The Other Paper: Local Roundup
by Joel Oliphint
July 28, 2011
"Like the EP, [A Light in the Corner] combines instrumental numbers with slow-building guitars--which climax not unlike an Explosions in the Sky song--and tracks with Aaron Sturgill's vintage-emo vocals that evoke Appleseed Cast and Sunny Day Real Estate--or, for local touchstones, Jon Chinn and Denovo. The band added string sections this time, too, to great effect on "Red Orchestra."
"Like the EP, [A Light in the Corner] combines instrumental numbers with slow-building guitars--which climax not unlike an Explosions in the Sky song--and tracks with Aaron Sturgill's vintage-emo vocals that evoke Appleseed Cast and Sunny Day Real Estate--or, for local touchstones, Jon Chinn and Denovo. The band added string sections this time, too, to great effect on "Red Orchestra."
An interview from 5Q
(by Adam Homfray, Oxide Tones)
What inspires Old Worlds to continue creating music?
Picking the world apart, and reducing it to its most basic components — which, it turns out, are infinitely complex. We try to read a wide variety of literature: Mike is a big fan of Daniel Quinn, while Aaron and Adam often cite the Bible as a primary influence. I wouldn’t say our music is at all political, but the topics we tackle revolve around how we can make the world better, mostly through interpersonal relationships.
Your last release, Such a Willful Creature, was a great success, what’s next?
Weekend tours, to raise regional awareness of our releases. Getting t-shirts made. We’ve just begun talking about the time frame of recording our first LP.
Post Rock generates creative (and often lengthy) band and track names, how does Old Worlds come up with these?
Our song titles are typically thoughts that have occurred to us. A good example is “Snark is Getting Us Nowhere”, from Such a Willful Creature… This is a belief of mine, having interacted with many people who feel that sarcasm and aggression is a good way to deal with things they don’t understand. This seems to be a kind of cultural epidemic, in a postmodern, post-ironic society with a very short attention span.
How does Old Worlds decide which tracks will be on a release? testing them at gigs, or a different method?
If we’re not really bored after playing it a million times, then it stays.
What have you been listening to recently that you would recommend to your fan base?
I have to give props to some amazing Columbus bands that are bringing much-needed attention to our arts scene: Six Gallery (on Superball Music), Flotation Walls, The Receiver, and Brainbow. Other stuff: The Forms, Maps & Atlases, And So I Watch You From Afar, Shipping News, and Rockets Red Glare.
The obligatory political question: Can politics (whichever side of the road) solve global social problems? Discuss.
Not really. I believe that global social problems are staggeringly complex, the result of a near-infinite number of poor decisions by flawed people. Personal responsibility is where it starts. Get your house in order, own up to your thoughts and your actions. We create the world around us, simple as that.
The obligatory digital media question: We all know that digital downloads (legal or not) are changing the music business, would you say this is a challenge or an opportunity, and why?
I really have no idea. We’re trying out new business models, like everyone else. We’re all trying to sell something. Some people seem to love buying our CDs, so I don’t think that’s gonna go away real soon. Other people have a very green mentality, which I think is great — they don’t want to clutter the world with packaging. I’m thrilled that they can download our music for next to nothing, or nothing, if they choose. I’m just really thankful we live in a world with so much freedom and so many options. I hope that continues.
Picking the world apart, and reducing it to its most basic components — which, it turns out, are infinitely complex. We try to read a wide variety of literature: Mike is a big fan of Daniel Quinn, while Aaron and Adam often cite the Bible as a primary influence. I wouldn’t say our music is at all political, but the topics we tackle revolve around how we can make the world better, mostly through interpersonal relationships.
Your last release, Such a Willful Creature, was a great success, what’s next?
Weekend tours, to raise regional awareness of our releases. Getting t-shirts made. We’ve just begun talking about the time frame of recording our first LP.
Post Rock generates creative (and often lengthy) band and track names, how does Old Worlds come up with these?
Our song titles are typically thoughts that have occurred to us. A good example is “Snark is Getting Us Nowhere”, from Such a Willful Creature… This is a belief of mine, having interacted with many people who feel that sarcasm and aggression is a good way to deal with things they don’t understand. This seems to be a kind of cultural epidemic, in a postmodern, post-ironic society with a very short attention span.
How does Old Worlds decide which tracks will be on a release? testing them at gigs, or a different method?
If we’re not really bored after playing it a million times, then it stays.
What have you been listening to recently that you would recommend to your fan base?
I have to give props to some amazing Columbus bands that are bringing much-needed attention to our arts scene: Six Gallery (on Superball Music), Flotation Walls, The Receiver, and Brainbow. Other stuff: The Forms, Maps & Atlases, And So I Watch You From Afar, Shipping News, and Rockets Red Glare.
