“As soon as something is identified as a movement it almost becomes disposable, yesterday’s news. Philly safe guards itself from that. In Philadelphia, the people are expecting you to bring something, show them something different.”

~ Brent Bohan

By Rachel Nichols  |  Send to Friend

In the bowels of Johnny Brenda’s just before their set, three of Public Record’s seven members Gareth Duffield (guitar, keyboard, vocals), Matt Lyons (percussion) and Brent Bohan (bass) divulged the ins and outs of recording their first album on highly eclectic Philadelphia label High Two. Their journey, similar to their music, drew on several influences to puzzle together an exciting and far-out debut. A new leg for the septet, the self-titled album, takes listeners to a higher place while staying true to the experimental sound most often pegged to Public Record. This is their story.

two.one.five: Let’s talk about the new album shall we? Where was it recorded?

Gareth: We recorded at our friend Jeff’s place, Jeff Zeigler from the band Relay. He’s got this nice -- I wouldn’t say little -- it’s actually a pretty good size studio, in his house out near Matt’s [of Public Record] place, 13th and Spring Garden. Jeff’s been recording a lot of people. The Beatjams and Kurt Vile, a number of people in the city.

two.one.five: How long did it take you?

Gareth: It took us a long time, about a year and three quarters. We started it probably after seven months with the present line-up. We just thought it’d be a good idea that we get in there and start the process. We didn’t have a lot of money but we know that probably over a good span of time we could piece everything together and get it finished. We didn’t think it would take us two years.

two.one.five: How’d you get signed to High Two?

Gareth: That’s the man that signed us to High Two. Come on down dude. Gareth of Public Record motions toward Daniel, founder of High Two Records who is decending the back stair well of Johnny Brendas

Gareth: I guess it was while we were in the thick of recording, I was actively trying to get people out to some of our shows through Myspace and I added Daniel Piotrowski and his label High Two to our Myspace, that’s pretty much it.
What show was it after? [to Daniel]

Daniel: I don’t know if there was a specific show.

Gareth: It’s kinda funny, one of the bands on his label Sonic Liberation Front , they had a show going on and Daniel had invited us to join them for the show at North by Northwest out in Germantown. That was pretty much when we first started talking because before then it was just odd e-mails.

Brent: We were really excited about the proposal too because we remember going to the Tritone to see Sonic Liberation front also on High Two opening for Sun Ra Orchestra and stuff and just being like, “Woah these guys are great” the whole mentality behind the label is really cool. It’s not a pigeon hole kind of process, which is keeping with the way we that we listen to and appreciate music.It really helped us with the decision to join High Two because of how we approach music with it being eclectic, trying to pick up from all these different places and the fact that High Two picks from a lot of different places really helped out. It was a great fit. And, also, we definitely wanted to have a Philly label put it out just because its nice to have people in close quarters, not have to travel everywhere.

two.one.five: Tell me about the visuals that you use during your shows

Matt Lyons: It’s kinda stuff that I just put together and I think matches the sound. I just take it from varied images. Get if from all over the place. I just shoot stuff on the street it kind of works into the idea of art and music being public I travel a lot for work so I shoot a lot while I travel. It encompasses everything from walking on the street or flying some place or previous work from a video production company with Bar Mitzvah footage, people dancing. I hope no one in the audience was a family member.

two.one.five: Do you anticipate any type of change in your music now that you’ve been signed to High Two?

Gareth: I wouldn’t say that we have any pressures really. Daniel’s given us a sense of some freedom. Obviously, we want to please him, or you know, we want to keep him in mind whenever we make any big jumps. Actually, now we’re incorporating vocals which is a big jump for us. Because there was a good time there when we almost rejected them. We only have four songs that incorporate vocals. It’s new territory. Who knows where it will take us.

Brent: The nature of that label with Dave Burrell, Sonic Liberation Front, Make a Rising, Bitter Bitter Weeks, you know it’s definitely a cross section. We’re inspired by everything that’s on there

Daniel P: One of the things I really consider when I want put out a record is if I feel comfortable with anything this artist or band would come up with. Because there’s a lot of stuff I come across I really like, but I don’t know what direction it’s headed and, often times, I don’t know what direction stuff’s headed but you always have to feel comfortable with whatever direction they will go. I feel confident in these guys. Whatever they do is gonna be great. I don’t think they need to do five records that all sound the same. But they should do five records.

two.one.five: What’s the best part about being a band from Philadelphia?

Matt: I think the musical history. There’s so much good music that came from Philadelphia. I think we draw on all of them in what we do.

Garteth: I think there are so many people from outside of the city who see Philadelphia as an enigma. With that I think it brings a certain credibility. I think that for some reason someone is gonna give us this blue collar mentality or maybe some grit some dirtiness. It’s kinda nice to have a label on Philadelphia that’s kinda dirty or kinda loud bombastic.

Brent: So many people, especially in jazz got their roots here and then went their respective ways. Theres something about that in Phillly. I think people would be very hard pressed to put a fast track stamp on what’s going on here. People are inspired to do what they do. And if you look at musical history it’s kind of a self-defeating thing. As soon as something is identified as a movement it almost becomes disposable, yesterday’s news. Philly safe guards itself from that. In Philadephia, the people are expecting you to bring something, show them something different.

Gareth: With Philly, it's always kind of ambiguous, you don’t really know know what you’re gonna get. And I think that’s something that makes sense with the kind of music we do because it’s eclectic and it has some ambiguity to it.

 

Guest Illustrator Keith Greiman surrounds himself with donuts and cats. (altpick.com/keithgreiman)