DRIVING FAST THROUGH INDIANAPOLIS WITH SEDCAIRN ARCHIVES
IF: I first came across your music after seeing a post from Keith Rankin regarding the album artwork he did for OOBYDOOB. Can you tell me about how you originally connected with Keith as well as the ideas behind the artwork?
SA: I was a fan of Keith’s artwork, music as Giant Claw, and label Orange Milk. I put together a show that he played at the Joyful Noise performance space and kept in contact with him after that. We went back and forth a little about the artwork. I sent him some images that I liked of Breadwoman and Gary Wilson, but he pretty much just did his own thing. I knew he would do something awesome just based on his past work.
IF: You released OOBYDOOB on November 11th. What went into making this album? Were there any specific ideas that influenced it?
SA: This album took a while to put together. After recording some rough versions and performing some of them live with my friend Ostry, he and I went down to Magnetic South in Bloomington to record his drums. At the same time I was working on getting the guest vocalists on some tracks. And then the last step was to have it mastered at Postal Recording here in Indy. Coming off of the Mammoth Cave record I wanted to do something that was a little more fun and included more people. I tried to just go with my instincts and not exclude brighter textures or vocals.
IF: The first track I heard off the album was “Ima Ned Hed” and it really stood out to me as something I couldn’t quite wrap my hands around. What is this song about?
SA: It’s kind of hard to say what some of the songs are about. Some of the lyrics come more from rhythmic ideas, but I do have a vague sense of what I’m trying to say by the time a song is done. To me, “Ima Ned Hed” is about understanding that your friends, family, and community are sacred and rare, and believing that you don’t need approval from anyone else. It’s kind of a reaction to being on the internet a lot where there is a lot of information about people’s lives that don’t have anything to do with you.
IF: In the video for “Ima Ned Hed” you strut about half crazily around an apparent abandoned mall before resorting to the woods, petting a rock, then taking off your shoes to wet your feet in the muddy water. What should we take from all this?
SA: Yeah! That video starts off with the song “Steer Me to Sears” by Ostry, and it sets the delirious scene. That is the mall I used to go to as a teen to buy clothes that I thought were cool, now it is barely hanging on with a Target and a Burlington Coat Factory. As a kid, a lot of advertising type images warped my mind into thinking I should aspire to have certain products. Now I realize how silly that is and I spend a lot of time taking my dog to that park where we shot the woods scene. I’m trying to relish things that actually have real value now.
IF: A few tracks on the album feature guest appearances from hip hop artist, including Oreo Jones, Sirius Blvck and FLACO. Was hip-hop / rap something you had planned wanting to have going into the making of the album?
SA: I had the music for “Out of Body” done and really liked it, but couldn’t think of what else to do with it. Those guys all live in Indy. We’ve performed and toured together. Under the DMA name I did a collab EP with Oreo called “Highway Hypnosis”. He and I both guested on Sirius’ track “Tribe Quest” from his album “Light in the Attic”. I got to know Flaco when I toured with Ghostgunsummer and Bored.
IF: Before Sedcairn Archives there was Jookabox and DMA. What has this transition been like for you as an artist? What does it mean for you looking forward?
SA: To me the difference between DMA and Sedcairn was getting into some more minimal electronic sounds while working LUNA music, and being excited about trying to include those ideas in what I do. I’d like to just stick with one name from here on out and I feel like the OOBYDOOB record included ideas from all of my past projects. I’m thinking more about sinking into some more vertical type sculpting details as I move forward.
IF: In an interview from 2011 you mentioned you like driving fast and wasting gas, sometimes simply driving around for fun, what you called “Riding Holiday.” Are these joy rides helpful to your creative process?
SA: Haha! Yeah the Riding Holiday track was from a DMA tape that Joyful Noise put out called “Drem Beb”. I do like driving and listening to tunes, and yeah that’s a great way to sort out ideas when you’re losing sight of what you’re working on. I am a believer in the “car test” for mixes, that is where I do a lot of listening.
IF: Ghost Punk, Crust-Funk, Scrimp-Screet. Your music has been categorized by a handful of unique genre titles over the years. Are these in anyway simply used to rebel or perhaps poke fun of the idea of genres?
SA: Yeah! Genres are silly but I understand that we need them to communicate to each other.
IF: It appears many bands have made up new genres over the last few years. I feel part of this is do to the how much music has been made available these days. While many bands tried hard to break free from certain genres in the past it seems many new bands today make up their own genres as a way to stand out, or perhaps out of fear of being stuck in one genre for their entire career. What are your thoughts on this?
SA: I think that’s a fine way to go about things, but no one is forcing anyone to keep doing the same thing over and over. I understand that some people need a starting place to jump off from when they’re listening to an artist that’s new to them. I’m always most excited about music that I have no frame of reference for.
IF: Your work is released through the Joyful Noise Records label. How did you originally hook up with them?
SA: Yes Joyful Noise released my first CD under the name Grampall Jookabox “Scientific Cricket” in 2007. I was a fan of Karl Joyful’s band Abner Trio and would go to see them play at the Melody Inn and give him CD-Rs of tunes.
IF: The Indianapolis music scene has really been bringing in some attention over the last few years. I remember living in Chicago a few years back and seeing a plethora of awesome bands from Indianapolis coming to play. What does the scene in Indianapolis mean to you? What direction do you see it heading?
SA: The music/artistic/creative community here in Indy means the world to me. It is very special and sacred. I’m excited to see what happens next, it seems to be getting priced out of the Fountain Square neighborhood. There’s a lot of really great music going on with people like Oreo, Flaco, Sirius, Hen, Nagasaki Dirt, Raw Image, Grass SM-6, Mathaius Young, so many more. General Public Collective is awesome. Landon from Creeping Pink and Mark from Burnt Ones are doing awesome things at State Street Pub. Mark is putting together a Ty Segall show at the Irving that I’m really excited about because I live in that neighborhood.
IF: Walk us through a typical week in the life of David Moose Adamson.
SA: Right now I am finally finishing college after leaving to play in bands, I have like 2 weeks left. I travel down to Bloomington to do some work doing digital transfers of obsolete media formats. I work at Joyful Noise cutting limited edition lathe cut records on an old Presto lathe. I work on some tunes, maybe play a show on the weekend. I take my dog to the park a lot, and hang out and laugh with my betrothed.
Interview by Frenchpressley
Into Fruition collaborative 