November 6, 2025 • 33 mins
What happens when you book four days in a studio with no songs written and trust your gut anyway? We sat down with Alexei Shishkin to unpack the making of Good Times, a record born from instinct, loops, and a shared “don’t overthink it” pact with producer Bradford Krieger at Big Nice in Rhode Island. Alexei walks us through the thrill of showing up empty-handed, improvising with friends, chopping bass lines into new shapes, and committing to sounds fast so inspiration never goes cold.
We dig into the long arc that got him there: early experiments with Sound Recorder and GarageBand, the way loops taught him arrangement and structure, and how his voice drifted from hidden texture to focal point as space, gear, and confidence shifted. Alexei explains why direct-in guitars, stock tools, and minimal mixing rounds weren’t shortcuts but creative choices that kept the project fluid. He also shares an unfiltered take on modern music careers—why he loves recording but refuses to tour, how he handled radio sessions with covers instead of acoustic stand-ins, and what it means to keep music in the passion lane while video work pays the bills.
This is a conversation for anyone fascinated by process over perfection, indie production that favours momentum, and the quiet discipline of knowing what you want from your art. Along the way, you’ll hear about influences like Microdisney, High Llamas, and Pavement, and the layered catalogue Alexei is building for deep-diving listeners. Press play, then tell us: do you value a flawless performance, or the spark of creation captured in real time? If you enjoy the show, follow, rate, and share with a friend who loves indie music stories shaped by instinct.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
colleyc (00:38):
Listeners of indie music, here we are, another
episode of ifitbeyourwillpodcast coming at you.
Um today I have uh a reallyinteresting artist who's been
making music for a long time.
He's got a lot of songs underhis belt.
Uh Alexi Shkin uh is coming in.
(01:01):
Um Alexi, where are you comingin from, by the way?
Alexei Shishkin (01:03):
I'm in Virginia right now.
colleyc (01:05):
Nice.
Alexei Shishkin (01:06):
Good old Virginia.
And you're up in in beautifulQuebec, I think, right?
colleyc (01:10):
That's right.
I'm coming to you fromMontreal.
Um I say the city never sleepsin the north.
Alexei Shishkin (01:17):
Yeah, yeah.
That's my uh, you know, I thinkit's maybe my second favorite
city in North America.
So you know, it's home of thelegendary uh is it called the
Green Spot?
There's like a like a weirdyeah, the green spot.
colleyc (01:29):
Yes.
The green spot is very famousfor their hot dogs.
Not not a a grilled hot dog.
These are all steamed withwater, um, and they make a
beautiful putin, which is ournative machination of fries and
sauce.
Alexei Shishkin (01:47):
Yeah, that's I think I think I had both of
those things when I went, so Igot the full experience.
colleyc (01:52):
There you go.
Well, anytime you want to comeback up, uh you know, the doors
always open.
Um, us Canadians are a littleless um ready to go down south
at this point in our history,but I'm gonna do it.
Alexei Shishkin (02:05):
Hey, I I don't blame you.
Of course, of course.
I don't blame you at all.
colleyc (02:10):
We want to come home and not end up in some prison
somewhere.
So I digress.
Alexi, thank you for this.
Um, Alexi just by the way had auh new record came out
September 5th called Good Times.
Um, and that came out on ruedefense, eh, or rue défense.
Alexei Shishkin (02:28):
Yeah, yeah.
It's it's true.
I never thought about the uhthe French connection there.
But yeah, it's so that's myfriend Graham's label.
He started that a while ago,and um he him and I met in
Portland, Oregon a long timeago, and then um we lived in New
York City at the same time.
He ended up moving to Houston,Texas, so that's where the
label's based right now.
(02:49):
And um last uh winter Iconvinced him to let me start a
crazy uh idea that I had, whichis called the Root Defense Tape
Club.
So we we ship out these likecustom cassettes, they're like
these little compilationcassettes, and they're only uh
there's no digital versions ofthem, it's just that that's it.
It's the analog press.
So that's it.
(03:10):
And um that's cool.
colleyc (03:11):
Yeah, shout out to I would like myself uh be able to
purchase one of these.
Is it something where you getin touch with you guys?
Alexei Shishkin (03:17):
Yeah, tapeclub.substack.com is where
all of that is.
And then um, yeah, you can alsoyou know, you'll find links
there to sign up.
And if you want to email us,you can and ask us questions.
You know, we're we're prettyeasy to reach.
colleyc (03:31):
Yeah, that's a great idea.
I'll put the link in the um inon the blog when I post uh this
cast people.
So don't be frantically tryingto rewind things because you
can't right yet.
Yeah, it's in the link box.
So don't worry about it.
We got you guys covered.
So Alexi, I always love tostart these off with a little
bit of uh a skip down memorylane.
(03:54):
Um and kind of like drillingdown a little bit some of those
moments that kind of brought youto where you are today.
Now I know that not you're notonly a musician, but you're also
a what do you call them?
A filmatographer?
Alexei Shishkin (04:06):
No, yeah, a film film filmmaker, I guess is
what I would say.
colleyc (04:10):
I was trying to do choreographer film.
That's a good idea.
Alexei Shishkin (04:13):
Yeah, well, you know, people say people would
say videographer in some cases.
I don't know.
I I I filmmaker is a goodcatch-all.
I mostly focus on editing.
That's kind of where I shine,editing and writing.
Um I hate I hate actuallyholding the camera.
I like telling people where toput the camera and I like to
deal with what comes off thecamera, but I don't want to hold
the freaking camera.
So yeah, filmmaker is a goodcatch-all.
colleyc (04:34):
I like it.
I like it.
So, I mean, just to say thatyou're a very creative person.
You have very like a lot ofdifferent creative outlets that
you um that you that you dealin.
What where did all this startwith?
Like, what were some of thoseearly recollections that you
have where you started to thinkabout this day and where you
(04:56):
would be and how you were gonnaget here?
Alexei Shishkin (04:59):
Well, I don't think I ever really thought
about where I would be.
I just kind of thought aboutwhat I was doing at the time and
if it was fun or not.
And that's kind of just how Ihow I still approach things, I
think.
It's it's uh it goes beyond myhobbies like music and stuff
into my career as well.
Like I, you know, I freelanceand I run like a little video
production company.
(05:20):
And uh the few times that I'veI think it's maybe once or twice
I've tried to take a jobin-house at a at places, and I I
think I was maybe I'm ready forit now, but at the time I was
just too young for that sort ofuh discipline in my life.
And I I was like, Oh, you wantme in by 10 a.m., which is to be
honest, a great time.
And I'd be like, I'll come inby 11 and I'll leave at four.
(05:42):
And then I was like, why'd theylay me off?
But um yeah, so no, but toanswer your question, I don't
know.
It's just kind of I alwaysfound it um it's it was fun to
try and make music, and um, Ijust always wanted to give it a
go.
I I think when I was uh uhmaybe like a teenager at some
(06:04):
point, I started to take aninterest in um just trying to
record things.
That was it.
I was like I had a littlemicrophone that I plugged into
my computer, and at the timethere was a a thing on the
Windows machines called SoundRecorder, and it allowed you to
record up to one minute ofsound, and I would just
basically sample random thingsand you know make some random
(06:26):
sound collages, and that endedup turning into making hip hop
beats, and then that ended upturning into making uh music
with me singing on it.
