About a month and change ago, I had a chance to sit down with Chris McCaughan of Sundowner and The Lawrence Arms.

Let me preface this by saying that this was most the most drunk I’ve ever been during an interview. I wasn’t like face down on the table but things were a little looney tunes. In fact, I was afraid to listen to the tape for so long because I figured I made a complete ass of myself. Two dollar PBRs will do that to you. After getting over my cowardice, I realized I had some decent stuff on this tape. It was mostly me and Chris rambling about music and life, not that different from any other bar room conversation.

Chris had just played a show with Chuck Ragan at NYC’s Knitting Factory and he was winding down his 2007 touring schedule at this point. Although he admitted he was exhausted going into it, the show was incredible and it was obvious that he was pretty speechless because of the whole experience.

It’s been a huge year for you. You had the solo thing really take off it seems.
Chris: I’ve been fortunate and lucky to go out and play shows by myself. It’s a small record and that’s fine but I just got some cool opportunities.

You went into this thing as it being your own thing. Separate from the Lawrence Arms and all that. Has it come to a point where you think you can do this by yourself?
Chris: I started this initially just doing some acoustic shows around Chicago. I played some of the songs that I had that weren’t Lawrence Arms songs, but I played a bunch of Lawrence Arms songs also. I talked to Toby from Red Scare and he was like ‘man, if you make a record, I’ll put it out.’ I needed a kick in the ass to be like ‘hey, I’m actually going to finish this record. I’m going to write these songs.’ I had no necessary aspirations about where it would go. I always wanted to make an acoustic record. It’s a whole different experience playing by yourself on stage. It’s cool when I have Neil [Hennessy. Drummer, also in The Lawrence Arms], Eli [Caterer. Guitarist] and Jenny [Choi. Cello and keys] playing with me because it feels like a band. I don’t feel quite as exposed. It’s different than anything I’ve ever experienced honesty.

Read more with Chris after the jump!

It’s been said endlessly about how Brendan [Kelly, bassist and vocalist for The Lawrence Arms] has his own thing [The Falcon] and you have your thing. Has it changed your perspective at all?
Chris: There’s this certain independence and confidence that comes with just being able to do that. Brendan doing the Falcon was definitely inspiring to me to be like ‘man, I’ve got all these songs laying around.’ This is the first record I’ve ever written front to back, except for Brendan’s song ["My Boatless Booze Cruise"]. In that way, it was really gratifying for me.

With both projects going, how does that inspire you to write more music?
Chris: The Lawrence Arms occupy an interesting spot. We’ve always gone at our own pace and done the things we wanted to do. We’re not in any rush to do another Lawrence Arms record. We will be ready at some point. We’ve been around for almost nine years now and made a lot of records and played a lot of shows. We have no need for time constraints and like ‘oh it’s been two years since we put out a record.’ As far as Sundowner goes, I write other songs. The initial response I was getting was ‘oh, could these have been Lawrence Arms songs?’ The answer is obviously yes. I knew these songs weren’t right for the Lawrence Arms.

Does that ever piss you off? You are playing a show as Sundowner and some people are saying ‘oh, play a Lawrence Arms song.’
Chris: I would be remiss to say that I’m not really thankful for the Lawrence Arms. If it wasn’t for the Lawrence Arms, probably no one would necessarily give a shit about this other stuff. It proves a certain amount of loyalty that Lawrence Arms fans have. It’s the same with Chuck and Hot Water Music. Brendan and I have been friends for twenty years [and] being in the Lawrence Arms is just a natural thing. I hope we make another Sundowner record. I hope the next one is more involved with the people that have been playing with me live.

How does it feel to finish this tour as Sundowner?
Chris: A part of me is really speechless about it. I’m so happy that New York City was one of the last shows. I’ve spent a lot of my life questioning whether or not I was doing the right thing. Playing shows like this tonight and the one last night in D.C., it makes me realize I can’t do this forever but it’s important to some people and that makes it worthwhile to me.

Check out the video for “This War Is Noise” below.

 Thanks to Chris and Vanessa from Mutiny PR for the interview!

Tags: Interview, Lawrence Arms, Sundowner, interview //