Tony Sly learned that, in order to survive in the music business, it's important to never stop moving. Since the guitarist first appeared fronting the seminal San Jose pop-punk band No Use For A Name in 1987, he has never really seemed to take any time off. Sly has built his name on his incredible, tireless work ethic which sees him starting a new endeavor almost as soon as he finishes the last one, and here's why: he knows that, like in a shark tank, you have to keep moving if you want to eat. Whether it is working on a new creative endeavor (like a new record, a new band or a new collaboration, for example) or plotting the next leg of a tour which never seems to end, Sly is perpetually looking forward to the next thing which will demand his attention, and charting what his action will be to that end. “Yeah, things have been pretty crazy for me,” sighs the guitarist with a laugh. “I contributed a couple of tracks to the Music For Cancer compilation that came out and I played a show in Montreal around that, then I got to tour a little more behind 12 Song Program and, when I get back, we're going to be mixing a follow-up solo record; we're laying down a few background vocals, but we're finishing another solo album that will be out either in the summer or at the end of summer – I hope – if we get it all done on time.”
After the reasonably utilitarian release of Acoustic which saw Sly teaming up with Joey Cape and testing the waters to see just how possible secondary acoustic careers might be for them in 2004, Tony Sly upped his ambition and invited a much larger group of friends along to help him flesh out 12 Song Program – the album which definitively realizes the songwriter's craft in an acoustic setting. Songs like “Already Won,” “AM,” “Toaster In The Bathtub” and “Love, Sick Love” all saw Sly stretching out and easily reaching into different acoustic forms and sounds and delivers on a truly well-crafted set of songs which don't lean on the “Hey – it's a punk laying folk songs!” angle so much as simply wow listeners with a set of impeccably crafted songs which, yes, happen to be folk and, yes, happen to be made by a punk rocker. Listeners easily picked up on that growth and Sly won some new fans on that strength but, according to the singer, what he has brewing on his next effort goes even further and qualifies as the great sort of presentation Tony Sly always hoped he'd be able to make outside of No Use For A Name. “The next record will be called Sad Bear,” begins Sly as he lays out every facet of his next record. “My friend had a picture of a bear that he drew and I was going to buy a print of it because I thought it was so cool looking. The name of the drawing was Sad Bear and, because I used the picture as the album cover, that's what I called the album. He also designs record covers, so it was pretty win-win; I thought it was pretty rad, and he was really happy.
There's way more instrumentation on this record,” continues the singer. “I hired eleven musicians to play on this record [chuckling], and that includes a backup singer; I don't usually get backup singers, it's usually just me. I'm still amazed at the quality of the musicians that I got to play with me on it; I basically just asked for references and got these people from in and around the Bay area through a friend. It was really easy and, when I listened back to it, it sounded like I thought it would but better – and that had everything to do with those players. Like, there are lots of different programs out there like Reason and Logic that will emulate instruments and I don't have a problem with that, but there's something to be said for using the real thing – there really is. There's nothing like using real instruments; like, you can't hear the resin come off a bow on a computer program – you know?
“Doing it that way was really fun and great and it was a first for me; really eye- and mind-opening It took a lot longer to make, that's for sure,” recalls Sly. “We kind of went into it guessing quite a bit; I didn't exactly have a plan for a lot of these people, but they had demos months before they came in and, when they did come in, they were really professional so they all knew their parts whether I wrote 'em or not [chuckling] because I have no idea how to tell a banjo player or an accordion player or a cello player what to play, but they know what to play – so all I said to them when they came in was, 'Let me hear what you hear first,' and that was always the thing that was the best thing to play. I think the tin whistle player sort of steered away because he was just doing the vocal melody but, other than that, it was pretty bare bones. The funny thing is that, now, it sounds orchestral at some points when I listen back to the rough mixes so I'm peeling back some of the parts and wondering if I shouldn't take them out. I'm sort of building the songs like a staircase; starting with a guitar as the base, and then adding each instrument as another level or step.”
With Sly just about wrapping up the last dates of his current tour and then running home to put the finishing touches on Sad Bear for its release, one would think that the singer wouldn't be too keen to pile more events on his timetable in the near future, but he's still keeping any and all options open as well as staring down other possibilities with No Use For A Name – who are beginning to test the idea of writing and recording a follow-up to 2008's The Feel Good Record Of The Year. “I've got these six shows and then I go immediately into mixing the solo record after this, then immediately into writing that No Use album, and then there's a little bit of touring in western Canada; that's through BC and Alberta,” says Sly, as if he's ticking the points off on his fingers. “I've already started writing a little for No Use, but the band and I really have to buckle down and write a No Use For A Name record and get on the road with them because our bass player's sick and he's going to have some major hospital bills after this and is going to need some major financial help so that's what we're doing. I mean, it's not just because of that – I want to do a new record – but I want to help him because he's my friend. At the same time, I'm going to tour and juggle both when I can – so we'll see how that goes and see how that sits for a year and then I'll look again and re-evaluate what I need to be doing again then.”
Artist:
www.myspace.com/tonyslymusic
www.facebook.com/pages/Tony-Sly/
www.twitter.com/tonyslymusic
Album:
12 Song Program is out now. Buy it here on Amazon, or directly from Fat Wreck Chords here .
