Interview: The Wailing Wall
Meet You At The Show: So you are an incredible multi-instrumentalist! How did you come to play so many instruments?
Jesse Rifkin: My mom played the guitar, and she starting teaching me chords when I was about 4 or 5 years old. The first song she taught me was “Micheal Row Your Boat Ashore”. I took guitar lessons, but I was a horrible student. I really didn’t care for jazz. But I did have a fantastic teacher who taught me about really being a working musician and being responsible for your own art. I tried picking it up again in college, but it was only worse. It really all began with a four-track recorder in a basement with my friends, and then grew from there. I would see what I could record on different instruments laying around, and I slowly picked them up.
MYATS: What are the benefits of being a one-man band?
JR: Definitely financial! There is always a wad of cash for you at the end of the night, and you know its going all to you. Because the band lineup is always changing, the songs are always growing and developing over the years. They get new meanings and interpretations all the time. I also never have to turn anything down, which is awesome. I’m constantly working and writing, which is exactly what I want to do.
MYATS: And the disadvantages?
JR: I think the lack of stability. You never know where things are gonna go. When they’re great, they’re great! But once in a while I will get a band of people together who have never met, and that’s always a risk. Once in a while two people will clash, and when it’s the bassist and the drummer it’s really tough. When I’m playing solo, because I’m so used to having people around, there is a lot of pressure on me. It’s more of an interactive show with the audience.
MYATS: How come you decided against forming a band?
JR: It just never really worked out that way. It works well because I’m not the most prolific songwriter, and it really takes me a while to get songs out. This way, it doesn’t get boring. It’s tough keeping a group of people together focused on one thing – everyone wants something different all the time and it’s hard to make everyone happy. Also, no one wants to make someone else’s project their priority – this is my thing.
MYATS: Does your name ‘The Wailing Wall’ have anything to do Judaism?
JR: Yeah, it does. I am Jewish, and I grew up in a fairly religious environment. I went to a religious Jewish high school, and I absolutely hated it. The whole blind faith thing really wasn’t for me – I just asked too many questions and the Rabbis really didn’t like that. In the beginning, I called it that just to be a douche, to be mean. I later studied comparative religion and it just fit really well.
MYATS: How was recording your second album, The Low Hanging Fruit with Tim Fite? Was it much different than how you worked on the first album?
JR: Absolutely nothing was the same. For my first record, I did it with a friend. We had limited means, and just used equipment we had lying around. The creative decisions were all me, and he just recorded. Now, after working with Tim Fite, I know much more. My arrangements are too cluttered sometimes, and since Tim and I didn’t know each other and have a relationship, he was very honest. He wasn’t scared of telling me that something was shit which really helped. Tim’s music is very deliberate; composed and pieced together intentionally which is the opposite of my style. The record sits comfortably in between the two, which I’m really happy about. My friends came in and played like they normally do, but Tim made sure that everything sat in the right place. The atmosphere was calm and warm, but it wasn’t just like hanging out with friends – we were there to record the album. Tim’s been really great, and I learnt a ton.
MYATS: You recorded the album in some odd places (a barn, a chapel and a high school auditorium) Why did you choose these venues over a regular old recording studio?
JR: Basically, we didn’t record in a recording studio because no one had one! We used the barn on Tim’s parent’s farm, and it was perfect. We could be as loud as we wanted, and it didn’t have the same sterile feeling as a recording studio. We didn’t have to watch the clock, and we could record at whatever time of day that we wanted to. We did one song in the high school auditorium – I think legally! – it was the most fun I’ve ever had recording. We got there around 10 or 11 PM, and at midnight the recording began. We spread everyone out across the entire stage and set up two mics at each end, getting the dry reverb out of the room. There was heavy percussion and group singing, and it was just so much fun. We also went to the University of Connecticut, where they have a church on campus with a real pipe organ. We just had to use it – it just has so much more warmth and space to it’s sound.
MYATS: I heard your parents were yogis.. do you practice yoga? Do you find it helps with concentrating on writing music?
JR: Siddha yoga isn’t actually physical yoga, its more meditating and chanting, its part of a Hindu sect. I did grow up meditating, but its a completely separate thing from writing music.
Interview Conducted by Amelia Robitaille
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A big thank you to Jesse Rifkin aka The Wailing Wall for taking the time to chat with us. Be sure to check out The Wailing Wall’s new LP, The Low Hanging Fruit which hits store on June 8th via Jdub Records. And if you haven’t already seen it, here’s a review and some photos from The Wailing Wall’s Montreal show with Tim Fite on May 19th, 2010.
