Actionslacks' "This Damn Nation" starts off with a galloping drum line and a distant, spacey guitar line. By the time the rest of the band kicks in, the bass has already revealed itself in glory, playing perfectly fitting bass-lines amongst the intertwining drum and guitar pattern. The vocals appear, and the rough yet melodic timbre accents this pop-rock sound perfectly, turning the whole sound into a pointed weapon. I use this metaphor due to the quality of the lyrics: "This Damn Nation" is a biting diatribe about the shallowness of Americans. If it were a poorly written rant, I wouldn't be interested, but every point he makes is not only legitimate, it rhymes in ABCB form and the syllables fit perfectly. For example: "We've got greeting card emotion, cause we can't express ourselves / I won't tell you to your face, but I'll call you on your cell". The whole song is loaded with quotables like that; I could quote nearly any phrase of the song to display Tim Scanlin's songwriting prowess. The song is over four minutes long, and yet it feels too short.
In short - "This Damn Nation" is a flawless song. Actionslacks placed it as the second song on the band's album, Full Upright Position, and from that point on, this album is amazing. (The first track is not bad, but compared to the rest of the album, "33 1/3" is inferior). Yes, those 12 expansive, progressive pop-rock tracks that Actionslacks committed to tape are genuinely inspired. From drums to vocals, from lyrics to art, this album is mind-bending. I'll bet you've never heard 'mind-bending' and 'pop-rock' in the same thought before, but you better get used to it, 'cause that's exactly what this album is.
The most surprising element of Actionslacks' sound is the lyrics. Tim Scanlin has a unique, enviable perspective on life, and he fleshes it out for the listener. He's fed up with sex and violence on TV, ("This Damn Nation"), hates men who act like scum towards women ("My Favorite Man"), wishes relationships would try to work things out before instantly breaking up ("Cut Above"), and hopes that future generations will live well ("All You'll Ever Need to Know"). The last is especially interesting, as it's written like a letter: "Hello boys and girls, hello posterity / if you can hear my voice, you must still be free." He goes on to ask them if "Is the place where you stand where you want to be?", then admonishes them "You're much too young to be resigned," then backs up his credibility with "And I'm telling you this now because I know how this life goes."
When in print, it just doesn't take on the same effect it does when Scanlin sings it...but isn't that the mark of good music? The melodies underlie his connotation in these words - they're not pretentious, lordly decrees but helpful hints from a guy who's been there and done that. It's breathtaking to hear "All You'll Ever Need to Know," and I hope all of you can hear it someday. The unassuming lines he sings aren't forced, and they aren't even loud; it's like a dialogue between you and Tim Scanlin. It's simple to imagine him sitting next to me and singing this song - that's how personal this song is. In fact, many of the songs on this album portray that trait, but this song especially shows it.
The next degree of Actionslacks' sound is the music itself. This sound is what The Beatles must've envisioned the future of rock to be. Guitars lead the sound, but pianos, strings, and other instruments play a significant role in the rocking. It's not angry-sounding, it's not screamy, it's just straight-up rock and roll the way it was envisioned. Semisonic and Third Eye Blind would also be proud of Actionslacks' rock ideals. The drums are full, and the bass (as explained previously) plays gloriously fitting bass lines. I would explain the sound of the instruments more, but in pop music, it's not the individual parts that make the sound, it's the overall feel. Actionslacks are unique and talented on all fronts, which makes the sound unique as a whole.
From spacey rock in "Close to Tears" to all-out pop in "If I'm Not Deceived" to the funky rock of "Simple Life" to even the twangy alt-country of "Keeping Close to You," Actionslacks conquer your stereo. They have done no wrong on this album (except the first track). This year is shaping up to be an excellent year for power-pop/pop-rock; I hope this trend of brilliant pop albums continues.
~ Stephen Carradini
May 27, 2004 Summer, 2004 May/June, 2004 May 6, 2004 July 24th, 2003 Interview with webzine Dancefloor Magic, April, 2003. From Naughty Secretary Club... From Ink 19... From Spank... From Radio & Records... From In Music We Trust... From Action Attack Helicopter... From Splendid... From The Dallas Observer... From Pop Matters... From the Kansas City Pitch Weekly... From from The Cleveland Scene... From the Albuquerque Alibi... From Pitchfork... From the San Francisco Bay Guardian... From Synthesis... From Billboard...
March 17th, 2001 From SPIN online... From Seattle Weekly... From Kerrang... From CMJ... From Rolling Stone Online... From Wall of Sound... From The Boston Phoenix... From Swizzlestick... From Slamm... From the Lehigh University paper... From The San Francisco Chronicle... From Insider One... From ARTIST Direct... From Alternative Press... From Willamette Week... From The San Francisco Chronicle... From The Tulsa World... From The Daily Nebraskan... From the U of New Mexico Daily Lobo... From InkBlot...
Actionslacks uses inside track on tunes to its advantage
Actionslacks' Full Upright Position is one of best records of 2004, a modern rock jukebox of songs which span just about every popular genre save rap.
If moody Brit-rock is your thing, there's "This Damn Nation," a snappy take on pop culture that has a guitar line Johnny Marr would love to call his own. "My Favorite Man" combines an '80s synthesizer with a melody that evokes the Cure; and "Keeping Close to You" is the type of country-rock tune Nick Lowe might write.
"We almost named this record Schizophonia," Scanlin says with a laugh. "Ever since the inception of our band, that has been our curse and our blessing. I'm very proud of the fact we don't sound like one band or person, that we're kind of this composite of many different influences, but it is such a pain. ... If journalists and industry types can't put you in a box within five seconds, they don't want to know about it."
Coming from almost any other musician, that statement might be laced with a certain amount of bitterness. But Scanlin was a rock journalist who conducted interviews, wrote reviews and even started a magazine, SnackCake!, that was devoted to music and snacks and distributed to mainstream bookstores around the world.
And therein lies a problem: He loves music, but he's also a victim of his love.
"Because I was a writer for so long, and because, for better or worse, we have this encyclopedic knowledge of music, we can't help but be influenced by a lot of different things," Scanlin says. "Our band has always been this combination of many different influences."
Scanlin quickly admits that having a plethora of sounds to tap into hasn't helped the band where other writers are concerned.
"Most people don't want to take the time to figure out what we're doing," he says. "They'll just fall back on the most suitable cliche. We get a lot of Green Day comparisons, which is ridiculous, considering we haven't sounded like Green Day - if we ever did in the first place - for about 5 years."
The title "Full Upright Position" not only refers to the logistics of air travel that occur in a band that has members living in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Maine, but is also a nod to Actionslacks' approach to songwriting. The goal is to write taut, well-constructed, classically-inspired rock songs that fall within certain guidelines, but are not at all derivative.
"We embrace traditional rock devices as a band, totally," Scanlin says. "We have no desire to reinvent the wheel. We enjoy working within this framework. I look at it as a challenge. There's Who's Next?, the Kinks' first record, Let It Be by the Replacmeents, Oasis' first record. We want to write songs that are as good as that - that embrace that kind of lineage and heritage. It's almost like songwriting as sport. Like, 'How good ARE you?'" ~ Regis Behe
A few things become obvious during "This Damn Nation" on Actionslacks' new full-length, Full Upright Position (Self-Starter): Leader Tim Scanlin isn't interested in attending your party for the "Friends" finale, even if you do have a fridge full of Rolling Rock; he won't feign interest if you start discussing your favorite episode of "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance"; and he could a give a damn about Ryan and Trista's weekend getaway to Aspen.
"American popular culture, my friend, is a contradiction in terms," sings Scanlin in the second track from the J. Robbins-produced LP, the band's fourth.
"It's a feeling that's been festering for a while," admits Long Beach, CA-based Scanlin, who sounds like a mumble-free Billy Joe Armstrong. "These shows and their totally fake emotions just seem like they were made for third-graders. Maybe they were."
Full Upright Position, which Scanlin says was a "Biblical saga" to finish (among other things, the five members - singer/guitarist Scanlin, bassist Ross Murray, drummer Marty Kelly, guitarist Chuck Lindo and new keyboardist Darice Bailey - are scattered across the country), features lyrics fashioned into admonishments of lackadaisical pack-following and dumbstruck conformity. But not to worry - Scanlin makes his social interrogations as passionate as the expression of love or loss. Full Upright Position, sporting an invitingly mature brand of indie rock, is a record full of life already lived but not completely understood.
Despite the album's content, Scanlin isn't an angry guy - though he'll warn you not to get him started on the subject of who makes a living in music and who doesn't.
"Every one of my favorite bands were bands that no one cared about," he says. "They worked incredibly hard, but never got anywhere. If these people were cops they would have been chiefs of police. It's really hard to watch a band that you think just screams talent not making a living. Being in a band can be really grueling sometimes.
"I don't believe that if you're going to be an artist that you have to take a vow of poverty," continues Scanlin, who until recently did A&R at Rhino Records and who previously was an editor at Sonicnet.com, the now-defunct division of MTV News. "Seeing my favorite bands struggling to get by made me realize that I needed to cultivate something other than music. I didn't want to end up like that." ~ Sean Moeller
Actionslacks
Full Upright Position
The Self-Starter Foundation
What happens when your band lives in different part of California and has real jobs? You record all over the place with lots of airplane flights going on over the course of almost three years. Studios used to record this record includ: Tiny Telephone (SF), Inner Ear (Arlington, VA), Hyde St. (SF), Solstersound (SF), Phase (College Park, MD), Transmedia (SF), plus a practice space and an apartment. Production and recording were carried out with the band and the fantaastic J. Robbins. It's a cool, rocking record with some acoustic guitar and synth melody parts one might not expect, and some awesome drum flanging on track one, "33 1/3." Vocals are far up front, too, which works well and shows some guts! Mastered by our pal Alan Douches at West West Side. ~ Larry Crane
Actionslacks (the band just added a keyboardist) invite Bay Area fans to help celebrate the release of their new, provocatively titled CD, Full Upright Position, an album three years in the making. The formerly Bay Area-based band (bassist Ross Murray is the only member who still resides in the Bay Area) has earned the respect of critics and fans by refusing to stick to any one particular style and instead focusing on solid melodies and catchy hooks. The result is an eclectic sound that frontman Tim Scanlin describes as "lean and honest," but he admits it could stand between them and mainstream success because it makes it hard for record company execs to categorize them. ~ Bill Picture
Rant on the U.S.
Television breeds ... rage? That's how "This Damn Nation," Tim Scanlin's provocative rant on current affairs, transpired. "It happened after a long period in my apartment watching TV, getting incensed and disgusted with American culture," the Actionslacks frontman says. "People have written tomes on this, but there is so much potential in this country, and so much going to waste." The song, to appear on the foursome's fourth album (due in January) and in the set they will perform at an early show Wednesday at the Troubadour , is one in a stylistically diverse batch that Scanlin suspects might surprise fans unaccustomed to hearing, say, full-on rockers next to electronica next to alt-country. "On one hand it's nice to have an aesthetic, but on the other I get really antsy," Scanlin says. "I wanted us to push ourselves with this record and not take the safe route. I want to be a little scared when it comes out." Geography will pose another hurdle. Scanlin lives in L.A., Chuck Lindo and Ross Murray live in San Francisco and Marty Kelly is moving to Maine. "We were joking that we need a new practice space ... in Omaha," Scanlin says. ~ Kevin Bronson
DFM: Please introduce Actionslacks and give a bit of background history:
Tim Scanlin: The band consists of myself on vocals and guitars, Marty Kelly on drums, Ross Murray on bass and Chuck Lindo on guitars and
keyboards. By the time you get around to posting this we'll probably have an official keyboard player, as well.
DFM: What where the original goals for the band? Have they been
accomplished and if so, how did you go about meeting them?
TS: I can only speak for myself, but when we started this band my
goal was to play very stripped down, visceral rock music, with the emphasis on Songs. That is, melodies and hooks. I'd been in a
band with a drummer who was really into cramming as much stuff into songs as humanly possibly, even when the songs clearly didn't want or need it. So when that band ended, I wanted to approach songs from their simplest form, and keep them lean and honest. Luckily, I met Marty, who was totally into that approach. Playing with him was like a revelation. I knew immediately that there was some chemistry there.
On this new record is was crucially important to me to explore the sonic
gray area between quiet and loud. I really wanted to avoid the typical
quiet-loud-quiet-loud schtick that characterizes so much of what you'd call emo or alt-rock. To do that, we made a conscious attempt to really work on guitar tones. We also took a lot of time to experiment with things like organ, piano, string loops, acoustic guitar, harmonies, and a few minor electronic sequences to fill out the mix without actually resorting to the knee-jerk loud guitars. The good news is that I think
we accomplished what we set out to do - the new record is by far the most nuanced and dynamic thing that we've done. We also sweated bullets over arrangements (all the songs were extensively demoed over the course of a year). Ross is a phenomenal musician. He did an incredible job of
synching his bass with Marty's kick drum, and writing his parts so that they compliment what's happening with the drums. That may seem minor or too technical to many people, but it's the kind of thing that makes a huge difference in the overall sound of a record. In my humble opinion, our rhythm section just completely smokes at this point. While I'm giving props, I can't leave out Chuck. He's made a massive contribution to the band. His musical instincts and sheer talent on guitar and vocals are incredible. I swear these guys didn't pay me to say this stuff. I love my band. Sue me.
