Interview: The Autumns
Artist profile:
The Autumns
The Autumns. They've recorded one of our favourite albums of the year, and we naturally jumped at the chance to interrogate them when they came through town on tour last week.
Unfortunately, our plans were struck down by a dose of the tonsilitis that everyone in the WHOLE WORLD seems to have right now (indeed, we expect you're reading this from bed while devouring another packet of lockets), so Matthew was kind enough to answer our questions by email very late one night, a few days later...
Rocklouder: Matthew and Frankie, you've been friends since you were kids and you formed the band - tell us about that time when you were just starting out.
Matthew: In a way, it’s inaccurate to say we formed the band when we were kids. Frankie and I started making music together at that time and we’ve stuck together ever since, but it was a very different band. We’re the only ones from that period that are still working together. That’s just a clarification, though. Frankie and I knew each other as boys. His Aunt was my piano teacher for a while and we were on the same baseball team. It wasn’t until our late teens that we connected on the basis of musical interests. We liked Manchester bands, especially The Smiths, Stone Roses, and Trash Can Sinatras. We started writing pop songs on that model and have more or less kept at it ever since, though lots of other influences have been thrown into the mix along the way. This was all happening in a suburb of Los Angeles called Santa Clarita. Ourselves and a few other bands from there created a little scene. The music Frankie and I were making then was nothing to write home about, but we have fond memories of that time. Our songs made us happy and helped us make sense of things, and we’ve tried to continue in that spirit.
RL: Your first release was a decade ago now – The Angel Pool - how do you feel about the band that made that record, would you have any
advice to give them?
M:I like that band. It’s funny, at the same time that we made that record, I can remember having this very sobering and depressing conversation with our bass player. We took home the mastered version, listened to it, and concluded independently of one another that it was a complete catastrophe. We ended up on the phone talking about it, trying to come up with a way to deal with this obvious failure. We concluded that we were just going to have to do better next time and hope no one paid any attention to it. But then it was very warmly received and that made us think twice. It wasn’t until years later that I was able to get any perspective on it. I went back and listened and found that I actually really liked it, especially considering that we wrote it when we were 19 or 20 years old. It was definitely overwrought, which made me cringe a little, but on the whole i think it succeeded. It’s a nice record. It’s romantic and optimistic without being too cheesy. So i’m fond the band that made that record. I don’t know that I can give that band any advice, though. I mean, we toured for that record constantly and a lot of people found out about the band through those tours. I think we did what we could. I don’t know what we could have done anything else. The things that went wrong were pretty much out of control. I guess it would just encourage that band to push harder, to listen to more music. It’s the same advice I would give us today, actually.
RL: When things first started to blow up for you it was on 'In the
Russett Gold of this Vain Hour', a record you made with Simon from the Cocteau Twins. you seemed like you were about to break huge but just then your label at the time 'Risk' fell apart - how do you feel about that looking back and how did it feel at the time?
M:Well, it’s true that the band was getting a lot of attention just before that record was to be released. I think a few factors converged at that moment and created this crescendo of hype, but the music itself was not among those factors. It was teh fact that Simon produced it, combined with risk hiring a competent P.R. guy, that stirred things up. That is my least favourite era of The Autumns, by far. So i’m still glad that it didn’t pan out. Apart from working with Simon – which was a wonderful experience for all of us – I’d prefer to just forget about that era.
RL: The album previous to 'Box of Toys' caused a critical stir,
especially in the UK. Were you surprised that that happened with the musical climate in the UK being very different to what you guys do?
M: I don’t know if we were surprised. We were glad that it was well received. And to be honest, we weren’t really plugged in to the latest developments in the UK music scene. I remember doing an interview with a girl from the BBC around the time of the record’s release. She kept asking me about bands that were all over the charts in the UK and I hadn’t heard of any of them. She finally asked me if I went around wearing ear muffs. But, at the same time, she didn’t seem to know any of the bands I mentioned. I think we were actually listening to a lot more American stuff at that point. The same is true now. So how the music will be received in the UK is always a mystery to us, and we’re often surprised at what we read about ourselves.
RL: OK, on to the album 'Fake Noise From A Box Of Toys' - can you tell us about the experience of writing and recording the new record?
M: Sure. We made it over a period of about two years. We were interested in doing something more raw and aggressive. It didn’t all turn out like that, but that was the basic framework we wanted to work in. We also wanted to identify our own logic and violate it, which is to say that we wanted to root out rules that we were following without realising that that’s what we were doing. I think songwriters lapse into patterns and tropes without knowing that they’re doing it. It’s how people become charicatures of themselves. So we were interested in identifying those rules and then refusing to abide by them. I think that things like ’Clem’ and ’The Beautiful Boot’ emerge as the most successful experiments in that regard, and they’re what I would consider the aesthetic heart of the album. The people who latch into ’Clem’ in reviews are the ones that I feel really understand what we’re up to.
RL: What would you consider the themes of the record, lyrically?
M: Oh I don’t know. I’ve come to believe that lyrics shouldn’t be commented on. The things we’re saying lyrically are put in that form in the first place because they’re not things we feel we can say in normal language. So to comment on them is self-defeating.
