manual dexterity winter 2006/07

HeavensRussian Circles

Maps and AtlasesThe North Atlantic

Young Widows {We are a POWER TRIO!!!}+Sixes x 2 , Reviews, …

Contents: 2006-2007

07 Sixes: Labels 14 Suicide Squeeze 10th Anniversary 15 Young Widows 17 The North Atlantic 22 Maps & Atlases 24 Heavens 26 Sixes: Photographers 40 Russian Circles 44 Reviews

On the Cover: Louisville, KY’s Young Widows. www.youngwidows.net Photo: Ryan Russell www.ryanrussell.netAbove Photo: Russian Circles. www.russiancircles.net Photo: Will Hough www.inthehollow.com

Correspond: [email protected] P.O. Box 2076 • Maple Grove, MN 55311

7

What album or band really turned you on or got you interested in music?Music was always playing in my house, but it was always AM radio because

this is what my Mom listened to all day. It was Rush that really turned meon to music in a bigger way. They were one of the first bands I heard thatwere not lite AM fare. At this point I was already like 11-12, so I wasjust missed the boat on a lot of 70's stuff that was happening while I wasgrowing up. Rush just made the right impact at the right time and thatchanged the whole world for me.

What made you want to start a record label?I thought that I could never really make it in a band, so I figured I wouldjust apply myself behind the scenes a la Rick Rubin style.

What do you think is the biggest problem facing record labelstoday?There is too many of them! And way too many bands to boot.

What do you think is the most important aspect to consider beforereleasing a band’s album?How much work is the label and the artist willing to put into making thealbum a success.

What has been your top selling or most popular release?Jets To Brazil "Orange Rhyming dictionary"

What was one mistake that you made with the label that you haven'tmade again?

Releasing cassettes. Jade Tree only released one, the Four Walls Falling record.After that we learned our lesson.

Darren Walters

What album or band really turned you on or got youinterested in music?7 SECONDS. They were kind of local to me as RENOis just a few hours east of the San Francisco BayArea. It's a band that I had on cassette whilst rid-ing the skateboard with the big ol' SONY WALK-MAN attached to the pants.

What made you want to start a record label?It was done out of necessity. At the time Istarted playing music in the late 80's, therewere very few people of color involved inany sect of popular or underground rockbased music and guess what, 20 yearslater, there still is very little representation.But growing up on the idea of putting outyour own records in the same direction asDischord gave me the inspiration to followsuit.

What do you think is the biggest prob-lem facing record labels today?They just care about numbers. Sell SellSell. $$$ major label, indie label. It's all thesame. You get caught up in the numbersgame and you're screwed. That'll be yourdrive. Bigger and bigger and bigger. No con-tention with where you are.

What do you think is the most important aspect toconsider before releasing a band’s album?Are these people credible? Do they understand the phi-losophy of punk? Make sure they don't wear make up.

What has been your top selling or most popular release?Alkaline Trio by a landslide. They are the best band to work with. Trulyunderstand my goal as a label and have made the process of being in themusic business quite enjoyable.

What was one mistake that you made with the label that you haven't made again?Working with a band that only wanted to use me as a stepping stone to reach fame. It won'thappen again.

Mike Park

8

9

What album or band really turned you on or got youinterested in music?

The Replacements. They were the most influentialband to me growing up.

What made you want to start a record label?Having a bunch of talented friends thatnobody was paying attention to. I wantedother people to appreciate the music myfriends were making as much as I did.

What do you think is the biggest prob-lem facing record labels today?Getting our records to stand out in anoverly saturated industry. Due to the lowbarrier of entry into being a band, there ismore music than ever out there for peopleto explore. Trying to get any one band tostand out compared to all the others(many of them with huge marketing budg-ets) is not an easy task.

What do you think is the most importantaspect to consider before releasing a

band’s album?Do you like the record? Equally as important

would be, 'do you like the people'?

What has been your top selling or most popularrelease?

Bright Eyes - “I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning”.

What was one mistake that you made with the label thatyou haven't made again?

How presumptuous of you...

Robb Nansel

10

What album or band really turned you on or got youinterested in music?"Watercourse" by Boilermaker. They were from thesame small hometown as me, and I as a highschool kid who thought all people in bands wererock stars, they were the band who helpedknock down that wall between performer andfan. Still to this day, they're one of my favoritebands.

What made you want to start a recordlabel?A tax refund check and suburban teenageboredom. I wish it was a grand calling orsomething, but I just wanted to find a wayI could spend my refund money as fastand recklessly as possible, putting outrecords worked perfectly.

What do you think is the biggest prob-lem facing record labels today?Well, there are a lot. Mostly it's that as asmall, one-employee, label, I am constantlycompeting with significantly larger Indies andcorporate-owned majors for press, radio atten-tion, store space, tours, etc.

What do you think is the most important aspectto consider before releasing a band’s album?Will they break-up 3 months after the record comesout? If not, will they break-up 6 months after the recordcomes out? Plus they need to tour, a lot.

What has been your top selling or most popular release?The Velvet Teen's "Out of the Fierce Parade" was been our best sellerto date. Hopefully their new album, "Cum Laude" due out July 25th (niceplug!) will sell more.

What was one mistake that you made with the label that you haven't made again?Oh man, there are so many. This label exists on a foundation of terrible mistakes. I guess it

would be to trust my instinct when it comes to new bands that I fear will break-up.

Ezra Caraeff

11

What album or band really turned you on orgot you interested in music?

The 10-5-60 EP by the Long Ryders

What made you want to start a recordlabel?Originally to put out spoken word records,switched to music to put out Unwoundrecords.

What do you think is the biggest prob-lem facing record labels today?Depends on the label.

What do you think is the most impor-tant aspect to consider before releasinga band’s album?

Is it a good fit with us.

What has been your top selling or mostpopular release?

Elliott Smith "Either/Or"

What was one mistake that you made with thelabel that you haven't made again?

Licensing a record to Domino.

Slim Moon

12

What album or band really turned you on or got youinterested in music? Frodus - A We Washed Our Weapons In The Sea. I

was a freshman in college and was kinda into punkand hardcore already but this album blew mymind. I knew at that point I wanted to be in themusic industry. PS at this point we'vereleased albums by 3 ex members ofFrodus...Nathan Burke is in the Out_Circuit,Brahm and Night Is Invisible who each havealbums on lujo, Shelby Cinca is in Frantic Mantis, and Jim Cooper is in Baby Teeth.

What made you want to start a recordlabel? You know it actually all started out of a

joke. I went to a show in LafayetteLouisiana that My Spacecoaster was play-ing. At that show the band was sayinghow they needed to get signed. I jokinglysaid "I'll sign you." A few months later Isaw them again and they asked "So youwant to put out our ep?" I agreed to it, wenthome got some money together and put it out.I also started emailing some musical heroes ofmine (guys from Raft of Dead Monkeys, Frodus,Blood Brothers, etc) and got a few more releasedunder my belt. It all kind of snowballed from there.

What do you think is the biggest problem facingrecord labels today?I guess its got to be funding and finding an audience. I'veseen so many labels start up and die out in the five years I'vebeen doing this.

Erik Aucoin

13

What do you think is the most important aspect toconsider before releasing a band’s album?

There dedication to it. If the band isn't touring, andpromoting themselves it becomes really difficult to

sell their record.

What has been your top selling or mostpopular release?Fall of Troy -Self Titled. We just actuallysold the rights to Equal Vision.