So here we are, uh I don't knowhow many years later.
colleyc (06:37):
And I heard uh I heard a previous podcast where you're
talking about this beat, and Iwas quite fascinated about it,
um, sampling.
What what what how did that allbegin?
Like what door opened that yousuddenly were interested in in
creating samples and stuff?
Because they come fromsomewhere, right?
Somebody creates all theselittle things that you hear on
(06:58):
everyone's songs.
Yeah.
Um, it's cool.
I I'd love to understand howhow that came to be.
Alexei Shishkin (07:04):
Yeah, so for that, for the sampling stuff, I
think my earliest uh experiencewith that was um this was back
in the day.
I I don't know if this was highschool or middle school, I
can't really remember, but itwas either early high school or
late middle school, but soeighth grade, maybe ninth grade,
something.
Um, there was a friend, uhfriend of mine, I guess, or an
(07:25):
acquaintance at the time.
He went to like a fancierschool than I did.
And he went to one of thosefancy private schools where this
was like a crazy thing at thetime.
Maybe this is normal now, butthey gave uh laptops to their
students.
Like when you registered forclasses, you got a laptop, and
you know, this is like an eighthgrader with a laptop.
It's crazy.
(07:46):
Um, but they were given theMacBooks, which was nuts.
I was like, wait, they gave youa laptop and it's a MacBook,
and it has GarageBand installedon it.
And uh we started, we wouldjust play with GarageBand, go in
there, grab little loops, dropthem in.
Um, and that was probably myfirst kind of introduction to a
sampling.
And you know, when it comes toguitar, I actually have Guitar
(08:09):
Hero to thank for that because Iwas so obsessed with playing
Guitar Hero that I eventuallywas like, why don't I just try
to learn real guitar?
And um, yeah, it's justtechnology has been my path into
music.
colleyc (08:21):
Right, right.
And I mean, when you'recreating a loop also, it's not
like you're like you're having ait's like creating a song, but
a little snippet of a piece of asong, right?
Like it still has that mindsetin it where you're trying to
find the right beats that worktogether and the timing and the
tempos are all like you'redabbling in what you would later
d dabble in as a musician.
Alexei Shishkin (08:44):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
And I mean I think the onething that starting with like
sample-based music making orwhatever, uh or like loop-based
composition, what's what'sreally interesting about that is
it starts to develop your uhear and and your just
conceptualization of aarrangement more than it does.
(09:08):
Like, yeah, of course you learnstuff about melodies and about
chord progressions and stufflike that, but really you start
learning structures more thananything.
So, like, you know, you yes,they are like little snippets
and little loops, but then youknow, let's say you've got five
loops and you have all five ofthem, all five of them on, maybe
that's the chorus, and then youmute two of them and three of
(09:29):
them are on, and that's theverse, and then you leave one of
them on and that's the bridgeor whatever.
So um it started to uh make methink about structures, and it
ends up kind of being uh weirdbecause now I barely use real
structures at all.
I just sort of like make theselike minute and a half long
songs.
So who the hell knows whereit's gone?
colleyc (09:49):
Well, it's interesting.
I was on your bandcamp page uhpage just like it's like a feast
of music.
Um and I really enjoyed yoursome songs I made.
Now, this is the first one thatyou put up on Bandcamp June
11th, 2013.
So I mean 12 years ago.
And then as I progressedthrough your catalog, I started
(10:12):
to realize your voice becomingmore and more um present.
Like those early recordings,your voice is kind of in the
back like a part of theinstrumentation almost.
And then slowly you can startstepping out.
So my question is what was theprocess of you finding your
voice?
Alexei Shishkin (10:31):
Yeah, that's a really good question.
Um so I think there's um maybeone answer that is a very like
logical answer, and it's that uhI s kind of started living in
places where I was more able tosing loudly because I stopped
(10:51):
having roommates and stuff likethat, or or I'd maybe go to a
studio and really record so Icould actually sing.
I didn't feel like I wasdisturbing people.
Um but you know, more thanthat, uh I think it it just I
would I would go back and listento it, you know, because I I
like to go back and listen to myown stuff sometimes.
And I would go back and listento songs and I'd be like, man,
(11:14):
my vocals are really buried inthere.
It was just about my evolutionof listening.
I started listening to it witha more with a different
perspective, I guess, and Ididn't feel like burying my
vocals as much, and I felt likeI need to put them a little bit
more forward.
But now I feel like maybemoving forward I'll I'll start
burying them a little more.
I don't know.
Like that's that's honestlysomething I was thinking about
(11:36):
because there's so much stuffthat comes out now where you
know, or I go back and listen toolder stuff where the vocals
are like buried, and I'm like,man, I need to like experiment
with that a little bit movingforward.
So yeah, well, I don't know,we'll see.
But hopefully that answers it alittle bit.
colleyc (11:51):
Yeah, totally.
I mean it's it's I I love theevolution or the you know,
evolving, and I mean, all ofthat craft that you have, you've
already, you know, you got itin your tool kit so you can kind
of pull out what you want whenyou want.
Um have you found that yoursound how have you found that
your sound has developed overall these years?
(12:13):
Like it started very, you know,do it yourself, very bedroomy,
um kind of distancy at times,and it seems like it's it's
evolving towards a closer, moreintimate uh experience with you
as a singer-songwriter.
Is that does that speak to you?
Yeah, Alexi, yeah.
(12:34):
Can you like um it's probablyan evolution?
Alexei Shishkin (12:38):
Yeah, sure.
So it probably has to do withuh man, the sorry, it's another
boring answer, but it probablyhas to do with getting different
gear and like learningdifferent techniques.
Um I think on like the veryearly stuff, I was singing into
like so through filmmaking, Ihad like um a shotgun
microphone, which is the kindyou put on top of a camera.
(12:58):
It's a long, skinny microphone.
Um, and I would I had a thingcalled a dead cat on it, which
is like uh a windscreenbasically.
You put it on, it's a big fuzzywindscreen.
So if you ever will see likenews cameras, you'll see they
got this big fuzzy mic on them.
I had that, and I would singright into that big fuzzy mic
quietly, so it was always realmuffled.
Um and I used drum loops that Ikind of just made myself.
(13:23):
I'd have like these drumsamples and I'd trigger them
whenever they needed to go.
And it came, it came, it cameto be a very sparse sound.
Uh and then as things evolved,I just started either calling up
friends who played drums andlike lay down some drum tracks
for me, or I'd start getting inthe studio and having like an
actual, you know, a friendrecord me who like actually
(13:45):
knows what they're doing, or I'dget a new microphone, or I'd
start using it, I'd start beingcloser to the mic, you know,
whatever, learn mixingtechniques, uh, start using
drum, actual drum backing tracksthat like were recorded in real
studios.
And I think all those thingsput together just kind of m
makes it a bigger thing.
Although I again I do want torevisit some of that sparse
(14:06):
stuff, you know.
I think it could be kind ofcool.
colleyc (14:08):
Yeah, totally.
Not um not a boring answer atall, very interesting, actually,
because your process is sodifferent from any other process
I've heard, so um superinteresting.
And have you found that um yoursongwriting process has changed
over time?
Like how you go aboutapproaching writing songs music,
(14:29):
like a song?
Um I'll frame it this way whendo you know a song has legs to
it?
And when a sh what you knowwill go on the shelf behind you
where you just kind of need toput it there for a while and
maybe it will come back out.
But like when do you knowyou're onto something when
you're in your process ofwriting music?
