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Continuing a tradition of intelligent,
aggressive and beautifully tortured power pop/punk music, "Knapsack"
brings forth their third major release, "This Conversation
Is Ending Starting Right Now." Considerably more tight and
polished than previous releases, "Knapsack" has managed
to maintain the raw emotional power that has been the drive of
their sound, while bringing the music to a higher level of production
and presentation. This third release marks the band's greatest
effort thus far, marking a trend of progression to perfection.
Tracks like "Katherine The Grateful"
and "Arrows to Action" take the form of polished versions
of songs that could have easily been on either of the first two
records. "Change Is All The Rage" introduces the use
of sounds and additions outside the realm of guitar, bass and
drums, creating a more interesting "Knapsack" sound.
Taking a bit of a departure from their
"standard" anguished soul distortion sound, "Cold
Enough To Break" stands out as a truly unique addition to
the "Knapsack" song book, taking a quieter, and even
prettier, approach with the addition of cello and sleigh bells
enhancing an extremely deep introspective effort.
With the addition of Sergie Loobkoff (former
Samiam) on guitar, "Knapsack" also finds a more concentrated,
fuller sound. Sergie maintains the perfect simplicity in guitar
style but adds several short solo flairs not previously present
in former works.
Blair Shehan's vocals are as gut wrenchingly
tortured as ever, overflowing with emotion and power. Lyrically,
"Knapsack" remains the educated mans punk, while at
the same time reaching into your chest and tearing out your heart
with it's tearfully painful beauty.
"This Conversation..." is by
far more then just "Knapsack's" most impressive effort
to date, it's one of the most impressive records of this year.
To not own it is to deprive yourself an amazing experience.
Access To The Music Zone was able to catch
Blair Shehan for a few words at NYC Tramps earlier this month.
Here's what he had to say:
AMZ - Congratulations on "This Conversation
Is Ending Starting Right Now." This marks the third fantastic
release from "Knapsack." I think this is your best
work yet.
BS: - Thanks very much. I'm glad you're
into it.
AMZ: - Unique album titles have become
a tradition for "Knapsack." Where do the titles come
from, and more specifically, where did "This Conversation
. . ." come from?
BS - Okay. "Selfish Sweepstakes"
is sort of a nothing title. It's kind of sort of random - you
know, like when you just land on something? "Day Three of
My New Life" was sort of written at a really tough point
in my life, and all the songs on that record were sort of like
a summing up of the whole record. "Day Three of My New Life"
is "Hey, I'm gonna start new today." Having the best
intentions of doing the new thing. Changing the bad things in
your life and the stupid things you do. The third day is the
day when its like you sort of get back into the old thing. It's
like the day when you are weak, it's the day when you're not
feeling that the fight is sort of out of you. "This Conversation
..." was written in a little better time in my life, and
its a little bit of a light title I guess. I just like the way
it sounds and it was the chorus of a song. It sounds like something
you've heard, but haven't heard, you know? I liked the idea of
maybe trying to coin a phrase, so we just stuck with it and I
liked it.
AMZ: - Production on "This Conversation
. . ." is considerably tighter and more polished than on
earlier records. Was that a result of a conscience decision by
Alex Newport, or the band, or both?
BS: - On the first record we were really
just this rough band, on the second record it was like let's
get our sound so that it sounds good on record. But I played
all the guitar on the first record, and sang, and all the songs
were written with me playing and singing at the same time. So
everything is a lot looser and lot more straight forward and
a lot simpler. The newer record has another guitar player playing,
and when I play now I just mute the guitar I sing. Someone else
is playing, and they can concentrate and be tight, where if I'm
playing I have to play along with my singing so I can't really
do that.
AMZ - So it's more performance than production.
BS - Exactly. It's more of a way to divide
up the job.
AMZ - Your sound has always remained progressive
and experimental, and there has always been that signature continuity
from song to song. That's something that a lot of bands have
a hard time with - progressing into a new sound while keeping
that signature sound. Is there anything in particular you do
to maintain that, or does it just kind of happen?
BS - We try not to do anything like that.
