Photos / Reva May
Story / Monica Wolfe
After years of self-recording demos on cassette tapes and playing DIY shows in Michiganâs indie scene, Stef Chura is finally releasing her first full-length studio album, Messes, and she couldnât be more excited. With tracks ranging from a deep folky intimacy to the punchiness of â90s feminist punk, the album adopts a rich and churning life of its own.
This sophisticated debut is self-aware and multifaceted. The title track, âMesses,â is one youâll want to listen to through headphones, letting the surreal, dreamlike instrumentals take over with a dark and rolling momentum while swirling vocals find their footing in this carefully crafted mess of highs and lows, chaos and fortitude. âSlow Motionâ and âSpotted Goldâ are headstrong and upbeat, with a grimy pop feel calling back to Liz Phair and Sonic Youth. Understated and mellow, âHuman Beingâ is arguably the beating heart of the album; its wistful, melting vocals underline the existential pondering that is the foundation of Churaâs songwriting.
âI think itâs funny that the album is named Messes and that itâs coming out at a time that seems so fucking messy,â Chura tells me. Sheâs referring, of course, to the mess of a political era thatâs just begun. But the messes the album sorts out are of a more personal, but perhaps just as volatile nature, and we talk through them in terms of introspection, the current social climate, and Detroitâs artistic community:
MW: You have a big tour coming up in February. Have you toured before, or is this your first major tour?
SC: Last year in February was actually our first tour. And we went to South by Southwest. But it was a little bit of a bust. And we did a little bit of touring in 2016 also. We toured with Car Seat Headrest in August.
MW: Are you excited for this one? Youâre coming all the way out to the West Coast, right?
SC: Yeah. Iâve never toured the West Coast fully. When we toured with Car Seat Headrest, we went to Seattle and then we came back, but we never went through California, so Iâm really excited to do that.
MW: Yeah, that is exciting. So, how do you feel playing onstage versus playing alone at home? Do you see music as more of an interactive or a personal process?
SC: Oh, jeez. I mean, I would say itâs very personal. I donât think Iâm the type of person who thrives off of the live experience as much. I mean, Iâm growing to enjoy that more, but very frequently while Iâm playing onstage, Iâm asking myself, âWhy am I doing this to myself? Why am I playing in front of people? This is awful, kind of.â But thatâs notâI donâtâitâs not awful, but I do get nerves, even though theyâre way better than they used to be.
MW: So, youâve always kind of had stage fright? Orâ
SC: I wouldnât even qualify it as stage fright. I just think sometimes I have an existentialâI actually feel really comfortable onstage now, but I almost have an existential experience where Iâm like, âWhat am I doing?â Itâs just crazy.
MW: Is it a fear of being judged for your music, or is it just a general anxiety thing?
SC: Jeez. Maybe. I donât know. I wouldâve never thought of phrasing it as âjudgedâ for my music, but I probably do feel that way. Itâs just a general anxiety. Maybe I just find something funny about it, âcause I feel like the writing process was very much the reason why I play music. I never was like, âI want to be in a band!â And then, âIâm gonna write some songs for that.â I was like, âI wrote a shitload of songs. I should play them in front of people.â
MW: What do you hope your listeners feel when they first listen to Messes? Do you have a story that youâre trying to tell with the album? Are there certain ideas that youâre trying to get across?
SC: Well, itâs weird because I wouldâve never considered it a conceptual album, but the more I delved into the songs that made it on the record, I realized there was kind of a theme of emotional mess, and, not in a romantic way, per se, but power struggles that you encounter as a woman throughout your life. I feel like writing has been a big emotional release for me, or cathartic in that sense, so thatâs probably why that became a theme almost unintentionally. But I donât know. I donât know what I want people to get out of it. I just hope they like it.Â
MW: I like that you brought up power struggles as a woman. Itâs very relevant right now. Messes comes out just a week after our new president gets inaugurated. How does it feel being a female artist in this new era? Do you have hopes or fears as a woman, or an artist, or just a human in the next four years?
SF: I have fears in a big way, because for me, reproductive rights was kind of a one-ticket issue for me for a candidate. I really believe in having reproductive rights, and that not having them is basically female enslavement of their bodies. So, you know, I do have fear thatâI mean, I actually utilize some of the public services that I have a feeling will go away if Planned Parenthood is defunded, so I fear that aspect. Â I do have some hope that this election woke some people upâlike, some of the people who were kind of sitting on their asses and thought the Democrats were going to elect themselves. And I hope that people vote for senators when that comes up. I am surprised that Bernie Sanders exists and is a continual voice. Â I do think itâs funny that the album is named Messes, and that itâs coming out at a time that seems so fucking messy. It seems appropriately titled.
MW: Oh, I like that. I donât see Messes necessarily as a political album, but do you see yourself using your music as a platform for a social or political voice in the future?
SC: You know, in the past Iâve struggled with this, because I do think my songwriting is more personal, but I feel like just being a musician, you have a voice whether your music is like that or not, and you should use it and you should be vocal about your feelings on politics. For a while I felt like I couldnât do that because I wasnât the Dead Kennedys or something. I mostly felt guilty. I was like, âIâm not political enough.â I mean, I donât know. Even if your songs arenât that political, they could probably become that way, or you could still talk about politics as a person.
MW: Yeah, definitely. I donât think youâre obligated to use your music for that, but I think itâs interesting that once you have this platformâyou know, youâre touring, you become a person that people are looking at, you can use your voice outside of music, perhaps.
SC: Yeah, I mean, Iâm curious about what will happen in the next year, because music is such a platform for calling out politics, and Iâm wondering howâIâm just wondering what will happen, if people will become interested in writing about that stuff still or if people will be kind of complacent.
