stereoactivenyc

Interview: The Secret Life Of Sofia

(Robot drawing by Bryan Bruchman)

mp3: “We May Find A Pearl” 

Official Website | MySpace

The Secret Life Of Sofia is a band we’ve been following since its inception — in fact, with their history in other bands, we’ve been fans of its members since before its inception. For a band that came on strong from the start in terms of songwriting and musical talent, we’ve been impressed to see how much further they’ve been able to go in their time together. Back in December, the band released their first recording, a self-titled, four song EP that seemed to deliver on the promise of the band’s live sound. But that was, apparently, only the beginning, as the quartet continues to expand its live sound, while looking forward to more recording that we can only hope will come sooner rather than later.

The Secret life Of Sofia will be playing Beg Yr Pardon #7, presented by StereoactiveNYC [view flyer] on Tuesday, August 29th at The Delancey in New York City. In advance of that, we interviewed the band — Kyle (vocals, guitar), Eric (guitar), Ian (bass), Steve (drums) — so please read on…

Where are each of you from?

Ian: Livonia, MI. A proud member of Detroit’s suburban sprawl. A far cry from Brooklyn.

Eric: Plainview, NY. I lived in the same house from birth to college. My parents worked hard as young adults to leave Brooklyn and move to the suburbs, just to have me move back there. Steve and I grew up in the same town and went to school together.

Steve: Originally, Massapequa Park, moved to Plainview when I was three…

Kyle: I am from Santa Fe, NM. Its a small town way out southwest. As a teenager, I played “the dead game,” “maggots,” and “fun with barrels” for a good time. If you’re not familiar with any of these games and you’d like to be, you know who to talk to.

So, how’d each of you end up in NYC?

Eric: I wasn’t all that interested or invested in the college application process. I was either too young or too focused other things. I applied to three schools with good art programs, but never intended on going to two of them… so I went to NYU.

Ian: Midway through a horrible freshman year at Michigan State University, more well known as “STATE”, I took a much needed and well deserved vacation to New York. While I was here, I took an impromptu tour of NYU. The program appeared to be more my cup of tea, and I applied. The rest is, an expensive, history.

Kyle: I moved to NYC for two reasons. The first was that I was accepted to NYU and they gave me the best financial package out of all the schools I applied to. The second was that my old band was signed to a small label here in NY and we all moved here together, intending to move forward with our career. Within a year of moving here, we’d split up…

Steve: …I actually don’t live in NYC, I live on Long Island. The commute to the city (for practice and shows) isn’t terrible especially since I drive in, but it can get tedious to say the least.

Three of you have been members of other bands. Kyle, Eric, and Steve: How has your experience with previous bands played into this band? Ian, this being your first band, how has the experience been for you?

Kyle: My experience in Milagres was not much of an experience. We played some crappy local shows where we would draw 10 people and we’d be the highest drawing band! We made a handful of recordings (most of which were completely controlled by me and Don Fury) which never saw the light of day. It was fun sometimes, but often frustrating and I don’t think I learned all that much from it. Maybe it even made me a little jaded.

My experience in the band that I started in NM some years back was valuable. We toured the US extensively, booking it all ourselves. We had a record out (at least to some extent) and we had merch. Some of the connections I made during those years are surprisingly still in place and they helped us to book this most recent tour. Most of all though, we really had fun. I think I learned in that band to take commercial successes and failures with a grain of salt and to concentrate instead on creative failures and successes.

Steve: Eric and I have been playing together for quite some time now. We’ve gone through many bands together. Each of them had their own issues. Sometimes, Eric and I will look back at some of these bands, laugh, and then awkwardly change the subject. As of right now, the Secret Life of Sofia is running a lot smoother than a lot of other bands in my past.

Eric: After being the frontman of a band for two years, I was looking forward to playing guitar and singing harmonies… playing a supporting role on someone else’s songs. There was definitely some adjusting to do, though. I had been very used to being in control, and I had to give a lot of that up. I left the first band I was in because I lost faith in the abilities of that songwriter. Kyle hasn’t lost my faith yet… hah. There’s a lot of experience in this band, musical and otherwise, which makes this group stronger than the ones I’ve been in previously.

Ian: This is my first legitimate band. If you count high school talent
show duets, then perhaps not. My opinion is that doesn’t count. This is my first band, and the experience has been priceless. Being a part of a band in New York post-college is an interesting spot to be in. Life isn’t exactly carefree, and putting the band at the top of one’s list isn’t always the easiest thing to do, but we manage.