DFM: What are the current goals of the band and how are trying to accomplish them?
TS: Our immediate goal is to get this freakin' record finished. We've
been working on it for almost 2 years straight and we should be completely finished with it by May (of this year!). It'll come out this summer, at which point we'll start promoting it as much as humanly possible. We're all chomping at the bit to get back on stage and play these songs (and the old chestnuts) for the people that want to hear them.
We're also hoping to reach
a wider audience with this record. The Scene's Out of
Sight did a lot to
increase our profile; we're hoping that this new
record will reach (and
resonate with) even more people.
DFM: With the members of the band living in
different cities, is it hard
to schedule practices and shows, etc? I would imagine
it to be a bit
stressful for the band.
TS: ...and you'd be absolutely right. I'm not
sure if "stressful" is
the word. Maybe "difficult". Because we're all 100%
committed to the band.
It's just that any time you have people living 500
miles from each other it
suddenly turns every day band dealings into much
larger ordeals. Simple
things, like deciding when to practice or which photo
to use in the press
kit, end up taking much more time than they
ordinarily would. Not to mention
the literally hundreds of ours I've spent in airport
terminals flying back
and forth, lugging gear around, endless emails back
and forth - it can be
incredibly frustrating and demoralizing. But as I
said, we are all totally
committed to this band, and to making this album the
best it can possibly
be. The payoff to all of this hassle is when we're in
the same room playing
the songs, or better yet, on stage playing them for
an audience. Not to
sound too Hallmark, but it's those moments - when the
music is living and
breathing - that make all the logistical headaches
worthwhile. The last two
years have been a huge leap of faith for us. It would
have been so easy to
call it a day when I moved to LA. But I think we all
believe in what we're
doing, and in the possibility of something happening
with this record. In
the end all you can do is follow your gut and have
faith that what you're
doing is worthwhile.
DFM: On The Scene's Out Of Sight you had an
impressive list of
collaborators from all sorts of bands and J. Robbins
not only produced, but
appeared musically as well. How did you get such a
group of people
involved?
TS: We met J. when we supported Burning
Airlines in San Francisco a
few years back. We'd always been huge Jawbox fans. I
was friendly with Kim
Coletta, their bassist and the owner of Desoto
Records. Kim told me that J.
was a fan of our second record, One Word. So
when we met him we very sheepishly asked him if he'd
consider working with us
on what became The Scene's Out of Sight. Much
to our amazement, he
said yes. Once we got into the studio, it became
evident pretty quickly that
J. was into the idea of actually playing on the
record, which we were of
course totally into. His contributions - actual
playing and ideas - to that
record are substantial, and he really became kind of
the 5th member of the
band during the recording (ditto for this new
record). As for Aaron Rubin
from Samiam and The Mr. T. Experience, we knew him
through a mutual friend.
When our original bassist left, we approached him
about filling in, and he
was happy to do it. Aaron is an absolute champ of a
guy, and he really
helped us out of a tight spot. As for Jeff Palmer
from the Mommyheads (and
briefly Sunny Day Real Estate), our manager at the
time introduced us to him
as someone who'd be good to work with. We did some
demos for Scene with him,
and he also played bass for a short time. Palmer's
partner at the time (and
someone we'd worked with before) was Greg Freeman, ex-
bass player for Pell
Mell and the owner of San Francisco's Lowdown
Studios. Greg's a great
engineer. Another person that we worked with (and who
also makes an
appearance on our new record) is Patrick Main from
The Snowmen and Oranger.
He's an incredible piano player. That's him that you
hear on "Shining
Jewels."
There's another person that's playing on the new
record that we're really
excited about: Bruce Kaphan from American Music Club.
AMC is one of the
great unsung American bands of the late '80s
and '90s. Their music is so
intertwined with San Francisco, and they've been a
big influence on us. To
have Bruce contribute to the new record is a big
thrill.
DFM: What do you think sets your band apart from
others?
TS: That's a pretty broad question. One thing
that I think sets us
apart - and which may or may not hurt us - is that we
don't adhere to one
sound on our records. That is, on The Scene's Out
of Sight, for
instance, there are a number of different-sounding
songs. The title track is
straight up rock; "Perfect G" was inspired by little-
known New Zealand bands
like the Chills and The Jean Paul Sartre
Experience; "Shining Jewels" came
out of a love for everything from Sinatra and Ella
Fitzgerald to Joe
Jackson; "Last Night I Dreamed" I think reveals a
pretty strong Uncle
Tupelo/alt-country influence. So in other words,
unlike a lot of bands,
we're not content to stick to one sound. Personally,
I'd be bored to tears
doing that, and the fact is that as a band we all
listen to many different
types of music. In a worst case scenario, I think
this "spectrum of sound"
might hurt us, in that people - especially those in
the record industry and
music journalists - can't easily categorize us. But
we have fans tell us
time and time again that we don't sound like anyone,
and I take that as a
compliment. I like to think that although we explore
a lot of different
sounds, they all sound like Actionslacks, i.e. we put
our particular stamp
on them and make them our own. It's important to us
to do that, otherwise
your music is just an experiment in aping genres.
Having said all that, with
the new record we pretty much pick up where we left
off, i.e. there are
quite a few different sounds that we're exploring,
from full-blown rock to
hints of electronica to what's essentially our stab
at a James Bond
theme.
DFM: What politics and/or ethics, if any, take
part in the band's writing
and business choices?
TS: We've never been a band with a political
or ethical agenda.
Personally, I'd rather leave that out of the music.
I've taken stabs at
writing political songs in the past, but they always
seem to come off as
forced and ham-fisted. There's one song on the new
record, "This Damn
Nation," that is essentially my rant against American
culture (or lack
thereof). I think that's about as far as we've gone
in that direction, and
it was written because I literally couldn't stand to
NOT say something about
it. As for our business choices, we always try to be
fair to fans in selling
merch and setting door prices, and we've resisted
venues that have asked us
to up our merch prices to match those of the
headliner. The Music Industry
is an incredibly unscrupulous racket; we definitely
work to keep the
integrity of ourselves and our music intact. It's
something that's really
important to us.
DFM: Who do you consider your current
contemporaries?
TS: There are so many great bands out there. Understand
that I'm only speaking
for myself here, but... I think Wilco is a band that
we all really respect
and like. Spoon are fantastic. Superdrag and Wheat
write phenomenal songs.
Ross and I are also pretty big fans of a lot of UK
stuff - Doves, Streets,
The Music - we'd be happy to share a stage with any
of 'em.
DFM: What is your favorite dance party song?
TS: That's a tough one. There are so many.
Today I'm gonna go with
"Private Idaho" by the B-52s. If you can't move to
that song, yer dead.
DFM: If you could add any rockstar (living or
dead) to the lineup, who
would it be and why?
TS: This isn't the sexiest choice, but
probably Garth Hudson, the
late keyboard player for The Band. Because 1) all the
other instruments are
already being played by the best person for the job
and 2) the guy was
amazing. Bez from the Happy Mondays would be a close
second.
DFM: What can we expect from you guys in the
future?
TS: First and foremost, a new full-length
album, to be released this
summer. That'll be followed by us playing as many
shows as possible between
California and the UK. We really can't wait to load
up the van and play this
record for people. Anyone who wants to check on the
album release date,
shows, etc. should visit our site at
http://www.slacksaction.com. We're also
toying with the idea of putting together an
Actionslacks rarities disc that
will be available exclusively through the website. We
have quite a few
unreleased tracks (including some interesting covers)
sitting in the
vaults.
DFM: Any final words?
TS: To anyone who's waited for this new record
to come out: thanks.
We know it's taken forever, but never fear, it will
be out soon and we'll
hopefully be coming to where you're at. Other than that,
I'll just say that I
think the new record is the best and best-sounding
thing we've done. But I'm
a little biased...
Interview with UK webzine Junk Food Manifesto, Fall, 2002...
Hi Tim, thankyou for taking the time to help us out...Who came up with the name, and how?
I came up with the name. We'd been looking for months, and had nothing. One night at a party, after a day of thrift shopping at which I saw several pair of Levi's Action Slacks (yes, it's a real brand of pants), I suggested the name to Marty, as a joke. He immediately liked it and spent the next 2 months trying to convince me it should be the name of our band. Since then we've had hundreds of compliments on it, my favorite being a bad review in which some snot-nose kid wrote something like, "It's too bad such a cool name was wasted on this awful band." Close contenders were Sporting Life, King Friday and Dead American (which my parents hated, so I knew it was good). The final irony of the whole name debacle was when Levi-Strauss started sending us free gear, after we waited years for them to sue us for copyright infringement.
Are you pro internet music file swapping?
Definitely pro. It never ceases to amaze me that the Record Industry doesn't see MP3 trading for what it is: free advertising. I look at MP3 trading the way I look at teenage sex: you will never stop it; you must simply deal with it. It's a reality of being a musician in this day and age.
You have been supporting the Posies... how did you find that went?
It was great. They're a phenomenal band who've written some truly epic songs. Nice guys, too. I'm doing an acoustic show with Jon and Ken in Seattle next week. They're also in Big Star. It must be fairly mindblowing to play those songs.
Are there any significant others we should know about? Pets? Partners?
Uh...I have a fiance, soon to be wife. No pets.
You seem to be doing an awful lot at the moment, how do you all kick back and relax?
What's "relax"? Is that that thing you do when you kind of just sit around, drink beer, watch TV, hang out with your friends and generally not do much? I vaguely recall experiencing something like that about a year ago, but not lately. Personally, I don't relax very often and it's starting to grate on me. I was just telling someone today that I'll relax next year if it's the last thing I do. I have reached critical mass in terms of the amount of stuff going on. It's a bit outrageous, really.
Who writes the songs/lyrics?
I write all the lyrics, and I come up with the ideas, melodies and rough arrangements of the songs. But what you hear on Actionslacks records is the product of group tinkering and input.
Whats your Best experience, on the road, or at a gig?
For me, probably supporting Buffalo Tom in Los Angeles. I consider Bill Janovitz ('Tom singer/guitarist) to be one of the best American songwriters of the last decade. To support them, and then walk into the crowd and watch them play an inspired set was an incredible experience.
Are you ever going to come over here to England?
I've been called on the carpet by several of your countrymen for promising to come over there and then not turning up. So I will simply say that it is our intention to tour the UK sooner than later. At the risk of once again perjuring myself, I will say that we'd *like* to arrive on your shores no later than the first half of '03, in support of the next record. I think I can say with certainty that I'll eventually show up there with an acoustic guitar at some point, as well.
Youve had J. Robbins work on your tracks, who also worked with the promise ring and jets to Brazil, do you see yourselves becoming similar to the aforementioned bands?
I think that question presupposes that the Promise Ring and Jets to Brazil are themselves similar, which I think is debatable. I think I'd need you to define what you think that sound is before I can answer the question. I will say that I think our stuff is becoming "less punk", but it's still very much rocking. In my opinion (and I think he'd agree), J. doesn't really exert control, creatively speaking, in the studio. In our experience, he's there to get the best possible sounds and make the best recordings he can. He's definitely NOT exerting pressure to sound like his own music or anyone else's. I think people have J. pigeonholed as this Angular Rock Guy, when in fact he's got a very liberal and varied taste in music. (He's also a very, very funny man.) While he contributed creatively to our last record (and will again on this next one), his role in the studio is much more as an engineer than a producer. I think he'd agree with that statement.
Youve also been connected to other much different bands to yourselves such as Samian and Elf Power, are there any aspects youve taken from other bands youre associated with?
Our connection with Elf Power was limited to being Label mates with them for a brief period of time. So their influence on us has been non-existent, I think. As for Samiam, their ex-bassist, Aaron Rubin (also of the Mr. T Experience, and a champ of a guy) played on the Scene's Out of Sight, and was in the band for about a year. I think he contributed a certain element on the low end front, one that might have made us seem a bit more punk rock than we are now.
Are there any other bands youve particularly want to mention as being important to you all?
I think one of the great things about our band is that we all come from slightly different backgrounds, and those influences mesh to create what we are. But some some "common ground" bands would probably be Wilco/Uncle Tupelo, Cheap Trick, Guided By Voices, Supergrass, Manowar (just kidding).
Your sound does seem to have changed since The Scene's Out of Sight. Are there any external reasons for this? Or is this simply your own natural creative progression?
I assume you're talking about the songs on the new EP vs. The Scene's Out of Sight. Actually, the first two songs on the EP were written and recorded at the same time as the songs on The Scene's Out of Sight. The reason they were relegated to the EP is that they were a bit harder than the stuff on Scene. Truth be told, I think our current sound - the one that will be presented on the next record - goes in the other direction, i.e. a bit more nuanced and dynamic than the stuff on Scene, and a pretty far distance from the aggro guitars and tempos on the EP. That's not to say the next record won't rock, but the EP should not be an indication of what it'll sound like.
