By: Alex Roland
An upbeat crowd of various fans, friends and family expanded throughout the venue, swaying, headbanging and having a regular good time. Eugene’s WOW! Hall was alive this Mother’s Day with the sounds of the Science Heroes, Ruth, Archaeology and Falling Up on the last day of Falling Up’s Fangs Tour. The crowd was relatively laid-back throughout the show but talkative between sets. The concert started with the Eugene-based indie-electronica Science Heroes who entertained with a musical mixture of electric guitar, dancing and electronic emulations of drums, keyboards and a variety indefinable sounds. Ruth, from Washington, played alluring music; a romantic and charming slow-paced rock. Most people had arrived by the time Portland’s own Archeology graced the audience with their jubilant indie music “about the apocalypse with boyish vocals” and exotic instruments such as a glockenspiel. Falling Up forced the rest of the crowd on its feet for a captivating show dominated by a near-studio sound quality, but containing an impressively full and dynamic live effect. It was all too easy to get lost in the music and lose touch with the tangible world. But after a group of two or three songs, frontman Jessy Ribordy would reel the audience back to reality with his ridiculous jokes mixed with an aloof demeanor.
Not surprisingly, such a dramatic change in the band’s sound resulted in the loss of some old fans and the making of some new ones. Nevertheless, new and old fans alike came to see Falling Up in Eugene. And after the show I sat down with Ribordy and guitarist/keyboardist Miller to talk about the past, present and future of their band.
Alex Roland: How has your use and expression of imagination progressed from Crashings to Fangs?
Jessy Ribordy: Well, I originally wanted to do concept records starting with Crashings but it was kind of late in the game when I started writing so I just didn’t get to finish the story, or whatever. And then going into the other records it was kind of the same story. I tried, but with the band and the different ideas between managers and the label and stuff the concept never came out. As far as like the imagination aspect, it was a lot more clear on the new record because we had a little bit more freedom… well, a lot more freedom musically and [with] what we want to do with our music. So, that was kind of the progression… just a lot of freedom that we ended up having, which is a good thing.
AR: What is the significance of the use of color in music videos such as "Escalates"and "Moonlit"?
Jeremy Miller: Well, “Escalates,” that was Derek Dale’s idea. He was the director.
JR: Yeah.
JM: That was a concept somebody else wrote for it. I forget… do you remember what the blue had to do with it?
JR: It was… actually, no. I think it was just a color they thought would be cool. And then “Moonlit,” that director didn’t even see “Escalates” before and he was like “well let’s make a video where the red stands out.”
JM: Well, that director, he drew a lot of inspiration from the movie Hero and that movie had a lot of different color themes to it. And he really had a big inspiration from that film and thought [color themes] would be cool in a music video.
AR: Will the continuation of Fangs take more forms than just your next album?
JR: Um, yes, it will. And actually, to be honest, the next album is probably going to be a little bit more, like it will still be within the concept, but it’s going to be a little bit more personal, which is something we’ve never done before. Like, a personal record about issues that are in our lives and that’s going to come up in the story. So I guess it won’t take more forms than a record; it will stay in that musical format but it’s gonna [expand beyond just the fictional story].
AR: Why did you set Fangs on a different planet but keep a[n Ancient Greek] culture from Earth? Why did you create that parallel back to this planet?
JR: Basically, it’s that idea of having something that’s familiar but a history that’s not…. Well, here’s the thing: Oregon is really neat because it’s not old, like our history doesn’t go back that far. So I like the fact that we don’t really have a history so it’s kind of this weird, new idea. It’s cool because the world is open to discover new kinds of history and that’s kind of what I wanted… a new history. An idea that’s familiar to us so we can connect to it because it’s close to us, but it adds more history and depth when it’s imagining something completely different.
AR: I know you’ve been asked about the spiritual undertones of Fangs, but is there a connection between your beliefs as a Christian band and your references to Ancient Greek polytheism in the album?
JR: Yes, there is. And back in the day, [with] the myths and stuff, other than what they teach nowadays, they make it seem separate. But really that was their searching for something spiritual, even though [they believed in a bunch of gods]. But you can tell, they’re searching for something. And that’s kind of what this record is about in regards to any spiritual connotations. It’s like, searching for answers starting with a quest. And it starts with deciding to search instead of just assuming or reading something and believing it. So, it’s really deciding to search and that’s where the spiritual connotations and parallels come in. And in everything I do and everything we [the band] do, it does bleed though. Like spiritual ideas and things like that, regardless of if it’s through things we’re interested in like books or literature or even if it’s by our own beliefs and opinions, it bleeds through.
AR: What is the Albany music scene like and how has Oregon in general shaped your music?
JR: Well, Albany was awesome and then it kind of became not awesome.
JM: And then we grew up and people left.
JR: And all the local bands. Well, there weren’t a whole lot of local bands from Albany. We were really one of the only ones that came out of Albany, so to speak, at that time. And then other ones came. It had its days. But then, of course, Oregon influence… everything from nature to, like I said, the historical stuff… that has a huge influence. But Albany…plus, we all moved away.
JM: Plus, our only good venue stopped having shows.
AR: So how often do you have shows in Albany?
JM: We actually have one coming up in June.
JR: But that one’s our first in like three years.
AR: What do you like or dislike about playing Eugene; what do you like about the city?
JR: Well I like Eugene.
JM: I’m a duck fan. [Laughing], the city’s cool [but] I don’t know much about it. There’s that college atmosphere that we missed out on growing up. So it’s good to taste that every once in a while, you know?
JR: Yeah.
JM: The excitement. There’s a lot of weirdos here too.
JR: [Laughing] they’re cool.
AR: How did you come up with the various images and stories you use for your video journals?
JR: I wanted to do video journals that kind of connected with the music and gave insights. But I don’t have the best quality of video production for my computer. So I just kind of have to make up stuff as I go. So some of them have been kind of like jokes and some of them have been [serious]. I just like to mess around and see how… we used to make more videos more often but I’ve always wanted a handheld camera. Mine broke a long time ago. So I want to get one because that would change my world as far as [video-making] goes. I try my best to do, and I have done, some original music just for those videos but I haven’t really spent a lot of time doing a whole bunch.
AR: There was one… I think it was the second video journal before Fangs came out.
JR: The Discoveratory one?
AR: Yeah.
JR: Yeah, that one I wrote the synth[esizer music] just for that video. It was kinda fun.
AR: What are your future plans beyond the release of your remix album?
JR: We are going to do some shows here and there. We don’t really have any tours planned unless stuff comes up. We love playing and our producer, Casey [Crescenzo], he’s like already pressing me to write for another record. So it might be soon. I’d like to do it soon, I mean, we have two more records on our contract and I’d like to see how free we can get in the next year or so. I wouldn’t be surprised if we popped out two in the next year and a half.
JM: I think we’re all trying to… we’ve been doing the band for seven years. We’re 25 [and] 26, so it’s time to see what a career can be like.
JR: It’s fun to be able to come back to do a band together that’s just fun to play and record music.
JM: And [each of our side-projects] are all intertwined with music too, I guess. Jessy could make a sweet music video, I could make a website and [the drummer] Josh could mix our record. So maybe one day we’ll do it all in-house and we won’t need anybody’s help.
JR: [Laughing] we don’t need anybody!
Falling Up will play a show in Portland next month with Forgive Durden, Archeology and others. Right now Fangs is available in stores, along with their five previous albums. Later this year a remix album is expecting release.
No comments:
Post a Comment