What was one mistake that you madewith the label that you haven't made again?At one point early in Lujo’s life we joined awell meaning non profit corporation. Lujoin effect became the record label branchof the corporation. We (the owners ofLujo) couldn’t make decisions on our ownfor a while and other people had a say.Some decisions were made in ways we

would not have made (about budgets andso forth) and when the non profit quickly dis-

solved we had to clean up the mess. Sincethen we’ve strived to remain 100% independ-

ent and self sufficient.

14

Left ColumnTop to Bottom:

Chin Up Chin UpCrystal SkullsRussian CirclesSpencer (Hella)

Right ColumnTop to Bottom:HeadphonesMike, Colin, BekahZach Hill (Hella)

10th Anniversary ShowsJune 29- July 1st 2006NeumosSeattle, WashingtonPhotos courtesy of Suicide Squeeze Recordswww.suicidesqueeze.net

Was it a shock when Steve announced he was leaving Breather Resist or was it plannedout?

Actually, Steve kind of got kicked out, but I like to say that we parted ways. We had just grownapart and our friendships weren't the same as they were when we started.

Why’d you decide change the name from Breather Resist to Young Widows? How haveyou tried to distance Young Widows from Breather Resist?

It was the only name available that we all could agree on. We thought of about 20 names andthey were all kind of lame or taken. A friend of mine, Kelley Cox, suggested Young Widows andit instantly stuck. We haven't tried to distance the the bands. We just kept on doing what we do.It was really natural.

When Steve left the band, you announced that you wouldn’t be playing any material writ-ten by him, which is a noble move. Why did you decide not to play his material?

Because those are his songs just as much as they are our songs. They are about his life andfeeling. It would not be appropriate to sing a song about Steve dealing with his mother's death.We did re-work the song “Stained Sheets” from our seven inch and changed the name to “GladHe Ate Her”, but that wasn't released on CD and there was only 1000 copies.

How has the lyrical content changed from BR’s “Charmer” to Young Widow’s “SettleDown City”?

The lyrical content has changed a lot because Steve is no longer writing the lyrics, he is not inthe band. Now, they are more socially political and maybe a little more straight forward. Whenthey used to be more about particular emotions or situations Steve had felt or been through.

Evan, you took over vocal duties with Young Widows. How has that been going andhave you had any struggles with it on stage?

I really enjoy singing. It makes me feel more attached to the music. Performing has been goinggreat and there no real struggles. I might forget a line here and there, but I also sometime for-get guitar parts as well. That's something I love about the live music, is hearing the fuck up andthe flaws. It makes everything more real and less rehearsed.

15

16

Did you even have to look for a new label after Breather Resist broke up? Was Jade Treethe obvious choice to put out “Settle Down City”?

We tried to get on Death Row Records, but they said we weren't tough enough. So then wesent out demos to Jade Tree and a few of them liked it. I really was so broken hearted that wecouldn't be apart of the Death Row Family, that we would have been on any label that semi-enjoyed what we were doing.

Can you explain the artwork for “Settle Down City”? Who came up with that idea?

It was a very last minute kind of thing. I had this idea for a fold and a city skyline kind of thing,but it just looked lame and over done. I ask my friend Derek Snodgrass if we could use one ofhis drawing. He agreed. I gave him $100 and told him which I liked best. Derek is an amazingartist and he does tattooing for a living at Temple Tattoo in Oakland, California, but he is origi-nally from Louisville. I thought it was pretty offensive and kind had an early punk look to it. Iwas and still am sick of seeing all these records that all look the same.

I know you got into punk rock through skateboarding. Do you still skate? Does livingnear the Louisville skatepark ever tempt you to go skate?

I haven't skated in a few months. Kentucky summers are so brutal! Not like a bad metal band,but the humidity just sucks the life out of me. I try to stay AC’d as much as possible.

Besides only having to split the money 3 ways now, what are some benefits of being a 3piece than a 4 piece?

We are a POWER TRIO!!!

18

After going on hiatus, what made everyonedecide to get back together? Was it yourintention to always restart the band afterthe hiatus? Do you think you’d be the sameband if you hadn't gone on hiatus?It would have been ludicrous on our part tothink that we would never get back togetherafter I went away for art school. We built thisthing that is our band together and saw someamazing places, people and bands along theway. I think that when you have invested somuch time into something like this, the idea ofgiving it up seems absurd. Even with distance,it just seemed like we had to keep going. Iguess I understand when bands get burnout,but I just get more and more excited about cre-ating within The North Atlantic and really see-ing where we can make a contribution tomusic, and maybe even culture at large.

How did the first reunion show go? Werethe crowds bigger than before your hiatus?The crowds were maybe slightly larger, butonly by a few new faces here and there. WhenI left for school, things were going really wellwith the band. It was definitely bittersweet toend on such a good note. Our last show intown was completely amazing, we were totallyconsumed in the crowd, friends had to keep

reassembling my pedals and the microphoneevery two minutes because they just kept get-ting unplugged or knocked around by people,it was just a mass of bodies on top of oneanother. People were screaming the lyrics toour songs almost louder than the PA, it was aonce in a lifetime experience, very humbling,very touching. It was complete chaos thatsomehow functioned, very organic with a life ofits own.

Why did you decide to re-release “Wires inthe Walls” instead of record a new album?How many copies were released of theoriginal “Wires in the Walls”? Is there anydifference between the 2 versions?Well, in short, it is an amazing album. Theband put so much time and work into it, alongwith Jason Clark and Ben Moore, it seemed ashame to have only a couple thousand out inthe world. Also we were able to add things tothe original that we had planned on doing inthe first place, but had run out of time andmoney to do. It is re-mixed and re-mastered,and it sounds incredible. There are definitelynew sounds in the new version.

19

Even though “Wire in the Walls” wasrecorded a few years ago, it still has a feel-ing that it was recorded recently. Why doyou think that is?I think maybe that because we never confinedourselves to a specific style, or genre, it lendsthe songs a certain timeless quality. Hopefullythe songs offer up a lot of musical directionsand ideas to follow and expand upon, hopeful-ly it still resonates as vital. It is the hope withany creation that it evolves as its contextshifts.

How did the deal with WPO come about?The brother of one of the WPO guys came toour show and dug it, so he sent our CD along,and then we started talking, etc. I have to say,that we are very pleased to be working withWPO, you hear so many horror stories withlabels, but everyone involved is amazing and uncompromisingly supportive.

You shot a music video for “Bottom of ThisTown”, do you plan on doing more videosfor songs on “Wires in the Walls”?We are very pleased with the job RyanRentaria and his crew at Nightshop Films didwith the video. They guy is like McGuyver, hetook two nights of film and a shoestring budg-et and made art with it. We shot a video for“Scientist Girl” with Simon Chan of ArtificialArmy (Mars Volta, Thursday, Coheed andCambria, the Locust, Kill Me Tomorrow) sokeep an eye out for that, as he does amazingwork as well.

You are quoted as saying “We are moreexcited about our music now than we everhave been....” What makes it exciting?What isn't exciting about it? We are working ona ton of new material, playing in front of newpeople, touring full-time, traveling, meetingnew bands. The new music we are working onis growing and expanding and making merethink the way I structure songs. I find it veryexciting when your process ends up teachingyou to think in new ways.

Are you currently working on new material?Yes, we have a ton of raw material.

