Earlier this year, Strategies released their self-titled, debut EP. The band’s lineup consists of guitarist Paul Lask, (The Ghost, Tight Phantomz) drummer Neil Hennessy, (Lawrence Arms) and singer Brian Moss, (Great Apes, Hanalei, The Ghost). We recently spoke with Paul and Brian and talked about the band’s origins, which trace back to the early months of the pandemic. We also discussed their sound, as it incorporated elements of indie rock and Midwestern emo, not to mention a host of other influences. Additionally, we conversed about how the EP was recorded, some of its lyrical content, Strategies’ future plans and more.

Bill – Strategies formed in 2020, but you guys had obviously known each other for many years prior to that. Had the three of you always talked about making music together or was this something that just came about in recent years?

Paul – This came about directly because of the pandemic, but Neil and I had been making music together for quite a while, just informally. Brian and I had been in The Ghost and had done a project back in 2013 called Caught. So, we’ve all kind of been in the soup together, but we hadn’t actually made it what it is until the last couple years.

Brian – We all have this kind of interwoven history together and then Neil ended up filling in for Olehole, (one of Moss’s previous bands) for a brief stint on a tour. That was amazing, but it was kind of Paul and Neil’s thing that they approached me about getting involved in during the pandemic.

Bill – Was there a particular incident during Covid that inspired this project or was it something that just evolved from you guys jamming together?

Paul – Actually the three of us were doing cover songs, like we would assign each other a song to cover. That was a lot of fun. I think just wanting to perform and scratch that itch, you know? And then Neil and I had done some demoing and we decided to see if Brian would be into it. It just really worked well I think for that situation.

Bill – What were some of the songs that you guys covered or was there one that kind of led you down that path to writing your own material?

Brian – They asked me to do Neil Young’s “Love Is a Rose” and that was super fun. I had kind of been in a musical and creative desert. I think partly due to the pandemic and partly due to moving to central California and not having musical connections. Also, this area is kind of a bunch of white dread, hippie bullshit and lots of the sunhat, folk stuff, which is not really my jam anyhow. So, it kind of put a fire under me and I really liked covering that song. You guys destroyed me with a Psychedelic Furs song that you had me do. It was just not in my register. I forget what song it was. Paul, didn’t Neil assign you some really under the radar Midwest punk band or some cult Chicago pop punk band?

Paul – They were Australian kids.

Brian – Oh, was it Ben Lee’s old band?

Paul – The song about Evan Dando?

Brian – Yeah, I’m going to look it up…it was Noise Addict!

Paul – That was it. That was a good one. I don’t remember what songs Neil did. I think there was an Elliott Smith song…

Bill – The phrase you used Brian, “creative desert,” that really stands out. As someone who’s not a musician, I can see how this exercise of covering songs could lead to a spark in creativity.

Brian – Yeah, it was something. I think I’m still coming out of it. I’ve been doing Strategies with Paul and Neil, and then I have finally a project here with a multifaceted friend who plays everything well and we’re actually very musically aligned. We’re starting to record now, but it’s been slow. Yeah, that was a spark and I really needed a push. I realized at some point during the pandemic that it was the longest I’d gone since early in high school without playing a show or with playing instruments plugged into amplifiers with people. If anything, I think I’ve been prolific over the years. To kind of have to stop doing it was rough. It took me playing again for me to realize what not playing was doing to me and kind of how vital it was if that makes sense.

Bill – It definitely does. For those who haven’t heard Strategies, but are perhaps familiar with The Ghost or Hanalei, how would you describe Strategies’ sound?

Paul – I just use a catchall and call it an indie project. Brian, maybe you could help. I don’t know what you tell people this project is, but…

Brian – I’m gonna give credit where credit’s due, it’s your thing, you’re the primary songwriter and lyricist. Neil has added a lot too. I feel like I’m the least important piece of the puzzle, so I’m just going to defer to you on describing this. If you’re expecting The Ghost or Hanalei, it’s certainly not that, again because Paul is the primary songwriter. That said, indie is a nice vague, blanket term that could mean a million different things.

