Coma Cinema

It started with Baby Prayers when the stir began. Spartanburg, South Carolina’s Mat Cothran has been successfully busy releasing sulky stoner pop tunes for the past few years. He got major attention with his Stoned Alone LP under his band Coma Cinema’s name and went on to release another gem, Blue Suicide. After that an EP along with some new tracks under another moniker, Elvis Depressedly. Following his last album Goner, I contacted Mat or Mickey or Mick or Jagziez or whatever and interviewed him, this is what became of that.





Ryan Donar: Over the past few years you've made yourself known with Coma Cinema and most recently Elvis Depressedly which have established a large and fast growing following in the basement community. We've heard your music, we've felt your anguish through songs but behind your voice there is something else, what is that?
 
Mickey Cothran: I think if anything it is a desire to keep going, to make better records and make people feel connected to something.  The world is cruel you have to find as many friends as you can to get through it with you.

RD: You're located in Columbia, S.C. which is a pretty big "chillwave" haven with Toro Y Moi and Washed Out being some big names that have came from the area, do you consider yourself a part of the "chillwave" sub-culture and what do you think that sub-culture represents?

MC: If there is a sub-culture associated with chillwave I'm not aware of it.  The boys and girls in Toro and Washed Out are really close to us (my bassist and the drummer for Washed Out are brothers) and we love and support them and they do the same for us.  Getting to tour with Toro was one of the happiest experiences of my life, and if "chillwave" had a role to play in their success than chillwave is great, but I feel no connection to it.

RD: Most of your songs are dark with themes of death and depression put to some pretty up-lifting beats and rhythms, do you mind giving us an idea of how you construct and write your songs?

MC: They are almost always a melodic idea, or maybe one phrase that I just repeat until I can expand on it. I have to change how I write things all the time to avoid malaise and complacency.  I'm not a happy person but that's pretty obvious, but it feels so incredibly relieving to get these bad feelings out onto tape and I think that's what the music reflects...the joy of releasing what's been hurting you.

RD: Tell us about the Elvis Depressedly recordings; when did you start writing the song for 'Goner' and who plays on the tracks with you?

MC: When I first moved into my new house here in Columbia, SC I was in a situation where I had no money and no recording gear but songs in my mind and sounds I wanted to hear so I spent a week recording what would eventually be "save the planet, kill yourself" which is the first elvis record but it's very ambient, drug induced and worn out, but at the same time I was writing what would eventually make up "goner" and I knew these songs couldn't co exist with the more drone-y stuff i was working on so I recorded them all and split it into three albums..."goner" is the first of three. 

RD: When should we be expecting the other two albums of your E.D. trilogy?

MC: I will be releasing the last ED record before the end of the year and it's tentatively titled "disgraceland", but the last of the songs will see release on an anthology coming out via Wonder Beard Tapes called "death 2 america".  It's going to have the first three albums and a fourth of left over songs that are a lot weirder than anything else I've done, and some of these have been kicking around my head for years...one of them dates back to when I first started when I was 15 or so.  It's important to me to empty my head entirely...I don't want to die knowing that I have songs still left to get on tape...I don't want anything unfinished.

RD: The cover of Manic Street Preacher's Die in the Summertime is outstanding and on a whole other level then the original song, how did you re-write the song to fit so well in your repertoire?

MC: The album that song comes from "Holy Bible" is so important to me.  Richey James Edwards wrote incredible lyrics, and I've always related to the message of that song...wanting to be pure and pretty and happy and never have to come down...to die while you are at the peak of yourself.  I'm really glad you like it, it's always unnerving to work with someone else's music...I'd never want to fuck up a song I love that much.  I tried to play to the prettier parts of the song...take away some of that nihilistic grime of the original I guess.

RD: Do you have plans to tour with the 'Goner' songs? If so, as Coma Cinema or E.D.?

MC: We've been playing a few here and there with Coma Cinema, but I don't think I can afford any more tours for a while.  Most bands with the amount of listeners we have also have agents and labels with connections and money but we are doing it ourselves and it's a struggle.  I'm not writing off touring entirely but I do need to be in a more stable situation mentally and monetarily before I can go traveling again. 

RD: You've become a very notable musician giving your music out for free. What is your philosophy behind that?

MC: There should always be a free option.  My family and friends have convinced me I should let people give me money if they want to, but I still find it somewhat uncomfortable.  I was amazed at how many people payed for "goner" when given the option...it really got me through a rough spot...my music will ALWAYS be free in some manner though, there should be absolutely no boundaries between the listeners and myself, and I in turn should give my ears to anyone who asks of me.  All art needs to thrive is someone to pay attention. 

RD: Is there anything new we should be expecting from Coma Cinema soon?

MC: There will be one more Coma Cinema album and it will be the best thing I've done...it also might be the last.  It's going to be a while though before it's even close to being recorded...but I'll be putting out things in the meantime. 

RD: Who are some of the biggest influences on you as a musician?

MC: My friends bands for sure...Those Lavender Whales, Cassangles, Say Brother, Hauswerk, Can't Kids, The Choir Quit...our music scene here is diverse and communal and without it i'd be dead and that's no hyperbole. 

RD: Who would you want to play with, alive or dead?

MC: Cass McCombs. 

RD: What is your overall mission in the end, what do you want to ultimately accomplish?

MC: I want to give in completely to my compulsion to create, and help others do the same.

RD: I was reading that this Van Gogh biographer believes that Van Gogh was shot on accident by two teenagers rather than shot by himself, what do you think about that?

MC: I've heard this before...and theories that he didn't actually cut his own ear off and the usual argument is that he would of said otherwise had he been shot by someone else or had his ear been cut off in an accident, but I feel like Van Gogh was beyond that...to me he understood that we are in essence victims of a universe that is chaotic and uncontrollable and maybe his art was a way of controlling the world around him...the things you create you are the god of no matter what...you've given existence to something that wouldn't exist otherwise...it's a lot to bear and a lot to take responsibility for and the better your art is I imagine the harder it is to take care of your creation and make sure it goes unmarred or untainted by the world around you.  I think that's why people like Richey J. Edwards or Elliott Smith had to leave us.

 Pretty rad guy, eh? Did I mention that he also releases all of his music to the public for how much? Oh, no much?! Nada?! ZIP ZERO BUCKAROOS!? Yeah, that’s right. So go to his website or bandcamp and get downloading. Put the album of your liking on when you eat thanksgiving dinner with your family, at your great uncle’s step-brother-in-law’s funeral, at a company picnic, overdosing in a cold bath tub, or when you are about to lose your virginity to that overweight thirty-two year prostitute outside of Chili’s. Or whenever you actually feel like listening to music, you really can't go wrong.