Mike Montgomery is used to placing his musical voice alongside others as a member of R. Ring and Ampline and behind the console at his Dayton, Kentucky Candyland Studios. Under the moniker Nervous Verbs, Montgomery is releasing solo material for the first time in his career.
Nervous Verbs began to take shape from material Montgomery hadn't developed with either of his bands.
"I would just kind of this as a way for me to see an idea through it without abandoning it," said Montgomery in an interview with WYSO music director Juliet Fromholt. "You know, a lot of times, like since I do own a studio, I would tend to think of songs as done when we like go into the studio proper and do all the tracks and put out an album. And I thought, 'Well, what about all of the other little ideas in the orphanage that never find a home?'"
During the pandemic, Montgomery found himself exploring collaboration with other musicians in new ways that didn't require being in the same physical space. Many of those collaborations are part of Nervous Verbs' forthcoming debut album, Pony Coughing (Don Giovanni). Other songs, however, feature Montgomery entirely solo, like the album's closing song "I Am Of Tremelo."
"That was kind of just written really quickly and it was just almost like a lullaby," said Montgomery. "And I was just kind of singing into my voice memo recorder thing. I remember sending that to [R. Ring bandmate Kelley Deal] and she was like, 'I think that's just like a you moment, you know, like it should just be your voice.'
It does take a mind shift for me. I feel like I'm really good at helping other people determine when their ideas complete or their vision is fulfilled. But it's hard for me to do it for myself or to feel like that's my voice. It's my guitar, it's live. It's rough around the edges. When I'm in a duo or a band setting, you have sort of that strength of your collaborators to buttress your feelings of inadequacy. I guess you know that a lot of people making art feel like, is this anything? Should I keep pursuing this? Is this good enough? Am I finished? Those kind of thoughts that a lot of people that I work with seem to always have. So usually if I'm in the studio, I'm on the other side of the glass or at the console saying, Yes, that's a good take. Stop singing. Yes, that's a great solo. Don't play anymore. You know, that's what I learned to do for other people normally. So it is hard to do that for yourself, I think."
Nervous Verbs' debut album, Pony Coughing, will be released on February 28.
