If we’re going to take a musical spin around the Queens district of New York City, who better to show us around than a musician and former tour guide? Thankfully, we know just the guy – Will Schwartz, aka The Male Pattern, a Queens native, who alongside his work as a novelist and English professor, released his debut album I Was Shot In The Heart! via Audio Antihero Records this month.
Drawing on his literary work, it’s a narrative-driven record – a novella told over nine songs.
“I Was Shot in the Heart! tells the story of an unnamed suburban dad as he navigates his acrimonious divorce, spends too much time watching TV and on the computer, gets addicted to pills, loses his job as a mortgage broker, shoots and kills a small-time drug dealer, finds God, and commits suicide by cop at a 24/7 Stop and Shop in White Plains, NY,” says Schwartz.
It’s often hilarious, just as frequently heartbreaking and stomach-turning, its gentle, sparse Americana sound at odds with the bilious, self-aggrandising world view of its protagonist and the violence that it spawns, but this only serves to amplify the sense of our desperate narrator’s emotional state.
“The songs are vessels for dramatic irony,” he explains. “We know he’s an asshole, and he doesn’t, but in the meantime, his feelings, while they might be cruel or perverted, are his own, and he feels them deeply.”
We asked Will to take us on a musical tour of Queens.
What makes Queens a special place for music?
The best answer to this question is clearly Queens’ diversity. This might be an outdated stat, but when I was (very briefly) an NYC tour guide, I learned that more languages were spoken in Queens than in any urban locality on Earth. I think that plays out in the kind of music you see here. You can catch all types of Latin music at clubs like Terrazzo, listen to old Greek guys play the Bozouki in Astoria Park, tabla and sitar music in Jackson Heights, or a Bukharian/Russian dude absolutely rip clarinet over a recorded klezmer track at Shashlicknaya on Queens Boulevard.
This isn’t really my answer, though. When I write songs, I’m in my own world. That’s kind of the whole point of songwriting to me – creating a little room in time, like David Berman said. In a way, I feel that I could do that anywhere. But Queens always gave me the best of all worlds – I could be in New York near all my friends and family and loved ones, near all these great musicians I know across the five boroughs, near all this delicious food and culture and art that sparks my imagine, all while spending a little less money and getting a little more space. Historically, you didn’t pay a cultural cache tax when renting housing in Queens, although that may be changing now.
But these two answers are connected. Queens isn’t like Brooklyn and Manhattan in that it’s less consciously cool and sceney than those places. This is a place people live and work. This can be kind of liberating. Music isn’t necessarily this cool thing or cultural token that you use to impress people or command status. It’s unpretentious. There’s a lot of music in Queens because there’s a lot of life in Queens. I love the idea of making art and music because that’s what you do, and not really worrying about its reception.
Is there a scene or a sound that you’d describe as being specific or special to Queens?
The screech of the 7 train on Roosevelt avenue is the most distinctive Queens sound that comes to mind. But I’m biased – I’ve lived in Woodside and Sunnyside right off the elevated train for 20 years. I’m sure someone in Jamaica or College Point would have a different answer.
Give us a quick history lesson – who are some of your favourite bands and artists from Queens?
I love the Ramones, one of my favorite bands. I love the hip hop that came out of Queens in the 90s – Nas, Mobb Deep, Capone-N-Noreaga, Kool G Rap – all those dudes made so many classics. I don’t know if that music was markedly different from hip hop from Brooklyn or the Bronx – it’s probably a false distinction. But they all talk about Queens streets and neighborhoods and landmarks, so it definitely does evoke some civic pride for me.
And who should we be looking out for right now?
I’m the wrong person to ask – I’m old, I have kids, I read a lot and in my free time I write. I rarely make it out to shows. But I have lots of friends whose work I love. Eric Laska is putting out great records of songs. I love Frog, everything that Danny Bateman makes. My friend Jordan Topiel Paul makes beautiful improvisational music, sound installations, and atonal music. Andrew Piccone, who took the pictures for my record and helped me develop the concept, is a great painter and poet and photographer. Not all of them are still Queens-based, but they’re close, and anyway I spent formative years with them in a decrepit house in Woodside, so I’m counting them as local.
What impact do you think living in Queens has had on your sound and songwriting?
My lyrics are really detailed focused. I like phrases that capture the mundane experiences of getting a bite to eat at a chain restaurant, or shopping for frozen meatballs, or looking at a big slab of roast beef glistening under a heat light. Queens is a normal place where life happens, but it’s remarkably dense and walkable, so it’s easy to capture those little things.
I also just noticed that the first three examples I grabbed above were all food-related. I love writing about food, singing about food. Food can be funny, food is life-affirming and beautiful. I moved to Queens originally because I was tired of making the trip from Brooklyn to eat Thai food. Queens has the best food in the city and for my money the best food in the world, and I feel like this place nourishes me, figuratively and literally.
Where are your favourite local places to play or see live music and why?
Terraza Cafe in Jackson Heights is the coolest place in the city. Amazing Salsa music, every type of Latin music you could imagine, a perfect sonic representation of the neighborhood where it’s situated. Great place to drink too.
Check out Will’s Queens playlist:
1) Ramones – Rockaway Beach
I put this on every time I drive to the beach. It’s a stone-cold classic.
2) Nas – New York State of Mind
Vividly drawn street scenes from Queensbridge. The best to ever do it.
3) Mobb Deep – Up North Trip
Some of the best storytelling songwriting ever put down.
4) Paul Simon – Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard
Not my favorite Paul Simon song, but it mentions Corona, a great neighborhood, and I always thought his “queen of Corona” was related to the great Italian ice spot “the lemon ice king of Corona.” Probably unrelated, but every time I go for lemon ice, I sing the song.
5) Simon and Garfunkel – Save the Life of My Child.
This song isn’t related to Queens, but these two met in Queens, they’re from here, so I’m counting it. Some of my favorite recordings. So moody and rich.
6) Kool-G-Rap – 4-5-6
One of the greatest odes to throwing dice I’ve ever heard. He was from Lefrak City I think, and I go to a Russian banya right next to there. I also love shooting craps, although I haven’t played C-lo in years.
7) Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five – Big Butter and Egg Man
If I had to prove to space aliens that human civilization was worth saving, I would play them Louis Armstrong’s Hot Fives and Sevens recordings. Although these are from New Orleans, Louie lived most of his life in Corona, and his house is open to the public as a (very good) museum dedicated to his life and music. They also house his archives.
8) John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman – Lush Life
Coltrane lived in St. Albans from 1959-1963, and I picked this because it’s at the end of that period. So moody and blue. The two of them captured the same lonesome feeling in their instruments, and, to me, it’s the definitive version of the song.
I Was Shot in The Heart is out on 25th September via Audio Antihero Records. Pre-order now on Bandcamp
The Male Pattern: Instagram / Bandcamp / LinkTree
Interview by Paul Maps
Photography by Andrew Piccone
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