|
|
 |
Out Hud.
 Molly Schnick has a voice that could best be defined as "cute". The Out Hud cellist and vocalist speaks fast and laughs often throughout our interview. "We're in New Haven, and there's this awful opening band playing," she says. "I don't even know what they're called. They're awful. They're almost a cover band, and they're kind of funky, in like a really square way. Awful crappy modern rock; a bunch of jocks are into them."
Along with lead vocalist and drummer Phyllis Forbes, Schnick leads the group which features Tyler Pope, Nic Offer, and Justin Vandervoigen of !!! (pronounce it chk-chk-chk). As a result, a listen to the newest Out Hud offering, 'Let Us Never Speak Of It Again', reveals the same bouncy guitar sounds, loping basslines and undeniable danceability that brought !!! acclaim in the last couple of years.
The music website pitchforkmedia.com has recently been writing on the phenomena of the 'collective', where core groups of musicians release a variety of music under various guises. The members of Out Hud and !!! have been touted as one of the prime examples of this trend. "I don't mind it at all," says Schnick, "because I really feel like that's a pretty accurate description of us. Like, we've lived together since we've all been in the band. I don't live with them anymore, actually, but we've all lived together for years and we have Thanksgiving together and stuff. I think it's fair to say we're a collective. We're sort of like a family, you know?"
Asked to compare the sound of the new album against their 2002 debut 'S.T.R.E.E.T. D.A.D.', and against that of !!!, Schnick is definite in explaining the difference. "Well against the last album, I would say that it's just a lot poppier and the songs are like more immediate and fun," she replies. "I guess I could say the same thing comparing it to !!!. I think our songs are more concise than theirs are, because they really have an agenda to make people dance; and they're great at it. We don't have so much of an agenda. We have some different kind of songs, and we're just more into just trying to write the best song."
If they do have an agenda, says Schnick, it's to have no limits on their creativity. That attitude has given rise to an album where some tracks are as short as two minutes, while others, such as penultimate track Dear Mr Bush, There Are Over 100 Words For Shit And Only One For Music. Fuck You, Out Hud goes for over twelve. "When we play it live, I think it's been forty minutes before," admits Schnick. "We played in London a few years ago, and the NME reviewed it. They were like, 'They have this awful song called Dear Mr. Bush and it lasted about a month'," she titters. However, the band usually don't play more than half hour sets, "because I'd rather be left wanting more rather than be like 'Oh God, please shut up'" Schnick explains. "I have a really short attention span. Like, I hardly ever want to watch a band for more than thirty minutes. I mean even if it's like one of my favourite bands, I get bored. I don't like standing up that long."
Despite developing strong indie cred, Schnick says that the band is more comfortable listening to American Top 40. When they first started, they were listening to the likes of Missy and Wu-Tang. "And now, we listen to stuff like 50 Cent," says Schnick. "And like dancehall, Phyllis is super into dancehall. Justin is a DJ, and he DJs like just really off the wall, crazy, psychedelic disco records that he searches in basements for hours for."
"We might hopefully get to do Australia and Japan," says Schnick of plans for the band after their current rounds of touring Europe and the US. Those tours end in June. "I really want to go down there," says Schnick of Australia. "You don't understand, it's like priority number one. To Aus-tra-lia," she enunciates enthusiastically.
So she's been here before? "No, I just really want to go there, it just seems so far away. But yet I speak the language, so I'm psyched. And I hear you guys know how to party. Well all the Australians I know here know how to party. Maybe that's a bad generalisation, but I'm psyched to go down there."
Eddie Chan
 | 'Let Us Never Speak Of It Again' is out now through !k7/Inertia |
|
|
The latest issue
available now!
|