Alexei Shishkin (14:49):
So my my process is a little bit uh it's
very um solitary because uh Ikind of just do all this stuff
in my room for the most part.
Even when I do go into astudio, uh well that that some
things are sometimes different.
I don't know, but I'll I'llspeak to you know, my mostly my
process is me in my room doingstuff.
(15:11):
Uh so I generally will open asession in like logic or
whatever I happen to be using tobe tracking at the time.
Um and I pretty much just kindof start random stuff.
I mean, sometimes I'll likestart with a just a tempo and
(15:32):
pick a drum loop.
Other times I'll maybe have aprogression that I want to
explore and I'll just play thatand then chop it and loop it.
Um but generally like the songskind of start with no I I I
very rarely am like, oh man, Igot an idea for a song.
It's more like I got some timeand I want to have some fun.
Let me just open this programand see where I end up with it.
(15:53):
It's almost like you know,maybe when people are like, I
don't know because I'm notreally a painter, but when
people are painting, maybesometimes they'll just have a
canvas and start painting andsee what happens.
You know, they don't always setout with uh an image in mind.
So uh in terms of knowing whenit's good or not, um I guess
(16:16):
after I am done with it orgetting near done with it, I'll
listen back to it.
And uh there's the the the it'sdifferent.
It's all it's always different.
There's sometimes when likebecause you're playing it back
as you go, and there's sometimeswhen you'll sit, I'll have
worked on something for like 30or 40 minutes, and I'll play it
back, and I'll just be like,nah, I got nothing else.
(16:37):
The inspiration's out on thisone, and then that one just uh
that session just sits there,and eventually I'll revisit it
and maybe try to do something.
But I have like this uh backlogof old demos, I think there's
like 70 of them, and I was like,Oh, should I do a MacDamarco
style thing where I drop like a200-song bullshit album?
But uh I think Graham, myfriend Graham, who runs the
(17:00):
label, talked me out of thatone.
He was like, don't do that.
And I was like, All right.
The next week I was like, I'mreally glad he told me not to do
that.
colleyc (17:09):
You'd probably still be working on parts of it.
Well, in in essence, you workpretty quickly.
Um is that accurate to say?
Alexei Shishkin (17:17):
Yes, I think so.
colleyc (17:18):
Yeah.
And I want to kind of drilldown a little bit on the on on
how you like your process to bekind of a private, it's an
intimate uh process for you, inthe sense that it's not a space
where you're welcoming othermusicians in and it's like a
co-creation.
Um and again, correct me if I'mI'm overstating myself here,
(17:40):
but what if we look specificallyat Good Times, your latest
release, I heard that yourecorded it in four days.
When you brought the stuff tothe studio, were you pretty set
on the arrangement of it and howyou saw it uh playing out?
Alexei Shishkin (17:55):
No, there was no stuff.
I just showed up and then wekind of did it.
Yeah, like I um my friend Bradruns that studio, Bradford
Krieger.
The studio is called Big Nice,and it is in Rhode Island.
It is an incredible studio, andBrad is an amazing musician and
producer, and if it wasn't forhim, this thing would not even
remotely sound like it does.
Uh he he really can bring it.
(18:16):
Um, but yeah, Brad and I aregood friends, and so when I the
I usually so at the time I wasliving in New York, right?
And I just every so oftenwanted to just take a break from
the grind.
And to me, like booking timewith Brad and just going to play
music was like a greatvacation, right?
(18:36):
So I would just go, hey, um,what's your schedule looking
like for the next six or eightmonths?
What do you got?
And he'd tell me what dateshe's got, and I'd go, cool,
let's book some time in May orwhatever.
Let's book these four, or Ithink this one was in July, I
don't remember, but let's bookthese four days.
I'll come up there and thenwe'll play.
In the past, I had come upthere with, like you said, with
(18:58):
arrangements, with ideas.
This one I was just like, well,me and Brad are at this point
so locked in and we can kind ofjust like have fun and
improvise.
I'm just gonna show up withouteven my guitars or anything.
I just came, I just got on thetrain with my laptop and went up
there.
The laptop was for work, itwasn't for the show, or not the
show, for the record.
Uh, and I got in there and wejust started like improvising
(19:21):
basically.
That was it.
It was just all improvised.
We had Dave Kahn come in andplay bass for the first uh half
of the first day because he hadto work, and I forgot to tell
him that I booked these days.
Uh so he was like, I can comein for half a day.
I said, Okay, great.
Like, here, let me play yousome drum loops, and you just
start improvising over them.
(19:42):
Then Brad and I took his basslines, chopped them up, arranged
them wherever we wanted, andkind of just made an made a
record.
So it was yeah, there's to toanswer your question, there was
no there was nothing.
It was a blank canvas when wewalked in.
colleyc (19:55):
Well, so I mean it it it's recalling me to the story
you told about the loops um inthe sampling where it's you
know, we were piecing thingstogether and finding the
structures as we're going, kindof like curing that, putting
that there, yeah, repeat thatover, stuff like that.
Alexei Shishkin (20:11):
I I think that the reason that it was able to
come together so seamlessly isbecause both Brad and I have a
very uh similar approach tomusic where we're not super
precious about it.
Like we're our goal is to justlike move through it and make
stuff, and we're not gonnareally want to sit and I I don't
want to speak for him, but Ifeel like he would agree with
(20:32):
me.
Uh there's no need, there'sthis point of like where you're
spending more time on it thanwhat you're getting back out of
it.
And I don't want to sit andremix a thing.
You know, I was listening to apodcast the other day where I
wasn't sure if this was a jokeor not, but they were talking
about how like U2 goes throughlike 170 rounds of mixing their
shit, and it's just like I getit, you're you too.
(20:53):
You that's a big that's adifferent story, right?
But like for little little ol'me, like I don't want to make
someone sit there and mix mymusic for a whole day while we
figure out like let's let's justrecord it and move on.
Um, one thing that was reallygreat in our process was that
you know, I again I like to justbe agile and just keep moving.
I don't really care about whatamp we're setting up, what
(21:16):
guitar I'm playing, what mic I'musing.
So for a lot of that shit, wejust took the guitars and we
plugged them directly in andjust used like whatever was on
the computer because it was it'sjust m easier that way, and
right we're more flexible andmore fluid, and we can just kind
of go wherever we want.
Because what's worse than likehaving an idea and then having
(21:38):
to wait to set it up, you know,then the inspiration goes, we
might as well just have itready, just start playing, you
know.
colleyc (21:43):
Right, right.
Alexei Shishkin (21:44):
That was it.
It was it was that.
colleyc (21:45):
I mean, so are you saying that these 12 tracks that
make up good times uh againcame out September 5th, 2025.
People check it out.
That it would be almostimpossible to run through this
set list live.
Like I would have to, I meanthat improv nature in the I
(22:07):
don't know what I did.
Alexei Shishkin (22:08):
If I could if I if I got together um with a
group of talented musicians anduh let them show me how to play
the songs, I'm sure we could getthrough them.
So I'll tell you a quick story.
Like with part of this rollout,we had to um or I had to play
like do do these sessions, Iguess, right?
(22:29):
So like uh a radio stationwould be like, Hey, can you
record a session for us?
And at the beginning of it say,Hey, this is Alexi, and I'm
doing this exclusive session forblah, blah, blah, blah.
Um most people, when they dothem, they'll just like grab an
acoustic guitar and play threeof their songs.
And I was like, Well, I don'tknow how to do any of that.
