisik-talks-about-paper-city","title":{"rendered":"A Good Recipe: Marisa Predisik Talks About Paper City"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"While the self titled Paper City<\/a> CD is the first from the band, it is the third for singer\/songwriter Marisa Predisik. Her first, Parlor Flattery, was largely a bare bones affair, while her 2nd solo outing, I’m the Queen, You’re the Pauper<\/a>, saw more ambitious arrangements for her carefully crafted songs. <\/p>\n

Paper City, then, is not a radical departure from the work she’s done in the past. It is a natural result of maturation as an artist, and reflective of her commitment to a newly embraced band esthetic. Still present are her expressive voice, expansive melodies, organic harmonies, and poignant lyrics. <\/p>\n

While preparing for the official CD Release party, which is taking place this Friday night at The Puka Bar<\/a> (21+), I had a chance to speak with Marisa about her new work. <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: I do feel like I’ve matured a bit in my songwriting. I’ve realized that a good song doesn’t have to have a million chord changes to be well-written and, lyrically, I think I’ve gotten a lot happier, lighter, easier to listen to. [laughs] <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: And, with this new album, you’ve become a proper band. How did that happen, and how does it feel? <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: It feels really good. I knew it was the right time to form a band. I’d been wanting to do it for a while, but no time seemed more right than before the newest album was recorded. All the songs seemed to call for more than just guitar or piano, so I had people I know sit in, like Fabian Kravetz, who is a phenomenal bassist and drummer. But although he’s a superb player, I knew he wouldn’t play live, so I had to find a live band. <\/p>\n

That’s when Aaron Archambalt<\/a> and John Feijoo<\/a> came into the mix. They’re friends I’ve known for a long time, and I asked them if they’d like to play live with me and they said yes. That’s how it started, and our first live performance together got a really good response, so we knew something special was there. They ended up playing the rest of the tunes with me on the actual album. Fabian’s on a couple of songs. John and Aaron are on the rest. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: There’s a kind of intimacy and freedom that comes from performing solo. How is playing in a band different? <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: Playing in a band, you don’t feel as naked. When you play solo, you assume responsibility for every move, every note, every syllable, which you sorta do in a band but there’s a buffer there. So, in a way, there’s less responsibility. Also, playing in a band, if someone in the crowd coughs it doesn’t throw off your game. [Laughs] You can’t hear the audience talking during your songs, that’s what’s good about playing in a band! [Laughs] <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: Well, that’s a challenge every performer has faced at some point. <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: Yes, most definitely, and you learn to play regardless of the situation. I just play for the people who are listening anyway, and if the other people decide to come around, that’s cool. I think those situations make you stronger as a performer, and it makes a nice quiet, attentive room all the more of a blessing. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: Even though you’ve been playing live with the band, in each set you also usually do at least a few songs on your own, right? <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: I used to, but now I do even the ukulele songs with the band. The crowd seems to respond better to that. They want to hear that punch, I guess. If they want to hear it, I want to give it to them! [Laughs] <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: You’ve also been playing more electric guitar. How’s that? <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: Oh gosh, I LOVE electric guitar!!!! I love it, love it, love it! There’s something so fun about it. It moves better than an acoustic. Although I still write my songs on an acoustic, I end up playing them on an electric and, on stage, the electric really shines. That overdrive, man. There’s something about it… And you can throw it around too. It’s not as clunky as an acoustic. You can slide it around, pull it, push it, whatever. I guess what I’m trying to say is that you can rock out easier with it, which is probably common knowledge by now, [Laughs] but I’m just finally finding it out first-hand. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: What is your ‘axe’ of choice? <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: Hm, well, right now I’m playing an LTD<\/a>, which is sort of a heavy metal guitar. They’re known for having very little noise, which I like, and not a lot of feedback. I’ve played telecasters that I’ve liked, and the old trusty dusty stratocaster that I really like, too. In fact, before I got the LTD, I was shopping for a strat, but I couldn’t find one that felt right. I tried the LTD, and it just fit perfectly. It felt good. It was love at first strum. [Laughs] <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: Did you play a variety of electrics on the album? <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: I played my acoustic on about half of the songs, and ran that through an effects unit so it sounds electric, although it’s acoustic. I actually didn’t find my electric until nearly all of the guitar tracks had been laid down. I sweated a little harder than I needed to over these recordings. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: In the past, your recording process was very DIY: You, alone, with a microphone in your closet. Was this album any different? <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: This album was slightly different, in that the full-band was involved, so the extra instruments filled up any dead space. It sounds more professional because I got it professionally mastered, and that does a lot for a recording. I actually still went the DIY route, recorded in carpeted rooms, and things, but since this is the third album I think I dialed the sound in a little better. The tracks are more consistent from song to song. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: I wanted to ask you about the arrangement of your vocal harmonies. They’re amazing and beautiful. I was wondering how you worked them out? <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: Oh, thank you! You know, I love recording vocals more than anything during the recording process. Recording the lead vocals is like dessert. I record them last,once the foundation of the song is in place. Although the lead vocals have a set melody that is pre-written even before the recording process begins, the back-ups are improvised and developed later. I usually take it song by song. I’ll set aside a day to record back-ups for a certain song, improvise certain melodies and harmonies that work, and choose the ones I like best. Those are the ones I record. It can be a challenge sometimes because I never want to over-do it, but I don’t want to under-do it, either. A harmony balance: That’s what I want and ultimately try to achieve. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: Which song has the most harmony tracks? <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: Hmmmmm. That’s a good question. “Baby’s in Love” has many many many layers, although there aren’t that many different harmony parts. I’m going an octave above, and an octave below the center vocal to make it sound more full because it’s a ukulele track and, for some reason, the lead vocal sounded too bare in the middle so, to fill out the sound I added layers. <\/p>\n

