A.M. Pleasure Assassins has been good friends with KCSU for many years. Originating in 2010 after Jared Meyer’s band Rad Vibes came to a conclusion, A.M. Pleasure Assassins began as a 90s rock band, pulling inspiration from bands like Modest Mouse and The Smashing Pumpkins. Jared, also a visual artist, made a collage with old vintage magazines that just happened to have the phrase “A.M. Pleasure Assassins” within it, and he snagged it as the band began to come into fruition. Developing over the decade into something more indie bedroom experimental, their new album “Cloudy, Black, Red, and All Over” was recorded in a home studio. Jared chats about some influences for their songs, including “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” by Robert M. Pirsig and “Ishmael” by Daniel Quinn. He shows off his extensive list of possible band names, and shows appreciation for his involvement with the Fort Collins Music Association.

Live & Local is available to listen to anytime on our website and major streaming services, and is live on the air every Sunday from 11-1 p.m.

Transcription of episode (provided by Ava Barbieri)

Riley Hilbert (intro)
Hi I’m Riley Hilbert, KCSU’s local music director, and you’re listening to my show “Live and Local”. My show invites local bands and artists into the studio for an in depth interview and a live performance on air. “Live and Local” airs every other Sunday, 11 to 1pm. This is a pre recorded broadcast.

Riley Hilbert
You are listening to 90.5 KCSU Fort Collins. My name is DJ Retrograde, and this is “Live and Local” with A.M. Pleasure Assassins’ acoustic set. And here’s our first song right here, live in the studio.

Jared Meyer
Good morning everybody. This song’s called “Boulder”. Got my trusty Casio backing me up here this morning.

Jared (“Boulder”)
Indebted and done in, couldn’t even throw in nothing, try your own truth, full of good will. He’s not that brave, he’s not that strong, if not goodbye he says so long, who could even imagine, being so freaking average. But what I really want to know is, who cut chapter two, the greatest hustle scheme or heist, it’s all device, they say “the weight has got me underground and I won’t be coming around. there’s nothing else left to say”. Is there a word for having a song stuck in your head? Is there a word for having a song stuck in your head? I got permissions from High-ranking custodians, It’s been cleared by the committee of soft-soiled eggs. Who could even imagine? Who could even imagine?Who could even imagine? Could you even imagine? The tune, it changes every time, the minstrel’s got the microphone, leave your message at the tone, they say “My feet are warm from licking flames, and I’m feeling bolder today.” Shake out the cramps and go away.

Riley
You are listening to 90.5 KCSU Fort Collins, we are here in the studio with a very “Live and Local” episode. What are we doing here today, Jared?

Jared
Well, DJ Retrograde, this morning I’m playing some songs off of my new CD, or the A.M. Pleasure Assassins’ new CD. And just getting silly, Sunday morning. I feel like a cartoon character. So.

Riley
That’s awesome.

Jared
Hit me over the head with a frying pan.

Riley
Sunday cartoons. We got the Casio. We got an acoustic, a very special acoustic set. So we’re super excited for this. Tell us a little bit about you, a little bit about the band, about your music.

Jared
Ooh. Well, I, my name is Jared. I’ve lived in Fort Collins for a long time. I love our local music scene, and I love to support it, and I get to work for the Fort Collins Musicians Association, so I could even further, get to entrench myself in our in our local music scene, and all sorts of the different genres and acts and wild ideas and vibes that swing through here. So that’s like a huge pleasure. And getting to play with my band, and I’m also in another band called Paradise Overtime. So between my two bands, just kind of on cloud nine lately, trying to cruise and make, make life work.

Riley
Awesome. Love it. That’s amazing. So you have a CD out, you have some single sprinkling out, but to get the full listening experience, I’m gonna get your CD, is what I’m hearing.

Jared
You gotta get that CD. Yeah, it’s called “Cloudy, Black, Red and All Over”.

Riley
Awesome.

