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Archived: Shmat's Features
The Shmat has decided to discontinue the Features section for Shmat Records. That is to say, there will be no NEW interviews or features. If you are a band that was featured here earlier, rest assured that your feature will be archived here for eternity (or somewhere near that).
Like Shmat's Reviews, any future Interviews and Features will appear on the Palebear site.
Please note that the Shmat and his Peoples take no responsibility for typos, inaccuracies or misinterpretations contained within these articles.
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October 7, 2003 :
On the surface, you might never guess that the band shiny around the edges are from California. With its shimmery and cool textures, the music sounds more like it was created in the frozen north than the heat and hype of Los Angeles. Shoegazer and slowcore fans alike will delight in the arrangements of these quiet yet powerful tunes, bolstered by tactful cello and minimal brush stroke drums. Their current release, the Why Do I Love You CD EP is available at their website, and they are currently working on a collaboration with the Minnesota band, if thousands.
In this interview, the Shmat and his Peoples chatted with shiny around the edges about the joys of living room recording and endeavored to answer the burning question that is of course on everyone's minds ... what's in their pockets?
- interview by
How was the band formed and how did the name come about?
Michael: Jennifer decided one day a little over two years ago that she wanted to learn how to play guitar. So, I taught her and guided her through the process of how to write a song. Quite literally, a few weeks later she had a bevy of songs and her excitement transferred to me and we decided to try out some open mics as a duo. The name comes from a good friend of ours who we had to occasionally take to the hospital for migraines. I was curious as to how she knew she was going to have a migraine as opposed to just having a headache (thus the hospital ride). She replied that the corners of everything would radiate light. At first, I thought, "The Corners Shine Brightly" would be a good name for a band, but then the inherent Pavement reference would be too large, so I came to "shiny around the edges."
What's the songwriting process for shiny around the edges? Does the band ever write songs completely from scratch at practices, or are the songs always brought to the table as finished pieces?
Michael: Up until now (about two years), Jen and I would write the songs and bring them to the band for their input and interpretation. Recently, however, we have been presenting partially finished songs (musically, lyrics are still Jen and I) to encourage more group collaboration and experimentation. We also did just record a song that our drummer wrote - music and lyrics.
There's a cover of the Cure song, "Siamese Twins" on your EP. How did you pick out that song?
Michael: It's the only one from Pornography for which I could figure-out the tabs! No, well, okay, that is somewhat true. I love that album but found much of it hard to arrange for our line-up. "Seventeen Seconds" is another Cure song I briefly worked with, but found it didn’t quite work with our set-up either.
What musical influences do the band members have in common?
Michael: Interestingly enough, the only influence we may have in common would be Simon & Garfunkel. Each of us has fairly diverse influences, which helps to keep things interesting. Keep in mind this is coming from a band that posted an ad for a drummer stating that one must be "into" Willie Nelson and Sonic Youth.
The cello certainly adds a lot of atmosphere and depth to the songs. How do you come up with the parts for the songs? How long have you been playing the cello and do you specialize in any other string instruments?
 Steven: I try to compliment what Jennifer is singing and/or what Michael is playing on the guitar. I usually start by hearing what chords are being used and then work within that particular note/key pattern. I seem to favor slow bowing passages on the lower strings — I feel it plays better with the minimalist sound of shiny and emphasizes the more melodic and dark tuning of B/G# Minor keys that the band favors.
I think I started playing cello when I was about 8. However, I took about a 10-year break from the instrument. I got burned out after high school and stopped playing all together in college — I guess it just never was the babe magnet that I thought it would be. I picked it up again about 2 years ago and I am definitely enjoying it more than I ever had.
As far as specializing in other instruments, I did dabble, as opposed to specialize, in the upright bass for about a year and have been recently slapping the electric bass around.
Have any of the band members played in different bands previously?
Michael: Our drummer and I (individually) have played in multitudes of bands ranging from your average bar band classic rock to heavy experimental noise rock with stops at ska and hardcore along the way. This is the first "rock" oriented band for both Jennifer and our cellist.
Have you always lived in Southern California? What are your opinions on the current indie music scene around the L.A. area?
Michael: No and a slight yes, Jennifer and I moved here from Pennsylvania (Jen by way of MN, IA, TX, and SD) almost eight years ago. Stephen, our drummer, migrated here from Illinois earlier than us. Steven, our cellist, was born and raised in Santa Monica.
We find the indie music scene in L.A. to be odd but full of nice people. While we have made a lot of friends with cool and engaging bands like Avoidance Theory (yea!), Boxing, The Kris Special, and The Dollyrots, the combination of vast geographic space and high cost of living (for band members, booking agents, and club owners alike), makes it hard to just hang-out at each other’s apartments, play music, and develop creative options and outlets for our collective music and art.
The songs on your CD are full, yet have a lot of open space and extremely differing dynamic levels. Do you find it difficult transferring that dynamic onto the live stage?
Michael: Quite the opposite actually, we have a hard time transferring those dynamics to the recorded medium. Of course, you haven’t lived until you are playing an infinitesimally quiet passage in a song and all of a sudden you hear the bar’s phone ring and one side of the quite complex, ensuing conversation.
Your entire EP was recorded in your living room. What made you decide to record the tracks at home? Was it a matter of convenience, economics, or just being in control of the process?
Michael: Hmmm… it was a convergence of all of the above. Our drummer is a technologically proficient person who had been recording fairly elaborate demos in his shed for quite some time. When we were ready to record the EP, he happened to also be ready to invest in a laptop studio. So, after talking to some real wing nuts that wanted to record us in their home studios, but weren’t even familiar with bands like the Cowboy Junkies or Low, we thought, why not take a crack at it ourselves.
