The thrill of the hunt: Micah McKee, aka Househunter
Micah McKee is a prolific musician, born and bred in New Orleans. His latest project, Househunter, is a move towards electronica, and he recently published 'Beatles Variations: Vol 1', an homage to the British band with a modern reworking of some of their best-loved songs. We caught up with Micah to find out more.
Why The Beatles? Why this project?
The Beatles are one of my favorite bands. A lot of what I've wanted to do in the last few years is dispel negativity towards bands and artists that have been looked down upon because the kids are too cool for school. There’s a thing where people say, “I don't like The Beatles”. And it's like, no! Why not ? You have to have a reason why! Have you tried thinking of them in a different light? So I thought, how do I do this? I'm not going to do a Beatles cover album where I sing on it, because tons of people have done that. I want to do something that the kids would like. So I sat down and I was like, you know what? I'm going to do a Beatles cover project with an edm/idm (electronic dance music/intelligent dance music) theme. I wanted to do something that reflected a late 90s/early 2000s energy.
How did you choose the songs?
So this is a project in four parts, because there are four Beatles. The first part is centered around the soul, the next one will be centered around romantic love. The third part is centered around friendship, and the fourth part is centered around heartbreak. Okay, it’s weird to leave it on a real downer, I know! I wanted to do the first one about the soul, because they're one of the most spiritual pop groups. I felt like if I'm going to take this music and bring a new spirit to it via electronica, I want to say,you know what? I'm gonna try to give you the soul of the Beatles. So that you can come in. It's an invitation and that invitation is why I started this. I wanted to invite people to love The Beatles with me.
So you experimented with electronica over lockdown, right? Was that the first time you'd seriously delved into that?
I did an electronica project called The Control back in 2010/11 with my buddy Chris Tubes, who played with me in Silent Cinema. He was kind of the controller and I was kind of the lyricist and producer. Then during lockdown, I was sitting with my girlfriend at the time, and we had a very small apartment. I was like, you know, honey, while you're working on zoom calls, do you mind if I record in your bedroom closet working on synthesizers? And she was so gracious and said, okay, you gotta do what you gotta do. And so I spent eight hours a day just working on synthesizers and computers in this tiny closet, and that's how Househunter was born. I loved it so much, it was so revitalizing.A couple of years later, I came out with another Househunter album, ‘Blackout’. It's more trip-hoppy. It's an instrumental breakup album, which is a very rare thing. It's an ode to love and sex and intimacy, but I realized that this is the way, this is what I need to do to move forward spiritually and musically.
And your love of the Beatles inspired you?
If you're a Beatles lover, it's difficult to be in a relationship with someone who's not. The Beatles are something that I think I've been fortunate enough to share with every person that I've been in an intimate relationship with. Which is wonderful. But it turns out that playing Beatles music is not easy. It's using muscles that you haven't used before, you're just like, oh, this is weird. when you get down to playing a song like Tax Man, and you get down to playing the baseline, you realize you have to just transform it because it's deceptively difficult. So with Taxman, I kind of decided that I would turn that into kind of an eighties new wave song. I have to slow this down, and the only way to do that was to change the baseline, which was almost sacrilegious.
You’re basically giving notes to Paul McCartney!
(laughs) Yeah. You know, the vibe I'm going for is there's a person hunting the tax man. But it's super challenging and I'm more of a songwriter than an actual technical musician. So I had to think of it as a songwriter. How would I rewrite this song? It kind of opened me up a little bit.
How do you whittle the song selection down with such a vast back catalog of Beatles songs?
I will always gravitate towards songs that mean a ton to me. Unfortunately, all of them mean a ton to me. I was hoping to use ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ for this project. I started it and straight it was deceptively difficult. You think of it as a very simple pop song. And then you get down to it and you're like…this is ridiculous.
How many musical projects or bands are you currently in and that are active?
So, let's say The Essentials, Lonesome Wild, House Hunter, I'm gonna count my solo stuff, because I do quite a bit of that, and Baby Grand is semi-active. We’ll play a show every once in a while, and I love all the people in that band.
What were your first musical experiences?
I got a four track recorder when I was 17, and my friend Perry Papadopoulos was a really shy kid, but he was a good musician. I would invite him over for dinner at my parents' house, and we'd go to my room and we would just hit record on the four track. Once I went to UNO, I met Michael Rodriguez, who I still collaborate with. He helped me start my first group, Silent Cinema, and that had a pretty healthy run, although nobody in that band was healthy (laughs).
