Taking Off With Farewell Flight

When I first heard Farewell Flight’s music, I knew I would have to talk with them before they made their stop in Hamden on April 26. The band’s drummer, Marc Prokopchak, was nice enough to sit down and let me know about the inner workings of how Farewell Flight manages to make and release music despite their lack of a record label, as well as how they manage to tour as often as possible.

Edward Gaug: Next week you’ll be starting nearly two months of touring, starting off in your home state of Pennsylvania, then trav- eling north through Connecticut, then hitting the Midwest down to Oklahoma and traveling back up to Pennsylvania to end it. How do you personally get ready to spend all this time traveling and living in a van with three other people?

Marc Prokopchak: Well, the first part is actually booking the tour. That’s my biggest worry; everything else comes second after that. Booking those dates and getting everything set management-wise as far as the shows and getting all the details, like load-in time and when doors are. Getting that all together is the first step—after that, we all kind of live meagerly because we don’t make much money and any money we do make goes right back into the band. We all pack a duff le bag and we get some groceries, usually stuff that won’t go bad if we keep it in the van, and we go on from there.

EG: With booking a tour, you try to have all your dates planned out; but have you ever come across problems and had to jump on a show or play a house show? Because I seem to hear about that happening more frequently.

MP: We have played all types of shows—we’ve had really good shows and really bad shows. If we get a cancellation and we can fill that date, within a week or two with something like a house show or jump on a show, that’s golden. We’ve done that a few times. We’ve also had a few things go wrong with cancellations due to younger kids running [shows] and not knowing what they’re really doing. When we go on tour, I’ll send them a follow-up message making sure everything is cool with the show, making sure it hasn’t been cancelled because the venue got shut down by the police or something. We’ve definitely run into that; but if that’s the case and we can’t get on something somewhere else, we’ll end up taking the night off and try to make the best of it, hanging out or sleeping in the van.

EG: Farewell Flight has this particular tour going through the month of May; do you guys have any plans from summer, whether it is playing festivals or another tour?

MP: We pretty much have the whole summer mapped out; as festivals, not so much this year. We played a bunch last year, but that’s because we had some label affiliation and they kind of pulled the strings on all that type of stuff. This summer we are completely independent again, so even the festivals we played last year, it was nearly impossible to get back into unless you have a label backing you or someone else going to bat for you. Basically, we’re just going to tour on our own this summer. After the April-May run is over, we’ll be home for like three weeks and then we’ll head out for about three weeks in June, and that stint’s about three-quarters of the way booked. They haven’t been posted yet, but they are in the confirmation stages. Then we’ll be home for another week or two and then back out on the road from mid-July to early August, for what hopefully will be a CD release run. We’re trying to hit up venues that we have played a lot in the recent years and that we can have our album ready. It’s been recorded since last year and people have been wanting it, and we’re finally getting it released by doing it ourselves this summer. Those are the summer plans, but from there on out it will be what we do always: be on the road as much as possible and come home and work a little bit and then head out again.

This is the short version of the interview, for the whole thing you can check here.

Interview with Blood Red Shoes; Album Out Now

I did this interview for a magazine and they didn't have room for it, so here it is. I almost forgot that Blood Red Shoes' debut album, Box of Secrets, came out last Tuesday. It's a great album that should be getting a lot more good press. We'll see if anything picks up when they finally make it over to the States for some touring.

What do Nirvana, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Babes in Toyland and Blonde Redhead have in common? Apparently a lot more than you think. Blood Red Shoes, a two-piece band based out of Brighton, England, have been tossed around with those names before and with the release if their debut album, Box of Secrets, expect to hear even more of them. Drummer and vocalist Steven Ansell was able to answer a few questions for me as he and guitarist/vocalist Laura-Mary Carter were touring Europe and Japan. They look young and cute in photo shoots, but don’t let them fool you. Ansell explained the band’s live shows where they occasionally play too fast and smash things up. Look for them, as well as their new record, coming your way soon.


Mark Rowan: You guys have been a band for around three years now, but just put out your debut album on April 14. You’ve released a ton of singles, but why the delay on the full-length?

