!!! - The harsh law of dance music

There are eight of them, they've been around since 1995, but they made their debut in the new millennium with a self-titled album that, thanks in part to their odd name, went unnoticed by most. Still, the few who did notice were the right ones. For their second album, none other than Touch And Go and Warp came knocking. In practice, it was their indie consecration. The rest was taken care of by a nine-minute “monster” single with an extremely long title, built entirely on spasmodic anticipation, crescendos and promises kept. When “Me And Giuliani Down By The School Yard (A True Story)” exploded (deservedly) all over the world, everyone everywhere wondered how on earth to pronounce that absurd name. The band themselves say any sound will do as long as it's repeated three times, but along with their music the Chk Chk Chk version spread far and wide. Their third take on the punk-funk verb is titled “Myth Takes” and OndaRock met singer Nic Offer to find out how he pronounces the name !!! (and much else besides).

“Myth Takes“ comes out two years after “Louden Up Now“. If we consider all the work that goes into writing, recording and promoting a record, and then touring, two years isn't actually all that long.

(smiles) A lot of people think two years is a very long time! ...During these two years, it's true, we've always been busy, but we never set ourselves deadlines. I think we recorded the album because we felt it was ready to be recorded.

Did you write any songs during sound-checks?

No, it's pretty much never happened that we wrote songs during sound-checks - it's more that we all end up living in the same house for a while.

That's how it went for this record: we lived together in a house in Nashville, then we recorded first in a studio in California and then another one in New York. You know, we all live in different cities: most of us live in New York, but one of us lives in Portland and another in Sacramento, which is actually the city we all come from.

What are the biggest differences between “Myth Takes” and your previous work?

I think the first album sounds a lot like a “first album”... it has a very “pop” sound, but also a really fresh one, and nobody else had that kind of sound at the time. With the second album we got a sound more suited to clubs, while with this one we've come much closer to the sound we have live at our shows.

Either way, I get the impression the first two had a somewhat “limited” sound, especially compared to “Myth Takes”.

At this point I have to ask, while you were writing these songs, did you think about how they'd sound live?

Sometimes we've thought about that, but then you drop it: you realize you can't have those thoughts, because you have to make the best record you've ever made while you're making it, you know?

Some songs on this record, though, were played live before they were recorded.

What's your biggest concern when you're playing live? Having fun, giving the audience a good time? Playing well? Making as much noise as possible?

(he stalls for time stirring the coffee they've brought him, studying the packets of white sugar, brown sugar, sweetener, the honey and chocolates and candies sitting in the baskets in front of him, stirring his coffee, sipping his coffee and going "uh... uh...") But, you know, the biggest concern for an artist has always been expressing yourself and giving free rein to your creative instinct, so I'd say having fun.

Is there a song you're particularly proud of?

(he takes a bit more time sipping his coffee and looking for a candy he doesn't recognize and trying a candy he doesn't recognize and going "hmm... hmm...") I think we feel very attached to "Heart Of Hearts" and "Infiniford".

"Heart Of Hearts" is the classic song I'd want to dance to, and the lyrics matter a lot to me - I get the feeling it's a song that needed to be written and sung.

"Infiniford" also needed to be sung, but it's a strange song, the kind we normally would never do. It's the last song on the record and I like how it seems suspended in some undefined space, with nothing to hold onto: it doesn't sound like "the place where it is," but like "where is the place where it is?"; it's a sound that can only really be traced back to that one song and no other song on the record.

Do you think "Myth Takes" is a less political record than "Louden Up Now"?

On a surface level you could say it is, but I think if you look closely, it's actually a more political record. "All My Heroes Are Weirdos" is an explicitly political song, but it's sung as if it were a story, so the approach changes, but the lyrics are very clear.

"Me and Giuliani" was a song that criticized a law the former mayor of New York had enforced. What exactly was it about?

It was an old law that Giuliani had dug up, regulating the opening and running of certain dance venues: to have a certain kind of venue you needed a specific permit. Because of this law a lot of venues in New York had to close, and since we're basically a dance band we took it as a personal attack.

