-
neumu
Tuesday, December 10, 2024 
-
-
--archival-captured-cinematronic-continuity error-daily report-datastream-depth of field--
-
--drama-44.1 khz-gramophone-inquisitive-needle drops-picture book-twinklepop--
-
Neumu = Art + Music + Words
Search Neumu:  

illustration



edited by michael goldbergcontact


Three Indie-Rock Stars Unite As Maritime

For members of '90s indie-rock beacons the Promise Ring and the Dismemberment Plan, uniting under the name Maritime and releasing their debut album Glass Floor is a real new beginning.

Glass Floor, released May 31st on DeSoto, combines elements of Thatcher-era UK pop (XTC, Squeeze, and Electronic) with a healthy dose of indie rock (Pavement, Guided by Voices, the Promise Ring). Former the Promise Ring singer/guitarist Davey vonBohlen and drummer Dan Didier, with help from the Dismemberment Plan bassist Eric Axelson, have fashioned a bright, adult sound while retaining the energy, skill and musicianship of their previous projects.

What makes Glass Floor distinctive is vonBohlen's efforts, supported musically by Didier and Axelson, to convey a snapshot of someone in transition from the carefree times of touring and recording into mature adulthood, a place to which all three band members are slowly adjusting. The album varies throughout, from a mature, contextual perspective — "The King of Doves," "James" and "A Night Like This" — to lighthearted celebration on "Adios" and "Sleep Around," to weary resignation on "If All My Days Go By" and "Someone Has to Die."

VonBohlen acknowledged during a recent interview that Glass Floor is a record focused on the dynamic nature of transition. "This record, lyrically, is a good snapshot of where I'm at right now," he said. "Any honest person can't hide anything. I tried to write lyrics out of somewhat real emotions and feelings that I was having."

The theme of growing up is exemplified on "Sleep Around": "Now The Cars are saying 'Shake it up'/ But I've been shaken up enough/ But I can't live my life like a pop song anymore."

Starting Over

After 10 years and five albums, the Promise Ring broke up in October 2002. Their last album, Wood/Water, on Epitaph's Anti imprint, was not a success commercially or critically. VonBohlen and Didier returned home to Milwaukee, neither sure if they even wanted to continue playing music.

"There was something that made it impossible to continue," vonBohlen said. "The joy sort of left the band, and it had been going on for a long enough time that I think we all felt that our time on this planet would be better served/spent pursuing something else."

Back in Milwaukee, vonBohlen and Didier decided to give music a final try; they got together regularly to see if they still had a passion for playing. "Me and Davey started writing and we just threw things at the wall, basically," said Didier, who also plays organ. "Just to see what stuck. But there wasn't any preconceived notion that we put into this project. We just said, 'Start writing, and whatever comes out comes out.'"

For vonBohlen, too, the jam sessions were illuminating. He still had a need to play music, and the Promise Ring had ended at the right time: "Timing is everything; had the Promise Ring held on for two more years, that probably would have been it for me," vonBohlen said. "Certainly I felt that it wasn't my time to stop writing and playing music. Dan and I took a good amount of time to figure out if it was our time to stop." It wasn't.

Didier and vonBohlen refined the new songs through the latter part of the winter and into the spring, but they still didn't have a bass player. After almost 10 years together in the Promise Ring they weren't going to rush into a new band without making sure the chemistry was right. Then Didier found out that the Dismemberment Plan were breaking up. The members of "the Plan" were moving on in a variety of directions: singer Travis Morrison wanted to go solo; drummer Joe Easley returned to college in Maryland to study aerospace engineering; guitarist Jason Caddell descended into the depths of audio engineering and film scoring. These changes left bassist Eric Axelson without a home, and he planned to seek out free-agent gigs as a tour manager and session player.

Didier called Axelson, whom he knew from their time together in D.C., and asked him if he was interested in laying down some bass lines on a few of the demos he was working on with vonBohlen. Didier and vonBohlen exchanged MP3s through the mail with Axelson, who viewed the project as a way to transition from his old band. "It was more of a session thing for me," he recalled. "They would send the songs and I would fill in the bass lines. Which was kind of fun. It was a good way for me to start weaning myself off the Plan."

