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Craig Wedren has one of the most distinctive voices in rock. How it is that he managed to avoid becoming a household name is a bit of a mystery. Pony Express Record, his 1994 major label debut with Shudder to Think, the band that he got his start with in D.C. in the mid-80s, should have been a huge breakthrough. It was an adventurous record of inventive, art-damaged post-punk, all shifting time signatures and angular guitars, presided over by Wedren's inimitable voice, which could turn from soaring falsetto to delicate tremelo to menacing growl on a dime. The record's biggest asset, that it sounded nothing like anything else that was out at the time, may have also prevented it going much farther than it did. Had satellite radio and music blogs existed at the time, I still say they could have been huge. As Shudder moved on, their work became more and more difficult to pin down; two film soundtracks showed their ability to shift genres with chameleon grace, and their final record, '97's 50,000 B.C., confounded some longtime fans with its stripped-down simplicity and pop leanings.
Since the their 1999 demise, Wedren has continued on the same arc he was on with the band. He has expanded his film and television soundtrack work, frequently collaborating with his old friends from comedy troup The State and their associated projects, while continuing to work on music under his own name and in collaborations with other bands like Tweaker and Cex. In 2005, he released his first solo record, Lapland. In its more off-kilter moments, it sounds much like one imagines a subsequent Shudder to Think album might have. Indeed, some of the material was originally written with them in mind. His current project may be his most ambitious: a sprawling film soundtrack for a film that has yet to be made, reversing the usual relationship between music and film. Considering the many phases and faces Wedren has been through in his now two-decades long career, tomorrow's DAM!Fest appearance at the Rock & Roll Hotel should be an eclectic night.
How long has it been since you've played a show in D.C.?
I played a show there two years ago, which was beautiful — a real homecoming vibe, intimate and sweet, at the Black Cat. Before that, it’d probably been about 8 yrs. Scary.
Is there a sense in which playing here feels like coming home, or have you lived elsewhere long enough that it doesn't feel that different from other towns anymore?
No, I get super-nervous and emotional playing in D.C. More than anywhere else, I think, because I was there for the end of high school and the beginning of Shudder To Think, which is a powerful cocktail — formative and formidable. And also because, coming from such origins — creatively rich and principled — I feel I need to really Bring It.
There was a one-off Shudder to Think reunion of sorts last month... has that opened any communications for future collaborations?
We’ve all been in — and out of — communication throughout. I play with Kevin, Nate plays with Kevin, Nate and I would sometimes talk about playing together, etc. The show happened very organically, and the timing was just right. Speaking for myself, there were no more ghosts left to exorcise. As for the future, I really have no idea. Could happen. We’ve all always been pretty open to the idea, it’s just been a question of timing. And purpose. It needs to feel purposeful. Exciting. For me, the question is always: what do we have to add? What are we NOT hearing out there?
You have a versatility that I think a lot of artists would envy. One of my favorite Shudder to Think records is the soundtrack to First Love, Last Rites, which covers a lot of different bases within certain constraints. And then you've done a lot of pretty widely ranging soundtrack work, not to mention the evolution of Shudder to Think. Absent any outside restrictions, such as the need to come up with something specific for a movie or a TV show, do you write with such diversity in general? Or is that something that is more a product of the projects you've chosen to involve yourself in?
After Pony Express Record, we felt a little penned-in, and pent up. We were listening to a lot of different kinds of music, and I think, at a certain point in one’s development, you either discover that it’s about MUSIC — all music, great music of every age, in every genre; or that it’s primarily been about something else — identity, age, career, girls, whatever; and you make a choice about what you want to do, and how you want to do it. For us, it turned out we were actually music nuts — geeks for it, really — and as such needed to start stretching out and indulging our fancies a little bit, musically. For me, it became very clear that movies and TV were the perfect outlet for stuff Shudder To Think couldn’t, or wouldn’t, do at that point as a band, and it was a great foil to record-making and touring. Which is all to say that I suspect we (at least me and Nathan) wanted to diversify in general, and found that movies gave us a sort of free pass to do it.
Generally, in rock, pop, what-have-you, one is celebrated and rewarded for not straying too far from the thing that got you there in the first place, which never jibed with our line of thinking — rewarded, yes! We wanted that, but not for repeating ourselves; in film, you need to be agile, change on a dime, in order to even keep the gig, let alone build a career out of it. But Shudder To Think always did pretty much as it wanted to. Our interpretation of the Punk ethos was to find your voice and follow your bliss; to only do what only we could do, and precisely what we wished.
Have you ever found yourself stumped by a musical problem? Say, you wanted to write a song in a particular genre, or a particular feel, but it was one you just couldn't quite get your head around?
I have found myself stumped, but so far, eventually I’ve been able to solve those challenges. Thankfully, there’s always a new one lurking around the corner. That’s how I build my own personal menu/repertoire — by doing things I’ve never done before, by making music that I never thought — or knew — I could do. It builds weird, fresh muscles, keeps the mind loose, and will, I hope, keep me growing throughout my life. I think it’s key to creative longevity.
Describe the basic differences in how your songwriting process differs depending on whether you're writing for yourself, with a band, for movies, or for TV.
The approaches are very different, but the feeling I like to have is the same. I like to be IN LOVE with everything I make, or at least everything I make that gets put into the world. That’s how I like to change the world. By putting music into it that I feel strongly about, that I think is legitimate and high quality, and hoping that other people will feel the same way about it. I think if everybody had that attitude about who they were, and what they did, and what they were physically (or intellectually, or emotionally) putting into the world, that it would be a very different place. But maybe you have to know what you love to be able to do that, and a lot of people don’t. So I consider myself fortunate.
Your new project sounds fascinating, a movie based on a soundtrack album that is written before the film. Can you give some more detail on that project, where it stands at the moment, what it's been like working on it?
It’s called WAND, and, as of now, I have a rough assembly of about 2-plus-hrs worth of music from all of my li'l realms —r ock, pop, experimental, orchestral, electronic, etc. — and together they form — or inspired — a story to be filmed that will accompany the album. Which is to say, you’ll go to the movies to hear the album, and then the picture onscreen will, hopefully, support the listening experience the way that the music in a film would normally support the story you see on screen. There’s no dialogue, just music and picture, and my sense is that if you took Inland Empire, Tarnation, and Tommy or Yellow Submarine, you’re somewhere in the world of WAND.
What's the show this weekend going to be like, in terms of your setup, and what material people are likely to hear (considering you have a pretty large pool to draw from these days)?
I have a great band that will be playing with me that includes Kevin March on drums (Shudder To Think, Guided By Voices), Jesse Krakow on bass (Time Of Orchids), and Mark Watrous on guitar (Loudermilk, Gosling). We’ll be playing Shudder songs, solo songs (from Lapland and WAND), and movie music. Generally, I think it feels like a natural continuation of what we were doing in Shudder To Think, particularly when you consider how much Shudder To Think evolved, mutated, sprouted weird wings and phantom limbs, and just generally liked to fiddle around with sounds and styles in a rock band setting. I guess it’s like that.
Wedren plays Saturday at Rock and Roll Hotel, with iLiKETRAiNS, Metropolitan, and Time of Orchids. $15, 9 p.m.
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