 At the risk of boring any non-recording engineer Peoples reading this, what kind of mics, preamps, etc. were used in the making of this album? Do you find that using lower budget mics and equipment is a hindrance or a potential creativity outlet?
Stephen: For the vocals, we used an AKG 3000 condenser mic, graciously lent to me by my friend Alan. On the cello was an Oktava MK-219, a decent condenser mic from Russia which I have mainly because it was on sale at Guitar Center. Most everything else (guitars, drums) was Shure SM57s, except for a Shure Beta 52 for the kick drum. I also used a battery-powered AKG B9 instrument mic as an overhead on the drums, which was a big mistake — random popping, noise, static, distortion, the works… never again. One weird thing we did was put one of the guitar amps in the bathtub. I kind of liked the sound, but maybe I just liked the idea of it. Michael hated it.
All the mics were fed into a Mark of the Unicorn 828 Firewire interface connected to my Apple G4 laptop. I used AudioDesk software for recording and mixing, which comes free with the MOTU 828. I mastered the tracks on the same laptop using T-Racks software. I'm a longtime Mac user so I was really happy to finally be able to record everything on the computer.
For a band like us, I've learned that the better mics you can afford, beg or borrow, the better. In fact, the recording project we're working on now has taught me that good miking can be the only reason you get a good recording, and vice-versa with bad miking. I was able to pick up a couple of really good mics for the winter project we are working on currently, and it has been a big plus sound-wise. I'm now using a grand total of 2 (good) mics on the drums (one overhead and one kick drum: a tip from Low via their website). And we have a new AKG 3000B for vocals, which is really sensitive. Since we are very minimalistic and play quietly, good mics make all the difference. For a loud band, it might be a different story.
Recording everything ourselves at Michael and Jen's, and the occasional pick-up in my shed has been great in that it's low-cost, low(er)-pressure and more fun. It frees you up to be more creative and try things you might not try if the money-clock was ticking.
Michael, in addition to playing in shiny around the edges, you've been involved in graphic and creative design for a number of years. Did this help in the making of the EP and website?
 Michael: I’ve always approached the music we create as an artistic endeavor, which I have been fortunate enough to expand into visual concepts as well. Yes, knowing how to develop and maintain our website has been a big plus as is designing material for printing flyers, stickers, and CD covers. I have always been impressed by the band Underworld who not only release great records, play stellar shows, but own the aesthetically cutting edge design firm, Tomato. And, truth be told, our drummer is a far more accomplished graphic designer than I.
Jennifer and Michael, what is it like being married and being in a band together? How do you collaborate on the songwriting process?
 Michael: Jennifer says, "it’s cool." I suppose the only difference in our lives so far is that some of our most heated arguments have been about how a song is mixed or arranged. As far as songwriting, Jennifer and I usually come-up with songs separately (her more than me) and then, if any collaboration occurs, it is more of an arrangement tweaking here and there.
Has anyone else (besides the ever-curious Shmat) likened the 4 distinct "symbols" on the inside cover of the EP to the ZOSO runes from Led Zeppelin's fourth album?
Michael: Shmat is so hip. Finally, someone caught my graphic homage to one of the greatest albums of all time! Now, the question is… which symbol is who?
What's the worst experience you've ever had at a gig?
Michael: Hmmm… there are so many from which to choose. We once were violently berated in public by an incompetent soundman at Canters Kibitz Room. Another time we were heckled pretty heavily by some of the intimidating, tougher locals at Toppers because, of all things, the cello wasn’t loud enough, but the worst experience was playing our first show at The Echo where we were squeezed out of a sound check and inadvertently played a really horrible cover version of Neil Young’s "Ride My Llama" twice. Eh, it was a long night indeed.
Has anyone else (besides the ever-curious Shmat) likened the 4 distinct "symbols" on the inside cover of the EP to the ZOSO runes from Led Zeppelin's fourth album?
Michael: Shmat is so hip. Finally, someone caught my graphic homage to one of the greatest albums of all time! Now, the question is… which symbol is who?
What do you carry in your pockets?
Michael: shiny around the edges stickers and stolen NFL coasters from Toppers.
Jennifer: Lip-gloss, Coldeeze, a YMCA membership card
Steven: Gum wrapper, some lint, keys, and my wallet
Stephen: Wallet, money clip, keys, clip-on sunglasses case
You folks are currently collaborating with the band if thousands, who are a part of the Chairkickers crowd from Minnesota (includes the band Low). How did you become involved with that scene?
Michael: Well, I wouldn’t say we are involved in their scene as it is only a long-distance collaboration between two bands. At the spur of the moment, Jennifer and I drove to Sundance to see Low play in a 19th Century mining hospital to support their work on the soundtrack to Travis Wilkerson’s excellent film, An Injury to One. While hanging out before the show, we started up a conversation with Aaron from if thousands who were opening for Low that night. He was a real nice guy who shares a lot of similar tastes in music so we kept in touch. Can’t say enough good things about if thousands’ heavy ambient sound.
Any shmats, er, cats living in your houses?
Michael: Sadly, no personal shmats. We do have Simon, our drummer’s dog whom we all pledge allegiance to and Jennifer and I have the company of three of our landlord’s shmats whenever we go out to the patio.
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Archived Shmat Features
February 2005
Anamude
November 2004
American Analog Set
October 2004
Pants Yell!
July 2004
Snoozer
June 2004
Elk City
May 2004
Popgun Recordings
April 2004
East River Pipe
February 2004
Elliott The Letter Ostrich
January 2004
Damon of the Swirlies
December 2003
The Ladybug Transistor
November 2003
Bill Ricchini
October 2003
Shiny Around The Edges
September 2003
Dave Klotz of Fonda
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