Euringer revealed his self-titled solo album last month via Metropolis Records. Euringer is a counter-culture, surreal, psychedelic, art house, avant-garde, possibly posthumous concept project from Jimmy Urine of Mindless Self Indulgence fame. Featuring guest vocals from Grimes, Serj Tankian (System Of A Down), Gerard Way (My Chemical Romance) and Chantal Claret – and also staring Jimmy’s Mum and Dad for good measure! – the record is one long song/musical/concerto, as if an underground movie was made for your ears. Check out Euringer’s self titled album below!
We caught up with Jimmy has he talks about his latest release and more!
So how has the initial response been for your solo album?
It’s been amazing. I’ve been sitting on this thing for two and a half years so to finally be able to release it to the world is such a load off. Plus the fact that once everybody started listening to it they really got the full concept of it. It was a pretty detailed and abstract concept, so I wasn’t sure if people were going to understand it, but the first thing they really understood was that the entire record kind of works as one big piece of music and they really got something out of it so that was very cool.
What was it like working with the likes of Gerard Way on the album, are you good friends?
I’m friends with everybody who is on this record. Every guest is either friends or family, whether it’s my dad, my mom, my wife or Grimes, Serj, Gerard, etc. There are even some hidden friends on it. It was a super cool blast to hang with friends and work on something fun, which is why i wanted the collaborations to be chill with friends. It makes it more fun and less business-y.
What is your favourite song on the album?
I like the record as one big piece of music. I wrote it as one large piece of music, so it’s hard for me to look at it as individual songs. I specifically made it as songs flowing into other songs and for pieces of songs to appear in other songs, so i can only look at it as one giant song called ‘EURINGER’.
How have Metropolis Records helped you creating this album?
Well, I’ve been working with Metropolis for a number of years now and they’re always really great and easy to get along with. They really provide a lot of great behind the scenes support and business stuff that the normal fan might not be aware of, like clearing a cover song or helping with distribution or getting vinyl made. That business stuff might not be exciting to the average fan but to me it is because I love having shit done well, done on time and done efficiently, and they are great at all that.
If you could work with any band in the world on a new song, who would it be and why?
That’s a hard question. This is the first time I’ve ever done real collaborations so it’s brand new to me, but I liked it and I’m sure I will do more collaborations with other people I know in the future, so its kind of not a hypothetical question for me. I’m going to be revisiting collaborations in the future so you will probably see then who I work with, ha ha.
What do you get up to in your spare time when not working on music?
Mainly what I was doing during the creation and recording of this record was slowly moving with my wife to New Zealand. The second trip I ever took there I had started writing this record and started figuring out concepts and lyrics while driving around the North island and traveling down to the South Island.
I literally mixed the record right before I moved here and mastered it while I was in New Zealand, then over the past few months I started working on promotion – press and videos. So, New Zealand has a lot to do with this record and I am excited to do future records and future projects down here. I love Wellington as well as the entire country and I’m very happy to be living here now in this creative cool ass amazing country.
So you prefer to play in a band or solo when playing live?
I prefer playing in a band….and because Mindless Self Indulgence is probably the best live band ever for spectacle, energy, cleverness and danger ( we are fucking amazing). I’m sure I will start something new at some point in my life but I really like playing with my friends.
Will you be touring at all this year?
No. I’m gonna be spending my time right now doing projects in New Zealand, working with local talent – mixers, masters, studios, artists, film maker’s etc, etc. I just really want to immerse myself in this culture and enjoy this new country that I am currently very happy to live in.