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| Friday, October 22, 2010 at El Corazon |
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(click for full-page printable poster)
GENRES
Pop
Rock
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fun.
Steel Train
Jarrod Gorbel
Friday, October 22, 2010
El Corazon 206-262-0482
109 Eastlake Ave E, Seattle, WA (MapQuest)
8pm (doors open at 7pm). All Ages.
$15.00 advance tix from TicketsWest.
$15.00 at the door.
ABOUT fun.---
Following the Format's breakup in 2008, frontman Nate Ruess took his songwriting skills to Steel Train's Jack Antonoff and Anathallo's Andrew Dost, both of whom shared a similar affinity for vintage pop music and quirky, melodic hooks. The trio began a series for collaborations in Antonoff's parents' living room and soon enlisted the help of producer Steven McDonald, who recorded their work and handled bass duties. After enlisting the help of former Jellyfish keyboardist Robert Joseph Manning, Jr., who arranged several tracks, the bandmates completed work on their first record. Dubbing themselves Fun., the group introduced their sprightly sound in 2009 with the debut album Aim and Ignite.
Steel Train - A biography
"Before we started making this record, I was at the worst point in my life," states Steel Train's lead vocalist and songwriter, Jack Antonoff. "I was developing a terrible panic disorder. I felt awful all the time and it got to the point where I didn't want to do anything. Then I started writing songs again, and instead of falling apart, I tried to find a way to turn it all into something that mattered."
To understand where Antonoff was coming from, it's important to know what he went through. In a short period of time, his sister died, his cousin was killed in Iraq and he broke up with his girlfriend of many years. The confluence of tragedy left him feeling frustrated and alone.
Through songwriting, he was able to reconnect with one of his greatest passions and lift himself out of his depression. Gradually, his spirits improved and his personal and professional life began to take off, inspiring him to create the life-affirming sounds of TRAMPOLINE, the ambitious sophomore effort from New Jersey quintet, Steel Train - a majestic, buoyant album that conjures the sounds and spirit of some of the band's favorite music styles, including British and American classic rock, folk-rock, psychedelia, pop and alternative.
Filled with huge hooks and quirky instrumentation, TRAMPOLINE takes the band to a new level of songwriting and musicianship. But while the songs sound consistently joyous, the lyrics are hyper-realistic addressing the events that can shatter our world and break our hearts as well as focusing on the forces that lift us up and offer a second chance. Throughout the album, urgent guitars, euphoric melody laden keyboards, and yearning vocals cut through on tracks like "Alone on the Sea", "Kill Monsters in the Rain", and "Black Eye". However, the band agrees that the track which embodies the album is "I Feel Weird," an energized pop number full of piano, and xylophones, in which Antonoff lays his heart in his palm: "When I was 18 everything was alive/ Then the planes hit the towers, then she died, then he died/ A part of me disappeared, six feet in the ground, a million miles in the sky/ a fire burns, a fire burns, a fire burns and it's mine."
"The whole song recaps the last five years of my life leading up to right now," Antonoff explains. "The music is almost like Bruce Springsteen pop. It's so to the point, but on the other side, the lyrics are really morbid, and sentimental, and uplifting, and the message in the end is that everything will be alright. And that's really how I feel now."
The band which features original members (bassist Evan Winiker and keyboardist Scott Irby) as well as two new arrivals (guitarist Daniel Silbert and drummer Jon Shiffman) had the chance to develop the new material naturally on the road before heading into the studio, giving them the opportunity to see what songs stood up live that a studio may or may not bring to life. As well, Antonoff recorded demo after demo in his New Jersey home to make sure that the new songs were ready for the studio.
In late May of '07, the group entered the studio in Eagle Rock, California with producer Mark Trombino (Jimmy Eat World, Rilo Kiley) who helped fine-tune their arrangements, bringing out the band's strengths and musicianship. Two months after they began, the record was completely tracked.
The end result is a rare, wonderfully layered and versatile album that reveals the uplifting, self-medicating message of an emerging songwriter as well as the solidarity of a focused rock unit - a record that introduces fans to a fuller sound and rich complexity only hinted at in the band's earlier work. TRAMPOLINE is a bold departure from the band's past excursions, and showcases a new Steel Train, musically and philosophically.
ABOUT JARROD GORBEL---
When Jarrod Gorbel began writing new songs for his band The Honorary Title last year, he was exhausted from the trip his musical career had taken. He had dealt with an ever-changing band lineup, label switches, personal demons and crises, and the overall ego battering that comes with the current evolution of the music industry. "It was kind of like VH1's Behind The Music, minus the fame or wealth," says the singer-songwriter, whose new album Devil's Made A New Friend will be his debut release under his own name. "But all of those experiences made me realize how far away I'd gotten from who I really was, as a person and an artist." Though the past couple years had been a nightmarish rollercoaster ride, they were also part of a crucial rite of passage for Gorbel. By last summer, he knew he had to find a way to create something closer to his own heart: unfiltered, unbiased, produced in a way that didn't veer too far from the songs' original intention. The results are Gorbel's best songs yet, mining classic soul, traditional folk and Americana, and incorporating strings, horns and female backing vocals for a sound more lush and organic than any of his previous work.