How is touring a big part of the band?Playing live is what a band does. If you don'tplay out, then it is a recording project, which isfine. But for me, the music is not complete untilit is executed live, with an audience. Live,there are so many possibilities and the soundis dynamic, not frozen as data on a disc or ahard drive. The music is about that livemoment, and I like to spend as much time as Ican in that moment. I think it shows that welove to play live when we play. I have neverunderstood bands that stand around like pot-ted plants when they play.

When you first started touring as a band,gas prices were lower than they are today.How have the higher gas prices affectedtouring? How do you think the higher gasprices have affect independent bands ingeneral?I think that, in general it is obviously hard oneveryone who has to drive, but I think that asad effect of the higher gas prices will be lessbands being able to maintain on the road. It isgoing to be harder and harder for bands tostart out touring for the first time. When westarted touring we could fill our gas tank for 50dollars, we didn’t always make that much at ashow, but you could survive. I think it would bea hell of a lot harder doing that kind of DIY, juststarting out touring now. It will be sad if theonly bands that are able to afford to tour arebands that either already have somewhat of aname, or bands with label backing. I think thattouring is a great experience and it would besad for it to only be possible for a few.

After reading through the lyrics, I noticedthat a lot of the themes are repeatedthroughout the album. Was it your intentionto do so?Yes, the songs are meant to reference eachother, interrelate and forge new meanings andunderstandings. There are certain musicalaspects that are shared between songs aswell. It was not an act of laziness, it was inten-tional, I have plenty of lyrics, more than I knowwhat to do with, but I wanted the entire albumto tell a story and for the songs to build off ofone another.

20

In an interview I read, you said that themusic scene in Michigan is remarkablytight. Have you experienced that same typeof community in other regions?Of course, there are amazing scenes all over,and I am sure many more that I haven't seen.We have little pockets of amazing creativecommunities all over that we feel at home in.The great thing about touring is that our"scene" is spread out over a huge distances,not confined to our own hometown. I think thatit is good in that it gives us a more diverse poolof influences and support and it comes from anatural affinity rather than geographic con-straints. The references to the music scene inMichigan definitely reference a different time,however (1998-2000, or thereabouts).

What do each of you have a college degreein and do you plan on going into thosefields when your done playing music?What keeps you playing music? Do youthink going to college and getting an edu-cation is important?I have a degree in Fine Art from The School ofthe Art Institute of Chicago, Jason Richardshas a degree in Anthropology from TheUniversity of San Diego, and my brotherCullen is finishing up his PHD in ComparativePolitics at University of California San Diego. Idon't really think about what I am going to doafter music, mainly because I plan on playingmusic for the rest of my life, and because I tryand remain focused on the present moment. Iplay music because I have been in love with itmy entire life.

The North Atlantic have a strong D.I.Y. workethic, do you think that new bands thesedays lack a lot of that do it yourself atti-tude?Some do, some don't. I think, in general, it isgetting to be less of a statement or ideology asit used to be. This may be from the develop-ment of a less politicized musical communityor a confusion of what constitutes DIY in a cli-mate of rapid dissemination of informationthrough the internet and a complication of sub-culture identity in the face of cultural globaliza-tion. I guess that as an ideology, as with all ide-ologies, it becomes problematic, a hindrancethat becomes more important than the music

itself. DIY isn't banner to wave, it is just logical:doing the best with what you have on hand.But, in general, I think that if kids are waitingfor someone to come along and do the hardwork for them, well then, I hope they have acomfortable seat because they'll be waitingforever. Fuck gimmicks, fuck styles, fuck hype,because in the end, if your music doesn't deliv-er all the money in the world isn’t going to help.

The members of the band seem to be pas-sionate about a number of topics. I’d like toget your opinions on:

-Musical/Art Education in SchoolsEducation in the United States is criminallyundervalued, under funded, and suffers fromextremely flawed pedagogy. The music and artprograms in most schools, with few excep-tions, are a complete joke, plenty of people tryand work toward building good programs, butit doesn’t bring in funding, so they get com-pletely sidelined, but what do you expect froma nation of puritan war mongers: beauty andcompassion get buried to build an empire.

-Current Government / WarLike anyone needs me to say this, this war iscompletely ridiculous, and the idea of us “win-ning” the war on terror is a sad delusion. Wemay as well wage a war against fog, or Puffthe Magic Dragon. More precisely, it’s impos-sible to wage war against a technology, whichis what a strategic and tactical doctrine is, ulti-mately. There is a reason why people useguerrilla warfare against massively "powerful"military powers such as the United States: it'seffective, and it will continue to be part of themilitary repertoire as long as it’s effective. Itjust sucks that we have crazy religious zealotson both sides ready to kill one another over thedifferences in their stupid little ideologicalminutiae of their relatively similar, and outdat-ed belief systems.You have all of these peoplewho think they are living in a modern world, butit is really the fucking dark ages, no one both-ered to actually take out the trash of historyand tradition. We aren't enlightened, we arelost, we don't know how to define ourselvesoutside of the turgid labyrinth of history.

21

-ReligionThe Religious Right can go fuck off and die. Iam not going to talk about this, if people wantto be willfully ignorant their entire life than thatis just sad. Religion is a culturally derived, endof story, it isn't some objective truth, I am sorrybut it is time to take off the training wheels.

-The U.S. SocietyI just want so much more for everyone, I justwant so much more for existence. Peopleneed to turn the TV off, shut down the comput-er for a little while and take a little time to takean active role in their own lives. I think trying tolive each day as if it were your last is not badway to look at it. I don't mean in someMountain Dew commercial, para-sailing overan active volcano kind of way, but in the sensethat we ask ourselves why it is we do thethings we do. Why do we work at our jobs?Why do we define your gender? Why do we goto church? Why does the government work theway it does? Why do we pay for food? What isprejudice? Why is there poverty? I think the

world would be a lot better off, if we all spentless time producing, and more time thinkingand questioning our realities.

What is next for The North Atlantic? Do youhave any tours planned for the fall/winter? Lots and lots of touring. We are going out for afive week Midwest/East coast tour, beginningin September, with Wax On Radio fromChicago. We are extremely excited about this,they are a great band and we are hungry toplay out. We definitely plan on being on theroad through December, so come on out andsee us, I promise a good time.

22

Each member of the band is from a different state, how did you all cometogether to form Maps and Atlases? We all met while attending school here in Chicago, but all of our families(except Shiraz) relocated to the Midwest sometime before college. One greataspect of this is that we all have family and people who we know spread outall over the place when we are on tour. For the most part we’ve done themost touring where my family lives, which has allowed me to visit people whoI wouldn’t otherwise see.

Why did you decide to self-release your album? Did any labels express inter-est in releasing it? Are you looking for a

label?From the beginning we all agreed

that it was more important to dothings our own way and I think

that we have always felt a lit-tle skeptical of being

affiliated with anylabel that we didn’tcompletely trust and

respect. I think for alot of bands it is tempting

to jump into things and wetalked to some very friend-ly people who had goodintentions, but I am not surethat we were really what

they wanted and vice versaand I am glad that we were able

to realize that early on.

Since your a band without a label,what do you do to fund tours and recording?

We set up our tours on our own, using money we make playing other shows.As far as recording goes, Shiraz is kind enough to do the work for free andsince we recorded the majority of it in our own space the cost was very low.

How long did it take to write and record “Trees, Swallows, and Houses”?Had you been playing the songs a lot before recording to keep the studiotime to a minimum?We recorded the record in a relatively short amount of time. One day fordrums, a couple of days for everything else and that was it. We wrote it overthe period of a couple of months and played the songs quite a bit live beforewe started recording. Studio time wasn’t really an issue, but being able toplay a part naturally and smoothly always has a better result when record-ing and we wanted to capture a some of the live qualities of the music.