Steve Ansell: Well basically we didn’t feel ready to make an album until recently. We did lots of singles deals with lots of labels, and in that time we were growing as a band, and getting better at writing, and playing live, and just better friends. So once we felt like we were ready to think about an album, we did an album deal with a label (V2 in Europe/Japan) and went in and recorded it. It was finished in September 2007 but then because of some label buyout stuff that went down, we weren’t sure what our future was and it stalled the release a bit, which meant the album went back by a few more months. But ultimately it took a while because we didn’t want to rush into making an album, and we’re really glad we did it that way. Some bands get signed really fast and haven’t developed as a band, they don’t know what they can do yet, and they make a first album then “develop” on the second album but everyone loves ‘em for the first one and hates the second one—stuff like that. Hopefully we’ve avoided it. I think our album sounds more like who we really are than if we’d made one in the first year of being together.

MR: Tell us a little about the album—what to expect from it and what went into putting it together.

SA: Well the songs are taken from over the first three years of our existence. “ADHD” is on there and that song was one of the first 10 songs we ever wrote. But then we have some stuff that we’d never played live on there, written just before we went into the studio. So I think it really represents us and what we’ve been doing and what our sound has developed into. Recording-wise, we just went into a studio and hammered it out. We wanted the music to sound rough and ready, kind of mean and heavy and live sounding. Then we wanted to bring out the vocals a bit with that too, because we write pop hooks a lot—well sort of weird pop hooks—and we wanted to add some emphasis to that. Often live it’s the vocal stuff that gets buried in the noise, and we wanted to get the Pixies-style balance dead on, with the aggression of the music but also the melody of the voices.
MR: The word grunge gets thrown around a lot when people discuss your band, but that honestly didn’t cross my mind until I read it. What is it about Blood Red Shoes where people can say, “Oh this is grunge” while others might focus more on the harmonies and call it indie rock/garage/etc?

SA: Well I think our sound owes a lot to grunge—Laura-Mary’s guitar style and sound is heavily indebted to grunge and other American underground rock stuff. The notes and chords she uses and the shifts are quite grungy. They’re not based on straightforward major/minor scales like a lot of British bands seem to. I also think that our music has a nagging sort of dark feel to it, that I hear in Nirvana, Babes in Toyland, etc. I think garage music is much more based in a bluesy feel, and although I think we have similarities to the energy of garage, I don’t think melodically it’s very similar and to be honest, I think indie rock is such a broad term I have no idea how much resemblance we bear to it. In England that means bands that sound like The Libertines and that sure as hell has no relevance to us! And in the States, I think there are bands that get called indie rock that we take inf luence from, definitely—stuff like Sonic Youth, Hot Snakes, Blonde Redhead.

MR: How sick are you hearing the band compared to other duos simply because you’re also a duo?

SA: Very sick.

MR: Who do you think would be more fitting?

SA: Well some people compare us to Yeah Yeah Yeahs, another bass-less band who we’re much more similar to. Or my personal favor- ite is when someone said, “it’s like Blur crossed with Sonic Youth.”

MR: You were both in bands previously-full bands, I believe—what does being a duo allow for that being in a full band would not? Is the music-making process easier? Allow for more creativity?

SA: Well it leaves you with way more space to try out different things with your instrument. It opens up possibilities and I think it allows us to use our instruments less conventionally. We’ve found it makes us use our voices a lot more, too—one thing that I think it’s quite distinctive about our band, that not many people seem to mention, is that we both sing, and sing a lot. We use intertwining vocal lines and alternating parts, which is a lot harder in a four or five-piece band.

MR: I read somewhere that Box of Secrets has been leaked since November. Does that bother you at all or is it just inevitable?

SA: Yeah, it is inevitable. I mean that was quite far in advance, but that’s only because the release date went back. In one sense it’s good. It actually means that more people have been coming to our shows and the audience often know more of the songs, but on the other hand we do know people have low-quality versions, versions in the wrong order, versions with extra or wrong songs on it (taken from b-sides or EPs) so it’s kind of a bastardized form of the record. And the biggest issue we had is that people have got it without the artwork. Laura-Mary personally does all of the art, and that’s part of our package and who we are, so when you get the record without that, you are missing part of who we are—not to mention all the lyrics written out.
MR: Going along with that, it seems albums are leaking earlier and earlier every year and then you now have a handful of artists trying to follow in the footsteps of Radiohead’s pay-what-you-want release. How is the Internet affecting how you make and release music?

