Spinto Band
Playing the Label Game
2008-06-25
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Even for a talented act like Wilmington, DE, six-piece the Spinto Band, this whole “music industry” thing can be a taxing experience. The Spinto Band’s 2005 release Nice and Nicely Done and its single, “Oh Mandy,” brought the group a bit of notoriety, but it’s still having a tough go of things in releasing a follow-up to the record. Multi-instrumentalist and singer Thomas Hughes spoke about the process.
So you guys just finished up a new record, correct?
Yes, we finished it. It’s been ready to go since around November.
Where are you with that?
It’s been a longer process than we expected, the process of getting it released and out onto a label, just because we recorded it without being under the presence of a label. We’ve just been sending it out to people. I mean, we have people that are going to release it, but even that – the talking and discussions and terms and contracts and stuff – has taken a lot longer than we expected as well. So that’s where it’s at right now. I’m pretty confident. We were hoping to get it out this summer, but it’s turned into this fall instead.
Do you have a label yet?
Thomas: We’re pretty sure we have one. It’s just that nobody’s name has been placed in ink on a piece of paper yet. But we’re pretty certain we have a label for the United States and for Europe also.
Can you drop any names?
I don’t want to say anything, just because we haven’t actually signed anything yet.
What’s been so hard about the process so far?
I can’t really pinpoint why. I think there have been numerous reasons. I’m tempted to say one of them might be because we have no manager and because the band is made up of six guys who are not the most organized guys to start with. When you have six people and you’re all trying to come to a conclusion and we’re not all at the same place at the same time, communicating through e-mails. Conclusions aren’t made at reasonable times. And apparently the entire music industry takes a two-month-long vacation, starting in December, and that’s right when we were starting to shop the album towards labels, so people weren’t really getting back to us until around February.
As far as the album itself, how does it differ from Nice and Nicely Done?
Musically, I think it’s a bit more complex in the songwriting and arrangements than the last album. For the last album, we came into the studio with just sort of ideas of songs. Like, it would be like, a minute long and we would expand on them while we were in the studio. It felt just a little bit rushed, whereas this new album — Moonwink is the title of it — we had been rehearsing the songs and writing the songs for a period of three or four months. We really got to a point where the songs were in their most complete form, so we knew exactly what we wanted to do once we got into the studio. And then once we got in the studio, we just expanded on those arrangements. I think it’s a more exciting result than the last record.
In what ways is it more complex?
I feel like the first album was just sort of the chord progressions and sort of a verse-chorus-verse-chorus situation, and there weren’t many counter-melodies. I feel like we didn’t really make use of the fact that we’re a six-person band. It didn’t seem as full arrangement-wise. Because of the fact that we had all the songs written and fully arranged, we really got to take advantage of having a rhythm guitar and then having two guitars that would play more melodic melodies that would compliment the melodies of the song.
What was the catalyst for the change in approach?
I think it was just the fact that when we were recording the first album, we were all in different places at the time. At least three or four of us were in the process of going to college and getting our degrees, so we would only really meet up during the summer, and at that point, we weren’t really rehearsing the songs together as much as we wanted to. I mean, we’d get together and sort of go over the basic details, and then once we got to the studio was when the song really came together, whereas this album, we had been touring and rehearsing for the majority of 2006 and 2007, and we just got to a point where we were tired of the old songs, so we started writing and arranging the new songs, just because we were all in the same place at the same time.
What else are you all involved with now, aside from the band?
Beyond the band, Nick Krill, who’s the other singer and songwriter of the group, is very involved with recording and mixing other bands. He’s a good recording engineer. Jon Eaton, the guitarist, he’s a writer, and he’s been contributing pieces to Daytrotter along with some other writing projects. My brother Sam has been trying to go back to college whenever he can. I guess the rest of us have been doing odd jobs to pass the time.
With Nick being really involved with recording stuff, did he do most of the production on this record, or did you bring in somebody from the outside?
We brought in somebody else, just because it’s really useful to have another ear, an objective listener to be brought into the picture. I mean, we’ve been just the six of us, isolated in a basement, and we can sort of lose track of what it is we’re doing. I guess it’s just a matter of not trusting how we perceive the song, just being so intertwined with it and the creation of it.
Who produced it?
This fellow named Dave Trumfio, out of Los Angeles. He’s worked with some cool bands that we like, like Wilco and Mates of State and Koufax, and he’s also a member of that band, the Pulsars, who was this really cool group. We also had this guy named Tchad Blake. We’ve all been big fans of his work as well. He’s done stuff with Tom Waits and Cibo Matto, among numerous others.
