It's All About The Music
Names of the Innocent
As an Independent Artist webzine, we at DGT like to hear that it really is ALL ABOUT THE MUSIC for the folks we come across. Real people with real
love for what they contribute to the music world. Hard work,
dedication, devotion, and determination are key elements in finding
ones personal success. This in mind, I think it's safe to say that
Names of the Innocent has already achieved a certain level of success
that, in some cases, some
artists will end up spending their entire lives trying to reach. These
men are the prime example of how other Indie-Ground Artists ought to go
about their business. First of all, each member of Names of the
Innocent is extremely humble and down-to-earth. They all value things
like friendship, family and team creativity. They believe in realistic
goals and ideas. Most importantly, no one is running around
power-tripping on anyone else. They are simply in it for the love of
the music and great company. To me, that's what makes a band really
shine.
NOTI consists of four amazing
talents. Jeremy Betts and Ben Hall conquer melodies with Guitars,
Vocals Chords and Keyboards, while Father- and- Son team, Steve and
Jesse Moser provide true rhythm and soul. For nearly six years they
have been jamming together for numerous clubs and events. Included is
P.F Chang's Rock 'n Roll Marathon, which is said to be more like a
40-mile street party than a race, with live bands performing at every
mile. They have also played numerous clubs around the valley, such as
The Clubhouse, which was voted "Best Local Music Venue" by The New
Times Magazine. Also voted numero uno in TNT is Full Well Recording
Studio, where owner and engineer Mike Bolenbach has created the magic
behind the band. Together they have produced an amazingly professional
album called "Two Hours Up". The quality of the album is extraordinary,
and it's no shock once you see where it all went down. Bolenbach's
studio is top notch, and he himself is an incredibly talented human
being.
"Two Hours Up" is a
collection of six well-crafted, well-performed, and "Well-Recorded"
songs. The first track, named "Priceless" is a great way to start out
the album. To me, it reminds me of my days listening to Matchbox
Twenty, which to this day, is on my top-ten list for commercial bands
that their entire CD is worth listening to. Second up is called "I Am
Here". Now, if you look at NOTI's bio, you will see that one of the
things they strive for is getting their songs stuck in your head. I
would have to say, "Mission Accomplished" on this track especially. I
tend to find my self singing this one during every trip to the
refrigerator! Other songs include "She Knows", " Memory of This",
"Pretty When You Were Strong" and "Fading Lights", another favorite of
mine. Don't let Jesse fool you with his placid drumming, because about
a minute-fifteen into it, he breaks out hardcore and the song becomes
something you don't expect, but completely fall in love with.
From start-to-finish the album
is fascinating. Their attention to detail is incredibly impressive, and
the talents of these men are practically indefinable. Your best option
is to hear Names of the Innocent for yourself. You can do this through
Myspace, CD Baby (http://cdbaby.com/cd/noti), and iTunes. They are
definitely worth checking out, and though you can hear all the songs
listed on these sites, I recommend purchasing the album yourself,
because the production just isn't justified as well on these sites as
the real product. Lucky for those of you in the Valley area of Arizona,
Names Of The Innocent will be holding a CD Release Party at Club Red in
Tempe on March 21st, at 7:30 PM. For more information, you may contact
NOTI at www.namesoftheinnocent.com or for booking purposes, you may
call 602.615.0625.
I asked NOTI a few
questions, and to my great surprise, I received wonderful answers from
every member. I couldn't have possibly asked for more, and I appreciate
everything that Names Of The Innocent has done to make this easier than
I could imagine. Thanks Guys! *Trinity*
TL:
What would you like to see happen with your career? Are you seeking
Fortune and Glory, touring the world, or would you be more interested
in remaining in the Valley, and playing occasional gigs?
