Interview with Untied States

Untied States has been making albums and touring for a few years now, so it’s about time DOA sat down and talked with Colin, one of the band’s two founding members. Untied States started out doing experimental music that was always as challenging as it was rewarding, but now the band has trimmed off some its less accessible edges (as Colin puts it, “getting comfortable in a sound is a waste of time”) and recently released an album that’s part Sonic Youth and part Liars, with some Mercury Rev and Clinic in there as well. The band has always combined the intellectual and the visceral. Just embarking on a tour (do check them out if there’s a stop in your town), Colin still took some time to give some insight into the way the band creates its magic.

How did you guys get started? What were your intentions when you started a band (just to have fun? land a deal with Arista?)

Yeah, still holding out for Arista! Skip and I have played together since we were teenagers, so I think the original motivation to start a band was probably a way to be different from others. This is before mega-sized guitar stores mind you. By the time we started doing Untied States many years later, we had already done a lot of bad, uninspired (or maybe too “inspired by others”) music. We started this group with the intention of saying something that hadn’t already been said before.

Were there any shows you went to or albums you heard early on that made you say, “I need to be in a band?”

Yeah, Skip and I went and saw Nirvana (with the Breeders opening) on their last tour. We weren’t at the show together, but we were friends. I remember it well, as I had a 102-degree fever (sorry, Lakeland, FL) and almost died from dehydration. It was well worth it, though. I just remember the way that their music made me feel, the way they seemed so honest, and I wanted to be able to evoke those same feelings in others myself, or at least try. Another early-on show was the Ramones… Again, their last tour but for different reasons. OK, so there was no Dee Dee, but it really impacted me a great deal, they barely looked like they were trying (maybe they weren’t) but it was one of the few times that I didn’t get bored at a big show. I picked up a guitar at 12 or 13 and started a band pretty much right away, and I imagine for all of the wrong reasons. If I have children some day, they will never be allowed to pick up a guitar –they will instead get something useful, like a hammer or a saw.

You’ve had some line-up changes over time. Has that been a distraction or been good for the band’s approach, working with different musicians?

I have to say, it was never an intentional move. Until recently, we never could find people serious enough to do this band the right way and God knows, having different lineups has been time consuming. On the other hand, and I’ve never really thought of this before now, it has aided in the band’s progression, you know, not getting stuck in a rut, getting too comfortable. Every time we would bring in new people, we would really think of being in the next phase of the band and we really didn’t want to do the “old” material from before. As a result, we don’t play any old material — we never really have. I’d like to change that though — with Darren, who’s been with us for more than two years and made the record with us from the beginning, and more recently with Satchel — we have finally gotten together people who see things the same way we do. Perhaps we’ll be able to look back, but then again, I’m not so sure.

Your albums have changed somewhat over time, where early on the sound was sometimes really difficult and challenging and now you’ve found a way to hold on to those experimental aspects but wrap them into more accessible songs. Have you made conscious changes to your approach over time or do your albums evolve somewhat organically from one to the next?

Yeah, I listen to the older stuff sometimes and think, “how the hell were people supposed to listen to this?” I mean, we made some really great, far-out-there stuff, and buried in there are some great melodies, but we used to just fuck with pretty pop songs just to do it, to somehow say, we’re serious artists here blah blah blah. It was confrontational, in a way, uncomfortable. I don’t think we ever intentionally changed anything, so it has been a natural progression, but one that was informed by nurturing good songs rather than breaking all of them like some overstimulated, over-saturated bored teenagers. Ultimately we began to realize that this wasn’t a one-sided deal — you know, “other people may have to listen to this” so it’s a bit more engaging.

How would you describe your sound now? Is that an impossible task?

I hope it’s not that difficult, it shouldn’t be… For us, a certain sound isn’t really the aim. Instead, we put first and foremost the notion of writing songs that have new melodies, rhythms, harmonies etc. — to say new things — you know, that’s what you do. There’s no reason to do anything else. Getting comfortable in a sound is a waste of time. Of course, you may ultimately end up sounding like something or someone else but you try to go beyond that naturally, right? One thing you’ll hear about the group is “it’s difficult; it’s all over the place.” Not so fast! If anything, our “sound” is a reflection of a pulse we hear, one we didn’t set. A world that wants everything summed up in a sentence or two, that gives a passing glimpse and is on to the next thought, that views information with such a short attention span, well, it gets the same pulse back from us. We’re just keeping up.