Jared
So it’s kind of a mouthful album title along with a mouthful band name. But yeah, it took us four years to make this CD. Some of it, a lot of it was written during lockdown. It doesn’t really reflect that way. But, you know, I think that that’s just kind of good to know when listening, because that it did, it did have some influence of what was going on, you know, but it also gave us a good amount of time to just be in my little home studio and experiment and get the sounds just right.

Riley
Perfect. Nothing better than a home studio. That’s the way to do it. Awesome, awesome. And you guys just did a Magnolia Sessions, and you have a lyric video premiere on Thursday. Tell us about that?

Jared
That’s right!

Riley
How was that?

Jared
Yes, if one was so inclined, Thursday night [11/21/24] is the night to see our video premiere for Magnolia Sessions at the Lyric. It was super rad getting to work with those cats. Have been wanting to do a Magnolia Session for a few years. So it’s, you know, nice that it finally came down the pike and smacked me right between the eyes. And yeah, it’s, you know, that was, that was a pleasure. They’re always so fun and inventive to see how they roll those things out. And yeah, it was, it was just great to get to be a part of.

Riley
Can you give us any hints on what to expect with a video? Or is it a surprise?

Jared
I’ll say jumpsuits.

Riley
Ooh, that’s a good hint. I like that, I like that. I’m intrigued, amazing. And what we’ll be hearing a little bit later?

Jared
Oh, [I] have a few more songs off of that CD. One kind of throwback I’d like to play this morning, maybe a little sing along, you know, see if we can get everybody singing along with their radio. That’s always fun.

Riley
Let’s do it. Let’s do it. Perfect. Well, thank you so much for hanging out.

Jared
All right y’all, this next song is called “Melt into the Sea”. It’s another one off of our new album. Here we go.

Jared (“Melt into the Sea”)
Sleep now in grace defined by light, I come in peace, but I might bite, you won’t get a discount on the plot, so who cares if you’re a lot or not? HOLD ON TO THE EDGE, HOLD ON TO THE EDGE, HOLD ON. The beat will go on in it’s own time, you let me polish off your crimes, she came in thru the bathroom window, screaming something like: HOLD ON TO THE EDGE, HOLD ON TO THE EDGE, HOLD ON TO THE EDGE, HOLD ON TO THE EDGE. Sand castles couldn’t hold me down, ten thousand castles couldn’t hold me down, ten thousand castles couldn’t hold me down. HOLD ON TO THE EDGE, (Melt melt melt into the sea face first), HOLD ON TO THE EDGE, HOLD ON TO THE EDGE, HOLD ON TO THE EDGE, (Melt melt melt melt melt…).

Riley
You are listening to 90.5 KCSU Fort Collins, we’re here with Jared from A.M. Pleasure Assassins. How you doing, Jared?

Jared
So good!

Riley
Yay, awesome!

Jared
Sunday morning!

Riley
Yes, we’re having an awesome time here in the studio. Tell us about that second song that we heard live.

Jared
That song is called “Melt into the Sea”. It definitely takes some lyrical inspiration from the book “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” [by Robert M. Pirsig]. I love that book. Kind of read that a couple of times now, but it really came back around for me for some, some ideas during 2021 or something, you know. And so, yeah, just putting some of those ideas into the songs, a lot of these songs off the new album definitely contain lyrical references to a lot of my favorite books and other albums and other songs, you know, I definitely did a fair amount of ripping off.

Riley
Super fair. What are some other books that we can look out for references in the album?

Jared
Let me think, Oh, the book “Ishmael” [by Daniel Quinn] is a favorite of mine. And that usually that comes around pretty often. Definitely some like, kids books, you know, like the, “The Wind in the Willows” [by Kenneth Grahame], stuff like that comes around.

Riley
Awesome.

Jared
Definitely, a lot of different, different vibes.

Riley
Super cool, I love that. That’s so cool, art and all forms, you know, and it all crosses over at the end of the day.

Jared
Straight up.

Riley
Super cool. So tell us about your experience in the FOCO scene over the years and what you’ve seen, what’s to come.

