What are your names?
Mitch
What is the bands name?
Sreym Hctim
How did you come up with the bands name?
It is my name backwards
What is your genre of music?
I don’t know.
Give us a little bio about you as a band and individuals.
I used to be in the bands Hear Hums & Peace Arrow in my early 20s. While I don’t want to repeat myself, I am attempting to draw inspiration from the sound palettes and explorations of those projects with Sreym Hctim.
What made you go in to music?
I was drawn to music at an early age, and I started playing guitar and writing my own songs at around nine or ten years old.
Are you a signed?
I am not a signed.
You released your new single ‘Fairweather Friendship Bracelet’, tell us more about
There were a couple years after the last Peace Arrow album I didn’t have a stable living space, I lost a lot of my music gear and wasn’t writing much of anything. Fairweather Friendship Bracelet was one of the first songs I began writing once I got my act together again.
What was the writing process like?
During the time I wasn’t writing songs, I was still envisioning what my next album would sound like. I lost my acoustic guitar, which was the backbone in Peace Arrow, so early on I decided I would challenge myself to write this next album without any guitar. I would save voice memos of me humming a melody idea, and the genesis of this song came from a Snapchat clip I saved of myself yawning in reverse.
What was the recording process like?
I record mostly everything out of my apartment in Brooklyn. I was still without much equipment when I started recording Fairweather Friendship Bracelet, so for the first time ever I was building up a song synthetically with samples of past
performances and outtakes tracks. I surprised myself with this process, but over the course of a year I slowly stripped away all of the initial framework and once I replaced my big Casio keyboard that was lost, I used that to record most of the melodies heard on the final version of the song.
What was the inspiration behind the single.
I admit the song served as a release of pint up emotions for me, but it’s not overly personal. Without spelling it out completely, the narrator of a song isn’t always reliable or one hundred percent in-the-right, and this song gives one side of a tale of withering friendship.
Describe the track in two words.
Cracked marble
Will we see a EP or album this year?
I have about 20 songs right now. I’ll feel a song is finished then return to it months later and change it drastically, so while it could be any day now, it’s hard to say.
Do you have any gigs coming up or a tour in planning?
No plans to play outside of New York at this time but I’m sure I’ll start touring again before too long.
What else can we expect from you.
I have a few ideas for my next music video.
Do you have any collaborations coming up with any up coming artists?
Brian Bo, who releases music as Bois, has collaborated and toured with me countless times over the years and I imagine we’ll be working together again. Him, as well as Jake Falby, who plays violin for Mutual Benefit, Vagabond, Julie Byrne, and a slew of other artists, recorded on a bunch of songs for an ajzpqpdjxjwpajsn & kiki album that was never released. That was a project that never came to fruition, originally as the next carnation of Hear Hums for what would have been our fifth album.
Would you be up for collaborations if other musicians wanted one with you? and who would they have to contact?
It’s a possibility.
Do you play any instruments?
Yes I do.
Who are your influences?
Somewhere between Joanna Newsom and Kría Brekkan, or from Alice Coltrane to Lau Nau.
How do you get inspiration to write songs?
I try to listen to at least 100 new songs a month, and while most of them don’t stick I like to think it keeps me interested in exploring new territory and not getting too used to what I know or how I create.
Where do you see yourself now in 5 Years?
I don’t like to look that far ahead.
When you’re not doing music, what do you do?
I mostly spend the time I’m not working on music or working going to shows or hanging at home with my partner and our cat.
What was the song you listened to most that influenced you to go more in to the music scene?
My parents told me I used to play Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’” over and over again on the stereo and pretend I was the singer with a toy microphone when I was a toddler.
What’s the best advice you have ever been given?
Trust yourself.
What advice would you give to aspiring musicians not about the industry and just as an artist?
I’m not sure I am someone to be looking to for advice.
What quote or saying do you always stick by?
“Nothing is absolute. Everything changes, everything moves, everything revolves, everything flies and goes away” — Frida Kahlo.
Where in your hometown is a must go to visit?
I grew up going to shows in Lake Worth and West Palm Beach, Florida.To this day there’s one person I see that holds that scene together, Steev Rullman. He recently opened his own venue Voltaire in Downtown West Palm, anyone visiting should check it out.
Your coming off tour;
1/ Where do you go first?
Taco Bell
2/ Who do you see first?
The gentleman opening the door for every patron entering and exiting the premise.
3/ What do you eat first?
Taco Bell
When you are at a gig, what are 5 things you cannot forget?
Phone, keys, wallet, gear, Taco Bell
Do you have social media accounts so your fans can follow you?
If you’ve gotten this far and are considering taking the leap into fandom, please consider smashing the Like button on my Facebook social media account