Like, I don't know my songs.
So um, what I ended up doing, II had to learn a couple of
(22:52):
them.
So I took the wave files and Ilike put them through a stem
splitter and started isolatingthe bass, trying to learn the
bass.
So I did that with a couplesongs, but for the most part, I
was like, I'm just gonna recordcovers, man.
Because like when I go back andlisten to old like John Peel
sessions, right?
Like with you know, pavement ormicro Disney and stuff like
that.
(23:12):
Like, I love when those bandsthat I loved are playing covers
of stuff.
There's I think a pavement peelsession where they play um
Killing Moon or something likethat, Echoing the Bunny Man.
And it's like that's cool tome, because that's like I'm not
only getting I'm getting my oneof my favorite bands take on a
favorite song of theirs.
It tells me stylistically howthey would do it, but it gives
(23:35):
me an insight into what inspiresthem.
I think there's nothing coolerthan a cover.
So all that is to say that'swhat I did for a lot of them
because I don't know how to playmy own songs.
colleyc (23:45):
Right.
So it must also, if one plusone equals two, you touring with
this record would be slim to nochance.
Alexei Shishkin (23:56):
Out of the question.
Zero chance, zero chance.
I have zero, zero, zero desireto tour ever in a musical
capacity.
Touring and doing like a showon on stage, like a podcast or
something would be really fun,or even being a part of like a
theatrical production orsomething would be really fun, I
think.
But not not doing a musicthing.
(24:18):
I'd like I've just been aroundit so much at at such a at a
small, like a low level, youknow, that I I've seen and I've
heard stories of how like thetours are and shit.
And if I was like 23, cool,that would be amazing.
But it's like I'm gonna be 30.
Yeah, I'm gonna be 36.
(24:39):
Yeah, I'm gonna be 36 nextyear.
I don't want to go sleep in ain the van or like lay on the
floor at a friend's house orsomething like that, it's not
for me.
colleyc (24:46):
Right, right.
And was it always like that,Alexi?
Like when you startedrecording, if you know, back,
you know, again, just referringto your bandcamp page 2012, like
digital started to happen,started to come forward.
Um like was that always theidea that I would never I don't
want to be a performer, I wantto be a crafter and a maker of
(25:09):
music, but listen to it on on onyou know Spotify or whatever.
Uh don't expect me to come playyou or anything like that.
Alexei Shishkin (25:18):
Yeah, and it's it's it's just like it just my
personal f enjoyment comes fromplaying the music.
I don't really care, no offenseto anyone who might enjoy the
music.
Uh I thank you and I love you,but I also don't really care if
they like it or if you like itor not.
Like I don't, it just doesn'tbother me.
Like I would I just like makingthe music, and my favorite part
(25:41):
is recording it.
Like I I love the recordingprocess, I think it's so much
fun.
And especially when you're in astudio with like two one or two
other people who you're justlike mind-melded with, there's
nothing more fun because it'sjust like a group art project.
It's so much, it's so cool.
Um you know, again, I I getlike I've always called myself a
(26:03):
hobbyist musician because likeyou can't achieve a career in
music without, I mean, for themost part, without touring at
some level or playing live, youknow.
Yes, you can potentially figureout a way to cobble one
together, but very it's veryrare.
And you know, music to me isone lane, that's my passion
(26:25):
lane, and then I have otherskills that make my career.
It's right video.
colleyc (26:31):
And you've always you've always been aware of
those two lanes that you thatyou set up.
Alexei Shishkin (26:36):
Like it's and uh Yeah, yeah.
colleyc (26:40):
I respect those lanes, I like those lanes, I'm staying
in those lanes because that'swhat I want.
Alexei Shishkin (26:46):
Yeah.
colleyc (26:47):
Yeah.
Alexei Shishkin (26:47):
Yeah, yeah, 100%.
I think early early on.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Early on, I wasn't so sure ofit from the career perspective.
I knew that music was apassion.
I wasn't sure if what I wanted,I wasn't sure what I wanted to
do career-wise.
So for a long time I thought itwas to work in music doing
(27:10):
video stuff, like doing musicvideos and like any, you know,
whatever, all that kind ofstuff.
And I did that for a little bitand um I hated it.
I hated it.
I I don't really enjoy doingvideo stuff for money that is
creative.
I just don't want to beburdened with that.
I think that's a lot ofpressure.
(27:31):
I don't want to do that.
I'd rather like put my skillsand the craft that I've mastered
towards like just very blackand white corporate work where
like here is your boxes, checkthem off, get it done, get the
paycheck, go home.
That's what I like.
Um I like doing video stuff ifI if it's for me and it's
passion and I can controleverything about it, then I'm
(27:53):
in.
But I don't want to do uh Idon't want to like really have
to answer to to to people inthat regard, I guess.
colleyc (28:03):
I love it.
I mean and I you know I meanyou and I are no spring
chickens, right?
Um it's good to come to a statein life where you are happy
with where you're at and you'renot trying to recreate yourself,
you know.
Like I mean, you can likelittle nuances and stuff.
Sure.
I mean, I'm gonna stop drinkingcoffee or shit, I'm gonna give
(28:26):
jazz a try again, or whatever itmight be, right?
Alexei Shishkin (28:28):
Yeah, yeah.
colleyc (28:29):
But at a certain age you kind of like start to
understand who you are and whatyou want.
Alexei Shishkin (28:38):
I I just think it's uh to me, a lot of my
favorite artists are ones whohave always who have continued
making stuff and have never beenafraid to sort of just do
anything they want.
So like Martin Newell is onethat comes to mind.
He had an act called TheCleaners from Venus.
He like kind of does anythinghe wants.
(28:59):
It's not like it's not a youknow, he doesn't try to chase
some sort of image or something.
He just, if he's inspired bysomething, he'll make it.
Another guy whose stuff Ireally love is a guy called Sean
O'Hagan.
He was in a band called MicroDisney in the 80s.
Uh and then he was a part ofStereo Lab.
He formed the High Llamas, he'sdone work with Tim Gain from
(29:21):
Stereo Lab doing other stuff.
But all that is to say, like,if you go and listen to his work
from 1980 to present, you'regonna get such a wild ride of
different stuff, but you canstill see his influence in it
throughout.
I've always thought that shitwas really cool.
I think like I, you know, thankyou for listening and going
(29:41):
back to some of the old stuff,because I think I described it
this way on a different showthat I did, but I always say
like this is the stupidestthing, but music my music like
discography, whatever, is like ashawarma where like I'm just
stacking like slices of meat onthe spit.
And just letting it marinate,and it's it's a product of time,
(30:04):
you know?
It's like in an ideal world,one person goes back and goes,
Whoa, there's so much to diginto here.
That's what I did with the highllamas, that's what I did with
Martin Newell.
Like, even guided by voices andstuff like that, I'm like, oh
my god, like there's so much todig into here.
This is so cool.
So hopefully someone can havethat experience.
colleyc (30:25):
Well, I love too that illusion you just made with
layers, because the cake on goodtimes kind of brings that to
mind as well.
You know, the multiple layersof stuff.
Alexei Shishkin (30:36):
Didn't even plan it.
Didn't even plan it.
But that is a beauty, a happy,a happy accident, as we said.
colleyc (30:43):
There you go.
Well, Alexi, this has beenreally cool.
Thanks so much for taking a bitof time out of your day and
sharing some of your thoughtsand the process and how you got
to where you're at.