Do you have a particular way of writing songs that you come back to over and over again?

We write in a few different ways… Sometimes, it’s “let tape roll, catch some fun, and then work it up from there” — that usually ends up resulting in the more science-project sounds/songs. Then, sometimes and more recently so, it’s been more of working process, really working out notes, parts — the way they fit together and sound “right” to us. In the end, a lot of the time it’s “OK, here’s this mess, how do we fix it make it to sound so it would pull at your senses? Notes/beats pull you in myriad, limitless directions — I think we often take on some “rough” stuff — odd textures and sounds — and the challenge is to steer it, to shape in the directions we feel at that time, and work on it ’til it’s “right.”

How did you get hooked up with your label Distile, which is a label based primarily in France?

We have to give the credit to technology for that happening. Pierrick, who runs Distile, essentially found us online and after a good bit of back and forth, we discovered that our thoughts were much in line. I have to say, he has been a tremendous help in getting our music heard by others and really, has become a great friend who I trust. We correspond almost every day. He comes from the same school of thought we do, where music is an art form. The business end of music can just be downright ridiculous, and we’ve navigated through some interesting terrain together. I wish I could say that I learned French, but I haven’t… yet!

Is the music scene in Atlanta receptive to your sound?

Sure. They’ve played this new record on the radio here a good bit. We fill a certain sound void here. We are different from most of the groups here, I can say pretty assuredly.

Are there bands in Atlanta that you really like and that you think people should know about?

Atlanta is an amazingly small town in a big city. I like the fact that we all pretty much personally know most of the like-minded bands in town. We share a room with Carnivores, who are a great group. Philip, their bassist and singer, played with us for some time. Some others: Hawks are good guys, heavy. Who else… Balkans are really impressive and young and fun to watch. This city has a lot of talented musicians — just don’t go to any rehearsal spaces to find them…wow, the shit we hear sometimes.

You’re about to embark on a tour. How do you go about booking dates in cities where you’re not especially well known?

Meeting other like-minded bands and establishing friendships with them helps a great bit, as anyone can imagine. I would have to say that that’s how most things happen when you don’t have a booking agent. As much as I sometimes can’t stand the computer, it has completely enabled us to do what we do, beyond just booking. I don’t know how the hell people used to do this work without a computer. I mean, booking your own tours… I guess they didn’t for the most part…

Do you ever get time off to see the sights when you’re touring? What’s your favorite time killer when you’re on the road?

You know, not really — unless time permits. Usually, well — when you’re like us, you travel far enough each day that you don’t really really get to where you’re going until close to night, which is when you play. I like the short snapshots of cities you do see, though, and all of the in-between. The entire group has an intense fascination with empty parking lots, you know, failed businesses, especially failed car lots. We all have our different reasons… I see promise and failure all wrapped up in a whole bunch of blank space.

You’ve toured a few times. Are there cities where you feel like the audiences really get your music?

Chicago is always good for us. I think, and I don’t know why, but we may have an aesthetic that people out there are into. Really though, it’s often in the places where you might not expect, just in terms of city size, where people are really avid about shows and house shows. Some of the best shows, and I know many people can relate here, have been house shows. The enthusiasm is palpable in some of these places.

Are you working on new material right now?

Yes, we are! We just laid down some basics for what will likely be an EP. We recorded it in a great space, a big room in this warehouse that doubles as a playhouse music hall sort of space with all heart-of-pine ceiling and floors and that Skip and I both worked in (well, he still does). It’s a tremendous room and a bit wild. You can hear the street humming below through the mics. It’s right above and overlooking Ponce (Ponce de Leon), still the seediest street in town…I recorded some pianos there years ago and you can hear guys barking drugs or whatever in the background. Of course, we hung a mic out the window this time and I’ll be damned: not a single peep, just cars passing.

Do you have jobs outside the band that make use of your creativity?

People make money using creativity? I want proof.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being Untied States?

Seeing your name misspelled on postal trucks.