Jeremy: I
think all of us right now are extremely excited about the local
opportunities that this new album will afford us. We didn't go into
this with a goal in mind of being famous or successful with our music;
at heart we're all just a bunch of guys who really enjoy music and
being in a band together. I'm sure we all would love to see our CD do
well, but none of us are driven by hopes of fortune and glory. Right
now, we're all for the most part too busy trying to juggle the other
parts of our lives; we all work, most of us are married and have
families along with other obligations. So, for now, we would be happy
to attain some level of local success, be able to do things like
opening for national acts, playing great shows at prominent venues
around the Valley, and maybe do some kind of mini-tour on the west
coast. I want to follow the model of other great local bands who have
made it work for them at home and have a strong following here in
Arizona. I really respect those bands like Jimmy Eat World, Roger Clyne
and the Peacemakers, Gin Blossoms, and The Format.
Ben: It
would be great to have a full-time job doing something so fulfilling as
music, however I am a realist and for me music has to be plan B until
it is able to be plan A. Some folks might think that means we are not
willing to work hard to do something with our music…well it’s quite the
opposite. If we were able to do something grand with music, it would
have to be on our terms, not the terms of a record company. Our terms
would entail putting priorities first such as our families, taking our
time recording things the way we want to record them, and lastly
touring when and where we want to. I feel we all are quite satisfied
that even a handful of people enjoy listening to our music. That is
glory enough!
Jesse: I
would like to continue to make music in whatever setting possible with
these guys. I don't care, and they don't either, about getting famous
or rich. If I was concerned about making money, I wouldn't be playing
music! fame and fortune is not what music is about to me. Music is
about playing great music with awesome people and growing as a musician
every time I pick up my sticks or go in the studio. As far as touring,
we're very realistic. So I don't think a world tour is in the works
right now. We'll see what we can do with a West Coast tour.
Steve: There's
no greater goal that I could have envisioned than to be playing with
such great musicians and true friends. I've been around the block a lot
during my lifetime and so I have zero delusions about fame and fortune.
She chooses who she wishes. Wait, maybe there is one goal I have; to
set up a monstrously powerful bass amp on top of Mt. Everest and turn
it up to 10. I'd love to know if I could be heard in China.
TL:
Do you feel that the downfall of the economy could have a major effect
on the music industry? Have you personally seen any negative results,
such as smaller crowds or decreased album sales?
Jeremy: Probably,
but a lot of the industry is geared towards young adults now. Kids will
always want music, and will always find a way to get it. People need to
be entertained, and I don't think most people are getting to the point
yet where they're giving up small purchases like albums or movies. The
fact is that it's so accessible now, and you don't even have to buy a
full album anymore. That contributes to the continuing success of
things like iTunes and CDBaby. The one area I can see that we've been
impacted locally is in the live music scene. These clubs around town
are struggling to stay open, and many we've played at in past years
aren't around anymore. I think we'll see even more close down soon. The
downside to having such a huge amount of bands in our area is that it's
getting increasingly hard to draw a huge crowd based on one band's
following. As a result clubs are overbooking nights, sometimes cramming
7-8 bands in one night on one stage and sacrificing quality for
quantity, and not giving acts time to build interest and a following.
Ben: With
the economic hardships being at such a large scale as they are lately,
everything will be affected to some extent. Will the music industry be
affected? Sure it will. The thing to keep in mind though is people seek
comfort when they are having a hard time, especially financially.
Whether it is a cold beer, a favorite song, or a nice steak, people set
aside money for that sort of thing no matter how bad things get. I’d
like to think music will keep people motivated, and motivated people
will keep the music industry in business.
Jesse: Sure
the economy will have some type of an effect. Perhaps people will be a
little more hesitant to just go hangout at a club, but if they love a
kick butt band, they'll go watch them. With real music lovers, they'll
always find a way to go see a band. Hopefully, we'll be that band that
someone will come out to see no matter how crappy the economy is.
Steve: I
have a good friend ( Howie Roxx / Metropolis) who does a lot of club
gigs and he really hasn’t seen a significant drop in attendance there.
As far as record sales, all record companies are feeling the crunch,
but it seems like this has been an issue for a long time and really
doesn’t have much to do with the real estate bubble etc.
TL:
With sites such as Myspace, CD BABY, and iTunes, where do you think
the music world will be in 5 years? Would you say that these sites have
dramatically increased your fan base?
