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| [Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin w/ The Lonely Forest & Tie These Hands] [today, 9 p.m.] [Slowdown, Omaha] [$10] |
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin.
Yes, it’s a mouth-full. It’s a grammatically satisfying full sentence. It’s the name of a band out of Springfield, Mo.
SSLYBY has recorded three albums over a decade-long career. They’ve been on the radar of the music media ever since recording and self-releasing their debut album “Broom” in 2005.
The band left recording albums in their parents’ houses behind with their newest LP “Let it Sway,” getting production help from Death Cab for Cutie’s Chris Walla and Sparklehorse’s Beau Sorenson. The album was released on the band’s label, Polyvinyl, this past August.
The guys will be coming to Omaha to play the Slowdown on tonight.
I was able to chat with SSLYBY drummer/guitarist/vocalist Phil Dickey after their European tour to talk more about the new album.
How did the Chris Walla/Beau Sorenson production team impact the band and your music with "Let it Sway"?
Well we recorded our first two albums, like our first album was at our parents’ house and the second one was at like our aunt’s house. So those albums are—you could tell that we barely knew what we were doing. So to work with two producers who knew how to make a classic sounding record, it was just awesome. When we were recording on our own, we were still figuring out the proper way to record guitar or drums. Having them work on it, it just makes it sound so much better. They know how to make a classic-sounding record. And when I give our old records to someone who doesn’t really know our story or like know that we recorded on our own, if I give it to like my next door neighbor or my uncle, they’d be kind of confused, like, “Why does it sound like this?” you know? Where as this new record I can give it to like my uncle or my neighbor who’s a cop and they’d be like, “Oh, this is a rock and roll record.” I’m happy we have records that sound completely different from the last record and stuff.
Was the making of this album more time consuming or more intense?
It was kinda more intense in that we had very limited amount of time to do it. We could only afford to be in the studio for a couple weeks. So we did it at a studio in Wisconsin and then we finished it up at Chris Walla’s home studio in Portland. So we were on the clock. It was really intense because we had to do so much per day to get everything done, and one of our members had mono at the time, so it was like stressful in a good way. You know, it’s like when you have to write a paper and it’s dragging, it’s just better to just get it done, and that’s what his kind of felt like. We were just really focusing on getting everything done as fast as we could. And it really did seem like a real band, rather than when we were at our parents’ house taking like a month to record drums on a song because we were just kind of guessing and stuff.
How much time would you say you spent writing and working on the songs before going to the studio?
At least like a year. We spent like a year just doing the writing. I think we all kinda write slow, and we helped each other out. There are three different song writers in our band, and we were helping each other finish songs. It took a while to get the songs ready. And then there are a couple songs on the album that are written, like the guitar parts on the song called “Stuart Gets Lost (Dans Le Metro),” the riff from that song is like 10 years old. So some of the songs were like 10 years in the making. Like “Avatar.” We’re like “Avatar,” ya know?
It was kinda more intense in that we had very limited amount of time to do it. We could only afford to be in the studio for a couple weeks. So we did it at a studio in Wisconsin and then we finished it up at Chris Walla’s home studio in Portland. So we were on the clock. It was really intense because we had to do so much per day to get everything done, and one of our members had mono at the time, so it was like stressful in a good way. You know, it’s like when you have to write a paper and it’s dragging, it’s just better to just get it done, and that’s what his kind of felt like. We were just really focusing on getting everything done as fast as we could. And it really did seem like a real band, rather than when we were at our parents’ house taking like a month to record drums on a song because we were just kind of guessing and stuff.
How much time would you say you spent writing and working on the songs before going to the studio?
At least like a year. We spent like a year just doing the writing. I think we all kinda write slow, and we helped each other out. There are three different song writers in our band, and we were helping each other finish songs. It took a while to get the songs ready. And then there are a couple songs on the album that are written, like the guitar parts on the song called “Stuart Gets Lost (Dans Le Metro),” the riff from that song is like 10 years old. So some of the songs were like 10 years in the making. Like “Avatar.” We’re like “Avatar,” ya know?
With multiple members songwriting, is making music pretty democratic with the band?
Yeah, in a way it is because everyone makes up their own part for a song. But every once in awhile someone will make a part and we’ll be like, “That sounds terrible.” It’s works out like we’re editing ourselves, like peer editing. Every once in awhile it’s awkward because you write a part for a song and you want everybody to like it, and they don’t like it, that really sucks. But yeah, we all just try to get along and write parts everyone in the band will like.
So you were saying one of the guitar riffs in one of the songs was quite a few years old, do you guys hold over material when you don’t put it on an album usually?
Yeah. There were a couple songs that I was hoping would make it on “Let it Sway” that I’d been working on for like two or three years, and I’m still trying to figure them out. So there’s all these old stuff just kinda floatin’ around that could kinda come up on a new record, just depending on when we finish it. And then there are songs that we’ll write at practice, like we’ve been working on some stuff forever individually and in practice we’ll come up with a new part all of a sudden. It’s kind of unpredictable. Some songs take forever to write and some songs happen right away.