People go check out uh LexiChishkin's uh I hope I'm saying
your name right, right?
Yeah, yeah, that's correct.
Alexei Shishkin (31:01):
Um just as it's spelled.
colleyc (31:03):
There we go.
Great record.
Um it's got a lot of fun, a lotof variety to it.
Um, and I really appreciate uhthis chat, so thanks a lot, man.
Alexei Shishkin (31:12):
Yeah, thank you.
colleyc (31:15):
Cool.
Alexei Shishkin (31:48):
I'm gonna look to walk to the mirror There's
the expression that it's true.
Expression that won't disappearit won't disappear Reptilian
(32:10):
brain, reptilian brain,reptilian rain It's getting
harder to remember Brain andBlender blending all the ring.
Listeners of indie music, here we are, another
episode of ifitbeyourwillpodcast coming at you.
Um today I have uh a reallyinteresting artist who's been
making music for a long time.
He's got a lot of songs underhis belt.
Uh Alexi Shkin uh is coming in.
(01:01):
Um Alexi, where are you comingin from, by the way?
Alexei Shishkin (01:03):
I'm in Virginia right now.
colleyc (01:05):
Nice.
Alexei Shishkin (01:06):
Good old Virginia.
And you're up in in beautifulQuebec, I think, right?
colleyc (01:10):
That's right.
I'm coming to you fromMontreal.
Um I say the city never sleepsin the north.
Alexei Shishkin (01:17):
Yeah, yeah.
That's my uh, you know, I thinkit's maybe my second favorite
city in North America.
So you know, it's home of thelegendary uh is it called the
Green Spot?
There's like a like a weirdyeah, the green spot.
colleyc (01:29):
Yes.
The green spot is very famousfor their hot dogs.
Not not a a grilled hot dog.
These are all steamed withwater, um, and they make a
beautiful putin, which is ournative machination of fries and
sauce.
Alexei Shishkin (01:47):
Yeah, that's I think I think I had both of
those things when I went, so Igot the full experience.
colleyc (01:52):
There you go.
Well, anytime you want to comeback up, uh you know, the doors
always open.
Um, us Canadians are a littleless um ready to go down south
at this point in our history,but I'm gonna do it.
Alexei Shishkin (02:05):
Hey, I I don't blame you.
Of course, of course.
I don't blame you at all.
colleyc (02:10):
We want to come home and not end up in some prison
somewhere.
So I digress.
Alexi, thank you for this.
Um, Alexi just by the way had auh new record came out
September 5th called Good Times.
Um, and that came out on ruedefense, eh, or rue défense.
Alexei Shishkin (02:28):
Yeah, yeah.
It's it's true.
I never thought about the uhthe French connection there.
But yeah, it's so that's myfriend Graham's label.
He started that a while ago,and um he him and I met in
Portland, Oregon a long timeago, and then um we lived in New
York City at the same time.
He ended up moving to Houston,Texas, so that's where the
label's based right now.
(02:49):
And um last uh winter Iconvinced him to let me start a
crazy uh idea that I had, whichis called the Root Defense Tape
Club.
So we we ship out these likecustom cassettes, they're like
these little compilationcassettes, and they're only uh
there's no digital versions ofthem, it's just that that's it.
It's the analog press.
So that's it.
(03:10):
And um that's cool.
colleyc (03:11):
Yeah, shout out to I would like myself uh be able to
purchase one of these.
Is it something where you getin touch with you guys?
Alexei Shishkin (03:17):
Yeah, tapeclub.substack.com is where
all of that is.
And then um, yeah, you can alsoyou know, you'll find links
there to sign up.
And if you want to email us,you can and ask us questions.
You know, we're we're prettyeasy to reach.
colleyc (03:31):
Yeah, that's a great idea.
I'll put the link in the um inon the blog when I post uh this
cast people.
So don't be frantically tryingto rewind things because you
can't right yet.
Yeah, it's in the link box.
So don't worry about it.
We got you guys covered.
So Alexi, I always love tostart these off with a little
bit of uh a skip down memorylane.
(03:54):
Um and kind of like drillingdown a little bit some of those
moments that kind of brought youto where you are today.
Now I know that not you're notonly a musician, but you're also
a what do you call them?
A filmatographer?
Alexei Shishkin (04:06):
No, yeah, a film film filmmaker, I guess is
what I would say.
colleyc (04:10):
I was trying to do choreographer film.
That's a good idea.
Alexei Shishkin (04:13):
Yeah, well, you know, people say people would
say videographer in some cases.
I don't know.
I I I filmmaker is a goodcatch-all.
I mostly focus on editing.
That's kind of where I shine,editing and writing.
Um I hate I hate actuallyholding the camera.
I like telling people where toput the camera and I like to
deal with what comes off thecamera, but I don't want to hold
the freaking camera.
So yeah, filmmaker is a goodcatch-all.
colleyc (04:34):
I like it.
I like it.
So, I mean, just to say thatyou're a very creative person.
You have very like a lot ofdifferent creative outlets that
you um that you that you dealin.
What where did all this startwith?
Like, what were some of thoseearly recollections that you
have where you started to thinkabout this day and where you
(04:56):
would be and how you were gonnaget here?
Alexei Shishkin (04:59):
Well, I don't think I ever really thought
about where I would be.
I just kind of thought aboutwhat I was doing at the time and
if it was fun or not.
And that's kind of just how Ihow I still approach things, I
think.
It's it's uh it goes beyond myhobbies like music and stuff
into my career as well.
Like I, you know, I freelanceand I run like a little video
production company.
(05:20):
And uh the few times that I'veI think it's maybe once or twice
I've tried to take a jobin-house at a at places, and I I
think I was maybe I'm ready forit now, but at the time I was
just too young for that sort ofuh discipline in my life.
And I I was like, Oh, you wantme in by 10 a.m., which is to be
honest, a great time.
And I'd be like, I'll come inby 11 and I'll leave at four.
(05:42):
And then I was like, why'd theylay me off?
But um yeah, so no, but toanswer your question, I don't
know.
It's just kind of I alwaysfound it um it's it was fun to
try and make music, and um, Ijust always wanted to give it a
go.
I I think when I was uh uhmaybe like a teenager at some
(06:04):
point, I started to take aninterest in um just trying to
record things.
That was it.
I was like I had a littlemicrophone that I plugged into
my computer, and at the timethere was a a thing on the
Windows machines called SoundRecorder, and it allowed you to
record up to one minute ofsound, and I would just
basically sample random thingsand you know make some random
(06:26):
sound collages, and that endedup turning into making hip hop
beats, and then that ended upturning into making uh music
with me singing on it.
So here we are, uh I don't knowhow many years later.
colleyc (06:37):
And I heard uh I heard a previous podcast where you're
talking about this beat, and Iwas quite fascinated about it,
um, sampling.
What what what how did that allbegin?
Like what door opened that yousuddenly were interested in in
creating samples and stuff?
Because they come fromsomewhere, right?
Somebody creates all theselittle things that you hear on
(06:58):
everyone's songs.
Yeah.
Um, it's cool.
I I'd love to understand howhow that came to be.
Alexei Shishkin (07:04):
Yeah, so for that, for the sampling stuff, I
think my earliest uh experiencewith that was um this was back
in the day.
I I don't know if this was highschool or middle school, I
can't really remember, but itwas either early high school or
late middle school, but soeighth grade, maybe ninth grade,
something.