Jesse: These
sites are great! They are such a wonderful tool for bands to expose
themselves to such a mass audience. I think that sites like these will
just keep growing over 5 years and allowing great opportunities for
groups to create a following.
Ben: The
music world will be very different in 5 years. Gone are the
evolutionary cycles of audio media. From vinyl to 8-track to cassette
to CD to MP3…its gone. The future is streaming media such as Slacker
and Pandora. Like a song on the radio? Stream it at work, at home, on
the cell phone. Delivery of music to the consumer is merging into one
unified repository of music that can be accessed by anyone from
anywhere at any time. With all the music sites now, I think we really
see a level of worldwide exposure that would be unheard of from a band
with no record label or distribution deal. All it takes is a viral
outbreak of friend-to-friends-to-friends communication for a song from
an unheard of band to make a major breakout on the web, and then from
that momentum, on to other more traditional outlets like radio and TV.
Jeremy: I
see it totally going the way of digital. Honestly, it won't be long
before you will be able to buy music right from your car stereo. I
personally rarely buy a physical CD anymore, always online. With the
economy changing, it would make sense to cut costs in producing CD's.
The major labels will find a way to keep plugging along and surviving,
but the business model will change. Digital media is no longer just for
adults with money. It's not uncommon now to see a kid 5 years old who
has an iPod, internet access, and a cell phone. I don't think we as a
band ever would have reached so many people in so little time without
the help of our website and CDBaby. We can track sales on CDBaby and
see where they come from and seriously, there's a big group of people
in Sweden and Germany who bought our album online. How else would that
have been possible? I think it's pretty amazing and it blows my mind
that people on the other side of the world are listening to Names Of
The Innocent only a few months after we finished the album.
TL:
With more and more people everyday deciding to create their own record
labels, what do you think will happen to giant music corporations such
as Epic, Columbia, and Atlantic?
Jesse: They will be around and because they have so much money. Plus, people keep buying and listening to the music they put out.
Ben: I
think the major labels will be around, just like the major software
corporations will always be around. Microsoft buys smaller software
companies with great ideas all the time. I think the same thing has
always been true with labels too. They will keep buying up the smaller
labels with great bands.
TL:
Over the years, we see bands that land record deals and end up labeled
a "one-hit-wonder" because once they gain popularity, the band falls
apart thanks to ego-battles. How does N.O.T.I differ from these bands?
What would you say is the glue that holds you all together?
Jeremy:
First of all, a lot of one-hit-wonders become such because they're
dropped from a label for only selling 1 Bajillion units of their 2nd CD
instead of 2 Bajillion units like the first one. And the reason
commonly is that the band had 5+ years to write and create their debut
album, but the label gives them 1-2 years to write, record, master, and
produce the second one. That's why a lot of indie bands stay together
and are consistent with their music. They're not being pushed to
perform on demand. Some bands are fronted by ego-maniacs though, and
it's a shame. Names Of The Innocent is a total democracy. All of us had
been in previous bands before, and when I started this one I knew I
wanted it to be a joint effort. If you're playing in a group of
talented musicians, I don't think there's any way that one person could
craft something better than what the collective efforts of everyone
could create. There are no ego-issues in our band and one person
doesn't hold creative control. I've been in bands with the power
struggles and insecurities, and it always compromises the quality of
the music and the personal relationships. We're all really close
friends, and we appreciate that bond more than we rely on our own
personal idea of what sounds good or what works for a song. The
majority of the time, we find that someone else had a better idea than
the one we originally had anyway. I think we're all mature enough now
to accept our place in the band, and are content with our own strengths
and weaknesses in regards to the role each of us plays in contributing
to Names Of The Innocent. We all have an equal share in contributing to
our sound. And we've all learned that all our different backgrounds and
influences have come together to make what we think is a great product
and a great sound.
