The Spinto Band - London, UK - Summer 2006
By: Matt Tomiak
Sometimes this job can make you feel old. Like today, sitting in Virgin Records' plush London HQ in the disconcertingly fresh-faced company of The Spinto Band's Jon Eaton (Guitar), Thomas Hughes (bass) and, later, second guitarist Nick Krill. These guys make up 50% of uber-indie US sextet The Spinto Band. However, they don't look as though they're old enough to remember the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I have to confess, boys, this makes me feel ancient. It's almost as bad as seeing England's World Cup chances hinge on a podgy Scouse lad who's barely out of his teens...
Jon pipes up first: 'The real shock for me is that people in the NBA - these 7 foot tall guys, slam dunking- they're younger than me. Er, is that Wayne Rooney real young then?'
Oops. Rockfeedback might be forgetting that the International Language of Football may not be spoken quite so fluently in small-town Delaware. The lads hail from Wilmington, an east coast settlement of around 70,000 people. Despite its charming official motto- 'A Place To Be Somebody'- were you very eager to escape its confines?
'I guess as a band you kind of have to, 'cos there's not really too many places to play in Delaware' says Jon. 'So that was just a natural step, it wasn't like 'we gotta get out of here', a rebellion thing against Delaware. It was just that we'd exhausted all the resources as a band. But Wilmington's a nice town. A lot of old money. Country clubs.'
Nick: 'I think the space in between the really wealthy and the really poor hasn't really filled up. I feel like there's sort of a leap.'
The guys have had plenty of opportunities to expand their post-Wilmington horizons recently. With Reading/Leeds performances imminent, The Spinto Band also went north of the English border a short time ago.
Jon: 'T in The Park was great. We had time to see some other bands, we got to explore where everyone was camping and experience the....living conditions. And how we were kind of afraid of them, at times. We wanted to go into one of the tents, but we chickened out. It wasn't as friendly as I was expecting.'
Hmmm. But isn't T in The Park supposed to be known for its uninhibited sense of quintessentially Scottish bonhomie?
Jon: 'Well, we're kind of introverted people naturally, so its not any of the fans fault...'
Jon will later tell me that the last album he bought was Isobell Campbell's and that he 'really likes the new Camera Obscura record.' It fits, in a way. And what of the differences between audiences in the UK compared to the States: how does reaction to The Spinto Band vary on either side of the Atlantic?
Thomas pipes up: 'There is more of a reaction here. Although we did have big fans in the US come follow us on tour there, we've encountered more of that here. Maybe it's just that we're so far from home, that kind of thing seems a lot more amazing.'
Then there's the little matter of the Spinto Band's status as Arctic Monkeys' opening act on the UK tour this spring, a 'crazy' time according to Jon. Did the band feel, perhaps as Maximo Park reportedly did when playing alongside the all-conquering Sheffield-ites earlier this year, that the hype was intrusive? Did Monkey-mania overshadow the experience, or was it liberating and less pressurized as the majority of the attention wasn't actually focused on the Spintos?
'Those were definitely the biggest crowds we've ever played to and you think it would be intimidating, but it was just kind of fun' declares Jon.
'Everyone's already there to have a good time, and I think both our types of music, fans can appreciate both' adds Nick. 'We're not that dissimilar!'
In spite of their youth The Spinto Band have, in one incarnation or another, been playing for almost a decade. Consequently, there is a wealth of unreleased or restricted released material that may pop up online. How do the band feel about this?
'We were just talking about this the other day actually' says Jon. 'I think there was a time when it was discouraged, like when the album was coming out ('Nice and Nicely Done' was unleashed in 2005.)
Nick: 'I think the kind word for the early stuff is 'experimental....'
'Not in the sense of 'DUDE! LETS GO AN EXPLODE THE STUDIO!!' qualifies Tom. 'It was just kids learning how to make records. Which is kind of a cool little, like, 'exhibit A.'
'I think it'd be worth putting out at some point though', Jon muses, before the discussion moves into the legal intricacies of downloading software. The issue is hardly new, though, according to Nick.
'Everybody used to get pissed off with the piano roll, they thought it was going to destroy sheet music sales...' 'Hmmm, I wonder what the sheet music industry thinks of the internet?' adds Jon.
The Spinto Band have a new single 'Oh, Mandy', which hit the shops on the 14th of August. It's an old-skool indie charmer, and features prominent use of that most underemployed of pop instruments, the mandolin. However, with Primal Scream's barnstorming comeback single 'Country Girl' unashamedly exploiting said instrument, could the much-vaunted indie mandolin renaissance be just around the corner?
A pause.
'Er, I don't know about that' murmurs Jon 'although we read a review the other day which said 'Oh, Mandy' is the best song since (REM's 1989 breakthrough hit) 'Losing My Religion' , and I was like, 'Oh yeah, another good one!'
'Nah, I think the mandolin just sold out, man!' quips Nick.
Incidentally, that piece in question was actually the view of rockfeedback - a grand assertion we totally stand by. With a tour alongside Art Brut and We Are Scientists scheduled for the autumn, its probably fair to say that 2006 has been good to The Spinto Band. So what are their hopes for the next 12 months? Any far- flung touring destinations you might like to sample, perhaps?
'I want to go to Romania' offers Nick. 'See some gypsy music. I want someone to say to me 'answer me, these questions three!'
They've got the tunes, youthful charisma and eastern European travelling ambitions. The world's at their feet. Darn kids....
Artists in this article: The Spinto Band