SA: So far it’s not changed how we release things, but it is affecting everything else. We use the Internet a lot; putting up videos, blogs, bulletins and competitions. We’ve found that a lot of our audience have found us through word of mouth and checking us out on the Internet, and then come to see us live. So we use it a lot, but so far our release schedule has been very conventional—though we are already talking about the possibility of releasing an EP in between this and our second album, which is download only and maybe also availably physically at gigs. I like the directness of the Internet—it takes out a lot of stage of mediation between the band and its audience.

MR: You finished up a big tour in the UK right after the release of the record, what are your plans for touring then? Will we see you in the United States?

SA: Yes! We’re not sure when though. We’re talking to a bunch of labels about a U.S. release and for us it’s a really big thing because most of our favorite artists are North American. So we have this idea that U.S. audiences will (hopefully) really dig it, but we want to get over with a record and tour properly, and our plan is to break the back of Europe and Japan, where things are already kicking off and get that nailed before we head to the United States. Ideally it’ll be late this year and we can get some proper touring in.

MR: Speaking of your live shows…they've been known to be just great performances and even destructive at times, tell us a bit about your live shows and how the record will translate live.

SA: [Laughs] Well, yeah that's true. We've always said that energy is more important than ability. I think the point of playing live is to really convey the band with intensity, so we put as much into it as we can, mentally and physically. We’ve got a lot tighter these days from all the touring so I think we're on good form. You can really rock out hard once you know a song well, because you're not concentrating on playing the right part, that comes automatically, you can just feel the music and give it some fucking heart and soul. I mean, about 75 percent of the songs on the record we played live before recording, so it was more like, how do they translate onto the record than vice-versa. Mostly I think it's just a slightly different vibe than recorded - more instrument-heavy and more trashy in-your-face sort of thing. We usually play too fast, and get a load of people on stage or smash shit up. I think live it’s about chaos and celebration and getting into some group mindset and just letting loose. Whilst we wanted to get some of that onto record, you simply can’t record all that atmosphere. Live and recorded music are two quite different art forms so we try to use both of them to their strengths.

PS: This first printed in The Recorder on Wednesday (sans the last question).

The Man Behind Not Brooklyn Fest and Manic Productions

This is all Ed here, but he's way too lazy to even copy and paste something he already wrote. I know, it's impressive. He wrote this piece for The Recorder, so we'll give you a peak here and link you over to save some space. Enjoy.

While you have read his or his company’s name, most of you don’t know who “Manic” Mark Nussbaum is or what exactly he does in the scheme of the Connecticut music scene. Recently, he announced that Manic Productions, along with WXCI 91.7, will be putting together a two-day festival, which headlines with Cursive and Dead Meadow. Along with the two headliners, there are a dozen or so local and national acts.

Edward Gaug: Can you give us the short history of Manic Productions and how it came to the position it is in now?
Mark Nussbaum: Sure, originally I was the [merchandise] person for the Flaming Tsunamis and I would help them out at shows, selling their merch and then some of the dudes in the band started Kill Normal Records, which I’m sure you are somewhat familiar with. I started helping Andy and Ethan book those shows and promote those shows. Eventually, I got interested in trying my own thing out. It just kind of snowballed from that, booking more and more shows, trying to book bands I’m really interested in.

Gaug: Can you remember what the first show you booked by yourself was?
Nussbaum: I did a show at the Arts Barn (Madison, Conn.) back in April of 2002 and it was River City Rebels, Grover Dill and this band Slackjaw, another local band.

Gaug: More recently you have been doing shows with Chinese Stars and Why? and now you have two bigger bands like Cursive and Dead Meadow as a part of your upcoming Not Brooklyn Festival on April 18 and 19. How has working with bands changed now that you’ve been doing this for almost six years?
Nussbaum: It’s much easier talking with bands, ‘cause you have to learn as you’re going. You need to know what you have to do to make bands happy. The experiences are pretty much the same working with a smaller band or a bigger band. They are both on the road trying to play shows.

