Spoon-led music,not spoon-fed
Whitney Warne - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 4/3/08 Section: 80 Hours
With its 2007 album Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga débuting at No. 10 on Billboard, Spoon has definitely risen from its anonymous beginnings. You may catch the group's Mission Creek satellite performance with the Walkman and the White Rabbits at the Capitol Theater in Davenport today at 7 p.m.
Spoon formed in 1993 with small dreams of playing in Austin, Texas, on a Friday night and headlining a show anywhere on a weeknight. Now, it is selling out shows all across the United States and internationally. The band is on the road with the Walkman and the White Rabbits, and Brit Johnson is starting to write songs for the group's sixth album, due sometime in the summer of 2009. The band plans to take advantage of the Internet age, hoping for an early leak of the album to help create the positive buzz Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga received.
The following is an interview with Jim Eno, drummer and founding member of Spoon.
DI: The band formed in 1993, and since then, you've grown exponentially in success and fame, so what were the original thoughts behind creating the band? What did you want back then and what has changed since then?
Jim Eno: When we started, we had goals like, it would be great to play out in Austin on a Friday night, or it would be great to headline a show any day of the week. But as we started hitting our goals, we had more and more goals. Now, we can play on weekends and sell out shows.
DI: What do you miss about being anonymous?
Eno: Personally, I'm still pretty anonymous. If I go to grocery stores, I'm not recognized. But I don't miss the band being anonymous. We can play different and bigger shows, and we can do this for a living. It's pretty rewarding, and we don't take it for granted.
DI: Your last album, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, débuted at No. 10 in the country. How do you plan on following up on that success?
Eno: We're just starting our next record. We'll be working on that a lot this year. Brit's still writing the songs, so it depends - he'll have an idea for how he wants to approach the song. So we don't really have an idea of what the next album is going to sound like. We'd like for it to come out next July.
DI: How are you marketing, producing, and distributing your music differently now that it is so easily downloaded and shared over the Internet?
Eno: We're pretty much doing what we've always done. We'll have it available for downloads as usual. Records are leaking way earlier now, but it ended up being a good thing for us. The record is really good, and so it created a buzz for us. It's a really exciting time to put out music. People can easily research and find new music to listen to. When I was growing up, you had to stay up to watch "120 Minutes" to find out about new bands.
DI: Where's your favorite place to practice and record?
Eno: We have a studio in Austin, and that is an extremely comfortable place for us.
DI: A lot of people who first hear your music think you're a European band. What do you qualities in your sound do you attribute this to?
Eno: We've heard that, and I don't know why people get that impression. Maybe they get confused because our lead singer's name is Brit. Other than that, I don't know.
DI: You're touring with the Walkman and the White Rabbits in the upcoming month. How did you find those bands?
Eno: We've known the Walkman for a long time. I knew Matt Barrick [drummer for the Walkman] back in the Jonathan Fire-Eater days [the band that Walkman members Barrick, Paul Maroon, and Walter Martin played in previously]. With the White Rabbits guys, we'd been in different towns with them and always loved their shows.
DI: What are your plans after you finish up your spring U.S. tour?
Eno: We're going to go to Japan in July. We went over there earlier this year when we got invited to the Fuji festival. Some of them have heard our music [before we got there]. Everyone was telling us that the crowd was going to be subdued, but they went crazy. It was a really awesome time.
DI: What's your main goal when you're up on stage?
Eno: For me, it's not to drop my sticks. But usually, between songs we're talking about where we're going for the after party.
E-mail DI reporter Whitney Warne at:
whitney-warne@uiowa.edu
Spoon formed in 1993 with small dreams of playing in Austin, Texas, on a Friday night and headlining a show anywhere on a weeknight. Now, it is selling out shows all across the United States and internationally. The band is on the road with the Walkman and the White Rabbits, and Brit Johnson is starting to write songs for the group's sixth album, due sometime in the summer of 2009. The band plans to take advantage of the Internet age, hoping for an early leak of the album to help create the positive buzz Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga received.
The following is an interview with Jim Eno, drummer and founding member of Spoon.
DI: The band formed in 1993, and since then, you've grown exponentially in success and fame, so what were the original thoughts behind creating the band? What did you want back then and what has changed since then?
Jim Eno: When we started, we had goals like, it would be great to play out in Austin on a Friday night, or it would be great to headline a show any day of the week. But as we started hitting our goals, we had more and more goals. Now, we can play on weekends and sell out shows.
DI: What do you miss about being anonymous?
Eno: Personally, I'm still pretty anonymous. If I go to grocery stores, I'm not recognized. But I don't miss the band being anonymous. We can play different and bigger shows, and we can do this for a living. It's pretty rewarding, and we don't take it for granted.
DI: Your last album, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, débuted at No. 10 in the country. How do you plan on following up on that success?
Eno: We're just starting our next record. We'll be working on that a lot this year. Brit's still writing the songs, so it depends - he'll have an idea for how he wants to approach the song. So we don't really have an idea of what the next album is going to sound like. We'd like for it to come out next July.
DI: How are you marketing, producing, and distributing your music differently now that it is so easily downloaded and shared over the Internet?
Eno: We're pretty much doing what we've always done. We'll have it available for downloads as usual. Records are leaking way earlier now, but it ended up being a good thing for us. The record is really good, and so it created a buzz for us. It's a really exciting time to put out music. People can easily research and find new music to listen to. When I was growing up, you had to stay up to watch "120 Minutes" to find out about new bands.
DI: Where's your favorite place to practice and record?
Eno: We have a studio in Austin, and that is an extremely comfortable place for us.
DI: A lot of people who first hear your music think you're a European band. What do you qualities in your sound do you attribute this to?
Eno: We've heard that, and I don't know why people get that impression. Maybe they get confused because our lead singer's name is Brit. Other than that, I don't know.
DI: You're touring with the Walkman and the White Rabbits in the upcoming month. How did you find those bands?
Eno: We've known the Walkman for a long time. I knew Matt Barrick [drummer for the Walkman] back in the Jonathan Fire-Eater days [the band that Walkman members Barrick, Paul Maroon, and Walter Martin played in previously]. With the White Rabbits guys, we'd been in different towns with them and always loved their shows.
DI: What are your plans after you finish up your spring U.S. tour?
Eno: We're going to go to Japan in July. We went over there earlier this year when we got invited to the Fuji festival. Some of them have heard our music [before we got there]. Everyone was telling us that the crowd was going to be subdued, but they went crazy. It was a really awesome time.
DI: What's your main goal when you're up on stage?
Eno: For me, it's not to drop my sticks. But usually, between songs we're talking about where we're going for the after party.
E-mail DI reporter Whitney Warne at:
whitney-warne@uiowa.edu
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