New music
Being a captivating live act is a selling point for many, but for Portland Oregon duo Quasi the idea of being supreme live remains more than a selling point, they are – and always were – the real thing, and they are keen to give their crowds explosive, standalone moments of immersion.
Having made music since the beginning of the 1990s, the Pacific Northwest indie alternative band are all set and ready to deliver their tenth album project, due for release ten years after their record ‘Mole City’. Taking time out to reflect on achievements, some of the challenges faced along the way, without neglecting to celebrate the raw sound that truly works in the studio and in the intimate venue spaces around the globe, where it continues to resonate.
Clash caught up with Janet Weiss and Sam Coomes in connection with their recent show in London. Opening up about the process of writing songs for ‘Breaking The Balls Of History’, assessing how previous projects strengthen and inspire them as a band, and the rare aspect of being an original band in a world when uniqueness can seem harder to come by.
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The quality of your know how as musicians and as people is reflected in your music, how did you approach this album project?
Janet: We approached it as teamwork situation. But for the shows we can thrive in that situation, it’s like being on a tiny stage, where we’re right next to each other, we prefer that, instead of being on a big stage where we’re huddled together in the middle. It looks more proper for us to do what we like to do, and that environment is good for us.
Sam: I don’t take any of it for granted anymore. To suddenly walk up on stage, sit down, and you look out there, it’s packed full of happy people, we’re so far from home. It’s unbelievable. Sometimes when you think about everything that goes into it, and a lot of times it just doesn’t work out, you put the same amount of work into it, it didn’t work, but when it does, you have to enjoy that.
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The new release is incoming, what’s it like to put music out these days?
Sam: It’s been a long time, we’ve had a very long path as a band. The path from the last album to this album, it was a longer leg on the patch than we’re used to, but lots happened between then and now, and when I start thinking about it seriously, I can’t even get my head around, and how it did happen.
There’s so much going against it. Even today we’re talking about why this, it’s not a clear path at any juncture. When things do come together, and you do make an album that you’re happy with, it seems to attract a little attention, you get a label behind it, all these things that are difficult. It’s now unbelievable that these are the things that we’ve always wanted out of our life as musicians, and it’s not easy to come by, I’ve developed a real appreciation for it. So I have a lot of gratitude to for where we’re at this stage in the game.
Did anything or a specific event prompt you to start writing when you did?
Sam: It’s funny how that happens – it just happens. It’s a mixture of external circumstances and internal compulsions. We’re not the type of band that just sits that just clocks in and says ‘alright, we’re gonna write songs today’ they just happen on their own. You don’t get to choose the timing, because there was such a long gap, at a certain point stuff started to happen. It just snowballed, but I don’t know what actually set it off.
But once it had begun you realised that you had reached the creative point of no return?
Janet: Sam had all these great songs. It became obvious when we started playing together, practicing and being in the practice space, which is a tiny room with no windows. It was a prolific period, it was obvious to me that everything he showed me was good, it sounded great already. We work on stuff together, but the songs – the actual things that he was bringing in – were exciting. It’s inspiring to be a part of that process, someone in that stage in their creative life where things are really happening. You can’t force it, when it happens, you just get to work and finish the songs and make them, and I add some things to make them as good as they can possibly be.
I may throw ideas in to see if Sam likes any of them, it was exciting to have so much good material to work with. In addition to coming up with the songs, Sam will usually have a basic idea about how the music should be. let’s try to do it, just we just the two of us playing live, and it’s all gonna be keyboard. It’s having a game plan. When you have too many it can be overwhelming, it’s smart to focus and have an idea of what you’re trying to convey.
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The experience you have must be useful in some of these situations.
Janet: We’ve been doing it for a long time. A couple of sets allow you to dance and they allow feel freedom. Once you have these boundaries, you can push against them, you have the world in which you’re working and it’s not too broad. This record was focused. It’s primarily sounds on the keyboard. We’re exploring what we can do live with two or three sounds in the whole show, so we can play six songs in a row without stopping, if we don’t feel like it. Our focus is more pinpoint right now, and it’s really fun.
Sam: This whole thing came out of a time that was uncertain. We didn’t know if there was a future at all. It was an act of hope, thinking we’re going to just start, we’re going to play in the world that was uncertain. We decided to at least pretend that there was a future, we could work, be creative and continue to do what we did. It was nice to have that project and moving forward in uncertain times.
Is the idea of uncertainty and hope themes on the album?
Sam: It might be. We’re two different people, it’s definitely our personalities making this entity, but it was very much a way to get back to the land of the living, to physically be reborn, you get another chance at it. That added a level of intensity to the work, playing and the connection, be as pure and as personal as I could be, I was thankful to be able to do it, there’s a desperation to do it.
I just wanted to work as hard as I could to be able to feel confident again. Naturally I’m not a person that pushes for better for worse, but I definitely pushed to have it be great. I wanted the record to come across as powerful evidence of our power in the face of all that uncertainty.
Quasi produce an irresistible live sound, and this record captures that, was it a conscious ambition?