MW: I see it as a big turning point. I guess weâll see. So, what are some of your biggest musical influences? Who did you look up to for songwriting, or just for their sound or personality?
SC: I really liked Buffy Sainte Marie when I first heard her, and when I was in high school, The Velvet Underground was a huge influence. And I remember hearing Cat Powerâs âNude as the News,â and I had this big epiphany, like, âOh, this what music is supposed to sound like.â I also really liked Sonic Youth. And I was a kid who was obsessed with Nirvana. And yeah, I really think I was shaped, in a way, not so much by my high school influences, but in elementary school, I always pined the fact that my friends had all these memories of loving NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys and Hanson, and I never had a boy band thing. I never had a Britney Spears thing. I was like, âAw, I donât have that.â And then I realized, âOh, yeah, I just actually listened to real music.â Like, I loved The Offspringâs Smash album. I liked Metallica, the Black Album, in elementary school.
MW: If theyâre any differentâthey might be the sameâbut what are some of your current favorite bands or artists that youâre listening to lately?
SC: I love Jay Somâs âI Think Youâre Alright.â Oh, my God, thatâs an amazing song! Itâs really, really good. And thereâs Sparklehorse. Well, I guess thatâs more of an influence, but I keep revisiting that. I really like that Warehouse record. Warehouse has a song called âReservoirâ that Iâve been obsessed with.
MW: Okay, so I saw that you recorded the album with Fred Thomas, and Ryan Clancy played on it, too. Do you have any permanent band members, or is it just you with other musicians supporting you for live shows and recording?
SC: Weâve been touring as a three-piece with Ryan Clancy on drums and Cy Tulip on the bass, but that person might be on-and-off with the touring, so itâs kind of a little bit of a fluctuating lineup as far as the bass player goes. But Ryan and I played as a two-piece for like a year, and then we kind of got the songs down, and then we recorded the album with Fred, who played bass on the album, too.
MW: Whatâs your songwriting process like? Do you write with Ryan, or do you write stuff alone?
SC: I usually write stuff alone, and then me and Ryan Clancy will work it out and arrange it a little bit. So, itâs mostly me writing at my house, and then Iâll practice it with Ryan, and we add bass later.
MW: How was it recording your first full-length studio album? Did it feel a lot different than recording your older demos?
SC: Yeah, it really was so different, and it was such a learning experience. Iâm really thankful for the experience, but I would definitely do it different next time. [laughs]
MW: Really? How so?
SC: Okay, well, recording my demos was just like a live take. I was DI [direct input] into a four-track, and there was no overdubbing at all. It was just live. And then with this, Iâd really been pushing away doing a real recording, because I knew I was going to be kind of a perfectionist about it. And, you know, Iâm sure a lot of people can relate to this: I look back, and I was so obsessed with how my voice sounded on some of the stuff that I couldnât see that things were good when they were good. I was overthinking it. Also, all the sessions were really spread out. Fred was working in the studio, and he was recording a lot of other bands, and we would record together once or twice a month for about six months. If I were to do it again, I would be like, âI want a week of studio time where we do everything.â We started recording it in the spring of 2015, and I think it wasnât done being mixed until the winter of 2016.
MW: Sounds like quite the process.
SC: Yeah. It just took too long. But I think it sounds really good now.
MW: Yeah, I think so too. I really love how it came out. So, youâre based in Detroit. When I hear about Detroit, itâs often referenced as this neglected city. How is it making music there? Whatâs the artistic community like?
SC: You know, the community for the kind of music that I make is really small and tight-knit. And there are a lot of shows going on. I was living in a different part of Michigan, and I moved here. Detroit doesnât really have a DIY scene. It doesnât really have a house show scene right now. I feel like I see little blips of it, but Iâm not sure if itâs as strong as other places in the Midwest like Chicago and Milwaukee, or even Minneapolis. But Iâyeah, I really love all my friends, and thereâs a lot of really good bands, but a lot of them donât get out of Detroit, as far as touring goes. Theyâre kind of stuck.
MW: Do you think that your environment and communityâliving in Detroitâinfluences your music, as opposed to if you lived somewhere like New York City or LA? Does it change your perspective?
SC: Probably. There is something really bleak about this place. It can be sad or lonely because itâs so empty. Itâs kind of this empty concrete jungle, so on a grey day itâs just kind ofâyeah. I donât know. I wrote most of the record in Detroit. A couple of the songs are really old. Two of them are from before I lived in Detroit, andâ
MW: Which ones are those?
SC: âBecoming Shadowsâ is off the first tape that I did, and so is âSpeeding Ticket.â I wrote âSpeeding Ticketâ when I was 18, which is about ten years ago, but the rest of them were written in Detroit. The oldest of those are like four years ago. But that being said, the record didnât start being recorded until two years ago. It just seems like a long process. I was new to the city when I wrote a lot of the songs, so I was kind of trapped in my apartment with no friends. Really great way to write an album, when you donât know anyone.
MW: Sounds productive, at least.
SC: It was, really. Yeah.
MW: Do you see yourself staying in Detroit? Is it your home now?
SC: I definitely think of this place as my home. And sometimes I get the bug to leave, but this is definitely the last place that Iâll move in Michigan, if I were to leave, but I donât think I would do that for a few years. I like a lot about it here. Before, I said it was kind of bleak, but thereâs also something really nice about this place. And it is starting to feel like a home, and Iâve lived here for five years. Also, I feel like itâs a great place for a touring musician. The rent is pretty cheap, and I donât really need other resources, soâŠif for some reason I get rich or fall in love or something, [laughs] then Iâll probably move, but Iâll probably stay here until that happens.