Jared
Ooh, you know, it’s, it’s been a wild ride in Fort Collins, over the years. I’ve been here for 20 years, been playing in bands, almost 20 years, all that time. And so, you know, we’ve seen the house show scene rise and fall a few times. The venues, you know, constantly changing hands in town always keeps things interesting and fresh, always leads, you know, keeps, keeps the experience slightly mysterious when you come rolling in cold. But, yeah, I think we don’t know, we just have a good especially these last few years, KCSU has, I think, been a great harbinger of good vibes and like a nice, solid station to rally around, I think, and I think that that, you know, having that really, really helps the scene a lot. So I definitely have been a big appreciator of KCSU all these years, but especially, like I said, the last few years, it has become just a super solid place for local music. So I really appreciate that. But yeah, I mean, house show scenes? I don’t know, there was, there was a time back in the day, and you know, if you know me, and have heard me lamenting or just talking about the good old days. One of my favorite things, and I’m trying to figure out how to re-take, pick this back up, is have traveling house shows. We used to do house shows, and they started getting shut down. And maybe I shouldn’t be saying this over the air, I’ve already spoiled it. But take, take, take that, as you will, traveling house shows. You don’t have to stay in one place. You can move around.

Riley
I like this a lot. I don’t know how or when, but I want, I want to get in on that. That seems super cool. I think, like just the beauty of house shows too, is so very DIY, and it truly shows how awesome our scene is.

Jared
Right? Yeah, those, I mean, you know, there’s, there’s an intimacy that comes along with that when you welcome your community into your house, versus inviting everyone to meet you at a at a third, party type location. It’s like, you know, that you’re going to come and see, you’re going to, you know when you’re going to have people in your bathroom, that’s, that’s really, that’s a, that’s a long olive branch you are extending to communities.

Riley
Yeah, you get really close once you’re in somebody’s bathroom. That’s awesome. What’s been some of your favorite memories in the scene here?

Jared
I mean, just, just the, this, this, the people in the scene are, like, my favorite thing about it all, you know, so many memories just hanging out and talking junk after shows and just getting, getting weird. That’s, that’s what, that’s what. It’s all about, that and, having people over to, like, help you garden or, or fold up CDs for, you know, send into the other radio stations in Colorado.

Riley
Totally, totally, yeah, no, that’s so awesome. So what, what’s been some of your recently? You guys just played a show at the atrium. What’s been some of your favorite recent shows that you guys have played?

Jared
Oh, man, The Atrium show was really, really great. We played that with Safekeeper and Elke. We were out in Montana a few weeks ago, and that was a blast. We always love going and visiting our friends out in Montana and Wyoming. They’re so sweet. There’s a place called Kirk’s Grocery out there, big shoutout to Kirk’s. Big shoutout to Shane and Ken and Ashley over at Kirk’s. We love those cats so much. That’s that was like our summer extravaganza was just that little, little turn and burn trip out there, and, yeah, wouldn’t it, wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Riley
Awesome, absolutely love it. So tell us what we can be hearing next.

Jared
Next, I’m gonna play another song off of the, the new, the new album, and then I’m gonna play a little throwback sing-along song.

Riley
Awesome.

Jared
All right, y’all, everybody out there listening in radio land. Appreciate you. This is Jared from the A.M. Pleasure Assassins, and I’m gonna play a song called “Wooden Sleeves”. It’s one of the, one of my favorite singles off of our new record. It’s just about feeling young and being nice. I don’t know if it’s about being nice, but you know, be nice.

Jared (“Wooden Sleeves”)
Someday when we get old we’ll count our wrinkles like the rings on trees, someday when we get old they’ll lay our bodies down in wooden sleeves, someday someday someday. Until then, while you’re my friend, I wanna give it a whirl. I wanna give it a whirl, I wanna give it a whirl, I wanna give it a whirl, I wanna give it a whirl. I got a phone-full of your photo, and a text thread lined with no nos, you come by to pick me up, and we fly out of there like Dodos, a stack of books I never read, a thousand bees buzz in my head, we could be fighting crime, but we’ll just drive around instead. …we’ll just drive around instead. I got a phone-full of your photos, and a text thread lined with no nos, you come by to pick me up, and we fly out of there like Dodos, a stack of books I never read, a thousand bees buzz in my head, we could be fighting crime, but we’ll just drive around instead.