Out of all your songs which holds the most personal meaning for you?
That's a tough question because there are many, obviously. I'd say the song "Crook" on our first record, Too Bright, Just Right, Goodnight, and the song "McGee & University" on our second album, One Word. Both deal with the murder of my housemate in front of our house in Berkeley. I never went to therapy after it happened, and sometimes I think I should have. I think these songs are the closest I got to working that horrific incident out in my mind.
Tell us about your new ep, Never Never Shake, Baby.
The last time we were in Texas we were approached by Post-Parlo Records about doing a release. We had some unreleased tracks in the can and were coincidentally looking for a label to release them. Voila. The EP is a bit of an odds 'n' sods release and should in no way be construed as our "new direction." I'm happy that our cover of "She Talks In Stereo" has finally seen the light of day, in all of it's over compressed, distorted glory. A DJ friend of mine in LA played it the other day and said the phones lit up immediately, which was nice to hear.
Can we Englanders buy on your merchandise site?
International money orders are always welcome. You guys aren't using the Euro, right? (I can hear your shrieks of disgust from here.)
Actionslacks
The Scene's Out of Sight
The Self-Starter Foundation
Making a subtle pop record is quite a feat to behold. Usually bands fall into one of two pop categories. The first being over-the-top pop. This is where a band comes across as so strained to be upbeat and peppy, you feel like they are constipated with a candy bar. The second is a band that is desperately trying to be pop, but can't quite figure out a guitar hook to save their sad "I want CMJ to love me" life. Actionslacks however fall into that rare and elusive category, not many bands reach - perfect pop subtly.
Actionslacks are sly fellows. They reel you into their record and you love it before you even knew what hit you. There is not an over-dose of power chords, woo-woo backing vocals or any other cheap pop shenanigans. These are good straight forward songs, simplicity seems to be working in their favor.
There is nothing like a piano to make a song work. Actionslacks know when to hit the ivories. Two of my favorite tracks on the CD "Tad Loves Kimberly James" and the jazzy "Shining Jewels" both use a piano beautifully. Usually, I have eerie Billy Joel flash backs when pop bands try to work a piano into their sound. Instead of making the
piano the focal point the ever-tricky Actionslacks use it to perfectly augment already great songs.
I find it amusing that my favorite song on an overall fairly upbeat record is a rather down trodden love song. "Perfect G" four songs in is a sweet an endearing love song that makes my heart hurt. The music of Actionslacks may come across as pop on the surface, on closer inspection there are melancholy undertones in the lyrics giving everything some added depth. As a side note, if Travis Morrison of The Dismemberment Plan was any more of a balladeer people would be getting him confused with Tim Scanlin. Wonder if J. Robbins noticed the resemblance in their voices while they were recording.
Though the music of Actionslacks may not be overbearing and obvious, their talent is. This is a band that has been around a good long while and deserves every bit of attention they get. Not only is the scene out of sight as the title indicates, so is this record. ~ Jennifer Perkins
Actionslacks
The Scene's Out of Sight
The Self-Starter Foundation
This quartet shoots out a solid and enjoyable CD of pop songs, moving
from the "rock your head and shake your hips" to the "sad, slow, missing
you when you go." Most of this album was mixed and produced by J.
Robbins, who also appears on many of the tracks, moving between guitar,
percussion, vocals, and the Moog, but instead of placing his sound over
the sound of the band, he manages to add an extra level to the music.
Sometimes catching on a Beatles mellowness, sometimes driving a bit
more like The Cars, and sometimes popping like a Possum Dixon. These
songs should fill up the radio and make everyone dance. ~ Marcel Feldmar
Actionslacks
The Scene's Out of Sight
The Self-Starter Foundation
I just kept listening and listening and listening to this record. I
didn't want to review it (and I still don't), I just want to keep listening to
it. And then I want you to listen to it... all of you. And then you can
tell me about how ooey-gooey good it is. And then I can say, 'oh my god, I
know, can you believe J Robbins did it again (because he produced it, don't you
know)'? And I can tell you how, in a weird way, it reminds me of
Franklin Bruno, and then sometimes, also weirdly, the record reminds me of the
best, most perfect indie pop record that comes from that sub-section of bands
who sound like they're from DC but they're so not (Candymachine, Spoon).
And to prove that last point, I'd clue you in that the band are from Berkeley
but sound nothing like a "bayareaband". And then we can each tell someone
else about it and it'll be this big, gigantic chain reaction word-of-mouth
campaign to get Actionslacks hurled into massive fame and stardom
because they deserve it and we (well, most of us walking around on this planet
anyway) deserve to hear records this good. ~ Michelle
Lights, Camera, Actionslacks
If indie-pop rock is your thing, look no further than the new Actionslacks record, The Scene's Out of Sight. This intelligent, guitar-driven band's new album has a lot to offer listeners. Actionslacks formed in the Bay Area in 1994, but at the time they were a trio. In the seven years that have passed, members have come and gone, and the band has released two other records. But now the four-piece band has delivered their best record yet.
Songs on the album like "I Hope This Makes It Easier For You," "Perfect G" and "Shining Jewels" showcase all of the reasons why listeners will fall in love with this record and this band. I'm sure that these songs will be making their chart debuts sometime in the very near future. A record this cool cannot be denied that, for sure. ~ Dayna Talley
Actionslacks
The Scene's Out of Sight
The Self-Starter Foundation
Actionslacks' The Scene's Out Of Sight is one of the best albums of 2001.
Capturing teen-angst, growing up, and the aging process in one big swoop, lyrically it's one
of the most inviting, sing-along collections of tunes that has come around in a long time.
Musically, it is quite similar. It delivers charged pop anthems capable of mesmerizing you
within only a few bars. The contradiction between guitar-driven power-pop and a few acoustic
lost-love ballads gives me the feeling this is one of those albums that comes strong out of
the gates, keeps building, and eventually settles down with a nice underground following.
Leaving the mainstream in the dark, much to the happiness of the indie kids who use the
album as their daily bible. I'll give it an A+. ~ Alex Steininger
Actionslacks
The Scene's Out of Sight
The Self-Starter Foundation
Thank goodness for mp3s. I heard about Actionslacks through a song I got offline about a year ago. I absolutely loved it. I tried to find out information about them, but they are a tough band to research. Thanks to the
Self-Starter Foundation though, we now have their new album. Produced by J. Robbins, this album does not disappoint at all. From beginning to end, this is one solid album. In regards to sound, sorry scenesters -- Actionslacks definitely aren t emo, and they re not really indie either. They just play really good pop/rock songs. Hailing from San Francisco, these guys are set to tour soon. When they come near my area, I ll be there, waiting in the first row. ~ Jay
Actionslacks
The Scene's Out of Sight
(The Self-Starter Foundation)
Have you been missing those "Best of" and "100 Most" lists that flooded the cultural consciousness a few short months ago? Have you not yet shaken your millennium-induced angst? Do you admire the energy of Blink-182 and Green Day, but long for something a little less juvenile than the former and a little more energetic than the recent output of the latter?
Forthwith, "Five Reasons to Love Actionslacks":
1. Titular: The band succeeds in immediately conjuring an image of plaid rayon pants straight off K-Mart rack. "The Scene's Out of Sight", the lead/title track, concisely conveys the album's worldview: consciously naive, enthusiastically optimistic, just a little ironic.
2. The home town: Actionslacks come from Berkeley, CA, home of the mega-famous Green Day and the seminal power-pop-punk label Lookout! Like rock 'n' roll itself, the Bay Area music scene is regularly declared dead, but the cover bands, evictions and club closings serve only as a smoke screen, obscuring the talented groups working in a multitude of genres. Actionslacks have a sound that fits comfortably into "the scene" while adding influences of their own.
3. The producer: "Produced and Recorded by J. Robbins" compares favorably with any other seal of quality you can imagine. The former Jawbox/current Burning Airlines maestro has found a creatively lucrative second career working with bands like Jets to Brazil and Promise Ring. Here his polished, languid production and musical additions emphasize the expert playing of the band and the craftsmanship of the songs themselves.
4. The words: Lead lyricist (and guitarist) Tim Scanlin seems to have a fairly sunny disposition, but he's not a sap, and his distinctive songs about familiar topics (girls, rock 'n' roll, liberation) have a personality which sets them apart from the verse/chorus/verse pack. "Friday night comes down/and all the people hit this town/so excited to be free", go the opening lines to "Shining Jewels", a touching love song that conveys an entire courtship in simple details such as "I like to sit with you in bars." In "I Hope This Makes it Easier for You" the narrator attempts to convince his ex -- and himself -- that he's over her, boasting "Sophie wasn't sleeping on my couch/and Suzy took me home and we've been playing house"; in the end, though, he's hoping that "We will work it out." The lyrics are uniformly smart, witty, and probing without being overwrought, allowing you to sing along without feeling foolish.
5. The music: Even having Oscar Wilde writing your rave-ups wouldn't matter if the music didn't carry its share of the emotional weight. Actionslacks stick to basics -- there are no ten minute jams, no drum solos, nothing "electronic" -- but the level of musicianship is high; almost any one of these songs would be major-market radio-ready in a less corporate age. The hooks multiply from beginning to end, the choruses are instant sing-alongs and there are enough unexpected elements to keep your ear turned to the stereo. The basic trio (Scanlin, Marty Kelly on drums, Aaron Rubin on bass) enlist help from a few friends, augmenting the trio's sound with piano, organ and tambourine, along with backing vocals and extra guitar heft. Songs like "The Scene's Out of Sight", "Joan of Arc" and "John L. Sullivan" don't innovate, but rather refine the noisy pop rock of head-bobbings past. The piano on "Last Night I Dreamed (That You Were Losing Sleep Over Me)" sounds as if it was lifted straight from a mid-period Replacements ballad, while the pensive closing track, "Bury Me in the Blue Sea," is quietly affecting.
Once those year-end lists start to roll around again, Actionslacks might just find themselves featured on a few of them. ~ Ryan Tranquilla
Out of Sight
Actionslacks is a good band playing good songs. Simple as that.
By Zac Crain
Before we go any further, let's get this out of the way: Actionslacks is a band. Four members are in the group now, there used to be three, and the number of members named Tim Scanlin remains at one. Remember that, and highlight or underline it if necessary.
There are those who will attempt to convince you otherwise, that Scanlin is the only one who counts. That Actionslacks is little more than a glorified solo act. Those people do not include Scanlin, who sings and plays guitar and writes most of the songs. Or drummer Marty Kelly, who's been around since the group formed in Berkeley in the summer of 1994. Or the new guys, bassist Ross Murray or guitarist-singer-keyboard player Doug Modie. They, of course, know.
Here's who will: People who know Scanlin from various day jobs he's had over the years. People who recognize his name from the pages of Snackcake, the 'zine he founded, or CMJ New Music Monthly, one of the music magazines he's written for. Maybe from Sonicnet, an online music site where he wrote and edited.
These people, music journalists mostly, will and do ignore the other members of Actionslacks. (Marty, Ross and Doug--remember them?) They will and do ignore the band's three albums, including the recently released The Scene's Out of Sight, to focus on Scanlin and his rsum. Not a word of which helps Scanlin write a three-minute pop song that sticks in your head for three days. Well, save for the part under Related Experience that says 1994-present: Singer-guitarist for Berkeley-based Actionslacks.
Fact is, The Scene's Out of Sight has a dozen such tunes, and it doesn't matter that Scanlin could've probably come up with a better description for them than that. For instance, try forgetting the chorus of "Tad Loves Kimberly James": "I like you/I'll tell you why someday/I won't jinx it trying to explain/I like you/You like me/It's simple and easy." It's as uncomplicated and beautiful as the Saturday rain Scanlin notices earlier in the song, but not nearly as overwrought as that explanation. The band is nave, in a good way, especially on songs such as the title track or "Folding Chair" or "The Sun in St. Tropez." It's like each time Scanlin stomps on the distortion pedal or Kelly holds back until the last possible moment, it's the first time anyone has ever thought of that. And you're willing to believe them, completely. Whether you've heard it all before becomes a moot point, irrelevant, not even worth mentioning.
The point? They're good songs because they are, not because of who wrote them. So, for the last time, writing songs is much more difficult than writing about them. Obviously. Clearly. Time to move on to bigger and better things.
Or, in Scanlin's case, traffic school. At the moment, on a Monday morning at the beginning of April, that's exactly where he is. Not in "some stupid classroom somewhere," but in his Berkeley apartment, which is probably worse. Sitting at his computer, staring at the screen, putting in his time. He could be playing his guitar, or doing pretty much anything else. But no, here he is, his modem and phone line acting as ball and chain, trying to get his ticket taken care of before he goes out on the road for a month with Actionslacks. Which is why he's stuck in his apartment in the first place.
As tedious as it is, speeding tickets were the least of Scanlin's worries following Actionslacks' last tour. Scanlin left the tour with a ticket to pay; bassist Mark Wijsen left the tour, then left the band.
