In terms of suave, dashing Anglophile pop, you need look no further than New York City's SAINTFACE, whose long-awaited debut album "Apartment Stories" is gearing up to be one of 2006's very best long-players.
It's been a long-time coming because the band had previously assailed us with their magnificent EP "Hudson & Day" back in 2003, but then since when have we been able to give genius a dig in the ribs at our convenience anyway and besides, the embarrassment of riches on "Apartment Stories" is enough to slake the thirst of even the most discerning of pop connoisseurs.
Naturally, W&H were keen to find out what had really happened in the interim between "Hudson & Day", but the band's charismatic frontman PETER RILEY was generous enough to fill us in on a whole lot more including a glimpse into his darker lyrical side and his tips on how to record a classic song directly after falling head first down a flight of stairs!
W&H: Peter, we were knocked out by the EP with "Hudson & Day" and "Eight Days AWeek" three years back, but what happened in the interim? Was it just the usual round of financial and industry-related hassles that caused such a gap between the releases or was it something more dramatic?
PETER: About a year after the "Hudson & Day" EP squirmed to life a local indie label asked us to record a full-length built around those songs, and we were well past the point of no return when the label went belly-up--as they do. So we blindly carried on, but the circumstances under which we made "Apartment Stories" were pretty threadbare and scattered--an awful lot of sessions in the wee hours of the morning, struggling to work with everyone's divergent schedules, and it wound up taking much longer than expected. There was a further wait for the mastering engineer we hoped to work with--but when you're told, "Sorry, she's got the new Depeche Mode this week," or, "You've been knocked back by Morrissey," you learn to be patient, are driven to drink...or both.
W&H: Let's get the inevitable one out of the way: virtually all reviews I've read of you (mine included) refer to the Anglophile/ 'Britpop' (delete as applicable) aspect of Saintface's music, but it's undeniable- to me at least - that you aren't an obvious NYC-sounding band. Is this due to the music you listen to individually in the band and was the whole Britpop thing (Oasis, Blur, Pulp etc) important to you at the time?
PETER: As far as my own musical taste, it's surely got an Anglophilic bent. Most of the band have similar inclinations, though everyone's musical background is different--Andy was at one time a math-minded thrash-metal drummer and Dave grew up on classic American rock, and both those things lend our music a certain toughness. Joe's a bit of a fetishist for forgotten glamrockers and mods. As a kid I was glued to Top 40 radio and when certain acts from the UK crossed over I was all ears--I wound up introducing Michael to The Smiths and he repaid the debt down the line by turning me on to Suede and Pulp. One review described us quite literally as "New Wave meets Britpop", which suited me as it covered a good two decades of influences.
W&H: As an adjunct to this, New York has such a reputation for 'angular' rock bands with a lineage going from The Strokes back to Television and Talking Heads, and obviously there are thousands more from the city who have picked up the baton from those bands. Do you feel that, because you don't fit in with all this, that you have been ignored somewhat?
PETER: We've never been a "New York band" in that jittery, wired sense--but with "Apartment Stories" we're certainly engaging the overwhelming scope and romance of a place like New York...having it work on you more in a thematic, sweeping way than in the frantic, nervous scratchings that typify so much music from here. Life above the Lower East Side, believe it or not, exists. As far as being ignored, because we don't fit that mold I do think we run the risk of being perceived as uncool--"the scene" tends to turn up its nose at melody, or a band that doesn't spend its time on stage glaring at its shoes and furiously chopping away at eighth notes.
W&H: It's probably a difficult one to answer, but how do you feel you are viewed by your NYC contemporaries these days? I've always assumed you're a classic Manhattan band (the album sleeve alone would suggest so) but do you all actually live in Manhattan or are any of the band from over the Hudson?
PETER: Quite simply, I don't think we are viewed by our contemporaries...! For the reasons I mentioned above, and also that we've been away from the fray for an extended stretch while knocking the album together. But we're a competitive bunch and with the release of the record I think we're keen to mix it up again, to stake our claim, whatever that means. Most of us at this point are Manhattanites, though one member of the group was born across the Hudson in New Jersey...but we'll keep his identity secret, for obvious reasons. Manhattan's where the bright lights are.
W&H: I love your vocals, but then I'm a sucker for crooners (and I mean that very much as a compliment) and - once again - I would tend to think of people like Jarvis Cocker, Neil Hannon and (occasionally) even Morrissey himself. Has there been anyone especially you feel has influenced the way you sing/ deliver your songs over the years?
TIM: I'm a fan of all three, though people tend to latch onto Morrissey immediately, and I've never dodged the influence. A pet peeve of mine are bands that deny they're influenced by anyone--it would be fun to name names but I won't--as if they sprung from the earth with virgin ears and arrived at their sound by divine providence. As in, "Who is this 'Joy Division' you keep mentioning?" The reality is that I grew up on a steady diet of Depeche Mode, who amounted to my own personal version of The Beatles, and Martin Gore was probably the biggest influence on my singing, and songwriting, for that matter. Scott Walker's another favorite, and I hear him in the vocals of a lot of my favorites. These days, though, the guy is Richard Hawley. His voice is unbelievable, he makes you ashamed to open your mouth. Unless you're eating. Or doing other things.
