The Secret Machines Live at the Leadmill, Sheffield (13.2.09)
Often, many bands claim to be (or it is evident that they are) influenced by such luminaries as Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, staples of British rock history. Secret Machines are one of these bands, and they manage to pull it off with finesse and true intent. Even though it was ‘one of those gigs,’ you know the type, where you feel you are one of three present in a room full of people who have actually listened to the band on several occasions before, it was an enthralling performance. Josh Garza battled away with his drumsticks throughout the show, producing a military stomp not dissimilar to something along the lines of ‘When the Levee Breaks’ (indie kids, borrow you dad’s copy of Led Zeppelin’s Four Symbols). Onto this, frontman Brandon Curtis and new guitarist Phil Karnats layered sublime melodies and the variable tempos for the different tracks maintained a continual chugging groove.
Although tracks from the band’s most recent eponymous record were received with lukewarm applause, the band let rip early with singles ‘Atomic Heels’ and indie hit ‘Lightning Blue Eyes’ to indicate their aggressive, much rawer live sound. At the end of the set, the untalkative lads launched into the rapidly played live staple ‘Now Here is Nowhere’ much to the agreement of the gathered crowd which had squeezed into the Steel Stage room. I myself was a little disappointed at the misrepresentation of the band’s third offering, Ten Silver Drops. However, when the encore came, the introductory tones of single ‘Alone, Jealous and Stoned’ washed over the crowd like a cool blast of relief.
I doubt the Texas band will return to New York feeling the performance was memorable, but it can’t be denied that Secret Machines put on a great live performance.
By Viraj Mohindra
Secret Machines – Secret Machines
There should really be an unspoken rule somewhere that bands after their first album should not be allowed to release a self-titled album. I know there are bands that don’t want name the records and that is fine but something needs to be done here. Other than that small little problem The Secret Machines return with another massive sounding album. The Secret Machines have yet to release an album that is ten tracks long. The record is again being produced by the band themselves with help from Brandon Mason. It is the first album to feature the band’s new guitarist Phil Karnats, who replaced Benjamin Curtis after he left the band in March of last year to focus on School of Seven Bells.
The record starts off with “Atomic Heels” and with a big bang from the drum and then those always spacey guitars kick in and bring things together rather nicely. I always enjoyed Brandon Curtis as a vocalist as he has a great dark/evil delivery but still sounding very polished at the same time. You can easily see “Atomic Heels” getting the single treatment as it is one of the most straightforward songs on the album. “Last Believer, Drop Dead” is classic Secret Machines if there is such a thing. The track starts off with this droned out bit that seems to last for the first two minutes of the song. “Have I Run Out” really starts to get the album going with the first seven minute plus track of the album. The track starts off really slow and you don’t really know where they might take this song. Then at a minute and half into the song there is a loud explosion of drums that just takes over the song. They are almost are tribal-like in the massive sound and scope. “Now Your Gone” starts off really slow and I did get a little bored by the track but towards the end its emotion starts to grow on you. “The Fire Is Waiting” is the track I was waiting for. It is a marathon session that clocks in at just under twelve minutes that just keeps on trucking along and it does not really follow much a pattern. It is a track that you can just pop on and get lost in it.
A lot has changed for the band before the release of this record. They lost a member and switched to an indie label. The band sound a bit rawer and the songs are not as accessible as their previous records. But, the record is still solid
By John Siwicki
Secret Machines – Lightning Blue Eyes
This track from “Secret Machines” starts off well and gives a good first impression with a hard bass-line and the drums being very prominent. The track carries on this way throughout, never leaving that set tone. After the starting phases of the song, i am left waiting for a killer chorus. Two minutes into the track, I’m still waiting and ooo is that it? False alarm it seems. Then finally, the chorus comes, but not the successful form I was hoping for and left praying for. Despite the lack of a killer chorus, then track remains mysteriously catchy, you will have to wait a bit, but eventually the song does pick up standard and finishes as an enjoyable
listen.
By Matt Shaw
Secret Machines
Are you guys currently on the road? Where are you at now?
Well actually right now, we’re in between tours. We just finished touring in the US and soon we start touring Europe. So right now, we’re home, in New York, where we have been living for the last 6 years.
So you guys will be touring Europe, where you’ve already toured before. Are you excited about going back?
Yeah, because in Europe we don’t feel that there’s as much expectations as in the States. The States is such a big country and Europe is made up of smaller countries, so things are more word of mouth there. But, yeah we’re really looking forward to going back to Europe.
This summer you’ll also be touring in Asia. Will it be your first tour there?
No, we actually went to Japan a couple of years back for the Summer Sonic tour. You know, big bands can tour everywhere, anywhere and anytime. For a smaller band like us we never know when we’ll be back in Japan. Before we were actually with a label, Japan would kind of pass on us. Then when we got a label, the label company did not think it would be a good idea to go there until the record came out.