Was it a very different music scene back then to now?
That scene was tightly knit, in the years 2002 to 2010. Those sweet years. Every show you went to that was good was sold out. Dive bar shows. Didn't matter where it was. Everywhere you went. Everyone supported, and everyone was very drunk. But, especially right after Katrina, it was because we were all trying to support our bartenders. We're all trying to be there for each other. And that was the crux of even the songs themselves. You know, the songs themselves took on this meaning of, ‘We support New Orleans, we are here’.
Were there more places to play? How have the logistics of being in a band changed? Do you think it'd be harder to start a band now?
There were more places to play, and there was just more noise in general. There was more diversity, I think. People were more forgiving of people learning. There were spaces to make mistakes. We live in a very judgmental society now. There's more documentation of things, and so people can judge things. Obviously the internet was less of a thing, and all you had was what you experienced with other people. You didn't take a cell phone video, there was no soundcloud or bandcamp. If you liked a band, you bought their CDs at the show. I still have people that come up to me and, and they say like, man, I had that CD of yours from 2006, and I still listen to it. You had this fandom that was word of mouth. It was just a much more communal experience. Back then if you, if you really liked something, you told all of your friends about it. Music now, it's so unconscious, passive choices delivered by an algorithm.
What are your hopes for the Beatles project?
It’s like my buddy Eric Rogers was saying to me - this is gonna be a tough record. It's gonna be a tough sell. If you already have this preconceived notion about the Beatles, you're not gonna pick it up. But if you don't know any Beatles songs, why would you be invested in this? So it's kind of made for Beatles fans. But that wasn't my intention, I want it to be a gateway drug!
When does the second one drop?
The second one will be out around Thanksgiving.
Who should we be looking out for in the local music scene?
I love A Strange Bird - her name is Burette and she's an amazing songwriter. Audrey Smith is really fantastic. Any project that Connor Donahue is a part of is, is just really, really good. One of my giant heroes, and it's kind of nepotistic 'cause she plays in Baby Grand, but Rose Cangelosi is just incredible. She is a drummer, singer, composer - one of the hardest working musicians I've ever met. Ainsley Matich plays in Lonesome Wild. She is the most precise piano player I’ve ever played with. She puts all of her soul into everything she does. I'm so fortunate to have her in my life.
Beatle Variations: Vol. 1 is out now on Bandcamp, listen to the whole record here. Micah hosts an open mic night at Banks' Street Bar on Monday nights.
Why The Beatles? Why this project?
The Beatles are one of my favorite bands. A lot of what I've wanted to do in the last few years is dispel negativity towards bands and artists that have been looked down upon because the kids are too cool for school. There’s a thing where people say, “I don't like The Beatles”. And it's like, no! Why not ? You have to have a reason why! Have you tried thinking of them in a different light? So I thought, how do I do this? I'm not going to do a Beatles cover album where I sing on it, because tons of people have done that. I want to do something that the kids would like. So I sat down and I was like, you know what? I'm going to do a Beatles cover project with an edm/idm (electronic dance music/intelligent dance music) theme. I wanted to do something that reflected a late 90s/early 2000s energy.
How did you choose the songs?
So this is a project in four parts, because there are four Beatles. The first part is centered around the soul, the next one will be centered around romantic love. The third part is centered around friendship, and the fourth part is centered around heartbreak. Okay, it’s weird to leave it on a real downer, I know! I wanted to do the first one about the soul, because they're one of the most spiritual pop groups. I felt like if I'm going to take this music and bring a new spirit to it via electronica, I want to say,you know what? I'm gonna try to give you the soul of the Beatles. So that you can come in. It's an invitation and that invitation is why I started this. I wanted to invite people to love The Beatles with me.
So you experimented with electronica over lockdown, right? Was that the first time you'd seriously delved into that?
I did an electronica project called The Control back in 2010/11 with my buddy Chris Tubes, who played with me in Silent Cinema. He was kind of the controller and I was kind of the lyricist and producer. Then during lockdown, I was sitting with my girlfriend at the time, and we had a very small apartment. I was like, you know, honey, while you're working on zoom calls, do you mind if I record in your bedroom closet working on synthesizers? And she was so gracious and said, okay, you gotta do what you gotta do. And so I spent eight hours a day just working on synthesizers and computers in this tiny closet, and that's how Househunter was born. I loved it so much, it was so revitalizing.A couple of years later, I came out with another Househunter album, ‘Blackout’. It's more trip-hoppy. It's an instrumental breakup album, which is a very rare thing. It's an ode to love and sex and intimacy, but I realized that this is the way, this is what I need to do to move forward spiritually and musically.