W&H: There's one very Morrissey line on the album for me: the way you sing "You're still young and you could sell some of your shares or something" on "It Can't Mean Much". I think that's a great song because it's a really sparky pop tune and I like it's defiant, but slightly tongue-in-cheek tone. It also sounds very real. Without wanting to be too personal, I assume this is about someone you know?
PETER: It is, and if I tell you who I'll be in very hot water. Suffice it to say it's someone I grew up with who proceeded strictly according to plan and now has all the trappings of that life: wife, kids, house, two cars, lucrative job, and wonders why he's utterly uninspired. It's a bit of a childish jibe, I guess. To someone who spends every penny he earns simply to stay afloat his position doesn't seem all that horrific, so the grass is always greener, as the cliche goes. But maybe the tune is meant as a bit of a humorous lifeline.
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W&H: Again I'm supposing, but I would imagine that a certain percentage of your songs are at least semi-autobiographical? It's hard to imagine Songs like "Eight Days A Week" and the lovely "More Than I Love Love" as anything other than straight from the heart...
PETER: They always begin that way, and maybe wind up as a bit of amplified reality. "More Than I Love Love" is aimed at a specific soul who still walks these streets and with whom I collided, in a very physical way, not so long ago--and since I never got a phone call back, might just warrant a sequel! These are the risks you run...so yes, they're "from the heart", but most of them tend to have a sense of humor or tongue deposited in cheek. Again, what I call the "clock-rock" brigade wouldn't dare write anything quite so naked. But what in the world would encourage you to write and sing a song if not a love, or a lay? By the way, I've been forbidden by the band from writing any more songs with the word "love" in the title. Rest easy.
W&H: I listen to a song like "Hudson & Day" and it's all so wonderfully suave and heroic. Are you guys all hopeless romantics Peter?
PETER: Just hopeless.
W&H: While there's lots of romance, lust and desire in Saintface's songs, I like the fact there's also an incredible need in there too, and that it can often be quite messy and clandestine because obviously life's not all wine and roses. A song like "There Is A Room", for example, sounds pretty obsessional when you sing stuff like "I have sat and I have watched you from a hundred corners/ sipped my drink in every room while everyone adores you". It's magnificent, but a little chilly too. Do you like exploring the darker side with your lyrics?
PETER: I like exploring the darker side, lyrically or otherwise. Because it's a huge part of human nature, the things that make you crawl. With "There Is a Room" I had a very particular place here in town in mind, where I'm able to lurk in the shadows and watch the whole human comedy unfurl, so those corners in the lyric are very real. The underbelly of love is obsession, and both offer up fantastic grist when it comes to writing songs. It's interesting you've landed on this notion of "need", because when people used to ask what Saintface songs were about, I'd say, "Love thwarted." That's changed slightly. "Love staggering," maybe. And New York is crammed with those rooms, by the way. None of them on Ludlow Street or Bedford Avenue.
W&H: I guess the other observation that springs readily to mind is that Saintface's music is very 'cinematic'. There's great attention to
detail and musically the band have this big sweeping pop sound that
drags the listener right in. Is there a patented Saintface method of
writing a song and do movies/ theatre play a part in the way you sound?
PETER: We always aim for a sonic brashness, a lushness met with a certain punch or bite, and surely that has a root, for me, in a love for movies--I came to New York with ambitions of being a writer and director, and haven't entirely put those aside, but those impulses have largely been fulfilled by Saintface. Your favorite music lives with you as a sort of personal soundtrack, and I'd love for us be that for someone--the music for the film in which you're the romantic lead. Life is best lived as a sort of fiction...with a good tune entering at precisely the right moment.
W&H: Penultimate one for now - I love the album's final song "You Belong To Me": it's such a glorious parting shot and - if you'll cut me this much slack - sounds almost Bacharachian to me. Actually, it sounds like you took a lot of time to ensure "Apartment Stories" was sequenced the way it plays, but was "You Belong To Me" always intended as the record's closing song?
PETER: "You Belong To Me" was always going to be the anchor at the end of the record, and I like to think of it as a bit of an emotional coda. "Apartment Stories" was very carefully sequenced, over some argument--but I do think it fell together in an almost obvious way. It's hardly any sort of concept record, but there is a trip of peaks and valleys. The songs from the EP wound up lying back to back, which I was wary of, but the pace of the set demanded it, so so be it. "Parting shot" is an interesting way to describe it, because as conventional a message as it might seem to be, there's still a hint of the obsession we've discussed in there--not to mention that it was recorded immediately after Michael fell face-first down a staircase.
W&H: Finally, now "Apartment Stories" is finally in our midst, what's
next on the agenda for Saintface? How are the touring plans looking and what would you like to do with the next album?
The record goes to college radio across the US in May, so we're hoping to make a dent with the undergraduates, though as you might imagine a country as enormous as this is difficult to wrangle. We're still a self-operated and financed entity, which has its challenges when it comes to awareness and marketing. So partnering with an established label would be a step in the right direction. I've also always thought we might make more sense to UK and European audiences, so paddling to that part of the world is another ambition if the fates allow. Until then we'll be gallivanting up and down the east coast spreading the gospel and bellying up to the bar. There is a new record written and waiting panting in the wings...so like it or not, you've certainly not heard the last from us. Sorry to break the news this way--but it's better you know up front.
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