Interview WithDave Davison

What were the benefits of engineering your own record?We were able to do things exactly the way we wanted to and spend the timenecessary to get tones and do it in a comfortable environment without wor-rying about eating up money or anything like that. I had a lot of fun doing it,usually recording feels very formal and official to me, but this was enjoy-able and we were allowed to just try whatever we wanted.

How many copies of “Trees, Swallows, and Houses” were pressed? How hasthe response been? Are they only being sold at shows? We pressed a thousand and the response has been great, we are gettingready to press another thousand. Most of the records were sold at shows,but we also have them available online.

Maps and Atlases sound is unlike anything I've heard in quite some time.What influences your music? We all sort of initially bonded overmusic that was very technical and Ithink that is definitely where wegot our start, but we all also lovefolk music, R&B and more experimen-tal music. Often times music thathas very technical elements to it isinteresting at a cerebral level andI just wanted to have that, but tryto give it a soul also. I think thatwe sort of just try to maintain abalance between those things andto try to portray the elements thatwe like about all of the music in anew way.

How are the songs written and what influences the lyrics?Most of the time the song begins as a very basic song to establish a melodyand structure and we sort of abstract the parts from there.

You've played shows with bands in your same genre and with bands out ofyour genre. Do you think its important to play shows with different bandsto reach different audiences?I definitely think that it is important to play with bands outside of a partic-ular genre, not only to reach different audiences, but just to keep thingsinteresting on all sides.

What's next for Maps and Atlases, touring, recording...?We would really like to continue touring as much as possible and we arealso writing a lot right now so we are trying to find a good balance thatwould allow us to finish up a lot of the songs that we have been neglectingthis summer by touring a lot. We are already laying down some rough ver-sions of things, but will definitely be doing some serious recording in a cou-ple months as well.

23

You and Josiah have known each other forquite some time. When did you two meetand when did you begin working on thisproject?

Matt: We met in Chicago about 5 years ago at

a show. Joe was in town recording a record andmutual friends introduced us. I was living in SFand moved to LA in 2003. Joe and his wifewere renting a house in Hollywood and neededa roommate. I moved in with them and shortlythereafter we began writing songs together.

{ }

Interview with Matt Skiba & Josiah Steinbrick

Another night with your head in the oven // Simmering like a heat wave over you //

Sweat drops hiss at the bottom // Blood droplets cook like glue“Another Night” - Heavens, Patent Pending

24

You two funded this project your selves.Was it costly? Was there anything thatyou did to keep the cost to a minimum?

Josiah: We did the album at our friend'sstudio. This gave us time to work on it at allhours and at a generously discounted price.We borrowed money from Matt's friend MikePark to fund all the initial costs.

Is there any difference when writinglyrics for Heavens compared to writinglyrics for Alkaline Trio?

Matt: Until recently, I would do most of theAlkaline Trio writing on my own where withHeavens, I wrote almost entirely to some-one else's ideas. That's been the biggestdifference and the thing that has made thisproject fun and new for me.

How long did it take to write and record"Patent Pending"? Were the 11 songs for"Patent Pending" the only ones written?

Matt: The record was written and recordedover the span of 2.5 years. We worked onit when we could and thanks to Ben Lovettwe were able to make our schedules work.As for the songs, those are it. Everything wewrote together we recorded. There weresome initial song ideas that never came tofruition, but for the most part you're hearingeverything.

How was the writing and recordingprocess compared to doing an AlkalineTrio album?

Matt: Doing the Heavens record was quitedifferent because we didn't allocate timeframes for writing or recording. The entireoperation came together over a long stretchof time - we were in no rush because wedidn't have a deadline. With a trio record weusually create deadlines for ourselves.

I'd assume that with every Alkaline Trioalbum you do, you want the new one tooutdo the previous one. With Heavens,did you feel less pressure, since thereare no previous recordings to outdo?

Matt: Yes. Heavens was really fun and easyfor me. Alkaline Trio's creative process hasbeen a bit more complicated. Although Triorecords are a ton of fun to create, it’s notalways easy.

You have a long-standing relationshipwith Vagrant Records. Why did youapproach Epitaph to release the Heavensalbum?

Matt: We had initially agreed to do therecord with Vagrant. We went in there andstruck a deal but when the lawyers got totalking the deal seemed to change and getway more complex than we wanted. BrettGurewitz is a friend and someone I have alot of respect for as a businessman and anartist. He was very enthusiastic about theprospect of putting out the Heavens recordon Epitaph and made us an offer we could-n't refuse. Great label with great people -what more can you ask for?

Will you be touring in support of "PatentPending"? Will you be bring a full bandor will it just be you two?

Josiah: Yes, we play our first show inEngland on the 15th of October. We have afew more UK dates, then we do the westcoast and the north east intoChicago. We have fourother people joining usfor the live show.

25

28

What got you interested in photography?

I had a crush on a lady that worked in a bookstore. I used to sneak out of the café

I was working in and pretend to browse through books so I could look at her. One

day I found Nan Goldin's "Ballad of Sexual Dependency". I kinda forgot about the

woman after that.

What is your earliest memory of photography?

Some dude at the Foto Mat telling my parents that some pictures I had taken on a

camping trip were pretty sweet. They got them blown up real big. I was pretty

proud of myself. Didn't pick up a camera for another 8 years. I'm a slow grower.

Do you have any formal training in photography or are you self taught?

Mostly self taught. Learned most of what I know from assisting. Thank you Billy

Phelps and Marina Chavez.

Do you use film or digital? Why?

Both. Just got my first digital SLR. When a magazine is only gonna pay you 150

bucks to shoot a bunch of photos, it’s gonna cost me 300 to do it on film.

What is the secret to getting "the shot"?

Patience and a shitload of luck. Unless your Henri Cartier-Bresson. He had a sepa-

rate brain in his finger.

What is the hardest thing about being a photographer?

Pimping yourself.

29

Dan

Mon

ick

p:

Ch

riss

y P

iper

ww

w.d

mon

ick

.com

30

What got you interested in

photography?

My high school photography class was

a start, but I was inspired by the works

of Michael Wilson and Erik Keldsen. I

see in visuals, so it is important to me

to create what I was seeing in my head.

Photography gives me that opportunity.

What is your earliest memory of

photography?

My dad used to take his 110 camera

everywhere. I thought it was such an

odd camera but was fascinated by it at

the same time. Then I borrowed it to

enter a contest when I was 9. It was

pretty awesome.

Do you have any formal training in

photography or are you self taught?

A little of both. I went to school for a

couple years strictly taking art classes

and then spent a lot of time on my own

in the darkroom and working with my

best friend Erik on weird shoots.


I use film because I am printer. I pre-

fer to have the option of being able to

go into the darkroom. For me, photog-

raphy is just as much the shoot as it is

th darkroom. Being able to create a

physical object to pass on is important

to me.

What is the secret to getting

"the shot"?

I'm not sure there really is. There have

been plenty of shoots where "the shot"

never actualizes and th shoot is

scrapped, but there are things you can

do to improve your chances of creating

something you are happy with. Finding

a good location, working with someone

that you are comfortable with and

working on your own composition.

What is the hardest thing about

being a photographer?

Promoting yourself .

31

www.meganholmes.com Sleater Kinney

32


photography?

