I imagine Unwed Sailor is what Andrew Bird listens to when he wants to relax. The Seattle born instrumental group orchestrates melodic, sweeping movements that swirl around the core elements of guitar and bass. Founding member and Tulsa native Johnathon Ford made a name for himself with the Seattle based outfit Roadside Monument. With his ever evolving cast of characters he constantly tours across the globe spinning his intricate webs of melodic beauty. Ford and company will be stopping by The Opolis in Norman tonight along with We Will Destroy You. I spoke with him about his ties to the heartland, his beliefs, and his attraction to the sea.
-So, where are you living these days?
I’ve actually been back living in Oklahoma for like a year and a half. I live in Tulsa. It just made more sense for me. Patrick, the drummer in Unwed Sailor now, lives in Tulsa. And Brooks our keyboard player lives in Little Rock, Arkansas. So, it just made more sense for me to live in that area instead of living in Chicago or Seattle and having to fly in every time we go on tour or something like that.
-Did You Miss Oklahoma when you lived in those places?
Yeah, I mean, I’ve noticed lately that I’m definitely always ready to come back to Oklahoma. I do kind of miss it. Tulsa has gotten so much better now. Bars like the Sound Pony and Cellar Dweller and these really cool bars where people are hanging out. Cain’s Ballroom is doing way more shows now. So, yeah, I think it’s gotten a lot better. There are bands starting up, like Callupsie. There is a lot more to do. Originally when I left, in 95 I think, I was like well there’s really nothing for me here. But in the past 12 years it’s gotten a lot better, to where I actually want to come back. And it’s home man, you know?
-Yeah I know that’s just like David Terry of Aqueduct. He left Tulsa for the same reason, but now he really appreciates Tulsa and Norman’s music scenes.
You know another thing about Norman. I’ve been to The Deli a couple times. My last experience there, The Deli seriously became one of my favorite bars. I love it. The way it looks, the feeling in there. I’m in a lot of bars and it’s definitely one of my favorites.
-Tell me what your song-writing process is like. How does a song get started and evolve?
Well usually a lot of it I’ll come up with guitar ideas. That’s usually the way things start. Very rarely do I come up with a bass idea to start with. For example Little War, the last record , I started out with an acoustic guitar just writing little parts. Usually when that one part is done ideas start flooding in. So, I just start writing parts over those parts. And I’ll get a drum idea I’ll put in. But another part of it is we do a lot of the writing in the studio. With this last record I pretty much showed up and Matt Putman played drums on it. I gave him my Garage Band demos that I had, and he just wrote the drums in his head and walked in and played them for the first time. So, it’s also a collaborative effort in the studio with the dudes I’m playing with.
-So there’s a definite spontaneous element to it?
Yeah there is some spontaneity to it, which is the way Unwed Sailor works with recording. We just kind of go in with a basic, basic idea and start going.
-Does that spontaneity make the live performances ever changing?
Oh definitely. We’re always rewriting our songs for the live show. We’ve probably done like 20 different version for the live show of Firecracker. But yeah, you write a song in the studio, but it’s when you play them live that things really start to happen. You’re like lets extend that or cut that part out. So, we’re actually doing it in reverse. A lot of bands write their songs and then play them live a bunch to perfect them I guess. We just kind of write them first and throw them out there. I think that we do a pretty good job with the songs to where they don’t need a lot of perfecting. Not that they’re perfect right off, but I’m usually pretty happy with the way they turn out.
-So Little War will be out next year right?
Yeah. We actually recorded that in Norman with Chad Copelin at Black Watch Studios. It’s all done. It will be out March 18. It sounds awesome. Chad is such a great engineer. It sounds really great. The reason I chose to go with Chad originally was the Ryan Lindsey Record [White Paper Beds]. That’s just an awesome record.
-I know in the past you mentioned a lot on interviews your relationship with God and your faith in general. I’m curious, do you see your music as Christian music?
I’m actually at a completely different point in my life now, regarding all that. At that time I was living in a Christian commune in Chicago and I think a lot of my thoughts and ideas were influenced by that. But since that time I’ve definitely gone in different directions in the way I think. That’s definitely not an accurate representation of where I’m at these days. I’ve learned it was a mistake at that time to bring my beliefs into that because it’s just never a good idea. I just didn’t know that yet. It’s all a learning experience. I’ve learned to just play music and let it do what’s it’s supposed to do to the listener and keep my ideas out of it.
-I guess it’s easier for you to do that since you’re an instrumental group.
Exactly. That’s the funny thing about it. It’s just in your life, you go through different phases, and that was one of them.
-Yeah, it’s funny how that specific subject always grabs people’s attention. It even made me want to ask that question.
You know I’m actually glad you did. A lot of people don’t in interviews and I kind of hope that they do just to set the record straight a bit. We’re not associated in any way with that, so I like that you asked that question.
-Good. It’s hard to judge when it’s appropriate to ask something like that.
Oh, it’s touchy for sure. For a band it’s touchy. Anytime you make a statement and put it out there and in a media way about Christianity or anything like that it can come back and haunt you.
-Lastly, I wanted to ask you about your attraction to the sea. I see a lot of nautical imagery in your albums. What is it about the sea that holds significance with you?
I don’t think it’s really intentional. If anything these days I try and lean away from it a bit because I don’t want it to be a typical Unwed Sailor, ocean thing. The ocean, I’ve always been attracted to it. It’s this huge expanse of water that you can’t even touch. If anything, being on the beach next to the ocean is one of the most beautiful experiences that you can have. I feel the same way about the desert, too. To me the ocean and the desert are kind of the same thing. These huge expanses that can’t be touched. It can still kill you. Which kind of makes them these wild, adventurous areas on the Earth. Which is really odd now that I think about it because on The White Ox we did a lot of south western imagery in the songs. We had a song called Gila, and on the Circles EP we had a song called Mesa. Maybe we’re switching over to desert themes now.
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