And your love of the Beatles inspired you?
If you're a Beatles lover, it's difficult to be in a relationship with someone who's not. The Beatles are something that I think I've been fortunate enough to share with every person that I've been in an intimate relationship with. Which is wonderful. But it turns out that playing Beatles music is not easy. It's using muscles that you haven't used before, you're just like, oh, this is weird. when you get down to playing a song like Tax Man, and you get down to playing the baseline, you realize you have to just transform it because it's deceptively difficult. So with Taxman, I kind of decided that I would turn that into kind of an eighties new wave song. I have to slow this down, and the only way to do that was to change the baseline, which was almost sacrilegious.
You’re basically giving notes to Paul McCartney!
(laughs) Yeah. You know, the vibe I'm going for is there's a person hunting the tax man. But it's super challenging and I'm more of a songwriter than an actual technical musician. So I had to think of it as a songwriter. How would I rewrite this song? It kind of opened me up a little bit.
How do you whittle the song selection down with such a vast back catalog of Beatles songs?
I will always gravitate towards songs that mean a ton to me. Unfortunately, all of them mean a ton to me. I was hoping to use ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ for this project. I started it and straight it was deceptively difficult. You think of it as a very simple pop song. And then you get down to it and you're like…this is ridiculous.
How many musical projects or bands are you currently in and that are active?
So, let's say The Essentials, Lonesome Wild, House Hunter, I'm gonna count my solo stuff, because I do quite a bit of that, and Baby Grand is semi-active. We’ll play a show every once in a while, and I love all the people in that band.
What were your first musical experiences?
I got a four track recorder when I was 17, and my friend Perry Papadopoulos was a really shy kid, but he was a good musician. I would invite him over for dinner at my parents' house, and we'd go to my room and we would just hit record on the four track. Once I went to UNO, I met Michael Rodriguez, who I still collaborate with. He helped me start my first group, Silent Cinema, and that had a pretty healthy run, although nobody in that band was healthy (laughs).
Was it a very different music scene back then to now?
That scene was tightly knit, in the years 2002 to 2010. Those sweet years. Every show you went to that was good was sold out. Dive bar shows. Didn't matter where it was. Everywhere you went. Everyone supported, and everyone was very drunk. But, especially right after Katrina, it was because we were all trying to support our bartenders. We're all trying to be there for each other. And that was the crux of even the songs themselves. You know, the songs themselves took on this meaning of, ‘We support New Orleans, we are here’.
Were there more places to play? How have the logistics of being in a band changed? Do you think it'd be harder to start a band now?
There were more places to play, and there was just more noise in general. There was more diversity, I think. People were more forgiving of people learning. There were spaces to make mistakes. We live in a very judgmental society now. There's more documentation of things, and so people can judge things. Obviously the internet was less of a thing, and all you had was what you experienced with other people. You didn't take a cell phone video, there was no soundcloud or bandcamp. If you liked a band, you bought their CDs at the show. I still have people that come up to me and, and they say like, man, I had that CD of yours from 2006, and I still listen to it. You had this fandom that was word of mouth. It was just a much more communal experience. Back then if you, if you really liked something, you told all of your friends about it. Music now, it's so unconscious, passive choices delivered by an algorithm.
What are your hopes for the Beatles project?
It’s like my buddy Eric Rogers was saying to me - this is gonna be a tough record. It's gonna be a tough sell. If you already have this preconceived notion about the Beatles, you're not gonna pick it up. But if you don't know any Beatles songs, why would you be invested in this? So it's kind of made for Beatles fans. But that wasn't my intention, I want it to be a gateway drug!
When does the second one drop?
The second one will be out around Thanksgiving.
Who should we be looking out for in the local music scene?
I love A Strange Bird - her name is Burette and she's an amazing songwriter. Audrey Smith is really fantastic. Any project that Connor Donahue is a part of is, is just really, really good. One of my giant heroes, and it's kind of nepotistic 'cause she plays in Baby Grand, but Rose Cangelosi is just incredible. She is a drummer, singer, composer - one of the hardest working musicians I've ever met. Ainsley Matich plays in Lonesome Wild. She is the most precise piano player I’ve ever played with. She puts all of her soul into everything she does. I'm so fortunate to have her in my life.
Beatle Variations: Vol. 1 is out now on Bandcamp, listen to the whole record here. Micah hosts an open mic night at Banks' Street Bar on Monday nights.