“I Show It Now” has a lot of layers, too. If you listen carefully, you can hear them in the chorus, but I’ve found that sometimes when you add a lot of vocal layers they get a little lost, especially if you’ve added a lot of other instruments to the track. That could be a good thing because, then, the listener’s not getting disracted by a vocal part. It just sounds full. Like a good recipe, a certain ingredient doesn’t stand out. It just tastes good. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: Yum! Another thing I like is that, vocally, you approach each song differently. You give each it’s own character. <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: Oh, thank you! Yeah, I felt that each song needed to sound different from the next to keep it interesting. It’s like a mix that a friend makes you, but performed by the same band. [Laughs] <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: So, lets talk about the songs themselves. First, I couldn’t help but notice that you resurrected one from your first album. <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: I did! I resurrected Hollywood. That one, over the years, has seemed to stick out in people’s minds, and the band wanted to play it live. We practiced the song, it sounded pretty good, so we decided to put it on the new one. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: One song that I find absolutely addicting is “From Caroline to August”. Tell me about that one. <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: Oh, that’s probably the most interesting song on the album because of the background story. I used to live next door to Edgewater Care Center on 4th and Molino, and I had the unit right next to a man who would repeat over and over again “I’m gonna die, Caroline.” Oh God, it was heartbreaking! I decided to make an art project out of a story that a friend and I created from his predicament and, with this art project, I was working on a soundtrack. Well, the art project never really came to life fully, although I did a couple of paintings for it and wrote a couple of songs for the soundtrack. I put the song on the album because I used to play it live on the ukulele and people really liked it. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: The melody is gorgeous. To me, it feels a bit like a Burt Bachrach vibe. <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: Oh cool! I love Burt Bachrach! Yeah, I wanted a sort of old-timey feel because the song was supposed to seem like it was written a long time ago. It was a love song that Caroline wrote to her husband, the one that was dying and calling out for her. But as the story goes, she died very early, in her 30’s, and he never let her go. So in his old age he’d call for her, believing she was still alive. It’s a very tragic, heartbreaking story. I really should develop it into an art show, or at least a picture book or something. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: It’s neighbor on the album, “For Me, For Us, For You” also has a timeless quality. <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: Awesome! Thank you for saying that! That’s the one I wrote about Acres of Books closing. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: You’ve got some rockers, some that are pensive, but how would you classify “Apples and Pears”? <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: Hmmm.. “Apples and Pears”. That’s a tough one, because it doesn’t at all sound like any of the others. I used to only play that song during sound check but, when I’d play it, people would come up to me after the show and be like, “What was that one you sang about peaches and oranges?” And I’d be like, “Oh, you mean Apples and Pears?” They’d say, “Yeah! I like that one!” So I started incorporating it in my set. It’s upbeat, but I don’t know how I’d classify it. Mindless pop? <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: [Laughs] <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: Goofball folk? <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: [Laughs] Well, I really love it. To me, it feels like something innocent and pure. Childlike. <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: Ah, cool! A friend of mine and I play a game where we give each other a word or two and the other person has to make a song on the spot about it. That’s how Apples and Pears came about. Do I owe him writing credits then? Oh gosh, I didn’t think of that till now! <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: Well, I’d have to check with the lawyers. <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: [Laughs] Naw, I wrote it!! [Laughs] I gave him something silly like, “Rose petals fall to the ground,” and he was like, “WHAT?!” So he got me back by giving me “Apples and Pears, Tables and Chairs”. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: I could easily write a song with “Rose petals fall to the ground”. <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: Me too! [Laughs] You’re on my side, Sander! <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: We should play that game sometime! <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: Oh, it’s such a fun game! Sometimes you come up with stuff that’s really good! It’s fun because you’re on the spot, and you end up surprising yourself. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: So, back to the album, was it hard to order the tracks? <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: Yes! That was a challenge, and I went through a couple of different orders before I landed on this one. I almost took out 4 me 4 us 4 you because I couldn’t find the right spot for it, but I had to put it in. I rearranged everything for that song. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: Are you happy with it now, or do you still want to move things around. <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: I’ll always want to move things around, but I’m happy with the order. