Interviewing a Band Whose Dreams Can Rock
There are various levels of tiredness. You're either laid back, on crack, or asleep. The components of Akron--a newly formed trio of indie rockers--were obviously tired. They were each on their own distinctive levels of tiredness, but a common characteristic was that their eyes were strung in blood vessels.

Seth and Dana have been drinking at the bar they just played in. Miles doesn't drink, but during their set, he proclaimed that he just ate a one pound burger and it looked like it took a lot out of him. What do you do for a band who is exhausted from sleep deprivation, travel, and having just played two consecutive sets of their second official show? Buy a round of vodka shots of course, and take them to Denny's at 3 in the morning. We blended in well-the place was stuffed with post-bar drunkards.

Key Players
Seth (with intensive traditional jazz training): guitar and vocals

Miles (with another life in the Seattle hardcore scene): bass and vocals

Dana (with a history in punk and indie rock): drums and vocals

Manolo for NMY (with a strong background with awkwardness): mini cassette recorder and some questions

An Intensive Q & A
Waitress: Guys ready? Wait, drinks. I'll get you drinks.

Newmoanyeah: I know what I want. Do you know what you want?

Dana: No...well I do...

NMY: I would like a plate of country fried potatoes?

Seth: OK. I want the grand slam. Over easy.

Waitress: With bacon or sausage or both?

Seth: I guess two of each, right?

Waitress: Yeah, you get four pieces of meat whether you like bacon or sausage or both.

Seth: Yeah... totally... I want various meats... in my mouth...

Town in Ohio or Band in Brooklyn?
Seth: Before Dana came up to New York I was playing with Miles. We would leave work at ten at night and go to my apartment in Brooklyn and play till like five in the morning--totally spaced out. So although we only played for about five months, it was a pretty intimate experience because like I don't know, we were playing a lot and recording and being really creative, plus I wasn't really playing with anybody else since I've moved to New York. I hadn't met anyone to play with, save for [Miles], so we both kind of put all of our creative energy and frustration and all this from being in New York.

NMY: You guys aren't originally from New York but you formed in New York--

Miles: --Brooklyn.

NMY: Right, the whole Brooklyn resurgence thing. Is there anything you want to talk about as far as surviving as a start up band in Brooklyn? And what separates you from the others?

Seth: (laughing) We played in Ohio and Pennsylvania...

Miles: Fucking Brooklyn makes your feet hurt and your fucking ears hurt and your fucking lungs hurt. And I think that we're out of our element. And I think that our adaptability factor to our environment is what sets us apart from Brooklyn rock groups. Because I feel like we came there and we're creating an original sound and I think that a lot of people come to Brooklyn to just hop on to what's established there. Because everything else hurts so bad that they just want it to be easy. And I don't fucking think that the easier softer way is going to do shit for us. And I think that we've come to the point where we sound nothing like the Brooklyn rock scene and I'd be happy to let them fucking give us shows and let us fucking take over and rock their asses. But as far as I'm concerned, we came there to like... we play music no matter what.

NMY: Somebody just passed out [over there... across the room]. But anyway...

Dana: Did you hear that noise? That was his head.

NMY: Did he fall?

Dana: I heard his head smack, man. I just saw him fall.

NMY: Yeah, anyway. Style wise I think you're definitely different from the Brooklyn thing.

Miles: I think a major difference -- what I was trying to say -- the major distinction is not so much about our aesthetic--we don't concern ourselves as much with that as the rest of the Brooklyn scene, because I think that that's what the Brooklyn scene is about. It's a bunch of kids that moved there and hopped on because they're afraid. Because they're fucking scared to death because New York City will eat you. And so they're like "Oh, I'd better get with the pack so that I don't get eaten." And you know, we're willing to take the chance on getting eaten. Because we love it, we fucking love it. We fucking sleep and I think about it, and I wake up and I think about it, and I go to sleep and I think about it. And it's fucking insane. You know... it's what I'm on this fucking planet to do. And no style or lack of fucking friends and attention and like fucking... loneliness is going to get in my way.

