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Schande has no idea what's on the horizon - and that's pretty badass
- Author: Mike G
- Published: Thursday, September 22, 2011
Wiretap has had an ongoing love affair with Schande for years now. We just love them to pieces, and not only because when I asked them to send me a band photo to accompany this interview, they sent back the awkward family photo I photoshopped all their heads onto for the release of our Wiretap covers compilation oh so long ago.
My buddy told me the other day that he thinks Jen Chochinov, singer/guitarist, is totally hung up on the 90s. And he was right. She is — in the best possible way.
Schande's music is composed of everything good about 90s indie punk/rock. More straightforward rockers like Sleater-Kinney and The Archers of Loaf have an influence on the band, no doubt. But over the past few years, I've been stoked to hear more noise rock creeping into Schande's music, bringing elements of bands like Sonic Youth and the Melvins into their sound.
Schande's new "Still Returning" 7" has all of these influences on full display. It's out now via Future Farmer Recordings, but you better hurry because there's a limited number available.
Don't miss Schande's newly expanded lineup, now including a third guitarist (told you they were introducing more noise), this Sunday, September 25th, at Cafe du Nord. Schande is playing with The Shondes (from New York, and no relation to Schande, presumably) and Wild Assumptions. As an added incentive to get your ass out to the show, Jen Chochinov tells me: "I can't wait to hear Wild Assumptions since the guitarist/singer Megan is the drummer/singer for Street Eaters and the girl is fucking amazing. She sings like Janet Weiss and plays just as well as her. It's sick as shit."
I had a chat with Jen about the new 7", the direction the band's sound is going in, and more. Check it out:
JC: We recorded the songs for the 7" with Monte Vallier at Ruminator Audio on Harrisson St. here in San Francisco. I love Monte. No, scracth that, I fucking love Monte. It's the first time I've ever worked with an engineer who would come to band practice before studio time began to get a feel for the songs and talk about what sorts of mics we'd like to use for the sound and fidelity we wanted. Free of charge. How can you not love a guy like that? Super laid back and knows what he's doing inside and out — he's a hell of an engineer.
WTM: How'd the recording process go? Were you trying anything new, trying to capture anything new? Did it turn out how you planned?
JC: The recording process was pretty straight forward — recording everything live, minus vocals, adding extra layers and then doing vocals. All songs were already written and developed before going in the studfio so there wasn't much to discover about the songs, in terms of the song's direction, until it was time to mix.
As a band we hadn't been in the studio for a long time, and so I think the only thing on our minds was making sure we not only got a solid recording quality-wise, but that we walked away with tracks that really captured the feel as they were intended. Capturing the feel is always my main priority, I think once you do that everything else falls into place. We experimented a bit, with backwards autoharp tracks & things like that, but nothing too new or crazy. For future recordings I can see us going way more buckwild since the dynamics and sound of the band has evolved quite a bit, but these ones were pretty simplistic.
WTM: Is this prelude to a forthcoming Schande long player? (If not, can it be? Pretty please?)JC: I love you. I realize that's a weird response to an interview question, but it's true. I also love watermelon gum and kale chips (separately, together would be nasty) if that helps make it less weird.
A full album.....ideally yes. We've written new songs/are writing new songs and are hoping to start working with Monte again as soon as we can. He's a busy guy so we're probably looking at early '12, but he's truly worth the wait. Will [Cline, guitarist] has recorded with Monte with his other band Sleeptalks (Sleeptalks was started by Jim, our new band member). I've recorded with Monte as well with my other project This is Thunder. So Monte really knows what we want as a band and individually. It makes it so much easier when you have that history and connection with an engineer. Plus, anyone who puts up with me during the mixing process has definitely earned their keep.
But, getting back to the album... Since we're officially an unofficial but kind of official 5-piece now, I'm honestly in no rush to get into the studio until we've really explored each song we want to record as a new band. Going into the studio unprepared can work, but only with a band that's played together forever, which, as a 5 piece, we have not.
WTM: How did you like working with Future Farmer?
JC: Funny story, actually.... Future Farmer and I go back to 1996/1997. The label was started by Jeff Klindt and Dennis Mitchell, who were also in a band called Joaquina. Joaquina were fucking great and my band at the time, Shove, played with them and met them through our friends who were in a band called Ranch 51. Through the Ranch 51 connection and the fact that we all had a blast together, Jeff and Dennis asked Shove to be on a compilation they were putting out on Future Farmer. The compilation was called Inbred and featured bands like Beluah, For Stars, Rodriguez (featuring a pre-fame M. Ward), Ranch 51 and more. Naturally we were really ecstatic about being a part of the comp and said yes. Sadly, I don't really like the song we wound up giving them, which is a bummer, so booo for not being able to turn back time. I look back on the initial stages of my relationship with Future Farmer very fondly, truth be told. We (Shove) were 21 year old kids at the time, and those guys were so supportive of us. It was very cool.
The recent reconnection to Future Farmer was again through my good friend Darren, of the aforementioned Ranch 51. He was helping Dennis rebuild Future Farmer as the label had been on hiatus for quite some time. Darren asked if Schande wanted to do a 7" with Future Farmer, and naturally that was a no-brainer.
So I guess, the shorter answer to this question would simply be Darren Lee. Whether in 1996 or 2009, Darren is behind any involvement I've ever had with Future Farmer. If you read this Darren, thanks buddy.
Darren no longer is working for the label, but Matt Johnson, who is, is a real nice guy. Sadly the label isn't distributing the 7"s, but hey what can you do?
WTM: What else is on the horizon?
JC: Schande just released a new song on a 20 Sided Records compilation. 20 Sided is run by David Mitchell, younger brother of Dennis Mitchell of Future Farmer, so it really does all come full circle.
I suppose what I am most excited about is that Schande is rediscovering itself as a band as a 5-piece, and so what truly is next on the horizon is a mystery that I am really happy to not know the answer to.
WTM: I like that you guys are incorporating more noise and kinda experimental, psychedelic sounds, like the loop on "Former Idle". That's not a question, I know. It's a statement.
JC: Hahahaha. Thanks man. Yeah, we're definitely trying to find new ways to make the songs more interesting. Jim, our newbie, plays Moog as well so we may full well be getting loose with it. I know that I'd definitely like to be writing more songs predominantly instrumental (although worry not, we've got a lot of wordy new ones too) so now that we have the manpower to really explore different ways to fill the space with new sounds, shit's gonna get more interesting for sure.
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