RL: 'Boys', the first single is a huge kind of anthem but would you say that is what you're about or are you more comfortable making the more delicate, atmospheric tracks?
I understand the use of the word ‘anthemic’ in describing ’Boys’, bu I think we only see that after the fact. The stuff just happens, you know? For all I know, we’ll make a whole record of anthemic songs the next time around, and we’ll do it without knowing that that’s what we’re doing. That might sound like it contradicts what I said regarding our conscious effort to violate rules, etc. but the rules and the general direction of the records are just a framework. The creative impulse itself is uncontrolled and uncontrived. You don’t know why things pop into your head. They just Come. And they may be anthemic.
RL: For many people in the UK you are a brand new band - how would you describe the music you make to someone who had never heard a note?
M:It’s so difficult to answer this question... I would say it’s loud, noisy, mathy, melodic and sincere. Sometimes all at once, but often not. But I have no confidence in that communicating anything important about our music.
RL: How is the tour coming along, how have the crowds been?
M:It’s been great. We’ve been supporting The Kissaway Trail. They and their crew and unusually cordial and easy to get along with. We’ve really enjoyed being on the road with them and getting to know them as people. Last night we played our final show with them in Paris and it was genuinely bitter sweet. We were really sad to say goodbye. We actually rushed the stage during their last song and joined Hasse, the drummer, in attacking the kit. It was pretty amazing – a perfect way to seal the experience. So on that level alone, it’s been great. The crowds have also been good, though. We reached a lot of people and have gotten quite a bit of feedback, which makes us feel that it’s been very productive. We hope to return very soon.
RL: What's on your ipod playlist right now?
M:Black Eyes, Ex Models, Intelligence, Deerhoof, The Dodos, Bob Ostertag, Blut Aus Nord, Evol Intent.
RL: And to wrap things up, what are your plans once the touring of this record is over? Do you write on the road?
We don’t typically write on the road, not. Some ideas might pop up, but we rarely have time to sit down and pursue them. I’m answering these questions at 3AM. This will be the fourth night in a row that we go to sleep at 3AM and wake up two or three hours later and then trudge through the day like zombies. Sleep deprivation can yield interesting ideas, though. When we get home, we’ll start working on some new things, but the main focus right now is on promoting the new record, recording b-sides, things like that.
So, we thank you again Matthew, and The Autumns for letting us delve into your mind a little! And you can read Rocklouder's take on their new record by clicking here.
Questions written by James O'Connell.
The Autumns Myspace
Buy The Autumns CDs | Buy The Autumns mp3s | Buy The Autumns Tickets | Buy The Autumns Merch
The Autumns. They've recorded one of our favourite albums of the year, and we naturally jumped at the chance to interrogate them when they came through town on tour last week.
Unfortunately, our plans were struck down by a dose of the tonsilitis that everyone in the WHOLE WORLD seems to have right now (indeed, we expect you're reading this from bed while devouring another packet of lockets), so Matthew was kind enough to answer our questions by email very late one night, a few days later...
Rocklouder: Matthew and Frankie, you've been friends since you were kids and you formed the band - tell us about that time when you were just starting out.
Matthew: In a way, it’s inaccurate to say we formed the band when we were kids. Frankie and I started making music together at that time and we’ve stuck together ever since, but it was a very different band. We’re the only ones from that period that are still working together. That’s just a clarification, though. Frankie and I knew each other as boys. His Aunt was my piano teacher for a while and we were on the same baseball team. It wasn’t until our late teens that we connected on the basis of musical interests. We liked Manchester bands, especially The Smiths, Stone Roses, and Trash Can Sinatras. We started writing pop songs on that model and have more or less kept at it ever since, though lots of other influences have been thrown into the mix along the way. This was all happening in a suburb of Los Angeles called Santa Clarita. Ourselves and a few other bands from there created a little scene. The music Frankie and I were making then was nothing to write home about, but we have fond memories of that time. Our songs made us happy and helped us make sense of things, and we’ve tried to continue in that spirit.
RL: Your first release was a decade ago now – The Angel Pool - how do you feel about the band that made that record, would you have any
advice to give them?
M:I like that band. It’s funny, at the same time that we made that record, I can remember having this very sobering and depressing conversation with our bass player. We took home the mastered version, listened to it, and concluded independently of one another that it was a complete catastrophe. We ended up on the phone talking about it, trying to come up with a way to deal with this obvious failure. We concluded that we were just going to have to do better next time and hope no one paid any attention to it. But then it was very warmly received and that made us think twice. It wasn’t until years later that I was able to get any perspective on it. I went back and listened and found that I actually really liked it, especially considering that we wrote it when we were 19 or 20 years old. It was definitely overwrought, which made me cringe a little, but on the whole i think it succeeded. It’s a nice record. It’s romantic and optimistic without being too cheesy. So i’m fond the band that made that record. I don’t know that I can give that band any advice, though. I mean, we toured for that record constantly and a lot of people found out about the band through those tours. I think we did what we could. I don’t know what we could have done anything else. The things that went wrong were pretty much out of control. I guess it would just encourage that band to push harder, to listen to more music. It’s the same advice I would give us today, actually.
