MILO BINDER INTERVIEW

I ASKED THE WORLD: More than three decades after the release of his debut album, composer and vocalist Todd Lawrence, professionally knowns as MILO BINDER has returned with a magnificent collection known as The Unspeakable Milo Binder. Blitz Magazine - The Rock And Roll Magazine For Thinking Peolple Editor / Publisher Michael McDowell discusses the highlights of this project with Binder and producer Willie Aron   (Click on above image to enlarger).

I THINK I HEARD

HIS NAME BEFORE:

THE TRIUMPHANT RETURN

OF MILO BINDER

By Michael McDowell

Sometimes inspiration takes a while to avail itself.

In the case of the Vancouver, Washington-based composer and vocalist Todd "Milo Binder" Lawrence, that inspiration took more than three decades to bear fruit. Despite the acclaim afforded his 1990 self-titled debut album for Atlas Records, it wasn't until 2024 that Binder's remarkable gift for a turn of phrase was manifest in The Unspeakable Milo Binder for the Heyday Again label.

"The reason I took so long (was) a bunch of life circumstances", said Binder.

"The main ones were the birth of my daugher with a serious disability, making life on the road impossible; and the death of my manager, John Schillaci, not long after the release of the first album."

One fellow visionary who discerned that the time was right was Binder's long time colleague, Willie Aron. As co-founder of Thee Holy Brothers (with Lone Justice alumnus Marvin Etzioni) and the game changing Balancing Act, Aron was instrumental in encouraging Binder to return to the studio.

"Todd Lawrence / Milo Binder has been my best friend since the late 1980s, ever since he and John Schillaci saw the Balancing Act perform at Be Bop Records in the San Fernando Valley", said Aron.

"We had an immediate soul connection that we have maintained for nearly forty years. I was immediately captivated by Todd's incisive, witty, wry, soulful songwriting craft".

As demonstrated in abundance in The Unspeakable Milo Binder, that craft both uplifts and challenges exponentially, in a cerebral / emotional hybrid not unlike that which which characterized the art of such like minded visionaries as Eric Andersen, Dave Van Ronk and perhaps even the Balancing Act itself. 

"The songs are a mix of ones left over from the old days, and things I wrote in the last year or two", said Binder. 

Not surprisingly, Aron came on board as producer for the project. 

"I trusted Willie to manage the sonic landscape", said Binder.

Ultimately, that landscape turned out to be a logical progression from the acoustic settings in which the overall repertoire was developed.

"We kept the personnel small", said Binder.

"Just Willie and me, Victor Krummenacher, Kevin Jarvis and engineer Jeff Peters".

To be certain, players such as Krummenacher were an ideal fit for the proceedings. 

"Victor Krummenacher, bassist for Camper Van Beethoven and the Third Mind - in which I perform as guest keyboardist - completed work on the album in Los Angeles at Kevin Jarvis' Sonic Boom Room", said Aron.

"As a producer, I tried to stay out of the way by eschewing going for a sonic imprint. I added instruments like piano, organ, harpsichord, guitar and percussion as sparingly as possible, and only if they served the songs. 

"You know the record producer Mickie Most? I should start calling myself Mickie Least!"

The resultant album is a triumph on all counts. Binder's lyrical strengths are particularly evident in such attention getting tracks as I Asked The World, Green Coin Purse, You And Your Boyfriend and Our Little War. In turn, such magnificent examples of the subtle intensity pioneered by such pioneers as the late Michael Holliday make their mark in Tipped-Over Night, You Must Break The Heart, Don't Fly Away and I Should Be Your Man.

"I don't know", said Binder.

"I think these are pertinent things. What do I know?"

Aron is quick to put Binder's concerns into perspective.

"After a long period of musical inactivity, Todd started writing again and again and again", he said.

"He had amassed an impressive group of songs. I encouraged him to record."

Indeed, the accolades afforded The Unspeakable Milo Binder in the weeks since its release have both served to underscore Aron's observations and assuage Binder's concerns. To invoke a standout track from that 1990 debut, it has brought Suffering Into Art full circle.