The Untitled Interview #219: Starring John Fanning (The Loom)

This here is a first, friends. A repeat customer of The Untitled Interview. Very nearly five years ago (give or take a couple months), The Loom's John Fanning played A to my Q round about the time the band was here in DC for a show. Fast forward to now, and it's happening again. Loom deja vu! 

A lot has changed in those five years, but Fanning's voice is still, as I put it back then, misty mountain morning. You can see the band in the flesh this very evening, at the Velvet Lounge, as part of a four-headed monster of can't miss. And now, John Fanning redux.  

Fuzzy Logic: How do you do?
John Fanning: Diligently.

FL: What was the last song you listened to?
JF: "Cat Food" by Aesop Rock.

FL: Playing music is:
JF: Cathartic, joyful, challenging, wildly impractical, totally necessary to my sanity and happiness.

FL: What album most made you realize you wanted to make music?
JF: Aquemini by Outkast. Or at least that was the album I was most utterly in awe of upon hearing it for the first time.

FL: Beatles or Stones?
JF: John Lennon and Harry Nilsson - 'Many Rivers to Cross'

FL: What’s your first music memory?
JF: The older kid next door had an electric guitar and we were at their house for a holiday party, and I remember feeling like it was some incredibly mysterious and fascinating object that I was both intimidated by and drawn to, even though the idea of trying to play it seemed totally overwhelming. I think I've been hooked since then.

FL: Top 5 albums (of now, of this week, of ever):
JF: Now:
Girl Band - Holding Hands With Jamie
Drake - IYRTITL
Suuns - Hold/Still
Majical Cloudz - Are You Alone?
Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Style

FL: Favorite music-related movie?
JF: Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus by Jim White.

FL: Half-full or half-empty?
JF: Depends on my caffeine level.

FL: What's the first thing you think when you wake up in the morning?
JF: How do I most quickly increase my caffeine level?

FL: Little-known Loom fact?
JF: We've already finished our third record also.

FL: The greatest record store in the world is:
JF: Newbury Comics. (I grew up in Massachusetts)

FL: What was your first show, either in a band or as a fan?
JF: The Roots at Brown University, which sadly I have to admit I stumbled upon accidentally (they were playing on the campus and my middle school friend and I were visiting his older sister who went there), though I was very happy to have done so.

FL: Your boots were made for:
JF: Resoling. And that's what I need to do. It's raining today and I've already had to change my socks twice.

FL: Shaken or stirred?
JF: On tap.

FL: What’s the longest flight you’ve ever been on, and where to?
JF: To Poland, when we played at the Halfway Festival in Bialystok and flew into Warsaw.

FL: If you weren't in a band you'd be?
JF: Really bummed out.

FL: Favorite spot in Kingston?:
JF: Coffee: Outdated
Music: BSP
Drinks: The Stockade

FL: If you were so inclined, whom would you form a tribute band in honor of?
JF: Joanna Newsom. Though we could never possibly or even remotely accurately replicate any of the million things she does brilliantly well. So it would be more of a fan club.

FL: Best song ever written?
JF: The Dreamland EP by Moonface.



[posted 4.27.16]