By Grayson Currin
Published on December 30, 2009 at 1:41am
The Reservoir—A little less anxious than Interpol and a little less contagious than Phoenix, The Sour Notes coil two busy guitars—alternately chiming and grating, spiraling and swan diving—around a nervous disco-punk rhythm section. New member Elaine Greer, who joined for the Austin quartet’s latest, It’s Not Gonna Be Pretty (released New Year’s Day), adds air beneath the sprints. Early evidence from the forthcoming LP by Greensboro duo Jews & Catholics is promising: Recorded by Mitch Easter and Cheetie Kumar, the oddball pairing of upright bass, electronic drums and sinewy guitar lines seems to have gained some confidence. Instrumental archers The Battle Rockets open the free show at 10 p.m.
By Patrick Caldwell
Published on December 30, 2009 at 1:41am
Austin’s own the Sour Notes — four indie rockers with a Death Cab for Cutie-esque appreciation for earnest pop — will celebrate the release of third album “It’s Not Gonna Be Pretty” with an early New Year’s Eve show at the Ghost Room at 7 p.m. Thursday. The Weird Weeds, No Mas Bodas and Mermaid Blonde will open. The cover is $5.
The show also will kick off the band’s 2010 tour, a nine-date jaunt that will take them from beloved New York hipster hangout the Cake Shop to the equally glamorous environs of Carrboro, N.C.
The Sour Notes’ second release, this year’s “Received in Bitterness,” landed an honorable mention on our list of the top Austin albums of 2009. The band shows considerable growth on the catchy, heartfelt “It’s Not Gonna Be Pretty,” which you can listen to in its entirety on their MySpace. They’ll return to Austin for a Jan. 28 show at the Mohawk.
By David Cobb
Published on December 28, 2009 at 1:41am
The Sour Notes kicks off 2010 with a new album and tour, which brings the group back to Houston this Friday night (1.1.10) for a show with Spain Colored Orange at Rudyard’s. You can pre-order It’s Not Gonna Be Pretty from the band’s MySpace page or get it at the show.
The Sour Notes’ frontman Jared Boulanger recently answered a few questions for Houston Calling.
Houston Calling: You’re about to kick off a tour in support of the new album. Are you excited about the chance to get your new music exposed outside Texas?
Jared Boulanger: Absolutely! When we started The Sour Notes, we knew that because of the state that the “music world” was in, we would have to tour at least once a year if we wanted to keep progressing as a band. It’s just something that indie bands have to do nowadays. There are so many great bands all over the place that I think could reach a larger audience and success if they just went for it so to speak. So many of them burn out or break up, because it’s really hard to feel like all your time and effort is worth it when you don’t see an end result or the smallest of success. Even if you have to book and fund a tour all by yourself, I think it must be done. That being said, once you’re actually out there on the road, getting the chance to infect other cities and people with your ideas, the fun and reward is right there in your face, everyday.
HC: What can you tell me about the new record? You recorded it in Houston, correct?
JB: We did! Three of four of us are from Houston, so we have lots of friends and memories there, that we like to revisit often. This will also be three of four releases that we’ve “released” in Houston. What can I say? It just feels right. As far as the new album is concerned–it is the best work we have ever done. Since our debut EP, we’ve quickly gravitated towards the sounds and styles we are currently presenting on It’s Not Gonna Be Pretty little by little. Our heaviest and most delicate songs are all here, arranged in a way that I know we’ll never top. This album was very well planned out and was written quite some time before it was actually recorded. I think it shows what we’ve been going for the whole time and will bring together what fans and listeners got a taste of previously in a climactic sort of way.
HC: You’ve worked with producer Steve Christensen on your recordings–he has to be riding high from his work on the new Tody Castillo album [Windhorse] and Steve Earle’s latest [the Grammy-nominated Townes]. You also were featured on one of the Live at SugarHill episodes this year–were you excited to be working with Steve again?
JB: Steve has been a close friend of mine for over a decade and mark my words, I will never record or mix with anyone else… Ever! He has a vast knowledge of “what’s good” and “why it’s good” that in my opinion can’t be duplicated. We share a similar interest in what we listen to as well and I think that helps.
We usually track the initial recordings with Steve at his studio and do the over-dubs in our home studio and that seems to be working out fine. I’ve learned everything I know from the guy and I think any musician who reads this should call him up right now and give him all of their money to record them. He won’t just record your band and get good sounds–you’ll feel violated to the extent of sharing anything with him, because he’s been thinking of you and been you’ve been his “dream girl,” forever.
HC: The Sour Notes play a good bit in Houston–what is your take on the music scene in Houston as opposed to other cities? Being from Austin, Texas’ “music city,” did you have any preconceived notions about Houston?
