Weekend Music Preview: The Black CD Release [Mohawk / Saturday]
The Black formed in 2002 and have had somewhat of a stop-start career. Despite an oft-changing lineup and the occasional shift in priorities, singer and guitarist David Langoria and fellow core member Alan Schaefer diligently assembled astute squads at regular intervals to hash out their material. The duo’s persistence resulted in a couple of promising records, 2005’s debut LP Tanglewood and 2007’s Donna EP. Over the course of the last few years, The Black has secured a stable lineup and built up a fair amount of momentum, bringing their raucous performances at a whole host of venues in town. The Hole In The Wall, Emo’s, Beerland, The Mohawk, Club de Ville, Stubb’s Indoors, The Ghost Room, The Parlor...the band has played ‘em all. And now, armed with a stellar new album, The Black is ready to consolidate its position as a key player in the thriving Austin music scene.
We caught up with Langoria this week to learn more about the band’s history and studio habits.
Tell us about the origins of the band. Who was in the band back then and how has the lineup morphed over the years?
The Black formed with a few songs, and Andy (Morales) playing the drums. The name The Black was given to us by our friend Rebekah who booked our first show. In the beginning I roomed with Andy, and it was natural to play music together. Nick Moulos saw us play a little gig at Beerland, and offered to play bass with us even though he was in four other bands. When Nick started playing with us, it felt much more like a rock ‘n’ roll band. Then, Alan Schaefer saw us play a show, and he offered to play lead guitar. This all happened in a very short period of time. Before The Black, I had plans to play bass with Alan, and another songwriter Charles Eyo-Ita, in their band Federal Reserve. Sadly, Charles passed away, and we never played together. There is a lo-fi Federal Reserve recording out there that is pretty awesome. So The Black made Tanglewood -- kind of a formative effort with Alan writing about half the songs, and me writing the other half. I sang them all for some reason. I think Alan felt comfortable with me singing his songs. Alan then moved to France with his then girlfriend, and now wife. After this formation, I took a break to play keys with …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead. Alan came along on those tours as guitar tech. There were about two years when Alan and I were on the road with …Trail Of Dead, so the old lineup kind of dissolved with the Trail dudes filling in for The Black whenever there was an opportunity to play.
Full the jump for the rest of the interview.
So eventually Alan and I dropped off of …Trail Of Dead to focus on The Black. Looking back we seemed to have had a revolving line-up which was never our intention, but over the years what we wanted became pretty specific in some ways. Wanting to tour and play our specific style of rock ‘n’ roll, is somewhat demanding. Matt Simon was there playing tambourine through most of this, interspersed with playing drums for Voxtrot. He now plays drums fully. Jason Chronis, also from Voxtrot, was a part of the scene playing bass as far back as 2006 and filling in whenever he could. Jason and Matt are now core members in a very simple and natural way.
Did you have a specific vision when you started the band?
Forming the band, I didn't have too much of a vision. I knew that I liked Bob Dylan, The Velvet Underground, country music, blues, and rock ‘n’ roll, and used that as a starting point.
Where was the new album Sun In The Day Moon At Night recorded?
We recorded part of this record at Sweatbox with Mike Vasquez and part of it at Fort Horton with Billy Horton. Saturday’s gig at The Mohawk marks our second full length local release show...though it really does feel like our first. No kidding.
Conrad Keely from …Trail Of Dead appeared on the first full-length. Did you invite any musicians this time around?
On that first record, Conrad Keely came in and somewhat improvised with some cello and viola. On Sun In The Day Moon At Night we had the help of a few great musicians. Phil Ajjarapu played some bass, Mike Sabo played pedal Steel, Red Hunter played some combo organ, and Jared Van Fleet played some piano and organ.
Going back a bit, rumor has it that the Donna EP was recorded in a single day -- is that true?
The Donna EP was indeed recorded in a single day. We went in and did it. It was long and taxing....thanks to Erik Wofford for dealing with our extremist all-live-no-overdub ethos. Thanks to Mike Vasquez and Billy Horton for dealing with that too. That's how we did this new one too, with just a couple of tiny exceptions....otherwise we might have lost our minds.
Finally, to wrap up, when you take a look around at mainstream music these days, what are some acts that do it "right"? Locally, name some of your peers that you connect and associate with?
The light of my consciousness has not quite been on current mainstream music. A friend passed along a hip-hop record by Drake that I like alright...that's mainstream right? Locally, I have friends that I feel pretty deeply about. JC and Co featuring Jason Chronis is pretty interconnected with The Black seeing as we share everything. Martin Crane of Brazos lives at the Big Salmon (our practice house recording studio) so we see him all the time and his record is great. Silent Diane is prettty amazing. Pink Nasty is always writing great new material. The Carrots, Shapes Have Fangs, Soft Healer, Aaron Blount. There really is a lot of local music that I stumble upon that I dig quite a bit. Austin is a great place to saturate your living with music.
Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions and all the best!
[The Black MySpace]
[John Wesley Coleman MySpace]
[Silent Diane MySpace]
[Martin Crane MySpace]
