| |
-
...in which we discover that small towns like Norman, Oklahoma can be stranger than fiction
23 July 2000
-
 |
Give creative minds some opportunity and enough isolation to break some of the tethers they might have to mainstream culture and you typically get crap. Just like you typically get crap in any other circumstance (check the Billboard 100). But once in a while we get lucky enough to witness a nexus of creativity, isolation, and artistic sensibility that leads to some fine new music—which is just what we have with Norman, Oklahoma’s Starlight Mints.
Conceived in Allan Vest’s bedroom a little over three years ago (that’s where the band’s front man spends endless hours with his four track tape machine), Starlight Mints were a septet melding pop, chamber music, cartoon soundtracks, and dark incongruous rock a la Pixies. After a burst of interest their commercial rise lost steam, leading to a 'sabbatical' as drummer and co-founder Andy Nunez puts it.
Then a couple of years ago, playing a showcase in New York city, they met up with former Barkmarket front man, producer and engineer Dave Sardy. Sardy and the band got to talking and he ended up making them one of the premier acts on his new indie label SeeThru Broadcasting. Their first album The Dream That Stuff Was Made Of sees US release next month. And Starlight Mints, trimmed down to a five piece, stage their first US tour along with label mates Enon starting 15 August in California.
Rockbites caught up with the band in New York as they got ready for a show at The Knitting Factory.
-
Rockbites: I don’t know much about your band ’cause there isn’t much written about you yet.
Allan Vest: Yeah, we’re relatively new.
Rockbites: Cool. So, one thing I found really remarkable about you being new is that the songs are so well formed, well constructed, and just kind of sophisticated for a first album.
Allan Vest: Yeah? (skeptical) I’ve been pretty active over the last eight years, working in the bedroom and experimenting with arrangements and what not. We’ve been trying for a while. This is just the first thing that actually seemed to work out for us. We’ve kinda been saving ourselves, but at the same time we haven’t really had as much opportunity as, say, some bands from some of the bigger city areas.
Rockbites: So, the vision that has become Starlight Mints: did that begin eight years ago?
Allan Vest: No, that’s me personally. Starlight Mints started probably about, say, three and a half years ago. I think most of the songs on this album were written probably three years ago. So it’s relatively old for us, and we have two more albums worth of music already written. So we’re basically just beginning here, and sort of having to backtrack a little bit—but looking forward at the same time.
Rockbites: I found an image on the Web of an old Starlight Mints concert poster from May 1998 playing with a band called The Lids.
Allan Vest: That was the old band. We were a seven piece back then and we’re a five piece now. We had two string players: a cellist and a violinist. We’ve kind of narrowed it down just because it’s really hard to go out on the road and tour around with seven people. Tough job. We do a little sampling now, here and there. We’re trying to use keyboards for a while for our live shows. Eventually we may bring the strings element back in to the live performance.
“If you don’t like the Pixies, I’m not sure that I can get along with you!”
Rockbites: Did those two original people play on the album?
Allan Vest: Yeah, they did. They were both students at the time and have kinda moved on to other things anyway. I wrote the string arrangements—I’m the arranger for the band, more or less.
Rockbites: Do you have a music degree?
Allan Vest: No. I’ve just been studying on my own for a long time. But I’m not very literate in music, in the sense of 'what’s the technical term for this?'. I don’t think any of us are.
Rockbites: Interesting, given how well crafted the album is.
Allan Vest: That’s interesting that you’d say that to me, though. It’s surprising that that’s something that you would think of.
Rockbites: Because you don’t think that?
Allan Vest: No... you’re one of the first few people I’ve interviewed with, so it’s just interesting to me that you would think that it’s sophisticated.
“Through a trial and error process, something usually ends up happening or we trash it and move along to the next thing.”
Rockbites: I guess that’s one of the things I like about it. On one level it’s quite simple. I mean, on the very first listen it’s accessible and a lot of fun. But on the other hand it’s quite delicately balanced. There’s nothing in there that doesn’t need to be in there, but there are a lot of nice little surprises in there as well.
Allan Vest: Cool. Thanks.
Rockbites: Which other bands have you been in?
Allan Vest: I’ve been in some bands that didn’t get very far: one called Burnwagon and one called Shrinker, which never released much.
Rockbites: They were pretty much local Norman bands?
Allan Vest: Yeah.
Rockbites: Are Flaming Lips from Norman?
Allan Vest: They are from Norman and from Oklahoma City, as we are. They’re friends of ours. We’ve known them for six years or so. Scott Booker, who manages them, is working with us as well. He’s a local connection—someone in the town through whom we can communicate with other people.
Rockbites: I read online that Andy was in a band called Wakeland and in a band called Navel Orange.
Allan Vest: I know for a fact that Andy was not in Navel Orange. He was a member of Wakeland for a while, but just for a tour, maybe.
