:when /
how did you fall in love with music?
::I've been in love with music as long as I can
remember. My parents had me taking piano by age three.
I had a fixation around that time with Donnie Osmond
and Barry Manilow. I wore purple socks, refused to
answer to my given name (the pre-school teachers all
called me Donnie), and wrote Barry long letters about
my thoughts on "Oh Mandy", "Cocacabana", etc.
:outline the progression of the autumns.
::The Autumns began in late 1992. We were seniors in
high school. It was a different line-up back then.
Frankie, myself, Eric Crissman, and Jon Santana. We
were mostly keen on Manchester bands at that time
(Stone Roses, Trash Can Sinatras). As we got older, our
influences broadened a bit. We got into the Cocteau
Twins and a lot of shoegaze stuff. After that, it's
hard to trace. We really opened up at that point. These
days the influences are so legion that they're not
worth listing.
That was the musical progression, I suppose. We've been
making records since 1997. Future plans are pretty
simple...we just want to improve and make better and
better records.
:what do you regret most as a musician?
::I'm sure this is common: I regret not encountering
earlier much of the music that had a major impact on me
later. I sometimes think that if the band had a greater
pallet back in the day, we'd be a lot further along
today.
:what do you most hope for as a musician?
::To make a truly great record, I suppose. That's what
we're always striving for.
:as far as the lyrics go...is there somewhat of a
black and white meaning to them, or are they more for
aesthetic purposes?
::It depends. More often that not the lyrics operate on
a highly symbolic level. We've never felt particularly
comfortable writing in a direct, concrete manner. If
something comes out that way, so be it. Usually,
though, it's difficult to translate the kinds of
emotional experiences that inspire us into normal
language.
:how would you describe the more recent autumns
releases in comparison to the older ones?
::Well, the early records - Strell Park, Angel Pool,
WInter in a Silver Box - were very green, I think. The
influences were obvious. To the extent that those
records succeeded, they did so on account of songs, as
opposed to stylistic ingenuity. Russet Gold marked a
significant departure. We decided to approach things in
a much more minimal, almost icy manner.
:can you explain further?
::By 'icy' I mean that we'd passed out of the emotional
space in which angst and heartbreak are rendered in
romantic hues. We 'graduated' to the level of a truly
cold, hopeless kind of sadness. That's part of what
bothered some people. The Angel Pool had a sadness to
it but it was always coupled with a feeling of comfort.
Russet Gold is not a comforting record; it's just
miserable.
:where do you think these changes came from?
::Well, I guess it all turns on getting older. You get
older, you realize a lot more about what goes on
outside your own little world where things like girls
or music or whatever determine the emotional
environment. You realize that these things might be
insignificant -- that the things
to which you've attached so much meaning might mean
nothing. You begin to equate the real with the painful
and it just gets to a point where there's not much left
in the way of a romantic sheen. You can't honestly
offer something optimistic in the music without faking
it.
:and this bothered people?
::I think that turned some people off because that
silver lining is exactly what drew them to the band in
the first place. The fact that Russet Gold didn't offer
any solutions or comfort -- the fact that it sounded
somewhat flat and dull -- the fact that it wasn't
particularly dreamy, etc. Some people resented it.
Others got into the band who didn't like The Angel
Pool. I think it appealed to a completely different set
of people. Many people stuck with us; others held their
breath and hoped
that The Angel Pool II would soon follow.
:how did these internal changes affect the
songwriting?
::It forced us to write in a more fastidious way.
Without the big wall-of-sound to keep the
less-than-fantastic bits from becoming conspicious,
every note has to count.
Russet Gold served as a sort of touchstone for other
arenas. We'd wanted to do a 50s-oriented EP for a
while, but couldn't pull it off. We actually recorded
Le Carillon once before and shelved it. We hadn't
learned to write with the kind of precision and
intricacy to pull if off. Russet Gold gave us the
skills to finally get Le Carillon write. It's ironic, I
guess, that those two records are about as divergent as
it gets within our catalog.
:what are your top five favorite smiths lyrics?
::1. And now I know how Joan of Arc felt / as the
flames rose to her Roman nose and her walkman started
to melt
2. You left your girlfriend on the platform / with this
really ragged notion that you'd return but she knows /
when he goes, he really goes
3. Meat is Murder.
4. But she doesn't even like me / And I know because
she said so
5. No, it's NOT like any other love / this one is
different / because it's us
:what are you listening to lately?
::Lately, I really like Parlour, Einsturzende Neubauten,
Teenage Filmstars, Tortoise, The Pretty Things,
Television, Magazine, Nick Cave...
