What’s the craziest thing you’ve done in the name of indie rock?

Hmm, throwing tens of thousands of dollars and tens of thousands of hours of time, creating something intangible and ephemeral … Music, that is. Music is very irrational; on one level it seems incredibly trivial, but conversely, for me at least, it’s absolutely necessary to my survival. If I’m honest, I’m baffled and puzzled by people not into some kind of music.

As you’ve aged, does music still factor into your friendships?

Absolutely. People often need an excuse to get together, especially we introverts. Music is a great excuse to just hang out. For the past couple years, I was playing in an amateur jazz group, and it was a good excuse to get into a room with a bunch of strangers to learn the same thing, but also a good excuse to slowly learn more about your fellow humans.

How did your relationship to your art change once you stepped away from performing? How are you feeling about your imminent return to the stage?

Great question. During the pandemic, when I was stuck inside for a year, I took to brushing up my jazz chops. It was an exercise in discipline more than anything else. I worked on sight-reading, learning new chords, improvising. So that was a twist for me: focusing on the traditional musicianship, rather than focusing on the art; I hadn’t really done that since college. Coming back to play Ee stuff has been a nice pendulum swing back in the other direction, back to focusing on the art. Music for me is a highly gravitational star (or black hole?) that I orbit. Sometimes I’m pulled in close, then I leave, and move away from it, but, reliably, I always slide back around the ellipse and return to it.

Your other band, Korea Girl, has a new Instagram profile—is a second reunion in the works?

Perhaps! Well, I spoke to Liz recently and she is not totally closed to the idea, but not totally up for it either. I told her that I’d offer her up some songs that I have in the vault and she can try them on for size. But, no pressure, so, also, no guarantees. If it goes well, I’m sure you’ll hear some new Korea Girl songs someday. I do have some old live Korea Girl tracks I want to re-release soon though, so look for those sometime soon, later this year or early next year!

Ee - For 100 We Try Harder

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Ee - For 100 We Try Harder