Albeit a vague one, indie rock is a genre. It’s easy to lump those who stand out into this category, but it’s even easier to justify bands’ redundant riffs and tiresome “minimalist” approaches by claiming allegiance to the supposed contra-mainstream rebel king known as Indie. It is the former that keep the latter in check. Kudos to Spanish For 100 for this.
“I think sometime ago we stopped questioning ‘how’ or ‘why’ or ‘if’ there is a way to fit in,” guitarist Aaron Starkey explains. “Basically trying to understand where you fit in is skewed by whatever musical perspective you choose to view things from anyway…we’re interested in the familiarity of pop and hooks, but not at the expense of having a good time while you’re playing the song; it’s no fun to play a great song that you’re bored playing. All four of us (Starkey, singer/guitarist Corey Passons, bassist/pianist Ross McGilvray and drummer Chris Crumpler) come from different musical traditions and approaches, and as a result, we end up writing a variety of songs that fill each others’ musical needs. I think what comes out in the end is a fun amalgamation. We’re using the most traditional setup of rock instruments and tones, but we’re trying to explore what it means to work within those confines by sidestepping that which is too familiar or cliché.”
The most recent Spanish For 100 album, Say What You Want To Say To Me, is one of those albums that immediately provokes the listener to peruse the band’s tour schedule, as the sound captured is ideal for a live setting. Produced and engineered by Johnny Sangster and Phil Ek (Modest Mouse, The Shins, Built to Spill), the instrumental tone is definitive and stellar. This, however, requires not only great production, but a great base tone to achieve. Any producer with a Pro Tools rig can make a bad guitar sound good, but a band that is attuned (pun intended) to their sound makes “good” sound “great.” Starkey describes the band’s fascination with the realm of the sonic: “We like our amps… that’s for sure. Corey [vocals, guitar] took apart his 64 bandmaster a couple of years ago and rebuilt it into a beautiful 1x12 combo amp…so you’re definitely hearing some of that… and I must admit, I love guitar pedals - well, and my matchless dc-30 - although I actually play only a few on any regular basis. For the most part though…good tone comes from listening. Ross [bass, vocals, piano] has probably the best ear in the band. His ability to spot dissonance - and call us out on it! - is quite legendary, for us, in the studio.”
“We really strive to be very aware of the timbre of the instruments, as well as how they all fit together. This carries over to our live show where we really work on having a volume and tone that is as rich and as accurate, and as exciting, as the record's.” There has been plenty of time to tweak, as the band has been performing and touring relentlessly over the last several years. In a time of internet tools such as MySpace and Snocap, the DIY approach of consistent booking and performing has dwindled significantly. But, Starkey claims, there is no substitution for good old fashion hump-busting.
“Because it is so ‘easy’ to write, record, and publish music for the masses, a lot of bands don’t tour, even regionally, and instead focus on driving up their MySpace plays instead of driving to the next town. Which, no doubt, exposes them to a large number of people; however, when it comes time to think about ‘do I want to do this for a living? Is music going to be my life? How do I get paid?’ the most obvious way to control your destiny in that regard is to tour. All of our tours have, for the most part, been self-sufficient and have provided an experience of playing music night after night to people that don’t know you at all and need to be ‘convinced’ that you’re worth listening to...and perhaps even purchase a CD. Every tour, the band comes back different, the music is different and always better. As musicians, we’re better, the songs are tighter, and we’ve learned about performing music in a manner that cannot be accomplished any other way. That said, it is exciting to see our website traffic from all over the world...and to sell CDs and mp3s to fans that we’ll never meet. Knowing this is directly because of MySpace is pretty validating of that service.”
The fact that performance was the dominant characteristic of music prior to the recording industry is all but obscured by the convenience and accessibility of said internet services, as well as hardware and software that allows anyone with a computer to become a producer. The danger is not in the tools, which can serve just as much good as they can harm to the ideals of musical artistry. The danger lies in the neglect of those who can cut it both live and in the studio; who haven’t forgotten about sharing a direct connection with people through an auditory experience of expression. “We’re learning about life as we go along and try to put that into our music, both live and in the recordings. We know that the people listening to the music and in the audience are doing the same thing too. We try to share that bond with them through our music.”
Right on.
--Bill Braun
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Spanish For 100’s Say What You Want To Say To Me is available now on Fish the Cat Records.
http://www.spanishfor100.com
http://www.myspace.com/spanishfor100
