The Life And Times "Suburban Hymns" (DeSoto)
By Tim Den
Friday. Jul 22, 2:12 AM
An interview with guitarist/vocalist Allen Epley.

The last time I saw you, you opened with a song that’s not on the new album… it starts bass-less, but when the bass does come in it follows the vocals… UNBELIEVABLE!

(laughs) Thanks man! That song’s going to be on the upcoming Japanese EP. It’s called “I Know You Are,” as in “I know you are but what am I?”

I asked J. (Robbins; producer) about it and he didn’t know it either…

Maybe it was on an old demo or something, cuz it’s an old song from the John (Meredith; ex-bassist/guitarist) and Mike (Myers; ex-drummer) days. Even back then we abandoned it, but when this line-up (bassist/keyboardist Eric Abert and drummer Chris Metcalf) brought it back out a new ending was added. The new guys had their hands all over it and it just worked.

The bio says that three songs from the John and Mike era were kept for the album… which ones?

Uh… we kept “Shift Your Gaze,” “A Chorus of Crickets,” and snipits of songs. Like the chorus to “Charlotte St.” came from an old song called “My Red Eyes.” When we’ve played it, people have asked “isn’t that from ‘My Red Eyes?’ when in actuality a version of “Charlotte St.” existed before “My Red Eyes,” but the part was used in “My Red Eyes” before returning to “Charlotte St.”

Not to discredit the boys you’ve got now, but I really loved Mike’s playing.

Yeah, Mike’s an incredible drummer. His phrasing… the hooks he writes… he plays drums like a guitarist. He knows when to play and when to lay back. He doesn’t suffer from the problem that most hardcore drummers do: playing too busily. I mean if it had worked out, it would still be me, Eric, and Mike. But he got a great job offer selling computers at Mac World that he just couldn’t turn down. He had been unemployed for two years because of this band: he couldn’t not take the job. His schedule conflicted with ours, and he wasn’t about to say “uh… how ‘bout we just play local shows?” He still plays in The String And Return, but all those guys have “regular” jobs.

Chris really admired the way Mike played, not to say that Chris isn’t a fantastic drummer himself (I think Chris might have more “chops” than Mike). I love his playing. I spent a long time looking for a drummer, man. I kept avoiding Metcalf because I thought “I want a band! I want my boys who I can hang with and be in a band with,” and Metcalf was already in The Stella Link. But since The Stella Link’s live schedule isn’t that intense… and now we are a band, and we do hang outside of playing together. But of course Chris also goes and hangs with his other boys…

Yeah, I was just gonna ask how he’s able to be in two bands.

It works out because they practice on Weds. nights and we practice on Tues. and Thurs. days. I think The Stella Link are a fantastic band: they’ve really taken the classic Kansas City sound to where it naturally should progress. Mystic Jaguar… Attack! is an amazing album! But they just happen to be “weekend” guys, otherwise Chris wouldn’t have been looking to play more. I basically said to him “uh… if you want to play, we can totally play.”

The Stella Link just played their 100th show. I was like “wait… is that right? Shouldn’t it be more?” They’ve been around since like ’98 or ’99. They push the Kansas City sound without losing its basis… which is great, especially since I think fans of the style have definitely been disillusioned with my stuff…

You think so? I always thought your work with Shiner epitomized the Kansas City sound…

Well, (when something new comes out) it’s either not different enough or too different. Some people are like “just get Shiner back together!” Which is understandable, cuz we did have a loyal cult following… but you know, we’ll be putting out a DVD or an addendum eventually: maybe songs from each incarnation of the band, leading up to five or six songs from the final show. Just cuz it would be more interesting and maybe fill people in (on the band’s history).

But you know what? There’s not a public outcry for the stuff. (laughs) Sure, there are about 300 people on the chat boards banging a very loud drum, but it’s not like there’s a huge demand for it.

Personally, I think Suburban Hymns takes everything you’ve ever done to a higher level: WAY beyond Shiner. The Flat End of the Earth doesn’t prepare you at all for this full-length… everything about it is new and improved. Shiner – and The Life And Times at first – were all about HUGE guitars. CRUSHING guitars. But all of a sudden you play single notes instead of big chords, let the vocals take center stage instead of the volume, drench melodies in reverb… it’s literally what I wished The Life And Times would develop into, except it came true!