Gaug: Speaking of Not Brooklyn Festival, you have two days of music lined up at Heirloom Arts Theatre in Danbury, how did you get the idea for the festival and what are you hoping to accomplish when all is said and done: is it promoting the locals bands you have playing, promoting the new venue or getting some exposure for the company?
Nussbaum: Jay, who owns the venue, told me the radio station (WXCI 91.7 FM) contacted him to put together a day or two of music for what is now a festival. We had done a couple shows there before, like Melt-Banana and No Age and a few others, so he asked me to jump aboard. I have never done a festival before and what better way to do it than at a new venue and splitting it with someone else, doing it by myself would have been way too much work. I basically started contacting bands that I like and thought would do well here. For accomplishments, we definitely want to get as much exposure as possible to the local bands, that’s why we put a lot of bands from New Haven on, which I’m really excited about. Also, we put some Danbury bands on there because the show is in Danbury. We are trying to get the locals exposure, but it also helps promote our company, it helps promote the venue as well and the radio station has real ly been helping us out.

Gaug: Earlier, I brought up the name of the festival, Not Brooklyn, and I have been trying to field that question to everyone I talk to about the shows. So what is the actually story with Not Brooklyn?
Nussbaum: Well, I was sitting in my living room and my roommates and I were trying to think of a name. We came up with the name Not Brooklyn Fest because I had just lost a few shows to Brooklyn and that’s why we chose Brooklyn. It also goes to show people that things are happening outside of major markets like Boston and Philly and Brooklyn. Things are going on in Connecticut and we want bands to be aware of it. Even people in Connecticut complain that they always have to travel out of state to see good shows and that’s not always true. People don’t really take the time to do research and that’s why we promote our shows so much, to try to get the word out. There definitely could be more going on around here and that’s what we’re trying to do overall; get things happening in Connecticut. We could definitely move to a bigger city and get more shows, but we really don’t feel the need to. I’ve grown up here my whole life and I want to stay where I’m needed.

You can check out the rest of the interview here.

Stereogum Interviews The Dodos

As I gear up for what should be an amazing show tonight, I stumbled upon Stereogum's interview feature "Quit Your Day Job," which features The Dodos this week. You may recall that they are playing tonight at Cafe Nine.

There really isn't much else to say besides check it out and see you tonight.

The Who, What, Where and When on Why?

When most people think of rock stars, they think of the exuberant, over-the-top partiers. Yoni Wolf, the lead singer of Oakland, Calif. rock experimenters Why?, talks about how he manages to find time for himself on the road; getting his hands dirty in all facets of the recording of their newly-released record Alopecia; and how he plans on escaping the non-stop music extravaganza that is known as South by Southwest.

Edward Gaug: You personally have been in a couple different music outfits, including cLOUDDEAD. How did Why? come to be?

Yoni Wolf: Well, I started recording stuff called Why? when I was younger, sort-of a solo project early on, and then kind-of evolved into a band later on over the years.

Gaug: You said you started when you were younger; what were your inf luences at that point? With a mix of indie-rock and hip-hop, Why? has a unique sound.

Wolf: I don’t know. I was watching a lot of Kids in the Hall and Monty Python when I was growing up, listening to a good amount of Bob Dylan and sort of that kind of older stuff a lot. It’s hard to say what your inf luences are because you are pretty much inf luenced by everything around you. It’s hard to pinpoint stuff that like; it’s just where I’m at at a certain place in time and what I’m around—that kind of stuff mostly.

Gaug: On the new record [Alopecia], the song that stood out for me was “Good Friday” just because of how the lyrics f lowed. Is there anything that you do specifically when you write your songs that develop into something like that, compared to what you might hear in other bands?

Wolf: Yeah, I think I just try to block out any preconceived notion of what any song should be about or what it’s supposed to be or sound like. To be honest and true to the moment that I am in and try to just find how I might feel at certain moment and put that into words; to relay that to people, so that I can try to get something across to people while I am alive, without this filter of what everyone else does. [It’s] my conception of what people would want a song to be about.

Gaug: You said earlier that you started off Why? as more of a solo project, compared to a band that is on this record. Are there any different approaches you have to take because you have more people working with you now?

