Name: Kelley Williams

Band: Back of a Car

Duties: Singer/Songwriter/Guitarist    

(photo: Joe Suarez)

I first heard Back of a Car when my band Dubois played a showed with Kelley last year at Haphazard Hall in Las Cruces. I had seen Kelley at other shows conversing with friends but up until that point I hadn't heard his music. At the time, he was manning the BOAC ship entirely and it was just him performing solo. I was blown away by his guitar playing and songwriting. I enjoyed it, I really did but I always thought adding a drummer would aid the rhythmic and driving elements of BOAC. Fast forward a half year or so and after my work shift I came home and heard my roommate/band mate Farshid drumming to new material on his headphones. That music turned out to be Back of a Car. Shortly after, Kelley and Farsh joined forces and recorded at Brainville. At the time, I actually used to live at Brainville so throughout the duration of the recording I was able to not only listen to the material but see how thorough and committed Kelley was to running BOAC. It was truly the equivalent of a mad scientist in his lab trying to perfect his craft. I was actually at the release for Unconditional Loathe at Art Obscura in Las Cruces a couple weeks back and the energy in the room was electrifying. It was as if every note that Kelley was playing was lassoing in the crowd. Making them want more. Loud but not exactly crushing my ears to the point of wanting to leave the room. It just felt and sounded right. It was solid and they executed what they worked so hard for flawlessly. For those that haven't heard Back of a Car (as a full band) I personally think its somewhat of an amalgam of American Football's melodies, My Blood Valentine's chaos, somewhat of a Tera Melos quirky explosive vibe right under the threshold of pure insanity, jammed with the vibes of a 90's Tooth & Nail band. But none of that matters so go take a listen for yourself. Thanks to Kelley for taking his time in answering these questions. Enjoy.

Goofy

Tang or Hershey's?

To tell you the truth, I hadn’t had Tang since I was a kid until Farshid made me a glass whilst recording at Brainville. I didn’t enjoy it at all. So I’ll go with Hershey’s, even though I don’t like it THAT much.

Billy Madison or Happy Gilmore?

I’m gonna choose the lesser of two evils here: Billy Madison.

Gumballs or chiclets?

Chiclets. Gumballs hurt my sensitive teeth.

The Southwestern United States is _____________?

…at once a place of immense suffering and a place of rest.

Favorite movie featuring Nicolas Cage?

Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

You have told me that you personally do not like sports. If you had to participate in one of the following which do you think you would do better in? Hockey goalie or football punter?

I used to play a lot of street hockey when I was a kid so I think I’d definitely be better as a hockey goalie.

New band name - Back of a RV or Back of an Ice Cream Truck?

Back of a RV. Ice cream is great but I have really sensitive teeth.

Personal

Typical breakfast?

I usually don’t talk about my diet.

Typical dinner?

My wife and I make tortellini a lot. And I always eat jalapenos with almost every meal. But I find these questions weird because, once again, I don’t really like to talk about my diet too much.

You grew up in Hobbs, NM. Has growing up there influenced your writing style in any way?

Growing up in Hobbs has definitely had an impact on my writing. When I grew up in Hobbs, the  local economy was depressed due to lack of work in the oil fields. That was Hobbs’ primary industry at the time. Any time a town endures economic conditions such as these, certain physical aspects like parks, roads, buildings etc are neglected. So I grew up around all of these abandoned buildings, unkempt parks; a lot of neglect in general. I should also mention that Hobbs was very isolated. The closest interstate was a few hours away. As a kid, none of this was overly apparent to me. Before I was a teenager, I didn’t make it out of my hometown too much to ever really notice stark differences between Hobbs and other places. A big trip for us was to Lubbock or Midland, TX. I mean, Albuquerque was a 7 hour drive! But as I got older and was fortunate enough to go to bigger places like Albuquerque or Dallas even, I began to notice all the big differences between those places and my tiny, depressed town. So by the time I was a teenager, reflecting on the desperation of the place became pretty important to me. It was around this time that I also began to play the guitar. So it was only natural that I wrote from a place of anger and desperation. I’ve never really been able to let go of that.

You come to El Paso very often to practice and play shows. Do you have any preference between playing music in El Paso versus Las Cruces?

I really love playing shows in both places and practicing in both places as well. I have only lived in this area for a few years so I have only been making trips to El Paso regularly for a short time El Paso still feels pretty unfamiliar to me. I like that.

Last book/last album you purchased?

The last book I purchased was Mainlines, Blood Feasts and Bad Taste: A Lester Bangs Reader and the last album I purchased was Van Dale’s self-titled record.

Favorite hardcore punk band?

This is a really hard question for me to answer succinctly. There are so many bands in this genre that I really love. Some of my favorites are: SSD, Minor Threat, Youth of Today, Gorilla Biscuits, Black Flag, Husker Du, Dag Nasty. A lot of bands from the D.C. scene.

Any pre-rituals before playing a show?

I do some vocal warm ups. I sing Paul Baribeau’s song “Tablecloth”. I try to talk to Farshid about something mundane.

