Interview: UK Psych Guitarist Stephen Kent Discusses His Solo Project The End Springs

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The End Springs 'Stark Wood', album art
The End Springs ‘Stark Wood’

Today we catch up with UK psych guitarist Stephen Kent to talk about his solo home-recording project The End Springs. One visit to the musician’s Bandcamp page reveals a treasure trove of music, and while some of the acoustic and plugged-in recordings might fall under the category of “freak folk”, Kent’s fluid and experimental approach means you might just as easily find something like the blazed-out doom meditations of his most recent effort, The Colour of Brown, as the mutant electronic explorations of a release like Caos, or the single ”
PAL Technique #1 “. The artist has released music via a handful of micro labels like Reverb Worship, A Beard of Snails Records, the now defunct Centre of Wood, as well as Kent’s own label Dust Wind Tales, though, a good portion of his music remains still unreleased, hard copy and label-wise, including his amazing new work, The Colour of Brown.
Stephen explains that he had a real musical awakening upon hearing Devendra Barnhart perform “A Sight to Behold” on the Jools Holland show, back in 2004. Digging deeper, the musician would also go on to discover Ben Chasny‘s Six Organs of Admittance, and with these as his initial inspirations, he began self-recording his own instrumental, guitar-based work in a small shed at the end of his garden. While Kent had spent many years playing with others in bands, the chance to work solo, and at his own pace, was liberating, allowing him to develop his own idiosyncratic take on psych and folk!
For The End Springs, Kent’s music is mostly improvised, and often built in over-dubbed layers recorded to a Tascam Portastudio 4-track recorder. Following a lo-fi and organic approach that foregrounds the texture of his guitar playing, the musician’s use of alternate tunings, looped passages, techniques like finger-picking, etc., seem to be born of the desire to push his instrument into sonically unexpected territory. The result is that a crepuscular air of mystery hangs over his recordings, creating a music that, while often experimental in approach, is always expressive in practice!
What follows is a transcript of our interview from this summer, in which Stephen provides a close-up look into his development as a musician, as well as his working methods for The End Springs! Along the way, you will also find Bandcamp embeds for the albums Stark Wood, his newest effort The Colour of Brown, as well as rural beauties like The Silent Meadow and Snakes.

LET: To begin, I’m interested in knowing more about how you arrived at your instrumentation and working method for The End Springs, as it seems fundamental to your sound. You discuss it briefly in your Bandcamp description, when you list the acoustic guitar in conjunction with Boss Looper/Delay Pedal, Korg Monotribe, etc; and while the acoustic guitar and the folk-style tropes that it suggests seem central to the majority of your posted recordings, coupled with the electronic elements, these tracks and albums become more mysterious and difficult to “pin down”! How did you arrive at this particular combination of folk and psychedelic styling as your musical approach?

SK: Generally I have always played guitar/music with someone else. When I first decided to do stuff on my own, my first recordings (Volume I & II) were a good feel at doing instrumental stuff and which came about for the simple reason…..I cannot sing for toffee!! They also came about from discovering something very special – American “freak folk” and especially Devendra Banhart. Seeing him on the UK show Jools Holland totally blew my mind. Sitting crossed legs and singing “A Sight to Behold” grabbed me and showed me that something else was out there. From that I found the famous comp he put together and some amazing music and also new friends. That then took me to find a band called Las Vegas Club. They really influenced me to write Volume I and II. From a guitarist point of view those collections were both written in standard tuning. It began more harder to sustain a tune in standard so I looked more at open tunings. I had always also used open G (big Stones & Black Crowes fan) when I was playing in bands but decided to go with a new one and started with DADGAD, then onto open D. I am also a massive Nick Drake fan and playing around with his tunings really helped me develop ideas. But……the biggest impact on my playing and growing as a guitarist has been Ben Chansy and his Six Organs of Admittance stuff. I have always written music by trying to (semi) copy other tunes or styles but they seem to come out my way (if that makes sense)! Trying to sustain interest in acoustic instrumentals has always been at the front of what I’m trying to do. Things would be a lot easier if I could sing, ha ha!

