The Making of I SEE A DARKNESS by Bonnie "Prince" Billy - featuring Will Oldham

01/19/24 • 98 min

For the 25th anniversary of the first Bonnie “Prince” Billy album, we take a detailed look at how it was made. Will Oldham grew up studying acting but decided to pursue music while he was attending Brown University. In 1992, he released his first single with Drag City under the name Palace Brothers. A series of albums followed under several variations of the Palace name, which reflected Oldham’s unique approach to treating the album, rather than the artist, as the primary entity. In 1998, he had an epiphany that he could inhabit a new character named Bonnie “Prince” Billy for his music moving forward and put his concerns about an artist identity to rest. He began living in his father’s farmhouse in Shelbyville, Kentucky along with his brother, Paul, who had been studying recording and set up a makeshift studio. In this isolated environment, Oldham worked on writing songs and had the freedom to record himself in a way that he never had before. Eventually, Oldham invited other musicians including Peter Townsend, Bob Arellano, Colin Gagon and David Pajo to flesh out the songs that would make up the I SEE A DARKNESS record.

In this episode, Will Oldham describes a newfound approach to making music at this time and how he viewed his former Palace work as his apprenticeship years. As Bonnie “Prince” Billy, he found that he could portray a larger than life character who had the power to sing songs across the emotional spectrum. The Bonnie character opened up his approach to songwriting as he began to incorporate some traditional elements like bridges and dramatic builds. From a growing confidence in his singing to a deteriorating relationship and the decision to form a sub label to a love of post-apocalyptic landscapes to adding humor as a release valve to taking inspiration from contemporaries like PJ Harvey to the unlikely events that led to Johnny Cash covering the title track, we’ll hear the stories of how the record came together.

Previous Episode

The Making of SUPERFUZZ BIGMUFF by Mudhoney - featuring Mark Arm and Steve Turner

For the 35th anniversary of Mudhoney’s first 12-inch record, SUPERFUZZ BIGMUFF, we take a detailed look at how it was made. After Mark Arm met Steve Turner at a show in Seattle, they became fast friends and began playing in multiple bands together. They started Green River with Jeff Ament and Alex Shumway and eventually added Stone Gossard on second guitar. Tensions over the musical direction of the band eventually caused Green River to dissolve with Ament and Gossard going on to form Mother Love Bone and Arm and Turner deciding to form Mudhoney. With Mudhoney, they had a vision for fuzz drenched guitars and blending 60s garage with punk rock. They eventually added Dan Peters on drums and Matt Lukin on bass and had their first practice on New Year’s Day in 1988. Bruce Pavitt of Sub Pop offered to pay for some studio time with Jack Endino so he could hear the material they were working on. From those sessions, they released the "Touch Me I’m Sick" single in the summer of 1988. At that point, they went back into the studio with Jack Endino to work on the songs that would become SUPERFUZZ BIGMUFF.

In this episode, Mark Arm describes his approach of “vocalizing” rather than singing, and how playing guitar with this band changed how he thought about song arrangements. Steve Turner talks about his discovery of vintage fuzz boxes and how they informed the Mudhoney sound at a time when fuzz pedals were out of fashion. From the early days of Sub Pop to rocking baby blue 60s guitars to Dan Peters’ unique drum patterns to Matt Lukin’s relief of playing simple songs to Sonic Youth knighting them as the next big thing to a pivotal moment in Seattle music, we’ll hear the stories of how the record came together.

Next Episode

The Making of OUT OF STEP by Minor Threat - featuring Ian MacKaye

In celebration of the recently unearthed Out of Step Outtakes, we take a detailed look at the making of the original record. After Minor Threat formed in Washington D.C. in 1980, they began to find an audience in the American punk scene. Their first two seven-inch records contained songs written by Ian MacKaye, such as “Straight Edge” and “Out of Step,” which kickstarted the straight edge movement within punk. By 1982, guitarist Lyle Preslar had left for college and Minor Threat temporarily broke up. After speaking with H.R. of the Bad Brains, MacKaye was convinced of the impact the band was having and considered reforming. At that point, Preslar agreed to quit college and rejoin the band. Despite accusations of the band selling out by reforming, Minor Threat began playing shows in their hometown and embarked on a cross-country tour. Brian Baker decided to switch from bass to second guitar so they asked Steve Hansgen to join as the new bassist. In early 1983, they returned to Don Zientara’s Inner Ear Studio to begin recording as a five-piece. Out of Step was eventually released in the spring of 1983.

In this episode, Ian MacKaye describes this pivotal moment in the band’s history when they decided to reunite and change their sound by adding a fifth member. Though they faced backlash about reuniting from their hometown crowd, this fueled the next batch of songs they would write as a band. MacKaye discusses how most of his lyrics on this record reflect the gossip and backstabbing that was prevalent in their scene at the time. In addition, tension within the band was rising over MacKaye’s lyrics and their overall musical direction. The new version of the title track reflected their differences as Jeff Nelson convinced MacKaye to include a spoken word interlude that explained how the straight edge lyrics were personal to MacKaye and didn’t represent the band’s views. From Minor Threat’s first 12-inch to a joke song about selling out to recording vocals live for the first time to the benefits of an expensive strobe tuner to hearing the call of punk to self-define, we’ll hear the stories of how the record came together.