"He was going through a bunch of stuff; he was going to get married when we got back, and you know, his fiancee was trying to plan this wedding and he wasn't around," Scanlin says, taking a break from his defensive driving course. "I mean, he was out playing in a rock band. That didn't go over too well. And there were personality conflicts."
"We went our separate ways, and we're friends now, but it was a bit touch and go for a while," he continues. "Any personality conflict in a band can be amplified tenfold on tour. That's where you really understand whether or not you can get along with the people in your band, when you go on tour. Because you can't get away from each other, you know? And it's hard."
Scanlin's not ready to get away from Actionslacks at the moment, or anytime soon. With two new members in the van for the first time, the band is out supporting its finest album to date, The Scene's Out of Sight, though 1995's Too Bright, Just Right, Good Night and 1997's One Word still hit the spot when they hit the stereo. And Scanlin couldn't be happier--with the record, his band, everything.
"I mean, the band dynamic we have going on, personally, is by far the best that it's ever been. It's actually the first time that our band has been able to...Last night we had a meeting, and we could just sit around and talk shit for a couple of hours and not even talk about the band. And that's something that I don't think you can take for granted, because some bands are so dysfunctional. It's kinda like, 'Let's do this, do what we have to do, and then I don't wanna see you until the next time.' There was a point in our band when it was like that, and it's just really not a very healthy relationship. This one's a lot better, and we're all friends, which is cool."
Modie and Murray weren't around when Actionslacks recorded The Scene's Out of Sight; their parts were played by, among others, bassist Aaron Rubin of The Mr. T Experience and Samiam, bassist Jeff Palmer of the Mommyheads and Sunny Day Real Estate and singer-guitarist Chuck Lindo. But another one of Scanlin's new friends was there: J. Robbins, singer-guitarist for Jawbox and (now) Burning Airlines, and a producer who has recorded The Promise Ring, The Dismemberment Plan, Jets to Brazil and a slew of others. Robbins is all over The Scene's Out of Sight, adding guitar, vocals, piano and percussion to the disc, besides recording most of the songs. (Palmer and Pell Mell bassist Greg Freeman also recorded a handful of songs on The Scene's Out of Sight.)
The collaboration with Robbins began innocently enough, with Scanlin and Kelly sending Kim Coletta--who runs DeSoto Records and was in Jawbox with Robbins--a copy of One Word, not expecting too much. They did it "just for kicks," Scanlin says, "because we're such big Jawbox fans. I sent her a copy of the album just, like, 'Oh yeah, I'll send it to one of our heroes. Why not?'" They weren't expecting Coletta to e-mail them soon after, saying she loved the album, saying she and former Jawbox guitarist Bill Barbot had taken a road trip and listened to One Word 30 times, saying she'd passed along the record to Robbins. "I thought it was a joke at first," he admits. "Because we just hold Jawbox in such high esteem. I think that band was so amazing."
Robbins and Scanlin struck up a casual friendship, crossing paths at shows, talking to each other every once in a while. Eventually, when Burning Airlines was playing in San Francisco and Actionslacks was opening for them, Scanlin asked Robbins if he'd consider producing the group's next album.
"No hesitation," Scanlin recalls. "He was like, 'Just tell me when and where you want to do it.' He's definitely one of my favorite musicians and also just one of my favorite people. In addition to being brilliant as a musician, he's also one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. He's a sweetheart. It's kind of annoying, actually." He laughs. "It's like, 'You're so talented and you're such a nice guy. You should be a dick or something.' But he's just a really cool person."
Although Robbins flew to San Francisco to work with the band at Tiny Telephone studios, the band plans to head to Washington, D.C.--Robbins' hometown--to record with him at Inner Ear Studios, a recording environment Robbins "knows like the back of his hand," Scanlin says. "Everything he does there sounds awesome." Scanlin wants the next album to be less black-and-white, less quiet-loud-quiet, something different than he's done before. Texture, he says, will be the key word for the new album. "I want to explore that gray area between super-quiet and total ape-shit guitars," Scanlin explains.
But there is one problem standing in the way of Actionslacks and a new album: Drummer Marty Kelly isn't leaving the band, but he might be leaving the city. For good.
"His wife is getting her doctorate in art history, and she's looking for professor jobs all around the country, so there's a good chance that he's going to have to move to another city, which is going to kind of throw a wrench into things," Scanlin says. "So, you know, it looks like we might have to pull a Pavement thing, and trade tapes in the mail and get together for strategic rehearsals and stuff. But we're definitely committed to doing it. I mean, there's no question that we want to put out another record. It's just going to be a little bit more difficult. Although I'm kind of excited, because I'm really into the idea of, instead of writing songs and then flogging them for two years and then recording them, I'm really into the idea of writing them and then laying them down in the studio when they're still really fresh."
And he's already got another idea how to keep music fresh for him. It also solves the problem of how to continue as a band with one member living in a different city: Make it two members living in a different city.
"If Marty moves, then I might move, too," Scanlin says. "I wouldn't mind a change of scenery. As much as I love San Francisco, I kind of feel like it might be time for a little change, a kick in the pants. It's always good to meet new people and kind of challenge yourself a little bit. I'm not ready to totally settle down. I wouldn't mind going out and meeting some new people and living somewhere else. It kind of just kicks you in the ass, you know? It's real easy to get complacent and sit around your apartment and write about the same shit all the time. I just think it's cool to shake that up. It's like writing songs with a new instrument. It gives you a bunch of new ideas."
Actionslacks
The Scene's Out of Sight
(The Self-Starter Foundation)
As unfair as it is to characterize a year in music, especially when it's only March, the year so far for me has been one filled with fantastic song-oriented bands who should be on the radio. These are musicians who write absolute gems of pop and/or rock, whose songs would no doubt work their right way into America's brains if they were given a chance by the corporate radio powers that be. Bands like Creeper Lagoon, California Oranges, Guided By Voicesand Actionslacks, whose third album The Scene's Out of Sight is filled with delightful pop songs of the slightly punkish variety.
This California-based band has been slowly working their way up the ladder of "indie" recognition over the last five years or so; their latest album, produced by J. Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines) deserves to push its way into the CD players of middle America and take the band up yet another level, as its filled with high-quality melodies and guitar work, plus lyrics that manage to be both funny and sad, innocuous and moving.
From the opening title track on, the musical tone of the album is upbeat and snappy. For the most part the songs are energetic rockers, yet there's some pretty ballads and one relaxed, jazzy jaunt to keep things diverse. Actionslacks will win you over with every killer hook and can't forget-it melody, yet they wouldn't have as big an impact if their lyrics were empty or sophomoric. Lead singer/guitarist Tim Scanlin's lyrics generally deal with love, but strike a continual balance between a dreamer's optimism and lonely-boy sense of regret.
The tone of the album is hopeful and up, even when Scanlin is singing about heartbreak, loneliness and longing, as he is on every track except for a few, like a story-song about the celebrity built around the boxer John L. Sullivan. Though the promotional materials don't indicate that it's been chosen as such, the should-be-a-hit single here is "The Sun in St. Tropez", where a high-school outcast imagines a future where the jocks and bullies are working lowly service jobs while the un-cool are relaxing on the beach and "rolling in piles of cash". It's what summer anthems should be like, a power-pop pick-me-up for the underdog.
At this point in their career, Actionslacks themselves might still fit into that all-too-crowded category of "unfairly overlooked", but they shouldn't be for much longer, especially after people start hearing The Scene's Out of Sight and spreading the word. ~ Dave Heaton
April 12, 2001
Press, Play
Whether penning pop or panning slop, Actionslacks' Tim Scanlin has the write stuff.
By Scott Wilson
Actionslacks' frontman, Tim Scanlin, used to complain that no one got the joke in the title of the group's second disc, 1998's One Word. See, Scanlin considers himself a verbose fellow, one for whom just one word is rarely enough. The proof, though, is not in his songs, which are tidily written and crisply played (more than ever on this year's The Scene's out of Sight). Instead, the group's Web site is the vehicle for Scanlin's writing, an entertaining and comprehensive tour diary. Where other bands employ a similar strategy to keep fans current but are content to limit the news to one or two sentences on the order of "We came, we saw, we rocked, we ate and drank," Scanlin shows off a Hunter S. Thompson streak.
Take this excerpt from a recent entry during which Actionslacks opened for UK
groups Brassy and Idlewild in Los Angeles: "Brassy were ... brassy. Muffin Spencer knows how to work a crowd, despite cultivating a look that is pure EMF ca. 1985 (running shoes, knee-high socks, boxing shorts -- you get the idea). The band rocked, but the 'B to the R to the A to the S to the S to the Y'-type thing got a bit tedious after a while. Maybe if I was doing aerobics I would have dug it more...."
Sentences you can diagram. Punctuation. The words "cultivating" and "rocked."
Turns out Scanlin is a ringer, a musician who has toiled for the other side,
spearheading the great 'zine SnackCake, writing for CMJ and editing for Sonicnet over the past decade. Not only is Scanlin unusually articulate, then; he also has a Zenlike patience with negative reviews.
"That's one of the first rules," Scanlin says from his Bay Area home. "You will
never please everyone all the time. There will be people who hate your band. But we haven't been skewered. When we get a bad review, it's more like, 'I'm not really into this.' I can't believe we don't get more crappy press. Not that we deserve it, but there are people who don't like the Beatles, either."
There are two reasons Actionslacks don't get more crappy press. The first is that Scanlin gives interviews like someone who has conducted plenty of
interviews, which he has. (He claims subjects who intimidated him, such as Matt
Johnson of The The and John Doe of X, nearly reduced him to "that Chris Farley
character on Saturday Night Live. 'You know that one song you did?' The The is
essential to who I am as a musician. And the first four X albums are like Coltrane or Mozart to me," Scanlin says.) Scanlin's is a good story: a rock writer paying dues a second time as the songwriter for a hardworking band.
Second, the Actionslacks' hard work shows. Touring, showcase gigs, interviews,
radio appearances and day-job trials aside, the band's improvement in the studio is where the effort is most obvious. Scanlin credits some of that to producer J. Robbins, the Jawbox/Burning Airlines kingpin who produced Scene. The band concentrates on Scanlin's quick-witted, guitar-driven songs while Robbins adds a thin layer of polish. Scanlin is also quick to credit his bandmates, especially Actionslacks' other original member, drummer Marty Kelly.
"Marty's one of the best drummers I've ever heard," Scanlin says. "And the lineup we have now includes two new phenomenal musicians. We started as a trio, and the bass player split in 1998, so we recruited Aaron Rubin from Samiam and Jeff Palmer from Sunny Day Real Estate to help write and record the album." Since then, Ross Murray and Doug Modie have rounded out the group. Guitarist Modie's versatility (he also plays keyboards) might free up the group to pursue a different musical path. "Next time, maybe we'll explore a quieter terrain, less distortion and more texture," Scanlin reveals. "It's really easy to stomp on a distortion pedal and get that soft-loud dynamic. It's harder to create shades of volume and get people's attention. I want to have songs that share a certain dynamic, a certain theme." He laughs and backpedals a little. "It's not like we're going to make The Wall or something. But we're huge Replacements fans, and they always had those two soft songs in the middle of the loud stuff.
"I had distinct ideas of how I wanted Scene to sound," Scanlin adds. "I pretty
much come up with the ideas and how I want those ideas to sound, and we flush
them out and tweak them in the rehearsal space. That approach hasn't changed a
lot. Practice makes perfect, so the more songs you write and the older you get,
you realize there's a classic structure for rock music. There's a reason certain arrangement ideas in that vein work. I listen to stuff I wrote when I was fifteen, and it's just a bunch of parts stapled together."
If there's a third reason for the relative velvet-glove treatment Actionslacks has so far received, it's the ingenious name. "It took us forever to find it," Scanlin says. "It was, truly, almost the death of our band before it even began. It's totally demoralizing not to be able to come up with a name." Scanlin and drummer Kelly, after months of ideas shot down either because someone else owned the name or because the pair disagreed, settled on Actionslacks after the singer jokingly suggested it at a party.
"I was totally kidding," Scanlin says, "but it works because you've got the
contradiction of action -- people who have their shit together -- and slacks. We enjoy slacking off." The other name seriously considered -- by Scanlin, at least -- was Sporting Life. "Marty didn't want to use it because he had no interest in sports," Scanlin says. "But it's funny because now he's really into baseball."
Laid off by Sonicnet last September, Scanlin, now occupationally more slack than action, says he feels burned out writing about music. "If I could wave my magic wand, I'd be a full-time musician," he says. "There are other music journalists I know who are my age who have reached the same point, where they're not into it anymore. I don't want to outstay my welcome." But it's likely that Scanlin's critical instincts -- his ear for what a good record sounds like -- will remain evident, like a cowlick that won't lie down, preventing Actionslacks from outstaying its welcome.
April 12, 2001
Action, Not Words
By Kurt Hernon
Actionslacks has often been lumped in with the lo-fi indie rock clan that includes acts such as Pavement, Guided by Voices, and Sebadoh. Now, having a record out that was produced by Burning Airlines' J. Robbins (Promise Ring), the band is weathering the emo-core tag. But when it comes to playing live, singer/guitarist Tim Scanlin isn't about to sit back and mope.
