INTERVIEW: ONE EYED DOLL

The Austin, Texas duo of Kimberly Freeman and Jason “Junior” Sewell, better known as One Eyed Doll, have been building an army of rabid and dedicated fans since 2007. Fueled by over-the-top live shows, vigorous touring and a DIY (do it yourself) approach to just about everything, One Eyed Doll has systematically torn down the walls that normally separate fans from a band, gaining a loyal base worldwide, which include some of  the biggest names in music.

Their latest studio album entitled Witches, which officially releases March 24 via Standby Records, is an awe-inspiring concept album based on the Salem Witch Trials and hysteria. If you’re a long-time fan of the band, then you know that the dynamic duo is about to take you on a pretty special adventure. If you’re not a fan yet, then there’s plenty of room on the bus and you’re welcome to climb aboard and join us all. You are formally invited to start the journey by sitting beside me for this eye-opening interview with Kimberly and Junior as they discuss the new album, touring life and supernatural, singing frogs. Yes…magical frogs. 

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 Interview with One Eyed Doll (Kimberly Freeman and Jason Rufuss Sewell, a.k.a., “Junior”)

By: Johnny Price, Lead Senior Journalist

Hey guys! It’s so good to get the chance to sit down and talk to you again. I’m really curious about your new album Witches, which is a concept album based around the Salem Witch trials and the hysteria that ensued. Was this an interest of the band’s before the project or was the idea for the theme pitched to you?

Kimberly Freeman: It happened accidentally; I had this little tune running through my head when I came across a story of a lady named Mary Eastey. She was a victim of the Salem witch hysteria and one of many people executed for witchcraft. I just happened to come across the story when I was on the internet one day. You know how the net is when you start looking for something and you get into these spirals that lead you in all directions? I read all about Mary and was so interested in her and the how and why this could have happened. I immediately wrote a song for her called “A Rope For Mary” with the tune that had been floating around in my head. She was my muse and it didn’t stop there; I had to know more. It was more than just me wanting to research stuff and then being inspired to write another song, then another and then another. I honestly didn’t think that I was going to sit down and write an entire album, but BOOM; it just happened! It just sort of vomited itself out of our souls (laughs).

Now, there’s a vision! You never know what’s going to happen when those creative flood gates open.

Kimberly: I don’t know how many of our fans are into the story, but the psychology that’s behind it and the religious pressures that they had that led to all of this is really interesting and I hope others will be interested in it as well. It’s a part of our history that needs to be discussed because the more we learn, the more ability we have not to repeat our mistakes.

It’s a very interesting topic to visit on so many levels. Weren’t you up in that area and what were your feelings when you stopped to think about what actually happened on the ground that you were standing on.

Kimberly: We were in that area filming a music video for the new album. We spent time in Salem and Danvers, which was Salem Town where all of this stuff happened and some of the surrounding area. I felt this permanent sadness and injustice there.

I found it quite interesting that some of the song lyrics on this new album are direct quotes from trial court documents from the witch trials. Was it difficult to get permission to use those?

Kimberly: No, stuff that old is generally public domain and considered historical documents. The University has been preserving and posting a lot of the old documents on their website and it’s free for anyone to look at. All of those documents were handwritten, obviously, and it’s fascinating that someone had a quill pen, probably, and was writing it all down at that very time and we get to look at it.

Given the subject matter, did anything creepy or weird happen during the recording process?

Kimberly: Oh, you want a ghost story (laughs).

Junior: Well, this wasn’t necessarily supernatural, but if you listen to the song ”More Weight,” you can hear frogs croaking and other sounds of nature. They’re on the outro as well and are the sounds that were in the woods while we were writing and recording. You get a real taste of where we were while making the album. You can really hear them and it’s not just a bunch of sound effects.

Kimberly: We didn’t syncopate those frogs either; they were right on the beat of what we were doing. What you hear on the album are those frogs doing it live and it’s not edited – it’s really awesome. Frogs have always been my spirit animal and in really important times in my life, there’s been a frog there, which might not make sense to some people.