Paul – It’s kind of like how would you describe American Football meets Tycho meets off-time, kind of No Knife type stuff? All of that stuff to me falls under the indie rock genre. I don’t really know. I hadn’t really thought through it.

Brian – On the American Football front, there are definitely tinges of the heyday of Midwestern emo, but it’s certainly not that. I think that’s a component, but it doesn’t lean too far into it, if I were to kind of step back and look at this if I could be nonbiased.

Paul – Yeah. The new stuff we’re working on, I was listening to this Brazilian classical dude Gilberto Gil and then you go to Jets to Brazil. It’s just sort of like whatever you’re listening to, there’s no direction here I’m afraid.

Brian – And you’ve been spending a lot of time outdoors in your kayak, so you know, the sound of humpback whales singing and the wind blowing in the coastal pines, that’s an influence too.

Paul – Yeah, with the lyrics too. Totally.

Brian – I meant it in the audio sense, half-joking, and then I said it was like “Oh, that actually kinda checks out,” (laughs).

Bill – That’s great, (laughs). I wanted to ask about the recording process for this EP, because I’m assuming you guys all recorded it separately in different places, right?

Paul – The process was I would send Neil a rough demo with a metronome and then he would do a drum pad and then send it back. I would retrack it tighter and then send that to Brian and he would do vocals. For this EP in particular, I went down to Los Angeles to a studio where Neil was working and we re-tracked 70% of the guitars or something, so we had a lot of layers. That was pretty much the process.

Brian – Yeah, it’s rad. I just kind of show up and get to sing. I mean, there’s pressure, but I feel like when I have to write the songs it can be grueling at points. It’s so nice just to have to do one thing and not actually write, so thank you Paul.

Bill – Given that this was done during Covid, this was kind of the only realistic option to recording, as opposed to the three of you convening in a traditional studio. With that said, were there any limitations to this kind of approach or did it benefit the songs?

Paul – I was watching an interview with Krist Novoselic from Nirvana and Kim Thayil from Soundgarden, and they were talking about their various recording projects. Krist was talking about recording Nevermind and stuff. It was really interesting to think about that energy and being in the room together, and I think everybody was missing it during Covid and is still missing it to some extent. I’m living in a remote place and Brian is living in a relatively remote place, and I think like Brian was saying, that energy is something that you start to miss. You’ve had it since you were a preteen and you realize how much you relied on it. I don’t know how you feel Brian, but that’s definitely how I feel.

Brian – I’m with you 100% on that one. I think that can be reflected in the recording too. There’s a certain energy when people are all in a room together. I’m not saying it’s not there, but it’s lessened when you’re thousands of miles apart, sharing digital files. That being said, I think there’s a lot of positives to recording this way or doing your own recording. You’re not on a budget and you can spend all the time you want experimenting or retracking if you need to. All things considered; it was nice to have that during the pandemic. I think back to when we were kids, as I shake my cane and walk through the snow barefoot, but you’re not going to do distance recording on a Tascam 4-track. So, I think people are super lucky to have this ability to communicate using technology to collaborate and be creative, but I prefer being together in a room.

Bill – Awesome. I wanted to ask about the song “Silent Count” in particular. Do you recall how exactly it came together? I’m curious because it seems like one that was written in a very collaborative manner.

Paul – That one was the most collaborated on. That one was the most chopped up and moved around, compared to the other three. If that’s relevant, I don’t know. I sent them the rough pieces and that one was really cool because it was a collective effort. Everyone was like, “Oh, we should try moving this or try moving that.” I’ve had conversations with Neil recently about hopefully doing more of that if and when there’s time.

Brian – I think that’s another joy of technology where if you record to a click track, the ability you then have in the recording process to manipulate and almost rewrite as you’re recording is expansive. I think with recording to a click track there’s obviously pros and cons, but that’s a feature I enjoy of doing things that way.

