This is an action packed post, kiddos. Brace yourselves!

The Morning Benders, talking through tin cans; photo by Adrian Bischoff

The Morning Benders (myspace) release their debut album, Talking Through Tin Cans today on Plus One Records. They’ve got a pretty kickin’ deal going that if you buy their digital album, you get it, plus some b-sides, and a ticket to their CD release show either in SF or LA. The LA release show is at the Echo on Thursday (May 8th) and the SF show is at 330 Ritch on Friday (May 9th). More about the deal here. You can also get more info about the shows here.

You can also check out a free in-store at Virgin Megastore downtown (2 Stockton St) tomorrow evening at 7pm. Be sure to get there early so you can get a spot close.

All the songs I’ve heard from Talking are really good. I’m pretty excited to hear the whole thing.

the Morning Benders - Crosseyed (mp3)

the Morning Benders - Boarded Doors (mp3)

I sat down at a recording studio and music offices in the Mission with Chris Chu, the Morning Benders’ songwriter, singer and guitarist, last week to catch up and ask him a few questions as the album release approached.

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Adrian Bischoff of ipickmynose: Are you excited that the album’s finally coming out?

Chris Chu of the Morning Benders: Quite. Quite.

A: It’s been a while since you recorded it, right?

C: Yeah, it’s been a while. I think that’s sort of what happens.

A: It’s been … eight months or something… last August.

C: Yeah. August. So it’s been a while.

A: Have your opinions of the album changed since then? Or the songs?

C: Um, yeah, definitely. I guess I haven’t listened to it in a while. That’s what happens, you know. You obsess over it for so long, you don’t want to ever listen to it again. You get over that after a while and you can put it on again and be more objective about it. It’s cool. I mean, everything we’ve gone through is a learning process. I’m the sort of person who’ll look back and think about all the things I would do differently or want to change for the next time and that sort of thing…

A: Is that what happened with the EPs? Because you recorded some of those songs again.

C: Yeah, the EPs were definitely a learning process because I was recording them and that was my first time ever recording, so I was just learning that for the first time. I sort of knew going into them that those weren’t going to be what I had intended them to be because we were really limited. We were really limited, obviously. What we had was just whatever was around my house.

When we got into the studio that was what was so cool about it. We got to flesh out the songs how I wanted in the first place.

A: I read somewhere that one of the EPs–I forget which song–but the second song you ever recorded was on one of the EPs.

C: The first song I ever recorded was “Grain of Salt”. And it took me like three times. I have a bunch of versions of it. We’ve actually been talking about–because that song’s not on the record, but we still like to play it. So we’re thinking about putting out an EP of just “Grain of Salt” recordings because there are so many different versions of it.

A: That’d be awesome. You should get some other bands to cover it as well.

C: Yeah. That’d be cool. I didn’t think of that. That’s a good idea.

A: I’ll expect a royalty check.

C: [laughing] Yeah…

I recorded acoustic demos but that was just like putting a mic up and hitting record. But the first time I tried to record a band or a song was “Grain of Salt” and I did it piece-by-piece.

A: I mean, historically, that’s not, like, how bands work. People sit in their basements for 10 years and record on a four-track and then finally release an album. Do you feel like you’re–I don’t know–bursting onto the scene quickly?

C: I don’t really think about it that way. I think try to not think about it too much or deliberate too much and just let it happen like it needs to happen. I don’t feel you need to be tinkering away on songs for years and years before you put them out. Because it takes away a lot– I think, some of the spontaneity, some of the early creative hit or whatever–or energy.

So I kind of like the spirit of recording things haphazardly and putting them out. I started writing songs a few years ago, so that was sort of a new thing. Most of these songs are some of the first songs I’ve ever written.

A: Do you think that–obviously it’s a lot easier to record a song and get it out there [now] with the internet, so do you think ten years ago that you’d have been releasing songs as quickly?

C: That’s a good question. I think we probably would. We would have found some way to do it. People have been recording things for themselves for a good amount of time, like you were saying, on a four track. We probably would have done that or whatever was cheaper. It just so happens that recording on your computer or something is the cheapest way, because you don’t have to really buy anything else. Yeah, the internet is obviously a good tool for getting your music out there. That would have been a lot harder or a lot different.

(Find the rest of the interview, a new video and the flyer after the jump.)

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Head over to the Bay Bridged to read the interview I did with the The Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle.

Here’s a sample:

TBB: Now that you’re touring with a drummer and even playing electric guitar on occasion, I’ve heard people talk about the Mountain Goats “rocking out” more than before. Do you see this as a change in the amount of “rocking” or just its manifestation?

