THE MINDERS play The Satellite Sep. 13; photo Holly Andres
For the first time in over 20 years, the sounds of The Minders will once again shake the walls of the Satellite Los Angeles on Sep. 13.
Touring behind their first studio album in 10 years, The Minders will no doubt be expanding on their psychedelic explorations of 60’s pop music. And if their feverous, aggressively catchy new single, “Needle Doll,” is any indication, then aging seems to have had the opposite effect of giving this band even more energy.
In a recent conversation with Concert Guide Live, frontman Martyn Leaper was kind enough to elaborate on both his absence and subsequent return to the studio, and all that falls in between.
Concert Guide Live: So you have a new album coming out after ten years. What’s the story there? Why now?
Martyn Leaper: I mean, bands fade out sometimes. You know, during the recession and certainly just before that I went through some personal things. A divorce, that kind of stuff – which I don’t necessarily want to talk about. You know, life happens. But I kept writing and I did put out stuff, but on cassette, or on bandcamp, or something like that. And also it just took me a while to write the songs because I wrote a bunch of songs, and then threw out a bunch of songs. So, yeah. It took a while.
CGL: Sounds like the typical cycle of an artist at work.
ML: Well, I don’t know if I’m much of an artist. But it has a process, and there’s just a whole lot of stuff that gets in the way, or slows you down.
CGL: Well, it needs to happen organically, right? You can’t just squeeze it out, that’s not how it works.
ML: Absolutely. I mean, that is absolutely true. I actually kind of expected this kind of question. I had an interview yesterday with some guy and he had this same question, “What was goin’ on?” And it’s just like, you know, life. What are you gonna do?
CGL: Yeah, life doesn’t really have a plan does it?
ML: Well, thank goodness for that. It would be mighty boring.
CGL: So are you excited to be back on the road again?
ML: Well, we did a short tour with Neutral Milk Hotel last summer down the west coast. We played sort of locally in the Northwest quite a bit. But really again, I don’t mean to harp on this, but we’re f*cking broke. It’s f*cking hard to get in a van and leave our jobs. Some people did quite well after – I don’t want to keep going on about the recession – but geez. Everybody in my band, I mean, we still have our jobs. But we’re still doin’ it.
CGL: And what’s driving that motivation?
ML: Well, we now have a record, and it just took a while to piece it together. We tried to make an entire statement, or a complete package. From song “A” to the last song.
CGL: Like a concept album of sorts?
ML: Hmm, I don’t know. Somewhat. It’s semi-autobiographical at least. The songs are framed so that they’re almost these bookends. With the first part of the title track sort of returning on the first track on side B. So I wouldn’t say it was entirely conceived as a concept record. It could be anything you want. I don’t know about you, but when I listen to a record, I don’t necessarily read the liner notes. If I like a record I just delve in. I’m kind of weird that way. I don’t necessarily even know the song names. But I know the lyrics.
CGL: Sounds like you’re trying to avoid anything that might color your opinion before you listen to it?
ML: I don’t know, it’s just kind of haphazard. I mean, how do you enjoy a record? There’s no real organized way to get into a record.
CGL: Yes, the “science of enjoying a record” doesn’t really exist.
ML: Yeah, and again, thank goodness for that. I guess that’s just sort of the way we do things. Living in the Northwest, you’re in a kind of fuzzy cloud. I mean, Portland’s not as sleepy as it used to be. It’s a very hectic, busy little town now. I mean I hope that answers your question though. We wrote a record, we put it out, there isn’t really a reason. It’s just business as usual.
CGL: So did you find Larry Crane to have a pretty big effect on your sound? How did it compare to your previous recording experiences?
ML: Well, for the last few records, we made them ourselves. I have a home studio — a 4-track, an 8-track, and a 24-track machine. And then I have some computer capability. But it’s still kind of analogue. We’re a little behind the times, but I like the sound. So the last few records, we did at home. The first album was recorded and produced by Robert (Schneider) from the Apples (The Apples In Stereo). I kind of gave him free reign.
CGL: Like, “Do your thing, Robert, and I shall follow.”
ML: And that’s the thing, that’s what you look for. Obviously, I wrote the songs and there was serious input. So this was very similar to the first record. This record, Larry had a pretty big hand. And also, I’d like to mention Doug Jenkins. He’s the sort of main Cello Project guy. He actually scored out all of the strings. Rebecca (Cole) had some rudimentary stuff that she had played out on piano, and we would send the recordings to him and then he would score them out. You should really check out the Portland Cello Project.
But, back to Larry. He had the same role as Robert did. You know, coloring the sound. I didn’t have a whole lot to do with the engineering side of this. Usually I do. Because I record, too. But to be honest, I’m not a very technical person. And I was looking for clarity.