Source: Jarvis Photography
‘Prolific’ doesn’t quite come close to describing the Spider Kitten discography. Since forming around 2003, they’ve put out at least one (and often more than one) EP, split, album or single. As if such a dizzying work rate wasn’t enough, they’ve chosen to evade and avoid being pigeonholed, tackling genres as diverse as stoner, psychedlia, industrial, folk and doom. We spoke to vocalist/guitarist Chi Lameo about his lyrics, influences and creative process.
MOSH: How does the lyric writing process begin for you – Does the music come first, or the lyrics? Do you sit down with a goal of writing out a full song?
CL: I usually have the music already and try to write stuff that fits, but recently I’ve been writing huge stream of consciousness poems without worrying about rhyming or metre. Then I’ve selected the best lines and rewritten them to fit the song. To be honest, it never usually takes me more than a few hours to complete a song. As soon as I start to struggle, I stop and come back to it. You can’t force creativity, or at least I can’t.
MOSH: Is this process always straightforward for you? Have you ever struggled with ‘writer’s block’ or similar?
CL: Yeah, I’ve had my fair share. As I said, if something doesn’t occur to me almost immediately, I give up and come back to it. The only times I’ve written lyrics that I haven’t been happy with is when I’ve forced myself.
MOSH: Do you go back to lyrics you have previously written and edit or refine them? Do you collaborate or share lyrics with other band members and take their feedback on board?
CL: Sometimes I edit, but usually just the odd word. I certainly take the other band members opinions on board, but I tend not to collaborate. The music is a collaboration. The lyrics are usually mine, with some notable exceptions.
MOSH: Are there any bands or artists that have inspired you lyrically? Do you seek to emulate any other lyricists?
CL: I love Leonard Cohen. His lyrics are incredible. Particularly the Songs Of Love & Hate record. I also love Nick Cave; his abstract expressionism in The Birthday Party and his story-telling on his solo records are both amazing. As for trying to emulate others though, I try my best not to. I think most of my lyrics are quite uniquely mine. Whether or not they’re any good is another question …
MOSH: Do you draw lyrical inspiration from outside of music, such as from authors, films or artists?
CL: I do read a lot, so I guess I must, but not consciously. I’m a big [Charles] Bukowski fan. I also like John Fante, Bret Easton-Ellis, Doug Coupland.
MOSH: Is there a specific space (mental or physical) that you have to occupy in order to get ‘in the zone’ or can you write anywhere at any time?
CL: yes, for sure. I have to be intoxicated in some manner. Up until about a year ago, I always wrote stoned, but after I gave up weed I substituted alcohol. Write drunk, edit sober. I’m sure it’s just a crutch, but I need to be able to stop thinking about all the shit that’s going on in my life and focus in on the subject matter. It was a lot easier to write when I smoked. But I think my lyrics are different now, which is nice. I’m a big fan of progression.
MOSH:Do you choose to publish your lyrics or keep them personal? Is it important that fans be able to access lyrical content?
CL: We usually don’t publish them in liner notes or online. I quite like the idea that people will mishear stuff and interpret songs themselves. I wouldn’t be opposed to publishing the lyrics, but to be honest, I think they work best as part of the song. To read them on the page without the music would cause them to lose a lot of their emotive content.
MOSH: Can you remember when you began writing lyrics? Was it a conscious choice? One made out of necessity?
CL: When I was 12 or 13. I wrote some god awful shit. You have to. I think it took me over 10 years to actually write something that I was happy with. I’d always wanted to make records and lyrics were part and parcel of that.
MOSH: Off the top of your head, what is your favourite lyric and why?
CL: That’s a hard question. Off the top of my head I’d say ‘The Mercy Seat’ by Nick Cave:
“I began to warm and chill to objects and their fields/a ragged cup/a twisted mop/the face of Jesus in my soup/ those sinister dinner deals/the meal trolley’s wicked wheels/a hooked bone rising from my food/all things either good or ungood.”
MOSH: What is your favourite lyric that you have written?
CL: An even harder question. I think maybe a song called ‘Christmas Day’ from Spider Kitten’s To Let The Winter In EP:
“As the snow covers my roof/bringing me into its arms/my senses grow a little weaker/for to let the winter in. Fifteen days since I been out there/fifteen days with only ghosts/My burden liften with the sunrise/my nightmares fallen with day/And now there’s no-one left to leave me/I can enjoy some peace of mind/the dancing embers in my ashtray/the ticking clock that sings to me. The cold is piercing and unchanging/consistency that I admire. Enduring winter’s cleansing actions/will bring me closer to my fate.”
MOSH: Is there anything you actively try and avoid when writing lyrics? Any topics or themes you think are overdone?
CL: Not really. My lyrics tend to be quite negative. I’m not one for sappy love songs, but that’s not to say I’d be opposed to writing something overtly happy.
MOSH: Is it important to you that lyrics always tell a story, impart a mood, or have meaning?
CL: Usually, yes. I have been guilty of writing nonsense lyrics in the past, but even those have taken on meaning as the years progress. I’m not always writing about myself, but I’m usually drawing on something within myself. I’d love to be able to write less abstract, more direct story-telling lyrics, but at present I prefer to obfuscate a little.
MOSH: Does your knowledge of your vocal delivery have any impact on how you write lyrics? Do you write to fit your style, or fit the delivery to the lyrics?
CL: Always fit the delivery to the lyrics. I write what I feel I need to and then try to figure out how to sing it later. I see it as a different part of the same process. Often I feel that the writing, of music and lyrics, is the creative part and the recording or reproducing them live is merely logistics. The idea is the important, exciting thing. Everything else is just a means of communicating that idea to people.