Janet: That’s how we track what we play, it was very intentional to have that spirit. The sound had to be gripping, tough and very present. We are aligned, we write the songs, we can get up in front of people and perform them. Especially now live music’s becoming more marginal a lot of people are writing for licensing, composing songs as an abstract thing that others are going to hear.
Sam: We specifically write songs to be performed live. You have to treat it a little different. We’ve been playing well, we did so much work over the last couple of years, and it wasn’t work for work’s sake, we were doing it for our own sanity. We got to the place where we could set up, and just play every night, I got really confident in our abilities as a band. We worked ourselves up to that, we plateaued, we wanted to capture that on the record.
Janet: This record’s created with that in mind. I remember discussions in the practice space where I’d suggest something and Sam would say ‘look we can’t really do that live, I’d rather try to do something that’s possible’. We talked about it, it made the record more complete. We weren’t relying on overdubs to make things sound good, but for this record the approach was ‘Let’s have the songs, even the basic tracks have a great sound. The solos are built in there, which was the idea we wanted to make happen.
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I get the impression that you both get involved in producing, how important is that to you as artists?
Janet: I love that part of it. I’m about details, Sam focuses more on the big picture, he’s the person who knows the vibe and the approach. I enjoy producing, and Sam keeps the whole process very honest, he makes sure we don’t get too far from what we’re trying to do, I can sometimes get too many ideas, and then you lose focus.
We’re good at complementing each other. We both made a lot of records, we know how to do it, we don’t always agree, but it works. That’s good enough for a collaboration, it’s fine to have some differences that you can bring, the really important issues about character, the big stuff it’s nice to agree on that. It’s our 10th record, it’ fun to get an idea and try to hone it, we don’t have to do everything, we’re doing a record with keyboards and drums give it a live feel.
The record comes out on Sub Pop. What is it like to collaborate with a label of that magnitude and history?
Janet: They’re amazing, and they were great with Sleater-Kinney as well. I found them to be a combination of good and smart business people, but also kind, fun and nice people to be around, they have great ideas about things. They’re definitely in our community, and working with them has been super for Quasi, it expands our horizons, and we have more resources and support.
How did the writing process begin this time? Can you describe how and when inspiration presents itself?
Sam: I can, and I can’t because I don’t actually understand it. Once you wrap your mind around the idea you’re in the process of creating an album, something takes over; ideas, an observation or a feeling, anything that normally you’d maybe not even acknowledge, or just forget about, turns into something else. I’m not sure how that happens, when we’re not working on an album.
Usually it’s things like walking the dog in the park, not thinking about anything, suddenly some lines of lyrics, maybe even a melody comes into my head. I’ll be taking a bath, it’s relaxed and peaceful. Then the mind starts turning over, I realise there’s a song. Or I’m about to fall asleep, I reach for the phone, hum or sing into it, you wake up in the middle of the night, you can’t sleep, and it just happens.
Do you find it useful to have knowledge and years of experience, do they come in handy?
Sam: What I’ve learned over the years is how to let it happen, and not get distracted or impose my ideas about what I want to do, when the songs are great, they don’t need me, they just happen.
When I’m working on a record I listen to less music. Ideas come to me, especially when I wake up, ideas for songs usually happen in the morning, when I’m still in bed, and it’s quiet. It’s like a problem that need to be solved from the song. It’s things that linger in my mind after practice. When I wake up, I’ll think of solutions to the problems, but if I listen to music all the time it clutters my head too much, so I like to listen to less during the making of a record.
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That’s understandable. It seems like the process of being creative is one that requires ongoing focus.
Sam: It has taken me a long time to get to that point. When I was younger I lived over stuff that now I don’t even think about.
Janet: Having known a lot songwriters in my life, this is most like divine inspiration. Plus we listen to so much music in our lives, it becomes a language. Poets are all people who do that, and once you get an idea, you have to build it up, it does take some work, some trial and error.
Did any specific bands or artists influence this project?
Sam: I don’t want to be so boastful, but it’s a matter of fact that we’re a unique band. We’re not trying to imitate anybody at all with the music we make, the only point of reference is ourselves and our past work. I don’t I listen to a lot of music for pleasure and joy, and I don’t try and imitate. I don’t really listen to music that sounds like the music we make, maybe I get enough of that just from us playing it.
I listen to stuff that’s quite different from what I actually do as a musician, you learn from the differences more than enough similarities. It doesn’t sound like our music at all, but it reminds me of the spirit that I look for; that raw, rebellious spirit in music. That’s the thread I tend to go back to.
Janet: I listen to a decent amount of music that people wouldn’t expect me to listen to, there’re some new bands and records that come out that I like, and there’re records that I turn to that I want to hear over and over again.
Sam knows some obscure music that’s fun to hear. I know some new records. I can play him some newer things that he might not have heard. It happens in the van, when we’re on tour.
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Catch Quasi at the following UK shows:
April
26 Ramsgate Music Hall
27 London Oslo
28 Bristol Dareshack
29 Brighton Patterns
30 Birmingham Hare and Hounds
May
1 Leeds Brudenell Social Club
2 Manchester YES @ Pink Room
3 Glasgow Broadcast
5 Belfast Ulster Sports Club
Words: Susan Hansen
Photography: Rachel Lipsitz