How have your own personal musical influences changed since the last record?
What I was listening to during the creation of Nice and Nicely Done and towards the creation of Moonwink — I mean, I’ve just been listening to an entirely new set of CDs. I always like discovering music. It’s a constant change of influence, I guess. I got pretty heavily into 1960s psychedelic pop music around a year ago when Moonwink was recorded. I’m not sure how much influence that had on the final product, but that’s what I was big into back then.
So you guys just finished up a new record, correct?
Yes, we finished it. It’s been ready to go since around November.
Where are you with that?
It’s been a longer process than we expected, the process of getting it released and out onto a label, just because we recorded it without being under the presence of a label. We’ve just been sending it out to people. I mean, we have people that are going to release it, but even that – the talking and discussions and terms and contracts and stuff – has taken a lot longer than we expected as well. So that’s where it’s at right now. I’m pretty confident. We were hoping to get it out this summer, but it’s turned into this fall instead.
Do you have a label yet?
Thomas: We’re pretty sure we have one. It’s just that nobody’s name has been placed in ink on a piece of paper yet. But we’re pretty certain we have a label for the United States and for Europe also.
Can you drop any names?
I don’t want to say anything, just because we haven’t actually signed anything yet.
What’s been so hard about the process so far?
I can’t really pinpoint why. I think there have been numerous reasons. I’m tempted to say one of them might be because we have no manager and because the band is made up of six guys who are not the most organized guys to start with. When you have six people and you’re all trying to come to a conclusion and we’re not all at the same place at the same time, communicating through e-mails. Conclusions aren’t made at reasonable times. And apparently the entire music industry takes a two-month-long vacation, starting in December, and that’s right when we were starting to shop the album towards labels, so people weren’t really getting back to us until around February.
As far as the album itself, how does it differ from Nice and Nicely Done?
Musically, I think it’s a bit more complex in the songwriting and arrangements than the last album. For the last album, we came into the studio with just sort of ideas of songs. Like, it would be like, a minute long and we would expand on them while we were in the studio. It felt just a little bit rushed, whereas this new album — Moonwink is the title of it — we had been rehearsing the songs and writing the songs for a period of three or four months. We really got to a point where the songs were in their most complete form, so we knew exactly what we wanted to do once we got into the studio. And then once we got in the studio, we just expanded on those arrangements. I think it’s a more exciting result than the last record.
In what ways is it more complex?
I feel like the first album was just sort of the chord progressions and sort of a verse-chorus-verse-chorus situation, and there weren’t many counter-melodies. I feel like we didn’t really make use of the fact that we’re a six-person band. It didn’t seem as full arrangement-wise. Because of the fact that we had all the songs written and fully arranged, we really got to take advantage of having a rhythm guitar and then having two guitars that would play more melodic melodies that would compliment the melodies of the song.
What was the catalyst for the change in approach?
I think it was just the fact that when we were recording the first album, we were all in different places at the time. At least three or four of us were in the process of going to college and getting our degrees, so we would only really meet up during the summer, and at that point, we weren’t really rehearsing the songs together as much as we wanted to. I mean, we’d get together and sort of go over the basic details, and then once we got to the studio was when the song really came together, whereas this album, we had been touring and rehearsing for the majority of 2006 and 2007, and we just got to a point where we were tired of the old songs, so we started writing and arranging the new songs, just because we were all in the same place at the same time.
What else are you all involved with now, aside from the band?
Beyond the band, Nick Krill, who’s the other singer and songwriter of the group, is very involved with recording and mixing other bands. He’s a good recording engineer. Jon Eaton, the guitarist, he’s a writer, and he’s been contributing pieces to Daytrotter along with some other writing projects. My brother Sam has been trying to go back to college whenever he can. I guess the rest of us have been doing odd jobs to pass the time.
With Nick being really involved with recording stuff, did he do most of the production on this record, or did you bring in somebody from the outside?
We brought in somebody else, just because it’s really useful to have another ear, an objective listener to be brought into the picture. I mean, we’ve been just the six of us, isolated in a basement, and we can sort of lose track of what it is we’re doing. I guess it’s just a matter of not trusting how we perceive the song, just being so intertwined with it and the creation of it.
Who produced it?
This fellow named Dave Trumfio, out of Los Angeles. He’s worked with some cool bands that we like, like Wilco and Mates of State and Koufax, and he’s also a member of that band, the Pulsars, who was this really cool group. We also had this guy named Tchad Blake. We’ve all been big fans of his work as well. He’s done stuff with Tom Waits and Cibo Matto, among numerous others.
