We are honored to welcome a person whose music has long become a symbol of deep introspection and artistic sincerity. Cameron Keiber – musician, songwriter, and performer. Talking with him was a delightful discovery for me. I got to know an extraordinary personality and a fascinating conversationalist who, despite many years of working in the shadow of his music, has finally stepped forward to share something truly important.
In this interview, he will talk about his new album, “Nurser”. We will discuss what has changed over the years and his journey toward self-expression through music. We are about to explore not only his creative work but also what lies behind this unique and multifaceted person.
This will be a conversation full of sincerity, reflections, and unexpected revelations. I am sure that the interview will be interesting both for Cameron’s longtime fans and for those who are just discovering his music and personality.
Cameron, we’re really excited to get to know you better. We’ve written about your single “Sons and Daughters” in our magazine. So, Cameron, finally a solo album! Why now, after 30 years? What has been holding you back?
I don’t know why I did a proper solo album now. There was no particular plan. I write a lot. I don’t have many other interests than art and writing. I usually have a band going where songs have an outlet. But the writing comes in waves and some waves are bigger than others, I suppose I had a year or so of bigger waves and some of it didn’t really fit with my regular project, Eldridge Rodriguez. I had already started writing the follow up to that band’s last album, Atrophy. And I liked this collection of songs a lot and figured I should put them somewhere. So I started arranging them for a solo release and then immediately started working on the follow up to Nurser while fine tuning the next Eldridge Rodriguez album. I don’t like wasting stuff, I guess.
You’ve spent your whole life playing in bands, where there’s always compromise, outside ideas, and team dynamics. Now, it’s just you and your sound. What’s it like to finally hear only your own voice?
It’s not much different. I’ve always allowed myself primary control of my bands. I work pretty well with others and don’t mind compromising if it serves the song. There are things I just can’t do or have any interest in learning so I need people and I enjoy their input. I like being surprised by other peoples ideas. Even on Nurser I relied heavily on Dave Grabowski to mix it and co-produce it. I’ve been working with him in Eldridge Rodriguez for over a decade because I trust him and his ear. Even in my previous band, The Beatings, the songs that I didn’t primarily write I kind of feel I left enough of a personal mark on the guitar work to hear my influence on the track.
When a musician works on an album, it’s always a bit like a confession – especially when it’s such a personal work like Nurser. You’re opening up your story, your thoughts, your fears. But even in the boldest confessions, there’s always something left unsaid. Is there anything you decided not to include in this album?
I don’t think so. Nurser, or any album I do for that matter, is a fairly good representation of how I’m feeling at that particular moment in time. If I neglected anything and it was still bugging me it will make its way on the next one. But I’d hope that when one is finished I’ve moved on and there is a new specific set of fears and hopes that are represented on the next album. I have a hard time with the idea that music is timeless. Maybe it is for the listener but not for the writer. Themes can be timeless, I guess. But it’s a loaded concept. Everything comes out influenced by external stimuli and historical context. It’s baked in. If I didn’t include something on this album it was probably because it meant less to me than other things and was put aside and wont be revisited. Unless it’s still gnawing on me when I’m doing the next one. I’m a pretty simple person. I can pack everything I want to say at that moment into 10 or 12 songs.
Over time, every artist develops a circle of listeners who are used to their sound. But Nurser, it seems to me, is a clear step toward experimentation. Did you have any fear that old fans might not understand this?
Anyone who’s listened to more than one album by me kind of knows what they’re getting. It’s important for me to push and try ideas that are new to me while still playing in a traditional pop/rock songwriting sandbox. I always try new things and I love noise bands. But this isn’t the Laurence Cook Disaster Unit or as effortlessly cool as the new Kim Gordon album. But I see what you’re saying, it’s got a little more experimentation than most acoustic based albums and may grate on the casual folkie. I guess I was doing a backstroke in the gulf between Beefheart and Billy Joel.
Of all the songs on the album, “Black Bear” really stood out to me. I loved how you wove folk elements into the melody – it sounds so organic. When you were working on it, was it a process of liberation and therapy, or, on the contrary, a difficult experience you had to relive again and again?
That song is about the night any father died. He lived a couple hundred miles away from me and my brothers. He was an artist, a painter and writer/actor and hung with an arty crowd in a small arty town. When we asked his friends to check in on him because he wasn’t responding to calls and they refused because they didn’t want to leave a weekend long party they were throwing for themselves. By the time my brother Clayton (who plays in Eldridge Rodriguez and runs Midriff Records) drove up from NYC that night he found him dead. Could he have been saved had someone gotten there earlier? I don’t know… maybe. It may be the angriest and most personal song I’ve ever written. I didn’t want it to have any allegory or illusional imagery or poetry. It’s a straight forward accounting of that evening. I haven’t really listened to it after hearing the master. It’s dark and it hurts. But, I’m glad you like it.
