Ryan Monroe hadn’t considered himself a control freak by nature. Then he found himself at Redstar Recording in Silver Lake, Calif., with its myriad instruments scattered around, just begging to be fiddled with. For a guy who can play just about anything, it was impossible to resist. So Monroe took a breather from his continuing role as the 34-year-old bastion of versatility in Band Of Horses to record A Painting Of A Painting On Fire (RCM). Monroe hopes to tour this summer behind A Painting before things get too busy with Band Of Horses, which is finishing its fourth album with producer Glyn Johns and eyeing a September release. Monroe will also be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new feature on him.
Monroe: I bought this on cassette single when I was about 12 years old. It came in one of those little poorly shrink-wrapped cardboard sleeves. At that age, I was naturally intrigued by any cassette with the “Parental Advisory” sticker on the cover. I recall like it was yesterday staring at the cover of Eazy-Duz-It for hours on end and sticking my head up to the speaker of my jambox so my mom wouldn’t hear it. But with “We’re All In The Same Gang,” I could jam it loud as hell without getting grounded because it had a good message and was edited (my favorite edit was “you’re a stupid mutha…uh!!”). It had an all-star lineup, and I memorized every word of everyone’s part, male and female, and I switched my prepubescent voice accordingly. It was the funnest thing ever to do, and I think when I started writing songs a year or so later, I would try to fit different voices or characters in one song because of this track. I wore it out, literally: it cracked, and I was pulling eight-inch tape out of my silver jambox like mozzarella cheese out of a calzone. It was sad day, but it had served its purpose and remains a captain on my team of true influences.
Video after the jump.
