1 Up: An Interview with Extra Life
For anyone unfamiliar with the group, Extra Life takes some explaining. The experimental Brooklyn-based band is headed by Charlie Looker, a musician that’s been in various experimental groups including Zs and the sensational Dirty Projectors. Looker’s music may dodge definition, often taking on elements of heavy metal, classical composition, jazz, math rock rhythms, medieval music, art-rock, Gregorian chant, and the modern avant-garde stylings that seem to burst out of every corner of 21st century Brooklyn (and in the Northwest to certain extents with bands like Xiu Xiu, Parenthetical Girls, and The Dead Science pushing numerous boundaries). It’s music that isn’t entrenched or indebted to any tradition. But in being unique and experimental, Extra Life has also developed consistency.
The music is punishing. Looker’s guitar sounds are severe and heavy. His vocals evoke dark rooms in hidden dwellings, Gothicism and mutilation. The drumbeats are pure power, the violin cutting, and the bass guitar grim. But beyond the overriding sense of maroon covered everything is a spirit that presses into revelation and vulnerability. Extra Life is music for modern anxiety and fury and a vessel for passionate fucked up expression. One thing it is not, is music for tinny computer speakers. For a taste of Extra Life, put in some headphones and visit the group’s myspace page.
The band plays two shows in Seattle this weekend: at Comet on Friday night and at the all ages venue Josephine on Saturday. We spoke with songwriter Charlie Looker about Extra Life’s music and upcoming release of sophomore album Made Flesh.
There seem to be at least a couple of important differences between your first album Secular Works and Made Flesh. The beats seem a little less complex and there is more synth. Can you tell us about some of the sonic changes you made for the new album?
We had a different recording approach. Secular Works was totally recorded and mixed by Colin Marston from the band Krallice and Behold…The Arctopus, and he did that front to back. We didn’t do a ton in the studio we basically just recorded the tracks but it was pretty much like a document of what the live sound was. It wasn’t using the studio as particularly any adventurous tool. Whereas on this one, we recorded the bass and drums and basic tracks with Colin to get his core sound but then we took it back to the studio of Caley Monahon-Ward who is our violinist and also a totally sick engineer and we did all the vocals and overdubs and weird sounds and tweaked out stuff with him so a lot of his ideas went into it as far as cool sounds and trying things out. There’s synth and a lot of EWI, which is the electronic wind instrument that Travis plays. He’s been playing that with us live. He’s actually not playing with us on tour. His membership is more of a 50/50 vibe.
So are you handling the keys on tour then?
Yeah. I play guitar on half the stuff, and then on half I play keyboard. On the tracks I play keyboard I don’t play guitar. So the sound is a little different from the record. But interestingly enough on the songs that I don’t play the guitar live, I don’t really miss it because Made Flesh is a lot of composite ensemble sound as opposed to everyone having their own part like its completely complex. So my not playing the guitar but beefing up the keyboards on certain parts not only works but is maybe cooler in a way.
Beyond the music itself, do you think there any changes as far as the lyrics are concerned? Does having a successful debut change the way you approach your lyrics?
Being more in the public eye and all, even in the most microscopic indie level, it’s exciting and I love it, but my love of it also makes me paranoid. And it’s like people talking about you, which is good, but it does kind of fuck with my head. I don’t think that the lyrics on the new record necessarily reflect that in any way. Both records come out of a dark time for me, but that phase is somewhat over; not to mean that the next record’s going to be all bluebirds and picnics necessarily. But there has been a certain liquidation of negative feelings through both of these records, and there’s also more humor on the new record. On the first one I was poorly expressing a lot of self-hatred and hatred towards others and fucked up romantic things, fucked up sexual things, and there are a few little dashes of humor and irony, but on the new one there’s shit on there that’s actually supposed to be funny. Stuff that people laugh at that’s actually identifiably humorous.
You wrote online, “Made Flesh isn't even out yet and already we're being called pretentious hipster faggots.” From what do you think sentiments like that stem?
Well maybe you’re one, you know.
Maybe I am? Yeah who knows? Maybe I am one. I guess I don’t know.
I think maybe we both are. I’m just kidding. I think the people are blog commenter people who really bring the hate, and a lot of that was coming from metal dudes. Our sound is kind of heavy in certain ways. Some people who are coming from metal are metal and experimental and are really into it, but some people from that world are just not having it. Getting some of that hate is kind of cool. It has to come from somewhere. I don’t mind negative feedback.
