Thanks Much to Celeste for e-mailing me this article. It's an article she did for mpls' pulse magazine. But it never got printed so as far as i know, THIS IS EXCLUSIVE!! so enjoy:
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The Remarkable Sonic Projection Strategy
By: Ceora Baslette
“Every band has a part directly in the evolution of music. It’s like
evolving as a human, you don’t really know, it’s not a conscious effort.
There are always certain things that just happen based on its acceptance by
society. A band will take this portion of what they know, and will make
their own sound. Then a band in the next time scale will take that band and
these other bands around that, they’ll become the sound of that.” Involved
in our epic question and answer session, Ryan Olcott of 12Rods
(vocals/guitars/synthesizers and songwriter) is driving on a downtown
Minneapolis one-way street. He stares intently at the road as if it’s a
teleprompter, “There needs to be new bands to do more cool things, I don’t
think there’s enough of that in this town.”
There isn’t enough musical innovation in this town. Luckily due to their
1994 move from Cincinnati, Minneapolis now has 12Rods. Christopher McGuire
(drum set), Ev (synthesizers/guitars/vocals), and Bill Shaw (bass/vocals),
in addition to Olcott complete the band. Their music emits a personality
that is more than just two-dimensional projection. It’s very much alive and
has feeling all it’s own, virtually human. There are distinguishing
features: flowing changes, electronically fused vocals, and clever keyboard
parts, which tell you this is 12Rods. Yet every song clearly differs from
one another, just like moods in human behavior, the sound is always and
never the same. The innovation doesn’t just lay in their catchy distinct
sound; it’s their on-stage chemistry, their composure. “(Our sound) is
pretty unconventional to hear in a rock band that has the energy we have on
stage.” Their stage chemistry is due to their conscious technique of
magnifying emotion. Olcott states, “When you get on stage, you gotta let go
of all your inhibitions. A different character will emerge.”
If you have experienced a 12Rods live show, my guess is, you’d agree. It’s
difficult to focus on one body on stage. Ev plays a guitar slung on his
lanky shoulder while hunched over the double decked keyboards. With pursed
lips, he dons an outfit all black, accessorized with a feather boa. Through
his shoulder length black hair and dark lensed eyewear, he looks at the
crowd giving a mysterious and borderline Goth vibe. Behind him is McGuire,
arms a flurry, projecting an event all his own: facial expressions of
intensity and mockery; gracefully timed rock spins. He performs with
conviction and confidence, the drum set an extension of him. The band not
only goes through the primary motions of creating sound; they put on an act.
Their visual stimulus mirrors the diverse sound. Fully armed with
seemingly rehearsed rock jumps, Olcott emotes the pain of bearing music.
Beneath a black felt cowboy hat (his current fashion statement of choice);
his face is saturated with feeling as he sings you the stories of their
songs. Slightly behind and stage left of Olcott is Shaw, the newest member
of 12Rods. Swaying about the stage with bass in tow as if he’s going to
flamenco dance, Shaw is found constantly shooting knowing glances at the
crowd before him. Like mimes, they use the visual medium to act out the
sound. A rare ability, but that is the way it should be: a parallel
projection between the songs and stage.
So, what kind of diverse is their personal style and how can we define it?
With a hint of discontent, Olcott calls it: “Rock. It’s my own brand, but
the base of it is rock music. I don’t want to have the pretension that I am
defining the new level of rock. I’d much rather feel as though I’m taking
someone else’s preconceived notion of rock and am pushing it in a different
way.” Discussion in progress, we’re still driving around, with no
particular destination in mind. His answers are long-winded, heavy, and
eager.
Olcott calls 12Rods a stray little sub-group. The complexity and prowess of
12Rods’ songwriting sets their version of rock apart from other bands
interpretations. “The arrangement (of our songs) throws off a lot of
listeners. The people that understand what we do have a certain level of
sophistication. It’s pretty mathematical. They’ve probably heard a lot of
music, and kind of know where we’re coming from. There are different kinds
of audience members; we have listeners-the kind that really hones into the
music, who can really pick out what we’re doing. Which is flattering that
someone would go out of their way to do that. I don’t even like to do that
anymore.”
12Rods signed with V2 Records in early 1997. They released Gay? an EP in
1996, followed by their highly acclaimed Split Personalities in 1998.
During the past months composer Olcott has created over 20 songs. The
evolution of 12Rods sets their songs in a more pop focused position. The
intro of Telephone Holiday contains a catchy Atari-esque bass line soon
layered with lip-biting lyrics: “Not gonna call you/And I’m not gonna be
your friend/Wont be your lover/Never ever ever again/Pretty baby/Please
don’t cry/I have no reason/Just goodbye/I’m a bad bad person/And I just
wanted to play/So I’m signing off gently…” You’ll find dreamy synthesizers
swirling in and out of Kaboom!, a disco-beat song about the confusion of and
the losing yourself, in the gray areas of love and sex. I Think I’m Flying
has more of a Euro-pop feel, a slow and trancy tempo with
just-above-whisper-level vocals. The summer finds them in Hawaii recording
these songs, among others, for their next album; produced by Todd Rundgren.
Which Olcott says is going to differ from their past releases, “This one’s
going to be the record that I write that is based off of post-signing.
There’s a lot of influence from all sorts of angles that have caused me to
write like I am writing this next record. I would say it’s a lot more
streamlined. It’s gonna have it’s epic moments, but it’s gonna be a lot of
pop songs.”
“What I hear of on a daily basis is very little song structure. It’s based
off of groove and a stripped down minimalist element of music, which isn’t
bad, but there’s more to music,” Opinionated 24-year old Olcott pleads, “I’m
not talking huge arrangements, just more of a structure. Tell a story from
A to Z, not just lyrically, but musically.” Being a firm believer in
learning from every live performance, no matter how awful, you’ll see Olcott
and his band mates at various shows, studious and observant. Using the
knowledge gained from attending numerous live performances, Olcott wants
12Rods to be known as a turning point in pop music. “Computerized music made
organically will define this decade of music. Groups like Aphex Twin and
Squarepusher-stuff they’re doing with beats. They’re revolutionary, (their
sound) is really calculated. It’s going to be the academic pinnacle of the
rock music of its generation. A lot of that would never go on the radio;
it’s too complex. At this day and age, radio-the obligatory single concept-
is aiming to the lowest common denominator. That’s really unfortunate.
They really undermine the crowd. The (music) industry is really undermining
Americans.”
12Rods’ songs are listener responsive, however they aren’t doing it for
mainstream acceptance. “You can yell as much as you want. If certain
magazines or certain people of the (music) industry-if it’s not catching
their ear the way they want it to, what can you do?” Frustrated, Olcott
sighs and sits back, “I’ve never been too fond of cramming something down
someone’s throat until they are forced to like it, because that will only
backfire in the end.”
After all the educated answers, it was surprising to hear Olcott humbly
declare himself a novice. “I don’t have enough experience to warrant myself
in any position to give advice. It’s all relative, and I’m still learning
the game as I play it.”
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