Ben:
I think our band is very down to earth. I don’t think it is in any of
our natures to go off the deep-end if major fame and fortune suddenly
knocked at our door. Knowing us, we would probably pay off our
families’ debts before we went out and bought sports cars! The same
thing with our ego’s, I don’t think we have them as a band. When we are
rehearsing in that basement, the egos are on the couch upstairs
watching the Food Network. The glue that binds us together is the same
glue that binds us to a love for music: without it, we wouldn’t be able
to hold together the great music we are making now. It really is like a
family, and it’s been one of the greatest experiences of my life.
Jesse:
Honestly, I've never even thought about any of us having an ego or the
possibility that one could develop. We all have tons and tons of love
and respect for each other. That is one thing that makes us so
different from other groups. That is the glue. We are great friends and
truly appreciate each others opinions and ways of approaching a
project. We have a chemistry on and off the stage that is so thick, you
could almost grab it out of the air. This is such a great journey and I
am so grateful to be a part of it with my father and two awesome
friends.
Steve:
The glue that holds us together has many different aspects. For the
most part, mutual respect and a true brotherhood exist within our
little band. It's simply not difficult to love and respect someone who
gives it back to you in spades. I've been in a lot of bands and really,
all of them broke up because of un-necessary ego problems or personal
agendas. I'm not worried.
TL:
How would you describe the typical writing process from blank sheets to
the finalized project? Do you all sit around together and participate,
or do one or two of you write, and the others hop on?
Jeremy:
Even though one person does the majority of initial writing, especially
lyrics, it's only a skeleton of what the song becomes. Personally, I
always have a chord progression or a riff before I start writing
lyrics. For me, that works. Usually after song is written, maybe an
acoustic demo is recorded, and it is shown to the rest of the band.
Sometimes a specific concept or idea is presented, but a lot of the
time it's kind of a free-for-all to see who can come up with the best
direction to take the song in. There's been times when I don't even
have specific parts of the song finished. For example, the song off the
album "She Knows" was written as a slow piano ballad at first. Strings,
sad singing, the whole thing. We ran it through the N.O.T.I machine and
got something totally different. I'm constantly amazed by how much
better the final product comes out than my original vision for a song.
It's really a testament to everyone else's talent and how in-tune we
are with each other as a band. I've learned to just let the band take
the song for a ride and see where it goes.
Ben:
When I write a song, it always begins on an acoustic guitar with some
sort of riff or chord structure. Once I solidify the sounds a little
bit, I will attempt humming a melody with the music. The humming then
becomes mumbling, and the mumbling becomes words. At this point the
song is either done, or it gets refined further around some theme. Most
of my songs though don’t have a specific meaning. I tend to find the
meaning later. The key is getting the song completed to a point where
it is ready for the band to completely change it. I mean that in a good
way too. Once each member of the band is able to make their own
contribution, the song becomes something much more than it ever would
have been with me alone. It is an exciting experience to watch a song
go from something you pluck on the acoustic to being a masterpiece that
the band created together.
Jesse:
Ben and Jeremy come up with the initial idea. When they bring a song to
a practice, there are not any rules or unspoken understandings about
the writing process. We all contribute our ideas and come up with some
really cool stuff. Everyone has a lot of experience and great ideas. So
we just roll with it.
Steve:
I really love it when Ben or Jeremy present a song to Jesse and I
because we both know we have a lot of latitude to throw in our ideas.
Freedom to create music is one of the strongest bonds a band can have
or develop. And it's so true, the metamorphosis each song goes thru is
truly staggering and I'm very gratified that in the past, Ben and
Jeremy have liked how each song turned out. The final process is
actually performing these songs on stage and hopefully enjoyed by our
friends who have come to hear us play.
TL: How long did it take you to finish "Two Hours Up"?
Jeremy:
I think from the first scratch studio sessions to when we had the
finished product in hand was about 10 months. January-October 2008.