Um, there was a friend, uhfriend of mine, I guess, or an
(07:25):
acquaintance at the time.
He went to like a fancierschool than I did.
And he went to one of thosefancy private schools where this
was like a crazy thing at thetime.
Maybe this is normal now, butthey gave uh laptops to their
students.
Like when you registered forclasses, you got a laptop, and
you know, this is like an eighthgrader with a laptop.
It's crazy.
(07:46):
Um, but they were given theMacBooks, which was nuts.
I was like, wait, they gave youa laptop and it's a MacBook,
and it has GarageBand installedon it.
And uh we started, we wouldjust play with GarageBand, go in
there, grab little loops, dropthem in.
Um, and that was probably myfirst kind of introduction to a
sampling.
And you know, when it comes toguitar, I actually have Guitar
(08:09):
Hero to thank for that because Iwas so obsessed with playing
Guitar Hero that I eventuallywas like, why don't I just try
to learn real guitar?
And um, yeah, it's justtechnology has been my path into
music.
colleyc (08:21):
Right, right.
And I mean, when you'recreating a loop also, it's not
like you're like you're having ait's like creating a song, but
a little snippet of a piece of asong, right?
Like it still has that mindsetin it where you're trying to
find the right beats that worktogether and the timing and the
tempos are all like you'redabbling in what you would later
d dabble in as a musician.
Alexei Shishkin (08:44):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
And I mean I think the onething that starting with like
sample-based music making orwhatever, uh or like loop-based
composition, what's what'sreally interesting about that is
it starts to develop your uhear and and your just
conceptualization of aarrangement more than it does.
(09:08):
Like, yeah, of course you learnstuff about melodies and about
chord progressions and stufflike that, but really you start
learning structures more thananything.
So, like, you know, you yes,they are like little snippets
and little loops, but then youknow, let's say you've got five
loops and you have all five ofthem, all five of them on, maybe
that's the chorus, and then youmute two of them and three of
(09:29):
them are on, and that's theverse, and then you leave one of
them on and that's the bridgeor whatever.
So um it started to uh make methink about structures, and it
ends up kind of being uh weirdbecause now I barely use real
structures at all.
I just sort of like make theselike minute and a half long
songs.
So who the hell knows whereit's gone?
colleyc (09:49):
Well, it's interesting.
I was on your bandcamp page uhpage just like it's like a feast
of music.
Um and I really enjoyed yoursome songs I made.
Now, this is the first one thatyou put up on Bandcamp June
11th, 2013.
So I mean 12 years ago.
And then as I progressedthrough your catalog, I started
(10:12):
to realize your voice becomingmore and more um present.
Like those early recordings,your voice is kind of in the
back like a part of theinstrumentation almost.
And then slowly you can startstepping out.
So my question is what was theprocess of you finding your
voice?
Alexei Shishkin (10:31):
Yeah, that's a really good question.
Um so I think there's um maybeone answer that is a very like
logical answer, and it's that uhI s kind of started living in
places where I was more able tosing loudly because I stopped
(10:51):
having roommates and stuff likethat, or or I'd maybe go to a
studio and really record so Icould actually sing.
I didn't feel like I wasdisturbing people.
Um but you know, more thanthat, uh I think it it just I
would I would go back and listento it, you know, because I I
like to go back and listen to myown stuff sometimes.
And I would go back and listento songs and I'd be like, man,
(11:14):
my vocals are really buried inthere.
It was just about my evolutionof listening.
I started listening to it witha more with a different
perspective, I guess, and Ididn't feel like burying my
vocals as much, and I felt likeI need to put them a little bit
more forward.
But now I feel like maybemoving forward I'll I'll start
burying them a little more.
I don't know.
Like that's that's honestlysomething I was thinking about
(11:36):
because there's so much stuffthat comes out now where you
know, or I go back and listen toolder stuff where the vocals
are like buried, and I'm like,man, I need to like experiment
with that a little bit movingforward.
So yeah, well, I don't know,we'll see.
But hopefully that answers it alittle bit.
colleyc (11:51):
Yeah, totally.
I mean it's it's I I love theevolution or the you know,
evolving, and I mean, all ofthat craft that you have, you've
already, you know, you got itin your tool kit so you can kind
of pull out what you want whenyou want.
Um have you found that yoursound how have you found that
your sound has developed overall these years?
(12:13):
Like it started very, you know,do it yourself, very bedroomy,
um kind of distancy at times,and it seems like it's it's
evolving towards a closer, moreintimate uh experience with you
as a singer-songwriter.
Is that does that speak to you?
Yeah, Alexi, yeah.
(12:34):
Can you like um it's probablyan evolution?
Alexei Shishkin (12:38):
Yeah, sure.
So it probably has to do withuh man, the sorry, it's another
boring answer, but it probablyhas to do with getting different
gear and like learningdifferent techniques.
Um I think on like the veryearly stuff, I was singing into
like so through filmmaking, Ihad like um a shotgun
microphone, which is the kindyou put on top of a camera.
(12:58):
It's a long, skinny microphone.
Um, and I would I had a thingcalled a dead cat on it, which
is like uh a windscreenbasically.
You put it on, it's a big fuzzywindscreen.
So if you ever will see likenews cameras, you'll see they
got this big fuzzy mic on them.
I had that, and I would singright into that big fuzzy mic
quietly, so it was always realmuffled.
Um and I used drum loops that Ikind of just made myself.
(13:23):
I'd have like these drumsamples and I'd trigger them
whenever they needed to go.
And it came, it came, it cameto be a very sparse sound.
Uh and then as things evolved,I just started either calling up
friends who played drums andlike lay down some drum tracks
for me, or I'd start getting inthe studio and having like an
actual, you know, a friendrecord me who like actually
(13:45):
knows what they're doing, or I'dget a new microphone, or I'd
start using it, I'd start beingcloser to the mic, you know,
whatever, learn mixingtechniques, uh, start using
drum, actual drum backing tracksthat like were recorded in real
studios.
And I think all those thingsput together just kind of m
makes it a bigger thing.
Although I again I do want torevisit some of that sparse
(14:06):
stuff, you know.
I think it could be kind ofcool.
colleyc (14:08):
Yeah, totally.
Not um not a boring answer atall, very interesting, actually,
because your process is sodifferent from any other process
I've heard, so um superinteresting.
And have you found that um yoursongwriting process has changed
over time?
Like how you go aboutapproaching writing songs music,
(14:29):
like a song?
Um I'll frame it this way whendo you know a song has legs to
it?
And when a sh what you knowwill go on the shelf behind you
where you just kind of need toput it there for a while and
maybe it will come back out.
But like when do you knowyou're onto something when
you're in your process ofwriting music?
Alexei Shishkin (14:49):
So my my process is a little bit uh it's
very um solitary because uh Ikind of just do all this stuff
in my room for the most part.
Even when I do go into astudio, uh well that that some
things are sometimes different.
I don't know, but I'll I'llspeak to you know, my mostly my
process is me in my room doingstuff.
(15:11):
Uh so I generally will open asession in like logic or
whatever I happen to be using tobe tracking at the time.
Um and I pretty much just kindof start random stuff.
I mean, sometimes I'll likestart with a just a tempo and
(15:32):
pick a drum loop.
Other times I'll maybe have aprogression that I want to
explore and I'll just play thatand then chop it and loop it.
Um but generally like the songskind of start with no I I I
very rarely am like, oh man, Igot an idea for a song.
