Streaming out a steady amount of recording, and performing since their 2008 formation, Soft Speaker have seen the fruit of their labors with the recently completed EP Stranger in the Alps, which will be released February 26th at the Darkroom in their own home sweet home Chicago. We rarely take breaks. Rust tends to accumulate and we start to sound like our hands are made of gummi.” (Paul Foreman) “Our next show at Double Door on February 4th will serve as a nice warm up for us.” The band also just launched a new website, which you can check out at www.softspeaker.com.
Adding a little dash of everything to their musical stew and letting it simmer, Soft Speaker has created a delicious blend of the psychedelic, indie, folk and pop. Along the same contemporary lines of Crystal Skulls, Sleep Station, and a more subdued Nightmare of You, Soft Speaker is still able to tap into some elements of the 60’s and early 70’s folk-rock. Fans of indie pop and floaty instrumentals will love Soft Speaker for tracks like ‘Tennyson Tea’ while those with a taste for folk and alt-country can get behind the Old 97′s-esque ‘Weathervane’ and ‘I Stand To Lose My Fortune, Easy’. Other tracks like ‘Into the Fog’ and ‘Marble Mask’ bear more resemblance to the likes of the slightly psychedelic, with a little hint of loose rock and roll. Overall? Soft Speaker has put together a refreshing collection of songs, blended, and (more importantly) balanced, a number of genre qualities in Stranger in the Alps, and we’d say this EP is worth checking out.
Joe Daley, Paul Foreman, and Nick Rocchio- three of the foursome
that makes up Soft Speaker- took some time to talk to us
this week about musical favorites, first shows, and what makes them tick.
T.S: Top three favorite cities/venues to play?
Paul: We haven’t played much outside of Chicago thus far, but we really enjoy Empty Bottle, The Hideout and Darkroom.
Those venues have all treated us extremely well (all rider requests - sandwiches, ball-gags, booze - fulfilled!)
Joe: We have to give a special mention to Indianapolis (Melody Inn and Vollrath Tavern), which is our home way from home.
T.S: If you could book a tour with any 3 bands, past or present, who would they be and why
Paul: Super Furry Animals ~ They’re one of my personal favorites and would most certainly be a blast to tour with.
The tour film on the Rings Around The World DVD offers some insight into what they’re like.
They’ve never released a bad album and I think they’re up to 10 or somewhere around that number. It’s tough to be so
prolific and maintain quality control like that. I have an enormous amount of respect for them.
Joe: I’ve just been turned on to a band from the Isle of Wight called The Bees (“A Band of Bees” in America).
Their album, Free the Bees, is a fantastic mix of 60’s sounding R&B and Rock & Roll. It would be a blast to tour with
Rock Pile circa 1980. Also, playing with Guns & Roses during the Appetite for Destruction tour would have
been… fun… maybe … as long as Axl didn’t punch us in the face. He wouldn’t do that. Indiana people have to stick together.
Nick: Probably either early Stones or early Floyd circa “Atom Heart Mother”.
Can you IMAGINE some of those nights!?
Though, I don’t know if I would ever return from that tour.
T.S: Give us some background on the current songs you include on your set lists.
Paul: If the audience’s heads could light on fire without them being harmed or in pain, that would be ideal.
Our music is meant to move people and should be played at high volume (just like Ziggy Stardust) on headphones or a
quality home stereo. We aim to arrange each of our songs in a unique way with a broad palette and wide array of tones and
instruments. It’s also a lot easier to achieve this when you have a stellar rhythm section, as we do with Blair and Joe.
Too many bands these days arrange all of their songs in exactly the same manner and after two or three songs,
you’ve basically heard everything they have to offer. We’ve got a lot of new material in our set right now, which is exciting.
Nick wrote a song called “Three Beggars” that we’ve been playing lately. It’s about six minutes long and the last two minutes
are completely over-the-top psychedelic mayhem. It’s much more extreme than anything we’ve done before.
My playing on that song is influenced by the weirder things that Boris has been releasing. I’ve also been listening to a lot of
great songs by Can, The Heads, Wooden Shjips, White Hills and other bands in that vein. On the other hand, we’ve got another
new song called “Penny Wait For Me” that is absolutely pure pop with a fuzzy bridge and delicate vocals.
It’s the polar opposite of “Three Beggars,” but we’ve been sticking both songs in our recent sets.
Nick: When the band started playing out, we mostly had straight-forward arrangements and song structures,
but as we’ve melded over time like a hearty meat stew, we’ve become much more eclectic and experimental.
T.S: What are your top three musical influences as a band? Individually?