Some of these songs on the album have been part of our set for a few
years though. The reason it took so long was that we would have gaps,
sometimes like a month and a half, where we wouldn't be working on it
and trying to take a break from it. It always worked out well because
we could come back to it with fresh ears and hear things we never heard
before. We were constantly trying new ideas and adding things that we
never originally had planned to have in the song. A lot of the sounds
you hear on the album like weird tubular bells, synth sounds, large
harmonies, multi-tracked guitars; a lot those concepts were created
right in the studio. We tried not to burn ourselves out on the album
(Well, maybe towards the end a little). The creativity and freedom we
had in the studio without time constraints was awesome and really
allowed us to get the exact sound we wanted. Jesse used a ton of
different snare drums, Ben and I used a different amp and tone for
almost every song, we really had a lot of fun being creative. We had
all agreed when we started the project that we would take the time to
make sure everything was just as we wanted it, we wouldn't settle for a
sound or a performance that we didn't 100% like, and we wouldn't be
rushed into finishing it. I hope the sound of the album reflects all
the time we put into making sure it's presented to everyone else the
way we intended.
Ben: The
entire production took almost a year. If we had the time, we could have
finished it in a couple months. But I think taking this much time
helped us come up with much more complex arrangements, sounds, etc.
since we had time to listen to everything over and over as it was being
made, it helped us think of ideas to add on to it. Our only rule with
this whole process was that we would take the time to make it perfect,
no matter how much time that ended up being. Because of that, we are
all very happy and have no regrets about the record.
TL: Is there anyone in particular that you would like to thank, that you couldn't possibly have done this album without?
Jeremy:
It wouldn't be fair to talk about this album without mentioning Mike
Bolenbach at Full Well Recording Studios, who engineered and produced
the album. He really took the time to dial in all our sounds and make
it perfect. He was there to push us when something wasn't quite good
enough, and there to reassure us if we were on the fence about
something. As a band in the studio, you need to have a neutral party
that can tell you when something just isn't good enough. You have to
have that one person who will tell you the truth as an outsider looking
in, and Mike was that person for us. But at the same time he became so
attached to the album, to the sound that we created, and became so
committed to making it a product we all could be proud of that I think
it would be impossible to say that we could have created the same
record without him. He's been such a good friend to Names Of The
Innocent. On the technical side, he's also a major gear-freak. He knew
exactly what kind of equipment we needed to use for any idea we had,
and went out of his way to use nothing but the best gear for our
sessions. His studio is amazing with the variety of gear at your
disposal. I would recommend to anyone who wants a dedicated engineer to
use him. I'm also pretty sure this won't be the last Names Of The
Innocent record to come out of Full Well Recording Studios.
Ben: It
would have to be Mike Bolenbach, owner, engineer, and producer of Full
Well Recording Studios. He was like the fifth Beatle on this album,
being the unbiased third-party to help us make difficult decisions
during the recording process, and making any idea we had actually come
to life. The CD would not have turned out as great as it did without
him, and we owe him a debt of gratitude!
Jesse:
Four people: Ben, Jeremy, Steve, and Mike Bolenbach. These guys rock!
With out anyone of them, the album wouldn't sound like it does and I
wouldn't be as happy with it as I am.
Steve: Besides
Jeremy, Jesse and Ben; Mike Bolenbach of Full Well Recording Studios.
After all our tracking and mixing were finished, Jesse and I both
realized that we wouldn’t be hanging out with Mike for a while and we
actually got a bad case of separation anxiety. True enough. He's the
schizzle in our nizzle.
*Well, guess what NOTI? Mr. Bolenbach had something to say about his time spent with you all as well!
"Working
with the guys in Names of The Innocent was a fantastic experience.The
vibe in the studio was always positive and adventurous. We were never
afraid to try even the most "off the wall" ideas. The level of talent
that all the members brought to the table really made for a great
record and made my job as engineer and producer a total pleasure. The
attention to detail that everyone injected into the record was second
to none and I really feel it shows in the final product. It is a record
that I am extremely proud be a part of."
Special
thanks to Mike Bolenbach for his involvement in this article, and to
Andy Hartmark for the use of the great photography he provided for
NOTI. Stay tuned to damngootunes.com for a future piece on Full Well
Recording, hopefully due this Spring!
Peace, Love, and Rock 'n Roll!
Trinity Lost
