The Guitar Hero Series: State Shirt

Written by Ava

The Guitar Hero series on Jemsite features interviews with guitarists and musicians who may not have star status YET, but their current situations have shaped them to be who they are--determined, fond of their craft, and heroes in their own right. Perhaps you'll see in these upcoming entries the next Jimi Hendrix, Melissa Etheridge, or Duane Allman. Or perhaps they'll become household names by doing what they do best---doing their thing.

Going by the name State Shirt, you'd think Ethan Tufts would be obsessed with wearing sports team jersey all the time. Not so, says the budding electronic musician, who actuall wears shirts with US state logos imprinted on them, a friendly way to wear sayings without dealing with corporation mottos.

State Shirt seemed to the appropriate name to choose when Ethan was coming up with a name to distinguish himself from other pop electro music creators who wanted to remain distinct. His sound, too, a mix of what he calls experimenta indie-tronic, melacholic folktronica, and bedroom pop (see first answer below) is mixed with heavy electro beats, and of course, incredible guitar riffs of his own creation, to support his songwriting and his musical skills.

Using these guitar skills in a new way to create a totally hip new sound is exactly why State Shirt is this week's guitar hero.

You can check out exactly how he does that by heading over to his very own State Shirt channel on YouTube.

How would you describe your music?

Well recently, my music has been called melancholic folktronica, experimental indie-tronic, and looping bedroom pop. The music and the lyrics are all very personal and often reflect some intense conflicting emotions. I’m a bit bipolar really—my music exposes a darker side that I don’t reveal publicly.

I work in a small bedroom studio, with a collection of assorted junky instruments that I’ve collected over the years. My instrument collection is definitely in need of some improvement, but I’ve found a lot of pleasure in squeaking some interesting and unusual sounds out of crappy instruments. Though maybe it’s time to stick around this site a bit and figure out what guitar to save up for next.

All of my music is open-source—just about everything is available for use under a Creative Commons license. Basically that means you can use my music for pretty much any non-commercial use you’d like, just give me credit. I think the existing copyright system is a bit too closed for me. I like sharing. You can make remixes, add my music to your YouTube videos, even make your own State Shirt music video. It’s been very popular with the remix community, in just a few months over 200 remixes of my songs have been created. That’s been pretty incredible.

And, my music is free. While I really hope that people who enjoy it will come to my site and pay me for it, I have found making it available for free has helped get it out to people that may have never found it otherwise. I’ve been lucky enough to have many music lovers come back to share some of their hard-earned money in return.

Who are your musical influences?

My musical influences are really all over the map. I grew up listening to all sorts of stuff, Sebadoh, Helmet, Duran Duran, Fugazi, Drive Like Jehu, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Coltrane, and a bunch of crazy no-name hardcore punk bands. Somehow there must be a connection between all of this and my music, but I’m not sure what it is.

My music has been compared to Radiohead, Beck, The Postal Service, Elbow, Folk Implosion, Red House Painters, VAST, even Pet Shop Boys—haven’t figured that one out yet. I’ve said that if all of these bands got in a huge bar fight then make up over frosty Sam Adams then I think that's what State Shirt sounds like.

How did you start songwriting and putting together indie-tronic sounds in your own bedroom?

I've been recording for as long as I can remember—I started as a kid with an old Panasonic portable cassette recorder, and recorded hundreds of ridiculous seven-second songs. As I got older I realized that creating music was like a drug, it absolutely took me to another world. I bought a cassette four-track machine in high school, and spent more time writing and recording than anything else. Often times I would start a recording session, and before I knew it 12 hours had passed and I’d forgotten to eat any meals that day.

After I dropped out of college, I went through quite a long and depressing hiatus from music. It wasn’t until a friend told me about a website called SongFight that I got back into it. The site is really simple and brilliant—a competition where you are given a song title and have a week to write and record a song. That really got me to start experimenting with songwriting and production. I think that constant trial and error is how I stumbled upon my current indie-tronic sound.

Everyone asks this, but why the name State Shirt?