Do you think that Made Flesh is more accessible than Secular Works?
Yeah I think so. There are definitely pockets that are way more accessible. Sometimes it’s ironic because you do some shit that, because it flirts more with pop music, comes off as less accessible. When I used to play in Zs, people didn’t really talk about how weird Zs was because it was clearly experimental music. It was in the realm of capital E experimental music, so anyone who would check it out was familiar with experimental music, but because Extra Life is more poppy in a lot of ways, because there are vocals, people who are into indie pop think it’s weird. So sometimes for us to be more poppy, it may actually be received as a weirder album because it gets into the hands of people who are less ready for the weird sides of it.
If you wanted to think about Black Hoodie, which is completely accessible. To me it’s an unexpected gem. It’s like this pretty little break from all the power. I’m interested in what drove you to write something like that, and not just write something like that but call it Extra Life and put it on your album.
Well, thank you. It’s hard. What drives you to write something? I write the lyrics first. And then the lyrics suggest music, so I guess the sentiments being expressed in that song, maybe something about them is more straightforward. They’re less mysterious, less layered. It’s basically just a song of feeling like you can’t change as a person and can’t grow up; about trying to change who you are inside but not being able to do it and feeling like time is going by, like you’re still a child and haven’t reached being a functional adult. To some that’s corny, to some it’s totally real. Whatever it is, it became a pop sounding song.
What do you think about the current state of recorded music? On your blog you mentioned that the album had already leaked.
I’ve only been in the game for six years. I’m not totally new to it, so I’ve seen some stuff change. But it’s hard to say how it’s affected me. I’m not into lamenting the state of things. Every time there’s a new technology people are freaking out about how it’s the death of music. Record sales are down across the board, so if you’re someone selling a bunch in 2002, now you’re selling less. But I wasn’t selling shit in 2002. With Extra Life, we’re selling more records. I suppose if we were around 10 years ago we would have been selling more, but it doesn’t bother me too much. We’re not a home recording band, but if more ppl are doing that then recordings are more to get the word out. I don’t know, maybe we’ll start charging more for live shows.
Your live show is really impressive. Speaking of which, I saw you a couple of years ago in New York, and before your set you were back around the merch table with your drummer and you guys were going over sheet music. It was interesting to see sheet music in such an informal setting.
Well we’re nerds. I don’t think that’s really a secret. We’re actually moving away from the sheet music. The first round of music for Secular Works I wrote without having a band. But the current line up solidified. With Made Flesh half was sheet music, then half was me telling people things, and some of it was collaborative. I think in the future its gonna be more me writing songs but everyone collaborating on arrangements and writing their parts more. So it’s being phased out. Everyone has the music memorized by now. Sometimes there will be a tiny scrap of something taped to something to remind them of a really complicated part, but mostly it’s a just-in-case helper. There’s a certain politics to sheet music though. It affects how you write. It makes certain kinds of complicated stuff not very complicated. It synchronizes certain things. Even though people do change their parts according to taste. But it’s also restrictive. It can be controlling. I think it will be deeper without it, in a way. In Zs everyone in the band would write music. It was very much a part of the band. We would set up the music stands very conspicuously. We would all be sitting down. And it would be almost like reams and reams of sheet music, and it would be like Night at the Opera brought to your local fucked up junkie basement.
Do you like to stick close to the music when performing live or to get a little adventurous?
We don’t improvise really. We don’t get loose live. There are a couple solos, brief improvised parts. But I think it’s gonna get more loose with the writing process.
You’ve got two days in Seattle?
I’m psyched about it. We’ll do the all ages vibe on Saturday and Friday will be the grownup's hang.
What are you going to do with your time in Seattle?
I’ll probably end up getting amps fixed and writing emails. We’re all about regional cuisine on this tour. I remember one time in Seattle I had a bunch of amazing Ethiopian food. I remember there being some great Ethiopian in Seattle.
Extra Life plays The Comet tonight with Sean, Lesbian and Family Curse ($8) and plays at Josephine on Saturday with Trees, Addaura and Thunder Grey Pilgrim. Their album Made Flesh comes out March 30 on LOAF.