It's more like I got some timeand I want to have some fun.
Let me just open this programand see where I end up with it.
(15:53):
It's almost like you know,maybe when people are like, I
don't know because I'm notreally a painter, but when
people are painting, maybesometimes they'll just have a
canvas and start painting andsee what happens.
You know, they don't always setout with uh an image in mind.
So uh in terms of knowing whenit's good or not, um I guess
(16:16):
after I am done with it orgetting near done with it, I'll
listen back to it.
And uh there's the the the it'sdifferent.
It's all it's always different.
There's sometimes when likebecause you're playing it back
as you go, and there's sometimeswhen you'll sit, I'll have
worked on something for like 30or 40 minutes, and I'll play it
back, and I'll just be like,nah, I got nothing else.
(16:37):
The inspiration's out on thisone, and then that one just uh
that session just sits there,and eventually I'll revisit it
and maybe try to do something.
But I have like this uh backlogof old demos, I think there's
like 70 of them, and I was like,Oh, should I do a MacDamarco
style thing where I drop like a200-song bullshit album?
But uh I think Graham, myfriend Graham, who runs the
(17:00):
label, talked me out of thatone.
He was like, don't do that.
And I was like, All right.
The next week I was like, I'mreally glad he told me not to do
that.
colleyc (17:09):
You'd probably still be working on parts of it.
Well, in in essence, you workpretty quickly.
Um is that accurate to say?
Alexei Shishkin (17:17):
Yes, I think so.
colleyc (17:18):
Yeah.
And I want to kind of drilldown a little bit on the on on
how you like your process to bekind of a private, it's an
intimate uh process for you, inthe sense that it's not a space
where you're welcoming othermusicians in and it's like a
co-creation.
Um and again, correct me if I'mI'm overstating myself here,
(17:40):
but what if we look specificallyat Good Times, your latest
release, I heard that yourecorded it in four days.
When you brought the stuff tothe studio, were you pretty set
on the arrangement of it and howyou saw it uh playing out?
Alexei Shishkin (17:55):
No, there was no stuff.
I just showed up and then wekind of did it.
Yeah, like I um my friend Bradruns that studio, Bradford
Krieger.
The studio is called Big Nice,and it is in Rhode Island.
It is an incredible studio, andBrad is an amazing musician and
producer, and if it wasn't forhim, this thing would not even
remotely sound like it does.
Uh he he really can bring it.
(18:16):
Um, but yeah, Brad and I aregood friends, and so when I the
I usually so at the time I wasliving in New York, right?
And I just every so oftenwanted to just take a break from
the grind.
And to me, like booking timewith Brad and just going to play
music was like a greatvacation, right?
(18:36):
So I would just go, hey, um,what's your schedule looking
like for the next six or eightmonths?
What do you got?
And he'd tell me what dateshe's got, and I'd go, cool,
let's book some time in May orwhatever.
Let's book these four, or Ithink this one was in July, I
don't remember, but let's bookthese four days.
I'll come up there and thenwe'll play.
In the past, I had come upthere with, like you said, with
(18:58):
arrangements, with ideas.
This one I was just like, well,me and Brad are at this point
so locked in and we can kind ofjust like have fun and
improvise.
I'm just gonna show up withouteven my guitars or anything.
I just came, I just got on thetrain with my laptop and went up
there.
The laptop was for work, itwasn't for the show, or not the
show, for the record.
Uh, and I got in there and wejust started like improvising
(19:21):
basically.
That was it.
It was just all improvised.
We had Dave Kahn come in andplay bass for the first uh half
of the first day because he hadto work, and I forgot to tell
him that I booked these days.
Uh so he was like, I can comein for half a day.
I said, Okay, great.
Like, here, let me play yousome drum loops, and you just
start improvising over them.
(19:42):
Then Brad and I took his basslines, chopped them up, arranged
them wherever we wanted, andkind of just made an made a
record.
So it was yeah, there's to toanswer your question, there was
no there was nothing.
It was a blank canvas when wewalked in.
colleyc (19:55):
Well, so I mean it it it's recalling me to the story
you told about the loops um inthe sampling where it's you
know, we were piecing thingstogether and finding the
structures as we're going, kindof like curing that, putting
that there, yeah, repeat thatover, stuff like that.
Alexei Shishkin (20:11):
I I think that the reason that it was able to
come together so seamlessly isbecause both Brad and I have a
very uh similar approach tomusic where we're not super
precious about it.
Like we're our goal is to justlike move through it and make
stuff, and we're not gonnareally want to sit and I I don't
want to speak for him, but Ifeel like he would agree with
(20:32):
me.
Uh there's no need, there'sthis point of like where you're
spending more time on it thanwhat you're getting back out of
it.
And I don't want to sit andremix a thing.
You know, I was listening to apodcast the other day where I
wasn't sure if this was a jokeor not, but they were talking
about how like U2 goes throughlike 170 rounds of mixing their
shit, and it's just like I getit, you're you too.
(20:53):
You that's a big that's adifferent story, right?
But like for little little ol'me, like I don't want to make
someone sit there and mix mymusic for a whole day while we
figure out like let's let's justrecord it and move on.
Um, one thing that was reallygreat in our process was that
you know, I again I like to justbe agile and just keep moving.
I don't really care about whatamp we're setting up, what
(21:16):
guitar I'm playing, what mic I'musing.
So for a lot of that shit, wejust took the guitars and we
plugged them directly in andjust used like whatever was on
the computer because it was it'sjust m easier that way, and
right we're more flexible andmore fluid, and we can just kind
of go wherever we want.
Because what's worse than likehaving an idea and then having
(21:38):
to wait to set it up, you know,then the inspiration goes, we
might as well just have itready, just start playing, you
know.
colleyc (21:43):
Right, right.
Alexei Shishkin (21:44):
That was it.
It was it was that.
colleyc (21:45):
I mean, so are you saying that these 12 tracks that
make up good times uh againcame out September 5th, 2025.
People check it out.
That it would be almostimpossible to run through this
set list live.
Like I would have to, I meanthat improv nature in the I
(22:07):
don't know what I did.
Alexei Shishkin (22:08):
If I could if I if I got together um with a
group of talented musicians anduh let them show me how to play
the songs, I'm sure we could getthrough them.
So I'll tell you a quick story.
Like with part of this rollout,we had to um or I had to play
like do do these sessions, Iguess, right?
(22:29):
So like uh a radio stationwould be like, Hey, can you
record a session for us?
And at the beginning of it say,Hey, this is Alexi, and I'm
doing this exclusive session forblah, blah, blah, blah.
Um most people, when they dothem, they'll just like grab an
acoustic guitar and play threeof their songs.
And I was like, Well, I don'tknow how to do any of that.
Like, I don't know my songs.
So um, what I ended up doing, II had to learn a couple of
(22:52):
them.
So I took the wave files and Ilike put them through a stem
splitter and started isolatingthe bass, trying to learn the
bass.
So I did that with a couplesongs, but for the most part, I
was like, I'm just gonna recordcovers, man.
Because like when I go back andlisten to old like John Peel
sessions, right?
Like with you know, pavement ormicro Disney and stuff like
that.
(23:12):
Like, I love when those bandsthat I loved are playing covers
of stuff.
There's I think a pavement peelsession where they play um
Killing Moon or something likethat, Echoing the Bunny Man.
And it's like that's cool tome, because that's like I'm not
only getting I'm getting my oneof my favorite bands take on a
favorite song of theirs.
