By Raoul Hernandez
Published on March 17, 2010 at 1:41am
The Sour Notes
12mid, the Hideout Four songs on the Sour Notes’ third pop pleaser, It’s Not Gonna Be Pretty, were inspired by Criterion DVD titles: “The Distant Knell” (The Seventh Seal), “A Cute Little Ruin” (Jules and Jim), “One Word Emotions” (Pierrot le Fou), and “It’s the Hair That Makes the Dress Chic” (La Notte). Take that, James Mercer! The Austin quartet sells out New York.
By Jackson Michael
Published on March 13, 2010 at 1:41am
The Sour Notes formed in Austin three years ago. Since then, they have released three full albums, an EP and a 45. Spinner caught up with vocalist/guitarist Jared Boulanger to discuss their sound, and the upcoming SXSW festival.
Describe your sound in your own words.
We try to have a dancey, rock kind of sound that’s really pop sensible, really catchy. We’re really focused on the craft of songwriting. I think that we’re writing pop songs that have a really experimental or outside-the-box approach to it, but I would call it pop music definitely.
How did your band form?
We formed almost three years ago, when I moved to Austin from Houston. I moved here to start the band and I recorded our first album, ‘The Meat of the Fruit,’ by myself alone. It was just kind of a solo project. Then I moved to Austin and moved in with my friend Chris (Page), who plays keyboards in the band. So, we started the band and started recording the next album, added two new members and kept recording. We’re working on our fifth release in three years. We’re really feeling productive and really like the pace we’ve set so far.
What are your musical influences?
I have a real punk rock background. The real defining moments in my musical life and getting interested in music would be bands like Jawbreaker and Chisel, mid-90s punk bands. That doesn’t translate at all to our sounds, but when I think about writing songs I get focused on the arrangement and things like that. I try to do that Beach Boys, Beatles kind of production value, only with a Brian Eno or Velvet Underground kind of twist. A refined polished sound with a little seediness to it.
How did you come up with the name The Sour Notes?
I used to have a journal that I would write myself little notes in all the time to try and tell myself to be a better person or not to do this or that and I used to call them my sour notes. I also thought the name was funny because it’s a play on words. Nobody wants to hit a sour note or hear a sour note.
What is your biggest vice?
I definitely don’t have a drinking problem. I think my biggest vice is eating myself into drunkenness.I get really excited about food.
Being from Austin, what do you love about SXSW?
I don’t know any other cities that are that dedicated to shutting down for a couple of weeks and just totally promoting itself to music, film and the interactive festival. I don’t know any other city that does it on this large of a scale. It’s a one-of-a-kind thing. When people think about Austin, they think about SXSW, and to be a part of that is a real honor. This is our first year being accepted by SXSW, so just having the official title next to our name is really rewarding, and to be able to play with some of the best bands that come to Texas from other states.
What are your musical guilty pleasures?
I like a lot of French pop stars. Even new French pop stars. I really like that girl Yelle. Old sixties French pop like Francoise Hardy and France Gall. I think a lot of those songs are really larger than life, and they all have that 60’s catchiness to it. Everyone was super cool in the 60’s and wore their sunglasses at night and their hip dresses. They were really chic. I have a real weakness especially for girls who dress like that.
Beatles or Stones?
I would put them both equally, although I would say that I’m always in the mood for the Stones. The Stones, you can just put them on, wash the dishes, and you’re going to shake your ass a little bit. I find when I listen to the Beatles, it’s a lot more of an introspective experience.
What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen or experienced while on tour?
Two tours ago, we were playing with a band in North Carolina that invited us to stay at their house afterwards. They had a house out in the woods, ten miles away from town. Our bass player at the time decided to invite someone from the bar back for a little after party. But they ended up getting into a huge fight at the party. So we had to kick the guy out, and he had to walk ten miles through the woods back to the town. It was in January in North Carolina and freezing. We don’t know what happened to him.
By Raoul Hernandez
Published on March 12, 2010 at 1:41am
The Sour Notes
SXSW showcase: Wednesday, March 17, the Hideout, 12mid
No one was more surprised than Jared Boulanger when Waterloo Records cut him a $600 check for his record collection. The Sour Note figured they’d take most of it, but not every last piece. Said stake then paid for the local pop quartet’s second album, 2009’s Received in Bitterness, but today in the Chronicle bubbleplex, the skinny Boulanger finds himself jobless, thankful for food stamps, and indebted to his girlfriend. Heartbroken as he may be about his music library, the Sour Notes’ third disc, It’s Not Gonna Be Pretty, was worth the struggle.
“I’m not afraid to say this album will be the best record I’ll ever put out,” he told us in January, and six weeks later the 29-year-old singer-songwriter still believes. “I call the new album the best I’ll ever do just because the songs came together all in a row like a stream of consciousness,” he explains. “Everything always sounded right. There wasn’t ever a point in the recording or the writing process where we were like, ‘What should we do here?’ The way the songs flow in and out of each other just feels perfect to me. I don’t think I’ll get that perfection again with this kind of sound.
“From the beginning up until this album, we’ve been on the wave, getting more experimental and louder and faster and more rock & roll. All the elements of our four [releases] are on this one. The first one’s kinda quiet, the second one’s garage-y, then we put out the 7-inch, and it was rock-sounding. It’s Not Gonna Be Pretty encompasses everything I’ve ever tried to do. The next one, even though there will still be elements of the Sour Notes’ sound on it, needs to be a new direction, because you can’t just keep feeding people the same ol’ song and dance.”
Somewhere between Fountains of Wayne’s Teflon hooks and the Shins‘ minor-key reveries, the Sour Notes – Boulanger, multi-instrumentalist Chris Page, keyboardist Elaine Greer, and drummer Travis Hackett – emote anything but the same ol’ song and dance, especially here in cow town.
“Totally,” humbles Boulanger, who moved to Austin from Houston in 2008. “I think that’s been our biggest struggle so far. Not only did I move here knowing nobody and not having any connections – and having to start from nothing – we don’t have that niche. We don’t fit into a certain group. I feel like there’s a scene within the Austin music scene, people who have that sound, like Strange Boys and Harlem. That’s a really popular sound right now, and people love it. I love both those bands. But I don’t think they’d accept us in their scene. Not because other bands sound better or worse, it’s just their scene.”
By Quentin
Published on February 26, 2010 at 1:41am
WATCH Psychological Thriller Video
If this music video doesn’t slap a huge grin on your face, then you have no soul…..There, I said it. The Sour Notes have been making some noise in Austin for some time now and are finally getting some much deserved recognition. They’ll be playing a ridiculous amount of shows @ SXSW (6 shows!) while currently working on their 5th album, Write What You Know, expected to release later this year. Here’s “Do-ers & Say-ers” from their latest, It’s Not Gonna Be Pretty.
Artist: The Sour Notes
Song: Do-ers & Say-ers.mp3
Album: It’s Not Gonna Be Pretty
