Interview by Tony. Photos: Matt
Stranger / Tenement
Hi guys! Can you introduce yourself and Tenement for our readers?
What is the most important thing to know about you?
Tenement
is Eric Mayer, Jesse Ponkamo, and I (Amos Pitsch). Whatever you might
have heard about us being serious weirdos is true.
Tenement has been active for a while now, have you always been a
trio?
We
began as a quartet in 2006. After losing our original rhythm
guitarist, we'd flirted with the quartet-style lineup a time or two,
but always seemed to return to the power trio format. I think the
three of us have finally learned to communicate with each other
pretty well and bringing a fourth member into the equation is a
difficult venture.
Your music has a bit evolved since the beginning of the band, from a
"classic" pop punk sound to something really personal, with
influences from different periods of time (90's grunge, garage rock,
60's pop, I even here some soul influence in Amos' singing style...).
Are you conscious about that, is it planned or are you naturally
evolving?
We're
all very nerdy about our tastes in music, and the music we make
together is very much evolving as our tastes evolve. The influences
you described are probably all there somewhere, and the soul
influence in my vocal delivery is right on the money. I'm sure it
comes off very subtle, but the vocal style of people like Ray
Charles, Alvin Robinson, and Sam Cooke, among many others, have
really informed the way I use my voice. When we started this band, I
think we were content with the niche sound we created in the punk/pop
vein. We loved Black Flag and The Descendents and we wore it on our
sleeves. We're still very much a punk band and a pop group, but as we
grow older, I think we're moreso cutting our own path and creating a
style of our own that transcends "pop-punk" or "punk
rock". When I first bought John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme"
several years ago and read up about the man, his idea of "universal
music" really struck me. Genres matter very little in the broad
scope. We make Tenement music, and fans of our music will like it
because it was birthed from our minds and spirits, not because we're
intentionally aping some other band's sound.
Your LP "Blind Wink" probably shows the most the different
moods of the band, can you tell me a bit more about this record?
"The
Blind Wink" was originally a cassette that we recorded for a
west coast tour in 2011. The tape had five or six songs that were
recorded and mixed in one night. Nick from Cowabunga Records acquired
a copy of the tape in Chicago and offered to put it out on LP, if we
added more music. I recorded several more songs myself to finish off
the record, and included a demo called "Hey, Soozie", which
was written when the rest of the material on "Napalm Dream"
was written. "The Blind Wink" itself was modeled after
records like Big Star's "Sister Lovers", which switch mood
and perception from song to song. If it sounds inconsistent and
obtuse, it's supposed to.
I think it's cool that you do split records with various bands, like
Cülo for example who sounds really different than Tenement. You're
also on the "Welcome To 2013" comp, with a lot of great
bands from various places/styles. Do you think you belong to a
particular scene?
I'm
unsure whether we belong to any one scene in particular or any at all
for that matter. We work with people that we admire and that's the
most important thing.
Your artworks are really strong, with a constant aesthetic, it's
pretty hard to expect the music you're going to hear only judging by
the cover. Is it a conscious choice?
It
is a conscious choice. You ever see the packaging for The Band's
"Music from Big Pink"? You wouldn't know what was held
within those grooves without listening to it. I love that artwork.
There's a kind of nostalgia in Tenement (in your sound or your
artworks), do you sometimes feel like you don't belong in this time?
Would you like to have lived in a different era?
I
don't consider myself nostalgic for anything other than possibly my
childhood, which in my brain is just some sort of fuzzy colorful
daydream complimented by country music and at times silence. I use a
lot of material from the forties through the sixties in our artwork
for the colors. Color and contrast I think is very important in
artwork, and color can create such a perfect visual to compliment a
mood in music.
I think your lyrics are really well written: sometimes they may be
personal, sometimes they tell stories (like your song "Medical
Curiosity"), there are also spoken words on some of your
records... who does that and how important is it for you? What are
you main influences?
I
write almost all of the lyrical content of the records, and I think
it shares equal importance with the music. I pull more influence from
whatever I'm reading at the moment than any songwriters, really.
Steinbeck is a huge influence. I wrote most of the words for the next
Tenement LP while traveling, as I spent most of the past year on the
road...and so most of it is influenced by visuals rather than
literature. Immediate surroundings... America, really.