I got interested in photography by a guy

named Pat Graham. He was from a sub-

urb of Milwaukee, where I grew up. He

shot a lot of stuff for Dischord, Simple

Machines, etc. Seeing his shots made me

realize that I could get a camera and have

fun shooting the things/places I was see-

ing on tour. I still consider Pat as a great

inspiration.


photography?

I recall my dad using a Polaroid when I

was about 4 or so, and thinking it was so

neat to see it develop before your eyes.

The over-saturated colors really stood out

in my mind.



I have no formal training whatsoever. I

have lots of friends who are photogra-

phers, and who are blessed with a lot of

patience. I ask tons of questions. I also

read lots of books.


I shoot digitally now. I occasionally pull

out my 35mm camera for just walking

around shots. My medium format camera

broke, and I never got around to fixing it.

I really like being able to see the shot

right away. It's more cost effective when

you're working a shoot with a very limited

budget. I also think it's a great way to

learn new tricks-by being able to see the

shot immediately, you can try the same

shot with different F-stops,shutter speed

or lighting and figure out what works for

you. I'm not saying I have a problem with

film - I just prefer to work digitally.


"the shot"?

I don't think there's a secret, really. I

shoot enough to cover my bases, and try

to get into the moment with the subject,

whether it's a studio set up, or portraits,

or a live show setting. If you're paying

attention, and have an idea of what you

want in your head, you just need to wait

for your moment, and hit it. Of course,

there are a million times where some-

thing just happens right in front of you

and you just get lucky. I guess it's just all

about being as ready as possible.

What is the hardest thing about being a

photographer?

I think the hardest thing about being a

photographer is keeping up with the gear

which can be super expensive, and also

getting your name/work out there. It's a

lot of work to set up the shoots, get into

the shows or whatever, and to get the

shots, process them, get them sent out. It

takes a long time to even get to that

point.

33

Isis

ww

w.m

ark

ph

oto.

net

34


I don't really remember. Just liked it.


Learning black and white darkroom techniques in high school.


High School / Self taught.


Digital. Instant gratification.


Being in the right spot, timing, lighting.


Trying not to get in peoples way when I'm shooting concerts.

35

www.inthehollow.com Minus the Bear

36


I took a class in high school, loved the black and white darkroom immediately. I

started shooting friends' shows and decided to figure out how to do it for a living. I

didn't really get started until I moved to Seattle in late 1997.


My dad is an Aerospace Engineer and would travel the world often, he would

return home with rolls of film. He would load the slide trays full of photos, and my

older brother and I would sit and hear of these places we didn't really knew

whether they existed.


I took a few classes in college, then dropped out after two years. After that, it was

trial and error. I'm always learning.


I prefer film but shoot a lot of digital these days due to tight deadlines and lower

budgets. Magazines know they don't have to cover film/processing

expenses anymore. And I need to eat.


Being patient with your finger ready. If you're incredibly observant, you can see

someone get comfortable, let their wall down, and it might be for only a second.


Aside from the continuous struggle with money, it's the fact that you care

so much about what you shoot, that it becomes highs and lows. It's incredibly diffi-

cult, impossibly really, to let things go. I think when you mix business with what

gets you out of bed in the morning, it can subject you to possible heartbreak. But I

wouldn't want to do anything else.

37

www.redhedpictures.com Robin Laananen

38


photography?

In college I was really getting burned

out on my computer science degree

and really wanted to take some art

classes since I was always really into

art, but had put it aside for quite

awhile. I always had an interest in pho-

tography, but never even owned a cam-

era. So I signed up for some classes

and bought a camera immediately.


photography?

It's hard to really remember a specific

early memory, but the thing that real-

ly got me interested in my teenage

years was a lot of band photography,

and most specifically the Glen E.

Friedman books. Those definitely sold

me on doing what I do.



I took a total of 3 college classes, which

taught me some basics. But most

things I really had to learn on my own

with a long period of trial and error.

You have to waste a lot of film to really

figure out some techniques.


I'm still a film diehard. For a variety of

reasons, but mostly these two:

1) I really like having a physical nega-

tive. I don't really trust computers to

not lose my data (I was a computer sci-

ence major in college) or for me to

accidentally delete original files. I take

a lot of comfort in having boxes

of prints and negatives that I can

always go back to.

2) I am unable to afford the initial

investment of a few thousand dollars

for a really nice digital SLR. I have a

$150 film camera that keeps getting

me great shots over the years.


"the shot"?

By not being afraid to get up close. Be

polite and try not to get in anyone's

way, but standing at a distance doesn't

usually get those great shots.

What is the hardest thing about

being a photographer?

Paying for it. And convincing your

friends to let you take their picture

over and over again.

39

www.ilikethelights.com Deerhoof

RUSSIAN CIRCLESI’ve heard from a few

people that they don’t like instrumental musicbecause they find it boring since there is no

vocals to sing along to. How do you draw the audiencein and keep them interested throughout each song?

I think keeping an audience’s attention has less to do with vocals andmore with a band putting on an engaging live performance. I think anygood band, vocals or not, should make a lasting connection with theaudience. Most of the bands we listen to are not the type you singalong to, so we never thought too much about making up for any lack

of catchy vocals by implementing other devices to attract attention. Aslong as the songs carry melodic themes, people seem to not miss the pres-ence of a vocalist.

During live shows, is there any between song banter or do you play thesongs straight through? Do you even have mics on stage?

We prefer not to say anything between songs. Typically we’ll create transitionsfrom one song to the next to give the set a more cohesive feel. Without havingmics onstage, the audience is less likely to expect vocals. If we had a mic wewould end up embarrassing ourselves.

A lot of bands use their music to convey political or emotional messages throughthe vocals. What is Russian Circles trying to convey with its music?

We aren’t trying to convey any topical message whatsoever. We are more interest-ed in portraying emotion and feeling. I think music can be more powerful if inter-pretation is left up the listener. Sometimes it can be easier to identify with an emo-tional state rather than a specific incident described by lyrics.

Is writing instrumental music more difficult to write because of its length and complexity?

Writing without a traditional vocalist allows each song more freedom to go in anydirection without worrying about returning to a specific verse or chorus. I muchprefer a writing process that builds on on ideas and themes and the freedom toexplore alternate routes. At times it can be very frustrating to maintain the fluidityof a song, so many ideas get abandoned or put on the back burner and anothermore suitable part is added.

Interview with Mike SullivanPhotos by Will Hough www.inthehollow.com

40

Describe your writing process? How longdoes it take to write one song? Whatinfluences your song writing?

Usually we’ll start by exploring a fewideas on guitar and then gradually startpiecing together other ideas and even-tually decide the direction of a song.Part of the process is knowing when tostep forward and step back in the mix.Its important to listen to what oneanother is playing and then find yourappropriate level to compliment theother instruments. Writing can take any-where from two weeks to as long as sev-eral months. The more aggressive/fastersongs are much easier to write thanlong dynamic pieces. Writing can bethe most rewarding and also the mostfrustrating part of being in a band.

It seems instrumental music is gettingmore recognition lately, why do youthink that is?

I think its a shame that many instrumen-tal bands from the last decade havenot gotten the credit they deserve. For

example, I think bands like The Fucking Champs, Trans Am, Tristeza, Pele, Ghosts andVodka, Dianogah, Turing Machine, and Oxes are absolutely amazing bands that areway more relevant and innovative than many of the more recent instrumental bands.One reason instrumental music is getting more popular can be attributed to the fusionof metal and instrumental music, which is starting to forge a new genre within itself, butunfortunately many of these bands are beginning to sound dangerously similar to oneanother. I think its important that melody and build/release dynamics stay at the fore-front of instrumental music.