A bit of background: Gorbel gave himself The Honorary Title moniker several years ago, when he was playing solo acoustic shows around New York. The project later evolved into a full-fledged quartet known for the unbridled passion of Gorbel's vocals, his deft pop hooks and keenly observed, poetic lyrics. The self-produced video for their song "Everything I Once Had" became a fixture on FUSE and Mtv 2, and the band earned accolades from Rolling Stone ("a soaring, heart-rending debut,") Spin (which praised Gorbel's "winning humor and killer pipes,") and GQ, among others. They spent the better part of five years on the road -- including stints with Dashboard Confessional, Switchfoot, Minus the Bear, Tokyo Police Club and Lucero -- and, by the time Gorbel retired The Honorary Title name following a final tour last fall, the band had sold more than 75,000 copies of its two full-length albums.
Gorbel's deceptively simple melodies, warm arrangements and soulful, soaring voice were always what drove The Honorary Title; his new, solo material brings those qualities into crisp focus in a way that makes the details even more beautiful. At his Brooklyn apartment, Gorbel spent week after week locked away with his acoustic guitar, amassing a collection of laptop demos for Devil's Made A New Friend. "I've always preferred albums with a lot of atmosphere, where production is rich and layered, but you can still identify what each instrument is doing," When he considered who would be the ideal producer to help achieve his vision, he immediately thought of Blake Sennett, of Rilo Kiley and The Elected. "I spent many hours on tour with both The Elected and Rilo Kiley as my soundtrack, and I knew that Blake was such a big part of both those bands' sound," says Gorbel. "I felt honored when he took my phone call and expressed his admiration for the songs I was working on." Through mutual friends, Gorbel made contact with Sennett and started sending the producer his bedroom demos. After continuous dialogue Blake suggested that they record the record at his Los Angeles home studio.
In addition to producing, Sennett lent his voice and guitar skills to the entire record. He also put together the perfect backing band for the project, including his fellow Rilo Kiley bandmate and Mystic Valley Band drummer, Jason Boesel, Black Crowes' Adam McDougall on keys/organ, Azure Ray's Orenda Fink on backing vocals, and the incredible Nate Wolcott offering horns and piano. " Gorbel explains. "I love the production of old Sixties soul records, where back-up vocals might be panned all the way left and guitar all the way right," says Gorbel. "The technology available at the time dictated some of it, but I really love that kind of separation of instruments. And yet, it was important to me that the music feel like it's capturing a live performance, not something pieced together in the studio. It was really inspiring to play with these musicians, who have worked with other artists I admired so much."
For the first time in years, Gorbel was able to record the songs without the supervision of a record label. He had the freedom to take risks with the more folk tinged-songs and had no one to satisfy but himself. This freedom paired with the shedding of the band name gave way to new sounds. From the Seventies folk- and soul-inspired album opener "Extraordinary," to the massive string-led "I'll Do Better," Devil's Made A New Friend is set of 10 songs that capture an artist, as he puts it "starting over, going back to the beginning, and re-establishing myself."
Lyrically, Gorbel has never shied away from exploring the dark corners of his psyche, the fucked-up things people in love can do to each other. On Devil's Made A New Friend, he does this with even greater nuance and maturity. "Ten Years Older," he explains, is "essentially about the passing of time and the pain of regret," while "Extraordinary" describes "the unhealthy necessity for drama and turmoil to spark passion within relationships, and how boredom can become a product of actual stability and contentment." And the anthemic "I'll Do Better," Gorbel says, was inspired by experiences relating to "the never-ending cycle of addiction, the promises that come from someone suffering from addiction." He explains, "It's written from the perspective of someone who's sort of putting together a letter of apology to a significant other."
Though the songs themselves are often somber, when he's on stage Gorbel has become known for conveying an almost schizophrenically comic-side "I have the type of personality that creates these super-depressed songs," he says. "But as much as things get me down, I find humor in all these absurdly meloncholy situations." Between songs, Gorbel offers almost Tourrettes-like, profanity-laced observations on topics like burritos, masturbation and alien abductions. "I've got a ton of nervous energy, and I'm extremely awkward, but unable to supress a lot of my inner ramblings" he says. "It surprises people because the songs are so melodramatic and sad, but sometimes i feel the need to balance that with sarcasm its my method of survival ." Gorbel has also found an outlet for his hilarious outbursts online, and his series of comedic videos on YouTube are as cherished by hardcore fans as their favorite Honorary Title songs.
Devil's Made A New Friend will be released on August 31st; after his experiences with traditional labels, Gorbel opted to put out the album as a joint venture with Burning-house records, a new company helmed by a trusted friend and colleague, and his own imprint 'Gorbel Music'. "At first, it was hard to just accept that I'd have to take a few steps back in order to get where I wanted to go," says Gorbel. "But I wanted to make the record i had always envisioned, and needed to sacrifice in order to move forward musically, it was risky going solo but it just felt like a truthful and meaningful venture to take."
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