Where was your first show in New York?

Ian: The very first show of ours was at The Knitting Factory Old Office on February 12, 2005. We called ourselves The Giving Tree. Naming a band is harder than it should be.

Eric: …but my first show in NYC with any band was at the Elbow Room on Bleecker St., which doesn’t exist anymore. Steve was playing drums.

Steve: …if by New York, you mean the city, then probably the Elbow Room… otherwise, the high school cafeteria.

Kyle: My first show in NY was with my old band from Santa Fe and it was at The Continental, but my first show with TSLOS was at the Knit old office.

So, you guys started at The Knitting Factory Old Office, and were quickly playing on the Main Stage there, as well as at Mercury Lounge. You seem to have avoided, more or less from the start, the problem so many bands have when they start out of booking shows at lackluster venues, not too mention overbooking. Has this been a conscious decision and how’d you go about it?

Ian: You left out Starbucks! I am not kidding. Believe it or not, though, Starbucks proved to be one of our best shows at the time. The traditional venues, especially in New York, are hit or miss. You could have an amazing show at a lackluster venue, and then a big let down at a reputable space.

It’s on our shoulders.

After playing quite a few depressing shows to a small crowd of uninterested people, we decided to cut off our shows until we really had a reason to play. Our gig at the Knitting Factory was purely by luck, and invitation from the headliner. The Mercury Lounge was our doing. I pitched an idea to Johnny Beach, who as you most likely know books The Mercury Lounge, and he gave us a chance. Once you prove yourself, you’re set. Or we hope.

Kyle: I guess I did learn something from playing in Milagres! I think that all of us, but particularly Ian, wanted to make sure that we took ourselves seriously as a live act. And that meant not playing shows for 3 random people who walk in for a beer special and heckle you for your entire set. I’ve always had the mentality that one should accept any musical opportunity… But unfortunately, in a place like NYC that mentality is just not beneficial. Its quite easy to get stuck in a rut here where you’re just playing at venues that nobody wants to go to where they, as Kyle Sowash would say “treat ya like an asshole.”

Steve: I like playing smaller untraditional venues, as they fill up easier and there is often a lot more energy at those shows, which is fun.

Eric: It’s certainly been a conscious decision not to overbook in NYC, though… playing the same songs to the same people in the same rooms gets old fast, right? I don’t want my friends (or anyone) paying $10 to see us play “Hospital [Inside Me]” again in a crappy room with bad sound.

Steve: …but even if we have many shows lined up, we still hesitate to turn another down.

Can you name for us a band from each of the last four decades — 1990s, 1980s, 1970s, 1960s — that you consider an influence and, for whatever reason, isn’t already listed on your MySpace page or in your press kit?

Ian: 60’s: Edgard Varèse - People refer to him as the “Father of Electronic Music.” What he did over 50 years ago with sound installations would still be considered groundbreaking today. And it’s pretty! “Poème électronique,” in my opinion, is a must listen for any boy or girl interested in lo-fi and found sounds.

mp3: excerpt from “Poème électronique”

70’s: DNA - Avid Pitchfork readers could tell you all about Teenage Jesus & The Jerks, Brian Eno, and the No Wave scene in New York circa 1970 but no one told me. Perhaps they read a Blonde Redhead blurb or two. I, on the other hand, came across DNA while working at a tiny video store in the West Village. A co-worker of mine took out Curb Your Enthusiasm (Second Season, Disc One) and played a film called Downtown 81. That was when I first heard and saw DNA, and immediately afterwards I walked over to Downtown Music Gallery, said hello to the owner Bruce, and bought myself a copy of DNA On DNA. You should do the same.

80’s: David Bowie - Enough said.

90’s: Bang On A Can - Bang On A Can deserves a medal. Here is an organization that fosters and promotes new compositional talent. The founding composers, Michael Gordon, Julia Wolfe, and David Lang are amongst my favorite contemporary music makers. “Wed” by David Lang is one of the most beautiful recordings I have in my collection although anything with “Bang On A Can” written down the spine gets my stamp of approval. Chances are it would also get the approval of The Dirty Projectors, The National, Aphex Twin, Matmos, Philip Glass, and others who are all either collaborators, friends, or students of Bang On A Can.