“I always thought of Valerie Flames as a kind of drunken march of sorts.”
Andy Nunez: Are you familiar with Navel Orange?
Rockbites: Not at all. I was just scouring the Web for your name, and one of the things I found was an old article from some Oklahoma paper that said you were just leaving Wakeland and joining Navel Orange.
Andy Nunez: Oh, really. That’s very wrong information. And with Wakeland I was basically a hired musician. So I don’t consider myself ever having been in that band. I got a lot of good experience out of it, though.
Rockbites: Is Starlight Mints your first major band?
Andy Nunez: I’ve been in other bands that have toured and stuff. I used to live in Oregon.
Rockbites: Where exactly?
Andy Nunez: In Ashland in southern Oregon, a couple of hours down from Eugene. Are you guys on the west coast?
Rockbites: We’re in northern California, but I’m familiar with the Portland scene a bit just ’cause so much is happening up there.
Andy Nunez: I spent a lot of time playing up there at the Satyricon club in a band called Red Footed Genius.
Rockbites: I’ve never heard of them.
Andy Nunez: That doesn’t surprise me!
“I’m not too terribly tainted. It’s exciting. All aspects are very exciting to me.”
Rockbites: Were you associated with Kill Rock Stars at all?
Andy Nunez: No, we were owned by a label that eventually turned into Echostatic. Are you familiar with Echostatic at all?
Rockbites: Not yet.
Andy Nunez: They eventually moved to Atlanta. A girl at the label owns a club there now. She’s from Norman and originally worked with Flaming Lips. She moved out west and started booking northwest bands before starting the label.
Rockbites: So are you from Oregon?
Andy Nunez: No. I grew up in the bay area, in Fremont. Then when I was in 6th or 7th grade my parents got transferred to Oklahoma.
Rockbites: I really like Dave Sardy’s production on the album, but given that you are from the same place, and as I now know are friends with Flaming Lips, why did you go with Sardy (Barkmarket, Helmet) as opposed to Dave Fridman (Flaming Lips, Mogwai, Mercury Rev)?
Allan Vest: Well, I think it was more or less an opportunity. I don’t know Dave Fridman. I admire him. I think that everything he’s produced is wonderful. Dave Sardy gave us the opportunity to do this. We had, I’d say, 85% of the material done, recorded in Norman, at our friend Trent Bell’s studio. We shopped it around for a while. We had some good response, but then the thing started to fade out a bit. Dave saved it all, really. We’re really thankful to him for that opportunity.
Rockbites: How did you first find him or hook up with him?
“Dave [Sardy, from Barkmarket] saved it all, really. We’re really thankful to him for that opportunity.”
Allan Vest: We did a showcase up here (in New York) about two years ago and I met Dave at that show. After we got done playing he came up to me. I think we just started talking on the phone for the next year. And now we’re here! He’s definitely getting into some different kinds of music than in the past. He’s been involved with a lot of heavier music. Recently I think he’s been working with Johnny Cash on some things. And I guess he’s doing a Marilyn Manson album. That’s quite a project. I’m not a big Manson fan myself but it could be interesting.
Rockbites: Have there been any trademark issues with the band’s name, given that there’s a Starlight Mint candy?
Marian Love Nunez: We’ve wondered that and been concerned about that. Personally we try not to make too many references to it—we don’t want to be too silly. I think [our manager] Scott Booker looked into it and said that there wouldn’t be a problem. I don’t think there’s a real issue.
Rockbites: I love the name. It’s just... twisted enough.
Marian Love Nunez: (Laughs)
Rockbites: Who’s in Starlight Mints now?
Andy Nunez: The three people on the CD who are touring are me, my wife (Marian Love Nunez), and Allan. Matt Goad played guitar on the CD but he’s a self employed graphic artist and it didn’t work out for him to tour. Charlie Land is filling in. Javier Gonzales is playing bass for us on the tour. We kind of re-formed after taking a sabbatical for a good year and a half. When we got back together we trimmed off the string section and found some younger, more energetic, and sane people to play.
Rockbites: When you’re putting together a Starlight Mints song, is there a typical process?
Andy Nunez: There is a process, actually. Allan and I are both big four trackers. Usually we will listen to a four track of a song and take it into a room and work it over for quite a while. I think our theory is that whoever is in the room can add whatever they want, and anyone has the right to tell somebody to go a different direction or to stop doing something. But, pretty much, the rule is that everybody should try as many things as possible. Then through a trial and error process, something usually ends up happening or we trash it and move along to the next thing.
Rockbites: Do you typically start with a lyric or with a melody?
Andy Nunez: I think melodies happen before the lyrics do. A lot of times the lyrics end up being a group effort. Allan will usually have the key words and a melody that things start working around and then everybody becomes a huge thesaurus and rhyming dictionary and starts throwing stuff out there. It becomes a mixture of a lot of people’s ideas at that point.
