Sounding Out: Apex Manor

A bit has been written about Ross Flournoy, the driving force behind Apex Manor and the band's debut album The Year Of Magical Drinking, and the 'writer’s block' that he had after his last band, The Broken West split up. As someone who writes, I sometimes sit down and just can’t seem to get started. I can’t really put my figure on the reason why I can’t, and trying to figure it out only makes things worse. So I was curious to talk with Flournoy and see if his inability to write could simply be chalked up to 'writer’s block’ or whether it was something more. More importantly, I wanted to know how he got himself back to a creative place as an artist.

“My creative period ended when the band broke up and then I was adrift. I think that maybe in some ways I was more crippled by the uncertainty of the future than it was necessarily suffering from quote un quote writer’s block. It was very strange.”

Flournoy and The Broken West had a great, well received, debut album. The band was mounting a strong following and they were excited about the future. But their follow up album was not received as well by critics or their fans and show attendance was hit or miss on tour. Ultimately, Flournoy said, the band felt kind of demoralized by it all. “Our first record was pretty well received across the board and with our second record it was a lot more contentious. A few people really liked it and a lot of people were kind of pissed off that we had a different sound than the first record. So I think that the rigors of touring coupled with the fact that the second record seemed to have died...it just made it hard to sustain the morale in the band and things just snowballed and eventually we said let’s got our separate ways.”

Flournoy said that before the band started touring he had a really romantic idea that the band would be together for a long time. “As I looked around at other bands that would break up, I would think well that’s so silly. How come they couldn’t keep it together? But of course that ended up happening to us.”

While the band’s record label, Merge and others in their professional circle understood and supported their decision to fold the band, they also gave them words of encouragement to keep going. I asked Flournoy how one responds to such words when the band was at a place where they just could not go on. “It’s frustrating that’s for sure. And it was sad......you have people who have been in the business for a long time saying that you are poised to break through and you think well why can’t we keep it together and make that happen. But, I was also relieved and excited to be able to do something on my own.”

Flournoy said that prior to the band breaking up he felt like he was being very creative, writing quite a bit at home. “For me writing songs is the most satisfying thing that I do in my life and it is exciting when I’m on sort of a roll like that. And then after the band broke up I really started to feel rudderless.” He said that he knew that he wanted to keep making records and writing songs but that he did not know how he was going to do that. “It wasn’t clear. I think that I got to a place where I did not know what was going to happen so I was paralyzed by fear. May be that does qualify as writers block. I don’t know….it was tough.”

I had read that Flournoy started writing again when Carrie Brownstein from NPR’s Monitor Mix blog challenged her listeners to write, record, and submit a song in a weekend. Flournoy responded by writing Under The Gun. I asked Flournoy whether turning the corner creatively was as simple as responding to a blog challenge or whether there was something else going on in himself at the time.

“I think that it was probably both of those things. Danny who was sort of my partner in the Broken West had this metaphor that as a songwriter, sometimes the well runs dry and when it does, you just have to wait for it to fill back up.”

Flournoy said that after being in a place where he was feeling low and wasn’t writing any songs for a period of time, his well had been replenished and he was ready to spring back into action. “Without sounding conceited, I really loved the song that I wrote for the challenge and the way it turned out. It really got me fired up again.” He said that he finally had these ideas that he was excited about. “I thought, well ok, if I can write something like this then I feel like I am on a roll again. It re-energized my batteries and got me juiced again.”

Under The Gun   

I asked Flournoy if his song writing was different when he started back up from what he had done in the past. He said that he felt more confidence as a lyricist. “I think that for a long time I didn’t think that I was very good at it…and I am not saying that I am good at it now…but I just didn’t feel like it was my strong suit. With this group of songs, I really feel, for the first time, that I’m communicating something that…while not necessarily always apparent to listener…is a true reflection of what I was feeling and going through.”

I asked him if he feels more vulnerable writing songs that are more personal regardless of whether or not the listener recognized it. “Oh yeah, for sure. And definitely on this record every song deals with something that I was going through and I remember feeling, at the time that I was writing them and recording them, that I was very excited that I was revealing myself. And then I remember very clearly….after the record had been mastered and turned into Merge (records)……thinking oh shit what have I done….if people really started paying attention to the lyrics, they are going to learn more about me that I would really like!” But he said, in hindsight, he was glad that he did it.

I could sense the vulnerability Flournoy felt in putting these lyrics ‘out there.’ I asked him if there was one song on the album that digs down a bit deeper and reveals more about the place that he was at after The Broken West broke up. He said that song would be Southern Decline. “It really is about finding comfort in getting drunk.….About being drunk and not being able to stop being drunk.”

What intrigued me about this song, and many others on The Year Of Magical Drinking is that at its musical heart, it is a pop song. I asked Flournoy how he reconciles the difference between the up tempo-ness of the song and the lyrics. “I think that in general, as a song writer and a music fan, I have been drawn to stuff that varies buoyant music with a darker lyrical tone. I have just always liked that juxtaposition.”

Southern Decline   

In talking specifically about Southern Decline, Flournoy said that he liked the lyrical honesty and the sense of exuberance and excitement in the music, which was how he felt when he was recording it. “After The Broken West break up, and what I went through, and then Merge wanting to do this record, I felt excited.” He said that the contest had given him the courage to send a new bunch of demos to Merge and see what they had to say. “That process was all so terrifying because they could have said ‘no this is not what we are interested in.’ I did not know if I would get the change to make another record again.”

But Flournoy did get the chance to make his album and the results are really great from my perspective. Flournoy can write a catchy melody as well as anyone and the songs on The Year of Magical Drinking crackle with life and energy. I asked him if he felt a new lease on life now. He said that he felt liberated and wanted to do what came naturally to him. “In so much there being a guiding principal for the record it was ‘I’m going to write the songs that I enjoy and that I wanted to hear whether they are too poppy or not.”

This response got me thinking. What if Apex Manor’s debut album follows a similar arc to that of The Broken West’s first album? What would Flournoy do the second time around?  Would he feel beholden to anyone? Fans? Critics? I asked him about his conviction to do what he wants artistically. What happens if he gets a creative itch that he feels needs to be scratched that takes the sound of a second album in a different direction from the first….again. Would he do it knowing how things turned out for The Broken West?

“I would be lying if I said that I haven’t thought about that. Would I be scared having going through what I did with The Broken West? Definitely. Maybe the band might not have even broken up if we had made a second album that sounded like the first one.” He said that the idea of history repeating itself is terrifying. But he said “At the end of the day, it’s got to be something that I am going to be happy with. And then I will have to live with that, whatever the consequences might be.” Which he finishes off with a happy, yet nervous chuckle.

Holy Roller   

Apex Manor Will be out on the road in support of The Year of Magical Drinking in February and March. You can check out their tour schedule here. For those here in Seattle, they will be at the Tractor Tavern this coming Friday, Feb. 4th.