NMY: Plus Seth said you were a dork.

Miles: Huh?

Seth: Because you're a dork. You're a big big dork.

Miles: I am a big dork.

NMY: But I know what you're talking about as far as the music community and stuff.

Miles: Yeah because I've done that. And I'm sure we can go and play Brooklyn rock better than all the Brooklyn bands. And that's how I want to do it.

Seth: I don't know if I'd look good in all those clothes though. Like all the electro clash clothes and shit.

On Stage and Record
NMY: It looks like you guys have a good vibe going both musically and beyond that.

Dana: I definitely felt that we developed--over the short amount of time that we've been together--a strong bond. It's really amazing because when you play with new people, a lot of people feel conservative and reserved and aren't brave enough to throw their souls out there and just be themselves musically. I felt that that hasn't been a problem with the three of us. When we play live we just totally bear it all and take it like we feel naked in public.

The Nakedness of Akron
I did notice the honesty in their music in relation to their state of being. As Seth mentioned, the recordings were done in the middle of the night, after he and Miles finished their full-time shift at work. The musical results really did depict the tired evening's dreaminess found in a still apartment, and ushering in a creative sunrise. Every sound and absence of sound feels thoughtful. And the moving harmonies and complex time signatures are just as human.

Yet, Akron is that band that sounds mellow in their recordings, but are surprisingly rocking out live. Each has their own stage persona of conducting the energies they bring. Dana drums with thoughtful and concentrated facial expressions; Miles needs the space on stage that an energetic punk rocker needs; and Seth has a signature move of staying stationary while bobbing at the knees.

And the extent of their musical honesty can even go further. Someone once noted how some of their compositions are loose and sometimes lack direction...

The Plan of Akron
Seth: I think planning a direction would be great, but I don't know how much planning we could do that could make it happen. It's weird. Obviously we have to put all the effort into it, but I don't know if putting a whole bunch of effort into one thing is going to make that thing happen.

Miles: It's hard to be a band in New York City and it's harder to devote a lot of time because you have to struggle and work and do everything so much. It's really hard to rehearse, time wise and space wise. And I think that starting to play shows and knowing that we could take any show with anybody. I would feel comfortable with taking any show with anybody and we would be able to totally play and totally hold our own. And I think that now that that's been proven to us by experience, now that we're dealing with some serious power, we don't need to really worry too much about what will happen. I try to have as clear an idea as I can about who and what we are. I don't think we are better or worse or anything. I think we're in touch with something big and that we're not going to have a problem. I really do. As long as we don't fucking break up I don't believe that things are going to have to stop.

Dana: Yeah, I totally think we have the heart to keep it, you know what I mean?

The Versatility of Akron
NMY: I think what distinguishes you from a lot of the other indie bands is that live you have all your written songs, but you're also great at jamming hippy style.

Seth: Jam hippy style? Totally. We tried it before and it's always been kind of weird and Dana and I talked about it because Dana and I would, you know, improvise, and we were like "well, whatever, this band may not be about that" you know what I mean? We were so happy with the composed stuff. And then we played at Oberland [in Ohio] for all these hippies last night and ran out of fucking material. We played all our rocking songs, and people still wanted to rock, and all we had were slow intimate songs, so we just made shit up and it really worked. And then we kind of started making shit up today when we ran out of material. We started at the same place we did last night and just went on. I'm pretty happy with it. It sucks that hippies have the market on improvisation.

Miles: I thought we were playing like punk rockers.

Dana: It wasn't very hippy.

NMY: Right right. It's just the audience in this town. It's very hippified.

Seth: Yeah, definitely.

The Voice of Akron
NMY: What role do vocals play into your music? Because basically the way a lot of Americans listen to music is that they want vocals.

Miles: They want hooks.

NMY: Even with live instrumental bands that have great hooks, they tend to want vocals.

Seth: Oh yeah yeah, when [the jazz band I'm in] played in The Valley there was that group of people that were like "Play something with words! Anything! With words!"

NMY: Exactly, so what do you think vocals play into your music?

Seth: For me the only reason I put vocals in music is because I think they're effective.

