Another Form of Relief

When I first emailed The Light Footwork about doing an email interview for Another Form of Relief, they accepted but warned me that it might take them a while to get answers to me. This was back in may, proving they really weren’t kidding. I tell you this not as a complaint or anything like that, but more because it was a pleasant surprise for me that they would still take the time to get this back to me all those months later when most would have just tossed it aside. I mean this isn’t exactly an important publication I have going here, just a blog with a few crazy readers. I guess my main point here is that The Light Footwork are very cool people.

For those of you not familiar with The Light Footwork, their album, ‘One State Two State’ is one of my favourites from this year, and with good reason. It’s a charming, witty record that’s generally a joy to the ears. Think something along the lines of the lyrical stylings of early Pavement crossed with the wonderful sounds of Beulah while still sounding entirely fresh and you’re on the right track. The band is the project of songwriting duo Jay Underwood and Becca Willhelm, both of whom were kind enough to answer my inane questions.

How are you today?

Becca: I’m pretty good. I don’t have a hernia. I thought I did, but I don’t.

Jay: Nothing a snort of paddy couldn’t fix.

How did The Light Footwork originally come about?

Becca: Sometime in early 2004, we’d both recently moved to Palo Alto and were looking for something musical to do. As luck would have it I heard some of Jay’s stuff and he heard some of mine and we thought we’d try out playing together. I was a little concerned that he might be a psycho killer, but he seemed pretty normal on the phone, so we arranged to meet at the Caltrain station in Palo Alto. I would be wearing a brown backpack, and he would be in a Subaru. That night we ate Taco Bell bean burritos and drank whatever beer he had, and then we wrote The Art of Communication Part 1. And we’ve been neglecting our families, significant others, and jobs ever since.

Jay: I am a psycho killer.

Where did the name The Light Footwork come from?

Jay: It came from the google translation of an email written to me in Japanese. I don’t know what the Japanese character meant, but google thought it meant “Light Footwork” so I added that to the mental list of possible band names, and then it grew on me, and I convinced Becca it didn’t suck. I’m not sure if she was ever really convinced, but i still like it. What do you think?

Is it true that the two of you are on entirely different continents much of the time? How does this impact your ability to make music?

Becca: It is true, Jay is in Ireland and I’m in California. It has been this way for the last year. This has put quite a damper on touring, but Jay is coming back in a week and I anticipate that it’ll make this all much easier. We’ve both continued writing new material, mainly just small pieces of songs which I suspect will all fuse together during the first month that we’re back together in person. I’m really excited for Jay to get back. YAY!

Jay: I’m now back, hence the delay in returning these answers to you. Sorry about that.

There are a lot of comparisons between your music and that of Beulah. Given Jay’s connection to the band this would be inevitable, but who else do you cite as the major influences on your music?

Becca: We’re big on Malkmus. Other than that, I’m probably most influenced by random classical music (most recently, I’ve been on a Scarlatti kick).

Jay: I like random music too, 70s prog is big.

How helpful do you think the internet has been in getting the word out about your music?

Becca: Since we’ve been in different countries, the internet has been the sole source of getting the word out. The blogs have been amazing – we’ve reached far more people through word-of-blog than through formal reviews and radio combined.

Jay: True dat.

What do you think you’d both be doing if you weren’t making music?

Becca: Since the time we’re making music is basically in our spare time, I suppose if I wasn’t making music then I’d spend more time outside, bikeriding and playing more team sports. Actually, I’ve always wanted to take up boxing. Every time I go on business travel I watch boxing in the hotel (I normally can’t watch boxing because I don’t have cable at home). Yes, I think I’d join a small boxing gym and start getting my nose all smashed flat and my ears all cauliflowered.

What does the future hold for The Light Footwork?

Becca: Well, if we get big then I’m going to do celebrity boxing. Other than that, I’ve got no idea. We’re definitely planning to put out some more albums and finally play some shows. We’ve got half of a music video filmed, so we’ll probably finish that up sometime soon. After that, I’ll probably die prematurely of a cancerous brain tumor and Jay will sit on the organ recipient list waiting for a new liver because he probably ruined his in Ireland, and that’ll be the end of us. So we’d better smoke it while we’ve got it.

