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| Aberdeen City's Brad Parker, the Rubber Baron |
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| Interviews - Band/Musician | |
| Written by Jenna Bensoussan | |
| Wednesday, 03 January 2007 | |
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Funny, talented and out-of-this world...Aberdeen City's Brad Parker has a lot to say about things.
 Has the extensive tour schedule gotten the best of you?Though we've been touring for most of the year, I think we are still learning how to tour efficiently. There is much to be said for keeping oneself healthy and happy. It is a lifestyle that takes some getting used to. While touring, what do you do to keep yourself entertained on those long trips from city to city? Thanks to modern technology, we spend much of the driving time keeping up with e-mail, managing the various websites and editing music and video. Of course, there are always books and music and we have Sirius radio. There is nothing better for a grumpy musician's morning than the Howard Stern Show. Variety seems to be the key. Which bands would you like to tour with in the future. What do you like so much about them? The Flaming Lips. I could watch them every night, be entertained and learn a great deal. They are incredible showman, competent musicians and earnest people. Your debut album is extremely ambitious because of it's unique sound. Was it always the plan to do something different from what everyone was used to hearing? The sound is completely accidental. We certainly wanted it to be big because that is what moves us, but we didn't set out to create a particular sound. There are certainly people who find our music reminiscent of other bands, but it is neither here nor there for us. We focus on writing the best music we can, scrutinizing every detail in the hopes that good music is good no matter what the listener hears in it. As the album progresses, it's evident that the band begins to experiment with instrumentation a lot more. Was there a time during recording when you felt like you needed to make your sound more distinct? While recording an album, it is difficult to step outside of it to see whether it lacks something, but that is part of what makes the process special and unique. The result is always a mystery. As time wore on in the recording process the world became darker and stranger—a fact reflected in the music, to be sure. However, the songs were not recorded chronologically. The sequencing of the album is based more on flow and balance and represents one of numerous possibilities we considered. Incidentally, the album closer, "Mercy", ends with a percussion breakdown that was recorded on the very last night. Chris had already left, we had the studio for another handful of hours, it was truly 'zero hour'. We went slightly insane and recorded it. Many think "God is Going to Get Sick of Me" is your best song and seem to bypass some of the more versatile tracks on the CD, do you think it gets more credit that it deserves? What's your favorite song and why? We grew up listening to albums, not singles. The Freezing Atlantic is an album that is a rewarding listen from front to back, and if someone only listens to the single, it is their loss. However, the single does attract people to the music who might never have heard it otherwise. My favorite is "Brighton". It is completely satisfying to play live. Which song on The Freezing Atlantic took the most time and effort to perfect? "Brighton". Quite simply, it is a big song—it is a dirigible. We recorded it several times at different tempos. It took days to mix and remix. When you first began recording, did you look to any other bands as a sort of influence in your music? Nobody in particular. I think as individuals we all have role models in the music community. Addressing recording in particular, bands like Pink Floyd and producers like Steve Albini strike us the right way stylistically. They are doing now, or did in the past, things from which we learned a great deal. And a question off topic: What's in your CD player right now? Chad VanGaalen: Skelliconnection. Do you think the band could have been started anywhere besides Boston? It seems like things wouldn't have been the same if you four had met somewhere else. The existence of any band, it seems, is a freak coincidence. It is very difficult to find the right people to play with, but it seems to happen all the time. If we weren't in Boston, running in the same circles at that time in our life the band would have never formed. That being said, there is a high probability that we all would have ended up in different bands. So the existence of Aberdeen City prohibited the existence of several other bands, in a way. If Aberdeen City had never formed, what would you have ended up doing with your life? I would most likely be a rubber baron. Tell me about the first show Aberdeen City played together-- the good and the bad aspects. It was elation and that is really all I can remember—we probably played terribly, in fact, I am almost certain of it. It is one of the few times in my life that I can remember doing something, or experiencing something, that felt so completely right that I knew it would be life changing. It has done that and more. The band announced that new material was in the works, but a next album has not yet been planned; can you give us an update on how much progress you've made? What sort of sound are you going for stylistically? We have many ideas floating around. There is no agenda, no conscious style change in the works. But every time we get into the practice studio the result is different because every song we write has more experience behind it. What does the future hold in store for the band? That is any one's guess. For the time being we will be touring and writing simultaneously. I guess one could call it working. There will have to be a first band to perform live on a commercial space shuttle flight, right?           |
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