Aquabear: You folks have been jumping around labels quite a bit lately, your latest release will be coming out on Merge Records. What was the reasoning behind the move to this new label?

Jared: No one else wanted to do it. I don’t think…

Adam: That’s not true. (laughs) It’s just a matter of contracts, I guess. We had the chance to be on a different label so we just went for it.

Jared: We liked Merge’s logo a little better.

Aquabear: Well, you have this new record coming out via Merge entitled Dancer Equired. It’s a definite shift from the sound of your previous records. It’s, for lack of a better word, ‘cleaner’ sounding than the recordings you’ve done in the past. Was this conscious decision, or something that came about naturally?

Jared: You know, you just grow up sometimes. You just get older.

Adam: Yeah, it’s natural. Our first three records were in a basement, our fourth one we moved upstairs…

Jared: Into a living room.

Adam: …this one we got in a car. But we only drove, like, four miles from our house. But all of our mics were busted when we got home so it was just easier…

Jared: I just wanted someone else to do all the monkey crap, plugging microphones in. It was easy, I didn’t have to do anything.

Adam: We still did it with our friend, and the studio—Musicol in Columbus—is amazing.

Aquabear: Could you talk a bit more about that studio? I was initially somewhat surprised you did it there. I’d also heard you split your time between Musicol and the CDR studios.

Adam: Well, we recorded it all at Musicol, and then we did mixing at CDR. Adam Smith [owner of CDR] recorded it all at Musicol.

Aquabear: So was that an interesting experience for you guys? I know they have a fair amount of vintage equipment there…

Jared: Yeah, they’ve got thousands and thousands of dollars worth of microphones and crap like that. And we still sound like crap!

Adam: The last couple of years, Adam [Smith] has been in there fixing up the old mics and everything…

Jared: [Adam] looked like Elvis, he was singing into an Elvis mic. I think he had a pompadour… is that what it’s called?

Adam: It’s still a lot cheaper than what Flood asked for.

Jared: Yeah, and Butch Vig.

Aquabear: Well, you’ve already touched on this a bit, but for a band that’s been predominantly self-recorded throughout your career, was it a challenge going into a studio?

Beth: It was easier…

Jared: It was easy, yeah, I just got drunk… I mean, I got drunk before but…

Beth: Usually Jared has to stress out about the equipment and the recording…

Jared: Well, because nothing ever worked!

Adam: I’d be like “Hey, can we get double vocals?” And he’d go “Can’t do that, man”

Jared: I can’t do double vocals man, I’ve gotta dump it down onto something and then I’ve gotta put it back on VHS tapes, and then I’ve gotta play it through my Big Wheel…

Beth: It was a big weight off of our backs.

Adam: And it was really easy too, because it wasn’t like we were in there with someone we didn’t know who was barking orders at us or anything. It was one of oldest friends in town, so that made it really easy.

Jared: It’s just funny to be in a band for seven years and you just start talking about recording in a studio like it’s this crazy thing.

Adam: It was like in Hoosiers, we had to measure: “There’s still ten feet here, just like back in Hickory.”

Jared: Yeah, Hoosiers. It was like Hoosiers! (laughs)

Aquabear: You guys put out this really beautiful promo video prior to the record’s release—it showed you traipsing through your small Ohio hometowns. Do you feel as if thematically this record touches on that nostalgia for your roots and where you came from, specifically in Ohio?

Beth: We wrote most of the songs while we were touring in the past year, so it’s kind of the opposite of that, or maybe trying to balance a sense of home with never actually being home.

Adam: Yeah, thinking about home a lot when you’re not there. And then we came back and it was summer, I guess we were kind of nostalgic about living in Ohio again.

Aquabear: Speaking of which, you’re a band that has stuck around Ohio when you probably could have moved just about anywhere you wanted to. What about Ohio and Columbus specifically makes it a great place for you to continue making music?

Jared: Well, you know, I don’t want to live that far away from family and stuff like that. I don’t know… I just think everywhere sucks. Everywhere is just as bad as everywhere else. And I would never want to move to Brooklyn—people always ask us, “Why didn’t you guys just move to New York or something?” Because I don’t want to buy a nine dollar beer every night… it’s retarded.