"We're going to be bringing some serious rock -- the awesome rock," he says, only half-kiddingly, of his upcoming Cleveland gig. "The club will buckle under our awesome rockness!"
Scanlin's attitude is as refreshing as it is rare these days, and judging by Actionslacks' new album, The Scene's Out of Sight, the band sounds more than capable of turning humble jocularity into a live rock reality.
"I love rock music," Scanlin blurts. "I love to be in a rock band, and I do look at us as a rock band. Not to sound corny -- and I do mean this as
straightforward and seriously as I possibly can -- I am un-ironically in love with rock music. I love the kind of rock music that winds up on stage in a full-on energetic rock show. The shows with windmills, leaps, and all of the rest. Music is not a hobby for me; I plan on doing this for the rest of my life."
If Scanlin sounds a bit defensive in asserting his love for being in a band, it's because he is. Having been down so many roads in his years of loving rock and roll, Scanlin has hitched his name to a host of creative outlets. The most high profile of them would probably be the successful San Francisco-based rock 'zine SnackCake!, of which he was creator and editor. In fact, Scanlin's affiliation with the 'zine sometimes gets more attention than his band.
"The SnackCake! thing always seems to be the angle in most of the stories that
are done about us," he says. He published the 'zine for just over four years,
stopping in late 1998 to work as an editor for Sonicnet, an online music site.
"I don't mean to complain, you know, because . . ." he pauses, "well, whatever. It gets us some attention, I guess, so that's OK. But it does get a little old. I mean, Marty Kelly, who started this band with me about six years ago, is an absolutely awesome drummer, and as a musician I think that's important for people to realize. Stuff like that seems to get lost in the whole SnackCake! thing."
Scanlin, who speaks in a deep, lucid, and weirdly mellifluous voice that sounds as if it could belong to an actor, has a legitimate gripe. For what it's worth, his identity as the honcho behind SnackCake! has firmly entrenched him in the
American indie/alternative music scene. So it's only reasonable to assume that a bunch of semimyopic journalists who have fantasies of fronting rock bands of
their own would drool over the look-at-me-now story of a fellow writer who
actually picked up a guitar and crossed over that mystical line. It's also the case that, in the rush to live out such vicarious daydreams, it's easy to forget that the band has an identity that's entirely separate from SnackCake!
"In reality," Scanlin is quick to add, "SnackCake! started about three months after Actionslacks formed. It's just the way things worked out -- you can get your name out there with a 'zine a little more readily. By the time I finally put SnackCake! in its box, so to speak, I'd pretty much done all that I wanted to do with it. I'd talked to pretty much every band and musician I'd ever wanted to, and I was at a point where I just wanted to make music, not write about it. [SnackCake!] was just something I thought would be a cool way to explore my interest in music. But the band was always very important."
But it really wasn't just boredom with the 'zine or working at a music dot-com
that sent Scanlin retreating to his first and genuine passion: It was trying to keep everything going at once -- the 'zine, the day jobs, and the band. Thanks in part to his frayed nerves, exhaustion, and his vain attempt to actually have a personal life, a substantive blood vessel burst in Scanlin's eye. "It wasn't real serious," he admits. "But it was from stress, and I did look like a complete freak for quite a while." The incident made him reassess his passion for music, and he realized that the band -- writing, playing, recording, and above all, performing live -- was what he really wanted to do. It was time for Actionslacks to take priority.
"I was just spreading myself too thin," Scanlin admits. "I was doing four or five things -- and I think doing them well -- but when you're doing that many things, you can only be so good at each of them, and you risk being the master of none of them."
The Scene's Out of Sight doesn't quite master the rock and roll idiom, but it does portend to Scanlin's having made the right choice when he hit that uneasy fork in the road. The record is filled with just the right measure of solid hooks and rock and roll instability. Scanlin was hardly exaggerating when he mentioned drummer Marty Kelly's talents: He's the obvious core of the album, which is filled with edgy Anglo-influenced pop punk that fuels the notion of a band thriving in the studio and having the ability to take the show on the road.
Which, once again, brings things around to SnackCake! As its publisher, Scanlin made the kind of contacts that can aid a band on a low-budget tour across the
states.
"Yeah, it's been a help," he admits. "Through some of the people I've gotten to
know over the years, we have often been able to make this tour unique by hooking up with some like-minded and cool local bands [for the Cleveland show, it will be Cobra Verde] in whatever city or region we go to. So it's been pretty cool being able to hit a town with someone who knows the place. We seem to get a more true experience from it."
Whether SnackCake! is viewed as a curse or a stepping-stone that allows Actionslacks a bit of leeway and notoriety when traveling the rock circuit, the
inescapable history of the 'zine will probably never go away, and Scanlin says
that's fine, as long as the band gets a fair shake.
"I know that," he sighs. "And that's cool. I just want people to realize that we're a real band."
Monday, April 30
Launchpad (21 and over, 9 p.m.):
Pavement, Jets to Brazil and Green Day fans beware: San Francisco's Actionslacks appear to be hell-bent on becoming your new favorite band. Singer/guitarist Tim Scanlin invokes Stephen Malkmus' perpetually down-on-his-luck indie groan while simultaneously calling on the ebullient garage-hewn howl of Billy Joe Armstrong, leaving the rest of the quartet to punctuate his urgent cleverness with Top Fuel guitar-based anthems that recall everything from Sugar to the Smithereens.
The band's third release, the J. Robbins-produced The Scene's Out of Sight (The Self-Starter Foundation), finds Scanlin at what is the peak of his songwriting ability so far and the rest of the band -- drummer extraordinaire Marty Kelly, bassist Ross Murray and guitarist/keyboardist Doug Modie -- have risen to the occasion. Together, they offer up a dozen new songs, each one of which sounds absolutely essential to any well-rounded post punk catalog. Scanlin's tunes are more fleshed-out than ever before, and the band seems completely at home with constructing hook-laden soundscapes to his brainier-than-thou lyrics. ~ Michael Henningsen
Actionslacks
The Scene's Out of Sight
(Self-Starter Foundation)
Rating: 7.6
The Self-Starter Foundation imprint is far from prolific-- their website even proudly announces, "Averaging almost two records a year since 1995"-- but the records they choose to release range from above average to beyond great. On one side of the fence, there are the winners: Les Savy Fav's first two albums and Lifter Puller's Fiestas and Fiascos; on the other, there are the decent: Haywood's Men Called Him Mister and Enduro's Half Rack of Sugar. Actionslacks' The Scene's Out of Sight falls somewhere in the middle.
Though not nearly as innovative as the art-punk onslaught of Les Savy Fav, Actionslacks' only aim is to make great pop music. Their sights aren't set on pushing music to new peaks; they just want to satiate the pop-deprived with solid hooks and charged delivery. And where so many of their indie pop contemporaries fall victim to asinine, three-chord rehashing and inept guitarwork, Actionslacks overcome with a fierce intensity and inspired songwriting.
The J Robbins-produced The Scene's Out of Sight is the third for the Berkeley, California-based foursome, and betters both its predecessors-- the Skene!-released Too Bright, Just Right, Goodnight from 1996, and 1998's One Word on Arena Rock-- in every respect. The guys are considerably more confident now than on past outings, and they have every right to be; drummer Marty Kelly pulls off complicated fills effortlessly while bassist Ross Murray interplays complex rhythmic structures with singer/guitarist Tim Scanlin's plucked steel strings. Even Scanlin's lyrics have grown up over the years. Sure, he'll still stumble over SweeTart prose like, "Tonight we're gonna scrape the sky," but what he lacks in poetic genius he makes up for in melody.
If there's a complaint to be made about The Scene's Out of Sight, it's that being berated with stories of scenesterism and tour vans gets tired after a while. Surely, there are more important things in life than how many stickers you can slap on newspaper dispensers and the number of shows you went to last week. But power-pop lyrics are renowned for their genericism, and simply put, they're just not the point. If nothing else, these guys are a hell of a lot more skilled with the pen than better-knowns like the Get Up Kids and the Promise Ring.
The Scene's Out of Sight isn't going to change anyone's life, and thankfully, it wasn't meant to. Actionslacks are more than satisfied assaulting "the kids" with their blissful, high-energy performances. And with their most competent album to date for sale at the merch table, it looks like the guys'll be riding the music geek fantasy for at least another five years. Which is really all a Californian power-pop band can ask for. ~ Ryan Schreiber
Actionslacks
March 22nd, 2001, Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco
Ain't love a bitch. Fans of Actionslacks' 1998 sophomore album, One Word, might be inclined to think so. That album was packed with the sort of acerbic tunes that are enough to make any sentient being swear off love, for a couple of weeks at least. But the other night at Bottom of the Hill, the reconditioned Slacks featuring new members Ross Murray on bass and Doug Modie on guitar, as well as longtime drummer Marty Kelly and singer-guitarist Tim Scanlin answered that charge with a resounding "probably."
Before their third song of the evening the first from the group's new album, The Scene's Out of Sight Scanlin announced that, yes, he was pretty certain Tad and Kimberly had called it splitsville.
The immortalized couple, the subject of Scanlin's lyrical musings on "Tad Loves Kimberly James," had revealed their amour via spray-painted trash cans in select East Bay locales. Apparently, however, the mismatched pair's future wasn't written in the stars; it's a lyrical topic that's no stranger to the group, then or now.
On Out of Sight (Self-Starter Foundation), everywhere love goes awry, there's always a chance to fix it, celebrate it, or otherwise bask in its brilliance. At the Bottom of the Hill the Slacks did all of the above, always emphasizing that old subjects never really go away, they just get reexamined.
In an 11-song set that largely featured songs from Out of Sight, the Slacks led with "The Look," the group's shoulda-been hit from One Word. It's arguably the most sentimental track on that album, and a rocker to boot. It's also the type of song that defines a set, much as it did this night. A shameless send-up of manufactured emotions most likely to yank your chain, "The Look" says that it's perfectly OK to follow your heartstrings, and it does so without sacrificing one bit of that rock 'n' roll punch. That's also the message conveyed on Out of Sight and a theme the band held fast to during their set.
With the addition of Murray and Modie, neither of whom played on the latest album, the Slacks have found their meatiest musical combination yet. Modie's guitar playing suits Scanlin's own six-string work well, and Modie pulls some double duty on keyboard, as he did on "Folding Chair" and "Bury Me in the Blue Sea," both from Out of Sight.
Besides "Look," the other songs the Slacks included from the One Word era were "Lying in Bed" and "Self-Conscious Spiel." The latter tune is part jab, part parody, and part self-deprecation and is characterized by Scanlin's sneering line, "We have so much cred, you know it's all I can do to get out of bed." But when they plugged it in the second slot of their set, gone was Scanlin's cynical delivery of that line, replaced instead with a more genteel vocal phrasing. The inflection may have been lost on some in the crowd, but in light of the kinder, gentler tone of Out of Sight, it shouldn't have come as much of a surprise.
So while an intertwined and engaged couple (presumably not Tad and Kimberly) swayed to the tunes at the back of the crowd, some people near the stage pogoed to the bursts of bristling energy; it seemed the Slacks have different effects on different folks. But as they reached the second-to-last song of their set, it was clear what was occupying the Slacks' minds. The high-energy "Joan of Arc," on which Scanlin imagines, "You could be my Joan of Arc / And I could be your Bonaparte," was followed by the set-closing title track from Out of Sight. It's a song that not only celebrates a rockin' music community but also captures the high points of love. ~ Todd Peterson
Actionslacks
The Scenes Out Of Sight
(The Self Starter Foundation)
All right, so there's a soft spot in my heart for pretty melodies, backed by huge tom-tom beats and fuzzy guitars. The new Actionslacks album is a tight little package of perfect hard pop. Tim Scanlin, the stalwart indie quartet's singer/guitarist, has a gift for perfectly shaped melodies, and drummer Marty Kelly knows just how much space he needs to fill with his diverse kit skills. The catchy songwriting reminds me of an indie version of alterna-rock, somewhere between David Grohl, Billie Joe Armstrong, and Gish-era Billy Corgan. I could imagine this album garnering attention from MTV and their ilk, so if you're a hard pop hipster, pick this album up before it gets popular in the mainstream so you can say, "I liked them before." ~ Maurice Spencer Teilmann
Actionslacks
The Scene's Out of Sight
The Self Starter Foundation
Right out of the gate, Actionslacks' "The Scene's Out of Sight" prepares the listener for a smart, edgy thrill ride. The opening, title track is an exhilarating, indie-pop extravaganza that recalls some of the biggest, best, and most-overlooked alternative rock acts of the past decade. Part Stephen Malkmus (Pavement), part Rob Zabrecky (Possum Dixon), part Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day), singer Tim Scanlin's vocals fuel such sly, well-crafted guitar-driven songs as "Tad Loves Kimberly James" and "Joan of Arc." Let's hope this set -- the Berkeley, Calif.-based band's third, which was produced by former Jawbox principal J. Robbins -- won't go unnoticed.