Rockbites: I’m always interested in influences. You talk about a lot of musical influences in your bio on the SeeThru Broadcasting site and in other interviews, but I was wondering in particular about the song Valerie Flames, whose dissonances and harmonies sound extremely reminiscent of Bossanova era Pixies. I was wondering if that was the intent or if it’s just me.
Andy Nunez: I don’t think anyone was trying to 'Pixie' us, but there are certain common denominators in the band. Everyone grew up listening to different stuff, but sometimes we end up meeting on common ground. The Pixies is definitely one of those bands. I mean, everybody loves The Pixies. If you don’t like the Pixies, I’m not sure that I can get along with you! When I listen to our record there are occasional things where I go, 'Hey, you know, that is kind of Pixie like.' But Valerie Flames isn’t one of the songs that comes to mind. I always thought of Valerie Flames as a kind of drunken march of sorts.
Rockbites: Yeah! Your music is often evocative of interesting descriptions. Your song The Bandit sounds like what you might hear in a dream if someone had a TV on in the room playing a 60s TV theme song.
Andy Nunez: That’s good to hear. That’s a good way to feel a song.
Rockbites: The music’s a lot of fun.
Andy Nunez: There are certain songs that we would almost treat as a theme, not in terms of what the song’s about but more taking an approach like if you’re, say, lost on a ship and it’s some sort of cartoon scene going on, almost total fantasy and not necessarily making any sense. But anyone can make sense out of it if they want to.
Rockbites: Can you say more about the new material in the can, or in your minds anyway, ready to put onto record?
Andy Nunez: Oh, definitely. Me and Allan both have thousands of 30 second or one minute things four tracked. When we first got together I had this industrial warehouse in Norman that we used to practice at. We had 24 hour access. Seven or sometimes even eight people would be out there. We’d come out and just work on stuff and have a good time. What I found was that after eight hours, when it started getting rolling to like 3 am, slowly people would start getting in their cars and driving away. Then me and Allan and maybe one other person would be there still going at it, and that was usually the time when things started happening. Maybe a little sleep deprivation or something going on there, or maybe it takes eight hours for us to get warmed up creatively, I don’t know. I’m sure we’ll get back into that mode when we’re trying to iron out the stuff for the next record
Rockbites: I know what that’s like.
Andy Nunez: Yeah, I’m sure it’s the same thing when you’re writing or whatever. Sometimes you have to say that persistence is the key: I have to try, try, try, and eventually it’ll get done, or eventually you’ll be happier with something. The ideas that we keep coming back to we’ll keep working on, and the ones that disappear, they disappear.
Rockbites: Has anyone in the band thought about working on a soundtrack?
Andy Nunez: I love that idea. I’m also a big fan of ’50s style space age pop. I’m always trying to put into our music something I call 'manual sampling writing' where you’re not necessarily using a sampler but you’re treating instruments like they’re samplers.
Rockbites: So you’d incorporate that into a soundtrack?
Andy Nunez: Yeah. When I watch movies I love a good soundtrack, and there isn’t enough of people like Danny Elfman or Mark Mothersbaugh doing creative stuff in movies. I think we’d be all over it if we had the opportunity!
Rockbites: I’d love to see that.
Andy Nunez: Or, a cartoon soundtrack would be even more fun, I think.
Rockbites: Oh yeah, I can picture that!
Andy Nunez: (Laughs)
Rockbites: Tell me more about Trent Bell’s studio.
Andy Nunez: It’s called Bell Labs. Norman is probably a 75,000 population town, and there’s kind of one of everything. In my opinion there’s one real studio, and that’s as close as you’re going to get to a real studio in Norman. It’s actually become much nicer since we recorded the record. To show you how small the music community is, Trent, who runs the studio, is also the guitar player in Chainsaw Kittens and the live sound engineer for Flaming Lips, and has done studio stuff before with the Lips. I’ve known Trent since I was twelve years old.
Rockbites: So Marian, is Starlight Mints your first band?
Marian Love Nunez: Yeah, it’s the first band.
Rockbites: How many gigs have you done with the band?
Marian Love Nunez: This is the second showcase that I’ve played at. I was also here when we came to New York the first time.
Rockbites: What’s the audience reaction been like?
Marian Love Nunez: It’s surprising every time. It’s been incredibly positive.
Rockbites: Being new to the rock scene, how’s it suiting you?
Marian Love Nunez: Well, it’s all new to me, you know, so I really like it all at this point. I’m not too terribly tainted. It’s exciting. All aspects are very exciting to me.
Rockbites: Well, that’s the best way to approach it. Or anything.
Marian Love Nunez: Hopefully it never dies. Hopefully that continues.
|
|
Starlight Mints