Beth: We like living in a mid-sized city, we were all born and raised in Ohio, and sure we’ve probably at some point had an itch to move, but since we get to travel so much, why wouldn’t we want to live somewhere that’s cheap, where we know everyone, where it’s comfortable?

Jared: And, you know, it’s nine hours to New York—we’re kind of in the middle of the country. Well, maybe not so much…

Adam: And also there’s this idea that people just assume if you’re from a small town or Ohio, that you want to move. But I never imagined myself in a big city, I imagined myself ending up on a farm or something.

Jared: When I was a teenager, Columbus was like this metropolitan, huge major city—and it is a big city—still, where I’m from it’s like, why would I ever need anything else? They’ve got more than one McDonalds in Columbus—I don’t need anything more than that.

Adam: Plus, records are really hard to move…

Beth: Yeah, we all have a lot of records…

Jared: I’m too old for that crap, I’m not gonna move. I don’t have enough energy. I spend enough time in a stupid van.

Aquabear: Well, on the subject of touring, over the past year you’ve toured with the likes of Guided By Voices, Pavement and Superchunk…

Jared: All the classics—you name a famous ’90s indie rock band, chance are I’ve either played with them or met a dude who signed them or something. It’s like Kevin Bacon over here…

Aquabear: Yeah, six degrees of separation from ’90s indie rockers.

Beth: Actually, like one degree.

Jared: One degree of Times New Viking.

Aquabear: What has it been like sharing the stage with these people? Do you have any stories about meeting Robert Pollard or hanging out with Stephen Malkmus?

Adam: They automatically just start hugging us, we’re like the Ohio pride. It’s fun talking to those bands, because you really just end up talking about sports. They like having us around because we don’t ever talk about music.

Aquabear: Yeah, I’ve noticed there’s quite a bit of OSU coverage on the band’s Twitter feed.

Adam: Yup, Cincinnati Reds, OSU…

Jared: Yeah, you don’t really need to ask any of those people anything about music, because I already know what kind of stuff Bob Pollard listens to, I don’t need to ask him.

Adam: It’s really fun too, I think they like us because we’re very small on stage. They don’t have to move their drums or anything.

Beth: We’re real low maintenance.

Jared: The most convenient opening band. Ever.

Adam: And when they say we only get 30 minutes tonight, we get excited.

Jared: We end up getting people to drink too. Bands that probably don’t usually drink as much…

Adam: We got WILD FLAG to party.

Jared: Yeah, we got those girls to go out. Clubbin’.

Aquabear: So, what’s next for you guys? You’re headed to Europe?

Beth: On Tuesday.

Jared: You ever see that movie European Vacation? Just like that.

Adam: I’m excited because I’m actually gonna eat food and sleep.

Jared: Even sleep in a hotel sometimes, that’d be nice! Not some dude’s couch…

Beth: Fresh linens!

Aquabear: Any recording plans?

Adam: We’ve got some stuff… we recorded an EP that will hopefully come out by the end of the year.

Aquabear: Also on Merge?

Adam: Also in a studio, but on a four track. We’re mixing it up.

Jared: Crazy. You can’t do that.

Adam: Those bloggers are not gonna know what to do with themselves.

In anticipation of their show at the Union on Friday, January 14 with Athens’ favorites She Bears and Blithe Field, Aquabear recently chatted with Phantods guitarist Dan Hagquist about the group’s latest release.

Aquabear: 2010 was another stellar year for music from Columbus—not the least of which was your record Creature. What about Columbus makes it a great place to create music?

Dan Hagquist: Columbus is awesome. All the different bands, artists and people here support each other. It makes it feel as though what you are doing is worthwhile. We are happy to be part of such an amazing scene.

AB: Are there any Columbus/Ohio-based groups past or present that you would cite as influences for the group?

DH: We are constantly inspired by Ohio bands and for many different reasons. When Phantods first began, Rancid Yak Butter Tea Party was an influence because they wrote really great music, put on a great live show and were unique. Silencio was a great example of being technical and artistic. Six Gallery proved that ambition can pay off. The Receiver influenced us with their ability to be a local band while sounding like a national act.Those are just a few examples. There are so many other amazing bands in Ohio that are doing great things.