Riley
You are listening to 90.5 KCSU Fort Collins. I’m DJ Retrograde, and we’re here with Jared from A.M. Pleasure Assassins, how are you doing?

Jared
So good!

Riley
How you feeling? Yay! We’ve been having an awesome time.

Jared
How are you, DJ Retrograde?

Riley
I’m awesome. Having a great time. So happy to be here. So tell us about the band name.

Jared
The band name. Oh, the band name. Well, I it has, you know, everyone has their own interpretation of it, which I think is great and hilarious. Most people kind of assume that it’s about morning sex and it’s not. The A.M. Pleasure Assassins essentially came to be because I made a weird, freaky collage, as I am one to do, making collages out of old vintage Life magazines and things. And I made this particularly strange, awesome collage, and it had the words A.M. Pleasure Assassins like built into it. And I just thought that that seemed like a cool band name. Think a lot of us band folks are always like, you always have your little antenna out for hearing, oh, my God, that sounds like a band name. Like, I’m gonna write that down. So, you know, I have a pretty extensive list of new band names. So if anybody needs something, anybody, if anyone out there is looking for a band name, I might be the person to help you out.

Riley
That’s awesome. Can you give us a sneak peek of some of the ones? Or is that classified info?

Jared
It’s kind of classified. I’ll give you, I’ll give you kind of my, the one that I think I’m least likely to follow through on…

Riley
Okay, fair.

Jared
…as a band, a band idea I have called Quick Pickle. And it would be really short jams. Like, it would be like kind of a jam band, but instead of going off on like 11 or like 20 minute jams, they’re like three minute songs that all contain still like two thirds of a jam.

Riley
I like that.

Jared
So it’s a quick pickle.

Riley
It’s a quick pickle. I really like that. That’s a good one. Dang. I’d be interested to see to hear the rest of them. That’s super cool. Awesome, awesome. So tell us about how you guys got started. How, I know it’s just you today, but give us kind of the rundown on how you guys formed.

Jared
Well, started back in 2010 my old, old band, Rad Vibes, had kind of just wrapped up. And we heard a little Rad Vibes earlier, which was cool. Love, I love that you guys still have that in the in the catalog. But yeah, so that band had wrapped and had this cool new band name in my back pocket from this collage that I was just itching to use. And my housemate, who his band had also just kind of wrapped up. We were looking for a writing outlet, and just kind of, you know, we were just show rats, and just absolutely obsessed with being in our little indie music scene, and so we needed a band, and so we made the A.M. Pleasure Assassins. Started off just very 90s rock, inspired again, just yeah, like working in our basement. We were both very inspired by bands like Guided by Voices and Smashing Pumpkins and Modest Mouse and Weezer and, you know, these bands that just have these big guitars and big drums and catchy melodies, and so we just kind of took those and started trying to fly our little kite.

Riley
It’s awesome. I love it. I love it. Some awesome influences too, there. So tell us, how have you guys kind of formed and reshaped yourselves over the years, or have you at all? Or.

Jared
Yeah, I mean, it’s, it’s because of its indie and, like, experimental bedroom nature, you know, I guess maybe that’s where the A.M. Pleasure Vibes come from. That bedroom, bedroom nature. We kind of lends itself to a lot of, you know, reinvention and different kinds of flavors or whatever. You know, for me, like making music is like cooking. It’s like you kind of put whatever seasonings make sense into your dish. And you know, not everyone just wants to eat tacos every night or hamburgers. So you got to learn how to make different kinds of, different kinds of musics and different kinds of sounds and different kinds of sounds and different kinds of meals just to keep life interesting. So I think, yeah, a fair amount of reinvention and experimentation is built into the band for sure, and also into the band name. It’s just such a weird, long band name with inter, you know, different interpretations, that we can feel like we kind of have a lot of freedom to do whatever we want.