Initially, working on the new songs was a challenge for Axelson, whose funky virtuoso bass lines were a key element of the Plan's unique sound. "I tried [my] style on the Maritime songs and it sounded awful," Axelson said. "I was trying to do syncopation, and I was trying to do the notes like I did in the Plan, because that's what I do! Totally screwed me up. I felt like I was a pretty bad player at first. 'I cannot play in 4/4 — why is this so hard?'"

Axelson found that he had to rein in his playing and almost re-learn how to play. "I went out and bought some pop records (The Attractions, the Charlatans UK, South) that I really liked, but I didn't own, and I just listened to the bass and how it was played, what made sense."

Quickly Axelson adapted to the style of the Didier/vonBohlen demos, and the demos began to come together.

With Axelson on board and a solid set of songs ready for the studio, Maritime signed a tentative deal with Anti (home to Tom Waits, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and formerly the Promise Ring). In the summer of 2003 Didier, vonBohlen and Axelson went into the studio with DC music impresario J. Robbins, primarily known as the singer and guitarist for influential D.C. bands Jawbox and Burning Airlines. But Robbins is also an accomplished engineer and producer (Jets to Brazil, Shiner). He'd worked with Axelson and the Dismemberment Plan on both the Emergency & I and Change records, and Didier and vonBohlen on the Promise Ring's Nothing Feels Good, Boys + Girls and Very Emergency.

"He was someone who we both worked with and we all knew and trusted," Axelson said. "I think that the trusting was good too, because if we went with a big-name producer that one of us knew and the others didn't, it would have just been a little bit strange. As a new band starting out, it just worked well."

One thing that Robbins noticed during the Glass Floor recording sessions was that vonBohlen, Didier and Axelson were simply focused on the songwriting process, rather then the final outcome: "I didn't feel any external pressures, which I definitely felt in the case of the Plan's last two records, especially the one that started out on Interscope. Dan, Davey and Eric's confidence in themselves, the songs, and their ideas, made it a really fun record to work on. Everyone was focused on making a great record, period, with no sense of 'stakes' except to fulfill the songs."

Maritime finished the record with Robbins and submitted the finished demo to Anti Records, but the label passed on it. So Maritime shopped the record to a few different indie labels. As they were in the midst of negotiating with one of those, Axelson called an old friend for some advice.

The More Things Change…

In addition to playing bass for Jawbox, Kim Coletta was also co-founder and owner of DeSoto Records, the label the Dismemberment Plan had recorded for. She'd also managed the Promise Ring in the mid-1990s. As Axelson described it, what started as a simple talk between friends quickly turned into an important discussion. "Kim's always been kind of a mentor; the Plan learned a lot from Jawbox. We were talking, and there was this long pause, and I was waiting for her to say something very deep, and she goes: 'Want me to put your record out, Eric?'"

Axelson was confused, and with good reason. Coletta and her husband Bill Barbot, yet another former member of Jawbox, started DeSoto together in 1989, but DeSoto had stopped releasing new music in 2002. Coletta had been following Maritime's negotiations with an indie label from afar and didn't like how they were going. "I felt like [the label they were talking to] was a bad match for them," she said.

"I said, 'Kim, DeSoto's not a label anymore,'" Axelson recalled. "And she said, ‘Yeah, but I don't know, why not?' It was literally that quick."

Coletta remembered that the offer to Axelson and Maritime wasn't something that she had planned. "It really is as simple as it sounds, and it was like, 'Shit, let's just do this!'"

As a result of signing Maritime, DeSoto has signed three other bands: J. Robbins' new project Channels, Doris Henson from Kansas City, and the Life and Times, the new band of Allen Epley, former lead singer for Shiner. During an interview, Coletta stressed that DeSoto was never really defunct: "There were still royalties to be run, bands to be paid. There was a bizarre hiatus because of all the bands breaking up over the course of a year. I had to regroup after every band on the label's roster broke up. For me it was weird. There was really no break."

