Nurses Sing Their Stream Of Consciousness

Nurses is California-based rock trio. Their latest release is the excellent, tripped out album Dracula. Guitarist/lead vocalist Aaron Chapman recently wrote in to discuss the growth of their sound, stream-of-consciousness lyrics and hobbies outside of music. Nurses are playing the Jackpot, in Lawrence, on Jan. 17. For more info on Nurses, check out http://www.deadoceans.com/artist.php?name=nurses.

How did Nurses first come together?

John and I have known each other since Jr. High. We lived in California for a while where we had a mutual friend with James who sorta tried to keep us from hanging out.  I don’t fully understand why.  When John and I moved to Portland, we ended up meeting up with James and played music together right away. I think we played our first show after knowing each other for like 2 weeks.

Your tracks have a very layered, percussive feel. How does your creative process work when songwriting?

The songs all come together in different ways. Some of the songs come from long, improvisational jams, and some are written like traditional folk songs. When we get together to record we all play a bit of each instrument, so it’s just a matter of layering all of our ideas and sculpting it all into a song.

How do you feel that your sound has grown since you first started out?

It’s just an intuitive thing, really.  We just end up gravitating toward whatever ideas make us the most stoked at the given time.  As a person you have a core, but you hope to improve on this or that aspect- i think it’s the same as a band. I think our music has a common thread throughout, but maybe we’re dressing it in different clothes depending on the weather.

How often do you find yourself writing songs?

I usually make some sort of musical doodle most days.  I haven’t been approaching making music as much like a songwriter as i used to.  A lot of times now it’s making loops and just diving in as far as i can go- it kind of feels like exploring song parts as fully as possible and just going wherever the inspiration is.

What inspires you lyrically?

Stream-of-consciousness and dreams.

You tour constantly. What have been some of your favorite memories from being on the road?

I’m blanking on good stories right now- but one of the really cool parts about touring is getting to know and potentially becoming real friends with the bands you’re touring with. It’s sorta like you get put on a deserted island with 5 strangers for a month and you’re just going to see what happens. Wouldn’t make a good reality show, though, ’cause we always end up being buds. Not a lot of drama on tour for us. 

Do you ever write songs while on tour? 

I don’t think I ever have. 

What are your hobbies outside of music?

I’m a basketball nerd.  It’s a good brain change from music but also has a lot in common.  I’ve learned a lot from basketball that translates into music- It’s a certain kind of confidence and just doing- not over-thinking.  So much style, too. To me it’s sorta like dancing, playing drums, skateboarding, hip-hop, and fashion rolled into one thing.  Lots of musical ideas in there for sure.

What albums do you always find yourself listening to?

Lately it’s: Roy Orbison- Mystery Girl, CAN- Flow Motion, D’Anegelo- Voodoo, David Bowie- Hunky Dory, Gayngs-Related, Holger Czukay- Movies, Gary Numan- Pleasure Principle

What have been the biggest challenges you’ve had to overcome in your career?

I think the hardest part is staying passionate without going overboard and killing yourself for the music- and trying to not get burnt out on what you love. Also it’s hard to make money in music ’cause everyone, myself included, downloads records.  So being broke but not wanting to let money play too much of a role in your decision making process is difficult.  Other countries’ governments subsidize the arts, I wish ours did.  The US is awesome but weird.

Do you have a quote or motto that you live by?

Not really but if I had to come up with one right now it would be- follow your nose!