Riley
That’s awesome. And I think the beauty about interpretations, too, is that everyone can kind of tie it to their own lives.

Jared
Yeah.

Riley
That’s super awesome.

Jared
Right? Yeah, different times, different, different lives. Yeah, it all, you know clicks, different for different reasons, at different frequencies.

Riley
Definitely, definitely. What’s one thing you want to tell listeners, either after they’ve heard your new album or before they’ve heard your new album? What’s the words of wisdom?

Jared
Oh, words of wisdom. It’s, oh, here’s some words of wisdom from from my drummer, Lauren Jones. The album, I would say, is an homage collage. It’s, you know, it pays homage to a lot of different ideas, and like I said, books and other songs and albums that I love. And so it’s in my collaging sort of nature, my little proclivity to making those weird melanges of influence, it is that is a homage collage. You know, influences come from everywhere, and they never really stop, stop hitting you. So absorb them, take them for what they are, or also, you know, leave them if they don’t serve you. Okay, everybody. I got a little, a little throwback song, A.M. Pleasure Assassins throwback song for you. It’s got a little sing-along at the end. Maybe I’ll pause for a minute and remind you of the words so you can join me. This little song is about, you know, just our just our lives, and how we work in tandem with each other for moments or days, and then we work solo. And, you know, it’s a little bit of a blend of the two that make the world go round. Got my Casio backing me up today. This song is called “Walking Out”, by the way.

Jared (“Walking Out”)
Clean off the mirror and clean off the tile, I might, slip on a nice shirt and take on a smile, I might, perhaps you can tell the story to me, I might, forgo the foreplay and skip to the dream. I might, I might, I might look away, it’s always summer somewhere, I might, I might look away, it’s in a water falling. Running out of forks and knives and articles to wear, I might, reading around the town again you know I really must take care, I might, midnight’s just the past, we should sleep before the dawn. Well, if you feel like it. Let’s forget all of that and do exactly what we want. I might, I might, I might look away, it’s always summer somewhere, I might, I might look away, it’s in a water falling. I might, I might look away, it’s always summer somewhere, I might, I might just walk on, and are you walking out with me?

Alright, so this is where the words that everyone can sing along with the words are: We walk alone, we walk together, we walk together, we walk alone. And I’ll give you a little example.

We walk alone, we walk together, we walk together, we walk alone. We walk alone, we walk together, we walk together, we walk alone. We walk alone, we walk together, we walk together, we walk alone. Okay, everybody. Alone, we walk together, we walk together, we walk alone. I can’t hear you out there. We walk together, we walk together, we walk alone. We walk alone, we walk together, we walk together, we walk alone. We walk alone, we walk together, we walk together, we walk alone. We walk alone, we walk together, we walk together, we walk alone.

Thanks everybody for joining me and DJ Retro[grade] in the studio today. It’s a darn pleasure.

Riley
You are listening to 90.5 KCSU Fort Collins. My name is DJ Retrograde. We are here on “Live and Local” with Jared from A.M. Pleasure Assassins. How are you, Jared?

Jared
So good!

Riley
Awesome. Well, I, all the songs today have been incredible. Thank you so much for hanging out.

Jared
Yeah, thanks for having me.

Riley
Unfortunately, we are nearing the end, but we’re going to talk a little bit before, before we wrap it up, tie a little bow on it right now.

Jared
Sweet.

Riley
So, awesome.

Jared
I brought ribbons.

Riley
Yeah, perfect. Awesome. So tell us how you started playing music.

Jared
I started playing music back in the day, what, you know, in middle school or something, because I wanted, you know, just, I had some friends, some cool seeming friends, who were into, like punk music, like I was into, and they needed a drummer. They had, you know, they were trying to form their little band, and they needed a drummer. And I was like, ooh, I want to play the drums and my mom was like, No, that’s too much of a racket. So I was guided to play guitar instead, and so it just kind of came from that. I’ve been kind of a, you know, I was a little music obsessed kid, even as a youngster, always like making mix tapes. And had a little, like, record player with the “Monster Mash” [by Bobby “Boris” Pickett] record and stuff and, you know, I just make my own weird little mix tapes out of that. And I’d run around the run around the neighborhood with my headphones on, like, singing. I remember distinctly, like singing the songs and having my headphones on so tight over my ears that I was like, I can’t even hear what sounds are coming out of my mouth, just hearing the noise blasting into my ears and I’m singing along with it. So that’s probably why I sing out of key now, out of tune. But you know, it was fun, and it is, it is what it is.