But Coletta agreed that her conversation with Axelson sparked her to action. "Maritime didn't open the floodgates. It was something I had been considering before I spoke to Eric. It definitely spurred me to quicker action [regarding adding more bands to the DeSoto roster].I didn't want them flapping in the breeze alone — like it's not a real label if you're the only band, sitting there by yourself."

Growing Up

The highlight of Glass Floor is the seventh track, "A Night Like This." The song is wistful and resigned, yet hopeful in its embrace of life, as the narrator gains a delicate perspective on what's really important: "They all smoke inside their sweaters, drinking with their mouths shut/ Money is a disaster if this is what you buy with it/ I take a deep breath, I let freedom ring."

The song is a stretch for vonBohlen. He felt it was a bit outside of his capabilities, so much so that Didier and Axelson had to convince him to include it on the record. "We put it on because I was persuaded by the strings on the song; they add a lot," vonBohlen said, adding, "I felt that maybe it tackles emotions that I have not totally harnessed or grasped yet. It's an uncomfortable place for me, I don't necessarily know why. It still has a certain weightiness to it that doesn't necessarily feel right in my head."

This summer and fall, Maritime are touring the U.S., Japan and Europe. After taking some time off this fall in order for Didier to get married and vonBohlen to have his first child, they plan to get back in the studio this winter to record their second album after a tour of Europe. Didier is looking forward to incorporating Axelson's talents into the initial phase of the songwriting. "It's good, because the way the last record was started it was me and Davey, so I'm really excited to have Eric in from square one on this record," vonBohlen said. "Because that will definitely move the direction of the band elsewhere."

Robbins sees a lot of promise in the new yet veteran group, and is also looking forward to the results of Axelson being involved from the beginning in the songwriting for future recordings. "Davey's songwriting is getting ever deeper, and Dan's conceptualizing of the production is getting more nuanced," Robbins said. "I think Eric brings a lot of the same aesthetic to the band that he had in the Plan, which sort of shakes up the arrangement just enough to make it really interesting. It will be cool to hear what they have worked out now that they have been writing together as a band for awhile — I think Eric was able to bring his approach fully into the creative mix on the next record."

vonBohlen has enjoyed the freedom of the new beginning with Maritime: "One thing that's really good about starting a new band now is that we are able to define the rules of the band," he said. "I think Promise Ring was still living under the rules of the 20-year-olds that formed the band. The Promise Ring was all-encompassing, and if you had anything else to do, you could do it, but [not] in the context of the Promise Ring; 30-year-old people don't have that rule." — Matthew Landry [Monday, September 27, 2004]  


Alejandro Escovedo's Joyous Rebirth

John Vanderslice Kicks Genre

Paul Duncan's Elusive Pop

Stephen Yerkey's Wandering Songs

French Kicks Complete 'Two Thousand'

Spazzy Romanticism: Love Story In Blood Red

Brain Surgeons NYC Rock The Big Questions

Jarboe's 'Men' Charts Turbulent Emotions

Delta 5's Edgy Post-Punk Resurrected

Blitzen Trapper Spiff Things Up

Minus Five: Booze, Betrayal, Bibles and Guns

New Compilation Spotlights Forgotten Folk Guitar Heroes

Chris Brokaw's Experiment In Pop

Old And New With Death Vessel

Silver Jews: Salvation And Redemption

Jana Hunter's Beautiful Doom

Vashti Bunyan Finds Her Voice Again

Nick Castro's Turkish Folk Delight

Katrina Hits New Orleans Musicians Hard

Paula Frazer's Eerie Beauty

The National Find Emotional Balance

Death Cab For Cutie's New Album, Tour

Heavy Trash's Rockabilly Rampage

Help The Wrens Get Their Albums Released!

