Interview w/ Nathan, bassist of THE PEAR TRAPS
1.0 – How did the band come together?
Bryant had written a number of songs before moving to Chicago and went to craigslist to find some bandmates. Within two months we were regularly playing in Billy’s basement, drinking, booking shows and recording.
Bryant continually writes and we are always adding new songs to our live sets, so we had been playing out for over half a year with most of the tracks from the EP and had a good idea as to how we wanted them to sound. This makes our overall sound really based around Bryant’s guitar work and the next type of song we want to add to our live set.
We all took off on a cold Thursday, two vehicles full of equipment and went to Nashville, Indiana. The cabin was a small two story with a huge fireplace that we ran mics around to do all of our tracking as a live band. Bryant (guitar) set up in the main hallway, Billy’s drums in the large bedroom, Josh (guitar) in a small bed room, Stephen (keys) and Nathan (bass) in another room off the hallway. We spent Thursday night and Friday morning testing different mic and amp positions, hanging mics over the drums and eventually tucking Josh’s guitar amp in a closet. Then we spent all of Friday and Saturday playing, grilling, listening and drinking.
4.0 – Do you have a favorite song on the disc?
(Free Download)“Come Home” is probably our favorite song. It has sort of set the tone for how we come up with songs now- in that Bryant comes to the band with an idea and chord structure that we all turn into a song. Between Josh’s guitar licks, the warm, overdriven tone from Stephen’s keys, and some crackle from the fireplacebleeding through in the background, it was the easiest choice for the first track.
As of right now yes, but we are always talking about taking the time to put together a full album.
6.0 – What do you guys sing about?
Bryant’s final lyrics to a new song typically follow the completion of a songs structure and the melody he wants to sing too. I think in general just something that’s happened or happening or a vague idea he’s been thinking about.
7.0 – Is it difficult to duplicate your sound live?
Not really, as we just typically ask for more reverb on the vocals and, guitar wise, Bryant actually built the heads that both he and Josh play through to get the sound we want. I think people are actually surprised when they first hear us because we’re a bit louder/more energetic live than our recordings tend to seem.
When we’re excited to play it and reasonably confident we won’t fuck it up.
9.0 – What bands were you listening to in high school and do they still influence you?
This runs all over the place for us. We were all pretty into 80s alternative (Replacements, Joy Division, The Cure), but mix in a need for some Kinks, Guided By Voices, and Roy Orbison and you start getting warmer.
