ACL Artist Interview: Benjamin Curtis of School of Seven Bells

What are you up to right now? Are you in New York?

Yeah, we’re in Brooklyn, we’ve been here a little bit since the last tour, making a new record, doing a few one-off things here and there…Japan, France, and here in New York City. We’re going out on tour again, I guess, next week.

Who are you going out with this time?

This is our first headlining tour, and a band called Phantogram are opening up the first part, and Depreciation Guild are doing the second half.

This is a big deal, huh?

For me, yeah! [laughs] It's our first one in the States. We’ve done it other places where we can do it more quickly, but it’s really cool to be able to finally do the show the way we want to do it, and present it the way it should be presented.

To be more specific - what were you not able to do previously that you can do now?

I guess 50% of it is psychological. For us it means we’re playing with a little more patience. We have total control of the vibe, we can do a full production and take our time.

Speaking of onstage ambiance, you toured with Bat For Lashes. They’ve got all this gothic crap all over the stage - it’s amazing. Were you planning on doing something with props and weird lighting?

Well, it’s not quite the antique store vibe, but we’re going to be showing videos that we’ve been collaborating with named Timothy Saccenti - he’s a great director, and he did these really radical compliments to our set. It’s kind of a more Velvet Underground multi-media vibe, minus the viola.

Are we going to see any of that at ACL?

We’re playing one of the after parties the night before, so we’re going to do it there, but not so much at the Austin City Limits festival in the morning, because you can’t really do that stuff mid-day. [laughs]

Correct me if I’m wrong - you played with the Secret Machines at ACL previously, and you have Texas roots, right?

Yeah man, I lived in Dallas from basically my teenage years. The Secret Machines played ACL in, god, 2006? I remember it was very, very hot. Is it going to be that way this year?

Well…they reseeded Zilker Park, so it’s supposed to be a lot less dusty. That can only be good news. How have things changed for you in the intervening years?

I think I’m a lot better at what I do. I think I’ve come a long way creatively and mentally. There’s been a radical upheaval in everything I do, and I think it’s all for the better. I think I’m just getting a more pure experience, you know? I think the music is coming out more purely for me.

I can see where you’re coming from, but I’m a little surprised to hear you say that. It seemed like you were pretty much doing what you wanted with the Secret Machines, no? Did you have some sort of mid-life-band crisis?

I think two things can happen when you start playing music. Either you start out with some friends and you’re doing the music that you can see yourself growing with your entire life, or you do something just because that’s the thing to do at that moment. I think what happens with some people is you realize that you can’t do this your whole life, and if you don’t start doing what you want to do now, then you'll never be able to do it. There’s a little more subtlety to my taste, and I had so much fun rocking out with Brandon and Josh, but I felt myself growing in a direction that wasn’t going to work in Secret Machines. I’m experimenting with different textures and different kinds of harmonies, and it’s just really really exciting.

How is the new record coming along?

We’re a little over halfway done. It’s really…it’s cool. I mean, god, how boring, I know every musician thinks that - that the record they’re doing now is the best thing that they’ve ever done - but goddamn it, I don’t care, I want to say it. I think it’s the best thing I’ve done so far. [laughs]