A conversation with… Corn Mo

Welcome; John Cunningham aka ‘Corn Mo’.

Q/ Morning. How’s it going?

Good.

Q/ I was doing – what I laughingly like to call – research. Now the internet is quite a big place and perhaps I was poking around in the wrong corner but it’s quite hard to find a huge amount of information on you. Are you carefully maintaining the persona of an enigmatic master of songs?

No. I’m just not that popular. It would be brilliant if it were true.

Q/ You’ve toured with Ben Folds, The Polyphonic Spree and They Might Be Giants. They’re all very different artists. They might giants with quirky short songs, The polyphonic spree with two dozen robed individuals, Ben Folds atop his piano conducting the audience into a sing-along. Do you try and tour with very different people, or does it just naturally happen that way?

I take what i can get and thankfully what I got was what i wanted.

Q/ Does spending a tour with a particular artist have an effect on your own writing? Do you absorb certain styles through a process of musical osmosis?

Not really. Although before I met Ben I wrote a song in his style. I worked for this guy in Dallas and he had to fire me. We became good friends after the firing. He was fired not long after due to cutbacks and moved back to his hometown of Columbia, Sc. He faxed me some lyrics he had written that were very dear to him. Since ben was from the Carolinas I thought it was appropriate to write music in his style as an homage to my old boss. He had made an indie movie and had me come in to adlib a part and I wanted to recreate that perfect time of making something great in his hometown. It’s called Picture Days. I played it over the phone for him and he winged.

On another album, I wrote a song called “The Baloney Song” which was in the style of They Might Be Giants. I was a big fan of theirs, also, before finally touring with them.

I got to open for Tiny Tim before he passed. I wrote “Lollipop” afterwards and wanted to give it to him. He was in Denton recording at the same time I lived there. I didn’t know how to approach him with it, however, and then he died.

Q/ Having you written songs for anyone else and are unsure as to give them – or equally is there anyone that you’d like to write a song for, but havevent’ (yet)?

There’s no one i’ve really thought about writing for, but if someone was going to let me write for someone else…  it would be either Kenny Rogers or a piece to be performed by the Polyphonic Spree and Yngwie together.  I love Kenny Rogers and Yngwie Malmsteen and it would be cool to hear a song by the Spree.

Q/ I can’t say i’ve heard of yngwie malmsteen. Is that pure ignorance on my part or is he a hidden gem?

Both.  I first heard him in ‘83 and took the record to my neighbor’s house and made him listen to it

he was unimpressed and i got angry that he wasn’t astoundedthen my band teacher told me yngwie was all fingers and no soul and I got angry again he’s a guitarist with a hard-on for Paganini.

Q/ Do you judge people by the music they listen to? I have to say that I do. There are certain artists I love (like Nick Drake) and if people don’t like them, or worse are apathetic then I know we’re never going to the best of friends.

I used to be like that until i realized my taste in music was considered terrible. I used to be like that until i realized my taste in music was considered terrible.

Q/ Is there such a thing of bad music?

YES. and I’ve found it. Most bad music that i like at least has heart but once i did a guest thing on MTV

they were doing this silly bit about Limp Bizkit looking for a new guitarist and thought it would be funny if I tried out so I learned “Rollin”  I had to buy their CD at Virgin it was $22and every song i listened to had no redeeming qualitiesit said nothing. it felt nothing. That’s the only record i can honestly tell you is bad

i’m sure there are others but none repulsed me so much as an album where the writer didn’t give a shit about connecting to anything. just complete horseshit.

Q/ Now anyone can write music on a laptop that there’s way too to small a signal to noise ratio these days?

That’s not a bad thing.  I can’t wait for the day when conceptual artists make great things from the pictures in their heads that can’t translated in any other medium except for some kind of brain mapping tool.  When that tool is available, we will see some amazing things.

Q/ They say that there’s a book in everyone.  I’ve never though that’s even remotely true but I

do subscribe to the view that there’s a song in everyone (Limp Bizkit aside).

It is true. i’m sure there’s a song in Fred Durst, too.

Q/ The accordion isn’t an instrument that you see a grea deal of in the pop world.  Does playing an instrument like that lend itself to writing a different song, than if you were say sitting at a piano?

Yes.  Casios are different too. Anything with a different tone or different way of making chords will inspire a different song. Thumb pianos.  Harmonicas.  Guitars.  Someday i hope to be able to aquire a glass harmonica or a small pipe organ.

Q/ A glass harmonica?

Ben Franklin invented it.  It’s a series of closely connected glass bowls set on their sides and they spin.

Q/ The nature of inspiration is an odd thing.  Do you have a muse?

Not really.  The absence of a muse is a muse.  The absence of everything but your thoughts is the best muse.

Q/ So you’re a shack set deep in the woods kind of guy?

If i had one yes.