JB: Having the chance to experience both cities in a musical way, equally, I’d have to say that I honestly like Houston a lot more for many reasons. To me, Houston music fans seem to have much more of their own musical tastes that they’re willing to reach out for and support. The Sour Notes have always been received much better in Houston, whether that’s because we’re from there or not, I dunno. To the outside world, I feel like Austin is considered to be this “hip,” music-driven-city–but actually, I think that appeal is mostly made up for the people who live in Austin, which makes it hard for unknown bands to really make a mark here. Yes, there are a lot of pro-active music organizations and festivals, but overall you get the feeling that unless you’re on the tip of every college radio DJ’s tongue or opening for a show booked by one of the monopolizing booking collectives, it sways opinions and it makes a difference in the “coolness-appeal” of your band and that makes a difference in the opportunities you may or may not get in a place that is as “who you know” as this.
HC: How did you approach the songwriting process on It’s Not Gonna Be Pretty as opposed to The Meat Of The Fruit? Do you see your latest songs as a natural progression for the band?
JB: If you were to listen to all of our releases in a row, you would definitely hear the sound getting heavier and more adventurous with every album. That’s been primarily because of our conscious effort to do something new and different every time. To approach generally “dreary” subject matter and present it in the most “pop-sensible” way has never changed for us and I think as long as we remain within the “pop-song” guidelines, we are free to write and experiment in whatever musical genre that fits the song and make it still sound like a Sour Notes song.
HC: You’ve steadily released new music since the band began, which is great. Why do you think some bands’ releases are so few and far between? How do you approach the songwriting process?
JB: Though some might disagree, I’ve always felt the most important thing to do when you’re in a band is to record your music and set a new reference point to continue on with. I know I was stressing the importance of touring earlier, but that’s only important if you’re constantly putting out new material in addition to that. Nobody wants to hear the same set you’ve been playing for over a year–at least I don’t. I don’t even like the sound of my own songs after too long. We have a song off our last album called “Holy Terror”–it kind of talks about our thoughts on the stagnation of bands and music today. For a lot of bands, the sheer enjoyment of playing for an audience is good enough to keep on going, which I’ve never been able to relate to. The only reason I get up on stage at all is because I know I have at least a set-list full of “recorded” songs to choose from. When I started The Sour Notes in 2008, I had many albums’ worth of material to work towards new albums with and the writing process for The Sour Notes has always been a communal one, but usually starts out with me presenting a rough sketch of the song and us flushing it out in practice as a band. Sometime we’ll come up with a little riff or piece of a song and a new song will come out of nowhere all of a sudden, but that hasn’t happened much, because we always have something we’ve already started on, to catch up with.
HC: Elaine Greer is now a full-time member of the band–how did that come about?
JB: I’d known Elaine for a while before she moved to Austin from Houston and we have mutual friends here and there, and that might have been how we were first introduced. We’ve always been fans of each others’ music and when I asked her to record some vocals for our new album, her ideas and harmonies we’re just too good for me to not ask her to join the band. She also records with Steve Christensen as a solo artist and I think he might have said something along the lines of “You should just join their band” or something–it was that simple. I think she really enjoys working in a ‘band environment’ after so much of her solo work and I know it’s a real treat for her to play different instruments and focus on new material that isn’t “Elaine Greer”…
HC: Your music has been compared to Death Cab For Cutie and other similar indie rock bands. I don’t hear it, other than your songwriting leans toward the emotional at times. Do you agree with the comparison or is it something you even pay attention to?
JB: This is the question I’ve been waiting for David! Hehe… I’m glad you don’t hear it… cuz I don’t either. I’m assuming those comparisons are on a vocal level, because I don’t hear any similarities in the music other than we both play guitars and have our moments of dreamyness. It always confused me before, how many comparisons in reviews on The Sour Notes that people would make to Ben Gibbard’s voice, but in actuality, I don’t draw from their influence, nor do I own any Death Cab records, but maybe that’s because I don’t own any CDs at all.
I would say that the primary influence for my songwriting are the films of Ingmar Bergman. Specifically, Winter Light, even though I’m not questionably spiritual. I’m okay with saying that the ideas presented in our lyrics and the music you hear are directly stolen from his films. Specifically, that one. Watch it. It has a 6-minute or so close-up of Ingrid Thulin that breaks all the rules. The last song on our new album, “The Distant Knell,” is about his film The Seventh Seal… and we’ve also been known to draw from Godard from time to time–i.e., the song “Your Pretty Sphinx Voice” from our last album.
HC: After the short tour, what are your plans for spreading the word about the new album?