At times, your guitar playing has a bit of a math-y feel to it. Are there any guitarists along the vein of jazz/math rock that you like or perhaps you would say contribute to your sound?

Yamazaki Hirokazu and Mino Takaaki of toe have been highly influential on me. That entire band has heavily influenced me. Guitarists like Mike Kinsella and Tim Kinsella have been an influence on me as well. I really love American Football and Joan of Arc. I would also say that Johnny Marr is a notable influence too. Anna Waronker of That Dog is another guitarist whose sound I love. She taught me vicariously how to use a fuzz pedal. Belinda Butcher of My Bloody Valentine can burst your eardrums with her guitar sound and you love her for it. There’s a lot of other guitarists who’ve had an impact on me but I’ll leave you with those.

The end of “Your Heart is an Atlas” features a sound clip from the show, My So-Called Life. Why did you choose that clip?

I chose that clip because I love the dynamic between those two characters in that scene. In the scene from the show, there’s a lot more dialogue included by members of Angela Chase’s family to juxtapose how light hearted everything was around them while they were having this argument that was clearly so meaningful to both of them. When I recorded the clip from my TV for the song, I decided to cut everything out from the scene except Angela’s and Brian’s lines. It turned out sounding much more serious and dramatic than it does in the show which I think lends itself to the song well. That song is about guarding yourself so I think that clip is a good fit.

Do you have any TV drama series that you enjoy that you'd recommend?

No.

Back of a Car

When did Back of a Car begin? Can you elaborate a little bit on the origin of the band?

Back of a Car started in 2014. For the previous few years, I was writing and performing under my own name but I got tired of that real quick so I decided to write a bunch more songs and call it Back of a Car.

For someone that has never listened to Back of a Car, how would you describe it musically?

I personally think we sound like Morella’s Forest and Don Caballero as one band. Of course we have many more influences and sounds going on but Farshid’s drumming with my playing definitely has a Don Caballero vibe to it. I think so at least.

I'm guessing that the name, Back of a Car, derived from the Big Star song. Is Big Star an influence of yours? What other artists would you say influence Back of a Car the most?

Actually, the band name does not come from the Big Star song. I love that band and song but the name comes from somewhere else. But Big Star is a great band that I love to listen to. I don’t think they’re much of an influence on me but I love that band. Since I write the bands’ songs I would say that the artists that influence me most are, obviously, the ones that influence BOAC the most. I’ve mentioned a lot of them in previous questions so for the sake of brevity, I’ll leave it at that.

Back of a Car is currently you and Farshid Farrokhnia on drums. From what I understand, you have always been a one piece minus a short stint with another drummer. How did you get to this point and do you see Back of a Car evolving into a full band at any time?

Farshid and I met at a Dubois show at Haphazard Hall in Las Cruces one night. He came to a few of my shows after meeting him and we’d converse whenever we saw each other. Dubois had another show at Tricky Falls in December of last year and after your guys’ set I walked up to talk to Farshid. At this point with Back of a Car, I had studio time booked at Brainville and was supposed to begin rehearsals with another drummer rather soon. However, that drummer decided to move and I was left without a drummer. When I mentioned all this to Farshid, he said he’d like to drum for me. We began rehearsing the next week and we were able to get the songs down together pretty quick. And then we recorded “Unconditional Loathe”. It’s been really great playing with him. I think we work together very well.

You recently released a new album called “Unconditional Loathe”. What's the meaning behind naming it that?

“Unconditional Loathe” means a complete and total hopelessness. The funny thing about a feeling like that is just how certain it feels, even though, by definition, hopelessness can’t be certain. That phrase is almost illogical, but it feels right.

Where were you at emotionally / in your life while creating Neverending versus Unconditional Loathe?

I recorded “Neverending” just under a year ago so I’d say I’m in a pretty similar place emotionally now. I wrote all of the songs on “Neverending” in 2014 and the songs on “Unconditional Loathe” were written in 2014 and 2015, respectively. I see “Neverending” and “Unconditional Loathe” as companion records even though sonically they’re very different.

You recorded Unconditional Loathe with Ross Ingram at Brainville. Was there a particular sound that you were going for when making this album?

Going into the record, I had a very clear idea of what I wanted the record to sound like. I had worked out these sonic ideas in the months prior because I only have so much time and money to record a full length record. We recorded the record in 4 days and it was mixed the following 3 days so I really think Ross, Farshid and I were able to create a space where we were all thinking in the same sonic terms. We definitely wanted the record to have extremely loud qualities but still retain a sense of musical articulation. We also wanted a sense of prettiness and beauty when the guitars cleaned up and weren’t fuzzy and overdriven. We wanted the vocals to be distant so you really have to search for meaning, like a person does when they feel hopeless. I personally think we achieved these stated ends but I feel it’s better for an audience to create a narrative as opposed to thrusting one on them. So we’ll see!

What's next for Back of a Car?

I would like to include a bass player and a few more guitarists in the future so everyone is welcome to send in their audition tapes.

This wraps it up. Any other last words?

I liked your questions. You should do more interviews.

Check out Unconditional Loathe at: https://backofacar.bandcamp.com

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