Q/ That kind of also implies that you prefer to write on your own, rather than colloborate with other members of, say, .357 Lover.

Not exactly. i’d love to collaborate with them.  We haven’t done that yet.

Q/ You’ve said melodies come easy to you.  Where do you think melodies come from?  Musicians often say that they’ve discovered a tune as if it was hovering in the air and they reached out an grabbed it.  A lovely metaphor I’ve always thought.

Just humming for fun is a good way.  The good thing is that there is no set way to get a good song. There’s no formula. you just make it in the way you like to do it at the time. the next time might be the same way or a completely different way. having a good time doing it is the best for me.

Q/ I was discussing musical integrity with some friends a while back.  The difference between someone following their heart and writing the very best piece of music they can as opposed to to writing something aimed at a particular demographic.  That said “Good Music” can still be written by people writing to order.  The Brill Building being a perfect example.  What, would you say, defines musical integrity?  Or is it not really an issue as long as good music is produced?

the brill building seemed like a place where you had a shitload of artists creating music. I think good music can come out of a collective of sorts, even if they aren’t all collaborating together. I’ve heard some painful songs that followed the heart and would rather hear Burt Bacharach.

There’s another thing too which is the character driven song. sometimes an artist doesn’t want to reach inside himself and makes a character to do it for him. sort of like a ventriliquist.

like Paul Williams, or Iron Maiden maybe,or Spinal Tap or Queen.

Q/ It does take bravery to lay yourself bare to an audience.

Yeah, i’m scared or nervous every time.  I hate seeing an artist who doesn’t care.  It pisses me off and wastes my time.

Q/ So in the perfect song you’re looking for truth.  An honesty.  Whether that be in the original genesis of the song or the performance.

Yeah, and it doesn’t have to be right on the surface.  As opposed to someone who just doesn’t give a shit and is going thru the motions.

Q/ If you write a song with the best of intentions about, say, the break up of a special relationship and it then becomes a hit.  It must be odd to have to perform it over and over again.

If its good though it doesn’t matter. I play a song about a relationship that’s been over for 8 years

and i still love playing it.

Q/ I’d love to see a song about an artist driven mad by having to sing his one hit song night after night and being forced to relive the awful true tale that the song tells.

A friend of mine was telling me about the “white room” Its a term in musical actors use when they’ve been doing the same show night after night and at some point they find themselves in a “white room”, a place where the repetition becomes routine. they fight to stay out of that room sometimes i think about Rush having to play Tom Sawyer every night of every tour for over 30 years.

Q/ You’ve done a lot of different things with your music. From Jazz to country, from a rock band called ‘Illusion’ to a metal band called ‘Without Warning’. You wrote the soundtrack for a juggling troupe. Are you addicted to the joy of starting new ventures, or do you have a
short attention span?

Both. Musical genres shouldn’t have fences. Ween is really good at making those fenced-in genres into one big field. So are the guys from South Park. And Mr. Bungle.

Q/ Both Ben Folds and yourself have written songs around the Hebrew folk song ‘Hava Nagila’; yours being ‘Hava Nagila Monster’. Wikipedia lists over forty versions. Is there an unspoken code amongst musicians that everyone must try it at least once?

If there is a code I haven’t consciously been told. Jacob did come to me in a dream once and told me that going up the ladder was metal and going down the ladder was country. I went up the ladder, wrestled an angel, lost and when I was trying to catch my breath for a rematch, the angel said, “Do you like that song ‘Death Tone’ by Manowar?” I said, “Kinda” And he said, “Cool.”

Q/ Your version of “Hava Nagila” was with your glam-rock band “.357 Lover”. Were you drawn to the .357 due to it’s ease of handloading ammunition?

I’ve never handled one before. I used to shoot 22 caliber rifles in 8th grade. And I like the band 38 Special.

Q/ You’ve said that you find melodies easy but struggle with lyrics. Looking through the titles of songs across your two solo albums; “I Hope You Win!” (2000) and “The Magic is You” (2002) I see “Lollipop”, “The Baloney Song”, “Bananas! (I got bananas in my hands!), “Chocolate cake”, “Hersey’s Miniatures” and Bony fishsteaks”. Does writing songs make you hungry?

I have a friend who eats potato salad when he writes. Another chain smokes. I would love to have a thanksgiving dinner right next to a piano. the best writing comes from either showering or walking. The removal of stimulus is the best way for me to create.

Q/ Is “.357 lover” another stop on your music journey, or do you feel you’ve found the best platform for the kind of music you want to write?

.357 Lover is the best platform. Most of what I perform solo has other things going on in my head with my phantom friends playing along. When we’re together, though, its magic. Tim Delaughter asked me to take over the Spree when he dies. When that happens, ask me again.

You can find out more about Corn Mo at:

CornMo.Com

Corn Mo at MySpace

.357 Lover at MySpace