Longwave - London, UK, Spring 2002
By: Toby L
The Strokes' most recent UK tour was unique in that it provided support-slots for emerging and up and coming talent as opposed to the usual name acts. One of these went on to achieve some press attention - the French duo, Stereo Total - another becoming instant media-darlings and general UK guitar-hope for 2002, The Libertines, and the other - Longwave - gained an instant fan-base, tipped by many as the potential new Radiohead. Or The Smiths. Wow, indeed.
Why so, you may ponder? Well, this is a New York quintet that formed in 1999, going on to record an album's worth of material in the release 'End Songs', spending the rest of the time touring and establishing a notoriety for themselves as a new ensemble with something effectively fresh and different to offer. The reason the last two classic artists have been brought up is for comparison-purposes, the 'Wave's engulfing vision for experimentation proving as vast as their scope for melody. As such, their impact with their debut major-label LP later this year could potentially lead to what many view as one of the albums of the year... Just remember where you about heard it.
We meet them today on a Spring afternoon in a Camden Town eatery. The previous night, they played the last of their UK support-dates with their New York contemporaries, and are tonight headlining a sold-out appearance at London's Monarch, to be attended little do they know at this point by a swarm of London-celebs. However, despite the whirlwind around them, all they want to do is climb into a bed and disappear. But there's the matter of eating some Mexican delights first.
'Does that include guacamole,' frontman of the group Steve Schiltz enquires to a nearby waitress as he examines some food on a menu. 'Ooh... Is that enough to fill me up?' She nods. The singer smiles. 'Cool.'
'I love tacos, man,' bursts in guitarist Shannon Ferguson visibly excited at what's about to be placed in front of him, 'They're my favourite food!'
Bassist Dave Marchese, however, isn't as enthusiastic at the prospect of eating. 'It's strange,' he winces. 'You don't want to eat a lot before you go on-stage, but when you finish the show, you just want to start drinking for the rest of the night; it's dangerous, because your stomach's empty. The problem if you eat too much before you go on-stage, though is that you're sluggish, man - it sucks either way!'
Reassuringly, something that didn't 'suck' were the guys' debut-appearances over here. Unanimous support from all sectors of the music-business, let alone the audience each night, has prompted enquiries into when the band are next over. Yet, what have the guys themselves observed about the UK in their time over here?
Steve muses briefly, before grinning to himself. 'We've learnt that you guys over here don't have one faucet on the sink, and that's frustrating; also, the toilets take, like, three flushes for anything to go away... You kind of have to push it down like this (mimes such an action) and hold it down really hard for anything to work - the people making your toilets are just not doing a great job.'
Have there been any music-related experiences of note that occurred during the tour?
Schiltz seems perplexed when trying to answer this. 'Well, we had a really great group-orgy last night.'
Really?
He looks back guiltily. 'Erm, no... I'm sorry.'
Suddenly, the band's drummer and professional hair-stylist (possibly), Mike James intervenes with a sigh. 'Actually, my stamina's declining as we go on - it's certainly not what it was in rehearsal...'
'Yeah,' confirms Steve, 'Mike plays very hard, and after a couple of weeks of playing, he gets very tired... He's got very big muscles, though.'
Of their output to date in the British market, there's been one release - a two-track CD, 'Exit', sold out and almost impossible to find. However, for the lucky few that obtained a copy, it doesn't take a genius to realise the remarkable and soaring instrumental-arrangements demonstrated, Schiltz' vocal simultaneously cruising on top of their wall of sound in a hybrid between Beck Hanson and Thom Yorke. How this transmitted in their recent set of large-venue tour-dates was thus rather fitting.
'We were lucky,' explains Steve, 'Because we had people on The Strokes' crew who were helping us with our sound and lighting, and that's a plus that opening bands usually don't have... However, there have been shows that have been really good, but there have also been shows that haven't been so hot; interestingly, the shows that haven't been so hot, people come up to us afterwards and say they thought it was great, but...'
He pauses, and his eyes widen dramatically, preparing himself for a shout. 'Oh my God!'
What is it?
Steve maintains his vision on the object he's seen across the room. 'That guy over there - that's Tom Selleck! Look at him - there is no way that is not him!'
Sure enough, a look behind to the other side of the poky restaurant reveals a man possessive of a moustache and a bravado as considerable as the male-actor. Though it's obviously not him, despite this.
'Anyway,' continues Steve, striving to make up for his mistake. 'Er, yeah, the crowds are different over here; they just seem a little sceptical: they're not gonna give you their full-on attention until you've proved that perhaps you're an OK band.'
'Well,' reasons Dave, 'They're still more open-armed over here than they are in New York.'
The singer acknowledges this, proceeding, 'Yeah, New York's exceptional in that way, but you do sometimes get bands where the people there are like, 'Oh my God, I'm so ready for you!' Over here, it can be really great as well, but it may take us a song or two until we feel that we're really making an impact.'