Devendra Banhart, Andy Cabic Launch Label

Lydia Lunch's Noir Seductions

Bosque Brown's The Real Deal

PDX Pop Now! Fest Announces Lineup

Sarah Dougher Starts Women-Focused Label

Jennifer Gentle's Joyful Psyche

Mountain Goat Darnielle Gets Autobiographical With 'Sunset Tree'

Mia Doi Todd's Beautiful Collaboration

Return of the Gang of Four

Martha Wainwright Finds Her Voice

Brian Jonestown Massacre's Acid Joyride

Solo Disc Due From Pixies' Frank Black

Heartless Bastards' Big-Hearted Rock

Mike Watt's Midlife Journey

The Black Swans Balance Old And New

Nicolai Dunger's Swedish Blues

The Insomniacs' Hard-Edged Pop

Yo La Tengo Collection Due

Juana Molina's 'Homemade' Sound

Beans Evolves

Earlimart's Songs Of Loss

Devendra Banhart's 'Mosquito Drawings'

Negativland Rerelease 'Helter Stupid'

Alina Simone Transforms The Ordinary

Sounds From Nature: Laura Veirs

Octet's Fractured Electric Pop

Sleater-Kinney Working With Lips Producer

The Cult Of Silkworm

The Evolution Of The Concretes

Devendra Banhart's Exuberant New Songs

Catching Up With The Incredible String Band

Gram Rabbit's Desert Visions

Three Indie-Rock Stars Unite As Maritime

Remembering Johnny Ramone

Jarboe's Many Voices

Phil Elvrum's Long Hard Winter

First U.S. Release For Vashti Bunyan Album

Incredible String Band To Tour U.S.

New Music From Lydia Lunch

Le Tigre Protest The Bush War Presidency

Joel RL Phelps: Bleak Songs Rock Hard

Time Tripping With Galaxie 500

Patti Smith Wants Bush Out!

Sharron Kraus: A New Kind Of Folk Music

The Fiery Furnaces' Psychedelic Theater

Harder, Heavier Burning Brides

Sonic Youth's Ongoing Experiment

The Dt's Do It Their Way

Poster Children Cover Political Rock

Rare Thelonious Monk Recordings Due

Uneasy Pop From dios

Beck, Lips, Waits Cover Daniel Johnston

Understanding Franz Ferdinand

The Truly Amazing Joanna Newsom

Mylab's Boundary-Crossing Experiments In Sound

Have You Heard Jolie Holland Whistle?

The 'Magical Realism' Of Vetiver

The Restless, Rootsy Songs Of Eszter Balint

The Sun Sets On The Blasters

Devendra Banhart To Tour U.S.

The East/West Fusion Sounds Of Macha

Destroyer Gets Mellow For Your Blues

TV On The Radio Get Political

Sonic Youth, Modest Mouse To Play Lollapalooza 2004

New Music From The Fall

Apocalyptic Sound From The Intelligence

Fast And Rude With The Casual Dots

'Rejoicing' With Devendra Banhart

New Album, Tour From The Polyphonic Spree

Shearwater Take Wing

Sleater-Kinney To Tour East/West Coasts

Resurrecting Rocket From The Tombs

Visqueen Want To Get A Riot Goin' On

Lloyd Cole Makes A Commotion

Funkstörung's 'Cut-Up' Theory

Waiting For Mirah's C'mon Miracle

Electrelane Find Their Voice

The Television Is Still On!

Experimental Sounds From Hannah Marcus

The Ponys Play With Rayguns

Ex-Mono Men Leader Returns With The Dt's

Mountain Goats' Darnielle Adopts A More Hi-Fi Sound

Sun Kil Moon To Tour U.S., Europe

Nothin' But The Truth From The Von Bondies

Sultans Survive 'Shipwreck'

Sebadoh Reunite For Spring Tour

Xiu Xiu's 'Reality' Rock

Meet The Patients

Beth Orton, M. Ward Make Sadness Taste Sweet

Oneida's Pathway To Ecstasy

Radiohead, Pixies, Dizzee Rascal To Play Coachella

Young People Tour Behind War Prayers

Pixies Tour Dates Announced

Ani DiFranco Tells It Like It Is

Deerhoof Back For 2004 With Milkman

McLusky Set To 'Bring On The Big Guitars' Again

Pixies Reunite For U.S., European Tours

American Music Club, Decemberists To Play NoisePop 2004

Damien Rice Set To Tour U.S.