Eric: 60s - The Beach Boys (especially Pet Sounds)
70s - Queen
80s - Michael Jackson, R.E.M.
90s - Slint (especially Spiderland), Sunny Day Real Estate

Steve: 70s - Pink Floyd; 80s - Billy Joel

Kyle: 60’s: Jimi Hendrix - I’ve probably listened to Axis: Bold As Love about as many times as I’ve listened to anything else. Although his guitar playing was incredibly expressive, most people dont think of Jimi Hendrix as a great songwriter. I definitely do, and this album definitely highlights his songwriting.

ALSO

The Shaggs - Although I didn’t discover this band until a few years ago, the musical freedom that they exhibit is definitely inspiring. Its incredible what happens when people make their own music with very little outside influence. I’ve always wanted to put myself on a musical desert island to see what I’d come up with.

70’s: The Who - Growing up I listened to my dad’s old records of Quadrophenia and Who’s Next all the time. I love Keith Moon. He’s probably my favorite rock and roll drummer of all time. Although they’re a band that formed in the 60’s, I’ll put them under 70’s because my favorite Who records are mostly from the 70’s.

80’s - Oddly enough, I spent much of my formative years listening to rowdy punk rock from the 80’s (along with Nirvana and the like). Bands like The Germs, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, and X were all in my cassette collection. I loved the Flipside Magazine’s vinyl fanzines collection and frequently listened to it all the way through whilst trying to look tough in the mirror.

90’s - There’s a lot of stuff that I love from the 90’s but I’ll give you two things that are not on any of our other lists: I loved U2’s album Achtung Baby. And, this is pretty obscure, but an american composer by the name of Tobias Picker wrote an opera in the 90’s called “Emmeline.” That definitely had an effect on my music. It was really a beautiful opera, but quite dark and intense. Kind of like a prettier and more contemporary version of Strauss’ “Salome” (probably my favorite opera of all time).

How would you say the work of classical composers such as Henryk Gorecki, Arvo Part, and others have influenced the band?

Kyle: Gorecki is a prime influence for me in so many ways, particularly Symphony #3, Beatus Vir, and some of his choral works. Both Gorecki and Part use very simple tertian harmony which is at once ancient sounding and contemporary. They rely on traditional western concepts for the basis of their music, but they bend the obvious into something that is beautiful. They are also both spiritual composers. All of these factors influence the way that I write music. I rely on familiar elements to write music that is simple, but contemporary and powerful.

I’m not sure how obvious their influence would be to most people, especially on our EP, but I think that it will probably be clear on our newer stuff and on some of the stuff we’re playing live now.

Ian: I think orchestral music has influenced so many interesting artists today. We’re certainly not alone. If you subtract a great amount of the effects of our sound, swap a viola for a guitar, you’d hear it.

You recently went out on tour. We’ve been told that this experience changed your live show and, after seeing you perform at Fontana’s after the tour, we definitely thought there was something different about it. What would you say the biggest changes have been in your live show overall since first starting out and how much do you think the tour actually played into this?

Eric: The tour motivated us to expand what we were doing onstage. There are more instruments up there, and all of us play more than just guitar, bass or drums. Playing every night also gave us an opportunity to loosen up a bit, look at each other, laugh when we make mistakes, and have more fun when we play. Playing outside of NYC was exciting in a way that I had never experienced. The people that we met and played to were really enthusiastic and friendly.

Kyle: …Its nice to play for people who dont just stand there.

Ian: Before our first tour, everything was a big deal. Playing well, performing well, bantering well, dressing well, drawing well, etc. We thought about every detail too much, and things had to be perfect. And they never were. If I could see us from the audience’s perspective, I’d think something like “Them bitches are uptight!” Tour loosened us up. A lot. You play every night, and in spaces that are not designed for music, live music, or anything “live”. Plus, it’s fun. You don’t have to work during the day, run around like a maniac trying to get to a 5 PM soundcheck. No, you wake up on a floor in a weird apartment, use a stranger’s shampoo, eat a granola bar, and start driving. We also nearly doubled the amount of shows in our history by going on tour. We were still uptight, but that only showed by being punctual. A little fresh air did us some good.

Steve: I agree with Ian, I think that ever since tour, we’ve opened ourselves up quite a bit, and I believe we look like we’re having more fun out there, I know I am.

At that Fontana’s show, you said you no longer play “Around In Ways” [from the band's EP] in response to someone yelling out for it. Is this, in fact, true and, if so, is there any particular reason?

Kyle: I’m sure we’d play “Around In Ways” if we felt like it. We’re just not that great at it right now. It needs a break.

Steve: …It probably would have been a mess.