Jay: The transplant went well and I’m back to writing songs, which will be easier to rehearse now that we share a house again and have a new practice space. Viva las light footwork

MP3 The Light Footwork – Coastlines Are Landmines (expired)
MP3 The Light Footwork – Exit Row (expired)

The Light Footwork: Website || Myspace

Cult of Sue Todd are an indie folk pop punk (is that a genre?) band from San Francisco. They were one of the earliest bands that I wrote about on here, largely because their first release, 2005’s ‘Nothing Noteworthy Happened Today’ was one of my favourite discoveries from the previous year. Combining quirky lyrics with a bunch of unique instrumentation (including a banjo), it was sixteen minutes of pure joy.

Recently lead singer and guitarist Steven Perry was kind enough to answer a few questions about the formation of the band, what they are currently up to, and their upcoming release ‘Kelsey Grammer Loves Us’.

How are you today?

Steven: I’m hungry. My ladyfriend has me on a diet. I’m not fat, but I really wish I were. I’m not supposed to drink coffee on the diet, but that’ll never happen. The bus was slow this morning, so I was irritated. I hate MUNI. How are you?

How did Cult of Sue Todd originally come about? Your website mentions that Sue Todd wrote the songs but is dead now, but doesn’t offer any further detail. Is there more behind that?

Steven: No–no more. It’s a complete fraud. We lie. Please don’t tell anyone. I have no idea what or where Sue Todd is.

Your new album is entitled ‘Kelsey Grammer Loves Us’. Was this chosen simply because it’s a damn cool title or is Frasier actually a fan of your work?

Steven: Kelsey Grammer is my dog’s name. He likes it when we play and sing and dance. There is also an actor named Kelsey Grammer, but I’m not familiar with his work. He was in Down Periscope, yes?

The songs posted up on your Myspace from the new album seem to rock a little bit harder than your last release, and that the banjo has been toned down a little. Was this an intentional move and what other differences can we expect to hear in your sound?

Steven: I guess it’s partly intentional. Most of the songs on the new album were constructed by me and Jordan, our one-testicled drummer (we call him Uni-Ball).

We lost the banjo. Literally and figuratively. Nobody knows where it is. There is still banjo on a bit of the new album and there will be in the future (if we find another banjo in the garbage), but Mr Nagle (our banjoist) now teaches Japanese kids.

How helpful do you think the internet has been in getting the word out about your music?

Steven: That’s about the only place that has our word. We’re still only drawing friends and family at shows, but I get a lot of nice emails from nice people through myspace and our main page. I’ve made friends, so that’s cool. I just wish we could make it to all the different places they live so we could play for them. Hopefully soon.

Did you ever hear from the thief that stabbed you and stole 20 copies of your first EP? Do you think that he could be a fan now?

Steven: No, I never heard from him. He was just a crazy Mission Streeter. I rather doubt he has internet access or the coordination to type. But I do look for him when I’m down on Mission. He’s probably at Burger King.

What do you think you would be doing if you weren’t making music?

Steven: Crying. Eating more. Drinking less. Not being creative at all. And I’d probably have a savings account.

What does the future hold for Cult of Sue Todd?

Steven: We’re going to attempt to take this thing from a hobby to something more. Hopefully I can get a little exposure for ‘Kelsey Grammer’. Also, we have sack full of songs we’re about to take into the studio, so we should have enough recordings for a third album sometime this year.

MP3 Cult of Sue Todd – Burn Tampa
MP3 Cult of Sue Todd – Foul Fetor

‘Kelsey Grammer Loves Us’ will be released on September 19, although if you don’t think you can remember that far ahead, don’t worry as I’ll probably end up writing about it closer to the date. You can hear three songs from the release on the Cult of Sue Todd Myspace, and get a bunch of fun information from their website. You can purchase ‘Nothing Noteworthy Happened Today’ for less than $5 from Insound. Now you can’t really argue with that kind of price, can you?

Devin Davis doesn’t look like a rock star. In fact, he looks far too much like an ordinary man to seem like someone who can cause people to “rock out”. But rocking out is exactly what he manages to do, either when playing shows in Chicago and around the US, or with his debut album, ‘Lonely People Of The World, Unite!’. The album was released last year to much critical acclaim, even garning a 7.2 rating from the stingy folks at Pitchork. Devin was recently kind enough to answer a few questions via email.

How are you today?

Devin: Kind of stressed out.. trying to get our june tour dates finalized.. not much “fun”…

How did the idea for your solo album originally come about?

Devin: I moved to Chicago to explore music.. and wasn’t meeting anybody to play with.. the songs were, I suppose at the very very beginning, intended as something that I could give out to people to see if they would be interested in playing in a band with me.