DH: Early on, prior to our first album, we had written a lot of poppier songs, but as we continued to write more our sound naturally moved away from that. By the time we reached the writing of Revival we had began to reintroduce some of those pop elements. Our latest album is the refined progression from that same direction. Each album felt natural in our approach, with Creature feeling like our best representation of us to date.

AB: With the record out in the world, what’s next for Phantods? Will you be doing any national touring or making a stop at SXSW in the coming months?

DH: WORLD DOMINATION. Our next steps are to tour and network. We want to spread the music to as many people as we possibly can. Unfortunately we aren’t able to play SXSW this year but we will be sending Kenan there as our inebriated ambassador.

Brian Harnetty at Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago, IL

Ohio musician and friend of Aquabear Legion Brian Harnetty has been keeping himself pretty busy as of late. This past Friday, he opened a sound installation entitled The Star-Faced One in the Audible Gallery at the Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago. The 60-minute piece features material from the Sun Ra/El Saturn Collection as well as contributions from Fred Lonberg-Holm, Jeff Kimmel, Aaron Butler and Jeremy Woodruff. The installation runs every weekend and by appointment during the week through December 19. We recently sat down with Brian for a few words about his current work and future plans.

Aquabear: In the past you’ve worked with archival recordings from the Berea Appalachian Sound Archives, how did working with the Sun Ra/El Saturn Collection come about?

Brian Harnetty: Experimental Sound Studio (ESS), which houses the collection (and several others) is a great non-profit in Chicago that does a lot with sound art, experimental music, etc. They have a gallery and recording studio, too, and run a year-long series of events called “Outer Ear”. I first met Lou Mallozzi (who runs ESS) through my record label, Atavistic. ESS also did the mastering of my last two albums. ESS is just finishing up the process of digitizing the Sun Ra collection, and to help promote it, they have asked visual artists, writers, musicians and myself to create new works that creatively reinterpret the recordings.

AB: Tell us a little bit about the piece you’ve constructed for this installation—how did you approach working with this material?

BH: Most of the work for this piece was simply listening. It is a huge, rambling collection of recordings that are only loosely held together by the presence of Sun Ra. There are rehearsals, live shows, lectures, answering machine tapes, self-help tapes, recordings off of the TV, etc. I spent a lot of time listening and narrowing down the selections that I thought might be appropriate. I then asked several musicians to play along with the recordings, which I then crafted into the individual parts of the piece. It is a 6-channel installation, so it is easy to be immersed in the sounds and layers when listening to it in the gallery.

AB: You’re obviously no stranger to collaboration—having worked with Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy on your last record—and this project is no different. You’ve got contributions from Chicago stalwarts like Fred Lonberg-Holm and Jeff Kimmel. How did an Ohio-based musician such as yourself come to work with these artists?

BH: Because the archives are housed in Chicago and are mostly recordings from there, I thought it would be great to have at least some of the performers on the piece be from there as well. Fred has done several albums on Atavistic, and generously agreed to perform; Jeff was recommended to me by Fred, and I was inspired by his playing on the Bass Clarinet.

AB: What comes next? Your last two records Silent City and American Winter were very well received both regionally and internationally. Do you have plans to release another record through Atavistic?

BH: Yes. I hope to have The Star-Faced One released on Atavistic next year some time. Atavistic has an ongoing relationship with John Corbett, who was responsible for rescuing and preserving the Sun Ra collection, and together they have released several Sun Ra reissues. Also, another CD/album will be released in early 2011, called Rawhead & Bloodybones, which continues my work with the Appalachian field recordings at Berea College in Kentucky. This album is a series of folk tales from the 1940s as told by children. The combination of their innocence and the often gruesome stories is a great contrast, and I’ve added several instrumental parts to accompany the stories.

In 2007, Adam Torres released his hauntingly perfect album Nostra Nova. Adam performed solo as Nostra Nova and with others (including members of Southeast Engine and Five Deadly Venoms) while continuing to play in Southeast Engine as well. Athens Musician Network called Nostra Nova “the best locally produced record in a decade” adding “this record should be part of every Athenian’s collection.”

Filmmaker and good friend of the Aquabear Brian Wiebe made a video for the song “Breakneck Jane’s Fifteen Minute Escape” from Nostra Nova. Aquabear had a chance to talk to both Adam and Brian about the video and a lot more, you can find the full interview and  after the break.