How have your own personal musical influences changed since the last record?
What I was listening to during the creation of Nice and Nicely Done and towards the creation of Moonwink — I mean, I’ve just been listening to an entirely new set of CDs. I always like discovering music. It’s a constant change of influence, I guess. I got pretty heavily into 1960s psychedelic pop music around a year ago when Moonwink was recorded. I’m not sure how much influence that had on the final product, but that’s what I was big into back then.
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Spinto Band
Bio[+]In early 1996, the world was seemingly reconciling some of its evolutionary hang-ups. Gary Kasparov defeated Deep Blue in one of the most epic chess matches of all time. Scientists discovered the possible evidence of life on Mars. President Clinton appointed the first female US Secretary of State. And in one cluttered basement in Wilmington, DE, the Spinto Band began to materialize. Spinto, huh?
The story actually begins deep in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, where band member Nick Krill was rummaging through the personal effects of his late grandfather, the guitar player Roy Spinto. For years, Roy had penned lyrics on the inside of Cracker Jack boxes, and in one simple juxtaposition of time and fate, Nick found the lyrics that would inspire the creation of the Spinto Band. And they hit the ground running. The energy was undeniable, and it wasn't long before Jon Eaton, Thomas Hughes, Nick Krill, Joe Hobson, Sam Hughes, Jeff Hobson and Albert Birney (who has since left the band to pursue the visual arts) found themselves with a massive musical proliferation at hand.
Eight years and seven self-released albums later, the Spinto Band is in the prime vein of musical prowess. Utilizing an indie-pop sensibility that brings to mind the Flaming Lips and Pavement, their songs can send you careening into the heights of lysergic bliss or provide the catchiest vibes to shake your tail feather to. Either way, this six-piece outfit has the goods to deliver us all from the doldrums of banality.
Currently teamed up with Nashville producing duo, Robin Eaton and Lij (of Alex the Great recording studios), and preparing a May release through Bar-None Records, the band's sound exudes a finesse that belies their youth (their ages range from 20-25). With rich, textured guitars, and multiple-part vocal harmonies, the Spinto Band's repertoire is a maelstrom of indie perfection. It's quirky, energetic, radiant, and aptly engaging.
The Spinto Band has performed with such acts as the Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Players, and Of Montreal. It's an inevitable transgression beyond the words on this page; the Spinto Band excels. Thank you, Roy.Interview
Spinto Band (current page)
Bio[+]
In early 1996, the world was seemingly reconciling some of its evolutionary hang-ups. Gary Kasparov defeated Deep Blue in one of the most epic chess matches of all time. Scientists discovered the possible evidence of life on Mars. President Clinton appointed the first female US Secretary of State. And in one cluttered basement in Wilmington, DE, the Spinto Band began to materialize. Spinto, huh?The story actually begins deep in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, where band member Nick Krill was rummaging through the personal effects of his late grandfather, the guitar player Roy Spinto. For years, Roy had penned lyrics on the inside of Cracker Jack boxes, and in one simple juxtaposition of time and fate, Nick found the lyrics that would inspire the creation of the Spinto Band. And they hit the ground running. The energy was undeniable, and it wasn't long before Jon Eaton, Thomas Hughes, Nick Krill, Joe Hobson, Sam Hughes, Jeff Hobson and Albert Birney (who has since left the band to pursue the visual arts) found themselves with a massive musical proliferation at hand.
Eight years and seven self-released albums later, the Spinto Band is in the prime vein of musical prowess. Utilizing an indie-pop sensibility that brings to mind the Flaming Lips and Pavement, their songs can send you careening into the heights of lysergic bliss or provide the catchiest vibes to shake your tail feather to. Either way, this six-piece outfit has the goods to deliver us all from the doldrums of banality.
Currently teamed up with Nashville producing duo, Robin Eaton and Lij (of Alex the Great recording studios), and preparing a May release through Bar-None Records, the band's sound exudes a finesse that belies their youth (their ages range from 20-25). With rich, textured guitars, and multiple-part vocal harmonies, the Spinto Band's repertoire is a maelstrom of indie perfection. It's quirky, energetic, radiant, and aptly engaging.
The Spinto Band has performed with such acts as the Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Players, and Of Montreal. It's an inevitable transgression beyond the words on this page; the Spinto Band excels. Thank you, Roy.
Interview
Spinto Band (current page)