H-Town Rock Interviews: The Midgetmen

Welcome to our new feature here at H-Town Rock. It has been a pleasure to provide you with our weekly music calendar for the past few months, but we wanted to up the ante a bit and diversify what we’re offering to the dozen or so readers of Houstonist. So, we’re introducing “H-Town Rock Interviews:” and hoping that everyone enjoys our attempt to shed a bit more light on local (i.e. Houston and Texas-wide) bands. For our first installment, Houstonist had the opportunity to interview the Austin, TX-based indie-punk four-piece, The Midgetmen.

H-Town Rock: It's evident from your new album, Show Pony, that The Midgetmen love to have fun and love making music. What's been the driving force for the band for all of these years? What propels the four of you to keep making music?

Justin Petro: Well, some people are in it to ogle women, have sexual encounters, drink copious amounts of alcohol, and/or do all sorts of illicit and illegal drugs. We play for the love of the music. Isn’t that right guys?!?

Jon Loyens: Beer. It’s a good excuse to drink and have fun with my closest friends. We all have other things outside of music too, so I never feel any pressure to conform, produce, or play anything I don’t want to (except when Marc makes us play Don’t Stop Believing)

Alex Victoria: Twiddling bits at a software job can make anything seem cool.

Marc Perlman: Free drink tickets and my unrelenting desire to make these guys have a hobby.

HTR: Talk about the recording process for Show Pony. The record sounds really gritty, raw, and comparable to the band’s live sound.

AV: By far, the best records in history have captured the raw live sound of a group performing in small room: Neil Young's Tonight's the Night, Pixies’ Surfer Rosa and Come on Pilgrim, Exile on Main Street, Spoon's Girls Can Tell, and pretty much everything from Silkworm. While the big arena sounds works well for a lot of really great bands, capturing the sound of a small rock venue seems a lot more difficult to us -- and worth striving for. That said, maybe it is really easy for everyone else and they're just not letting us in on the joke. Regardless, we are making a significant effort to sound good.

JL: We’ve really evolved the recording process over the course of our three records and that evolution is function of both our musical and production abilities. They both started near nil.

On the first record, to keep things simple and quick, we stuck up a bunch of mics and recorded. No overdubs, even on the vocals.

On the second record, we went the complete opposite direction: guide tracks, overdubs, the whole nine yards. What we ended up realizing was that, while we got the production level we wanted, it lacked the energy. In a certain way, the process used on the second record also served to expose our overall lack of musical prowess even more.

By the time we were ready to do a third record, we’d improved exponentially as musicians, but were weary of losing the energy again. As an experiment, I grabbed my laptop, stuck up some mics, and recorded us practicing without vocals. We were able to use those basic live tracks and then overdub the vocals, guitar solos (where necessary – a lot of the guitar solos were also played live), etc. We started with tracks with energy and then added precision only where it was necessary with overdubs.

HTR: What are some of your favorite tracks from the new album? How many of them will make their way into the band's raucous live set?

JP: I'm too lazy to change the CD’s in my car, so I basically have to listen to it [Show Pony] every six times. I think the tracks I like a lot are the ones we actually don't play live like "Moo Cows." I think the songs we play regularly are vastly better than what is on the record. Certain parts are more comfortable (or I don't screw them up any more).

AV: My favorite moments are the surprises. Songs like "Words" that were almost abandoned forever, but were added at the last minute. "Rodeo" was recorded on whim the last day of tracking. Similarly, "Jimmy and Skippy" was almost left on the floor. I think these tracks add a lot to the record. "Trickle Down" proves that Marc is the lead singer of the band! My biggest regret is "Bunk Sock," but only because people don't get that's it is only partially about playing with titties.

MP: We’ve played every song on the album at least a dozen times live, with the exception of “Moo Cows + Horsies”. On a given night, if we play 12 songs, 7 or 8 will probably be from Show Pony.

HTR: In general, what does the songwriting process look like for The Midgetmen? Is there one person who takes the lead or is it more of a mutually collaborative theme?

JP: Thankfully, a good deal of the songs is collaborative. That probably shows, as we tend to be a bit schizophrenic. If you don't like it, wait 30 seconds; the next one is almost guaranteed to be different.

HTR: A few bands started to take the environment into account when recording, packaging their music, and even touring. The Midgemen are a part of that movement. What are some of the things the band does to honor and protect the environment when music-making?

AV: We hate the environment, natural meat, and local produce. We only use it to sell millions of records and lay young co-eds. Unlike Willie Neslon, we pay taxes and can't afford a Hemp Powered Bus.

JP: We only drink biodegradable beer. We try to do what's right when we can. I think that's what everyone should shoot for.

JL: I like to turn down the AC in our practice room: lower energy usage = sweatier Midgetmen. The more you sweat, the more you rock.

MP: We threw a party during SXSW that was carbon offset by MoveNeutral.com. Our tour to the Northeast in May was also carbon offset by them. It probably matters more to me than the rest of the gang, but I think we’re all acutely aware of how bad for the planet we are.

HTR: What kind of touring can we expect from the band in Fall 2008?

JP: Nothing other than some more Texas shows unless Pavement re-unites. We had a blast this spring in the North East, but we need to pay the bills this fall back home.

JL: Please god, no more (there’s only so much Petro snuggling one can take)!

HTR: What has the band been listening to recently, whether for fun or inspiration?

JP: Basically whatever Marc tells me to. The Hold Steady, Against Me!, Titus Andronicus, Desaparecidos (still one of my favorite albums), The Big Sleep, Blood on the Wall, Boston, and Billy Joel (seriously, go listen to Angry Young Man).

JL: My recent playlist: new Hold Steady, new My Morning Jacket, new Sloan, Destroyer, Richard Hell, new Matthew Sweet.

AV: Titus Andronicus, The Hold Steady, Islands. Everything else is shit.

MP: The sound of spinning chaos (thank you RNC on CNN!), Ted Leo, The Evens, Jay Reatard, The Who.

The Midgetmen will be performing at Notsuoh on Saturday, September 6th with fellow Austinites, The Platforms.