Dana: I think that if any of us had a good strong sense of being able to write vocals for a song, we'd totally add more to it.

NMY: The cool "prettiness" that you once described yourself as both live and on cd was that the vocals were delicate, unassuming, and fragile and it really fit with the music.

Miles: And maybe that's all we need. They serve their purpose when they serve their purpose.

NMY: So you don't rely on them as much as other bands do...

Seth: I think it's important that we're not instrumental. There are points where we all break down singing. Even me as a listener, when I go to see bands, if they're just instrumental, there is some...I don't know. There is a level of expression that vocals have.

Miles: There is a level and a closeness that occurs when they hear someone's voice.

Seth: That's why I think that the post rock thing is like--the Chicago thing [that you, NMY, keep fucking comparing us to] is like very cool and aesthetically strong and very interesting, but in a lot of ways it's very dry and without human quality that instrumental music, like Tortoise--that there's a distance in it and I think part of the intimacy we achieve in our recording at least has to do with the vocals. It has to do with a lot of things, but I think vocals are one thing that can achieve that specifically.

The Intentions of Akron
Seth: For like a band like Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. They're great and they're really all talented musicians and the music's cool. But, like, a big draw for people is that it's sophisticated and that complex... to be complex and technically challenging. And I don't think that would be a reason hopefully that people would... I don't think that's what people would associate with our music or... I don't think they would come see our music because we're all "sick musicians." Hopefully they will come because the music's good... or affecting.

Miles: I want to sound like people feel when they fucking see a car wreck. And I also want to sound like the way people feel when they fall in love or when kiss somebody that they totally have a crush on.

NMY: Are you guys concentrating on trying to find a label or are you concentrating on playing in more venues..?

Miles: I'm just concentrating on fucking making the music and trying to put it out there and let it take care of itself. If someone wants to pay me for my music? Hell yeah!

Seth: There's a whole lot of good musicians that don't get to play music for a living. And as much as I don't want to be a "pro" musician, whatever that means. But I do want to play music. I want to wake up and work on music all day long and go to sleep and then wake up and work on music and not have to labor at a job to make a living. So there is a certain amount of business that has to happen. I've been in a lot of bands and tried a lot of different ways--most of the bands I've been in have done a lot of business and I don't know how to do the business. I don't know what to do. I guess it will end up being more of us not starting a scene, but how to exist outside of a scene. Outside of a genre. I think genre and styles effectively sell music for consumption. And if you're a band that's not easily consumable... yeah, actually thinking about it now, I don't think the music is going to be a problem. I think we can make pretty great music. I think the business thing we may or may not have it. We could be or could not be successful, whether or not the music is good.

But it is good

I Tried to Refrain From Name Dropping
I've had friends from various musical backgrounds listen to their song, "We All Will". They haven't universally compared the group to one single band, yet Akron leans toward a musical spectrum--and that's a good thing. They dropped names like Joan of Arc, American Football, and Do Make Say Think; with elements of Secrets Stars and the vocals of Alan Sparhawk. Fellow NMY writer J. Mason said of the band, "if Modest Mouse curled up and died to leave a mournful mouse ghost... "

Dana: I'd have to throw in--Jim O' Rourke is definitely an influence, if there is.

NMY: As far as food influences...?

Miles: Sushi has had quite a bit less of an influence on Akron...People are going to have their ideas of who and what we sound like and that's cool. But I just want to keep doing it. We're just here to play music. When we're getting paid for music so we don't have to work... I don't want the crappy job.

Seth: If we were on tour and got to play every night... that would be great. I could play every night, man. I could do it. I get really exhausted and then I just play.

NMY: Really?

Seth: I would play every night of the week.

So This is Akron
Akron has the drive, creative talent, and business conscious mindset of what makes a starting band promising. All they need now are more listeners and that catalyst known as "the big break."

Miles: Can I have the salt and pepper?

Seth: The salt?

Miles: Yeah and pepper please.

Or maybe that's all they need. For information on cd's and gigs, e-mail akronfamilyvalues@hotmail.com.