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: We should talk about “You Make Me So Nervous”. This is, I believe, the only ‘cover’ on the album, but it really isn’t a cover, is it? <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: Well, my friend Michael Wysong<\/a> wrote it, the same friend that I play that songwriting game with, and he played it for me one day, and I loved it. I couldn’t stop gushing over it, so he was like, “Do you want it?” and I said YES! He gave it to me to record and play live. He gave me freedom to arrange it how I wanted, but he wrote it. So yeah, although it’s not a known cover, it’s still a cover. Er, the only song not written by me on the album. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: Shari [my wife] and I were in my car, listening to the CD, and we got to that song. About half way through Shari made a noise of some sort, then said “Look at my legs!” They were covered in goosebumps! <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: AWWWWWW!! That’s so great! I recorded that song while going through an emotional time, and had to re-record the vocals because they were almost too emotional. Every time I sing it, I feel it, even live. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: That kind of emotional release can be really healthy. That’s what makes people feel good, sometimes… You know? When a song, or a performance, reaches through all the walls we put up to keep our hearts safe, and it lets us open up for just a moment. <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: I agree. I tear up when I see a really good perfomance or a fantastic piece of art. I love that feeling. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: How does your work as a visual artist affect your work as a musician, and vica versa? <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: Well, they each balance me out, I think. When I’m not working on music, I’m working on visual, and vice versa. One nice thing is that I ‘art direct’ my CD covers so, if I get an idea, I draw it out and try to make it happen. It usually turns out how I envisioned it, or a least pretty close. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: But, do aspects of one process come into play in the other? <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: If I’m feeling uninspired musically, I try to get inspired visually, and sometimes they overlap. Usually in dreams. I’ll associate a visual with a musical line and, when I write music, I get vivid pictures in my head that help me set a scene sonically. But that’s on a good day! <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: How did you come up with the name for the band? What does Paper City mean to you? <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: Well, on the album is a song called, “City of the Future” that I made a stop-motion animated video<\/a> for. In that video, all the “characters” are made from paper; they’re sheets from a book called “City of the Future”. So, in that theme, the name of the band sort of hit me, and I couldn’t let it go. It seemed right. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: Did the book inspire the song? <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: Yes, it did! I actually got the book from Acres of Books, and the title struck me. I was thinking, “Hm, City of the Future… I could make a cool paper city out of this…” The idea for the video came before the song, and I ended up writing the song after the idea for the video was developed. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: The video is extremely charming. <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: Aw, thank you! <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: You did this with a digital still camera? <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: Yeah, I took the pictures with my camera and had to photoshop that little paper spaceship on every picture. It took about a month, hours and hours and hours. When I was done, I swore I’d never do one again, but it’s been long enough to where I’ve forgotten how painful it was. So the idea to do another one doesn’t sound so bad. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: Me too. So, you have a big show coming up. The official CD Release Party. Tell me about that, if you please. <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: YES! It’s going to be at the Puka Bar in Long Beach, on September 25 at 8:30 pm. We’re gonna be playing, and comedian Anthony Browning<\/a> is going to do stand up for us before we go on. It’ll be really fun, and it’s FREE! That’s the best part! [Laughs] We’ll have the new album for sale. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: I don’t mean to be disagreeable, but I think the best part will be hearing you do these songs in front of a packed house of adoring fans, friends, and family. <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: YAY! I actually hope that’s the best part, too!! We’ll also have a dj. I want it to be like a real party that you’d have at someone’s house, but bigger, and you have to pay for your drinks. [Laughs] When we’re done playing it’ll be a free for all, except for the drinks. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: Are the CDs going to be available for sale around town, or on-line? <\/p>\n

Marisa<\/strong>: Yes. They’ll be available at the Barnes and Noble on PCH, at OPEN, at Fingerprints, and online at CD baby and itunes. Expect to see the album’s there by September 25. Oh, and for you LA people, they’ll be at Aomeba. <\/p>\n

To reiterate, the FREE CD Release Party (The party is free, not the CDs) takes place this Friday, September 25th, starting at 8:30 PM. <\/p>\n

Now, here is an exclusive lbpost.com video by Marisa, performing “Oh, The Cargo” from the new album, Paper City <\/p>\n

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Paper City, a new band fronted by Marisa Predisik, is having a CD Release Party this Friday. Marisa talks about the CD, and shares an exclusive performance of “Oh, The Cargo.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-5731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hi-lo","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5731\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5731"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=5731"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}