What are you most proud of with the new album?
I feel like we made a record that we could kind of play for anyone, like whether it’s a person who like indie music or a person who doesn’t know about indie music. I think that’s my favorite thing about it. You can tell that we made a happy, fun record for everyone. And also, I think there’s some depressing parts—it’s kind of our most well-rounded album.
What brought you guys to re-release your first album "Broom" on Polyvinyl?
When we first signed to Polyvinyl, that’s what they wanted to do. They were really interested in putting it out again, because we’d actually like sold out. We printed it twice, like a few thousand copies, and it kept selling out. So they wanted to re-release it and make the audio sound a little bit better. We were glad we did it, because we went on a tour with a band called Mute Math at that time, so it helped us, we always had records to sell at a show. If we didn’t reprint it, it would’ve been hard to print it ourselves, I guess. And for some reason, to us, the sound from that record is crappy, but for some that’s why people like that record. But I think that’s why Polyvinyl wanted to re-release it and stuff.
So you guys were just on tour in Europe...how were the shows over there?
It was great. That was our third time going over there, and it was by far the best tour over there, like the number of people showing up at shows. I mean, it’s great, we love touring in Europe, it’s a dream come true. Like when we started the band 10 years ago, we never thought we’d play a show outside our hometown, let alone in another state or in another country. So going over there is like a dream come true, it’s awesome.
What does your life consist of back home when you're not on tour?
Just like really normal stuff. Like I got married the end of summer, last summer. And we all have jobs, like real jobs, so we can actually pay bills. Like we work at coffee houses, and I write for the local newspaper. We actually have like really normal lives.
Are there any albums released this year that you've really been digging?
Yeah, one of my favorite records is by this band called Free Energy. That’s one of my favorites. And my sister, her band just put out a record and I think it’s really great.They’re called New Monsters Collective. So I really like that. And I’m just now getting into this Robyn record, “Body Talk Pt. 2.”
Yeah, in a way it is because everyone makes up their own part for a song. But every once in awhile someone will make a part and we’ll be like, “That sounds terrible.” It’s works out like we’re editing ourselves, like peer editing. Every once in awhile it’s awkward because you write a part for a song and you want everybody to like it, and they don’t like it, that really sucks. But yeah, we all just try to get along and write parts everyone in the band will like.
So you were saying one of the guitar riffs in one of the songs was quite a few years old, do you guys hold over material when you don’t put it on an album usually?
Yeah. There were a couple songs that I was hoping would make it on “Let it Sway” that I’d been working on for like two or three years, and I’m still trying to figure them out. So there’s all these old stuff just kinda floatin’ around that could kinda come up on a new record, just depending on when we finish it. And then there are songs that we’ll write at practice, like we’ve been working on some stuff forever individually and in practice we’ll come up with a new part all of a sudden. It’s kind of unpredictable. Some songs take forever to write and some songs happen right away.
What are you most proud of with the new album?
I feel like we made a record that we could kind of play for anyone, like whether it’s a person who like indie music or a person who doesn’t know about indie music. I think that’s my favorite thing about it. You can tell that we made a happy, fun record for everyone. And also, I think there’s some depressing parts—it’s kind of our most well-rounded album.
What brought you guys to re-release your first album "Broom" on Polyvinyl?
When we first signed to Polyvinyl, that’s what they wanted to do. They were really interested in putting it out again, because we’d actually like sold out. We printed it twice, like a few thousand copies, and it kept selling out. So they wanted to re-release it and make the audio sound a little bit better. We were glad we did it, because we went on a tour with a band called Mute Math at that time, so it helped us, we always had records to sell at a show. If we didn’t reprint it, it would’ve been hard to print it ourselves, I guess. And for some reason, to us, the sound from that record is crappy, but for some that’s why people like that record. But I think that’s why Polyvinyl wanted to re-release it and stuff.
So you guys were just on tour in Europe...how were the shows over there?
It was great. That was our third time going over there, and it was by far the best tour over there, like the number of people showing up at shows. I mean, it’s great, we love touring in Europe, it’s a dream come true. Like when we started the band 10 years ago, we never thought we’d play a show outside our hometown, let alone in another state or in another country. So going over there is like a dream come true, it’s awesome.
What does your life consist of back home when you're not on tour?
Just like really normal stuff. Like I got married the end of summer, last summer. And we all have jobs, like real jobs, so we can actually pay bills. Like we work at coffee houses, and I write for the local newspaper. We actually have like really normal lives.
Are there any albums released this year that you've really been digging?
Yeah, one of my favorite records is by this band called Free Energy. That’s one of my favorites. And my sister, her band just put out a record and I think it’s really great.They’re called New Monsters Collective. So I really like that. And I’m just now getting into this Robyn record, “Body Talk Pt. 2.”
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