JD: I personally don’t, but that’s because I don’t equate rocking with instrumentation. My old solo shows back when I was just totally spazzing out all night, those rocked harder than any ten full-combo rock bands. Any day. Give me enough liquor and cause for a bad attitude and I’ll still put me & an acoustic guitar up against most any band who think they rock. I have always had something of a chip on my shoulder about this.

Go check out the full interview.

I did an interview with John Vanderslice back in July on the air at KZSU. Below is the full, unedited, linked/ annotated and with mp3s of his in-studio performance. It’ll be like being in the pop up video version of the studio. If you want to read the last interview I did with him, head here. If you want a shorter version of the interview, read yesterday’s excerpts.

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Tomorrow I’ll post the full and unedited interview (and mp3s of the in-studio performance) I did with John Vanderslice back in July on the air at KZSU, but for now, here are some excerpts: the best of, so to speak. If you want to read the last interview I did with him, head here.

On the title “the nicest guy in indie rock”:
“I’ve got to punch someone out to get rid of that stuff, man. I think it’s damaging me.

“No, I’m kidding…In fact I really don’t like when people act in a way there’s a predetermined–I see so many bands in the studio [where] they literally show up with a bottle of Jack Daniel’s because there’s that thing; they’ve read the Motley Crue thing or whatever. It’s just that I think you’ve got to mix it up.

“Sometimes I think I should go road-raging or go crazy… But am I any different than any other person that comes in here?

“That sucks, though because it means they’re maybe not so nice because I just see myself as being completely normal. I am very socialized. It’s true, I am very socialized, but I feel that I’m totally normal.”

On Scott Solter:
“He’s my partner really. He produced the record and he works at my studio a lot. And he toured with me for–I can’t believe now that I got him out on tour for so many times because you know, he’s married, he’s got a real, normal life. I think I took him out on six tours or something. But he’s been there since Time Travel [is Lonely]; he’s been really really important to what I’ve been doing.”

On interviews and being entertaining:
“…Sometime when I read interviews I’ve done I just cannot believe I have said those things. Like I’m wondering now–seriously, the only thing I’m worrying about now is am I being boring? I’m answering your questions and I’m like–

[Adrian looks at other people in the studio, posing the question. They nod.]

“See! I am! I need to ratchet it up, right?!

[Other people in the studio shake their head vigorously.]

“See, it is on me to be entertaining. I am an entertainer. I’m being asked questions. I really can appreciate that English front guy–Oasis–that guy just being absolute off-the-wall. I really appreciate him now. I didn’t get him but I went back and I’m like, that’s an artwork, a living, standing, breathing artwork. Instead of having to read through some really careful press release. I began to think that–I really appreciate how honest and straightforward people are in interviews. I realized if you did that you’re going to be somewhat abrasive. You’re going to annoy some people.”

On whether he worries about buzz building up too quickly:

“No, it’s never enough. You know like when you were young–can I say anything I want? I should be mellow, huh. Let’s say you’re young, first time drinking alcohol and you want it to hit so fast and so hard and it doesn’t. I remember the first I got drunk, I drank bourbon at my friend Ricky Rankin’s house straight. We put lemonade mix in it. I remember thinking, this isn’t fast enough. It’s not intense enough; it’s not strong enough. And that’s how it is when an album comes out. You just want it to be this torrential flood of–the thing is, when you do it over and over again, there’s a routine. I think that routine is cool, but it’s almost–listen, you’re not the Beatles at Shea Stadium no matter what. I mean, there’s too many things coming out. There’s too many amazing records coming out every week. You’re just another band putting out a record. And you’re totally thankful for it, but there’s a part of you–seriously, there’s that Mick Jagger inside you that just, you know, wants insanity. You want to be in a Prevost driving 150 miles per hour while people are shooting heroin. You know? It doesn’t ever happen. And strippers and craziness. It just doesn’t happen.

“The question is, is it ever enough? No, it’s not enough, because I have this infantile image inside my mind of how intense it was in 1968. You know what I mean? [laughs] And all the bands I know, they’re like–it’s like business people on a trip. They go to their Courtyard Marriott, turn on the golf channel and go to sleep. And it’s never crazy.”

On photography:
“I don’t take any more amazing photographs than any of my other band mates. They’re right beside me; we’re taking the same shot. Theirs looks exactly like [mine]. It’s just that they don’t bother to put it on the web. [laughs] That’s the only difference. It’s just that I take 10,000 photographs a year and I weed out the 150 and I’m probably a decent editor. What I’m doing, anybody could do it, if they get a Pentax K1000, get some decent film and then go to Photoworks or Pro 1 in LA and have it developed on nice matte paper. It’ll look exactly the same, you know?

“And, photography for me is a hobby and it’d never enter the realm of any other thing.”

