james pants is on fire

James Pants – Rhythm Track vol 1-5
James Pants – Kah (feat. Deon Davis)
James Pants – AFI

A couple of weeks ago I emailed James Pants to try and convince him that it would be a good idea to take me (a complete stranger) on a brief tour of Spokane while I ask him stupid questions and point a camera in his face.  He said he’d love to but then came with some bullshit excuse for the dates I proposed (like his girlfriend’s cat’s funeral is that day or that he’d be out of town doing shows–don’t remember).  Anyway,  he obliged me with the names of some places to check out for my Spokane adventure and this email exchange as an alternative to my initial request.

me: how long have you been wearing pants (not just today, I mean in general)?

james: Quite a while. I started with acid wash jeans in my early days. Then on to khakis. Now, back to jeans.

me: do you stick to just one kind of pants or do you kind of mix it up?

james: I’m mostly a jeans guy now.  Kind of boring, I guess.

me: what about shorts?

james: well, it’s a catch 22. I’m afraid to wear shorts because of my pasty white legs. However, they will always be pasty white unless I wear shorts.

me: your favorite pants are?

james: Usually, Levi’s 501s. Stick to the basics.

me: OK now that that’s out of the way–for All The Hits,  were all those tracks created with that project in mind or were they recordings that you had already done?

james: Most of the songs for All The Hits I made specially for that project. The album is basically a “library” record. Meaning, the songs are meant to be used for short TV scenes, commercials, jingles, and whatnot.

me: are you recording exclusively out of your home in Spokane?  Care to share your basic set-up?  What about mixing, are you doing this yourself as well…where?

james: I have been. Although, I just moved to Colorado this week, so I can no longer claim Spokane. ahh! My basic setup is just me with a bunch of keyboards, guitars, and drums.  And an old computer.

me: how were you involved with the cover design on All The Hits, Thin Moon and Seven Seals (available Dec. 8)?

james: As far as All The Hits, I had an artist named Wanna do it. For Thin Moon and Seven Seals, my homeboy Liger did it.  Total cult, new age feel. I’m doing the art for the next 45. Even more cultish.

me: comics? manga? favorites?

james: Just Archie.

me: anything else?

james: I really like curry.

Thanks!

Not sure whats going on with the font size. It keeps growing. send me your email, and I’ll get you a photo!

(in the original reply James sent, the font sizes were wonked-out on everything he wrote…all different sizes.  By this point the font size was like 80 or something.  Unfortunately this editor seems to constrain everything to one font size? )

me: Thank you James, I’ll email you next time I plan on being in Colorado.  Please keep wearing pants -chad