Fang Island keep touring non-stop, only one van stolen

[Coheed & Cambria w/ Fang Island & After The Fall] [Monday, 8 p.m.]
[Sokol Auditorium] [$25 in advance, $30 at the doors]

mp3: "Daisy"

[as seen in the Daily Nebraskan]
The guitar is usually an essential part of the 'rock band,' but for Fang Island, the guitar gets taken to a new degree of importance with three-fifths of the band accounted for in their guitar playing.

The Brooklyn, N.Y., band needs little excuse to have fun, and you can really see it in their music with the hand-clap here or there, even a firework intro on their newest self-titled album released in February.

The praised self-titled LP was enough to launch Fang Island to stable touring gigs and far from the thought of ever returning to art school.

The band came together as a school project at the Rhode Island School of Design, where bands like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Les Savvy Fav and the Talking Heads also formed.

I was able to catch up with Fang Island guitarist Jason Bartell while on tour with Matt & Kim.

You guys have a very cool and different dynamic as a band, with, it seems, a lot of focus on music without lyrics and added vocal harmonies. Do you guys do this to be different or just because it's the kind of music you like to play?

I think it's just what we like to play. I think it's came out in a natural way. We try to play music that we like (laughs), so it's fun for us. I mean, I don't think we do it to be different, specifically.

The more music you put out, the more it seems you add these vocal harmonies. It sounds really great. Do you guys plan to keep going on this track, or can you see yourselves getting more lyrical?

I can see us pursuing that more. I think it's sort of been a steady increase since we've started the band. I think we have been trying those waters out. We usually like the results. It's kinda more fun - we've been having more fun with the vocal elements. So I think we'll probably be using it a lot more, exploring that more.

I understand you guys had a tour van stolen this year? Is that right?

Yeah. That was a while back though. That seems like forever ago.

Was that, like, more of a scary situation or more of a funny one?

It was just, uh, ridiculous. I'm actually in that very van right now. We recovered it. Like a week later. But for that one week it was like - it was stolen probably two or three days after we bought it, and uh, we bought it in order to prepare to go to South By Southwest, which was kind of our first tour with this new year and this lineup and everything, so, it was really, really bad timing. So in that sense it was over the top and ridiculous. But we managed to find it two days before we left, so it all came full circle in the end. But it was crazy at the time, yeah.

You guys are located in Brooklyn, but would you consider yourselves a part of the Brooklyn music scene?

I'd say no only in the sense that there isn't - I don't really get the impression that there is a specific Brooklyn music scene, I don't think. There's just so much going on that there can't ever be one specific scene in New York (City). But, no, I don't really - I mean, you know, there's definitely a lot going on there, there's a lot of bands and a lot of, uh - I'd say there's a certain amount of camaraderie, but it can also be a little daunting. I think it prevents any specific scene from arising. But, I mean, we have fun playing there, that's as much as I can really say, in terms of being involved in the area's music.

What urged you guys to make your newest album a self-titled one?

Uh, good question. I think considering just where we were at when we were making it and, it really seemed like it'd be a big release for us in a lot of ways. We didn't really know what was going to happen with it. In some ways there was a lot riding on it, and it was a big step forward, or we thought of it as one. So, I think there was just no real saying or word or phrase that could really, uh, sum it up any better than just naming it after the band and having it be sort of like a "fresh start" kind of record. It seemed to make sense, I guess, long story short.

And that album did a lot to launch you guys, wouldn't you agree?

Uh, I guess so, yeah. Definitely a lot more than the ones before it. I mean, yeah, I think it's been a really fun year for us. It was a big launching pad.

You guys start your tour with Coheed & Cambria one show before your Omaha show after being on tour with Matt & Kim. Are you nervous or anything about the switch-over, or how do you really handle that?

Well I don't know, we just started with Matt &' Kim so it'll be a little while before we play with Coheed, so I don't really know what it's gonna be like. It's hard to say before you start anything. I'm definitely excited about it, I think it'll be a different crowd and different people, but in a positive way. So, we're looking forward to that.

You guys have had the pleasure to tour with some quite notable bands this year: the Flaming Lips, Spoon, the Black Keys; is there any band you've especially enjoyed playing with?

Well definitely the Flaming Lips. I mean, that was just, uh, a once in a lifetime kind of experience (laughs). We went from - none of us had ever even seen them play live, and so the first time I ever saw any of them play anything live was during their sound-check at their first show and then we got to go on and see them like 10 times (laughs again). I watched their full set every single time and it never got boring. It was just like a pleasure, all-around. It was pretty amazing.

Have you guys been working on any new material?

Yeah. We've been pretty much touring non-stop here. So there's very little downtime. We've played new songs in the set. We have stuff kickin' around for sure, I think we're all anxious to start really sitting down and writing again. But we have little doo-dads here and there.

So like a good start on a next album possibly?

Yeah, yeah, I think so, yeah. I'm excited to get into it, early next year probably.

If you were to project how your next album would be, how could you see it comparing to your self-titled album?

(Laughs) It's gonna be 10 times as long. It's gonna be actually a 10-disc set, each one is an hour. Gonna be real concept-y, so I think our goal is to bore everyone, bore the audience to going full-circle to loving us, I guess.

Sounds like a pretty lofty goal.

Yeah, it's pretty up there. We'll get real experimental on it