Tempo Talks: A Conversation with Miles East
THE RELEASE
One of the music industry’s few beacons of true originality, Miles East is preparing to release his eagerly awaited album, Between Lightning and Thunder. For the past ten years, this musician has made his mark on New York City stages, being one-of-a-kind in his approach to the drums. The first two singles have already been successes, with a lot of press and over 250,000 streams! The album is helmed by producer Blake Morgan, with multi-instrumentalist Justin Goldner providing an instrumental bed that spans a variety of music genres. Between Lightning and Thunder sets East’s consolidated feelings and his path through uncharted waters ablaze across the musical backdrop as a metaphor for resilience and true innovation.
“All Hands On Deck,” Miles East’s forthcoming album’s third single, is a ferocious demand in the face of adversity. With a sense of impending doom, East guides his followers into the storms that life throws at them. The song is a metaphor for the numerous battles that so many of us are fighting now and approaching in the future—once more, the chorus insists, all hands on deck, we must prepare for these storms and stand ready. East’s urgency is channeled into a record that empowers listeners to band together on the darkest days. The forthcoming album’s rising excitement will guarantee a turbulent, stimulating prowl through this thing we call life.
THE INTERVIEW
If you had to create a Mount Rushmore of inspiration, what four individuals molded the artist you are today?
I'm tempted to just say The Beatles and call it a day but that leaves out a bit too much. Top of the list would be Paul McCartney, he's easily my musical Rosetta Stone. Next would be Jim Croce. He was the first artist I experienced where I was like "Oh wait! You actually have something to say here!" His classic "Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels)" was the first addition to my never ending list of songs I'd wish I'd written. The next two spots have to go to Taylor Goldsmith (of Dawes) and Jason Isbell. Right up to 2013 I had resigned myself to the notion that my influences would be forever relegated to the artist of my youth the aforementioned, James Taylor, Carole King, The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Elton and Bernie, Joni, Carly, Jackson Browne, Don McLean, and on and on. Then in 2013 Jason Isbell drops Southeastern and Dawes drops Stories Don't End. I dove happily down both rabbit holes with a singular goal in mind. I want to be that good at this.
Throughout the production of your new album, were there specific challenges or breakthrough moments that had a profound influence on the overall direction and cohesion of the project?
Absolutely, and I credit Blake Morgan who, as producer, was just doing his job. I’m unabashedly in love with the 70’s Laurel Canyon sound and I never met a major 7th chord I didn’t love. After we culled 30 odd songs down to ten Blake said “You know what? As I listen through your songs I’m not so sure that’s the approach we should take.” And in the back of my mind I was feeling a little bit the same way. He went on to say “I’m getting McCarney Ram and Sea Change Beck vibes here. I instantly knew he was right and that was the approach we took. Sonically speaking the idea is that if Ram and Sea Change had a baby it would be Between Lightning and Thunder. The beauty of this is that it doesn’t really sound like either of those records and it actually sounds closer to my initial vision but in a completely fresh and authentic way. Had we stuck with my initial vision the record probably would have ended up sounding like one big cliche. Instead, we arrived at it organically by taking our cue from the songs themselves and zeroing in on two meaningful works of art for inspiration rather than trying to recreate a sound profile of an entire decade. A lesser producer might’ve just said: if that’s the sound you want then that’s the sound you get. And even though I had a sliver of doubt about it, I might have just kept it to myself.
Can you offer insights into the collaborative dynamics that shaped your upcoming album, shedding light on the contributions from producers, co-writers, engineers, or featured artists and how their involvement impacted the final body of work?
The entire record was produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered by Blake Morgan. That singularity of vision is one of the reasons the record is so sonically indelible. My favorite part of making this record was preproduction. We worked on in for a full year before any studio time was booked—picking the songs, working them until they were 100%, bringing the themes of the record into focus, zeroing in on the sonic vision, getting granular with drum sounds, amp sounds, room sounds, guitar selection, microphones (the fewer the better), type of console, even the type of tape we’d want to use if we were going fully analogue. Absolutely nothing was left to chance and all before we even thought of hitting the record button. It’s easy to assume that such detail prior to getting into the studio might set too rigid a framework for the recording process but actually the opposite is true. The more of a foundation you have of clear and informed choices going in, the more breathing room you have to stretch those choices and/or go outside them. It’s what led us to bring in Justin Goldner for some of the atmospheric guitar work on the record. Having worked with him on my label mate Janita’s record, we knew he was the right cat to deliver the special sauce.
Considering the entirety of your upcoming album, what lasting impact or impression do you hope the collection of songs will leave on listeners, both individually and as a cohesive musical journey?
More than any other art form, music puts the pin in our shared human experience and I simply want to honor that. Music has been such a strong force of solace and commiseration in my life, guiding me out of dark places. Specifically, music that doesn’t pretend the darkness doesn’t exist but embraces said darkness and knows its slopes and chasms so that it can effectively navigate you to safety. This new record is my purest distillation thus far of that intention. I hope listeners can find solace in each individual song but I’m a firm believer in albums as a collection of songs that speak like chapters of a larger work. I believe this record to be that and it’s my hope that listeners discover it as such. A tall order in the streaming world we live in, but color me an unabashed romantic.
As you look forward, how does the release of this album set the stage for your future projects, and are there any subtle hints or clues you can share about the evolving musical direction you plan to explore in the coming months?
And spoil the surprise??? In all seriousness and with all due respect to the question, it’s been my experience that crystal balls and art don’t really mix. At present and for the immediate future, Miles the singer/songwriter is very much about my new record which drops in full on June 7th. It’s not yet time to think beyond the work I’ll be doing to support that. I can say that this is the most grounded I’ve felt as an artist thus far and future music will be the result of me going deeper into the journey of paying it forward. As “Miles the drummer,” I’ll happily let the cat out of the bag. Several projects I’m involved in are currently in production: Janita’s next record is nearing completion and her residency at The Bitter End begins May 15th with me on drums. I’m currently in preproduction for Blake’s next record, writing and working out drum parts. And I had the pleasure of playing drums on Chris Barron’s (of Spin Doctors) next solo record currently in production.
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