41

Many instrumentalbands write obscenelylong song titles, some-thing thatDakota/Dakota did.Why no long humoroussong titles on “Enter”?

Not having lyrics allowsbands more freedomwith song titles, for bet-ter or for worse.Humorous song titles no longer appeal to me because the songs in this band havemore of emotional connection than Dakota/Dakota songs. I feel like it would be disre-spectful to the songs to have a long-winded mildly funny title. I’d rather someone tellme they like a song for its musical content, instead of it’s title. Dakota/Dakota was sim-ply 3 friends getting drunk and playing the music that came most natural to us.Perhaps the lack of booze keeps the titles more traditional. Russian Circles song titlesare more personal, whether it be a an inside joke or acknowledging various aspects ofour lives.

How have you tried to distance Russian Circles from past bands?

When we started this band, all three of us looked at our previous bands and discussedwhat we liked and didn’t like and we did the same thing with bands we were influ-enced by. We made a strong point to dumb the songs down and take a less-is-moreapproach to the song writing process. Quickly we learned that the simpler the part,the easier it is to integrate other instruments and rhythms. Textured interplay amongthe instruments is valued more than technical performances.

I read that, after a show someone asked you if you were the roadies for the headlinersof that show, can you explain more about that? Have you had any other experienceslike that or are people pretty receptive to what your doing?

We were playing a SXSW Alternative Press party last year and most of the crowd wasvery young and was obviously there to see better looking, flashier bands with scream-ing/singing vocals. We were definitely the odd man out at that show. Some peoplethought we were The Chariot performing without a singer and some girl thought wewere Thursday roadies sound checking with Tool songs. Either way it was pretty amus-ing. Definitely the youngest and most confused crowd we’ve played for.

42

Guitar One magazine did an article onyou in a recent issue. How did thatcome about?

Our publicist, Dave Lewis, at Riot Acthooked that up. I grew up readingGuitar magazines so I was pretty excit-ed to do the interview. We’ve alsodone interviews for Guitar Player, andan upcoming Guitar World article.When I was younger I loved discover-ing unfamiliar bands through guitarmagazines.

There is an previously unreleased song“Upper Ninety” on the Suicide SqueezeComp, are you currently writing newmaterial? How was it playing theSuicide Squeeze 10 year anniversaryshow?

We recorded two songs for a SuicideSqueeze 7” that was released lastmonth. In addition to ‘Upper Ninety’, the B-side is a completely different version of thetitle track to our full length, ‘Enter’. We went through three different versions of thatsong before setting on the version that made it onto the album. We thought it wouldbe a great opportunity to show the transformations a song may go through during awriting process.

What are your plans for the rest of 2006, more tours, writing,...?

We head out with Daughters for a three week tour in September and then we go outwith Minus the Bear, P.O.S., and the Velvet Teen for a six week tour that begins in earlyOctober. After that we take a break from touring and finally get to start writing again.

RUSSIAN CIRCLES43

44

All City Affairs “Bees”All City Affairs is the solo endeavor of BabyTeeth’s Peter Andreadis, and like BabyTeeth, Peter mixes many genres into onedisc. Influences of jazz, rock funk, plus oth-ers can be heard on this disc. (Lujo Records)

Archaeology “Chant Chant Camp” I hesitated to listen to Archaeology’s newalbum, due to the album’s artwork. Thedesign reminded me of some white dudesdoing bad hip-hop, mainly because theArchaeology name and rest of the text is ina graffiti-ish type font. I hadn’t planned onlistening to this CD, but after I had import-ed it into Itunes, I accidentally doubleclicked on one of the songs and it startedplaying. What had played though, caughtmy ear enough to make me want to listen tothe album over and over. Archaeologyblend indie, math rock, progressive, plusmany different styles so effortlessly it’samazing. Definitely a band worth checkingout. (Thug Factory)

Aspen It Is “Release Me From the Weights ofGravity”Aspen It Is took the good parts of earlySaves the Day and melded it with the hooksof The All-American Rejects to produce agood upbeat pop punk album. Any fans ofthe aforementioned bands would enjoythis. (Peirmont Records)

Baby Teeth “The Simp”Baby Teeth are the champions of not tak-ing themselves seriously, but still maintainsounding good. Who else can combinedisco violins, rock, and Billy Joel influ-enced piano gems into one disc? (LujoRecords)

Ben Davis/Des Ark Split “Battle of the Beards”This release was originally supposed to bea split between Ben Davis and theRosebuds, but the Rosebuds couldn’t do it

for some reason. The first 5 tracks on thisalbum go to Ben Davis, and they are a mix-ture of Pinback subdued indie and MarkMallman’s piano driven pop. Des Ark hasthe next 5 tracks and are similar to whatthey have done in the past. A couple of thesongs have acoustic guitars and the othertracks are full on rocker. The last 2 tracksare collaborative efforts, and sound similaras they both have strings and are mostlysung by Amy of Des Ark. Both artists dogreat jobs on this release and I’m eager tosee what they do with next full lengths. (Lovitt Records)

Blood Brothers “Young Machetes”If you want your brain to totally shut downand make the most easy things, like back-ing into a parking space, impossible, thenlisten to the new Blood Brothers joint. Onthe way to work one day, I was listeningthis to at a high volume, and when it cameto back into my parking spot, I didn’t haveenough mental capacity to do so until Iturned off the CD. What you can expectfrom “Young Machetes” is the typical BloodBrothers approach, scream, thrash, repeat.Pretty similar to their Previous “Crimes”but longer. (V2)

Che Arthur “Iron” “Iron” is the new solo album from exAtombombpocketknife guitarist CheArthur. The sound of the album instantlyreminded me of Foo Fighters and Nirvana,but with a more punk feel. Overall the CDis pretty good. If you liked his previousalbum, you’d be into this one too.(Sickroom Records)

Baby Teeth

Des Ark

Chin Up Chin Up “This Harness Can’t Ride Anything” The release of “This Harness Can’t RideAnything” marks a one of many firsts forthe band. This is their first release after thedeath of Chris Saathoff, their originalbassist. It’s the first release with their newbassist, Jesse Woghin of Narrator. And it istheir first release on the Suicide Squeezelabel. The sound on this album reminds meof that Rusted Root song, “Send Me on MyWay”. It’s easy on the ears and it’s a greatlong drive album. (Suicide Squeeze)

Coho “Things Change” “Things Change” starts out with a slowwhispery song, but then barges into thegenuine indie rocker “I Will Disappear”.This pattern of slow/soft to loud/fast con-tinues throughout the album. You can’tdeny this Seattle musicians skills, but youhave to be in the right mood to sit throughthe sludge before getting to the good parts.If there was one song on this album that Iwould suggest, it would be “MahatmaDenver”. It starts off slow, then half waythrough, explodes into it’s sound, suggest-ing influences from Cursive’s “UglyOrgan”. (Lujo Records)

Copeland “Eat, Sleep, Repeat”It seems to me that the band discoveredRadiohead’s “OK Computer” before writ-ing, and were so enthralled with it, thatthey decided to emulate Radiohead’ssound on tracks “Where’s My Head” and“Careful Now”. The other 9 tracks are sim-ilar to something Jimmy Eat World woulddo. They do show some originality on“Love Affair”. The first half of the song is aslow piano driven ballad, but then turnsinto a jazzy trumpet and drum number. It’sa nice little ending. (The Militia Group)