On a United flight that dropped out of the air for a few seconds:
“That was the worst experience I ever had but the real depression of that flight was after–basically the plane just dropped out of the sky for four or five seconds and then everyone started screaming, like all these seasoned travelers. You know, people who fly back and forth every week were freaking out and there was–I mean, everyone was screaming at the top of their lungs for like three minutes. It was the worst thing I ever saw. I mean, basically, the plane was in the middle of the Pacific and it had just fallen out of the sky. It’d free-fallen so much that the crew and everyone–people had lost it. But it wasn’t then that I really went nuts, it was after the plane had stabilized and I thought, this is horrible. It was even worse when the plane was flying to Japan again. I mean, they were playing Miss Congeniality 2 on there.

“You know what I mean? I’m not trying to be funny, but I just thought, is this how I’m going to die? At this point in my life? It’s all the typical, cliched stuff you think about your life.

“Again, I submit: Miss Congeniality 2.”

On whether he’d write a fully-autobiographical album:
“In general it’s not that I’m not interested, but I’ve been writing songs for so long, I’ve mined a lot of that personal stuff. It’s difficult–you know, I’m not a drama guy. I’m actually looking for the absence of drama. I’m very very domestic and super mellow and I don’t really find or seek out conflict with people. I really don’t want to be emotionally destabilized at all so for me it’s not like I’m Faulkner. I don’t have this tremendous wellspring of experience necessarily. Or James Joyce. I’ve found that I take a piece of experience and expand it, blow it up, exaggerate it and then place it somewhere else, which is probably what a lot of writers could do anyways.

“I mean, not every slight that happened to Morrissey was really that important, you know what I mean? That’s totally–there’s nothing wrong with that. I mean, that’s songwriting, that’s art. I mean, Emily Dickinson wasn’t really that freaked out about the spider in that one poem. ”

Oakland-based Jason Munn, who designs under the name the Small Stakes, is a genius. He designs show and tour posters with simple but amazingly apt and effective designs. I always love his posters and buy them every time I see one at a show that I go to. (I now have 9: Ben Gibbard/ David Bazan, Sufjan Stevens, Pat Sturgeon Benefit, Mates of State, Jose Gonzalez, Mark Kozelek, Rogue Wave, American Analog Set and Tsunami Relief.) You can check out his posters at his website and also at gigposters. I’ve also run into him at / written about him after Flatstock 10.

I asked Jason to put together a short mix and asked him a few questions.

The mix:
Jason says: “I’ve got some 5 songs for you. Somewhat random, but I had a look at my iTunes to see what the top played songs and bands were.”

American Analog Set - Choir Vandals (mp3)

Lungfish - To Whom You Were Born (mp3)

Contantines - Lizaveta (mp3)

The National - Slow Show (mp3)

Castanets - A Song Is Not the Song of the World (mp3)

The interview: [All links added by me]

How did you get into this?
I moved to Oakland from Wisconsin almost 5 years ago. Before I moved I was working in a small design studio and doing some side projects like album packaging and t-shirts for friends of mine in bands. When I moved out here I had a couple of short term jobs at design studios or ad agencies, but it was a pretty slow time for everyone so I wasn’t working much. Around this time some friends of mine started booking shows at The Ramp - an all ages venue in Berkeley. They asked me to do a poster to promote each show - which was once a month. Really great shows and I met a lot of people at these shows that I still do work for today.

What was your first show poster?
There were a couple that I consider my first two since I was working and printing them at the same time. One for Pedro the Lion at Great American Music Hall and Damien Jurado at Bottom of the Hill.

Are you a musician?
Not at all. I can play a little on the guitar, but definitely not anything to write home about.

Who hires you for jobs? I’ve seen posters for tours and posters for individual shows, leading me to believe that it’s sometimes clubs, sometimes bands.
Most of the time for me it is through bands or management. Occasionally through the venue or a combination of both.

Does the client have any influence on the design?
Most of the time the bands are pretty hands off about it, but I’m always really trying to make something that is appropriate for the band and not just me doing whatever I feel like. It needs to tie in. They are approved so if a band feels I’m way off I’ll try something else.

Take us briefly through the design process for a poster.
A lot of sketching at first. If I’m not really familiar with the band I’m doing some listening and research on them. Once I have an idea I start in on it. Most of the layout and everything is done in Illustrator, but I’m usually basing it off of a sketch I’ve done and scanned in.

Do you design posters based on some fundamental design principles or do you take each one on a case-by-case basis?
It’s definitely a case-by-case, but there are definitely aesthetics that I gravitate towards. The bands drive the posters quite a bit though.

Who do you admire as far as graphics go? Who has influenced you the most?
There is quite a few people, most who have or still work doing design in the music world. Peter Saville being a big one, he designed the Factory Records albums. Jeff Kleinsmith being another - he’s the art director at Sub Pop. He’s designed quite a few records that I own.

