In the track “Sylvia Plath,” you combine hip-hop and an early Jazz style — you seem to be fond of combinations like that. What brought that about?

I think jazz is one of the more interesting genres of the last century. I’m certainly no pioneer of combining it with hip hop, but it’s a combination that I still think has more room for exploration. In more recent works, I’ve been focusing on Brazillian jazz and jazz from other countries as primary influences. I’d like to eventually make an entirely jazz influenced album.

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What’s it like, being a growingly successful band from a small town? Do you think that your roots play a definite role in your musicianship?

Growing up in a small town, you don’t really have any distractions at all. I mean, what did we have? A bowling alley, a mall, and a hockey team… I was never into sports or after-school activites, so I would have a lot of time to work on my sequencers at home while going through highschool. Today, years later, there is still nothing to do up there, and although I stay mostly in NYC, I still like to do all my music upstate. There, we can just totally focus on just that and forget about everything else. It’s pure, like a good pop song. (more…)

What prompted your putting “Stories of the Old Country” in old books?

It just seemed natural. It was a album of stories. Instead of stories with specifics, they were stories with unspecifics. There were no lyrics, so the stories became 100% contextual to the listener. I felt that giving each copy a different context, in terms of what book it was housed in, might make the experience a little more unique. Some books have passages underlined. They may be meaningless, or they may not. But you kind of decide that for yourself.

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You’re a fairly young band, how does this affect your take on being musicians?

Well, Sam has studied music quite in depth since she was ten, so even though she’s relatvely young, she’s also quite experienced. The overall feel is that it means we’ve got more energy, enthusiasm and time to do things! We’re not all pre-occupied with full time jobs, so can put more effort into making music. We’re also an impressionable bunch, so we have a wide range of influences, past and present.

What seperates you from so many other young bands — I mean, it must be easy to feel lost among the crowd at times, right?

We take it seriously and look to the future and what would be best for the band as a whole. We make sure we play any gigs we get and arent afraid to play venues and events most bands wouldnt play (for example, we’ve played two gigs in a local church hall). Also, we’ve never latched onto the covers scene, which is how most young bands start and develop. It’s just not how we want to be known as. We’re not just another piss-poor covers band.

What is your favorite part about performing live? Any specific moments that stick out in your mind?

We cant recall any precise details of performing live (except for when we played after the 747s at Liverpool Barfly), just that its good to see people actually listening to your music, often singing along to songs that haven’t even been recorded yet. Its also nice to see how we work together as a band, its obvious on stage how good friends we are. But im sure as we gain more and more gig experience, and get a chance to play larger venues, we will have a lot more to look back on this time next year.

What are your plans as far as a formal recording goes?

We want to record as much as possible, any opportunity we get! We’ve already recorded one demo (‘Three Tracks’ available free on the site), and are looking to go into the studio again pretty soon. The only problem is finances, as we’re all unemployable students ;)

Besides more recording, do you have any grandiose plans for the future?

Just to make music for people who want to listen to it really. We dont have a master plan, just high hopes and a lot of energy to put the effort in to become a well known, respected band. It would just make us so happy to get our music heard, and get a chance to record what we think are a decent set of songs. Playing live is also one of our favourite parts of being in the band, and I think that shows when people get a chance to see us.

How about mundane plans? Any of those?

Mundane? We’re not really that kind of band! :P

Do you look at music as being a potential career, or just something that you enjoy?

Definitely a career.. We want to take The Rails as far as we can. We’re a pretty hard working and devoted band, and it would be our perfect career choice. How can you not want to keep doing something that makes you happy?

How wide is your range of influences?

Our influences range from obvious older bands such as The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Jeff Buckley, right the way through to much younger bands of today, for example Arctic Monkeys and The Zutons. In between, there are established, but still ‘our generation’ bands, namely Muse, Radiohead and The Libertines.

Who has been your favorite band to perform with?

That’s kind of a hard one. By the end of each tour I think I think we,ve grown close to all the bands. We’ve been lucky in that way I guess. Not many bands can probably be able to say that with a straight face.

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What do you find most beneficial about playing to a live audience?

I think our live act needs a lot of work, honestly. I don’t see it as an engaging experience for neither the band nor the audience. A few dudes playing inconsequential melodies over a .wav file is in no way a performance. So, we have been meaning to get some live drums in there, and start tailoring our songs to fit a bit better with a live band. There needs to be a connection between the audience and band, and at this point I don’t see that happening. However, the good news – summertime is a bad time for us, as Scotty and Seth disappear into the woods to guide rafts and the remaining dudes are left struggling with everyday life – but as soon as the summer is over I certainly think there is going to be a major overhaul in our process, now that we’ve have the prospect of potential slapped on our sammy. I would say that sometime in the future we could be a fucking electro-jam rock powerhouse with suspension cables and spinning drum sets and all that good stuff. Not really, but the plans for operation “rock their faces off” are certainly being drawn up. I want to be able to bust a 707 hand clap nine times, and look you in the eye nine times.

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Your lineup has changed from four to two since your 2000 album, Akasha. How has this affected your sound?

Laura: it feels like so long ago………..obviously the percussive element of our music was deeply effected when heath left the band (5 years ago), we had already begun to experiment with programming drums……but this change forced us to take that to the next level. Brad is an incredibly talented guy (with some interesting toys), and although our attempts may have not always turned out as we expected them to…………i think our music is so much warmer now………….and i wouldn’t change a thing. shane was still in the band when we recorded this last record, so any further changes were our natural progression. however, brad and i have been rather productive as a duo……….and i cannot wait to share what we have brewing.

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Why did you release “The Secrets” online? How much did Wilco play an influence in that decision?

“The Secrets” was released for free and legal and distributable download online because I had weighed 1.) the financial aspects of duplicating the music, then packaging it as I had envisioned, then mailing it out to only potentially interested parties, and then waiting for some response – against 2.) a free release which could take advantage of the explosion of digital music demand and instantaneous access. iPods, podcasts, MP3 blogs, and world wide access via the Internet all have collided to make this a very receptive environment for my songs. Wilco’s story is much different from my story: They already had a contract with a big label who didn’t know what to do with their record – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot – Wilco persevered with a boutique label. The film “I’m Trying to Break Your Heart” was illuminating in a way that every rock documentary is from “Some Kind of Monster” to “The Ramones – End of the Century” to “Gimme Shelter”.You get a glimpse into the mysterious workings of the thing called a band – in a “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way” way.

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