March 4th, 2001
...But we were fortunate enough to catch Actionslacks, who once again proved that the San Francisco music scene is not dead. It was a pretty early show for the swanky Bimbo's 365 Night Club, so Actionslacks's set was underattended. Still, the band was very gracious to the fans that were there -- starting out slow with a number vaguely reminiscent of Grant Lee Buffalo sans high notes. As the show progressed, the group played faster and faster, and the faster it played, the better the sound. Kinda like a brainy Green Day, Tim Scanlin's vocals punctuated the urgency and overall, carried the day.
In show business, who you know is just as important as talent and dedication. It's hard enough to be objective about music, simply because I'm passionate about it, but can I be true to my mission as a critic to help teenagers spend their lunch money wisely if I write about artists I know personally?
The Scene's Out of Sight, the third album by San Francisco's Actionslacks, bristles with taut, energetic, often touching songs that prompt the same adrenaline rush delivered by the Who, Sugar, and the Wedding Present. On the other hand, singer-guitarist Tim Scanlin (who was also responsible for the rock rag Snackcake) and drummer Marty Kelly are my pals. Does that mean my decision to interview Tim is a breach of ethics? When a record excites me this much, I'm not going to lose sleep over that question.
KBR: Which came first for you: writing music or writing about music?
Tim Scanlin: Writing music. And the thing that made me write music was Fables of the Reconstruction by R.E.M. Previous to that, I had been listening to lots of bad suburban metal, on which the guitar playing was pretty impossible from a 15-year-old kid's point of view. Then I heard Pete Buck and said, "I can do that." Listen to a song like "Talk About the Passion" on Murmur -- that whole riff is three notes.
KBR: When you started writing about music, did you feel at an advantage because of your understanding of music's technical demands?
TS: I did think that, and I still think that. In a best-case scenario, somebody who writes about music has insight into not only the musical aspects but also the logistical nightmare of being in a band. I cut artists slack when I listen to records because I know what a demeaning process it can be to actually write the songs, record the music, and put it out. That said, I completely respect the opinions of people who know nothing about music. Somebody downloading your song on Napster doesn't care that you had to work four jobs to record that album or that your girlfriend broke up with you. He doesn't care about anything except whether the music hits him or not.
KBR: Do you have trouble making interviewers appreciate that Actionslacks is a group, not the Tim Scanlin Experience?
TS: That really is the case sometimes. Marty is a phenomenal drummer, and a lot of our press is all about me, my songs, and my journalism career. Marty is a very humble guy, but I'm sure that bums him out to a certain degree. Our band would not be what it is if it weren't for him. Then again, we both understand it's better having an article that focuses on me than none at all.
KBR: So has your career as a writer and editor helped or hurt Actionslacks?
TS: It's probably helped, because I've managed to meet a lot of people that have helped us along. If it's hurt us, it's been mentally, because I know the whole music journalism racket--why people write about certain bands and ignore others. Journalists have a really bad habit [in that] they need to put you in a box, and God forbid you should ever try to get out of it because if you do, they're just like, "does not compute."
KBR: You're still bitter about people dismissing your drum-and-bass project.
TS: [Laughing] Exactly! And maybe that free jazz thing was misguided, but at least I gave it a try.
KBR: J Robbins [Jawbox/Burning Airlines] produced your new album. Is it possible to gaze upon him without going blind, or is his godlike radiance just a myth?
TS: In addition to being what I consider a brilliant musician, J Robbins is one of the nicest people I've ever met. The combination of the two is frightening. He's massively talented, he has great ideas, and he has an amazing voice. He did a lot of singing on this album; and I would be two inches from the mike, singing my guts out, and J would be two feet away and he would be louder than me.
KBR: You guys once convinced your former bass player to pose in his underwear for me because I was reluctant to listen to your latest CD. Is that the most shameless trick you've ever pulled to curry favor?
TS: Probably. We sent a Hickory Farms basket to a booking agent--after we got the tour--because this person told me on the phone that he liked [sausage]. But you're just playing with fire by doing stuff like that. If the person doesn't bite, you look like a real jackass. The ultimate is Madonna sending Rancid naked pictures of herself, and they didn't sign to Maverick. That's brutal--because they still have the pictures. ~ Kurt Reighley
February 21st, 2001
Actionslacks
The Scene's Out of Sight
The Self-Starter Foundation
KKKK (out of 5)
Highly buffed emo-pop produced by J. Robbins
WITH CVS that includes stints in the ranks of Sunny Day Real Estate, Samiam and the Mr. T Experience, the signs are good for this San Francisco four-piece. Add into the mix the guiding hand of post punk superproducer J. Robbins (now in Burning Airlines, previously in Jawbox) and you have the recipe for a blinder.
Boasting a similar simplicity of form to the last Promise Ring album ("Very Emergency") and a smoky melodic style reminiscent of Jets to Brazil man Blake Schwarzenbach, "The Scene's Out of Sight" is quite a beautiful album. It's stuffed to the gills with chunky, catchy pop tunery. "Perfect G," for example, is an unashemedly wussy emo nugget with a gorgeous hook, and "John L. Sullivan" is the poppiest song every written. Well, maybe.
Catchy as hell tunes and post-punk cool, anyone? ~ Ashley Bird
February, 2001
Actionslacks
The Scene's Out of Sight
The Self-Starter Foundation
It's a traditional enough formula, combining intelligent, thoughtful lyrics with dynamic, hard-hitting rock. And Tim Scanlin, founder/leader of Berkeley's Actionslacks, tinkers with it to solid effect once again on his band's third album. Although it's superficially less sonically wistful than Actionslacks' 1998 album, One Word, a disc colored by string arrangements and rainy-day tales, this CD nonetheless employs piano and acoustic guitar ("Tad Loves Kimberly James," "Shining Jewels," "Bury Me in the Blue Sea") for mood and nuance amidst angular rock songs ("Joan of Arc," "I Hope This Makes It Easier For You," the title track). The sparse, tender "Last Night I Dreamed (That You Were Losing Sleep Over Me)" is the album's big heart-on-the-sleeve ballad, and it's piano and acoustic guitar add a nice tonic to the band's edgier extremes (ably produced by Burning Airlines' J. Robbins). Maintaining and repositioning that balance is just one of Actionslacks' strengths, as Scanlin's vivid, evocative lyrics depict romance, existential dilemmas, poverty and fantasy ("The Sun in St. Tropez"). His voice, reedy and dry, might once have sounded wrong on these ballads. But this brave step into slightly darker, riskier material pushes the vocalist, and the band, into new territory. Now a quartet, Actionslacks are hitting their stride. ~ Mark Woodlief
January, 2001
Actionslacks
The Scene's Out Of Sight
The Self-Starter Foundation
Having lead his Actionslacks through a thusly sporadic career in emotive indie, singer/guitarist/cynic Tim Scanlin finally finds the champion blueprint by surrendering to his pop instinct. In completely hacking the myriad bells and whistles that made 1998's One Word an often over-ambitious, frustrating endeavor (frustrating in that the songs were good enough on their own), the Bay Area foursome have produced an eclectic rock and roll hook-fest of the highest order. Scanlin's rich lyrical imagery moves seamlessly through embittered barn-burners ("The Scene's Out Of Sight"), jazzy amblings ("Shining Jewels") and an undeniable, Moog-heavy tale of pugilism ("John L. Sullivan"), all with a decidedly Hsker D-ian sense of yearning for yesterday. While emo kingpin producer J. Robbins (Jets to Brazil, the Promise Ring) did indeed work the dials here, The Scene is anything but geek's lament, octave-chord overload. Instead it's a focused work of reflection as told via traditional instrumentation and one acerbic pen. ~ Greg Heller
January 29th, 2001
Actionslacks
The Scene's Out of Sight
The Self-Starter Foundation
Aging indie rockers present the same potential for tragedy as grown up child
stars. Bratty precociousness doesn't age well and once those gray hairs start
setting in, you don't really qualify as "cute" anymore.
So what happens when the smart, disaffected 20-somethings who spent the 90s
cranking out charmingly sloppy, snarky tunes filled with irony and
disaffected genius hit the big 3-0?
If Actionslacks are any indication, there's as much room for a Ron Howard
success story as there is for a Gary Coleman debacle. Rather than
misguidedly clinging to indie rock's slacker aesthetic, the 'Slacks have
upped the ante on their third album, The Scene's Out of Sight. In addition
to featuring the band's most solid songwriting yet, the album is masterfully
produced by Jawbox/Burning Airlines' J. Robbins. The result is highly
listenable, intelligent guitar pop that attempts to make some out of growing
older and growing up.
The Scene's Out of Sight doesn't entirely forsake indie rock's clever or
erudite mandate - after all, it's rather unlikely that you'll ever hear a Top
40 star tell a crush that "You could be my Joan of Arc/And I could be your
Bonaparte," as the 'Slacks do on the highly infectious, handclap-filled
throwback "Joan of Arc." Then again, the undiluted sentimentality of
"Shining Jewels" ("It's written on my shoes/How in love I am with you/We'll
be old but not before/All the nights we were beautiful and poor") is a
refreshing change of pace in a genre that has too frequently relied on irony
as its only (un)emotional outlet. In the meantime, "St. Tropez" might be the
most honest indie rock song ever written - a dream of sweet revenge where
former high school misfits frolic in the sun while the jocks "circle the pool
with shiny trays."
However, the true gem on the album is "Folding Chair," a song about attending
the wedding of a former flame that starts off upbeat, cool and detached but
quickly drops its guard to admit that "There's no cure I know/For having
trouble letting go/And I am."
Ultimately, it's that willingness to be real and direct (combined with some
top-notch songwriting) that places The Scene's Out of Sight above its peers.
You'd be hard-pressed to find another album this year that does such a good
job of being candid, confident, catchy and clever, all at the same time. ~ Barbara Mitchell
February 8th, 2001
Actionslacks
The Scene's Out of Sight
The Self-Starter Foundation
Among the seemingly endless entries in the emo-core sweepstakes, Actionslacks run a pretty good game. The Berkeley quartet have punchy melodies, appropriately tense guitars, and a crack drummer. But the most refreshing thing about the band's third album appears in the fourth song, the slow and luminous "Perfect G," a standard emo-pop number in almost every respect except for the lyrics, which warmly deal with being a little older and wiser than the average backpack-toting punk kid. Actionslacks deliver two more numbers that do much the same: "Shining Jewels," with its velvet strains of Latin-tinged piano, and the wistful "Joan of Arc." Then it's back to emo-pop-as-usual, but singer/guitarist Tim Scanlin has shown he can lead the scene into new and rewarding territory, and that's a major breakthrough. ~ Lois Maffeo
February 21st, 2001
Actionslacks
The Scene's Out of Sight
The Self-Starter Foundation
Don't be fooled by the J.Robbin's production credit slapped on the CD jacket, Actionslacks are not another emo band that sounds like Jawbox or Sunny Day Real Estate. There may be some elements that align them with the other bands Robbins has worked with in the past (The Promise Ring, Jets to Brazil, etc.), but Actionslacks are much more pop/new wave-oriented than any of their downer cohorts in the indie rock scene. They pepper their melodic vocal assault with stinging guitar riffs and all sorts of keyboards (Moog, organ, etc.) as primarily played by producer Robbins. The real gems are the middle tracks "Perfect G" and "Shining Jewels". After starting off the disc with a bang, "Perfect G" is a slower number that, dare I say, is beautiful. Call it the 'Slacks power ballad if you will, complete with the line "I will hold your hand/ Like a perfect gentleman." "Shining Jewels" begins with a bossa nova keyboard part -- which reminds me of a song you'd hear on a Charlie Brown cartoon -- and vocalist Tim Scanlin delivering his lines like an older, more mature Billie Jo Armstrong (Green Day) which is not meant as an insult. Rather, I imagine the two bands share certain influences like the Jam and the Buzzcocks. "Bury Me in the Blue Sea" rounds out the disc and is perhaps one of the greatest closing tracks on a CD that I've ever heard. Compared to the rest of the disc, it's got a slower tempo and eases you out of the album rather than dropping you flat (closing line: "Stick a sword right through me/Bury me in the blue sea/And that will be the end"). This one has the potential of winding up on my 2001 "Best of" list, I just hope I remember it come December. ~ Chip Midnight
Actionslacks
The Scene's Out of Sight
(The Self-Starter Foundation)
Berkeley's Actionslacks is obsessed with the glamour of youth. This band broods over the deliciously unfair trick youth plays by dealing beauty, brilliance, and poverty all at once. They write cute girls' names on shoes. They go to 24-hour, greasy-spoon diners, stare into girlfriends' eyes, and find the true meaning of life. Aptly, Actionslacks dresses its paeans to youth in punk/pop exuberance, a la the Buzzcocks.
But, considering Actionslacks' place in time, some will unfortunately suspect it's really the success of blink-182 that Actionslacks aims to emulate.