Wolf: Yeah, it changes everything. Every new person that you bring into the mix will change the dynamics. It’s weird to have social dynamic as the process of making any sort of art, I guess. It’s a tough thing. In some ways I feel like, it’s sort of a solitary pursuit in some ways, or certain aspects can be. The part of the process where you’re recording has a little more craft involved, and you’re figuring out how to get the song across in the best way; and that part of the process can be really good to share with people. Different opinions can meld and merge into your production basis. I have been doing collaborating with not only my bandmates but with other hands on deck, like the recording engineer and mixing engineers and mastering engineers; those kind-of science guys. They really knew their shit and it made it really easy to be creative while they worried about the technical shit. I mean, they’re creative too; Eli Cruz really had a lot to do with how the record sounds.

For the rest of my interview with Why? click here!

Connecticut's Quiet Life Hits the Road, But Not Before a Short Chat and a New Record

While it’s not uncommon for a band to tour in support of a newly released album, the New London, Conn-based Quiet Life are doing it a little more backwards than usual. This past Sunday, the quartet played a hometown, CD release show before they embarked on a cross country, 30 day tour that brings them to places like Austin, TX to crash South by Southwest (SXSW) and three separate shows in California before returning to the east coast with shows in Tennessee and North Carolina and finally wrapping up back home playing the Amity Teen Center in Woodbridge on April 4.

The reason things seem reversed for Quiet Life is the fact that the songs being released on their brand new album, Act Natural, have been recorded for almost two years, but haven’t been played live in nearly as long. The band has finally freed up enough to release and support this album before going back into the studio to lay down all the songs that they have written since then.


Edward Gaug: You are playing your CD release show tonight, is the official start of your tour?
Sean Spellman: We leave on Wednesday for the tour and we have a show in Pennsylvania that night. We just wanted to have the CD release party before we left and we thought this was the best place to do it and with the tour starting up, this is the time to do it.

Gaug: With a tour like this, how do you get ready to basically live in a band for two months?
Spellman: Actually it’s only one month, but we saved up a lot of money starting five months before it and we’ve been doing a lot of booking. We book all our own shows personally. We have to make sure that the van is working order and Febreeze the van. We have a lot of stuff going on right now; the CD is coming out on Tuesday and waiting for the tour, we just did some demos and were come back and work on a new record, so we have a lot of stuff to do.

Gaug: With this record was Safety [Meeting Records] in on it or did they come in later on?
Spellman: Carlos at Safety Meeting, we’ve been friends with him and were always in touch with him when we were making the record. After we finished it, we were trying to figure out what we were going to do it and he said, “I’d love to put it out, lets do it.” So that’s kind of how that happened.

Gaug: You guys are playing South by Southwest, that’s kind of a huge deal isn’t it?
Spellman: Yeah it is; were actually playing it “unofficially” though. We didn’t get in to it, we applied for it, but we knew we were going to get a spot but we said, “Fuck it, we have to go down there and crash it.” We have a couple friends down there that own bars and venues that are going to let us play any shows that we can get on, any day parties that are going on. Most shows aren’t really South by Southwest affiliated anyways; there are so many people down there. So far we have three shows and were going to try to book a few more when we get down there and just kind of hang.

Gaug: Are there any specific bands that you want to see while you’re down there?
Spellman: I really want to see Dr. Dog. Have you seen them before?

Gaug: I actually have, they played at Coney Island this summer with Cursive and Black Lips.
Spellman: Oh right, at Siren Fest. I’m really siked for the Park the Van [Dr. Dog’s label] show that’s being put on with Daytrotter. It’s Dr. Dog, Tulsa, The Teeth and Ra Ra Riot. They’re all real cool people, so I’m siked for that.


Gaug: With this album, was it different from something you might have done a year or two years ago?
Spellman: That record was actually recorded two years ago. Our new record that’s being released tonight was actually done two years ago. We have enough material for an entire new full length right now. It’s kind of weird. As of a month ago, we were playing any of the songs off of this new record live. We were playing all new material, so now we’ve been practicing older songs for when the record comes out, so we can play them again. It’s kind of funny how that works out. It just took us longer than we thought. New stuff sounds a little bit different than the old stuff.

Gaug: I was noticing that too, comparing what I heard on your MySpace compared to when I saw you at CCSU about a year ago. I don’t know if it is an actual difference or just different between live and recorded.
Spellman: I think that could be the case.