JB: We applied to SXSW and CMJ this year and hopefully we’ll get in and that will give it some recognition. Other than this interview and playing songs from It’s Not Gonna Be Pretty at shows now and in the future, we don’t have any “plans” for spreading the word by any other means. We have to start preparing and recording our next album shortly after we get back from tour, so there won’t be alot of time to multi-task.
HC: What are some of the albums you’ve been listening to lately? Anything to recommend?
JB: Lately it’s been a lot of Iggy Pop and David Bowie. I would recommend watching the Ziggy Stardust concert film. It’s a great performance.
Thanks to Jared of The Sour Notes for taking the time out from the holidays to answer these questions.
The Sour Notes released a video for “Psychological Thriller” from their 2009 release, Received in Bitterness. Watch it here.
Purchase It’s Not Gonna Be Pretty here.
By Pete Harris
Published on December 28, 2009 at 1:41am
Ringing in the New Year with an album release on January 1st are Austin’s The Sour Notes. Lead singer Jared Boulanger dropped me an email to let me know, and I liked the music enough to chat to him some more …
Indie Sounds: You are about to release your third album, It’s Not Gonna Be Pretty … what can your fans expect?
Jared Boulanger: In all honesty, It’s Not Gonna Be Pretty is the best album we’ll ever release. Being only our third album, I know that sounds pessimistic, but we’ve really put everything we’ve got into this album and it contains the finest moments of music and songwriting we’ll ever achieve.
In my opinion, this collection of songs, the way the album flows and the progression the band has taken from the very beginning, has hit some kind of peak … and things are going to have to change musically for us after this in order for us to keep exploring new directions. Fans of our previous efforts can expect to see all that we’ve gone for stylistically and structurally ‘come to a head’ so to speak in this album, and if it didn’t make sense before … it might now.
IS: You’re an Austin band and the album was recorded in Houston and mastered in NYC. What gives?
Jared: Ha, well … three of the four members of The Sour Notes (myself, Chris, Elaine) have lived a majority of our lives in Houston, and we wouldn’t have been able to produce our albums at the rate we write them without the connections we’ve made there. We’ve known our recording engineer, Steve Christensen, for over 10 years … we consider him to be like a fifth Beatle. He understands what we’re going for and hears what it should end up like enough to put those finishing touches on our sound that, personally, I don’t think anyone else could duplicate.
We’ve worked with Steve and mastering engineers Joe LaPorta and Heba Kadry at The Lodge in NYC on all of our releases … and collaborating with anyone else, but them, would just be a plain bad idea.
IS: Backtracking, what’s the history of the band and your recordings?
Jared: The Sour Notes originally started in Houston, Texas, as an outlet for my solo recordings, which ended up turning into a debut album, The Meat of the Fruit, in 2008. Immediately upon finishing that album, I moved into a house in Austin with Chris to start a performing band and another album I had ready to record.
I think the first thing we ever recorded in that house (where we still live) was a cover of Jawbreaker’s Accident Prone. After that, we met Travis, our drummer, and (then bass player) Brandi through mutual friends, recorded our next album, Received in Bitterness, earlier this year, toured the east coast and then recorded a 7-inch single, Never Mix, Never Worry, as that lineup. That was three months ago … and since then, we’ve recorded our latest album (during which time, Brandi quit), added new member Elaine, and are getting ready to tour again, starting January 1st, 2010!
IS: So who does what in the band?
Jared: The Sour Notes are: newbie Elaine Greer on organ, synth and vocals; Chris Page on keys, synth and guitar; Travis Hackett, on drums; and myself on guitar and vocals.
IS: So what’s the CD release plan?
Jared: First off, we have a CD release/tour send off party on New Year’s Eve at The Ghost Room. It’s the ‘early show’ so people can still celebrate their new year however they planned. We’re part of a great lineup that comprises: Mermaid Blonde (7pm), No Mas Bodas (8pm), The Weird Weeds (9pm) and our good selves, The Sour Notes (10pm). It’s gonna be a blast! Then we embark on a southern/east coast tour. In particular, we’re in NYC on January 8th at the Cake Shop, 9pm. Come out and see us!
By Paige Maguire
Published on December 14, 2009 at 1:41am
It’s Not Gonna Be Pretty (due in Jan 2010) is the fourth release from Austin’s Sour Notes. In January, the band will tour in support of it, heading out January 1 and returning after a show in Dallas at The Lounge on January 12. Sample the songs here, particularly “Doers & Sayers” — a brash and catchy indie pop tune that stands out as a particular favorite of ours. The Sour Notes sound something like We Are Scientists with a bit of Death Cab for Cutie added for softness. We’re really looking forward to seeing their growth in 2010. Check them out live December 18 at the Hole In the Wall.