Working method = when I get my arse in gear! ha ha! When I do record stuff it’s nearly always the first take and played off the top of my head! Sometimes it works and others not! I might rehearse a riff or passage a bit before but then build on that when I record. I have an unreleased collection called “The Mystery Pine Cone Tape” which I wrote and recorded exactly as the final running order is. They were good recording sessions. To me improvisation is where the buzz is. If I play something too much I get bored. Never like to over work something. This can mean I totally forget how to play something! I guess that kinda comes from being a lead guitarist in a band, when I first started playing guitar.

The Looper pedal came on board as a way of being able to play live (I have only ever done 3 solo gigs) and is used occasionally when I record.The delay was and is to brighten the sound and add more spacey effects. I decided to bring the Monotribe in as I also love a bit of techno, Plastikman being the one I would go to for inspiration. Also partly comes from Six Organs again. He uses subtle “drones” underneath the guitar and that kinda sound always appealed to me. I guess again it’s just come out like me. Things like the “Caos” collection are just me trying to do something that doesn’t come naturally to me. But I’m always drawn back to the open droned raga acoustic!!

As you know this has lead to working with Will MacLean (Ice Cream Mission to Mars) which has been a great experience. For the first time I really pushed myself, work-wise and writing-wise! I think Blue Moth turned out pretty cool.

The End Springs 'The Colour of Brown', album artwork
The End Springs ‘The Colour of Brown’

LET: Maybe we can delve more into your recording process now, as it seems fair to say that The End Springs is more of a recording project, than a live one. While it sounds like improvisation is what brings you creative energy, how much do you allow yourself the ability to edit or do overdubs on the tracks? Some tracks and albums have a very stripped back feel, and seem like they could have been done in one take, while others seem to be composed of recorded layers. Also, what do you record to, and what can you tell us about your recording space…

SK: So…..I don’t really “edit” tracks as such but I do do overdubs. Almost every track I’ve recorded (bar a few) has overdubs. I would start with a main riff or passage. Lay that down then build different parts onto that mainly through the delay, to brighten and fill out the track. Sometimes I use a loop I’ve recorded too, to start with. I use to use whistling through the delay a lot at one point. That and humming a drone. Not so much now. I like to record just one guitar on it’s own but the tune has to be strong. I feel what I write could start to bore the listener if it was just one guitar on it’s own.

Up to maybe a year ago I was using a Tascam Porta02 MkII. Real basic cassette 4 track. Now I use the Tascam portastudio 414 mkII, basically the next one up! Got it off eBay, £40! Perfect too. So you could say I like analog, ha ha! One of the biggest things for me is for it to sound “lo-fi”….I love lo-fi. I can’t stand really polished stuff (that’s a lie really, I do like some, ha ha). I bought a small Boss digital recorder once. Sounded amazing but there was no warmth. I like a bit of hiss!! I normally mic the guitar to get some background sound (have had trains before) but sometimes I use a pickup. For the latest stuff I’ve been recording, I’ve used a pickup. I like to really push the input so that it naturally distorts. The new stuff is a lot heavier sounding!! A collection called The Colour of Brown….

I’m quite lucky as I have a shed at the bottom of the garden which I record in. It’s nice and quiet, apart from the trains behind me going past every so often! I like it, as I feel I need to be quite so I record softer stuff, in a way. I record mainly at night, so it’s good as the kids are not woken up and the wife get some time by herself, ha ha!! Everyone’s a winner!

LET: It seems that you have really dialed in a working method while still keeping it fluid enough so that it can continue to adapt and change. It is also a working method that allows you to work on your own, while still creating layered, multifaceted music. Is this an adaptation out of necessity, or do you prefer working solo?

