Issue No. 3

Milton Mapes

Trout: First of all I feel a certain connection to the fact that your band was named after your grandfather. My grandfather and I were very close and he had a similarly same lettered name (Ben Bradley) and I have often thought of naming something after him. Is naming your band after your grandfather evocative of anything other than “It just stuck”?

Greg Vanderpool: We were inspired by one of our favorite Dallas bands Pop Poppins
(supposedly named after Mary Poppins' father), and Milton Mapes was our
attempt at that.  It wasn't really a calculated decision at first, but I
think the name fits because he represents, to me, a bygone era.  He's a
WWII veteran and my grandmother was a child of the dustbowl in Oklahoma, so there's a certain toughness there and a nostalgic sense of character in that generation that I think is really admirable. I think nostalgia is a big part of me and my
perspective on things, so that's the connection of the music to the name

T: Tell me briefly about how the band assembled

GVP: Roberto Sanchez and I grew up in the same neighborhood, and were playing in another band in Dallas .  We eventually reconvened in Austin always hoping to put a band together, and it has seen several versions finally leading to the current lineup.  So it's gone from a duo to a five piece over the last 6 years.  We've got a good group now. (Britton Beisenherz, Jim Fredley, Chris Dye).

T: What is a Blacklight Trap?:

GVP: In the dictionary, it's a device that lures bugs and insects to their impending doom.  Obviously it's used metaphorically on our record and in the song. Addiction is the subject at the center of the song but in a larger, more global sense The Blacklight Trap is any of the world's many lies.

T: The Blacklight Trap is used as a metaphor for substance abuse on the record. Do you have a personal experience you relate to in that arena? Do you see substance abuse as a component of a bigger darkness in Milton Mapes music?:

'GVP:I've had a lot of people close to me deal with substance abuse issues, so it's something that's had a big effect on me for sure.  I've never really had any desire to experiment with recreational drugs, although I've certainly embraced alcohol from time to time.  Sometimes that's enough.

T: What was the recording process like? What is the writing process like?:

GVP: Recording is different on every album.  I prefer it to playing live, because it allows me to create at my own pace, and bars aren't always good places to listen to our kind of music.  Usually the songs are written over the course of a year or two before recording begins, although I'm looking forward to creating songs from scratch in the studio next time.

T: I refer to you sometimes when turning people on to your record as the “Joy Division of Texas .” What do you think of that?:

GVP: Very cool.  New Order's "Brotherhood" is a record I've especially liked for a long time, so I'm glad to hear that influence come through.  I'd have to say that sounds much better than Alt-Country.

T: There is a definite dark, parlor room, flea/farmers market feel to your songs. Most of the things you sing/write about are shadowy and not totally defined. Kind of like finding a pile of records when you move in somewhere or at a hospital. Even the cover looks like grandparents house upholstery, Is this how you see it?:

GVP: This record is especially dark that way, and some of my favorite records inhabit those kinds of places.  Not always descriptive to the detail, but a little vague and mysterious, and beautiful nonetheless.  I like being there, as a listener.  Music can be fun and entertaining, but it's nice to break from that sometimes and dig into the shadows.

T: How did the Rudyard Kipling poem come to be used?

GVP:His poem "When Earth's Last Picture is Painted" was in a book of spiritual poems that I sometimes consult, especially when I'm searching for lyrical content to flesh out a song.  I took a few lines of his and ran with it. I later read he used music as a means of creating rhythmic patterns for his poems, so it's nice to know he was applying a similar technique.

T: What have you done for a living in the past? Is Milton Mapes your day job?

T: What do you think of the claims that Milton Mapes chronicles a ‘mythical America’? Personally, I think if your band was a movie it would be either “Paris, Texas” or “Five Easy Pieces”.

GVP: I hope our music comes across like those films.  Neither are Hollywood blockbusters, but the people who "get it" really feel attached to the mood of those stories.  America is such a great backdrop for any story because the whole idea of it is mythical in a way.  It's the "New World", the "Frontier", you know?  In spite of all of our flaws as a culture, the original ideals are inherently good.  But as humans we're destined to screw it up somehow, politically or internally.  On a more universal scale I think that's really the theme of this album: We can't do it alone, but We don't have to, and that's reassuring to me in a spiritual sense.

T: You use the desert and rocks as metaphors quite a bit. Why?

GVP: I've always been fascinated by that type of landscape.  It's just a personal attachment to things that have stood the test of time, I guess. There's a simplicity out there, openness that I don't feel anywhere else.

T: What’s your all time favorite record?

GVP: U2-'The Unforgettable Fire'

T: What was the last record you listened to?

GVP: Songs:Ohia "Didn't It Rain".  Good stuff.

T: Anything else you’d like to add?

GVP: Just "thank you" for taking the time to listen (I mean really listening). It's really fun to create something and have people respond to it in some emotional way on any scale.  Albums are quickly becoming a thing of the past, giving way to songs as singles (like it was in the 1950's etc). That's good for the consumer, but it was our goal to stay with the concept of making an album in the traditional sense, and force people to listen from that perspective.

Keep up with everything Milton Mapes here . If they are in your town, go see them!