It seems your most common non-musical design element is the heart (two Mates of State posters, and posters for American Analog Set, Camera Obscura, Nada Surf, Rainer Maria, if not more). Is there a reason for this? Just that a lot of indie rock songs are love songs?
I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that heart symbol is pretty universal and I’m a sucker for symbols that are bold and universal and it does fit a lot of the bands pretty well.

Do you have a favorite poster that you’ve done? Or a top five?
I like the couple of posters I’ve done for The Books quite a bit. The first one I did for them may be my favorite poster I’ve done. I tend to like the newer posters more than the older ones, but sometimes I’m pleasantly surprised when I see one of the older prints that I haven’t seen for awhile. Most of the time though I think of what I would have done differently.

if you were playing a show or promoting a show and couldn’t make the poster yourself, who would you ask?
Dirk Fowler, he’s a poster designer from Lubbock, Texas. He’s made a few of my all time favorite posters.

And the one that’s going to win me the investigative journalism prize: why are posters 2.5 times as much on your website than at shows? (You don’t have to answer this if you don’t want.)
By the time they are on my site there are not many available. I think it’s a really fair price for a limited edition print.

–

And there you have it. You can buy Small Stakes posters at many shows and at the poster store at the Small Stakes website.

A few weeks ago I reviewed JL Aronson’s film Danielson: A Family Movie, which finally came out on DVD.

I emailed JL and we did a short interview. Here are it is:

Adrian: Why did you want to do a film about the Danielson Famile?
JL: I first heard Danielson Famile on a Tooth and Nail compilation that I got for free in late 97 (or mid 1998?). So that stuff really works. Not sure if I’d heard of them before that but the comp was definitely my first introduction. The song was ‘Smooth Death’ from their second record, “Tell Another Joke at the ol’ Choppin’ Block.” It reeked of authenticity which is the first thing I look for in music. What exactly they were authentic OF was, however, a bit difficult to ascertain. I pictured them barefooted in rolled up dungaree overalls, singing around one microphone at the center of the room. I wanted to know more and, fortunately, I live in New York and they’ve always played in the city quite a bit. New York’s art-rock avant-garde has always embraced them more than the south Jersey, farmland milieu that they come from. But at their shows I was equally fascinated with the audience as I was with the band. What draws people of different perspectives –often secular people– to a performance of a family singing about their relationship with God? That was what really inspired to make a movie about them.

Adrian:Do you have an religious leanings yourself? Either way, do you think this was important in making the film?
JL: I’m into meditation and I was raised Jewish. I think it helped that I am
sympathetic to people of faith rather than immediately dubious.

Adrian: What did you learn from making it?
JL The filmmaker has to let the movie decide when it’s done, not the other way
around.

Gregg Gillis aka Girl Talk (myspace) was nice enough to talk to me over the telephone a little bit ago and answer some questions. Originally it aired on my radio show.

Girl Talk undoubtedly rocking out; promo shot

Read on to see what he thinks of being called a “DJ”, how the Pittsburgh scene is, what his high school graduation song was and what he thinks of this year’s Steelers team.

[notes: I’m basically presenting it as it happened, only editing it to take out some radio-specific references and to make my words clearer than my normal bumbling.]

Grizzly Bear - Knife (Girl Talk remix) (mp3)

Adrian: So for [people] who might not be as familiar with what you do, you go by Gregg Gillis during the day and Girl Talk at night. You released an album that was critically acclaimed over the last year and made a lot of top 10 lists. How would you, sort of, describe your sound?

Girl Talk: My sound is basically cut up pop music, rearranged.

A: I know you have t-shirts that say “I’m not a DJ” and I wouldn’t really call what you do a mashup so do you, sort of, get mad at [people using] those terms when they’re applied to you?

GT: I don’t get mad necessarily. I think people can interpret it any way they want. I think that—the “I’m not a DJ” shirts are sort of a response to, you know, people asking me to play shows and expecting me to do two hour sets on turntables, but that’s not what I do at all, you know. I’ve always done my music on a laptop.

A DJ is a very specific art. You could put a good DJ on on any crowd and they could work the crowd and spin songs that they like, but when you see me live, I play my style of remixes. And it’s like going to see any band live where you go to see that style of music and if you’re not a fan of that style of music, you won’t like it. So, you know, when you see me live, it’s all remixes. It’s all very—it’s all based on other people’s music. I don’t play other people’s music outright, but there’s a little bit of a distinction between what I do and a standard DJ. I’ve always considered myself more of a producer, a sample-based producer. And there are lots of guys who do sound-collage stuff who wouldn’t necessarily go by the “DJ” term. I mean, I’m not offended by anything. I’m open to interpretation. The whole DJ phrase has sort of been tossed around the last six months whereas I’ve been doing this for seven years. I’ve never had an issue before.

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