Now that Giuliani is no longer mayor of New York, is this law still in effect?

It's a law that comes and goes, it depends on the period... you also have to consider that everything that was torn down has since been rebuilt.

What do you think of Bloomberg, the current mayor of New York?

He hasn't done much to get on my nerves, but I admit (smiles) I haven't paid much attention to what he's been up to.

"Myth Takes" was available for download well before it hit the stores. What do you think about file-sharing?

…It's a bit like complaining about the rain: it's just happening, that's all. I honestly can't see how things could end up being any different. …The truth is that I download a ton of interesting music myself, and I'm glad I do.

Do you think this actually leads to a drop in record sales and a bigger audience at shows?

Let me put it this way: I think it leads more to a drop in record sales than to a bigger audience at shows. But I could be wrong, I'll be keeping an eye on what happens during the promotional tour for this record.

There are also tons of bands you listen to at home without necessarily wanting to see them live. As far as !!! goes, I think we're a band that sounds a lot better live than on record.

Let me ask you one last question, so we can wrap up the topic of file-sharing. Obviously I won't ask for figures, but roughly what percentage, for a band like !!! (Nic smiles, amused at how I pronounce their name), comes from record sales versus from the shows you play?

We definitely make a lot more money from the shows we play, but we're also a band where some members have a regular day job…

In 2005 you covered two songs: "Take Ecstasy With Me" by the Magnetic Fields and "Get Up" by Nate Dogg. How did you pick two songs so different from each other and, above all, so different from the genre you play?

In particular with the Magnetic Fields one, it felt like an obvious choice because we had a feeling it could turn into a really danceable track. …But you know, I honestly can't remember how we decided to cover the Nate Dogg song. What I do remember clearly is that we loved it a lot, and we loved the sequencing of the two together too. I think we also picked those two songs to try to learn something from them: to pick something up from the genres they belong to (the Magnetic Fields play indie-pop/lo-fi, while Nate Dogg has a hip-hop sound).

How did you manage to sign a deal with Warp?

(smiles) Would you believe me if I told you I have no idea? (still smiling) I swear, but I'll tell you what I do know: I was on tour in Europe with Doghead and I got this email letting me know that Warp was interested in us, and a few days later I got another email saying: "We're now officially a Warp band!" (we laugh).

In some ways you were an important and lucky pick for Warp: after you signed with them, they went on to add Grizzly Bear, Battles, Tyondai Braxton…

Actually, I think that was the direction the label was planning to move in anyway.

Can I ask if we should consider the Out Hud experience over?

Um... Yeeah... yes. Nothing in particular happened, it just seemed really hard to record another album. We'd been on tour for quite a while, we're still friends, but we felt like the next record would have required a huge amount of work, and we couldn't afford that because everyone has another band. Breaking up felt like the best choice.

Let's talk a bit about your records: "Let Us Never Speak Of It Again" was a really strong album, an interesting step forward from "S.T.R.E.E.T. D.A.D.", which, good as it was, definitely showed a lot of !!! influence.

I think that's natural, partly because the people involved are basically the same, but as far as I'm concerned, I felt a lot more freedom: with !!! the direction to take has always been very clear - we wanted to make people dance - while with Out Hud we felt free to do whatever we wanted, and that made us hard to pin down under any particular genre.

If I said, though, that Out Hud sound a lot like !!!, the girls would feel really offended, especially since, without them, Out Hud would sound even more like !!!. They're completely different people.

Has it ever happened that a !!! song was requested for a commercial?

Yes, but we turned it down: it was one of those things that felt "wrong". I'm not saying we would never do it: I'm saying we'd do it if it felt like the right choice, and it didn't.

They wanted to use "Me and Giuliani" for a car commercial. It was a tough call to make at the time, and years later, I can say we're glad we said no. And it wasn't even a good ad.

Maybe we would have said yes for a different kind of product...

(Milan, January 28, 2007)

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