I don't want to change. If I AM gonna change, I'm gonna change
drastically, but if we're gonna be this band we're gonna stay
similar but grow, expand on the idea. We always try to keep the
root there, but move out with other stuff. Throwing in something
extra makes it be not quite what we normally do, but we give
it a shot, and see how it works, and that's how you make what
you do uniquely yours. If I was gonna do something that completely
different, it would not even be similar.
AMZ - "This Conversation . . ."
leans more toward a poppier sound, or the poppier side of the
spectrum, than the old records did. Is that a general direction
the band is going in, or just for this record?
BS - I would say that the second record
was a little darker and more aggressive. The new record has a
lot of thick moments that are the same, but there are more quiet
moments, more pop. I guess it's never conscious, you just do
it. You write these songs and it's it sort of reflects where
we were at in our lives.
AMZ - Your bio brings up the struggle with
being pigeon holed. Do you guys see yourself fitting into any
musical genre, or are you just being yourselves and where ever
it falls, it falls?
BS - We're a guitar rock band and are given
all sorts of little tags all along the way. It's nice if people
associate us with something, because being associated with nothing
when you're a smaller band like we are is difficult. No one has
any reference to my performance. If you just see "Knapsack"
it's like "Oh, what is that?" But if they read "Knapsack"
is this type of band, it can be really helpful. So its a curse
and a blessing at the same time. I'm not gonna complain, because
its really like any time you are pigeon holed. People who like
you know what you do. Writers and reviewers don't know what you
do, and don't know the subtleties of what you do, are gonna be
generic in the way they describe you. "Knapsack" is
kinda like "blah, blah this," and people that really
like you already know and like what you do, regardless of what
somebody writes.
AMZ - The song writing process, is that
collective or an individual effort?
BS - On this new record, more so than the
last record, Sergie has a stronger presence, because he had written
music in his other bands, so I let a little slack go and I try
to focus more on my lyrics and things like that. I wrote the
book of the songs, but nine out of the ten songs Sergie wrote
brought in different rhythmic things that change the style a
little bit, and I couldn't do that. Like I said earlier with
playing, he plays what he plays his own way, so when I'm singing,
and he's playing, he's gonna play differently than I play. It
changed things just by his own flare, and he has lead skills
that I don't really have.
AMZ - So what influenced some of those
dark topics?
BS - A big thing is weakness. It's like
being weak and hoping that you're not falling short on things.
It's like we have the best intentions in the world - I'm gonna
do this and I'm gonna do that . . . For example, I'm gonna really
say thank you to that person, write them this little letter,
put a little card in, then the day slips by and you don't do
it. That sort of thing is like this weakness that you have where
you don't follow through with things, and with me personally
that was a big problem. For me this was like coming to terms
with growing up and being adult, but still having the same kid
being a slacker. Not finishing things, not taking care of the
shit I had to take care of, not being grown up about taking control
of my life, and that was a big coming of age sort of thing. I
finished college, college gave me the guidelines to do stuff.
I can do THAT stuff. Give me something to do and I'll do it -
write a term paper, take the test, whatever, and I will finish
college. But when I am on my own, that's a whole different story.
That was when a lot of these records were written - when I was
out on my own and doing stuff I didn't know exactly how to take
care of.
AMZ - There's been a bunch of up and coming
bands that you guys have been an inspiration to, that look up
to you. Who are some of the bands that you have been inspired
by?
BS - I like a lot of different kinds of
bands. I like bands that sound like us sometime, I like bands
that don't sound like us. I like a lot of just big commercial
bands too - Weezer, Radio Head stuff like that. Those bands are
fun. I usually enjoy big rock sort of bands a lot of the time.
For quiet stuff I like classic song writing - like Beatles or
James Taylor or Jim Croce and stuff like that. I really like
songs, and I hope that I wean enough rough edges off what I do,
so that I ultimately write songs that when we're not playing
them they float around somewhere.
AMZ - Taking into consideration all the
records, "Silver Sweepstakes," "Day Three,"
the Seven Inches and "This Conversation . . ." which
would you say is the career piece thus far? Your best record?