Riley
That’s super cool. That’s so awesome. And you’ve been with the Fort Collins Musicians Association for about three years now.

Jared
Yeah, three years.

Riley
How, how’s that been?

Jared
Oh, so awesome. I’ve, I’ve been, you know, just enamored with all of the things that FoCoMA has done over the years, primarily, like FoCoMX is kind of the thing that most people know, know us for, and so, you know, being around for basically all of the FoCoMXs, I’ve been here since, since that started, and played all of them, I think, except one, even one year we had to, like, I think there were a few of us not in a band, and so we just made a band for FoCoMX. All you need is a band name. I got plenty of them. Yeah. So it’s just really fun getting to be involved, I guess, on a, on a deeper level than just being like a music, a local music enthusiast/artist in town, and really getting to like help lead the programming that we do with FoCoMA and just kind of be more of a vocal part of that, and less of an engagement part of that. And just, you know, be, be in the mix, and not just a fan. It’s great.

Riley
Totally. I love that. Super awesome. So now for our, our well known deserted island question.

Jared
Ooh, I love dessert.

Riley
If you are on a deserted island, you can bring one artist for any reason. Who are you bringing and why?

Jared
Oh, what’s that guy’s name? Roy Johnson? [Ray Johnson]

Riley
Awesome.

Jared
He’s not a musical artist. He’s more of a visual artist. “How to Draw a Bunny[: A Ray Johnson Portrait]”, if you ever saw that documentary, he like, threw a bunch of, he threw a bunch of hot dogs and condoms out of a helicopter, once, over, like, as, like, a performance art piece.

Riley
That’s awesome.

Jared
He’s just an interesting cat.

Riley
Perfect. He’d be, he’d be fun to be stuck on an island with.

Jared
Yeah, not a dull moment. Perfect, perfect. And what is one song that you wish you wrote to wrap it all up today?

Jared
I, if I, if I were gonna go back in time and write a song before somebody else did, maybe it would be, I was gonna, I was gonna go with the whole “Back to the Future” thing and make it “Johnny B. Goode” [by Chuck Berry]. But no, that leads into a whole different problematic topic. I would say, I wish I had written the song “Every Shining Time You Arrive” by Sunny Day Real Estate.

Riley
Amazing. That is a great answer.

Jared
One of my favorite songs.

Riley
Such a good answer, awesome, awesome. And tell us where we can find you, on Instagram, on whatever platforms.

Jared
Yes, I’m easily found on Instagram, a dot m dot pleasure assassins, we have a website that is also easily accessible via your web browser. ampleasureassassins.com. There’s a Bandcamp too, which, which is like a great place to buy that CD, if anyone is so inclined. And, yeah, our website also has all of our songs streaming. You can listen to it. We’ve got some videos, we’ve got photos, just some stuff to you know, if you’re, if you’re, if you hear me out there and you wonder, what the heck does that guy look like? It doesn’t take much to find out.

Riley
Perfect. Well, thank you so much for hanging out today, Jared. I’ve had an amazing time. I appreciate you being out here, and I can’t wait to catch you guys at a show soon.

Jared
Thank you, DJ Retrograde. It’s been a pleasure.

Riley
Awesome. Have a great day, listeners. Thanks for tuning in.

Riley Hilbert (outro)
Thanks for listening to “Live and Local”. I’m Riley Hilbert, KCSU’s local music director. If you like what you’re hearing, you can listen to more on our website at kcsufm.com, our Spotify at KCSUFM, or anywhere else you get podcasts. “Live and Local” airs every other Sunday 11 to 1pm.