It tells me stylistically howthey would do it, but it gives
(23:35):
me an insight into what inspiresthem.
I think there's nothing coolerthan a cover.
So all that is to say that'swhat I did for a lot of them
because I don't know how to playmy own songs.
colleyc (23:45):
Right.
So it must also, if one plusone equals two, you touring with
this record would be slim to nochance.
Alexei Shishkin (23:56):
Out of the question.
Zero chance, zero chance.
I have zero, zero, zero desireto tour ever in a musical
capacity.
Touring and doing like a showon on stage, like a podcast or
something would be really fun,or even being a part of like a
theatrical production orsomething would be really fun, I
think.
But not not doing a musicthing.
(24:18):
I'd like I've just been aroundit so much at at such a at a
small, like a low level, youknow, that I I've seen and I've
heard stories of how like thetours are and shit.
And if I was like 23, cool,that would be amazing.
But it's like I'm gonna be 30.
Yeah, I'm gonna be 36.
(24:39):
Yeah, I'm gonna be 36 nextyear.
I don't want to go sleep in ain the van or like lay on the
floor at a friend's house orsomething like that, it's not
for me.
colleyc (24:46):
Right, right.
And was it always like that,Alexi?
Like when you startedrecording, if you know, back,
you know, again, just referringto your bandcamp page 2012, like
digital started to happen,started to come forward.
Um like was that always theidea that I would never I don't
want to be a performer, I wantto be a crafter and a maker of
(25:09):
music, but listen to it on on onyou know Spotify or whatever.
Uh don't expect me to come playyou or anything like that.
Alexei Shishkin (25:18):
Yeah, and it's it's it's just like it just my
personal f enjoyment comes fromplaying the music.
I don't really care, no offenseto anyone who might enjoy the
music.
Uh I thank you and I love you,but I also don't really care if
they like it or if you like itor not.
Like I don't, it just doesn'tbother me.
Like I would I just like makingthe music, and my favorite part
(25:41):
is recording it.
Like I I love the recordingprocess, I think it's so much
fun.
And especially when you're in astudio with like two one or two
other people who you're justlike mind-melded with, there's
nothing more fun because it'sjust like a group art project.
It's so much, it's so cool.
Um you know, again, I I getlike I've always called myself a
(26:03):
hobbyist musician because likeyou can't achieve a career in
music without, I mean, for themost part, without touring at
some level or playing live, youknow.
Yes, you can potentially figureout a way to cobble one
together, but very it's veryrare.
And you know, music to me isone lane, that's my passion
(26:25):
lane, and then I have otherskills that make my career.
It's right video.
colleyc (26:31):
And you've always you've always been aware of
those two lanes that you thatyou set up.
Alexei Shishkin (26:36):
Like it's and uh Yeah, yeah.
colleyc (26:40):
I respect those lanes, I like those lanes, I'm staying
in those lanes because that'swhat I want.
Alexei Shishkin (26:46):
Yeah.
colleyc (26:47):
Yeah.
Alexei Shishkin (26:47):
Yeah, yeah, 100%.
I think early early on.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Early on, I wasn't so sure ofit from the career perspective.
I knew that music was apassion.
I wasn't sure if what I wanted,I wasn't sure what I wanted to
do career-wise.
So for a long time I thought itwas to work in music doing
(27:10):
video stuff, like doing musicvideos and like any, you know,
whatever, all that kind ofstuff.
And I did that for a little bitand um I hated it.
I hated it.
I I don't really enjoy doingvideo stuff for money that is
creative.
I just don't want to beburdened with that.
I think that's a lot ofpressure.
(27:31):
I don't want to do that.
I'd rather like put my skillsand the craft that I've mastered
towards like just very blackand white corporate work where
like here is your boxes, checkthem off, get it done, get the
paycheck, go home.
That's what I like.
Um I like doing video stuff ifI if it's for me and it's
passion and I can controleverything about it, then I'm
(27:53):
in.
But I don't want to do uh Idon't want to like really have
to answer to to to people inthat regard, I guess.
colleyc (28:03):
I love it.
I mean and I you know I meanyou and I are no spring
chickens, right?
Um it's good to come to a statein life where you are happy
with where you're at and you'renot trying to recreate yourself,
you know.
Like I mean, you can likelittle nuances and stuff.
Sure.
I mean, I'm gonna stop drinkingcoffee or shit, I'm gonna give
(28:26):
jazz a try again, or whatever itmight be, right?
Alexei Shishkin (28:28):
Yeah, yeah.
colleyc (28:29):
But at a certain age you kind of like start to
understand who you are and whatyou want.
Alexei Shishkin (28:38):
I I just think it's uh to me, a lot of my
favorite artists are ones whohave always who have continued
making stuff and have never beenafraid to sort of just do
anything they want.
So like Martin Newell is onethat comes to mind.
He had an act called TheCleaners from Venus.
He like kind of does anythinghe wants.
(28:59):
It's not like it's not a youknow, he doesn't try to chase
some sort of image or something.
He just, if he's inspired bysomething, he'll make it.
Another guy whose stuff Ireally love is a guy called Sean
O'Hagan.
He was in a band called MicroDisney in the 80s.
Uh and then he was a part ofStereo Lab.
He formed the High Llamas, he'sdone work with Tim Gain from
(29:21):
Stereo Lab doing other stuff.
But all that is to say, like,if you go and listen to his work
from 1980 to present, you'regonna get such a wild ride of
different stuff, but you canstill see his influence in it
throughout.
I've always thought that shitwas really cool.
I think like I, you know, thankyou for listening and going
(29:41):
back to some of the old stuff,because I think I described it
this way on a different showthat I did, but I always say
like this is the stupidestthing, but music my music like
discography, whatever, is like ashawarma where like I'm just
stacking like slices of meat onthe spit.
And just letting it marinate,and it's it's a product of time,
(30:04):
you know?
It's like in an ideal world,one person goes back and goes,
Whoa, there's so much to diginto here.
That's what I did with the highllamas, that's what I did with
Martin Newell.
Like, even guided by voices andstuff like that, I'm like, oh
my god, like there's so much todig into here.
This is so cool.
So hopefully someone can havethat experience.
colleyc (30:25):
Well, I love too that illusion you just made with
layers, because the cake on goodtimes kind of brings that to
mind as well.
You know, the multiple layersof stuff.
Alexei Shishkin (30:36):
Didn't even plan it.
Didn't even plan it.
But that is a beauty, a happy,a happy accident, as we said.
colleyc (30:43):
There you go.
Well, Alexi, this has beenreally cool.
Thanks so much for taking a bitof time out of your day and
sharing some of your thoughtsand the process and how you got
to where you're at.
People go check out uh LexiChishkin's uh I hope I'm saying
your name right, right?
Yeah, yeah, that's correct.
Alexei Shishkin (31:01):
Um just as it's spelled.
colleyc (31:03):
There we go.
Great record.
Um it's got a lot of fun, a lotof variety to it.
Um, and I really appreciate uhthis chat, so thanks a lot, man.
Alexei Shishkin (31:12):
Yeah, thank you.
colleyc (31:15):
Cool.
Alexei Shishkin (31:48):
I'm gonna look to walk to the mirror There's
the expression that it's true.
Expression that won't disappearit won't disappear Reptilian
(32:10):
brain, reptilian brain,reptilian rain It's getting
harder to remember Brain andBlender blending all the ring.
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