Here’s a new interview we did with Cardinal Playlists!
CP) When was your first experience with music?
From a very young age I remember my father playing music with various bands at our house. I started playing saxophone when I was 8 or 9 and gravitated towards guitar when I was 12. I would definitely credit my dad with getting me interested in music and I’m grateful for that.
CP) What were your first steps toward becoming a musician? Who acted as your support system?
It wasn’t until I was 14 that I started recording my own songs onto a little Tascam 4 track I got for my birthday. This marked a major shift in the way that I thought about music. Then I met Jordan Seavers (TSOSIS’ other guitarist) when I was a freshman in high school. Jordan taught me a lot about recording and set me up with some very simple digital equipment that pushed me a little further. All through high school he and I would swap songs we’d been recording and hang out with Lucas Ulrici (TSOSIS’ bassist) to record. It’s interesting to me that Jordan is one of the strongest influences over my music and he also happens to be in a band with me.
CP) What bands were you listening to and what songs were you learning during those early days? How did those influences shape the earliest songs you began to write?
Back then Jordan turned me onto bands like of Montreal, Beulah and The Apples in Stereo. To this day Beulah is still my favorite band. I was also listening to The Unicorns a lot. I think their chorus-less style of writing has left a lasting impression on my own songs. I’ve always loved the way parts often don’t repeat in their songs. I also loved the subject matter of The Unicorns’ songs. They dealt with the paranormal and had way too many songs about ghosts. When I sit down to write for TSOSIS I always gravitate towards these mythical or science fictional stories. Much of that tendency comes from my interest in The Unicorns.
Back then I had never heard of “math rock”. All I cared about was writing indie pop.
CP) What were those early songs like and how do those influences translate into your writing of today?
When Fernando Oliva (drummer) and I recorded the first TSOSIS EP (Blue Version) we were just about to graduate from high school. By then we’d combined our love for Beulah and The Unicorns with our new found passion for Tera Melos, Blakfish and toe. Our earliest songs were fairly disjointed musically. Those first songs were very much built around riff writing rather than chordal patterns. Thematically, most of Blue Version is about the paranormal, a characteristic which hung around from our time spent listening to The Unicorns.
Nowadays we try not to build songs riff by riff. This mostly has to do with the way we practice, which is far more democratic these days. Back then it was just Fernando and I, so there was no one else to provide melodic input when it came time to write songs. Things these days are a bit more coherent, but I still love a good riff or two.
CP) Who was the ring leader, roping all of your bandmates together for your first practice? What was it like?
Back when we were a duo Fernando and I were equally responsible for all of the band’s decisions. We would swap back and forth between practicing at my parents’ house and his parents’ house. Then we got the cops called on us by a neighbor at his house and had to make the switch permanently. It’s 2 years later and the living room of the Verrett house is still the practice space for TSOSIS.
CP) How long did it take for you to realize you had a sound worth pursuing and, in your recorded works, what song do you think best represents that original sound idea?
It’s difficult to say when we started taking things more seriously. Seeing people respond positively to Blue Version on the internet definitely had a lot to do with it. The original intent with Blue Version was to record some songs to throw up on the myspace to help us book shows more easily. It’s sort of funny to me when people tell me that Blue Version is still their favorite album. We recorded it in two days and wrote all of the bass lines on the spot on the second day. I wouldn’t change anything about it though, it’s such a perfect snapshot of that infantile stage of our development. We were really weird 17 year old kids who spent less than 500 bucks to record 5 songs in some dude’s bedroom. I couldn’t ask for a better memento of that stage of my life.
Out of those first songs Amy Adams really nails what I wanted the band to sound like early on. There’s a desperation to the lyrics that I have always loved and that main riff is maybe my favorite to play out of any of our songs. Lately it’s the only song we still play off of Blue Version.
CP) What can you tell me about your most recent recorded work? What was the recording process like, are there any musical/lyrical themes on it, what have you done to support it?
Our latest EP is called Underwater Tell Each Other Secrets. We recorded and mixed it with one of our idols, Robert Cheek (Tera Melos, RX Bandits, Mister Metaphor, By Sunlight) at The Hangar in Sacramento over a three day period. We decided to track the EP live in order to save time and money. I’m thankful for the experience of tracking live. It was a mentally taxing process and the time frame we allowed ourselves was difficult to work within, but I’m pleased with how the EP turned out and am very happy to have befriend Robert Cheek, who is now our go-to man for engineering.
Musically this EP marks a return to a bit more technical style than our second EP, Red Version. This is also our first release with bassist Michael Littlefield of A Lot Like Birds.
Lyrically the EP is more concrete than our past releases. The songs on this release are more concretely related to my own life than any of the songs on Red or Blue Version.
CP) What song do you think came out the best on the record and which is your favorite to play live?
Hot and Bothered by Space is definitely my favorite from this batch of songs both lyrically and musically.
During our first tour in the Summer of 2010 we were camping in Oregon during a meteor shower. We star gazed and mused about space for about two hours while dozens of shooting stars flew over us. The lyrics of Hot and Bothered by Space were inspired by that night and the tour as a whole. It was a major bonding experience for the four of us.
CP) What is your favorite memory from a show?
We played a show in our friend’s basement in Fresno where people were so psyched they started punching holes in the ceiling. That was pretty memorable.
CP) What is the music scene like where you’re from? How have the local artist/audiences there helped to shape the way you write and how is your music received?
Lately many of our original peer group has either blown up or disbanded. A Lot Like Birds and The Dreaded Diamond have always been our brother and sister bands, but ALLB are now a national act and The Dreaded Diamond are on hiatus. We’re the only ones left to carry the torch.
These days there are some awesome younger people making some great music in Sacramento. Our buddies Former Animals are an excellent example of a band with a ton of potential coming out of Sac.
The Sacramento of today hasn’t influenced our music too much, but growing up listening to bands like Tera Melos and Mister Metaphor has made an enormous impact on the type of music we write as well as the people we work with (i.e. Robert Cheek)
CP) Are there any artists from the area that we should keep an eye out for?
Definitely keep an eye on Former Animals. Also, Damien (singer) is about to release a new album under the name So Much Light.
CP) What can we expect from you in the future? What are the band’s big plans?
Right now we’re taking our time with writing for the new album. We’re very anxious to let everyone here where things are headed. This next album will definitely be a full length and will mark a major change in our style. It’s going to be awesome.