RL: When things first started to blow up for you it was on 'In the
Russett Gold of this Vain Hour', a record you made with Simon from the Cocteau Twins. you seemed like you were about to break huge but just then your label at the time 'Risk' fell apart - how do you feel about that looking back and how did it feel at the time?
M:Well, it’s true that the band was getting a lot of attention just before that record was to be released. I think a few factors converged at that moment and created this crescendo of hype, but the music itself was not among those factors. It was teh fact that Simon produced it, combined with risk hiring a competent P.R. guy, that stirred things up. That is my least favourite era of The Autumns, by far. So i’m still glad that it didn’t pan out. Apart from working with Simon – which was a wonderful experience for all of us – I’d prefer to just forget about that era.
RL: The album previous to 'Box of Toys' caused a critical stir,
especially in the UK. Were you surprised that that happened with the musical climate in the UK being very different to what you guys do?
M: I don’t know if we were surprised. We were glad that it was well received. And to be honest, we weren’t really plugged in to the latest developments in the UK music scene. I remember doing an interview with a girl from the BBC around the time of the record’s release. She kept asking me about bands that were all over the charts in the UK and I hadn’t heard of any of them. She finally asked me if I went around wearing ear muffs. But, at the same time, she didn’t seem to know any of the bands I mentioned. I think we were actually listening to a lot more American stuff at that point. The same is true now. So how the music will be received in the UK is always a mystery to us, and we’re often surprised at what we read about ourselves.
RL: OK, on to the album 'Fake Noise From A Box Of Toys' - can you tell us about the experience of writing and recording the new record?
M: Sure. We made it over a period of about two years. We were interested in doing something more raw and aggressive. It didn’t all turn out like that, but that was the basic framework we wanted to work in. We also wanted to identify our own logic and violate it, which is to say that we wanted to root out rules that we were following without realising that that’s what we were doing. I think songwriters lapse into patterns and tropes without knowing that they’re doing it. It’s how people become charicatures of themselves. So we were interested in identifying those rules and then refusing to abide by them. I think that things like ’Clem’ and ’The Beautiful Boot’ emerge as the most successful experiments in that regard, and they’re what I would consider the aesthetic heart of the album. The people who latch into ’Clem’ in reviews are the ones that I feel really understand what we’re up to.
RL: What would you consider the themes of the record, lyrically?
M: Oh I don’t know. I’ve come to believe that lyrics shouldn’t be commented on. The things we’re saying lyrically are put in that form in the first place because they’re not things we feel we can say in normal language. So to comment on them is self-defeating.
RL: 'Boys', the first single is a huge kind of anthem but would you say that is what you're about or are you more comfortable making the more delicate, atmospheric tracks?
I understand the use of the word ‘anthemic’ in describing ’Boys’, bu I think we only see that after the fact. The stuff just happens, you know? For all I know, we’ll make a whole record of anthemic songs the next time around, and we’ll do it without knowing that that’s what we’re doing. That might sound like it contradicts what I said regarding our conscious effort to violate rules, etc. but the rules and the general direction of the records are just a framework. The creative impulse itself is uncontrolled and uncontrived. You don’t know why things pop into your head. They just Come. And they may be anthemic.
RL: For many people in the UK you are a brand new band - how would you describe the music you make to someone who had never heard a note?
M:It’s so difficult to answer this question... I would say it’s loud, noisy, mathy, melodic and sincere. Sometimes all at once, but often not. But I have no confidence in that communicating anything important about our music.
RL: How is the tour coming along, how have the crowds been?
M:It’s been great. We’ve been supporting The Kissaway Trail. They and their crew and unusually cordial and easy to get along with. We’ve really enjoyed being on the road with them and getting to know them as people. Last night we played our final show with them in Paris and it was genuinely bitter sweet. We were really sad to say goodbye. We actually rushed the stage during their last song and joined Hasse, the drummer, in attacking the kit. It was pretty amazing – a perfect way to seal the experience. So on that level alone, it’s been great. The crowds have also been good, though. We reached a lot of people and have gotten quite a bit of feedback, which makes us feel that it’s been very productive. We hope to return very soon.
RL: What's on your ipod playlist right now?
M:Black Eyes, Ex Models, Intelligence, Deerhoof, The Dodos, Bob Ostertag, Blut Aus Nord, Evol Intent.
RL: And to wrap things up, what are your plans once the touring of this record is over? Do you write on the road?
We don’t typically write on the road, not. Some ideas might pop up, but we rarely have time to sit down and pursue them. I’m answering these questions at 3AM. This will be the fourth night in a row that we go to sleep at 3AM and wake up two or three hours later and then trudge through the day like zombies. Sleep deprivation can yield interesting ideas, though. When we get home, we’ll start working on some new things, but the main focus right now is on promoting the new record, recording b-sides, things like that.
So, we thank you again Matthew, and The Autumns for letting us delve into your mind a little! And you can read Rocklouder's take on their new record by clicking here.
Questions written by James O'Connell.
The Autumns Myspace
Buy The Autumns CDs | Buy The Autumns mp3s | Buy The Autumns Tickets | Buy The Autumns Merch
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