Yeah. And not hearing it develop in concert over two or three years. Now you're going to go out and play to an audience and the songs are going to take on a new life. Or maybe some of them won't.
I think they will‚ actually. Some of the songs have a huge potential to stretch out‚ and we also have all of these new building blocks‚ which can have segues or other improvisations to get from A to B. There are all these new options. I think some of the songs will be altered; we'll reinterpret either the arrangement or the feel. Reinterpret ourselves. [laughter] Almost like they're cover songs. That leaves experimental‚ fun room for us and it also can be exciting for everyone who comes to see it live.
It's a really strong album. It's like nothing you've done before. The last two albums‚ Wormwood and The Conch‚ are both very diverse and have lots of textures and segues. And this feels very straightforward.
It's a different approach. At this point we do have our own sound. We have our chemistry and we can reinterpret it in different ways. And we wanted to put ourselves in a new set of circumstances and see what that produced. We limited ourselves in the amount of time and we limited ourselves in a lot of other ways‚ and those limitations actually brought out something different and unique.
Is this something that you guys were longing to do for a while?
Yes. Actually‚ it's very difficult to just say‚ OK‚ we're going to set aside the time and set aside a big chunk of money. [laughter] You know? Because we are our own label. We don't have a major label throwing down $150‚000 at the start to get a project like this going. It just doesn't happen.
Wormwood was born out of the fact that it's hard for us to just say‚ OK‚ we're going to go into a studio for a month or two months. I think Rob came up with the idea of us doing the basic tracking live. And that is problem solving. Even recording this album‚ working within our parameters is what influenced the whole project‚ and how we went about doing everything‚ and how it ended up.
We don't operate well doing things in a traditional way. [laughter] We really had to solve all these problems along the way to make it work. They're not really problems‚ I guess. They're just… our unique circumstances dictate how we have to do things--and still be happy with what we're doing.
Now that the record is done‚ how do you feel about the process?
I love it. I want to do it again!
Good. So it was real healthy for the band?
Yeah! It was pretty fun. Putting ourselves in that setting where we're cooped up and somewhat isolated. Our cell phones didn't really work‚ and there wasn't really much of a town close by‚ so we kind of just cloistered ourselves and woke up everyday and said‚ OK‚ I've got an idea. Let's try and do this or let's try and do that. And to be in that creative environment where once you get on a roll‚ it actually snowballs--that's a good thing‚ instead of saying‚ Well‚ today we're going to write a song and then we're going to take a couple days off. You know? It's like you have to like cold start everything. But it was good. It was a good creative environment to just kind of roll with it.
We worked with John Siket again‚ who's a good friend of ours. He's a great engineer‚ and he's got really good ideas. He was an objective ear at times to just say what he likes and doesn't like. He's got a very good ear for arrangement and for adding and taking away stuff. We would play something and he would record it‚ get its sound‚ and then we would listen to it. And we could modify our rehearsals‚ listening to multi-track recordings of it.
It was a process of whittling away and making arrangements and making it sound right. It happened really quickly‚ so we committed to things very quickly‚ which is also very good. Because of that‚ all the songs do sound a little bit more raw and unstudied‚ which is good for us. These songs are more like rowdy teenagers than pure adults. [laughter]
I imagine there were a lot of days where it just didn't work‚ and other days where you surprised yourself.
Yeah. There were things that didn't work. [laughter] There were always things that didn't work. There was equipment that didn't work. There were songs that didn't work. And yeah‚ sometimes it can be frustrating because you feel like there's a great idea or a great song and it just doesn't happen. It doesn't come together. But you've got to just let it go‚ unfortunately. Then again‚ there were other days where after breakfast or after lunch we started playing and we had a song by eight o'clock in the evening. So that's the tradeoff. Some things are going to crash and burn. Or they're going to be inspiring and work out.
It seems like your albums have always have been well received. In the media‚ from critics‚ you've always received pretty good reviews‚ especially for Wormwood and The Conch.
As long as people get it. [laughter] If you measure us against an Elvis Costello album or a pop album… It kind of depends on the context‚ and people have to understand what we're doing‚ because it's not for everyone. [laughter] But you're right. They have been very well received‚ and it's really cool that there are people whose opinions I respect‚ like David Fricke [Rolling Stone]‚ who has consistently had good things to say about us. We're all really grateful for that. It's good to hear someone like him say‚ you know...
"This is good rock music."
Yeah! And to go over the finer points of what you've worked on--that's pretty cool. I would be kind of crushed if he said the album was a total dog.