Did you originally write ‘Lonely People..’ to be a concept album of sorts? That each of the narrators has to deal with loneliness gives it that kind of feeling. Was this intentional or does the topic just crop up in a lot of your songs?

Devin: That was very much intentional.. from very early on when the phrase “lonely people of the world, unite!” popped into my head.. it became the mantra of the whole thing.. eventually making it’s way into the lyrics of “giant spiders”.. which i’m happy about.. (having the album title as a lyric is kind of fun). it kind of sprawled out from there.. I wanted all the songs to be about loneliness.. i was new to Chicago and had no friends.. it wasn’t hard to be a method actor.

There are seemingly a lot of ‘classic rock’ influences on ‘Lonely People..’. Was this a conscious songwriting decision or did these just naturally work their way into your music? Who would you say are more contemporary influences?

Devin: It was definitely a conscious decision.. I was listening to a LOT of 60’s and early 70’s albums.. there are some obvious moments of reference.. The Who.. Baba O’Reilly, Pink Floyd, Simon & Garfunkel, The Kinks.. and some Beatles of course.. my intention was not to create “a sound unlike anything that had ever been created in the universe”.. I just wanted to record the catchiest songs that I could.. and have the lyrics be intense/strong (and sincere) enough so as not to be dismissed as irony and (hopefully) have some kind of emotional impact on the listener. I was hearing a lot of current indie music, at that time, that sounded like the people were trying SO hard to NOT sound like ANYTHING before.. that it almost seemed absurd to me.. that may have partly been a motivation for me to reference some of those classic rock songs.. kind of like a “lighten up and have fun” type of thing.. That said.. it was pretty naive to think that way, but it made sense at the time. I am very excited about making a much more sonically adventurous album next. As far as contemporary influences go… well.. I really dig The Flaming Lips, Wilco, Arcade Fire, Franz Ferdinand, The Shins, … just to name a few.

You played most of the instrumentation on the album yourself. How do you play your music in a live environment? Do you use a backing band?

Devin: I play with a band sometimes and I play solo sometimes.. I finally, through giving out early CDR copies of the album, managed to meet people to play with (Jim Duffy on drums, Nick Meiers on bass, and Nick Mazzarella on sax/keyboards). The band varies in size (with the addition of a pedal steel/2nd guitarist and 2nd keyboardist) depending on whether we’re playing in Chicago or on tour. I have been playing a lot of solo acoustic shows as well.. I use a looper pedal on my voice so I can build layered, harmony vocal parts.. as well as a looper pedal for drums and percussion instruments.. that way I can build drum beats from scratch and then play/sing over them. I’ve also been bringing the theremin along with me everywhere and doing short solo pieces over pre-recorded piano parts.. the theremin seems to be the thing that everybody remembers!

How helpful, if at all, do you think the internet has been in getting the word out about your music?

Devin: The internet has been absolutely vital.. as I only ran one print ad in one issue of one magazine.. the web, and especially the blog community, has been the main springboard for the album. I was fairly ignorant of the depth and reach of the blog phenomenon. The way that everybody links to everybody else’s site.. it’s awesome.. and it’s genuine.. there’s no ad revenue or back scratching.. it’s just people writing about music they’ve heard..

What do you think you would be doing if you weren’t making music?

Devin: Hmm… I would probably be a secret agent of some kind.. something along the lines of Fox Mulder… something like that.. or maybe just a park ranger.. not to try to bust campers or anything.. just for the view.

What does the future hold for Devin Davis?

Devin: Hopefully a new album by early next year.. probably on a label this time.

MP3 Devin Davis – Iron Woman
MP3 Devin Davis – Turtle and the Flightless Bird
MP3 Devin Davis – Deserted Eyeland

If you still haven’t picked up ‘Lonely People Of The World, Unite!’, you can do so over at Insound. For more Devin Davis awesomeness, be sure to check out his brilliantly designed website, which has a ton of information and some more mp3s for your enjoyment. Devin also has a Myspace, so pop over there and say hello.

The Young Republic are an orchestral indie folk-rock band from Boston, Massachusetts. Forming in 2004, the band already has five releases under their belts, with no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Which is all the more impressive given they are still all in school. The band has nine members, allowing them to make use of just about every instrument possible, from regular pop band staples like guitars and drums, through to more unique pieces like violins, trumpets and flutes. All of this means that The Young Republic end up bringing a sound that is almost entirely different from most bands around them.

