TUE., JULY 07, 2009
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eMusic Selects Q&A: The Rural Alberta Advantage Pt. 2
by Yancey Strickler
Yancey: I wanted to ask about a couple songs in particular, my favorites. I wanted to ask about "Frank AB," which is a very good song, and "In the Summertime," which I also adore. I was just curious to hear whatever you have to say about those songs.
Nils: Well, for one, "Frank AB" took forever to write. We made so many variations on it. As for the song itself: I'm not sure — you could probably find it online — but the town of Frank was the site of a mining disaster in the early 1900s. So it was a mining town and one early April morning, or something like that, the whole mountain just slammed, just went on top of a mining town and because it was a migrant mining town they never really managed to find all the bodies or know how many people were actually trapped under the rubble. And about twenty years or so after the mining disaster they were still recovering bodies.
Going to Frank is one of these school trips that you'd end up spending the night as a kid. I didn't actually get that; it was way too far away. But I did spend a summer there with my uncles. And it's just this kind of an eerie place; you've got this tourist center of a mining disaster, and it's just thousands and thousands of tons of rock. It's a ghost town, and that's where the song came from. Just the idea of being trapped in a situation like that.
Yancey: That was a way better answer than I could have ever hoped for! And what about "In the Summertime"?
Nils: That one, it's more of just — It's just really a break-up song, I guess. It also took me a while to write that one. It takes me a long time to write songs, so it may be about several different break-ups. It's just having a situation where maybe you lose a chance and something happens and you run out of time with something you never… This is a shitty answer. I'm always really bad about answering questions about songs.
Yancey: No, that's great! Paul or Amy, do you have anything to say about this?
Amy: I know it's weird because we hear them so many times, but it wasn't until we finished recording and I had one of the final mixes on my iPod and Nils was like, "Listen to it and let me know if there's anything we need to change." It was only then that I felt like I actually heard the song, so it's hard for me to talk about what it means because I often don't think about it until I'm listening to it objectively, like I'm not even part of it. It's really strange that way.
Yancey: So you can put yourself in a place where you can listen objectively or relatively so?
Amy: I can, yeah. I did. I don't know how. Because I never could before. Any other bands I'd ever been in I could never, ever, ever listen to things ever again. But this record I can. I still do listen to them sometimes and I don't listen to it like, "Ooh! That's me!" I listen to them because I do think they're good songs. I hate to brag about our band but I like this music.
Yancey: As a band do you guys have a favorite song?
Nils: I'm trying to think. Do you guys have any off the top of your heads?
Paul: I love "Deathbridge."
Amy: I love "Deathbridge," too. I really like playing "Edmonton" live just because it's fun; Paul and I interplay a lot with the percussion. I like "Rush Apart." It's a really energetic one. Playing live, I like that song. It makes me jump around.
Paul: I really enjoy "Frank," just playing it. I think of all the songs, it just really worked out so I think that's probably my favorite.
Yancey: So "Frank" and all this leads me to ask another question, which is to talk about Neutral Milk Hotel, which has obviously influenced the RAA. And I think a lot of it comes from your voice, Nils. So I'm just curious how much of a Magnum fan are you? Is this a voice that you found for yourself that happens to be the same?
Nils: It would be impossible for me to say that they weren't in some way an influence because I love In the Aeroplane, and there's something that caught me about the album, first listening to it. I've always been a fan of non-singer singers, people who to me sound great but other people might be, "No, no. That's not a singing voice." I'm not really sure if I try to sound like him, try to sound like Jeff Magnum. I think it's more that there's something about listening to it — there's believability, like he's about to just die. I think that's what sort of caught me about it and what I've always tried to do with the singing. I'm usually playing a lot of the same chords over and over again in all the songs we play, but just moving the capo around.
Paul: Don't reveal that! [Laughs]
Nils: I don't know if I really addressed anything.
Yancey: That was good. The Neutral Milk Hotel thing, I think that you guys exist independently of them but obviously what I was first excited about when I listened to you guys with Neutral Milk Hotel being such an enormous band and so important to so many people and yet I don't think there are that many bands that sound like them. I think part of that is what you're getting at Nils with Magnum being, there being such a sincerity and desperation to how he performs even on record. That's something that you can't really imitate that it's where your music is coming from. And I think there's a — this is going to sound really cheesy but I think there's a vulnerability to you, at least to the record, that is very tangible and a rare quality.
Nils: I know, from having read certain things, that people think this about us. It's flattering that people would think of it like that, but at the same time I hope people don't just feel like, "Oh, yeah. Just another one of those things someone's trying to do."