Gaug: One of the songs on Quiet Life’s MySpace, “Trying to Get Home,” I hate to use other band names when I talk about songs, but the first thing that popped into my head when I heard it was modern Bright Eyes, but as the song continues it definitely evolves into something completely different. Do you ever pull influence from bands you listened to growing up or even hear now?
Spellman: Definitely. Everything I hear personally effects the way I write songs and yeah, there was a point in time when I listened to a lot of Bright Eyes and I’m sure that’s had a huge effect on my songwriting. Bands like Wilco and Crazy Horse have done the same too. It’s funny to hear what you are compared to, people say “I hate to compare you to someone else, but…” I was talking to a reporter the other day and he brought up the Black Crows and Wilco and then he asked “Who’s cooler: Jeff Tweedy or Chris Robinson?” I don’t know, they’re both pretty cool. It’s flattering I guess.

Gaug: That’s kind of how music is though, I might hear something and five other people will hear something completely different.
Spellman: Nobody likes giving comparisons to their own art, but it’s a way to help people identify with it.

An Few Quick Questions For: Spanish Prisoners

Those of you who follow this blog, know all about our liking of Spanish Prisoners. They make absolutely amazing music and lead singer Leo Maymind is one of the nicest guys we've have meet in the music industry. Here is a short interview I was able to conduct with Leo this week.

Edward Gaug - While I have had the opportunity to listen to Spanish Prisoners, I am guessing many others here at CCSU haven't, how do you explain what the band and what their sound is all about?
Leo Maymind - I usually describe it as 'noisy chamber pop.' It's hard to sum up quickly because the music sort of spans genres and I don't feel it's my role to describe the sound, I just think listeners should figure it out on their own.

Gaug - Spanish Prisoners have looked a few different ways live, from only yourself to four people now, how have the differences changed the band's sounds and the way you play live?
Maymind - Having varying lineups is great because it makes playing the same songs malleable in different setups, which keeps things fresh. I enjoy playing solo, but we can get a lot closer to the true vision of the songs by having more people on stage.

Gaug - You'll be in Somerset, Mass in the next couple days and then a pretty big show in Manhattan after that with Daniel Johnston. How excited are you to play a show with an artist that is so renowned in the folk and Americana music scenes?
Maymind - We're all super excited about this show, especially because we are opening and backing up Daniel.

Gaug - It seems like you're on tour all the time, how do you keep yourself grounded and sane while being on the road pretty consistently?
Maymind - The people around me keep me pretty grounded. I wouldn't call myself sane most of the time!

Gaug - You have recently signed to Exit Stencil Recordings, were they involved in the making of your record Songs to Forget or did they come in after?
Maymind - No, I recorded the whole record before Exit Stencil came into the picture, so I financed (and recorded) the whole thing myself. We're glad to be working with them now, they're great folks.

Gaug - What are your and Spanish Prisoners' hopes and plans for 2008?
Maymind - Just to keep touring, writing, reaching out to more people, and enjoying life.

Gaug - Is there anything else you want us to know about Spanish Prisoners?
Maymind - Take a listen here: www.myspace.com/spanishprisoners! the music should hopefully speak for itself. Thanks for reading.

Spanish Prisoners' debut album, Songs to Forget, will be out on April 8. You can preorder it now.

Spanish Prisoners have graciously allowed for a few downloads of their songs. My favorite is below, as well as "Where God Does his Laundry." Enjoy.

Spanish Prisoners - "Song Among Them Are Killers"
Spanish Prisoners - "Where God Does His Laundry"

Allison Weiss Wednesdays

I got ahead of myself yesterday selling everything up until the new year short. I'm mostly right, but lets not forget Allison Weiss next week. She'll be playing at The Space in Hamden, Conn. with a bunch of locals on Dec. 19. The Circuit probably comes in at a respectable second best and the rest is seemingly forgettable. At least according to what I heard on their respective MySpaces.

Today, however, is officially Allison Weiss Wednesday up in Connecticut. Two Advocates (New Haven and Hartford) should be running my story on Weiss today. Hartford is on top of their game and already have the story up. New Haven's story is the same bit.

Ed also did a Q&A for The Recorder, which will print today and is online now.