The Dark Romantics “Some Midnight Kissin’” After sending some demos to their friend,Jason Martin of Starflyer 59, Martinagreed to produce and record the band’s

full length. With the backing of Lujo theywent in and recorded 10 original indie rockditties with a slight feeling of Starflyer 59.Some of the lyrics are bland like “she stolemy heart like a million bucks // she stolemy heart like an armored truck”. Sure itmakes sense but lacks in the intelligencedepartment. “Some Midnight Kissin’” is astrong debut and it shows some promise ofthings to come. (Lujo Records)

Dead Voices on Air “From Labrador to Madagascar”Q: What’s better than listening to noisyambient industrial influenced music? A:Not listening to it. There are many artiststhat do this style of music that’s dark, slowand quiet, and sure I appreciate your “art”but I don’t see a need to listen to this whilesober and not depressed. (InvisibleRecords)

December's Architects “,Apiary Ennui And Curiosas. TheBrew Shakes”The long awaited release of December'sArchitects’ final recording is finally here.This album fucking owns. It’s a shame thatthis band has been broken up for years nowand that it took so long to get this albumreleased. It is the perfect blend of bandslike Cap’n Jazz, Joan of Arc, The PromiseRing, and Braid. It has a very indie Chicagosound like the previous bands mentioned.Get your hands on this, because it has alimited pressing, so they won’t be aroundforever. (Say & Stay Said)

The Drugstore Cowboys “Chapter 3006”The Drugstore Cowboys take influencesfrom everyone from Botch to BritneySpears, and are described as a electro-hardcore-hip-hop-pop-thrash collective. Ifthat sounds weird to you, then they havedone their jobs. It’s rumored that they have

45

Copeland

The Dark Romantics

46

one hell of a live show and if the sound ofthis album is any indication, then youknow it’s true. (Lujo Records)

The End of The World “You’re Making It Come Alive”I think you have to be in the right situationto truly appreciate some music. Take forinstance The End of the World’s newalbum. I think I’ve “listened” to this 3 or 4times but never remembered or got it.Then one day at work I put it on and itclicked with me. “You’re Making It ComeAlive” shares sounds with The Jim YoshiiPile-Up, but a little faster and less gloomy.(Flameshovel)

Ferocious Eagle “The Sea Anemone Inside of Me isMighty”Ferocious Eagle is a two guitar and drumsband from Portland, Oregon. Their newalbum is a mixture of angular art rock andhalf shouted vocals. Think BARR makingbabies with Hella and you’re getting close.(54°40 or Fight)

Form of Rocket “Men”Form of Rocket's latest release "Men" isfull of angular guitars squelches andtongue and cheek lyrics, similar toMinneapolis' STNNNG. At nearly an hourlong, with songs titles like, "Teapot Dome,Bitch" "You'd Look Cute In The Trunk OfMy Car" and "Dogfucker", "Men" keeps youentertained throughout the entire album.(Sickroom Records)

Four Star Alarm “S/T”This 5-song EP from Four Star Alarm isquite an impressive blend of original postpunk and pop punk. If the strong songwriting and guitar work on this EP contin-ue onto their eventual full length, then itwill be worth the wait. (Thick Records)

The Good Mornings “S/T” Lansing, Michigan’s The Good Morningsself titled debut features atmospheric indiesung by the buttery voice of CarmenParadise and some impressive guitar workfrom Jason Lantrip. Both artists are mem-bers of the space rock band Calliope.(Thick Records)

Happy Together Compilation -Various ArtistsThe idea behind this is quite cool. LujoLabel owners, Eric and Jocelyn, metthrough the label a few years ago, and gotto know each other and then fell in love.They recently got married and as a gift toall those in attendance they gave away thisHappy Together compilation. What do youdo when you have to order 500 CDs fromthe pressing plant, but only have 200guests? You give the extras to the press andsell them on the website. Now this isn’t anyordinary compilation with songs you’veheard before. All the songs on the albumwere specifically wrote for this compilationor are covers. The bands are mostly Lujobands but there a some outsiders likeHanalei. (Lujo Records)

Hair: Chicago Punk Cuts - VariousArtistsThick Records have once again put togeth-er a comp with some of the best Chicagobands. Great music from Holy RomanEmpire, The Killing Tree, Allister, HoracePinker, and more. (Thick Records)

Heavens “Patent Pending”What electronic pop duo features an indieicon from a long running popular group,and an electronic beat maker who is semiwell known? I’m not talking Postal Service,but the new project from Alkaline Trio’sMatt Skiba and Jonah Steinbrick from F-minus. While Heavens and the PostalService have many exterior similarities, it’sthe music that sets them apart. BenGibbard’s lyrics are complete opposites toMatt Skiba’s dark violent tones. For exam-ple, the opening line of “Another Night”:“Another night with your head in the oven// Simmering like a heat wave over you //Sweat drops hiss at the bottom // Blooddroplets cook like glue”. Sure the lyrics aredark, but the danceable beats make it agreat combination. (Epitaph)

Drugstore Cowboys

47

Jill Cunniff “City Beach” Jill Cunniff, formerly of Luscious Jackson,has hereby ruined eating orange popsicleswith the release of her new solo album“City Beach”. The opening track “LazyGirls”, is a summer-y blend of infectiousbeats and loops with sugary female vocalsthat whispery say “eating orange popsicles”in the chorus. So now, whenever I eat anorange popsicle I will think of this song.Couldn’t she have chosen a different flavorlike grape or cherry or the flavor that noone likes, root beer? “City Beach” is a wel-come half ray of sunshine for us citydwellers or landlocked individuals tuckedaway for the winter. At least two of thesesongs could easily be played on the radioand have the kind of one hit charm as Len’s“Steal My Sunshine” or “All Star” bySmashmouth. (The Militia Group)

Lakes “Photographs”Lakes is the new project from FormerWatashi Wa member, Seth Roberts. This 5-song indie rock debut features guest vocalsof MxPx and Copeland frontmen, MikeHerrera and Aaron Marsh. (The MilitiaGroup)

Love Me Destroyer “The Things Around Us Burn”Love Me Destroyer walk the line of melod-ic hardcore and 80’s hair metal, and theydo it seamlessly. It’s ind of a mix ofSpitalfield and Skid Row. The closing trackis a sweet guitar ballad similar toSlaughter.