This was originally published in Aquabear Reader #1 in Spring 2008.

Adam, tell me about the song “Breakneck Jane’s Fifteen Minute Escape”.
Adam Torres: It’s a murder ballad about an escape artist whose stage name is Breakneck Jane. I wrote the song in no more than an hour a couple years ago when I was backpacking in Europe. I had been obsessed with Bob Dylan’s Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts. To me, Dylan’s song is some sort of country western short film in song form. I wanted to do that with Breakneck Jane, but fool around with a different genre. At the time, I was feeling good about what it turned out to be, so that’s how it turned out.

And how did Brian become involved with the making of the video?
AT: When I met Brian about a year or so ago at Casa Cantina, he had told me that he was interested in making a video based on Breakneck Jane’s Fifteen Minute Escape so that’s how it happened to be originally. We became friends and sent e-mails to each other about making a video and it eventually came together. I would like to say on a side note that Brian was the driving force behind this whole project. I did not really do a whole lot except think about wizards and flap my hands like an overgrown chicken. Brian made it all come together in the end and I am amazed at it all.
Brian Wiebe: I expressed my love for his album, and the subject of making a music video came up, but only in very vague terms. I interviewed Adam for a potential Aquabear podcast—that may still see the light of day. Interviewing Adam was a very good experience—he really illuminated the thoughts behind the songs. We kept talking about doing a video in vague terms—until I struck up a conversation with Adam at the Aquabear County Fair 2007. He told me he had seen an old film at Carabar and wanted to do something with “menacing wizards.” He had some different activities for the wizards to do and that got my mind going.

What kind of imagery jumped out at you when hearing the song?
BW: The story that song tells was incredibly vivid in my head. It was all I could see when I listened to the song for the longest time. It really took Adam uttering those magic words –“menacing wizards”–to break me from the spell. The way I said that is ridiculous, but I am completely serious.
AT: The only thing I could think of was black and white photography and silent cinema sort of ideas.

Brian why don’t you tell us about your background in film.
BW: I graduated from the HTC school of film at OU. I focused primarily on narrative film and video, but I have also made some more experimental items. I currently do video work for the farm bureau which pays the bills (sort of). The OU school of film was a great experience—it’s a dysfunctional family, hideous and majestic all in one. I miss it.

What made you want to work on this project Brian?
BW: That’s an easy one—Adam’s amazing, beautiful music. I don’t want to come across as a shameless ego stroker, but that is one of my favorite albums of all time. And Adam backs it up live. If I go on, we will all start blushing.

Each of you should tell me your idea behind the video.
AT: I don’t remember what I was thinking back then. Looking back now I think that I was thinking about wizards, black and white film, super 8mm film, and no visible signs of society in the video. I wanted to have some sort of secret wizard society – I thought it would be fitting if the tone of the video leaned more toward sinister than playful. It turned out to be both…which is great. I was really into the idea of this group of wizards murdering and burying the leading actress (Jane) and I was also into the idea of throwing tires, passing tires, and rolling tires around like sacred cows.
BW: Hard to say. I believe there are a lot of different ways of making films, and–for that matter–great films (which is what all filmmakers want to make).  There are no hard and fast rules. Sometimes being very formal and rigid works, and other times flying by the seat of your pants works.  I have learned to be open to accidents, luck, mistakes. Most of the time I don’t understand the meaning until after the smoke has cleared. I didn’t know what this video was going to look like or what it was going to be about until all was said and done. I think the “method” used in the creation of this video really lent itself to that idea. We had costumes, scenarios, and rules in mind, but no shot list that was set in stone. It was really a documentary approach. Also, it should be noted that Ryan Bajornas, the cinematographer, brought so much to this video.

Why wizards?
BW: That’s on Adam.
AT: Wizards are concrete, powerful, and interesting folklore figures. The recording of Breakneck Jane has a mystical quality to it, I think, and the idea and concept of a secret wizard community fit well with the tone of the song.