Actionslacks' epic punk/pop doesn't progress with the same verse-chorus, kiddy-pleasing ease as blink's. And the teen emotion Actionslacks portrays is less cartoonish, more complex and poignant than blink's smart-ass shtick. Their openings are often similar to Blink's, a tunefully plucked bass or guitar establishing an emotional backdrop. But, rather than unleash a song's entire impact at once, singer Tim Scanlin paints his moods gradually, as if he's holding back feelings too potent to release safely. Once listeners are duly hypnotized by a quiet melody, nodding in commiseration with someone who has lately lost his innocence (I don't want to work for anyone/There's no time, no time for fun'), the songs explode into anthemic choruses.
There are some departures from today's pop/punk sound. Obviously acknowledging a spirit shared with the Smiths, "Last Night I Dreamed (That You Were Losing Sleep Over Me)" is an acoustic heartbreaker. The jazzy "Shining Jewels" is, strangely, a near remake of Joe Jackson's "Steppin' Out" and not far lyrically from Chris DeBurgh's "Lady in Red." Though teetering just on the palatable side of mawkish, "Shining Jewels" still fits on the album, for Actionslacks is about feeling, man -- feeling intensely teenaged: scared, angry, heartbroken, hopeful, and heady. ~ Sarah Gordon
Actionslacks
The Scene's Out of Sight
(The Self-Starter Foundation)
In this era of pre-packaged boy/girl-band bubblegum and pseudo rap-metal posturing, there doesn't seem to be room for bands that actually take the time to craft melodic rock songs. Enter Actionslacks. While they certainly won't save rock and roll, they are an excellent alternative to the current music scene.
Actionslacks' new disc, "The Scene's Out of Sight," can best be characterized as a melodic emo album. It's your basic punk riffs accompanied by emotional lyrics. The emo description is often overused, but it certainly helps to describe the band's sound. What saves it from being a carbon copy of every other emo album is lead singer Tim Scanlin's introspective lyrics and the band's melodic music leanings. Some of the songs take awhile to unfold, and it takes a few listens of the album to really appreciate the sound. Nearly every track contains at least one solid hook that will imprint a song into your brain.
Actionslacks have released two other albums, and they have improved their songwriting with each effort. A lot of the material on the new disc is refreshing because it's unique. These guys are in their early thirties and have a good deal of life experience. Many of the songs deal with women, as does almost every pop song ever written by males, but they handle it in a mature way. This makes the listening experience that much more enjoyable.
The set kicks off solidly with the rocking title track, a sentimental piece of longing in which Scanlin pleads "And I'd love to see you here with me, but I know you'll never call." As each track progresses, the emotion builds and there's a recurring theme of unrequited love throughout the entire album. This premise makes "The Scene's Out of Sight" feel like a loose concept album, though it's not entirely clear whether this was the band's intention.
One of the most powerful songs on the album is "Folding Chair," which is one of the few I've ever heard that describes attending an ex-girlfriend's wedding. It's a contemplative song that builds to a powerful crescendo in the chorus. The feeling of longing is intense as Scanlin sings "And I broke down there...In that folding chair...It was too much pain...It was too much to bear...And I hope you sleep well tonight...And I'll think of you as I turn out the light." These are emotions that have been expressed by many bands, but very few have written about them as eloquently as Scanlin has in this song.
The most melodic and upbeat track on the album is the first single, "I Hope This Makes It Easier For You." This song could make Actionslacks a player in the mainstream rock scene. It starts off as a fairly standard pop-punk piece with a catchy chorus, but it really takes off two-thirds of the way into the song with a 'Beatlesque' interlude. This part of the song is so different it feels as if the band married two separate songs into one. This kind of songwriting separates the men from the boys. While not wholly original, it keeps the song interesting and the melody ingrained in your head. What makes it an even better album are very intelligent lyrics about a guy dropping subtle hints to his girlfriend that he's been cheating on her. Scanlin sings, "And I guess that I should probably let you know...Stacy's house is where I go to shows, and Jenny thinks that we broke up four months ago."
Actionslacks will probably go unappreciated, except to the privileged few who give them a chance to spread the word to others. While they are an indie rock band, it's probably best that way so the group can continue writing solid songs without being forced by record labels to appeal to everyone. ~ Larry Koestler
February 8th, 2001
Creaseless Actionslacks
The trick to making smart, tuneful pop is to make your perfectionism seem effortless. San Francisco's Actionslacks have been doing that for several years now, and the band's newest album, "The Scene's Out of Sight," perfects the perfectionism. ~ James Sullivan
"I don't want to work for anyone" is the opening line of Actionslacks' excellent third album, The Scene's Out of Sight, and it's a sentiment I'm sure most of us can relate to. "There's no time there's no time for fun" continues singer/songwriter Tim Scanlin. Scanlin used to work in my editorial department at SonicNet, so when he sings, "I swear some nights it feels like I could fall right down," I know, personally, just what a burnout the job could be. The new album, produced by J. Robbins (formerly of Jawbox, currently of Burning Airlines) is a rocking power-pop affair. Actionslacks are on the Noise Pop bill with Superchuck and Spoon for a March 3 show at Bimbo's in San Francisco. They'll be touring with Girls Against Boys soon. [Tuesday, January 30, 2001] ~ Michael Goldberg
Underground Valentines, September, 2000
Berkeley's Actionslacks deliver the fight of their lives with 'The Scene's Out of Sight,' produced by J. Robbins of Jawbox. A brilliant album with perfect song construction, it features one dozen guitars pounding out the 'Slacks signature staccato sound, massive world-class drums, vocals completely in-the-pocket, and lyrics romantic, smart and cynical all at once. You'll be old and wish for this someday." -- Tricia Halloran
December, 1998
"No one gets thename," says Actionslacks singer-guitarist Tim Scanlin of his group's second album. Titled in deference to the Berkeley, California band's name, One Word (Arena Rock) is as loaded with meaning as the songs themselves. "I'm such a verbose lyricist," says Scanlin. "There's the irony of me trying to write about anything in one word."
Scanln, drummer Marty Kelly and bassist Mark Wijsen logged 13 months in the studio completeing the follow up to their 1996 Skene! debut, Too Bright, Just Right, Goodnight. Compared to the three days spent recording that album, the One Word sessions were fraught with existential crises similar to those that fuel Scanlin's tunes: the intrusion of day jobs and heavy touring, and the desire to make "a real album with a cohesive theme, not just another live-in-the-studio record."
Actionslacks' guitar-laden, lyrically acerbic album reigns supreme in the under-considered genre of dilemma rock. "It's much more interesting to write about unhappy things," says Scanlin. "I keep a diary, but I only write in it when I'm unhappy. It's a reactive approach to songwriting." -- Todd Peterson
October 4th, 1998
Slack MF
by Richard Martin
Singer-guitarist Tim Scanlin, drummer Marty Kelly and bassist Mark Wijsen formed Actionslacks in 1995 in Berkeley, California. Their debut, Too Bright Just Bright Good Night, garnered positive reviews and introduced the 'Slacks to a few future fans. Then their label, Skene!, closed up shop. Homeless, Scanlin and his mates returned to the studio with a more boisterous batch of songs, an update of the late '80s Amer-indie sound that's distinguished by the singer's wryly observational lyrics. The cheekily named New York imprint Arena Rock took in the 'Slacks and issued One Word a few months back, and the band's been touring relentlessly since. Scanlin, who also publishes the fanzine SnackCake!, spoke with WW during a brief stop back in his hometown of Oakland.
WW: You just returned from a six-week tour. What's changed since you first started playing out as a band?
Tim Scanlin: This tour unequivocally demonstrated to us that the indie-rock infrastructure of the late '80s and early '90s is gone. There's a new infrastructure with bands like Braid and the Promise Ring that appeal to a younger audience. But the American indie-rock renaissance is over. I can't say that it was the most enjoyable tour. We played some really good shows. Only a handful of them sucked.
Why did some of the shows suck?
The audience for bands that I used to go see years ago has realized that it has to get on with its life, to get a job and get married and have kids. I think a lot of people have stopped going to shows.
Yet I saw Actionslacks play at the beginning of your tour in Seattle, and you guys sounded revved up. Were you able to keep up the momentum despite some potholes?
I think we're the best live band we've ever been now. We did like 35 shows in 38 days, and by the time of our last show at Spaceland in Los Angeles on Saturday night, we were kind of like a rock machine.
Would you say that you're the best rock band in America?
Duh! No, but seriously, we love to rock. There's a lot of irony in the lyrics, but there's no irony in the fact that we love rock music and we love to play rock shows. I'm a firm believer that if you're going to get on stage, you should get up there and go off. The studio is another arena. That's where we put on the horn rims and geek out and bust out the string section. But live, that's the place to go off. That's what it's all about.
Between fronting a band and publishing a music magazine, you're probably in touch with the trends. What are some of the positive and negative developments in the last decade?
There are definitely more bands. That can be cool but also kind of annoying because a lot of the talented bands get lost in the shuffle. There's a glut, and there's a lot of bands that should probably still be in their practice room but are instead making albums and putting them out. The whole Guided by Voices thing spawned a huge boom in home recording, which is great, but unfortunately not everybody with a four-track is Bob Pollard. On the up side, as fucked up as major labels are, they have been signing some bands and at least giving certain kinds of music a chance. But they do have a track record for liking something and signing it and then forgetting about it two weeks later.
Like Spoon. Elektra just dropped Spoon four months after its album came out.
I know, its brutal. I just talked to this guy in Ridel High, this pop-punk band from L.A., at our Spaceland show. I went up to him and said, "Congratulations on your A&M thing," and he was like, "Thanks, we're not on A&M anymore." They were on that label for like three months. It's ridiculous.
The labels read all this press and think the bands are really hip. Then they want this feather in their cap, until they realize that the feather doesn't make any money. Don't fool yourself. If you're not the new Third Eye Blind, you're not going to get the attention you need at a huge label.
June 14th, 1998
Actionslacks Sews Up Album
13 months later, 'One Word' is ready
by Michael Ansaldo
"It wasn't like an 'Abbey Road' thing, where we got up every morning and went down to the studio and worked for 10 hours hashing out these ideas," Actionslacks guitarist-vocalist Tim Scanlin says of the 13 months the East Bay band spent recording its second album, "One Word."
It was a heavy touring schedule, not grandiose aspirations, he says, that accounted for the album's lengthy gestation period.
Still, "One Word" is an ambitious step for a bnad that spent a mere three days in a basement recording its 1996 debut, "Too Bright, Just Right, Goodnight." On that album, Scanlin, bassist Mark Wijsen and drummer Marty Kelly captured the best elements of their bracing live shows, blending unrefined pop with an explosive delivery that belied their skeletal lineup.
On "One Word," Actionslacks fleshes out its new songs with layered guitars, samples, pianos -- even a string quartet. It celebreates the record's release with a show Thursday at the Paradise Lounge.
"We didn't want to make another live-in-the-studio record," Scanlin says. "We wanted to make an album that you could sit down and listen to all the way through, that was thematically consistent, that was, without sounding completely pretentious, a piece."
To help guide that vision, the band recruited friend and engineer Rick Stone, who worked on the debut EP by local favorites Creeper Lagoon as well as the final album by San Francisco's now-defunct Overwhelming Colorfast. It was the muscular sound of the latter that persuaded Actionslacks to bring Stone on board.
"One Word" benefits from similarly meaty production, which allows the bnad to explore more sophisticated arrangments without sacrificing a watt of energy. Yet Scanlin is keenly aware that Actionslacks' muse may have moved it a step beyond indie rock's comfort zone.
"I don't know if it's indie rock anymore. It sounds really big, and it's got a considerable amount of production on it. It's ironic, but I don't think we're going to be embraced by the people who embrace the kind of bands that we like."
August 21st, 1998
Actionslacks singer-guitarist Tim Scanlin takes more than a few pot shots at indie-rock posing throughout his trio's latest disc, "One Word."
The intended single, "Self- Conscious Spiel," is radio-friendly in its driving pace and quality production, but its clever lyrical attack is not so friendly to the angst-bloated bands that Actionslacks might be rubbing shoulders with on the airwaves. "If there's no angst, we will fake / what we
don't have, we will make / and I'm making a killing here selling it all," Scanlin sings. Later, in "Grind Away," he examines the sometimes absurd
life of an indie-rock band and its give and take ("I'll feed you if you feed me"), and in "Gentry" he asks, "Why do we reward the mediocre horde
of bulls--- coming through my radio?"
The anti-sell-out anthem is hardly new in indie rock, but Actionslacks seems to see more sides of the equation than most adolescent pseudo-rebels. The sneering beginning of "Gentry" becomes, after careful lyrical consideration, a vindication of all things earnest and scruffy, ending with this declaration: "If the sound that he's making is just notes / then Versailles is a house and the Titanic was a boat."
"We don't look at ourselves as that kind of band, but it's very easy to fall into that trap," Scanlin said of self-righteous bands in an interview this
week. "Indie rock inherently demands that kind of self-conscious attitude. In something that exists as a kind of anti-convention convention, something always kicking against rock music with a capital R, it helps to be ironic and self-conscious. I'm aware of the fact that we play music that's not widely accepted -- at least from a commercial point of view -- and that's where the self- consciousness comes from."
