Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Interviews
Forum Description: Original interviews with Prog artists (which are exclusive to Prog Archives)
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=76252 Printed Date: December 22 2024 at 13:46 Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: MaseratiPosted By: toroddfuglesteg
Subject: Maserati
Date Posted: February 26 2011 at 15:15
Maserati is a band formed in Athens, Georgia, United States in 2000 by Coley Dennis, Matthew Cherry, Steven Scarborough and Phillip Horan. Their music can be seen as a combination of Post-Rock, Progressive Rock and Psychedelic Rock with a few hints of Krautrock. They self-released their first album "37:29:24" in 2001. They also released several albums and a collaboration with The Mercury Program on their now-defunct Kindercore record label. In 2004 drummer Phillip Horan left the band and was replaced by Jerry Fuchs, member of several bands like !!!, Turing Machine and LCD Soundsystem. After 3 years of silence they released their first album with their new line-up in 2007 called "Inventions For The New Season".
I got in touch with the band and Coley Dennis answered my questions.
Your biography has been covered in your
ProgArchives profile so let's bypass the biography details. But which bands were
you influenced by and why did you choose that name ?
We've been influenced but probably too many bands
to list here but if were talking about the bands we were inspired by in 2000
when the band started i would have to say bands like SONIC YOUTH, SLINT, MY
BLOODY VALENTINE, U2 and other british shoegaze bands from the 90's like
SWERVEDRIVER, SLOWDIVE etc... we wanted to take a name that was simple and
sounded familiar so people would think they had heard of us and come to our
shows, we just really liked the way MASERATI sounded and how open to
interpretation it was.
How was the music scene in your area when you
started up ?
We arrived in athens in 2000. at the time the
whole ELEPHANT 6 collective had kinda run its course and those bands were either
breaking up or forming other bands so that scene was kinda done. there
definately were not any other bands really mining the territory that we were
interested in and that made us stick out a bit, i think that may have given us
an edge in some way...
Let's begin the discography questions with your
debut album. Please tell us more about 37:29:24 from 2001.
That first EP was written during the first six
months the band was together. the first two months actually were us just jamming
sonic youth sounding experimental stuff and it wasnt until our friends band
asked us to do a show with them a few months later. i think that motivated us to
get 5 of the 6 songs together and do our first shows in the summer of 2000, we
released 37:29:24 in the spring of 2001 i believe.
Please also tell us more about your second album
The Language of Cities from 2002
The band spend the entire summer of 2001 touring
in support of the first EP. i think we started writing a few of the songs right
before the first tour so we may have played a few early verions of them but i
cant recall. i think the fall and winter of 2001 was spent writing most of the
songs that ended up on "the language of cities." at the time i think we had
grown as a band a bit but were still mining alot of post rock bands that we were
into at the time. its still an early snapshot of where the band was at the time
but i feel its a definate step above the first EP we did the previous year.
Please also tell us more about your third and most
recent album Inventions For The New Season from 2007
We did a tour of japan in the spring of 2004 and
directly after our original drummer Phil Horan left the band. we had been
touring and writing non stop for 4 years at that point and decided that was a
good time to take a break. in early 2005 we enisted our friend Jerry Fuchs to
join the band. we had known jerry from his time going to school here at UGA and
had become friends. i always loved the way he played and we all kinda knew that
if the band was going to continue at the time we had to get him on board. after
many margaritas we finally convinced him to join and started writing new ideas
for songs in the fall of 2005 i believe. Jerry brough a much different influence
to the band and really sent us into a much more kraut-rock/psych driven
territory that was exciting for us. we were going tired of the post rock
quietLOUDquiet formula so this was a welcome addition. most of 2006 was spent
touring and writing for the songs that would end up on INVENTIONS FOR THE NEW
SEASON.
What have you been up to since 2007 ?
After we wrapped up the INV record we kept pretty
busy. we did 2 tours of Europe and several US tours as well as writing the songs
that ended up on the ZOMBI split LP we did with them in 2008. after that we
started writing the songs and getting ideas together that would become the
PYRAMID OF THE SUN and MOON records respectively.
What inspires you to create new music and what is
your recording technics ?
I think everything inspires us in some way either
it being life or music in general. i know the past few years have been really
difficult for the band emotionally so i think you can take alot of strength and
inspiration from that if you can. as far as musically weve kind of been like
sponges the past few years just seeking out new and exciting music to draw
inspiration from, i think if we werent able to do that we wouldnt grow as a band
and everyone would quickly become tired of it. none of us are interested in
making the same record over and over...
Just to give those of us who are unknown with your
music a bit of a reference point or two: How would you describe your music ?
I've been using the term DANSE-PSYCH lately mainly
because i think its kinda funny but in a way kinda sums up alot of the elements
that have gone into evolving the band into what it has become.
What is your plans for the rest of this year and
beyond ?
The European Tour in march and US Tour in april!
after that we will most likely take a break and begin to evaluate the next steps
for us.
To wrap up this interview, is there anything you
want to add to this interview ?
Come see us in MARCH! were really looking forward
to playing in europe again, its probably my favorite fans in the world.--coley
dennis/maserati
Thank you to Coley for this interview
Their PA profile is http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=3075" rel="nofollow - and homepage's http://ihaveadagger.net/" rel="nofollow -
Replies: Posted By: JROCHA
Date Posted: February 26 2011 at 18:13
Great band! There latest album Pyramid of the Sun is awesome. It has a more electronic sound, than Inventions. One of my favorite bands of today for sure.
------------- Somewhere out of a memory of lighted streets on quiet nights...
Posted By: Proletariat
Date Posted: February 26 2011 at 18:26
Great interview as always and amazing band!!! They have a great sound, I love the more krautish end of the post-rock spectrum!!
------------- who hiccuped endlessly trying to giggle but wound up with a sob
Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: February 26 2011 at 18:39
Thanks for the interview and the band for participating. Todd, my man, you are a PA interviewing machine. I haven't tried most of the Post rock guys. Explosions was my first and Maserati is my second. I haven't delved further yet. I do find the Mas to be a bit more interesting than the Ex. Great to see a band from my neck of the planetary woods doing good prog.
Posted By: Prog Geo
Date Posted: February 27 2011 at 13:13
Nice interview again.I'm happy that you interview good post rock bands.
------------- Sonorous Meal show every Sunday at 20:00 (greek time) on http://www.justincaseradio.com
Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: November 05 2013 at 02:05