There also seems to be an underlying theme of nature in the video, was that intentional?
AT: Yes, that was intentional. One of our objectives of the film was to create a removed little fantasy world. I expressed to Brian that I thought in order to do that we should not have any recognizable landmarks or hints of the real world.
BW: This came about for a couple of reasons. Adam didn’t want anything modern in the video; anything that people would immediately reference as part of there day to day life—a car for example. Nature is really the only escape from that. Rocks, water, smoke, and various elements became the props. Some modern elements managed to sneak into the video, but a lot of those were referencing water or air, balloons for instance. And again, Ryan Bajornas played a big role in this. As I mentioned, we had scenarios in mind but we took sort of a documentary approach. A lot of times, I would be positioning people or getting them in costume, and Ryan would be rolling on all the bugs, grass, etc. that surrounded us. Also the video was shot in stages, so after I watching some footage, I would say to myself, “Well that water splashing looked amazing, why don’t I go get some more of that!” So that is sort of how it came about being captured, but how it came to be a theme goes back to the idea I was talking about of the meaning revealing itself after the fact. I want people to take away from this video whatever they want, but for me it really came to be about the destruction of purity. Man versus nature or perhaps his own nature. There is also the whole idea that an act of destruction is an act of creation. Humanity has a love/hate relationship with explosions.

How did you get people involved? Were the actors professional?
AT: All of the casting was voluntary and were friends of Brian or me. I was surprised to see how many people were willing to dress up as wizards, jump out of trees, swim in the river, etc. The acting was also surprisingly good. I might be wrong but I don’t think we had any professional actors here but the performances were great…especially Sherri Oliver who played Jane.
BW: No actors were members of the screen actors guild, but some of them sure could be. Everyone was a friend. Sherri ended up as the main character by accident—she was there to help and be a wizard, but she ended up being ‘Jane’ because the dress fit her. She was amazing. Most of the time I said “wizards,” and people responded with a, “hell yeah, I want to be a wizard!”

What were some of the places you shot at?
AT: Brian knows this better than me. I was only at two of the shoots. I don’t know how many shoots he did but I know he did a good bit of filming. I was at Stroud’s Run – it was just Brian and me for that one and I was also at a shoot out off of Second Street here in Athens.
BW: My good friend JJ, an MVP wizard, suggested his parents’ place outside of Athens. It was a great spot. Another place was Stroud’s Run. Another place is where I now live—along the Little Miami River.

There were other songs and performances shot around the same time period as the “Breakneck Jane” video, how did that come about?
AT: The original idea was to just make a video for Breakneck Jane but as the filming progressed I thought it would be a good idea to shoot more footage of me playing some of the Nostra Nova songs solo at an old strip mine in Meigs county. Brian was great…and went along with the idea.
BW: I think these came about because we wanted to have some other items to go with the video—we wanted people to go home happy.

Were the songs chosen specifically?
AT: Not really…I thought about the songs maybe the week of the shooting or so. There is a song on the DVD that is not on the Nostra Nova album called Como un Pato – and that song was chosen specifically for this DVD (and was a main reason why I wanted to shoot these solo songs).

I understand there is a DVD for “Breakneck Jane” complete with all of the other videos. Tell us more about that and how to get a hold of one…
AT: Ok. They will be available at four places. One is at Nostra Nova shows. Two is at Haffa’s Records in Athens. Three is at Donkey Coffee in Athens. Four is online at myspace.com/nostranova. Just e-mail me there and I will send a DVD in the mail. They are seven smackers, unless you want to make a deal with Brian or me.
BW: Go to an Adam Torres/Nostra Nova show. Go to the Aquabear Legion website. Go to Donkey. Go to Haffas. And if none of those work, give me a call at 740 590 4338.

What are you working on next?
BW: I am currently working on a performance piece/documentary about the Aquabear Legion County Fair. I also want to get back into narrative filmmaking. I’m working on an idea called “Butt Smoker” which I hope to have Adam involved in. I’d like to work with Adam again for sure. I would like to record some more music under my ‘Bukskin Lubershine’ moniker. I want to start a web page for all of my work to date. I want to paint more.  I have some other ideas/potential projects, but I don’t know what will stick. I can’t guarantee any of these items or set a timetable or anything like that. Time is relentless pursuing us all—sleep on that one. I need some more coffee.
AT: I spend most of my time with Southeast Engine these days but…we’ll see. There might be some surprises for Nostra Nova in 2008. No promises..