Junior: Frogs are witchy too (laughs).

Kimberly: This particular part that we were recording was up on the mountain with no cell service or anything and these frogs were all around singing along to what we were doing. I don’t know if you’d call it supernatural or anything, but it was pretty amazing. When we were recording “Stillness,” I definitely felt moved by the spirit of what we were doing at a certain point in the vocal bridge. We got into the studio to record just the vocals and had to do it in just a few hours, so a lot of those were just one take and came out very natural sounding and heartfelt. There was something special going on during the bridge in “Stillness” because I felt a positive energy, an extra boost of something that made me feel like we were doing the right thing and honoring someone. Everyone ended up getting goose bumps when that happened.

The press release for the new album mentioned that although Witches is heavy, that it was written on banjo and mandolin. Is that a typical process for you or does it vary?

Kimberly: There’s really no set way; it can start on a piano or with a vocal thing. We just happened to be camping in the Redwoods for a while, which was a very special time, and we had our acoustic instruments with us. I had my acoustic guitar and banjo and Jason had a sweet little mandolin that he was breaking in. With the Redwoods all around us, it was so beautiful and inspiring. I mean, how could you not write music in those surroundings? At that point, we weren’t writing for a specific reason; it was afterwards that the lyrical content came to us. One of the songs came together when Jason and I were just jamming together; I was on drums and he was on an old analog synthesizer.

Kimberly: Whatever, that’s not true; it’s actually Jason on the recording. I had nothing to do with it.

Junior: The most impressive part of that is we recently got a review of the new album and the one mention of drumming on the album was the song that Kimberly wrote the drum part for. You might not believe this, but she has more grooves than I do.

Junior: Oh yes you did; don’t make me break out the actual recording because I have it.

Kimberly: So yeah, the writing is all over the place; what matters is that it comes from a place of inspiration.

Junior: One of the cool things that I wanted to mention, for example, is a song like”Remember” on the album. It’s an instrumental, acoustic track with Kimberly playing acoustic guitar and banjo. I’m playing mandolin and our friend Damien is playing violin. Kimberly wrote the main track on a rhythm guitar and part on an acoustic guitar. Then, we just jammed the rest of it out into a little acoustic jam. Later on, we turned it into the main electric guitar riff in the last song on the album called”The Ghost of Gallows Hill.”

Kimberly: It wraps back around in terms of being super-epic and you know you’ve heard it somewhere as it was in that acoustic number earlier in the album. The whole album is wrapped around like that: with melodies intertwined and comes back in different keys, forms and interpretations. It really feels like it’s one big song.

You mentioned shooting a video earlier. Can you let the cat out the bag with some details about it?

Junior: Well, it’s for “Afflicted” which is the longest song on the album. It was conceptualized and shot by Patrick Kendall, who has done all of our other best videos including “Be My Friend” and “You’re a Vampire.” He promised to make an extended director’s cut as well. 

Kimberly: We were thigh-deep in the snow the whole time and it was painful and tortuously cold, but it was really worth it. The things that we end up doing for art…I think it’s going to be absolutely beautiful!

So, it  sounds as if you have to sometimes suffer for the art that you create. 

Junior: Well, I show up and I see all these people there and crew members to do my bidding and I’m thinking that I am such a rock star. Then, they hand me a shovel and tell me to go clear the area over there. I ended up spending the next three to four hours shoveling snow (laughs)!

Kimberly: I am surprised that nobody got pneumonia or lost a few fingers because of how long we were in that cold. We did have a couple of our fans who got to be a part of the video as well. I’m afraid that’s about all I can tell you about the video for now.

Well, hopefully we won’t have to wait too long before we have to see it. One thing that we won’t have to wait long to see is the band hit the road. I saw your dates, but I noticed that you weren’t part of a package this time.