Ian: We haven’t practiced “Around in Ways” in a long time. I still like that song, and I think so does everyone else. Now we’re more interested in working on new material rather than rehashing the old stuff. Trust me, we need the practice.

Eric: I love “Around in Ways” and I hope that it doesn’t get lost forever… The imagery in that song is really strong. It’s got a lot of heart. Kyle had made a really rough acoustic demo of it, and if I remember correctly, Ian and I really wanted to play that song.

Kyle, you seem to have a penchant for writing lyrics that set a scene or a mood. Perhaps your most evocative lyrics are in “Hospital Inside Me” — Can you tell us a little bit about what inspired those lyrics?

Kyle: Well, I’d hate to be defined by those lyrics, because they are actually quite depressing and they really came out of a fluke low-point in my otherwise quite fantastic life. To make a long story short, I had some weird health problems last year, during which lost a good percentage of hearing in my right ear (probably due to a virus). For a short period, there was concern that I might have a small tumor on my acoustic nerve, or that something might be seriously wrong and I might be going deaf. I’m a very high strung person, so I didn’t handle the situation well. I worried about it a lot.

Eric: I’m usually pretty affected by Kyle’s lyrics… not just in that song, but in most of the songs that we play. They’re really thoughtful, and they usually tell some sort of story. A lot of them seem to be about what people really care about and what their priorities are in life. I think that when we release another record that will become more apparent.

Can you tell us about the experience of recording and releasing your EP?

Ian: A good friend of ours, Michael Dory, recorded our EP with the kindness of his heart at BentoBox Studios in Jersey City, NJ. We ate a lot of bagels and drank even more coffee in NJ every weekend for several months. In the end, it turned out great.

Making a good record takes a ridiculous amount of time and energy. That much I learned. It’s no easy task.

Eric: …we ended up with a strong first effort that we were all proud of in the end. We had decided fairly early on that we didn’t want to over do it, so the production was kept pretty simple. I had to stop myself from overdubbing more guitars and more backing vocals. If I had been left alone in the studio it would have been a very different EP (and probably not for the better). Mike, Rita and I had even recorded some hand claps toward the end of “Diamond Face.” Sadly, they were vetoed…

Ian: Painting cardboard cases and custom-cutting stencils is also not a walk in the park. We had to sneak into art buildings to properly paint, not to mention assembling all the packages. Oh, and we also used LightScribe discs to inscribe a laser image. The brown hue of the discs went along with our Grandma’s Wallpaper aesthetic but each of those discs took at least 20 - 30 minutes to burn. You do the math. The best part is we sold out quickly.And so then we decided to press the EP. You should see all of the designs we considered. Really. We paid for them so someone should see them. When it was all said and done, Eric designed everything and did so beautifully. The discs were pressed locally due to time constraints, cost a fortune, and arrived two hours before the first show of our tour. No joke.

What kind of plans do you currently have for further recording?

Kyle: Lots! We want to make a really great full length. We’re not sure how or when or where we’re going to do it yet.

Ian: We would like to record. That is as far as we’ve got. A couple producers have talked to us about getting together but nothing is solidified yet. We have some thinking to do, as always.

Steve: I don’t even think we know what songs are going on it yet.

Anyone care to tells us about IQ Records and how it plays into your future plans? Ian, we’ve been told you might be the person to ask about this.

Ian: The first and only reason why I ever took any interest in the music industry whatsoever was because I thought there was a lot of great music in the world that wasn’t being heard and perhaps I could help get some of it out there. The Secret Life of Sofia is a nice example. We were not going to get signed with the EP, and believe me we tried, and so I thought we could still do quite a bit with the record in terms of exposure and pushing the band forward. Since I have always wanted to start a label, I figured why not start here.

The entire band is involved in the label, which is still only in its infancy. Everyone contributes what they can, when they can, and how they can. We are starting to become a bit more organized these days. Our saving grace is the lovely Ms. Samantha Goldfien who is designing what I believe will be a smart and unique site. My hope is that the project launches into something besides a catalogue number. There is no point in bands creating “labels” if there is nothing to them. We hope to avoid that trend. Now that more and more people are getting into the project, I have high hopes.

Our immediate plans are to whittle our list of press contacts down and see what we can get. Half of our records are for promo use only. No one is making any money. We’re doing this because we want to be heard, and we think doing it this way is smart. Currently we are in the process of signing a digital distribution agreement, and I’m trying to find a distributor gracious enough to take a chance on us. There is also a strong possibility of IQ-002 coming out in early 2007. Time will tell.