It should be noted that an original idea for the interview was for me to send Stephen questions and then he would get really, really drunk and leave me voicemails answering them late at night. I thought it was a great idea, but the logistics fell apart  a bit after 13 voice mails and a lack of a good transcribing system. I am including some of the voicemail ramblings, which include contributions from: Stephen, Shea Stanley (a local hobo witch doctor who as of press time is not in the band), and Ryan  (who is in the band). Other folks left some messages too sorry if you were left out, also not all of those messages are transcribed here..

Interview after the break….

So what’s the deal with She Bears?
Stephen Pence (sober): We enjoy playing music together. We’re all close friends and it’s a lot of fun to get together and make music. We’re looking to do as much as we can with what we have.

What do you like about playing and/or living in Athens and Ohio?
Stephen (sober): Athens has a lot of great venues. The music scene is thriving and every band seems to be supportive of each other. There’s a lot of camaraderie between the bands in Athens.
Stephen (drunk on voicemail): I get real drunk. Real drunk. And I like the fact that I can walk where I want drunk as a “scaler” (eidtor’s note: I believe Stephen meant sailor.) and it works every time. Every time.

What are your influences? Any local ones?
SP (sober): Each member has their own unique influences. Modest Mouse and Neutral Milk hotel were big influences with Stephen and what he is doing now, as well as, Kaslo, Russenorsk, and Casual Future being really inspirational when we started out.

Favorite show you have ever played?
SP (sober): There’s not a specific show that stands out.  Each show seems to get better, and it’s always an adventure.
Shea Stanley (drunk on voicemail): Easily, the one in the Superdome in Dallas, Texas. New Orleans. New Orleans, Texas.
SP (voicemail): I am so f*%$%#ing sorry.
SP (voicemail): I have this thing in my life where nothing seems real outside of two weeks of where I am, which is a problem for the future but also a problem for the past. I like the last one, because I had fun and got to dance and sing.
Ryan Franz (voicemail): A House show at the Superdome with Kaslo and Lohio…I fell asleep and dreamed while playing.

Talk about your new record. Now.
SP (sober): Overall, the record has a lot of energy. The songs have been written over a period of almost two years so you can hear a progression from how we started to the way we are now. So far, it’s been received well by people who’ve heard it, and we’re really proud of all the songs.
SP (voicemail): I am confused what about our new record. I am confused. Hold on. Brian, this is stephen.
SS (voicemail): It is compact disc format, and contains roughly 10 songs. A parmanout to all that is parpadigigim, persepolis, miami, I think I am going to throw up.

How was it working at 3 Elliott with Josh?
SP (sober): Wonderful! He was able to capture our sound. We tracked the drums, bass, and guitar all live and recorded on tape. We couldn’t imagine it sounding any other way. Through the whole process, Josh was really excited and encouraging, which made us even more proud of the work we were doing.
SP (voicemail): I want Josh to adopt me, that is my plan for my entire life. I am banking on Josh Ant. raising me as his son, I just want to be a little Nutch. That’s all. He recorded our music while we were playing it. We talked about things that mattered to us.
RF (voicemail): Josh was amazing. He could tell what we wanted it to sound like even if we didn’t know.

What’s the plan now?
SP (sober): We’ve got four shows coming up this fall. We want to send the album out to as many labels as we can and tour in the summer. We’re really hoping to release an EP sometime in the winter.
SP (voicemail): Banking on Mega Millions this week is ___ dollars. I am going to buy a big fu&*#ing boat. She Bears loves boats. I am gonna park it in a small pond. A big boat in a small pond and we will practice there. I wanna be Steve Albini.

Tell people to come to your show.
SP (sober): Come to Casa Thursday, October 15th. It’s free! Be there or be square!
RF (voicemail): People should come because we are a lot less broing than we used to be. It’s more of a rock show.

If I could give you anything right now what would it be?
SP (sober): You could take away the un-boner that you’ve given me.
Teddy (voicemail, I think its Teddy): Corporate contract with Universal records, music isn’t that good until a producer from a large label comes in and tells you how to play your songs. They can turn you into a radio band. So we can get millions of dollars from the record company.
SP (voicemail): Half-she-bear and half-aquabear baby. Then the baby is two things. I would also like some romance every once in a while.

Find out more about She Bears at www.myspace.com/shebearsband