Junior: Actually, we told our agent on this one that we really wanted to build relationships with the local bands in the cities where we are going to be playing. We were helped out as a local band by the nationals who were coming through. We know it’s important to build that local scene and we’re making a big effort to reach out to locals on this run.

Kimberly: It takes a lot of time with all the communicating and helping out with the promo efforts, but I think it’s going to be a really cool tour because of it. It will also give us an idea where our draw is right now because we usually go out with headliners. After this run, we will be back with our friends because we can’t stay away for too long.

You know how a runner has to stretch and loosen up before he goes for a jog? Well, now that I’ve loosened you up a bit with some easy questions, are you ready for the really tough questions?

Kimberly: Oh no, I sure hope so!

You’re packing to head out on tour; what are two or three personal tour essentials that you make sure to take with you?

Junior: Ouch! I think I just pulled a hamstring; I wasn’t prepared to answer these questions (laughs).

Kimberly: I make sure to take my vitamin-C and my zinc. Those are very, very important so that I don’t get sick. I also take my own microphone so that I won’t get sick.

Junior: I like to take a little mobile recording set-up in case we get inspired to record. I have a pared down version of it on this tour.

Kimberly: I thought of another very important item that I must have with me. It’s called Dr. Bronner’s Soap. I wash my clothes with that and I sink wash my, you know, underclothes in peppermint Dr. Bronner’s every night and they’re dry the next day. You really can’t just plan on doing laundry stops when out on the road, so you must have lots of socks and underwear. We’re doing 40 shows and we won’t be back home until May, so you have to be prepared. You know what else I have been stocking up on lately? That would be coconut water because I am allergic to bananas, so I don’t get a lot of potassium. Coconut water has a lot of that as well as electrolytes and it’s kind of like Gatorade. I’ve had problems with dehydration and it was a really big problem once and I never want that to happen again.

Have either of you ever bought anything off of an infomercial?

Junior: I use the Ronco spray paint hair to cover up my bald spot. You wouldn’t know it, but I am losing my hair, but because I use this, it looks as if I have a full head of hair.

Kimberly: You’re kidding, right?

Junior: Yeah, I’m kidding (laughs).

Kimberly: My very first tour was a total super punk rock tour and we stayed at this guy’s house in LA and he was this infomercial guy who sold mops. I guess that’s the closest to the world of infomercials that I’ve ever been. I haven’t had a television for most of my life, so I probably would buy something if I did watch a lot of tv. I guess I’m more of a Netflix or YouTube person these days.

So, do you ever binge watch a whole season of something on Netflix?

Kimberly: No.

Junior: Oh wait, yes you do! We watched a whole season of Vikings on The History Channel; that’s a pretty awesome show!

Kimberly: Ok, I will admit to that, but I didn’t know that’s what you called it. It’s good to know that I’m not the only person doing that. I don’t like having that emptiness of wondering what’s going to happen next. I need it to be like a movie with an end and fulfillment; I can’t go a week without knowing.

I have one last question. If the music suddenly ended and you had to go into professional wrestling, what would your wrestling names be?

Kimberly: I’d be Kimzilla.

Junior: That’s a tough one; I’m not sure what I would be.

Kimberly: You’d be Hotdog!

Junior: Wait, but I like sushi. I think I would be Chirashi Don!

A lil’ teaser for Witches ! Check it out…

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What a great note to end our talk on. I can’t wait to hear the new album as well as see you out on the road. Thanks so much for taking the time to talk to us today. Is there anything that you’d like to close with?

Kimberly: Thank you for wanting to talk to us again. We love talking to you and it’s been way too long. I hope everyone will check out our dates and come out and see us on the road.

Junior: Our album Witches will be out on March 24 and it will be on our website, iTunes, Spotify and just about everywhere, so check it out.

ONE EYED DOLL is: Kimberly Freeman (Vocals/Guitar), Jason Rufuss Sewell, A.K.A., “Junior” (Drums)

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