What happens when you take the drummer from indie A-listers Fleet Foxes and mix with a bloody, raccoon-eyed Aubrey Plaza throwing shit around a cabin in the woods? The answer is last year’s first music video from the creative stronghold known as Father John Misty.
J. Tillman, also known as the former drummer for Fleet Foxes, released debut album Fear Fun under his new moniker Father John Misty in May of 2012. When discussing his inspiration for the new name, Tillman paraphrased Philip Roth, “‘It’s all of me and none of me, if you can’t see that, you won’t get it.’ What I call it is totally arbitrary, but I like the name. You’ve got to have a name. I never got to choose mine.”
In order to deliver such a creative departure from his earlier work, Tillman turned full-on Kerouac to create Fear Fun with the help of some psychedelic influence.
“I got into my van with enough mushrooms to choke a horse and started driving down the coast with nowhere to go. After a few weeks, I was writing a novel, which is where I finally found my narrative voice….It was a while before that voice started manifesting in a musical way, but once I settled in the Laurel Canyon spider-shack where I’m living now, I spent months demoing all these weird-ass songs about weird-ass experiences almost in real-time, and kind of had this musical ‘Oh-there-I-am’ moment, identical to how I felt when I was writing the book.”
Father John Misty is hitting the road this month and embarking on a five-month tour spreading his existential tunes to modern day hippies everywhere. On Wednesday, October 23, he’s making his way to the 9:30 Club with comedian Kate Berlant, and we’ve got a pair of tickets to give you before they even go on sale!
If you want to win a pair of tickets to see Father John Misty at the 9:30 Club, then tell us in the comments below, your favorite solo project born out of a successful band.
Mine has to be Paul McCartney because in case you haven’t figured it out yet, he’s my Number 1.
The winner will be chosen at 9:00 AM this Thursday, July 25, so get your entry in soon. Tickets go on sale later that morning at 10:00 AM.