Actionslacks came together four years ago this month, with Scanlin and bassist Mark Wijsen sticking together after the dissolution of another Bay Area band and adding drummer Marty Kelly. After numerous mailings of the first Actionslacks 7-inch record to record labels, the now-defunct Skene! label in Minneapolis responded with a contract, releasing the band's first full-length album, "Too Bright, Just Right, Goodnight," in 1996.
"We were so amazed and thrilled," Scanlin said. "All we ever wanted was to be on a cool indie label."
"One Word" was released in June on the Arena Rock label (home of Harvey Danger), and the band's third album is already written. They plan to
record it in November, after their lengthy tour is wrapped up.
"We're pretty prolific," Scanlin said. "I write all the time."
In a statement released with the record, Scanlin said he and his bandmates love the "concept of the trio and the dynamic that it entails." Wijsen expanded on that idea.
"In a trio, your parts are somehow more defined. Each person carries as much weight," he said. "Some of our favorite bands are trios -- the Minutemen, Husker Du. It's a rougher sound somehow. That extra person or two just fill in the gaps of the music's urgency and starkness.
"Plus, three people fit in the van easier." -- Thomas Conner
August 26th, 1998
by Bret Schulte
Already 26, Tim Scanlin works a steady stream of temp jobs, reads Stephen Crane and feels most comfortable in his favorite pair of sports pants.
He also fronts power-chord pop trio Actionslacks, a hooky, forceful and frequently clever Bay Area band making its Lincoln debut tonight at Duffy's, 1412 0 St.
The show supports the group's second album, "One Word," a spelling tip on the band's name, which serves as a tribute to Levi's famous stretch slacks.
Laden with throaty rhymes and quick melodies, "One Word" marks a breakthrough for the Arena Rock Recording Company artists, whose first album, "Too Bright, Just Right goodnight" appeared on the now-defunct Minneapolis label, Skene!
"Our first record was recorded in three days in a basement, and we had no money," Scanlin recalled. "We wanted the second album to be more than just a live studio record."
"One Word" builds on the trio's basic guitar, bass and drums collection by adding piano and even a string quintet to a few tracks.
Calling from a date in Houston, Scanlin chatted while his band mates loaded up the group's mini-van. "We're driving the Slackswagon, known to the department of motor vehicles as a 1994 Ford Aerostar. It's got air-conditioning," he bragged.
The van has already carried them half-way around the country, starting in Los Angeles at the infamous Viper Room, owned by actor Johnny Depp.
Scanlin reports that Depp rarely visits the Viper Room, but the band hardly noticed his absence. "We were outside looking for the chalked body of River Phoenix," he said.
Actionslacks members aren't always so flippant, though. Scanlin, along with drummer Marty Kelly and bass player Mark Wijsen, knows all about the pitfalls and complexities that accompany indie success.
"I'm acutely aware of the capacity for being pretentious in music," Scanlin said. "(But) as one person said, I would rather hear a pretentious album than a bad album."
The catchy simplicity of the Actionslacks stems from an affinity for fellow indie-pop bands such as Guided By Voices and New Sweet Breath. But the band also looks toward pop masterminds Elvis Costello and The Replacements for inspiration.
The desire for pop perfection is what brings the Actionslacks back to the studio, where they love to tinker with guitar dubs, mixes and a variety of instrumentation. "The studio is a palate that you can practice on," Scanlin said.
He describes the band as "wearing two different hats" to emphasize the distinction between the dense musical compositions of the record and the three-piece live rock show.
While on the road, the three musicians, crammed in the mini-van with all their equipment, keep their minds nimble in other ways.
"We've just recently started using all nautical terms in the van," Scanlin explained. "We now say 'Lightning to the starboard bow,' and when we park it's 'Drop anchor!' And you have to say it in a pirate voice."
But the real fun starts at the shows. The band is frequently bombarded with, you guessed it, pairs upon pairs of Levi's action slacks of all shapes and sizes. "People give us action slacks all the time," Scanlin said. "I wear two pair, black."
For those interested, Scanlin wears a 34 to 36 waist and prefers 30 long, so they are just a little too short. He also likes shades of maroon.
Despite probable trade violations, Scanlin hopes to sell the "stretchy and comfortable" pants they collect along with the rest of the band's merchandise.
Actionslacks open for Split Lip and Rayfield at 10 p.m. The show costs $3, a small fee for a little action in your slacks.
September 17th, 1998
Strength, Grace and Noise
by Marsha Tallerico
A lot of the material on Actionslacks' new album, One Word, "was inspired by shitty relationships," according to vocalist-guitarist Tim Scanlin.
A track called "Imogene Threw Me Over," for instance, was motivated by the advice Scanlin's dad gave him whenever he had romantic troubles. Relating a story about a failed relationship of his own, Scanlin's dad pronounced: "Imogene threw me over for an anchor-clanker" -- in other words, getting dumped is part of life.
Actionslacks came together in Berkeley, California in 1995. It released 1996's Too Bright, Just Right, Goodnight on the now-defunct Skene! label (home to such acts as Jawbreaker, Candy Machine and Trenchmouth). Scanlin said the Slacks have now "found a home" along with Harvey Danger on NYC's Arena Rock label.
Scanlin said working as a trio gives the group an interesting dynamic, an edge that comes, perhaps, from a constant danger of falling out of balance. Scanlin, Wijsen and Kelly have been working together for 4 years and "have a sort of telepathy going on."
"In a trio format, everyone has to pull their own weight, and this band does some pretty adventurous arrangements," he said. "If you have two guitars, one missing is no big deal. But with only three members in the band, everyone has to have their proverbial shit together."
Scanlin laughed at my mention of the "frumpcore" label taken by the band in an early bio.
"It's a statement on the whole music-fashion nexus," he said. "But we're pretty fashionable guys; we know our way around a thrift store."
But Actionslacks evade the application of any stylistic label. "What we are is a rock band," said Scanlin.
Scanlin is known for stellar lyrics that alternate between provocative, scintillating, piercing, facetious, sarcastic, jaded and cynical.
Consider "Gentry," my favorite track on One Word, wherein Scanlin proclaims: "It's not strength, grace or poise/ it's just melancholy noise."
Nice, huh?
"But the most important thing is the music," Scanlin said. "That's what draws people in; the music is the vehicle for the words."
Nice 'Slacks!
An Interview with Berkeley, California's ACTIONSLACKS
by Dave Rosenheim
Being in a band isn't easy -- especially in a city as clotted with music as San Francisco. After years of sobbing over the complete lack of a "scene" here,
however, I am starting to smell the glue of something more cohesive beginning to
form. I know that some of my disgruntled comrades-in-arms will disagree, but in the past year or so, as L.A. has turned its back on rock, a loose environment of mutual support amongst SF's musicians and bands has developed here in the City. At the heart of this scene-in-the-rough are Bay Area stalwarts, Actionslacks.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE 'SLACKS
Rising from the ruins of Pillbox in 1994, guitarist/vocalist Tim Scanlin and bassist Mark Wisjen took on Marty Kelly (playing for Lunchbox at the time) to form the holy trinity that is Actionslacks. They recorded their first single in the winter of '95 and released it on their own Permanent Records shortly thereafter. After mailing the singles to various labels, the band received word from Jeff Spiegel of Skene! Records, who subsequently released their debut album, Too Bright Just Right Good Night, in the spring of 1996. After knocking out one full-blown national tour, several jaunts up and down the West Coast and countless local Bay area shows, the 'Slacks have finally released their long-anticipated second album, One Word, on New York's Arena Rock label.
THE MEETING
Although I'm late, I seem to have made it to Hotel Utah before any of the 'Slack men. As I wait for my Guinness to settle, I notice a familiar face down the bar to my left. It's the principal actor (whose name I'll never know) in Erin Casey's light-hearted independent short film, "Cat Scam." Tom Hollywood seems to be doing a bit of scamming himself, so I don't bother him for an autograph, but it does remind me of the film which I saw only a day or two before--a film, fittingly enough, flecked with songs and instrumental morsels from Actionslacks' first aural thriller.
As I smile at the coincidence, Marty Kelly, mighty skin-slammer of the 'Slacks, slides onto the stool to my right. Having him to myself gives me the chance to assail him with compliments on One Word. In perfect time to save the poor drummer from this embarrassing assault, 'Slack bassist extraordinaire, Mark Wijsen, shows his boyish face and leads us into a back room of the Hotel Utah. Tim Scanlin soon appears with pint in hand and we all perch
ourselves on empty kegs, bar stools and whatever else can be found.
THE INTERVIEW
This is only my second interview on the giving side and I'm nervous. I check and re-check my RadioShack dictaphone, look over my lame questions, snap a few Polaroids of the band and begin.
How did you guys get started playing music?
Mark: I've always played in three pieces. I kind of started playing by default. I liked The Jam and the Minutemen. X really inspired me to play rock and roll.
Marty: Stewart Copeland. The Police. I got into Fugazi. The usual college rock stuff: The Clash, Stereolab, Belle and Sebastian, Yo La Tengo...
Tim: I was a total metal head in junior high 'cause that was what my brother listened to. I listened to whatever he listened to: Quiet Riot, Motley Crue, Zeppelin. Just all old school metal stuff. But the thing that made me pick up the guitar was, without a doubt, Pete Buck of R.E.M. I was listening to all this metal, but I could never imagine myself playing it because those guys were so technically proficient; they played a mile a minute. But then I heard R.E.M, with Buck playing these single, super-stripped down notes. I was like, "I can do that." So I just started playing and got totally into R.E.M. I think Fables of the Reconstruction was the first record that I really got into, and then I gradually researched their entire catalog. Then I go into the Replacements and Camper Van Beethoven. In high school I was, and still totally am, into Echo and the Bunnymen. I think they're a big influence on our new record. I love them. But my three favorite bands of all time are The Who, X, and the Minutemen. The Who for me are the epitome of rock.
It's been said that you guys have some similarities to the Clean. Where do they fit into all of this?
Tim: Oh yeah, I didn't even mention New Zealand. I was in college when I got into the New Zealand thing. The Clean are a band from a small town called Dunedin, in New Zealand. In fact, that's where The Chills, The Bats and another of my favorite bands, the Straitjacket Fits, are from. The Clean's guitar player is David Kilgore, who was one of the architects of "the New Zealand sound." His playing has this complete absence of blues; there are no bent notes. It's all super linear, big fat round notes, really fast staccatoed strumming.
Excuse me. Although I can't recall ever hearing The Clean, Tim's description of their non-blues approach holds true in regards to the 'Slacks' own music. Tim's rapid-fire strumming of his Rickenbacker 360, his chiming arpeggios and single-note attacks rarely bend and nary a blues scale is heard.
THE SONGS
Actionslacks' songs are tangible and familiar, loaded with pop intuition and implicit melodic charm. There is, however, a dark, edgy moodiness that courses through their work, giving the songs weight and depth rarely approached by the gobs of fluffy bands congesting the airways and store shelves. I ask them to reveal the mysteries of their writing process.
Tim: It has to germinate and mutate in my head. I'll come up with a lick and I'll play it for months at a time and then it'll turn into a song, but other times I'll just write a song in a day. You know, sometimes you just get inspired and it works out, other times you have to work at it and find it. In a nutshell, I bring in the basic ideas on a practice basis and we totally deconstruct them and blow them up again. The lyrics are the last thing. Writing lyrics is really rhythmic for me. I'll have a certain rhyme or something that I might change at the last minute. Lyrics are really hard for me to write.
That's strange--they seem so well thought out. It seems that your songs, the lyrics and the tone, come from a certain anger or resentment.
Tim: I agree with that, in terms of [One Word]. I can be a pretty sarcastic person. I like my lyrics to be smart, but not over-consciously witty. A lot of the new album is about relationships that didn't turn out well. So the songs are immediately coming from a bitter, angry place. I always try to see the wit in things. I'm not big on outwardly sentimental lyrics, although we do have some like that.
Marty: Music is most effective when it's sad.
Speaking of sad lyrics, "Imogene Threw Me Over" is my favorite song on the new record. Who is Imogene? Is it just a name you pulled out of the air?
Tim: Every time I experienced relationship problems as a kid, my dad would tell me that Imogene threw him over for an "anchor-clanker," which was a true story. Some girl dumped him for a sailor. So that phrase was ingrained in my head. The "stay way back" comes from when I was learning how to drive. My dad's mantra behind the wheel is "stay way back." But it also translates to the new meaning of the song, i.e., "You dumped me; stay away from me."
ONE WORD
The Slacks' latest studio effort and second full-length album, One Word, is awe-inspiring. Engineered by the talented Rick Stone at Roof Brothers in Emeryville, CA, the album took roughly a year and a half of on-again/off-again work. With far more elaborate production than their earlier recordings, One Word brings in the strings, armies of guitars and more.
How was the production for the album planned out? Was it demoed first or talked about, or did it happen spontaneously?
Mark: We did demo some stuff. We really liked the last record that Rick had worked on and it just evolved that way. We wanted to spend more time on it and make it into more of an album that you could listen to and find different things in, rather than listening to it once and just hearing another rock band.
What's up with the strings?
Marty: It was real basic, but it totally changed the songs. We hired an arranger.
Tim: He basically did it all, working