Make Believe “Of Course”Almost a year to the day of their debut fulllength, Make Believe is back again with abetter album than their debut. All of thecredit usually goes to eccentric front manTim Kinsella, but a job well done goes outto Sam Zurick, Bobby Burg, and NateKinsella for playing the hell out of theirinstruments. “Of Course” is the closet anyof Tim’s music has gotten to Cap’n Jazz.This album would be great for those peoplewho couldn’t get into Joan of Arc or Owls,but respect Tim’s musicianship.(Flameshovel)

Minus The Bear “Interpretationes Del Oso”I’m on the fence about this Minus the Bearalbum being a good idea or a bad one. I

mean “Menos el Oso” was a good album inits own right, so why remix it. But on theother hand, the remixes were done bymusicians like P.O.S., Alias, and J. Clark ofThe Blood Brothers. Some of the remixesare good and some aren’t. The openingtrack “Drilling” remixed by P.O.S. is thebest. It would have been nice if“Interpretationes Del Oso” had the sametrack sequence as “Menos el Oso”. (SuicideSqueeze)

Motion Commotion “S/T”The 4-piece band of accomplished musi-cians play the standard instruments, butalso throw in clarinets, violins, and accor-dions, because they can. This self-titledindie rock EP is slightly impressive, butshows promise of for future recordings.(Peirmont Records)

Nakatomi Plaza “Unsettled” For an album that was mastered six times,took 3+ years to finish, and almost brokethe band up, you’d think that this albumwould sound a little bit better. “Unsettled”is quite good, but there is one aspect that Ijust can’t stand. The screaming vocals.Nakatomi Plaza has good vocalists, bothmale and female, but when the guyscreams, it sounds like a chainsaw sawingthrough cats. Luckily the majority of thescreaming is isolated to track two, butmakes slight appearances throughout thealbum. The instrumentation is quite goodalso, but at some parts it sounds like theguitarist is trying too hard to get that riffand it comes off as cheesy. If I were you, I’dgive this album a listen and make your ownopinion about it. (Red Leader Records)

Nakatomi Plaza

48

New London Fire “I Sing the Body Holographic”“I Sing the Body Holographic” has songsabout a man in love with a prostitute, butshe won’t stop whoring herself for him, asong about a serial killer that strikes everyyear on Valentine’s Day, a song about twoghosts trying to find each other in the afterlife, plus other songs. The lyrics may bedark, but when they are sung against thepulsing danceable beats that the NewLondon Fire produces, it works completelywell. Each song sounds different than eachother, but as a whole it creates a cohesivepiece of music that doesn’t disappoint.(Eyeball Records)

The New Trust “Dark is the Path Which Lies BeforeUs”It’s hard to explain how good The NewTrust is. The drums and opening basslineof the album opener “A Spoiled Surprise, ACheap Reveal” will get stuck in your headfor days. The Velvet Teen member JoshStaples is in charge of vocals and bass andhis wife sings back up on some parts. Thisalbum will surely be high on the list forbest albums of 2007. (Slowdance)

One Night Band “Way Back Home”A ska band is a rare sight in these daysfilled with horrible rock and emo. OneNight Band is a ska band from Canada,with rotating male and female vocals. Theyplay a subdued reggae two tone version ofska, with plenty of horn solos, uppickingand organs. “Way Back Home” may not bethe best ska album, but with the rarity ofska releases, it will do the trick. (StompRecords)

Owen “At Home With”You pretty much know what you’re gettinginto when you pick up an Owen release.You’ve got Mike Kinsella on the guitar

playing his soul out. While “At Home With”tracks are all of quality, some people mightlike his previous album “I Do Perceive” bet-ter. “At Home With” does feature a nicecover of the Velvet Underground’s “FemmeFatale”. (Polyvinyl Records)

Pinebender “Working Nine to Wolf” I know Pinebender is a well respectedband, but some songs on this album I couldcertainly do without. Like the thirteenminute opener “Parade of Horribles”, bythe six minute mark, I’m begging it to beover. Luckily there is a skip button, whichbrings us to the better, shorter, less epictracks like “She Destroys the Light”, “MaskTree”, and “Polly Grey”. (Lovitt Records)

Portastatic “Bright Ideas”Mac McCaughan has done it again. He haswritten another perfect pop album that isup to par with his previous release “BrightIdeas”. “Sour Shores” and “I'm In Love(With Arthur Dove)” are examples of thelighthearted song writing while tracks like“Getting Saved” and “Like a Pearl” show amore serious personal side. I shouldn’thave to tell you to go out and buy this,because you should already have it.(Merge)

Protokoll “S/T” Protokoll’s self titled EP has a sound influ-enced by British guitar pop bands of the80’s as well as New York post-punk and NoWave from the same era. They blend synth-pop melodies with a rocking rhythm sec-tion that will keep your body moving.“Risen” is the stand out song on the album.Four of the five songs are over 5 minutes soyou can listen to it over and over again andnever get sick of it. (I Heart Comix)

Shanna Kiel “Orphan”Shanna was in the midwestern punk bandSullen, but left St. Louis for the glitz ofHollywood, CA.“Orphan” is loud and grit-ty, with similarities to Courtney Love’sband Hole. (Thick Records)

Owen

49

Speakerfire “Audio Alchemy”If you’re looking for unoriginal, poorlywritten rock, then look no further thanSpeakerfire. The majority of this album iscomprised of the same rock (i.e.Nickelback, etc...) that pollutes the top 40radio stations. A couple of tracks on thisalbum are salvageable, but who wants towade through 30 feet of shit for fool’s gold.(Peirmont Records)

Stylex “Tight Scrapes”Ohio’s Stylex blends together the sounds oftwo other well known bands from the bigO, Devo and Brainiac. “Tight Scrapes” willhave you dancing until your heart stops,because each song is energizing and willmake you want to do nothing but listen toit. (Pretend Records)

The Subjects “With the Ease Grace, Precision, andCleverness of Human Beings”The Subjects are a teacher/student 4 piecethat plays a Strokes-esque style of musicbut more lo-fi. The whole album is good.Great and inventive guitar work and funpop songs. (Pretty Activity Records)

Tahiti 80“Fosbury” “Fosbury” is a perfect blend of classic 60’sand 70’s pop, disco and a bit a French flair.“Big Day” the album’s opener will makeyou feel that you’ve jumped into a scenefrom Saturday Night Fever. “Here Comes”infectious chorus will have you singingalong, and then the rest of the day becauseit will be stuck in your head. The U.S. ver-sion of this album is packaged with a bonusEP that has covers of “Happy Together” bythe Turtles and “Give it Away” by The Chi-lites. (The Militia Group)

The Tiny “Starring: Someone Like You”The Tiny’s sophomore album sounds like 3Bjorks singing in a choir, while a backingorchestra of toy instruments clinks andclambers along. The majority of the songsstart off slow with piano accompaniments,and then never speed up. (Eyeball Records)

Titles “S/T”The Titles full length debut is 12 songs ofslow indie with slight bluesy bar band gui-tars. It’s a good album, but nothing on itstands out as memorable or noteworthy.(Welcome Home Records)

Your Black Star “Sound from the Ground”The songs on Your Black Stars’ “Soundfrom the Ground” have a different soundfrom one another, but they all have thesame cohesive feel. The songs sound tex-tured and atmospheric. “Strings” is by farthe best and most original track on thealbum. (Wonka Vision)

Tahiti 80

Photo Credits:Cover: Ryan RussellPg 4-5: Will HoughPg 14: Suicide Squeeze RecordsPg 16: Ryan RussellPg 17: UnknownPg 18: Unknown - Press PhotoPg 21: Unknown - Press PhotoPg 23: UnknownPg 24: Unknown - Press PhotoPg 29: Chrissy PiperPg 31: Megan HolmesPg 33: Mark DawurskPg 35: Will HoughPg 37: Provided by RobinPg 39: Adam BubolzPgs 40-43: Will HoughPg 44: Unknown - Press PhotoPg 45: Unknown - Press PhotoPg 46: Unknown - Press PhotoPg 47: Unknown - Press PhotoPg 48: Joe WigdahlPg 49: Unknown - Press Photo

The PlasticConstellationsCrusades LP

STNNNG Fake Fake CD, LP

COMING SOONMirah & ft(The Shadow Government)

Signal To TrustGolden Armour CD

Yellow Swans & Devillocksplit 7”

PO BOX 8886 MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA 55408www.modern-radio.com

MODERN RADIO

manual dexterity winter 2006/07

Documents