“I don't think I even really knew what "music" was though, you know? I didn't really get it. My parents didn't play Beatles or any other records around the house. I always get jealous when other songwriters say that.” This is what Ted Billings, frontman for Age Rings said in a brief e-mail interview for Brazilian. That is the first clue that this Massachussetts-based band is not your regular indie rock band.
“Black Honey” is their sophomore album, to be released next Saturday (11/5)
by Midriff Records. The fourteen tracks go way beyond the “new rock” wave that
has been flooding the internet (and advertising, movies, the world!) for the
past 11 years.
The kind of rock made by Age Rings has a feature that is becoming rare
nowadays: it is “only” rock’n’roll. The fashionable thing to do is to come with
a label that seems fresh, but is actually referring to a “retro” trend: “vintage
garage”, “freak folk”, “disco punk”. Well, sir, that ain’t the case with these
people. No, they don’t sound like Bill Halley. O Zepellin. Or Beatles. They sound like themselves.
Ted Billings didn’t grow up listening to Beach Boys, but he surely got
it right when it comes to making great music. “Black Honey” has two of the most
important features for a musician: identitiy and (generates) empathy.
You can read the interview with Ted Billings below.
And here, you can listen to three tracks from “Black Honey”, that will
be available in many formats. Don’t forget to go to www.midriffrecords.com and
check it out.
How did Age Rings start? What’s the story, in a nutshell?
As a solo project in 2006, I think. Recorded most of the first album with
a drummer and a piano player. After that I just asked people to join to play
shows. We've had a bunch of different lineups since then – I’m the only
original member.
Where do your inspirations come from? Which bands? Books? Movies? Art?
Books and movies mostly. For me, the things that affect the musical part
of the brain the most are not music. "The rules of attraction" by Bret
Easton Ellis, and the movie "Magnolia" by Paul Thomas Anderson informed
the lyrics and tone on "Black Honey" quite a bit.
Who writes the songs? How is the band’s dynamics: are the arrangements
made by the whole band? By one person? Two?
I write on an acoustic guitar before bringing anything to the band. It's
pretty rare that I'll bring something in when we're all there, usually it's me
and Steve (drums) sorting out an arrangement and feel.
Things happen in the studio as well. I’m also editing lyrics pretty much until the time we record a song.
Things happen in the studio as well. I’m also editing lyrics pretty much until the time we record a song.
What did you listen to when you were a kid?
My first cassettes were Wrex-n-Fx and the “Ghostbusters” soundtrack. I don't think I even really knew what
"music" was though, you know? I didn't really get it. My parents
didn't play Beatles or any other records around the house. I always get jealous
when other songwriters say that. I just thought that it was something you put
into this little machine with headphones and noise came out and you sat there and
listened to it. I was an odd child. I was more interested in reading. It wasn't
until middle school that I started actually liking or know what music was -
Nirvana, Green Day, Weezer etc. But again, I didn't understand music, I just
heard noise and saw bright colors and interesting outfits on the bands, and
jumping around, and everyone looking like they were on drugs or insane. It wasn't
until high school that I heard the beatles and the Beach Boys - that changed
the way I looked at things a lot.
What record/band made you want to be a musician?
MTV initially - Green Day and Nirvana videos.100% superficial. It wasn't
until I heard "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" by Wilco that I really really started
to understand what was magical and interesting about writing songs and making
records.
If you could jam with anyone, alive or dead, who would that be?
I don't really jam, but I would have loved to see Jimi Hendrix.
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