Spanish Prisoners: TAS In Session
Not quite straight out of Brooklyn (but by way of Columbus, Ohio too), Spanish Prisoners released its dreamy sophomore album, Gold Fools, last fall, debuting the band's current lineup. Founded by guitarist and vocalist Leo Maymind, Spanish Prisoners is one of the rare bands that claims four singers switching lead vocals, with Maymind, drummer Michael DiSanto, bassist James Higgs and keyboardist Amberly Hungerford taking on frontperson duties, depending on the song.
Determined to tour the States and play SXSW earlier this year, Spanish Prisoners raised the funds needed to buy a van that they nicknamed "Steve." They're also in the process of writing a third album and just released a mixtape, called Prior Art, which can be streamed and downloaded here.
Spanish Prisoners — driving north to the Bronx in the fan-funded "Steve" — visited the TAS studios not long ago for a session and not only played tracks from Gold Fools, but debuted a brand new song, tentatively titled "My Good Friends."
Watch videos of the performance and listen to the session when it airs this Friday, July 20 on 91.5 WNYE at 11 a.m. EDT, streaming on the TAS site too:
[UPDATE]: Listen to the archived Spanish Prisoners session here:
Kara Manning: Who wants to explain this wonderful “Make Our Vantasy Come True” [Kickstarter] campaign in which you appealed to people, got yourself a van and traveled through the month of March?
Michael DiSanto: Yeah and we drove that van here today.
Kara: What's the van’s name?
Mike: Steve, actually. Named after the guy who sold it to us. I’ve heard his status rise to mythology for us.
Kara: You’re a Bandcamp band, but did it shock you that you were able to make over the five grand that you were asking for?
Mike: Yeah, I was surprised and it made the whole thing possible. We started the Kickstarter about a month before we were scheduled to go with no backup plans. The shows were booked and we sneaked right in and it worked out quite well. I was honestly a little skeptical because it seems hard to believe, I guess, that it could work out, but it became undeniable. It also became our only option at the time.
Kara: Every single one of you sings in this band. Both Leo and Mike share songwriting duties … or all four of you write?
Mike: We all write stuff together, especially with the new material. We’re collaborating a lot.
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8j6LGCUpRY]
Kara: You’re all living in Bushwick. I know some of Leo’s background which involves being born in Latvia and growing up in New Orleans? Wasn't there Columbus, Ohio in there as well?
Leo Maymind: Yeah, I lived [in Columbus] between the ages of 12 and 20 or so.
Kara: So how did you find each other in Bushwick?
Amberly Hungerford: Leo and I actually met in Ohio and we moved out to New York probably about five years ago. We met James [Higgs] and Mike by happenstance.
Kara: Hanging on a street corner?
Amberly: Yes! Loitering outside the building.
Kara: I know the lineup has shifted and that [your first album in 2008], Songs To Forget, was almost a bedroom project?
Leo: Yes, that’s right.
Kara: So coming to Gold Fools, there’s such an assured sound to it that is so different from [where] you started. How did you develop this sound?
Mike: It was a very grueling and long process! James and I actually joined the band around the same time and Leo had some of the songs that ended up going on the album, but they were in a completely different form. I was originally playing bass and James was playing guitar, but things changed and we switched it around and kept tweaking the arrangements until we got to a place where we like where they were. It took a lot of going into our bedrooms, still, and working on the computer and arguing over levels of reverb.
Kara: What is a reverb argument like? Who wins?
Mike: No one wants to know! It starts over chat and the next time I see Leo, we’re still talking about the same reverb on the same song.
Kara: Was the [Manchester sound] and the early 80s a big appeal of your sound? I know you’ve done a Smiths cover.
Mike: The focus of a lot of arguments was the level of haziness. I tend to be on the less hazy side, Leo is on the more hazy side, James is probably no haze.
James: Haze free.
Leo: Hates haze.
Mike: I like some early Joy Division for sure. But I prefer the early, early Joy Division.
Leo: Warsaw.
Kara: Aren’t you fussy! But Leo, you’re the New Order fanatic.
Leo: Definitely.
Kara: I read that you were obsessed with Movement.