An impact being created won't be a problem when they return later in the year, however; currently mid-way through sessions with producer Dave Fridmann (Ed Harcourt, Jane's Addiction, Mercury Rev at al) on that all-important album, things are rumoured to be looking good. However, is there a specific mission that the band intends to embark upon during their career?
Steve seems baffled by such an idea. 'It is just making a really great record for us at the moment; the one we did a couple of years ago (the aforementioned 'End Songs') was really good for us at that moment, and I think we've come a long way since then, and are ready to make something really special now. After that, it's out of our hands - hopefully, we'll sell enough records to make another record, and then another record after that, and so on...'
But, since your reputation in some territories has been purely built up via concert-performances, how do the recorded and live Longwave experiences contrast?
'The live Longwave involves a lot of feedback and noise,' he continues, 'And I don't know if we're going to involve that much of it on the record...'
'The feedback started because Steve would get mad on-stage,' reveals a smiling Shannon. 'His guitar would break, his microphone would fall down... We used to play really small, crappy clubs and the sound would be bad, and - I don't know where it was exactly, somewhere like Virginia - he just lost it. And he started doing creating that sound - and it became part of the show.'
Ooh - are there any off-stage tantrums that you guys happen to go through, then?
The group laugh as their manager, seated further along the table, begins to nod his head.
'Haha,' guffaws Steve. 'Our manager's saying yes, but it's not true - we're angels...'
At this point, Shannon flicks his hair in a rather suggestive fashion. 'I tell you what,' he raises out of the blue, 'It doesn't feel good on-stage playing with short hair; I feel naked like that.'
Really? Has there been any additional nakedness on this recent trip?
Predictably, Steve is the one to answer. 'I took my pants down on the London Eye when we were up there. I didn't moon anybody; I just stood there for a bit like that. I didn't feel a breeze or anything, which was disappointing; I was kind of expecting to feel one.'
As shown from not just Longwave's music, but also their rather blatant strong sense of humour (we hope that's what it is, anyway), evidently, they seem an oddity in a current American music-scene centring around insincere commercial rock, as well as the present garage, old-school revival.
Thinking to himself on the topic, Schiltz raises comedically, 'I don't think we're going to be fitting in with people like Limp Bizkit, you know.'
Dave backs this up in his typically smooth and sharp demeanour. 'We're not interested in fitting into any trend; we just wanna do our own thing.'
'I'd like to be on the radio between those kinds of bands, though,' adds Schiltz again. 'The Strokes are on the radio after all and that's great - and The White Stripes, too.'
Apart from those names, what other music are you interested in now?
Steve passes the buck. 'Mike should answer that one...'
'Huh,' the drummer exclaims. 'Er, well, I just like, whatever!'
Steve smiles maliciously. 'Mike goes through phases - like Japanese pop one week...'
'Oh yeah,' James recalls, 'Like Cornelius.'
Shannon now starts grinning. As does Dave, who unveils the reason behind the band's sniggering. 'Basically, Mike wants to buy every record that's ever been put out...'
Mike looks horrified. 'It's not true,' he responds defiantly, seemingly preferring to view his taste as discerning, as opposed to based on impulse-purchasing.
'No, it is true,' bats back Marchese. 'Mike kind of wants to have an archive in his head; Shannon, on the other hand, owns about four records.'
'Haha!' Steve's humour is ignited once again. 'Yeah, he's got, let's see if I can remember: 'Nevermind', 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band', 'Doolittle' and 'Magical Mystery Tour'! Is that right?!'
The guitarist nods, smiling defensively to himself, crossing his arms to signify unwelcoming body-language... Looks like a nerve's been struck.
Steering on to the last subject - since the food's almost here - what with descriptions by music-writers already of some classic artists being linked to Longwave's direction, how would the band themselves describe the music given the chance to review their own efforts?
Steve is awkwardly unhelpful. 'I'd say we're tremendous.'
Come on, try harder - your meal is on the way...
'Yes, it is,' agrees Steve patronisingly. 'Let's hope that's going to be tremendous as well.'
Decidedly ignoring him, we take into account his bandmates' opinions. 'Saucy,' reckons Shannon, raising an eyebrow at the same time. 'Ballsy,' ascertains Dave, who justifies this by proclaiming, 'I'd like to think we're ballsier than bands we're compared to.' And Mike's simple analysis? 'Relevant.'
'We're just a guitar-rock band right now,' defines Steve following this. 'We may change along the way, but that's where we're currently at.'
You 'may change along the way'? OK, then, five years from now, where do you see yourselves?
Steve laughs, taking into accord their destination this evening. 'We'll be playing the Camden Monarch down the street!'
'Mike will be breeding dogs, too,' affirms Dave mysteriously.
'Yeah,' authenticates the singer, 'and Dave's gonna be doing a video about Longwave - a documentary, I'll be making a record that's too far out for anyone to be listening to, and Shannon will make a country record.'
A cheeky child-like twinkle in his eye appears. 'Oh,' he finalises, 'And The Strokes will be opening for us at the Monarch, too.'
Artists in this article: Longwave