The obligatory political question: Can politics (whichever side of the road) solve global social problems? Discuss.
Not really. I believe that global social problems are staggeringly complex, the result of a near-infinite number of poor decisions by flawed people. Personal responsibility is where it starts. Get your house in order, own up to your thoughts and your actions. We create the world around us, simple as that.
The obligatory digital media question: We all know that digital downloads (legal or not) are changing the music business, would you say this is a challenge or an opportunity, and why?
I really have no idea. We’re trying out new business models, like everyone else. We’re all trying to sell something. Some people seem to love buying our CDs, so I don’t think that’s gonna go away real soon. Other people have a very green mentality, which I think is great — they don’t want to clutter the world with packaging. I’m thrilled that they can download our music for next to nothing, or nothing, if they choose. I’m just really thankful we live in a world with so much freedom and so many options. I hope that continues.
An interview from Columbus Alive!
(by Chris DeVille)
April 29th,
2010
Aaron Sturgill had a vision, and he was going to realize it with or without the help of other musicians. So with all the trappings of a rock band and a load of loop pedals, he started making moody instrumental post-rock under the name Old Worlds early last year.
“People have asked me why I choose to work so strictly within a given genre, and it's because that's exactly where my heart lies," Sturgill said. "I don't see myself doing anything else."
At first, Sturgill would play all the instruments on stage, building drum and guitar loops into cyclical symphonies. Pulling off something so elaborate was nearly impossible alone; fortunately, friends Mike Poston and Brian Maxwell bought into the Appleseed Cast-inspired approach and soon joined on drums and bass, respectively.
The trio frequently deployed its math-y riffs and epic buildups around Columbus last year, sounding like a more melancholy take on the finger-tapping fury of locals Six Gallery or a cerebral cross between Explosions in the Sky and Minus the Bear.
They hoped to use technology to sound much bigger than a three-piece and time-honored classical composition tricks to chart a rise into hope from despair.
"I want the songs to end happier than they begin," Sturgill said. "I want the songs to help people not get lost in the music, but to find some kind of emotional resolution."
The first proper document of that effort is Such A Willful Creature, a four-song EP set for release Saturday at Rumba Cafe. The pristine recordings are a better fit for this sort of music than the scrappy demo they distributed last year, though Creature is only a step toward Sturgill's ultimate goal.
"The next project is the one I've been looking to do my whole life," Sturgill said. The band hopes to head into Central City Recording to record a full-length later this year once they've saved up some cash and edited down their vast backlog of songs. In the meantime, Old Worlds will embark on several regional weekend tours throughout the spring and summer. It's all very purposeful for Sturgill, who feels like he wasted a lot of years being unfocused and unruly.
"I wish I had gotten a foothold on becoming a local musician at age 20," Sturgill said. "Now I'm 28 and I know exactly what I want to do."
Aaron Sturgill had a vision, and he was going to realize it with or without the help of other musicians. So with all the trappings of a rock band and a load of loop pedals, he started making moody instrumental post-rock under the name Old Worlds early last year.
“People have asked me why I choose to work so strictly within a given genre, and it's because that's exactly where my heart lies," Sturgill said. "I don't see myself doing anything else."
At first, Sturgill would play all the instruments on stage, building drum and guitar loops into cyclical symphonies. Pulling off something so elaborate was nearly impossible alone; fortunately, friends Mike Poston and Brian Maxwell bought into the Appleseed Cast-inspired approach and soon joined on drums and bass, respectively.
The trio frequently deployed its math-y riffs and epic buildups around Columbus last year, sounding like a more melancholy take on the finger-tapping fury of locals Six Gallery or a cerebral cross between Explosions in the Sky and Minus the Bear.
They hoped to use technology to sound much bigger than a three-piece and time-honored classical composition tricks to chart a rise into hope from despair.
"I want the songs to end happier than they begin," Sturgill said. "I want the songs to help people not get lost in the music, but to find some kind of emotional resolution."
The first proper document of that effort is Such A Willful Creature, a four-song EP set for release Saturday at Rumba Cafe. The pristine recordings are a better fit for this sort of music than the scrappy demo they distributed last year, though Creature is only a step toward Sturgill's ultimate goal.
"The next project is the one I've been looking to do my whole life," Sturgill said. The band hopes to head into Central City Recording to record a full-length later this year once they've saved up some cash and edited down their vast backlog of songs. In the meantime, Old Worlds will embark on several regional weekend tours throughout the spring and summer. It's all very purposeful for Sturgill, who feels like he wasted a lot of years being unfocused and unruly.
"I wish I had gotten a foothold on becoming a local musician at age 20," Sturgill said. "Now I'm 28 and I know exactly what I want to do."