Eagle eyed readers may recall that The Young Republic were the first band that I ever wrote about on this site, back when I was still finding my feet. Therefore it’s only fitting that they should end up being the first band that I get to conduct an interview with. Four members of the band, Chris (bass), Nate (viola, djemebe), Julian (vocals, guitar) and Kristin (violin, vocals) were all kind enough to answer a few questions about the evolution of the band, their songwriting process and just what they will be up to in the future.

How did The Young Republic originally come about?

Julian: We all met in Boston during our first month in college. Mostly in the cafeteria.

Kristin: I’ve been told that Julian and our first guitar player Jeremy bonded over their devotion to the Beatles one lunch in the cafe. That would have been like the first week or two of everyone’s freshman year at Berklee. Julian played him some of his tunes which then led to the idea to form a band. Apparently there was at one time a sign on Julian’s door for strings and winds and a bunch of random instruments but I never saw it. I joined because I met Nate (viola) at lunch one day and he told me that the band needed another violinist. I went to one of their rehearsals like that night and have been going ever since.

Chris: Julian had the original idea. I was his room mate at the beginning of school, so I kind of got roped into the whole deal. The rest of the kids we either met in the cafeteria, got recruited by other band members or answered a flier that Julian and I put on our door asking for people who played oboe, flue, cell, theremin, bassoon, etc.

Nate: Julian had songs, we had instruments, and we all ate lunch together in the cafeteria.

Where did the name The Young Republic come from?

Julian: The way most band names do. We had a show booked so we needed a name.

Nate: Shortened version of I believe “The Young Republicans Teenage Symphony.” We have no affiliation with the trouble-making yet popular American politcal party, however.

Chris: Its derived from part of a quote from Brian Wilson about Smile. The name started out as The Leaders of The Young Republics Teenage Symphony but was shortened due to issues of pretension.

Kristin: It just seems to fit since we probably have enough people in the band to break off and start our own country.

You list The Beatles as an influence on your Myspace page. When I first heard your music, I got the same kind of feel from it that I do from Belle & Sebastian. Are B&S an influence in the music you make? Who else would you cite as your influences?

Julian: The Beatles are an influence for me personally because I’ve listened more to them than anyone else and they are in my opinion the greatest musicians of any genre or time period. If we have decent songs I think it’s because of their melody writing. They’re the biggest influence on every band that came after them – like Bach or Mozart or the Velvet Underground – which includes us and Belle and Sebastian. I think that obviously we’re similar to Belle and Sebastian in our instrumentation and that might be what you said gave you the same feeling. When we were forming I knew that this mixture of instruments would work because of Belle and Sebastian. And I do think that Stuart Murdoch is one of the 20 best songwriters of all time.

Chris: Yes, the majority of us are big belle and sebastian fans. A bunch of us went and saw them a month(ish) ago and Stuart gave some girl a bowl of strawberry’s because she asked for them, it was pretty great. As far as other influences go, we all come from different backgrounds (musically) so we all have our own influences, along with all the obligatory indie rock back I could cite I listened to a lot of mowtown and oldies growing up and started to listen to a lot of jazz before I got to school. Having been in the band for almost 2 years now, I would say a big part of our sound comes from (as a reference to the Beatles) George Martin and Phil Spectors production styles. Wall of sound, lush arrangements and what not, its all great.

Kristin: Everybody comes from a different musical place. As a player I come mostly from classical and bluegrass but I also listen to rock and oldies and jazz and folk. Since coming to Berklee I’ve definately gotten into B&S and other indie rock acts because of Julian. Also Bob Dylan and Neil Young. Some of us listen to B&S (I think they’re great). But we don’t try copy them. It’s easier to talk about Julian’s songwriting influences: Dylan, Beatles.

Nate: I’ve never listened to Belle and Sebastian before besides a few songs here and there, so I can’t say they influence me a whole lot. I know thats not the case for a lot of our band members, however…my influences come from film music, thats really the music I’m passionate about. Orchestral Indie Folk Rock is just a charming little side project. (That takes a hell of a lot of work…love it though)

How does a band with nine members go about songwriting? Is it primarily driven by one or two members of the band, or is there a more open, democratic style to it?

Julian: The songs usually come in naked from one person but what is on the record is the orchestration of all 9 of us. We all arrange and write the music. Fleshing out the skeleton is a group effort from the drummer to the flautist.

