Usually these kind of Q&A articles need a little introduction to get the ball rolling, but Brooklyn-based musician Paul Holmes evidently is not only an entertaining song-writer, but an entertaining question-answerer as well. His band Paul and the Patients, has been coming along very nicely of late (they played last year’s CMJ Music Marathon twice), buoyed by catchy melodies that often belie their sad lyrical content. Song titles like “Die,” “Desperate Times,” “Hope Is Dead,” and “Burned” may conjure up images of a ‘tortured artist’, but in person, Paul is far from it. Which is probably a good thing because who likes to be around a mopey no-hoper anyway.

Tell me a bit about Paul and the Patients.
Paul and the Patients started because I had a good bundle of tunes after being home with my parents for three months drying out a few years back. I came back to NY and was playing shows on my own, which was cool in some ways because I could take the bus to gigs, only having a guitar. Then again I hate going to singer/songwriter gigs cause it reminds me of idiots in college mostly and I had made all these recordings with full band instrumentation. So my good friend Dave [Greenwald - drums] was coming back to New York too (kinda the same thing, drying out at home). We had been in a band for years before, which explains the bad habits we shared, but we knew how to play off each other. I met Jay [McBride - guitar] at that time through the internet. He hates when I tell people because it makes him sound like he’s on Craigslist for casual encounters, which he is. We had a friend Glenn [Marczewski] play bass for a while and then Pete [Swan] replaced him shortly after.

It was great. Things were swell. We played mainly house parties and drank vodka with fresca all the time. Then we somehow caught the attention of a guy, Chris Vinyard at Big Hassle PR, who wanted to work with us and put out a record eventually. This was great. Things were rad. You’re waiting for the dark turn of the story, aren’t you? Well then Josh [Ascalon - keys] joined the band (just kidding Josh). He kinda got us playing like a real band and then he left. He stayed just long enough to get in the video. Anyway now we’re back to the four of us playing like a fake band and drinking Four Lokos.

How does the rest of the band feel about being called ‘the Patients,’ while you get your name out there in all its glory?
Well I’m like Barry Manilow. That probably explains enough.

So, I hear that you have this thing where you write one song a week. How did this come about?
Well I think Chris Vinyard came up with the idea for the project, just because I write and record so much and you can’t release records that often. Also, art is not properly rewarded by our modern society so one must give it away and do absolutely anything for attention. I’d do a song a day but no one wants to work on the blog site that much. There, now I sound desperate and cocky; a winning combination.

How do you come up with what to write about each week?
It’s usually just about the shit that happens in my daily life. Like a girl stops calling me or my grocery bag breaks and I’m collecting broken eggs off the pavement. Sometimes it’s whatever or whomever I’m daydreaming about. I guess the common theme is undeniable mortality.

I remember you saying something about a girl coming up to you after a show and saying how she really could understand when you were coming from, with your more somber material. Does this happen to you a lot?
Oh yeah, they’re usually from cold places like Russia or somewhere. It goes without saying. Misery loves company. I do think that finding some hilarity in extreme depression is the best way to fight through it. It’s like in the movies when dudes are holding guns at each other and then realize how ridiculous the situation is. They usually holster their weapons. Then again, sometimes they just shoot each other.

Any plans for an album in the near future?
Yes. Lots of releases. There’s a greatest hits album coming out soon through Rounder Records of mainly unreleased tracks. Also, a compilation of the saddest material we haven’t released so far will be out through them probably in February. We’re releasing a five song comp from the blog songs along with a video. Then we’re finishing up a new batch of songs for a new EP or album maybe. Of course, the song a week project continues so you can always have something new. Just remember if it sucks, it only took a week.

Where can we visit you on the internet?
songs.paulandthepatients.com
myspace.com/paulandthepatients
PATPband on Twitter

Paul and the Patients – “All My Love Is Gone”
Above is an unreleased track by Paul and the Patients – “All My Love Is Gone.” As Paul describes, “It’s about how anti-depressants stripped away my highs as well as my lows.” Ouch.



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