In Nurser, you tackle sharp social and political issues, speaking directly and unapologetically. In today’s world, where any statement can provoke a storm of reactions, did you have any concerns that a conservative audience might perceive the album as a challenge?
I have a hard time thinking that empathy is political. You are either a decent person who doesn’t think only of themselves, doesn’t punch down and looks out for the most vulnerable or you’re not. I honestly don’t think what I write about in terms of politics and if I really deconstruct it I don’t know that it’s intrinsically political per se. Just like everyone else, I’m just looking for a better way. One that isn’t built on the backs and misery of other people. It’s there, we can see it. It just costs a little cash and cash is something people don’t like to part with even if they got a quarry full of it in the backyard. Then there are people who are intellectually uncurious and don’t want to understand and allow their emotions to be manipulated by the people in power. When I’m writing I don’t consider the opinions of other people, especially any of those fucking people. But I try and have as much empathy for the folks so scared of life that they need to be armed to the teeth in their homes or out in public as I do for any so called liberal cause. What an awful way to go through life, paranoid and scared. Through empathy comes understanding. Or so I’m told. Sometime you just hit a wall though. Life is political, right? Every decision you make has a political element to it. At some point it all just loses any meaning. Just be a decent person.
Musical trends come and go, but you keep making music the way you want to. Was there ever a moment in your life when you thought, “Maybe it’s time to adapt to the market”?
Never. Because I believe that what I’m doing is marketable. I know there is an audience for what I do. Them finding me or me finding them to a broader degree, I don’t know about. I don’t know how that works and ultimately can’t really concern myself with stuff like that. I write what I’d like to hear and refuse to believe that Im the only one who’d get something out of it. I don’t know. Maybe it’s all trash. Maybe it’s this policy thats kept me in abject obscurity for 30 plus years. You do what you do and hope it connects.
With each new album, it feels like you’re opening another page of your story, adding a new stroke to it. In Nurser, you changed direction and presented a more personal and focused work. What image of yourself did you want to leave behind with Nurser?
Oh, boy. I suppose I just want to connect with people. I want to be thought of as someone who wants to connect with people. This probably sounds desperate, but I want people to listen and say “I get that. I feel that way too”. I don’t know how to answer this. I don’t want to be alone with these thoughts. I don’t think about how I’m perceived. Maybe I should. My friend, Richard, is fond of telling me that my stage presence is trying to win them over with “contempt for the audience”. And the older I get the less I want to be like that. I don’t want to be an organ grinders monkey either, but maybe somewhere in-between. I’d like to be thought of as a song and dance man, I suppose. You ever see the movie “Contact“, when Jodie Fosters trying to convince the powers that be to accept the terms of her project? I often feel like that, like I’m asking no in particular “Look, all I’m asking is for you to just have the tiniest bit of vision.” I don’t know if that answers your question and I don’t think it does, but I guess the image I want to leave behind is that of Jodie Foster. The rest of the quote would be self aggrandizing in this context so I didn’t include it. But look it up sometime and if you think it applies to my work, I wont argue.
I read that your goal was to create an album you could play late at night, on the road, when your thoughts are free and time flows differently. What albums or tracks are your personal soundtracks for these special late-night journeys?
I don’t know where to start or finish. A partial list would be; Neil Young – After the Goldrush, the s/t Violent Femmes album, Lou Reed – Berlin, Rock*Teens – Sweet Bird of Youth, PJ Harvey – Rid of Me, The Cure- Disintegration, etc. Artists like La Sera, Billy Bragg, Daniel Johnston, Jesus and Mary Chain, Broken Social Scene…. all that kind of stuff. The basics, ya know?.
You’ve worked with many talented people. Who really impressed you to the point where you thought, “Damn, I want to be that cool”?
There have been a ton. I like people. I fancy myself a people person, although thats probably debatable. The folks I play with in Eldridge Rodriguez are always impressing me. They are an incredibly creative and innovative bunch. As far as people I’m not committed to, I’m in awe of Thalia Zedek and her songwriting. And Sarah Borges is an amazing showperson and has a commitment to music that’s unmatched. Pete Prescott’s band Minibeast out of Providence, RI is the best band in the world right now. I like people who have been around, whose work is lived in. So many artists put out stuff when they are young and then bail to get a “proper” career or burn out, so I tend to not pay attention to many artists until they’ve lived a little. Thats when the good stuff starts. Otherwise you’re just aping your heroes. But I like those three people, thats about it.
Voxwave Magazine: Music, Culture, Interview, Fashion 