SK: It’s kinda both really. I have to work alone as I can’t be bothered to work with anyone else but I also like that, ha ha! When I was in a (rock – (Black Crowes, The Doors sounding)) band years ago, I use to write all the music. I always had a way I wanted the tune to sound but the other guys never managed to pull it off! So now it’s good to have it the way I want. Don’t get me wrong I love working with people today but by collaborating via email, etc you can always find people you really relate to. There’s material there you can listen too, you know. I have tried semi-recently to work with a couple of people. One thing turned out really good, which I might put out there for people. We called it “Swamp Moss“. Two acoustics, similar to my stuff I guess…as I had to give him ideas to play!! ha ha!! And of course the stuff with Will (Blue Moth) has been amazing and special. I hope we can do more together.

So I guess at this stage in my life I do prefer working solo….no rush then, either, or no real time constraint! I have a couple of kids too (Caleb & Noah, & a step daughter Cassie), so it’s good to leave it sometimes to concentrate on the family. I would love to totally rock band it up again one day! I do play with a good friend of mine from the States. His name is Brendon Massei and he goes by the name Viking Moses. Check out his stuff, it’s breathtaking! We jam some Power when he’s over in London! Biggest gig I have ever done was the first time I played with him. We played at KOKO in London supporting Teenage Fan Club. 3000 people and I fuck up the first song, ha ha! Came in too early! Turned out amazing though! He has a good soul. The brother I never had!

The End Springs 'The Silent Meadow', album art
The End Springs ‘The Silent Meadow’; drawning by Brendon Massei (Viking Moses)

LET: Lets talk about the guitar a bit, as it has been the central focus of The End Springs, and, as such, it carries a great portion of the music’s weight. To begin, when did you start playing the guitar, and do you also play other instruments? For The End Springs you have come to use alternate tunings, loops, etc, pushing what the guitar is capable of, while still maintaining the ability to express emotion with the instrument, and tell a “story”. Can you talk more about what motivated you to adopt alternate tunings, and to push the kinds of sounds we expect from the guitar, and how you balance these more experimental urges, with the urge for an expressive music?

SK: I started playing guitar when I was 15. I’m 39 now so have been playing for 24 years. I saw Eric Clapton on the tv when he played Knebworth here in the UK. He was playing a blinding solo wearing a pink suit!!! I thought that’s what I wanna do..(not the pink suit though!!). Bought a little nylon acoustic (which I still have to this day and still use) and practiced everyday. Went up to an electric and started to get into Blues in a big way. I can even remember now thinking “i’m never gonna get this, it’s too hard” but I kept at it. It took me over a year to understand scales and then one day it just clicked!! haha!! Was in a band called The Implants (never liked the name) in my early 20’s. Rock stuff. I had a bit of a break in my mid 20’s when I got into hip hop in a big way!! Then film track type stuff with an ex friend and then along came Devendra Banhart!!! It was like I had found god…in a guitarist/songwriter type way! His album Rejoicing In the Hands….blew me away! They rest is history!! ha ha!!

I can play bass, a bit of drums and a bit of piano. Not that great but I know a bit. Guitar is just what comes naturally to me. Pretty good at picking things up. Always been a good technical player. Guitar-wise I currently use a dusty beaten acoustic that was £100. Can’t even remember the make. Would love to find another older used guitar. Not keen on new guitars, always sound a bit too clean.!!

I had always used open G a lot, up to finding DB, and had always been a big fan of Nick Drake. I started seriously using them when I discovered Six Organs of Admittance and more so having to find a way of playing something interesting, while not being able to sing! I feel they sound a lot more full of feeling, I guess because I’m fingerpicking (that took a long time to learn), instead of just strumming something…it sounds more real. I use mainly DADGAD and open D but always just tune different strings to notes to see if it works. Recently wrote something in CGCGCE, which is really nice.Good for getting a nice drone type tune. I have to say that I also love Peter Walker. He’s always been there in the back trying to work through to me fingers!! I use loops just to build the track up. I’m lazy as a guitarist, so it’s an easy way to build it up!