Chris: Julian writes a song. He brings in lyrics and melody and chords. We all orchestrate it together. Figure out the dynamics and flow of the song and write parts together. Sometimes there is yelling, but mostly its a group effort.

Nate: Julian busts out some tunes and words on his acoustic guitar, and then the band stands around in a room yelling at each other until we all find something to do. The arranging process is quite collaborative.

Kristin: Julian usually brings in a finished tune with a general form and we take it from there writing string parts, vocal parts, guitar parts, etc. and arranging it. Definately democratic.

The orchestral arrangements on ‘Modern Plays’ seemed to be more extravagant than on the previous releases. Was this a conscious decision or just the natural evolution of the band?

Kristin: The songs just called for it.

Chris: Always Together/The Painter was our pop record, Your Heart Belongs in Tennessee was our Country/Folk record and Modern Plays was our rock epic. We didn’t make a conscious effort to put the bombastic parts in those songs, but the songs on there didn’t belong with the other ones, so it just kinda fell into place that all the big songs ended up together.

Nate: The songs on “Modern Plays” were written and arranged at the same time as our previous two EPs, so there isn’t much evolution going on, just exploration.

Julian: It is one of the more arranged pieces that we have. I really just wanted to write a rock song that would be fun to play on stage because everything we had up to the point when it was written – winter holiday freshman year – were folky. I had learned more about modulation, some seventh chords, etc at music school and so I incorporated it into some of my songwriting. Modern Plays was a victim of that.

How helpful, if at all, do you think the Internet has been in getting the word out about your music?

Nate: Very. Blogs like yours are wonderful little naturally-generated hype morsels.

Julian: Well, you probably wouldn’t be interviewing us if not for the internet and whoever is reading my answer right now probably wouldn’t be reading it if not for the internet. That said, I don’t like mp3s and i wish kids still bought 45s and danced in their living rooms, leave a lone at a show.

Chris: Almost completely. We’ve booked both of our tours pretty much elusively through the Internet, and as lame as it may be, myspace is a place people can easily access the music. I have no idea where we would be, as a band or as a culture, without the Internet, but I’m pretty thankful for it.

Kristin: Any mention of us is helpful and appreciated!

The band was formed while you were all in school. Are you still in school? If so, do you see the band as a full time project for you once you’ve finished?

Nate: We are still in school, and have 2 more years of it. The band differs on the second part of the question, but I’m in school for music so if the YR is still making good music and I feel rewarded by it than sure why not. A career in film scoring can be put on the backburner for a little bit without anyone getting too burned.

Chris: We are still in school, and I plan on taking this as far as it will go as long as it keeps going.

Kristin: Yes we are still in school and only time will tell. We’re taking it one tour at a time. Personally, I could see it as a full time project once I leave school.

Julian: We are still all in school. We all have other interest musically and everyone will pursue other avenues aside from the band in the future – solo projects, film scoring, composition, producing, etc. In most bands, the membership is comprised of kids who’s main musical outlet is said band, but the majority of us had never listened to rock or ‘indie’ music before we joined this band, so it’s not like this was a goal coming into our first semester. It’s nice that we’ve stuck together this long with nine people and no cash, just for the music. We have a tour booked this summer and we’ll all be back at school in the fall, but I’m not sure about after that.

What does the future hold for The Young Republic?

Julian: Practice in half an hour, a couple of shows before school is out and a tour this summer. We’ll be recording more as well.

Chris: We’re going on tour this summer for 6 or 7 weeks. After that, I don’t think anyone really knows what will happen. Ideally, some one fly us to Europe and put us on tour, buy us a house in the middle of nowhere to let us record and buy us a bitching bus. Also, more immediately, band practice.

Nate: World domination. Uncompromised world domination. And a 40-date tour this summer around the eastern half of the US!

Kristin: World domination!

MP3 The Young Republic – Always Together
MP3 The Young Republic – Seeing People You Know
MP3 The Young Republic – Everybody Looks Better In Black And White
MP3 The Young Republic – Girl From The Northern States
MP3 The Young Republic – Modern Plays
MP3 The Young Republic – Blue Skies

To aid in The Young Republic’s plans for world domination (or at least help them get that bitching bus), get yourself over to their website. You’ll find, as well as even more free mp3s, some CDs and other cool stuff like t-shirts and sweatshirts for sale. You can also be their new friend over at their Myspace.