>>PREVIEW
TRANS AM
Thursday, April 26
The Warehouse
Sebastian Thomson, the spry 34-year-old drummer for Trans Am, is quickly putting on his shoes. The multinational trio has recently come together from their separate corners of the world to start rehearsing for their international tour. Only setting up a few hours ago, they've already written new material that they're excited about. Sneakers on, Thomson leaves the practice space for our interview. Phil Manley is still making cool sounds by noodling on his guitar with bassist Nathan Means looking on.
This particular day marks the release of Trans Am's eighth album, Sex Change. Since their self-titled debut in 1996, all of Trans Am's releases have come out on the legendary record label, Thrill Jockey. Released on CD and a limited edition vinyl format, Sex Change shows more of what the band has become famous for - innovative post-rock instrumentals with deeply cerebral and hooky elements.
Masters of looking sideways at rock and synth genres and collecting an array of tangential elements to play off, Trans Am dependably cook up cleverly engaging pieces of music. As Thomson explains, for the last 14 years, the band has been obsessed with the man-machine paradigm. Their testosterone-heavy music is known for robotic rhythms, but it also sweats with human intensity. Thus, the non-robotic title, Sex Change. They chose the biological title because the band wanted to remind people they're not robots. They're fans of rock. Sorta.
"Rock music is preposterous in a way," admits Thomson with a laugh. "Especially in the past, we were obsessed with the idea of how you could play Van Halen without the guitar solos and without David Lee Roth. We were like, what would that sound like?
"We're definitely conscious of the rock clichés. We have a strange relationship with that where we love them and hate them at the same time. We're paying homage, but also being a little ironic about it. But we do like rock music. It's not a complete joke at all. It's just, you know, having a little bit of a sense of humour."
A sense of humour indeed. While recording Sex Change, Trans Am developed Obscene Strategies - their cheeky counterpart to Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies (1975). A deck of cards featuring suggestions, Oblique Strategies was created by Eno and his painter friend Peter Schmidt to use to become unstuck when facing a dilemma or deadline.
Eno's deck includes suggestions like "Honour thy error as a hidden intention" and "What would your closest friend do?" Trans Am's strategies include "Check your e-mail," "Rip off black musicians," "Leave the studio unlocked overnight" and "Pillow fight!"
Thomson concedes that these guidelines weren't always effective, but hop-scotching between three different studios was exceptionally effective. They didn't have an opportunity to get sick of the studio because they were always moving to a different location. Their travels took them across the US to New Zealand to different studios near each band mate's new hometown.
Once based in Washington, D.C., the band is presently scattered across the globe. Manley is based in San Francisco, where he plays in The Fucking Champs (Drag City) and Oneida (Brah/Jagjaguwar). Means, a new father, relocated to Auckland, New Zealand. Thomson took advantage of his grandfather's British citizenship, acquired a British passport and resides in England working on his other projects (Publicist, Weird War, Dead Kids).
Due to their newfound space and shaking up their routines, the trio was recharged prior to recording Sex Change. At the beginning of their career, Trans Am were speeding along, releasing an album each year until 2000’s Red Line. After Red Line, they took two years between recording the following two albums. They took a three-year break before recording Sex Change.
"We were going so full-on for so long that we just couldn't keep it up – the time commitment. And also, we were all living in Washington. It was maybe three or four years ago now that we just kind of exploded. Liberation (2004) was the last album recorded in D.C. in our studio. At that point in time, we were just like, we need something else.
"We used to live together, we used to share houses, we used to tour constantly – a lot of closeness. We needed a bit of time apart, actually – that was the biggest challenge. Now, probably the biggest challenge is maybe a financial one. I don't really know if the music market is the same as it was. I know people buy CDs who want the artwork, but that's not 100 per cent of the people. For everyone who uses iTunes and pays, there's 10 people who use LimeWire. I understand it in a way because music is too expensive, that's true, but unfortunately, it makes us poor."
Regrettably, there isn't a single card in either Oblique or Obscene Strategies to deal with people downloading albums instead of buying them. In the meantime, the prolific and fully committed trio will persevere.
"We just set up a couple hours ago," says Thomson, referring to the band practice he just left. "Immediately, we wrote a new song. We still have some creative energy."
David Lee Roth would be proud. |
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