Tapes 'n Tapes Talk Ibid and Suspenders: An Interview with Josh Grier

Yeah, a little bit; that was something we were going for to begin with, so I think that that helped, since he’s used to hearing us play live and knows what we like musically which translated to how we recorded things. But for the most part, he really guided the process. We had a pretty good idea how we wanted everything to sound before we even got into the studio, so . . .

So it was a pretty smooth process then for you?

Yeah, it was great. It was probably the least stressful, most fun recording session that we’ve had yet. I mean none of them were crazy stressful or anything, but sometimes between work we had to do things pretty quick. Like, we put out an album in about a week and put another together in about 10 days. This time around we spent about twelve days, and I think this one went really well.

Because you guys still have day jobs, right?

Yeah, for the most part, we all kind of do things on the side. My long-standing career of being a data analyst ended last spring when I was laid-off, so I’ve been relieved of my day job duties. But that just clears out space, time that had been filled with stuff that was using a lot of effort and not music.

Do you think your label, Ibid, has a future then?

It depends. I think we’re all, like with everything that we do, taking it one step at a time. You know, we did a record on our own. We’ve done it all on our own, even our own distribution. We had a really good idea of how we wanted to release the new one, so, it’s like, well, let’s just relaunch our own label, and actually do things in a proper manner, or at least do everything how we’re able to do it. We have our own label, so…

Right, now that you have experience on both sides of the recording studio glass, so to speak.

Exactly. I mean when we put out an album on our own, it was basically like half a label's. In 2005 [when the first album The Loon released], self-released records weren't really listened to. People were usually like, "Oh it’s a self-release, no reason to pay attention." Granted that has changed a lot in the last couple years but we figured, we’ve got this label we put an EP out on, might just actually make it proper and...

Give it some legitimacy.

Exactly. And then in the future have the possibility for other things of ours or other bands. This way, we just set the groundwork for it.

So is there any significance or meaning to the album cover image?

The album cover was definitely picked long after we were done with the record. A buddy of ours Cameron, who has taken most of our press pictures, we talked to him about using one of his pictures for the cover. That was the one that just seemed to fit the vibe. There's something about it that's weird but playful and just reminded all of us of meeting up in the alley on a summer night. It seemed to sit well with the record so that was the main reason we went with it. There weren’t any deep artistic suggestions, although Cameron might have something else to say on it.

Do you personally have a favorite Tapes 'n Tapes song on this album?

I can't really say I do. It's like picking children, you can't really pick your favorite. All of them are a lot of fun to play, so that's good. I think for the most part if you play a song that you don't like, it doesn't generally end up on a record. So all the songs that ended up on the record are my favorites.

Tapes ‘n Tapes is about to head out on tour, what type of preparations are you making? Anything out of the ordinary for this go around?

Well, we have a lot more songs to choose from this time around. So we’re going to be mixing it up a lot and might play some stuff acoustic. We have done whole shows in acoustic before so we might try to work a song or two in that, or I might play my acoustic guitar solo a few times. When you're pulling longer sets with more songs, it’s good to mix things up a little bit, both for the folks watching and for ourselves since we've been touring a lot at this point, playing so much.

Right, take it down a notch.

Yeah, keep it fresh and new and exciting for everybody, you know?

Do you have any good stories from SXSW or any of your previous tour dates in Austin?

Oh man, pretty much all of our best and weirdest stuff happens when we’re in Austin.

Probably one of the better stories I have is definitely from Austin, it involves a dude driving an 80s thunderbird that he clearly cut the top off himself with a saw. And it had a license plate that said "No Kids" from Wisconsin, and then he had these fake balls that dangle down from below the license plate like where you'd have a trailer hitch.

Oh, it's called Truck Nuts.

Ha yeah! So this guy was right in front of us and the scene unfolded in front of our eyes. To start it all off he cut across traffic into a gas station, like at a forty five degree angle, hopped out of his car, flicked his lit cigarette out on the ground and pulled up his suspenders over his shoulder. No shirt on, just suspenders. And he had a mullet.

That is incredible.

This all happened within like two minutes. I immediately felt less awesome.

Clearly it is burnt into your mind.

Oh yeah, you just had to experience it.

Do you guys have a favorite place to tour or place to play at?

No, I can't really pick my favorite, I like each spot, there's a lot of energy on the tour. At all the venues we've played before we usually have a pretty good experience, so we always have something to look forward too.

Like, this is where we found that amazing Thai restaurant or the great Indian food, or this is the place with the awesome venue, or people are super friendly, or it's warm here. We try to find things about each town we really like and focus on those things. And then it's hard to say what was our favorite place.

But Austin is definitely at the very top, it’s one of my favorite towns in the world, it’s always up there.

We’d be happy to have you - more bands are moving down here every day you know.

Yeah I know - if I get sick of winter some day, I’ll think about it.