Japan is one of the few places in the world where I’m truly lost. I don’t speak the language, I can’t read anything and not everybody speaks English, so I’m truly lost. It feels really weird.
Kind of like Lost in Translation?
Yeah, but imagine that at night you’ve got to play. You feel totally lost and weird all day and then at night you’ve got to rock.
So what would you say as been your best experience so far on this tour?
We started in the US with these real ambitious shows. In New York and Los Angeles, we played in the round. We would play in the middle of the room, with all the people around us and the lights coming up. It was really cool. It’s not like when Metallica plays in the round. They’re in an arena filled with people. For us, it was a much smaller site. We wanted to be entertaining and we pulled it off. We’re thinking of ending our US tour for the fall in the same way.
You guys are also coming to my hometown, Montreal, for the Dog Day Afternoon show. Have you ever been to Montreal?
Actually we’ve been a few times. We have been to Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. We always have good shows in Vancouver. Toronto was good too. Montreal is cool, but whenever we come to Montreal, there always seems to be a reason why it should’ve been better. It’s like “Oh you guys shouldn’t have come in the winter” or “you should’ve been here last week”. We get small crowds. And you keep hearing all these things about how Montreal is down, Montreal is hip to music. I do like Montreal. I just wish we would do better here.
You guys have had a lot of media attention lately. Would you say it has changed the group’s relationship? Has it put extra pressure?
It hasn’t put extra pressure, because no one puts more pressure on us than we do on ourselves, regarding what we want to do musically, artistically and what kind of path we want to explore. But it does seem like it was easier when it was just us three. When we first moved to New York, in 2000, we didn’t have a lot of money. We had an apartment, in Bushwick, which at the time was a rough part of town, with just one big room with all of our gear on one side and our three beds on the other. It was a year where we just did what we had to do; write, rehearse, play shows, etc. Now it seems like there’s always someone to deal with. You’ve got to deal with your manager, your booking agent, your lawyer, etc. We have more of a do-it-yourself attitude. We’ll never be the kind of band to call up our manager and say that we need our dry cleaning done. We try to keep doing stuff by ourselves as much as possible. So it’s not so much the pressure as the stress of balancing the new responsibilities, like having a crew for lights and sound. We want to keep playing and keep cherishing that. We don’t want to tamper with our love for music. We want to wake up and play music and have fun. Doing what you love as a career is difficult; you have to make a lot of sacrifices. Right now, we’re in a situation where we can do this for the rest of our lives, so we’re just trying to stay balanced.
Talking about media attention, you were recently interviewed by David Bowie. Are you guys big fans? How did that feel?
It’s funny because since the podcast with Bowie, we’ve gotten these sci-fi interviews where we’re in an interview asking us about another interview. It’s kind of like the interview is more popular than other aspects of our music. But we are big fans and we’ll always have that memory. I mean this is David Fucking Bowie. He’s a cool guy. He’s interviewing us and we’re like “Dude, we should be interviewing you!”. It was very flattering and cool. At the same time, we don’t want it to be the only thing we’re known for. “Secret Machines ? Isn’t that the band that got interviewed by David Bowie?”. We don’t want it to be our big highlight, but it’s really cool.
Your album has also been reviewed by Rolling Stone and you have been in countless magazines. How do you feel about the media attention?
Well it’s kind of a double-edge sword. It’s mostly thanks to our publicist at Warner Bros, who fell in love with the band. He’s great. Since he has this real love for the band, he’s able to get a lot of people’s attention to it. It’s weird that we get so much ink when we have less record sales and station rotation than other groups. I get the impression the people see us as more successful than we really are.
We’re really lucky. Thanks to our publicist, we’re getting a lot of press. I would say that we’re the most overlooked underground group with the greatest amount of press. Personally, I wouldn’t mind having less press, but more fans. Fans are real. Reviews come and go. We do appreciate it though. It would suck if we got a lot of negative press.
What does the name of the album, Ten Silver Drops, mean?
This is a weird question, since normally we don’t like to tell people what album titles or lyrics mean. But this time I’ll answer it. We were in a studio in London mixing. The whole time, everyday, we would throw out album names and we would each be like “Nah, let me think about it for a while”. One day, Brandon (Curtis, vocals) came in the studio saying he had a dream.
“Cool, what was the dream about?”
“Ten Silver Drops.”
At the time, we were mixing ten songs, but only 8 songs made the album, so for me it just totally connected. We have 10 songs and we have been here mixing this album for what feels like 10 months.
We’re always careful about telling what our lyrics or album title mean. I think it’s cool when you make it your own. It’s good to leave that space for you to interpret it.
Leave space for the imagination?
A little bit, yeah. Because it’s fun. It’s like a Van Gogh painting; you don’t look at it for what he’s telling you, but for what you’re feeling when you look at it. We try to not push a meaning on people. It’s fun for the songs to be reinterpreted.
By Eli Larin