Trying to sound like Six Organs really pushed me to use alt tunings because he sounded so damn good. I have always tried to sound like someone but it never comes out that way. Is that normal? ha ha! It just sounds like me! My way of writing I guess! Trying to make it interesting, while playing solo and not singing, pushes me to trying different things, adding stuff and that. It’s fun to build a track and when it works you get that amazing feeling. I have a tune called “(Golden) Sun Kites” which gets me shivering every time I play it!! The most beautiful track I have ever written. Unreleased at the mo!!

LET: With album titles like The Cold Dirt Diaries, Silent Meadow, and Stark Wood, not to mention song titles like “Water Boatman’s Dream #3 (Entry 1)“, “Fields Full of Rabbits“, “They Drove the Land Home“, as well as your finger-picked guitar stylings, all this comes together to suggest rural environments. Is it fair to say that the music of The End Springs is influenced thematically, and in mood, by “the country”, rather than, say, “the city”? Or, is that too limiting of a generalization…

The End Springs 'Snakes', album art
The End Springs ‘Snakes’

SK: I’ll be honest, I’ve never really thought about that before. Where we live is pretty rural I guess. We live in a small village and our back garden backs onto a railway line, but over the other side of that is a woods, which we can see. I guess subconsciously I have the country in there but all my title & themes have (and do) just come out of me! I never really think too much about titles. A few I have. I did a collection called “The Return of Things Too Beautiful” which I loosely based on a Badgelore title. The “Water Boatman” idea I have used a couple of times too. I kinda like the country idea though as I hate the city. London (bout 40 miles from me) is an amazing city which I have worked in & played loads of times, but I could never live there. I like green and we have a lot of that where we live. Stark Wood came about during winter where all the trees behind our house had shed their leaves which just left loads of stark wood!! The collection I mentioned before (The Mystery Pine Cone Tape) has titles that I kinda thought of specific to the tune and whole idea which is loosely based on Twin Peaks! But yeah, overall, they just seem to appear!! ha ha!!

LET: Are the release dates for the albums on Bandcamp reflective of when they where posted, or do they provide an accurate chronology for when they were created? If not, can you tell me when and in what order the albums were recorded? Do you do the artwork for the albums? I know that a limited edition version of The Cold Dirt Diaries included a “handmade diary of 6 pages“…is that often the case? Besides digitally, in what formats have you released your music on?

Also, are you currently working on any new material for The End Springs? Any releases coming up? Any more collaborations planned for work outside of The End Springs?

SK: The release dates on Bandcamp are when they were uploaded. On some of the descriptions I have given a year (from what I can remember) but you are best looking at http://www.discogs.com/artist/1171181-End-Springs-The for a better idea of the year when released. You can also check out my website (http://dustwindtales.wordpress.com/the-end-springs/) which gives a discography.

I never do the artwork, mainly because I never have any ideas on art and because I’m too lazy, ha ha! The drawings I did for The Cold Dirt Diaries were suggested by the dude from the label. I don’t really draw much, just every now and then and always with a “kite” theme (that just came of of thin air!!). Not something I’m very good at!

Stuff is normally released on cd but my first release was on cassette and the latest on vinyl. Vinyl is always special. The latest is a split 7″ out on A Beard of Snails Records. Would love to have a full album out on vinyl!

As for new material, I’m gonna hopefully start recording some new ideas soon. I have recently done some heavy distorted stuff but I have just discovered one amazing guitarist – Tashi Dorji. He is incredible! You have to check him out (http://tashidorji1.bandcamp.com/), a total different way at looking at the guitar. I feel his influence is gonna be the next phase!

No releases coming up but always looking to get stuff out there. I have about 3 collections unreleased! Need to contact some diy labels. Would totally love to do more stuff with Will (Ice Cream Mission to Mars / Blue Moth). Would be cool to go on a techno Moog jazz trip with him!