Lofidelica interview:Sidney Alexis Lindner (Hotel Alexis)

"...I used to sit in the big empty meeting room and play the saddest little symphonies using only the black keys because I knew they would work together. And sometimes a girl would come and sit on one of the many benches and weep. And I was so sad that year and it just felt like this was somehow connecting with that sad part in people..."

The following interview will also be presented on air in Kanal 103 FM, in Macedonian, when doing the countdown of the lofidelica top 10 albums of 2005.

Sidney Lindner is the man behind Hotel Alexis, annoyed that most people find his surname difficult to pronounce, he uses Alexis instead. The "Hotel" comes from "The Golden Hotel" where his brother Cayce Lindner also plays. However, it was the title of this album which I found most intriguing...

What inspired you for the peculiar title of this record "The shining example is lying on the floor"?
I took the title from a biography of Keith Richards. I liked a lot of the images it seemed to convey. I’ve second guessed that title a lot as I’d want to do but I guess I thought it had this sense of wasted potential that I wanted to get across.

What sort of things inspire you the most, in general?
That’s really difficult to answer. I tend to think of inspiration as an unconscious activity or rather the tapping into an existing well-spring of unconscious build-up. There needs to be a “trigger event” that begins this movement upwards of compressed ideas – but the ideas have been formulating all along. And often your conscious mind wants to, and does, reject these ideas. They, like dreams, often seem ridiculous/dangerous to the conscious mind.
...That sounds kind of pretentious, but I think it’s true. Lately, I’m really trying to record even the things which seem really stupid or don’t make any sense.

Beside the fact that Sidney recorded his first albums on a friend's tape recorder, this album has been recorded in a high-priced studio (Zippah), so that he would finish it fast instead of focusing on silly details for days like he usually does, since he's an experienced sound engineer. However the album includes very old recordings, such is "Blue in the Blackout", or a hidden track among the long lasting final silence "Danny's in the rye".
Some of the people who have helped in realisation of this album are Gregg Porter, Kimberlee Torres (who sings in his other band Torrez) and Nate Groth, but also it is interesting to notice how his familly is involved too. Besides, his brother Cayce, their mother Barbara does the cover art...

What did your mother think of the music? How has she encouraged this affinity in both you and your brother towards music?
I think my mother is very proud of me and likes the fact that I’m creating something. She’s a really great visual artist. You know, my brother and I were never encouraged about music in any way. I think we probably came upon it on our own. What my brother and I have always had was a strong feeling of ‘it’s us against them’ and we have shared in the creation of a lot of secret worlds – one of which is musical.

Most people would count The Quiet Life among their favourite songs off this album. There is a part of the lyric which goes "Something so permanent lately, has died in you, and I know you weren't made for this, working the devil's work for free"

What is the devil's work?
The idea that there is good work to be done is something I’ve always given belief to. The idea that, given the right compensation, one might deviate from the righteous path and do the work of evil is a common one. A deal with the devil and all that. I think a lot of us get led off the path without any compensation at all – we just think that’s what we have to do to survive.

Concerning the lyrics, in another interview, Sidney quotes William Burroughs when saying that "Words are a disease", and indeed he uses strong words that create altering mental images, which adds to his powerfull music in general.
There seems to be some symbolic mentioning of a piano in a few songs (most notable is the one in Dapper Dan "Buy a piano, if you get sad, play just the black keys...")

Do you own a piano?
No. But I used to play the piano a lot when I was a kid, long before I played the guitar. When I was attending a Quaker boarding school in upstate New York I used to sit in the big empty meeting room and play the saddest little symphonies using only the black keys because I knew they would work together. And sometimes a girl would come and sit on one of the many benches and weep. And I was so sad that year and it just felt like this was somehow connecting with that sad part in people.

When I'd lent "The shining example is lying on the floor" to a friend, he claimed it put him straight to sleep and couldn't focus on the songs. On the other hand, there are parts in lyrics which go "And die in your sleep" that tend to freak me out, and I don't fall asleep that easily with it...

How do you usually fall asleep?
I usually read just before bed. Then, when I’m actually falling asleep, I generally picture myself in some sort of underground fortress. It’s very well protected and hidden and I can see out but no one can see in. It used be a sort of tank or rolling fortress but now it’s usually just a really secure underground office.

Sidney actually lives in Sadness (Dolores, Colorado)...

What is it like where you live? Would you prefer living somewhere else?
Well, I’ve been living in Colorado since July. Before that I lived on the East Coast in Portsmouth, New Hampshire for seven years. I always feel like I should be moving on. I struggle with that. This part of Colorado, the “four corners region” they call it because nearby you can lie in four states – Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico – all at once, is really cool. Huge sky and mountains and big desert vistas.

I live in Macedonia, miles, miles away...

What is your reaction to the fact that people in Macedonia listen to your music and fall asleep with your words?
I love it. I’m grateful for it and pleasantly surprised by it. I actually consciously made this record to be one that you could listen to while going to sleep. I used to do that all the time, every night, and it bothered me when a record would have some quiet songs and then have a really loud song. I wanted to make a record that you could really drift off too. I didn’t think that people so far away would be listening.

Beside the common comparison between his music, and the quiet moments of Sparklehorse, great musical influences for Sidney are Richard Buckner, Vic Chessnut, Leonard Cohen, Fleetwood Mac, Red House Painters…

What have you been listening to mostly in 2005?
It’s been a weird year for me in a lot of ways and certainly in the way I’ve listened to music. I haven’t had the usual thing I get where I find something and listen to it over and over as much lately. I usually get really into stuff and then I burn myself out on it. I do the same thing with food. And people.

And finally a question that every average Macedonian, sadly, is occupied with since the beginning of December...

How will you spend the New Year's Eve?
I’ll be doing my usual feeble attempt to join in celebration I’m sure.

Thank you for being so kind to do this interview!

If nothing better comes up, and if a friend agrees to make me company, you will be able to hear "The shining example is lying on the floor", on Kanal 103, in the NYE.