That’s fucking rad, man. Yeah, I just looked in the mirror and thought to myself “how can I take things to a different level?” I changed my pedals, bought a new guitar (a hollow body, drastically changing the feel of the band), started writing riffs on the new guitar… and with Chris and Eric, writing is just so easy. We can pick up a song and play like we’re having a conversation.

But in the past, the guitars were the only LOUD elements in the band. Now the entire BAND is loud!

Yeah! And I didn’t want this album to be “difficult.” I didn’t want the most complicated chord or the most insane drum beat, cuz I had done all that. And I think Shiner did those things while writing good songs. I didn’t want Suburban Hymns to be difficult or heavy or dark… I mean I know it’s dark, but it also has optimism. I love Coldplay too much! (laughs) And also R.E.M., old U2, Swervedriver… so I let all of that love come out. Like a good dump! (laughs)

You know, I wouldn’t be doing this if my creative level was still at where it was with the original line-up. I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t think it was rad and bad ass. I have a pretty full plate – I just bought a house, not that that’s the biggest deal in the world – there’s a lot of other things I could be doing. I’m no spring chicken!

How old are you?

I’m 36.

So you and J. are basically the same age?

Yeah, but he’s got a year on me, that old fucker! (laughs)

You mentioned in your guest column that you don’t live off of your music yet. So what else do you do to pay the bills?

I give music lessons in my basement to kids. Guitar, bass, etc. I have everything set up there so I can play a little drums if they need it or record stuff. I also work at a restaurant.

And you just had a child, right?

We had twins: a boy and a girl. Yeah, it’s crazy. But it has been a year and-a-half so most of the shock has worn off. You know, I used to get bored when people start talking about their kids, but not anymore. I’ve never been able to fully use the word “joyous” until I became a father. You have to learn to sleep a little less, but it’s no big deal.

How will fatherhood fit into the band’s schedule?

Touring is torture: being away from the kids. But we’re lucky in that we have a good booking agent who can set up one and-a-half week and two-week tours. Cuz I’m not gonna not live my life: some people have this myth that, once you have kids, you have to drop everything else. It’s just not true.

By the way, why did you change the album’s name from Mea Culpa to Suburban Hymns?

1) We didn’t want to have an album named after a track – boring – and 2) the term “mea culpa” implies some sort of wrong doing on our behalf and we didn’t want to give critics any fuel for a bad review. “I’m sorry about this record too, Mr. Epley…” Plus, we thought “suburban hymns” really fit the lyrical imagery better than the other title. And it’s a play on Urban Hymns from The Verve.

But you don’t think people are gonna take shots at the obvious Verve pun?

As easy as the reference is, it’s surprising that no one has called us out on it yet. I checked the internet before we decided to call it that and did a quick Google search and came up with very little. Someone had used it as an article headline about five years ago for something, but other than that it’s clean.

So, given its obvious-ness (?), it hasn’t been over-used or I probably would have avoided it. Despite the apparent pun, it was worth it given the lyrical imagery and the front cover image. Seems like it’s one of those things that’s right in front of all of us and because of that it’s been overlooked... or maybe I'll just get a call from The Verve’s lawyers pretty soon on some ridiculous charges. Send ‘em on!

And last but not least, people have been asking why you guys don’t play stuff off of The Flat End of the Earth… I’m sure the band feels like a whole new machine now with the new dudes, but will you ever return to the earlier material?

When I first started playing with Chris and Eric, we were writing a lot (and still are) and it was all coming very quickly. It seemed a shame to go back and take a bunch of time to learn a bunch of old stuff that we weren’t even sure we liked (at that point). I wanted to establish us as our own band and going back to play the EP stuff didn’t seem like the right way to do so.

That said, we are now playing “Houdini” it’s pretty great. I'll surprise you with it at some point. But we have a lot of requests for “Servo” and “High Scores,” so maybe we’ll work those in at some point too.
www.thelifeandtimes.com
www.desotorecords.com

Tim Den

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