Paul: This is tough. There are so many bands that I like, past and present. How can you not include
The Beatles and The Rolling Stones? Are they automatically assumed influences by now? I’d think so.
In terms of the band, I’d say that The Smiths are a big influence. I know that Nick and I are both really into them.
Not sure about Joe. I think Blair likes them a lot, too. Anyway, Smithsian elements tend to worm their way into
our sound from time to time, but I don’t think we’re in danger of hitting people over the head with
a Morrissey/Marr sledgehammer. I also think very highly of Spiritualized. People often comment on some of
our similarities to The Smiths, but Spiritualized and Spacemen 3 are just as influential, at least for me.
Joe: We seem to agree on quite a bit, musically speaking. We all like The Glands and Beach House.
I’m not sure we all agree on The Flaming Lips, but two out three ain’t bad.
Nick: As a band, I like to think that we carry an appeal similar to that of Ween.
Not that we sound anything like them, but we aren’t concerned with consistently embodying a specific genre.
We always take every song that is brought to the table, be it our western folk number, “Barbershop Quintet,”
or the very krauty“For a Handsome Price,” and give them serious attention and consideration.
We also like to come up with on the spot jingles.
A few to mention would be “Oscar Jimenez (The King of Mexico)” and “Don’t Let Your Shoes Get Wet.”
If you’re very lucky, you will catch one of these at a live show.
T.S: Give us a little history behind Soft Speaker how did the band come to be what it is today?
Paul: I was one of two guitarists/vocalists in The Saturday Nights. The other one decided to leave the band.
At first, we were planning on getting Nick in to fill the void, but then our bassist informed us that she didn’t
intend to continue, either. At that point, Joe Daley (drums) and I decided to form a completely new band.
We knew we liked Nick, so all we needed was a bassist.
Blair answered our Craigs List ad and off we went, like a purple pterodactyl in a red velvet cape.
Joe: I would like to add that Paul and I agreed from the outset that we really dig playing live shows.
We purposely formed this group around the concept of having a killer live show.
T.S: What are your plans for Soft Speaker in the next year? Beyond that?
Paul: We’re going to start playing more shows outside of Chicago. In March we’re heading to Gallery of Carpet Recording
to start recording our new songs. Right now we’ve got five that are100% ready, but Nick and I each have more material
that the band hasn’t had time to work on, so we could be looking at our first full-length album depending on how much
speed we bring along and how quickly we work.
Joe: If you compare our last EP, Conditions, with the new EP, Stranger In The Alps, you’ll hear a distinct improvement
in the quality of the recording and diversity of songwriting. Hopefully, we’ll keep moving in that upward direction.
I think Paul and Nick will continue to write songs and the group will continue to search for new more interesting
and exciting sounds. We’d like to expand the scope of our live gigging. Maybe play the East Coast.
Nick: Mainstream sellouts. I’m in it for the money.
T.S: Is there any instrument you don't play already, but wish you did?
Paul: I only know the very, very basics on piano and organ so I generally stick with monophonic synths
and multi-track them to give the impression that I can play much better than I really can.
Joe: There are some people who would say I can’t really play any instrument. I love bass guitar.
If I ever get a free minute, I might take it up.
Nick: The Crystal Bachet and Glass Harmonica
T.S: What other projects have you been a part of as individuals?
Paul: I’m also one-half of The Warmth and was previously in The Saturday Nights.
Joe: How much space do you have for this interview? I’ve been producing and playing drums in
two wonderful groups: Evening Bells & Demilos.
T.S: Before you decided on Soft Speaker, what other names did you come up with?
Paul: We toyed around with a few other names. I liked “Reverend Mothers,” but that eventually got shot down because
it sounded vaguely religious.
Joe: Technically, at our first gig in St. Louis, we were billed as The Saturday Nights because we had booked the gig for
TSN before that band broke up.
Nick: We threw a lot of Dune references around. I believe the one I was keen to was “Hunter Seeker, ”
but “Soft Speaker” is much better.
T.S: Who was the first musician you saw live?
Paul: I was a bit of a late bloomer as far as live music is concerned, but my first real show was Radiohead at the Riviera for
Pablo Honey. I have very blurry memories of that show. The first show that really tore my head off was Swervedriver
(Mezcal Head tour) at Metro. Man … that was badass. Please buy that album if you don’t already have it.
Joe: My first major concert was Paul McCartney at Soldier Field 1990. Brilliant! It was August and I was just going into 9th grade.
Also, I was at that Radiohead show at the Riviera. They were touring with Belly. Feed the Tree.
Nick: Oasis 1996, fookin’ mad ferrit.
Tags: Free Show, Interview, Upcoming Release