The Frames Accept Your Love

Punk Rock's A-Frames To Re-Record Third Album

Finally! Mission Of Burma Record New Album

A Solo Detour For Ladybug Transistor's Sasha Bell

Return Of The Old 97's

Spending The Night With Damien Rice

Tindersticks Reissues Due This Spring

The Evolution Of 'A Silver Mt. Zion'

Neil Young Rocks Australia With 'Greendale'

Poster Children Back In Action

'The Great Cat Power Disaster Of 2003'

Chicks On Speed's Subversive Strategies

Oranger At A Crossroad

Peaches On Tour And In Control

Jawbreaker's Complete Dear You Sessions To Be Released

Belle & Sebastian + Trevor Horn = Sunny Pop Nirvana

Von Bondies' Pawn Shoppe Heart

Descendents Are Back!

Modest Mouse Touring; Album Due in 2004

London Suede Take A (Permanent?) Break

Saul Williams Wants You To Think For Yourself

The 'Zen' Sound Of Calexico

Elliott Smith Dead AT 34

Debut Due From Mark Kozelek's Sun Kil Moon

The Hunches: Music That'll 'Fucking Live Forever'

Vic Chesnutt Speaks His Mind

90 Day Men Cancel Tour

Keith Jarrett, Cecil Taylor Highlight SF Jazz Festival

For My Morning Jacket, It's The Music That Matters

EP Due From The Polyphonic Spree

Bright Eyes, Neva Dinova Collaborate On EP

The Rise & Fall & Rise Of Ben Lee

Catching Up With Cheerfully Defiant Tricky

Hanging Around With The Polyphonic Spree

Sophomore Album Due From The Shins

Noise Rock From Iceland's Singapore Sling

Death Cab To Tour U.S.

Rufus Wainwright's Want One Is 'Family Affair'

Death Cab's Transatlanticism On The Way

Heartfelt Rock From Sweden's Last Days Of April

The Minus 5 Get Down With Wilco

Tywanna Jo Baskette's Southern-Gothic Rock

Xiu Xiu's Stewart Takes On 'Gay-bashing'

Portishead Producer Resurfaces Behind New Diva

Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Wire, Primal Scream On Buddyhead Comp

Yeah Yeah Yeahs To Tour West Coast

Sonic Youth, Erase Errata Kick Off 'Buddy Series'

The Locust Are One Scary Band

Damien Rice In The 'Here And Now'

Remembering Karp's Scott Jernigan

ATP-NY Postponed 'Til At Least 2004

The Soul Of Chris Lee

Gits' Frenching The Bully To See Re-Release

Stephen Malkmus Is In Control

Superchunk To Release Rarities Set; Teenage Girls To Swoon As A Result

Summer Touring For The Gossip

Babbling On About Deerhoof

Irish Song Poet Damien Rice's O Released In U.S.

Chatting With ATP's Barry Hogan

Former Digable Planets Frontman Surfaces With Cherrywine

ATP L.A. Festival Rescheduled For Fall

Freakwater's Janet Bean Takes A Solo Turn

Lee's 'Cool Rock'

Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs Highlight YES NEW YORK

Mark Romanek's 'Hurt' Revives Johnny Cash's Career

The Rapture's Post-Punk, Post-Dance Sound

R.E.M., Wilco, Modest Mouse Highlight Bumbershoot Fest

Set Fires To Flames' Sleep-Deprivation Sound

Southern Gothic Past Shadows Verbena's La Musica Negra

The Subtle Evolution Of Yo La Tengo

Spring Tour For Jolie Holland (Plus A Live Album)

Liz Phair Still Pushing The Limits

Gold Chains Wants You To Dance And Think

Young People's War Prayers On The Way



peruse archival
 



-
-snippetcontactsnippetcontributorssnippetvisionsnippethelpsnippetcopyrightsnippetlegalsnippetterms of usesnippetThis site is Copyright © 2003 Insider One LLC
-