Amy: I remember talking to Nils after we finally got the record and I listened to it all the way through the first time. And I remember talking to you and saying, "You know my favorite part about the record is that I believe you. I believe in what you're saying. I totally buy it." And I think you're right, I think that's a hard thing to find in artists, especially on record. Just the total conviction in what they're singing.
Nils: Well, for one, "Frank AB" took forever to write. We made so many variations on it. As for the song itself: I'm not sure — you could probably find it online — but the town of Frank was the site of a mining disaster in the early 1900s. So it was a mining town and one early April morning, or something like that, the whole mountain just slammed, just went on top of a mining town and because it was a migrant mining town they never really managed to find all the bodies or know how many people were actually trapped under the rubble. And about twenty years or so after the mining disaster they were still recovering bodies.
Going to Frank is one of these school trips that you'd end up spending the night as a kid. I didn't actually get that; it was way too far away. But I did spend a summer there with my uncles. And it's just this kind of an eerie place; you've got this tourist center of a mining disaster, and it's just thousands and thousands of tons of rock. It's a ghost town, and that's where the song came from. Just the idea of being trapped in a situation like that.
Yancey: That was a way better answer than I could have ever hoped for! And what about "In the Summertime"?
Nils: That one, it's more of just — It's just really a break-up song, I guess. It also took me a while to write that one. It takes me a long time to write songs, so it may be about several different break-ups. It's just having a situation where maybe you lose a chance and something happens and you run out of time with something you never… This is a shitty answer. I'm always really bad about answering questions about songs.
Yancey: No, that's great! Paul or Amy, do you have anything to say about this?
Amy: I know it's weird because we hear them so many times, but it wasn't until we finished recording and I had one of the final mixes on my iPod and Nils was like, "Listen to it and let me know if there's anything we need to change." It was only then that I felt like I actually heard the song, so it's hard for me to talk about what it means because I often don't think about it until I'm listening to it objectively, like I'm not even part of it. It's really strange that way.
Yancey: So you can put yourself in a place where you can listen objectively or relatively so?
Amy: I can, yeah. I did. I don't know how. Because I never could before. Any other bands I'd ever been in I could never, ever, ever listen to things ever again. But this record I can. I still do listen to them sometimes and I don't listen to it like, "Ooh! That's me!" I listen to them because I do think they're good songs. I hate to brag about our band but I like this music.
Yancey: As a band do you guys have a favorite song?
Nils: I'm trying to think. Do you guys have any off the top of your heads?
Paul: I love "Deathbridge."
Amy: I love "Deathbridge," too. I really like playing "Edmonton" live just because it's fun; Paul and I interplay a lot with the percussion. I like "Rush Apart." It's a really energetic one. Playing live, I like that song. It makes me jump around.
Paul: I really enjoy "Frank," just playing it. I think of all the songs, it just really worked out so I think that's probably my favorite.
Yancey: So "Frank" and all this leads me to ask another question, which is to talk about Neutral Milk Hotel, which has obviously influenced the RAA. And I think a lot of it comes from your voice, Nils. So I'm just curious how much of a Magnum fan are you? Is this a voice that you found for yourself that happens to be the same?
Nils: It would be impossible for me to say that they weren't in some way an influence because I love In the Aeroplane, and there's something that caught me about the album, first listening to it. I've always been a fan of non-singer singers, people who to me sound great but other people might be, "No, no. That's not a singing voice." I'm not really sure if I try to sound like him, try to sound like Jeff Magnum. I think it's more that there's something about listening to it — there's believability, like he's about to just die. I think that's what sort of caught me about it and what I've always tried to do with the singing. I'm usually playing a lot of the same chords over and over again in all the songs we play, but just moving the capo around.
Paul: Don't reveal that! [Laughs]
Nils: I don't know if I really addressed anything.
Yancey: That was good. The Neutral Milk Hotel thing, I think that you guys exist independently of them but obviously what I was first excited about when I listened to you guys with Neutral Milk Hotel being such an enormous band and so important to so many people and yet I don't think there are that many bands that sound like them. I think part of that is what you're getting at Nils with Magnum being, there being such a sincerity and desperation to how he performs even on record. That's something that you can't really imitate that it's where your music is coming from. And I think there's a — this is going to sound really cheesy but I think there's a vulnerability to you, at least to the record, that is very tangible and a rare quality.
Nils: I know, from having read certain things, that people think this about us. It's flattering that people would think of it like that, but at the same time I hope people don't just feel like, "Oh, yeah. Just another one of those things someone's trying to do."
Amy: I remember talking to Nils after we finally got the record and I listened to it all the way through the first time. And I remember talking to you and saying, "You know my favorite part about the record is that I believe you. I believe in what you're saying. I totally buy it." And I think you're right, I think that's a hard thing to find in artists, especially on record. Just the total conviction in what they're singing.
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