Bill – “Camp Elsewhere” is a rather personal song and I feel like it kind of takes the listener on a journey. When I listen to that song, I almost feel like I’m walking on a path alongside the narrator and he or she is telling me this story. What were some of the things that inspired its creation?

Paul – That’s a pretty apt listen because those lyrics are about going on a trip. There was a huge fire on Mount Jefferson, which is sort of central Cascades. My wife and I kind of drove around it. I don’t know if you’ve ever driven through a forest fire, but it’s becoming more common these days, out here anyways. I was also thinking about the latest Hanalei record and the song “Black Snow,” and kind of this imagery of apocalypse and climate crisis. We were just driving through it and looking for campsites and there was this sort of off-grid group. They had a banner that said “Camp Elsewhere,” which could be read as “Go somewhere else!” or like “We are Camp Elsewhere.” Kind of a funny play on words…

Brian – I didn’t even think of the double meaning until now! I always thought of it as the friendly neighbor version, but it’s like “Beat it, asshole!” (Laughs).

Paul – It was way out on the forest service road, so the vibe was kind of like “Keep driving, buddy.” So that night we got away from the fire, up on a different mountain and camped. My wife and I have really bonded over backpacking, so it’s just about that. Kind of loving her forever in this strange environment.

Brian – That was a beautiful synopsis, Paul. I also think Bill that if you’re saying you feel like you’re kind of being dragged along and you’re with the narrator, that is an indication of solid writing. So, kudos Paul.

Paul – Cheers dude.

Brian – I definitely feel you too. These are the times where it’s like, “Oh we’re going camping…right next to a massive forest fire.” Just that alone, the kind of crossroads of recreations and leisure, and death and destruction.

Bill – Yeah or almost just the notion of trying to find some sort of normalcy or enjoyment amidst all the chaos that is our reality today.

Paul – Not to mention that there’s a lowkey guilt too in adding more carbon when you’re driving out there, your footprint. I’m teaching Environmental Literature at a community college right now, so it’s at the forefront of my mind. These are the kinds of conversations we have in class.

Bill – I can certainly see how that would come up during a discussion. Paul, I wanted to ask you about the EP’s artwork. What were some of your motivations when creating the cover art?

Paul – I honestly wanted to get this thing out and didn’t want to have to deal with design and that whole world. Things were dragging in other spaces and I just wanted to move it along. So, I just found a book on fractals. It’s just a math book, but it’s got these cool, weird images. I just scanned them and then turned the tint. I don’t know anything with design. I think moving forward it would be nice to spend a little more time on the design. I talked with Neil about this too, like the simplicity of a fractal design or an antenna on a TV. An antenna is very simple, but there’s a lot of complex mechanisms under it. So, we just liked the veneer of simplicity and then sort of the reality of complexity as well.

Bill – Cool. Have you discussed playing any shows in the future?

Paul – I would say that I’d love to. We’ve all said that we’d like to, so hopefully. Brain, where are you on that?

Brian – Yeah, we’ve talked about it a lot. I think the plan for now is that we’re working on a single and then another EP. There’s been some discussion about meeting up this winter. I would say the fairest answer would be maybe. Hopefully maybe, (laughs).

Bill – And I was going to ask about new music, but it sounds like you guys already have some songs in the works.

Paul – Yeah, still steadily writing and assembling. It doesn’t have any pressure. There are no outside pressures, no labels or anything like that. The feedback was really positive and kind. And some people didn’t like it of course and that’s going to be the case and that’s great too. I’m just super stoked to be working with old friends, very talented friends and making this music. It’s really fun.

Brian – That feeling is mutual for me. I love the lack of pressure. I would have trouble finding pressure in any creative musical endeavor at this point in my life. Any delusions of grandeur would be just that. You just gotta do it because you’re having fun and you’re not really expecting anything out of it other than personal enjoyment and the few old heads who still care about what the three of us are doing. Well, I shouldn’t say that about Neil, but Paul and I, yeah.