Leo: I love that album, it’s amazing.
Mike: I’m coming around.
Leo: I told him, you have to listen to this!
Kara: Now you mention on your facebook that you’re working on new songs for a second and a lot of them were “slow jams.” Now “Lipstick Under The Table” is one of the most sexy, sultry songs. Prince, I think, would envy this song. Where did this one come from?
Mike: This is one that took on a lot of forms. It had a completely different verse and maybe even chorus at one point. We came around to the idea of stripping it down and using samples which Leo will play beause he’s the sampler guy (laughs). It’s just using sounds as accents and stripping it down to the rhythm section. The interesting thing is that the live version of this song has probably taken on some Krautrock influence, with the drums up a bit more front than the recorded version which was done in the bedroom, so in a lower key.
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKSanWwQ8TY]
Kara: That’s such a sexy song and it makes me wonder — what albums or songs do you find to be super sexy, voluptuous records as a band?
Mike: That’s a tough one. I think I was listening to a lot of Kraftwerk which might be the opposite of that?
James: A recent record that I think is really sexy is Kaput by Destroyer. I really love that one (band laughs).
Mike: James is a diehard.
Kara: You took your name from the David Mamet fllm “The Spanish Prisoner” with Campbell Scott and Steve Martin. You didn’t want to call the band Glengarry Glen Ross?
Leo: Thought about it!
Kara: Given the fact that Spanish Prisoner is also a confidence game and you were asking people for money for your band ... did this ever trigger any doubts that you might not make your goal?
Amberley: Didn’t even think about it! That would have been brilliant!
Kara: So why David Mamet?
Leo: I liked how it sounded. I thought that it had interesting implications and even if you have not seen it, as a band name, it has a lot of mystique.
Kara: Have you all seen the movie?
Leo: That’s the problem. Amberley has seen it but James and Mike have not.
Mike: I don’t want to ruin the mystique!
Kara: So where are you working on the second record? I understood that you’re writing madly and hoping to get into a recording studio soon?
Mike: Pretty much. We’ve recorded some stuff and we’re writing more stuff and in the practice space several times a week tweaking arrangements. We’re trying to do it a bit different than last time; we’re doing it together, now that we’re more confident playing together as a band. I think we’re trying to express more of that on the next album.
Kara: You have a video for “Know No Violence” which is mysterious and provocative. I was wondering who the director was and how you hooked in with that person?
Amberley: The director is a friend of ours named Jono Chanin and I think it may have been his first music video which is incredible. We met him through Freelance Whales, he’s friends with Judah [Dadone] and we got hooked up through that. Basically the whole concept was his and we talked for a while, but he made some decisions, pulled through and did an amazing job.
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TW_8R_wjiY]
Kara: Mike, you sang lead on 'Know No Violence." There are not many singing drummers. How difficult is it?
Mike: It’s not too bad. The hardest thing is trying not to make it sound like you’re exerting your body. On that sort of song, where it’s held-out notes, not sounding too broken up from the playing? I found myself going to sing and the mic’s not even in my face, but you work around that.
Kara: Leo, the band began as your baby, but now, having all of your bandmates with you and being more collaborative, has that been a huge release for you? Does it let you follow a different path creatively?
Leo: It’s had its advantages and disadvantages. I definitely like collaborating but there’s been instances that I definitely feel that it would be easier if I were alone.
Mike: The haze ….
Leo: Yes, the aforementioned haziness! I think it’s ultimately a compromise but hopefully because of that it’s improved upon and I thnk that all of us have kind of adapted to each other’s ways of working.
Mike: Yes, especially now that we play a lot more together, it’s becoming much easier to work on new stuff because we kind of know where everyone is coming from. We tried to force it all in the first album and it had its pros and cons, as Leo said, and we’re famously deliberative. It takes us ages to make decisions but we’re definitely more comfortable now.
Kara: There’s a new song called “My Good Friends” — which is not officially called “My Good Friends” yet — but I’m trying to force Leo’s hand today.
Amberly: It’s not going to happen! We’ll have hour-long debates about the song title later.
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkMP2x7yqzE]
