 Courtesy of the Artist
Dubbed "a beautiful thing to behold" by LA Weekly, California-based outfit The Coals offer a lush Folk-Americana sound that is dreamy and genuine. Their first album, A Happy Animal, was released in 2013 and in 2017 they followed that up with Through Nighttime's Purple Skies. Currently playing in the LA area, frontman Jason Mandell recently took the time to answer his Essential 8 where he talked songwriting, drinking at gigs, meeting heroes, and more.
Why did you choose to anchor the album with the songs you did? Some of them are songs I wrote years ago that have stuck around long enough that they feel like a part of me. The Coals have been playing them for years, but I’d never recorded them the way I wanted. It was unfinished business, creatively and perhaps spiritually, and I finally decided we should take it on. Other songs on the album are newer, and those just seemed to fit in naturally with the older ones. Where do you draw inspiration from when writing? Mostly women and relationships, with occasional exceptions. “Better Days” is about a guy careening a bit selfishly and blindly through life and headed for a crash, though hopefully a redemptive one. "Godless is about a sort of hedonism, and maybe even amorality, that I think characterizes places like Los Angeles, where I live. The song isn't a complaint or a tribute, just an observation. But the rest of the album is about longing for love, or celebrating love, or lamenting all manner of suffering that love can cause. I suppose this general topic has been a bit of a personal preoccupation. What’s the best advice to give to a musician just starting out? Go to law school. What has been your biggest struggle so far? Learning to enjoy the struggle.
Who would you love to collaborate with?
Any of the producers whose work I love, like Ethan Johns, Paul Butler, Jonathan Wilson, Richard Swift, Jon Brion, M. Ward. While we’re fantasizing, I’ve written a few songs that I wouldn’t mind hearing Norah Jones sing instead of me. Is drinking at gigs a positive or a negative? It can go either way. A couple of times I’ve blacked out while performing. One time I threw up on the sound guy’s car and completely missed our set. But it’s usually necessary (drinking, not blacking out or vomiting). Have you met any of your heroes? If so, how did it go? A while back, The Coals were playing an early set at Largo here in L.A. Gillian Welch and David Rawlings played later that night. Afterwards Gillian and David, plus Jon Brion and Benmont Tench, went upstairs to jam. My bandmate and I ended up there too. We were hovering at the edge of this circle with our guitars, which suddenly felt like toy props. All I remember is that I was torturously uncomfortable and I felt completely unworthy of being there. Is there a recent release you cannot stop listening to? Bedouine’s self-titled album is beautiful. She’s an L.A.-based singer/songwriter with a gentle, breezy voice and she writes really elegant, observational songs. The arrangements are delicate and sensual and I think are the perfect complement to her songwriting. It’s a lazy Sunday morning kind of an album that can make weekdays a lot more tolerable. Website/Facebook/Twitter/Purchase
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