How do you compose the songs? I think Amos can play all the
instruments, does he do the main composition or do you jam a lot?
We've
written three songs together I think: "Viscous", "Senile",
and "Freak Cast in Iron", which usually entails us getting
together and writing a song around a melody that one of us brings to
the table. Otherwise I've written most of the other songs, and
Jesse's written a couple, too. I usually put them together piece by
piece on some sort of portable recorder, then we re-record them
properly, or I just do it myself at home.
I know you guys have other projects; can you introduce us to them?
Eric
plays guitar in a fast hardcore punk band called Bored Straight. He
was doing that long before he was ever in Tenement. I play drums in a
noise pop band called Technicolor Teeth, and a punk/pop band called
Chinese Telephones that was a band for several years before I played
with them. I also play drums for the solo project of my good friend,
Tim Schweiger, who was in a couple really great bands a few years
ago: Yesterday's Kids, and The Obsoletes.
Amos, I think your first instrument was the drums, right? What's the
difference between drumming for a band and being the "frontman"
(like being the singer/guitarist in Tenement)?
Playing
the drums is very simple to me. Like riding a bicycle almost. I've
been playing drums since I was six or seven years old. Not that I
don't try to learn or challenge myself all of the time, but it's a
very natural activity. I learned to play the bass guitar in middle
school, then taught myself six string from there. As a guitarist, I
think I play really percussive, which I think is in my nature. So
that aside, playing guitar in a band is much more challenging to me
than playing the drums. But no less expressive, I guess.
You've played with Paul Collins (of The Nerves, The Beat), how did
you end up being in his band? How was the experience?
His
drummer in Spain was originally from Appleton, Wisconsin. My friend
Tim Schweiger was recruited to play lead guitar in the band through
him, and when they needed a drummer for American dates, I was asked
to play finally. It was a pleasure to play those songs... The Beat's
first two LPs are a couple of my favorite power pop records. My
association with him ended a little sour. I do still stay in contact
with Peter Case (The Nerves, The Plimsouls), and have discussed doing
some more touring/recording with him in the future.
Now a question for the tech nerds: what kind of gear do you use? Are
you into that kind of thing (having a lot of pedals and stuff)?
In
a live setting, I use a Sunn Model T amplifier, and a 6X12 cabinet. I
don't use any pedals, and I am very into achieving sounds by coaxing
them out of the guitar by physical means. Jesse uses a Peavey 400
series bass amp, which I think is the most underrated bass amp of all
time. He doesn't use any pedals either.
As a French guy who's never been to the USA, I don't know much about
Wisconsin. Can you tell me how life is there and how does it or does
it not influence your music?
Wisconsin
is a state, geographically, with a very subtle beauty. It's got a lot
of rolling hills rather than mountains, lakes and rivers and streams
rather than oceans, and deciduous forests rather than anything
remotely tropical. I love that about it. I've always appreciated
subtlety rather than excess in everything from the music I listen to,
to the food I eat, to the place I live. Too much of a good thing can
be oppressive sometimes. And too much of a bad thing, is, well,
definitely oppressive.
Any book/movie/music recommendations?
Most
recent book I've read: The Autobiography of Malcolm X; Most recent
movie I've seen: Stuart Gordon's "Castle Freak"; Most
recent record I've listened to: Stan Kenton's "A Merry
Christmas".
What's next for you? What should we expect at a Tenement show?
We're
currently working on a couple LPs and a split record with Madison,
Wisconsin power-violence heavyweights, SFN. I would like to think you
wouldn't know what to expect at a Tenement show. I'll keep it that
way.
Thanks a lot for doing this interview! Do you have a special thing to
say to our reader?
Thank
you! We would love to see France soon! Someone buy us plane tickets,
and we'll come stink up your country too.
http://tene-ment.com/
http://tenement.bandcamp.com/
Discography:
LP :
- The Blind Wink (compilation, 2011)
- Napalm Dream (2011)
EP :
- Freak Cast In Iron / Books On Hell And Sermons On T.V (2013)
- Taking Everything / Daylight World (2011)
- False Teeth EP (2010)
- Icepick / Summer Street (2008)
Split
:
- with Cheeky (2012)
- with Cülo (2011)
- with Used Kids (2009)
- with Friendly Fire (2009)
