>>PREVIEW
SLED ISLAND FESTIVAL
Spoon
Friday, June 29
MacEwan Hall (U of C)
"I don’t really do anything," confesses Britt Daniel, the otherwise deeply inspired singer and songwriter of Spoon, on the subject of his non-musical time. "I need a hobby."
If there has been one mainstay in the blond, blue-eyed songwriter’s life, it has been his obsession with music. Early memories include repeated requests for his father to place the soundtrack to 2001: A Space Odyssey on the family turntable. Records by the Bee Gees and The Beatles sparked his first daydreams of becoming a musician. In high school, he fell in love with a girl and her Cocteau Twins’ albums and soon became a musician.
"I was not that popular (in high school)," admits Daniel without hesitation. "I was kind of a dick, insecure, not really very good at expressing to people the ways that I liked them or expressing appreciation. I was totally into music and bands or in a band.
"I couldn’t really write songs very good back then. I got a four-track when I was 18 and that’s when I started really spending time on writing songs and figuring out how to record things and… I just wasn’t very good to start. It took me awhile to write a song that I would play today."
Over 15 years later, Daniel has become a critically acclaimed master of his craft. His devotion to songwriting has resulted in some of the most memorable and intelligent pop songs of the college and indie rock genre. After plucking the band name from a cut off of Can’s 1972 release Ege Bamyasi (1972) in the early ’90s, Spoon shot off with a bang with their debut Telephono (1996), followed by Series of Sneaks (1998), the heart-aching Girls Can Tell (2001), Kill the Moonlight (2002) and then the stunning Gimme Fiction (2005).
Daniel’s love affair with music is observed by his tireless work ethic – not to mention his earnest desire for a hobby. His drive inspires those around him — particularly, his longtime right-hand man in the studio: producer, engineer and mixer Mike McCarthy.
"Seriously, Britt works harder than anyone I know," says McCarthy emphatically after admitting that his friend simply fascinates him. "He has continually upped himself in all areas including writing, voice and overall musicianship. Britt cares – that means (a lot to) me, because I feel the need to put everything I have into it as well."
Alongside Jim Eno (drums), Eric Harvey (piano and keyboards) and Rob Pope (bass), Daniel certainly poured it all into Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Spoon’s European label mischievously jokes "pronounce it chk chk chk."). The band’s sixth full-length album is a triumphant successor to Gimme Fiction. A gleaming wonderland of inventive pop rock music, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is an extraordinarily captivating listen. Chock full of curious little sonic treasures and subtle atmospheric flourishes, it’s obvious that there’s acute attention to detail in the recording process, but it never sounds overcooked. The album includes the Motown-flavoured hit "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb" to the pop perfection of "My Little Japanese Cigarette Case" and lead single "The Underdog."
After all the success Spoon has achieved, there’s still a twinkle of teenage wonder inside Britt Daniel. "(Years ago) when I heard that Gerard Cosloy from Matador was into us, I thought that was pretty great. That meant a lot to me, because I respected so much the bands he was putting out. I figured if he likes us, then we must be on to doing something good." |
Copyright ©2007 FFWD. All rights reserved.