Yes that is a question that comes up all of the time! Pretty simple really, I wear a lot of shirts with U.S. states on them. After I dropped out of college, it was a nice cheap thrift-store way to have some decent threads without any corporate logos on them. And they usually have some pretty incredible nature scenes on them. I think my Wyoming sunset with moose shirt is one of my faves. Over the years I've collected a ton of state shirts but surprisingly I don't have all 50 states yet. If anyone wants to help fill out my collection, I wear a medium.

What music have you released?

I’ve released two full-length albums, Don’t Die (2004) and This is Old (2008), and one EP, New Planet (2002). And a ton of individual songs here and there were released as I wrote them. I’m currently working on an open-source music collaboration, where all of the music is created with user-submitted samples and audio. I’m still in need of some more audio; so if anyone wants to contribute, contact me!

Has guitar been influential in your life?

Absolutely. Though I don’t really consider myself a very good guitar player. I generally use guitar to support my songwriting, rather than the other way around. For instance I may work out a chord progression on the piano, and find a much cooler way to voice it on an electric guitar.

I’m really drawn to how well guitar is utilized in great songs. And I don’t mean great “guitar songs”, I mean great songs where the guitar is an essential element. I’m not usually blown away by a blazing guitar solo or by technical prowess. I’m always captivated by a guitarist that really explores different types of sounds, textures and moods—pushing the envelope and trying new things.

You were a drummer, bassist and guitarist that played in a death metal band, a light rock band, and indie emo-core band. How did you use your guitar and bass differently for each different band and genre?

Well, one thing it required me to do was see music from many perspectives. It definitely helped me become a better songwriter. Since I’m not exceptional at any one instrument, it allowed me to really work hard on writing guitar and bass parts that fit well into the songs. Also, since I don’t have a formal background in guitar, I found myself coming up with unusual guitar parts since I didn’t know the “correct” way to voice chords. Even to this day, I often play based on feel and finger shapes on the fret board instead of paying attention to guitar theory.

How do guitar riffs, rhythms, sounds fit into your music?

Guitar is an essential element in my music. It’s not always dominant but it’s always there as part of the song structure. I think a lot of my guitar parts are simple but somewhat unusual, maybe because I lack a formal background in the instrument, maybe because of alternate tunings, maybe it’s because I really don’t know what I’m doing.

A lot of my guitar parts are recorded live while doing live looping rehearsals with my Gibson Echoplex. And when I start tracking the songs in the studio, often times I’ll mangle the loops a bit to fit, so there are a lot of parts on my new album that are actual guitar parts but don’t quite sound like it.

What guitars do you play?

My first guitar was a $99 Peavey Predator that I got when I was 16. First thing I did was shove a Seymour Duncan hot rails in the bridge position. I still have it, actually. It plays pretty well for a cheap guitar, but it has more sentimental value than anything else.

My main guitar is a red 90’s Mexican made Fender Toronado. I’m not sure how to explain it but it just fits my playing style perfectly, and I love the sound. I’ve never had the guitar set up properly, but it plays great. That thing is pretty much perpetually in DADGAD tuning. For me, DADGAD is standard tuning, I rely on that tuning a lot.

My main acoustic guitar is an early 90’s Gibson J30. Best birthday gift I’ve ever received. Really warm, sweet sounding acoustic. I’ve gone through a few other guitars here and there, but nothing really worth mentioning. At some point I’d like to get a nice old Gibson E335 hollow body, or maybe a 70s era Ibanez 335 copy.

Even more important to me than my guitars are probably my effects pedals and recording gear. I have two Gibson Echoplex Digital Pro looping racks, which get used when I play live. I’m completely addicted to my Line 6 DL4 delay, which I use for vocal effects. And I love my Boss DF2 Super Feedbacker and Distortion. It pretty much rules. I also have a bunch of other knickknacks and wacky sound makers here and there.

I’m always on the lookout for cool and unusual new and vintage gear, if anyone has any suggestions of stuff to check out, let me know.