BS - You know it's weird. In some ways
it's the new one, and in some ways the second one. The second
one was the one where we got attention. The first one we were
nobody. With the second one, it was like slowly but surely this
one built up on a small underground scale. By no means are we
a big popular band, but that record was the one that sort of
got people interested in our band. With the new record we expanded
on stuff. I imagine that people will think our second record
is the one that is the definitive record, but every band has
to keep moving on and doing different things, and that was the
one that sort of defined what we can and can't do. The newer
records are more what we are into and where we're at right now.
AMZ - What are your expectations for this
record, the one you just released?
BS - I have no idea. I hope people like
it and people buy it and we have a good time on tour. Expectations
are ridiculous because you just don't know where it's gonna go.
Our contract is over with Alias, and we're free to go, so I hope
that we can draw enough attention to get on a new label.
AMZ - So you're looking to leave Alias?
BS - We're not looking to leave, we're
already off. It's over. We need a new label if we're gonna continue.
We're a band that is slow in the studio, and we've been spending
a lot of money. We can't make records, I mean we could but I
wouldn't want to, that are really cheap, so we're sort of in
the middle of no man's land, but we do stuff like that.
AMZ - "Cold Enough To Break"
represents the biggest departure from the typical "Knapsack"
sound. What makes this song different from the others, and what
made you look toward a softer sound on that?
BS - You know it's just a difference between
the distortion pedal. We play these songs, and if I'm gonna get
choked up or be moved when we play, that's usually the one that
does it to me. It's just a desperate sounding song. I don't think
there is any departure or anything. It's just something that
is able to move me more than any big rock sound could.
AMZ - The use of sleigh bells on that song,
what brought that on?
BS - (laughs) Probably "OK Computer,"
the new Radio Head record. They had all these cool sounds and
these isolated things. It sounds so random but you know they
worked really hard to get those things in there. We heard that
stuff and were just really into trying to add that to our record,
because it makes it really interesting when you slap on the head
phones and hear that.
AMZ - So the same can be said for the cello
and other additions?
BS - Exactly. You want to put that stuff
on there because it makes it more interesting.
AMZ - "Cinema Stare" reminds
me of a more 80's Cure sound. Were you striving for that on this
track?
BS - It's totally different - like pop,
off-timing stuff. Somebody told me it was in waltz timing. It
was just one of those songs that I brought in as a guitar part
and we all fleshed it out. When I play guitar and sing at home,
I try to trap everything I do. I keep a tape recording so I don't
loose it. That's really how that song got it's start. Then the
rest of the band helped bring it together.
AMZ - This new record seems a bit more
upbeat, or happier, than the earlier ones. Was that more of a
conscious effort, or was it that the sun is shining a little
brighter these days?
BS - (laughs) Yeah, things are definitely
better in my life. Well, yes and no. But when we did our second
record I was in a really desperate "Didn't know my way out"
place, so to me that record is a really dark desperate record.
On this new one there's a little more light, but some of that
dark is still there. My work totally reflects where I'm at any
given time. I'm also a dark person. I like the darker side of
things.
AMZ - "This Conversation . . .,"
and even the last record, have that really interesting kind of
cartoon style on them. Where do you get the cover art ideas?
BS - The second record was awesome. I love
that artwork. This guy, Alvin Yetz, would do this really weird
work with a cardboard box, or like that particular cover is done
on a paper bag. He just whips that stuff out in like five minutes
and its just so amazing. We couldn't get Alvin for this record,
because he had gone to Europe, so I just kind of went through
old magazines and papers and found all the clip art from different
ads and stuff. It was a real pain in the ass. (laughs)
AMZ - Will there be a single for this record?
BS - No, no single. That's not something
that's gonna happen. We're not setting ourselves up for that,
because with commercial radio there are a lot of dollars behind
a lot of other bands and we're just not gonna break through that
way. We're concentrating more on touring.
AMZ - Do you prefer to play all ages shows
generally?
BS - Definitely! Youthful energy is vital
to a show. Also, if you play only to the over 21 crowd, you're
excluding people. It's not a conscious decision made by the band,
but the kids will perceive it that way. We don't want to exclude
anyone, so we prefer all ages shows. They're just a lot more
fun.
AMZ - Thanks for your time, and good luck
with the tour! |
