Kirstiecat | Blog

Chicago’s very own 1900s have a perfect sound reminiscent of everything from The Beach Boys to Fleetwood Mac. It’s both alluring and very catchy. Their eight members always make for a full and engaging melody. Their stage presence is one that is often accompanied by dance movements to mesh well with the vocal harmonizing. Both seeing them live and listening to songs off of their stellar ep Plume Delivery have been a real treat for me. Singer Edward Anderson was kind enough to answer some interview questions by email. (Note: some of the interview answers have been edited with permission.)

When you write songs, is it a collective process or is there someone who usually ends up taking the lead? Are you careful to give everyone input or would that just get too challenging with such a large band?

It depends on the song. Everyone steps up when needed.

I know you’ve said in previous interviews that many of you in the band have similar music tastes and backgrounds but I’m wondering is there ever any great moments when one of you brings an album of a band to the rest of you that you’ve never heard before?

A few months ago Charlie started playing the song “Roscoe” by Midlake in his car. I nearly lost it when I heard it. It sounded so incredible I just couldn’t believe it. A few days after becoming obsessed with “Roscoe” we learned that we were going to be opening for Midlake at the Mercury Lounge in NYC. That was a big moment. Another great moment was when we all first got together and we listened to the entire B&S catalog (but skipping “Chickfactor”).

You’ve said before that you chose than name the 1900s because of nostalgia for the century past. If you could change one thing about our present day what would it be?

Nothing.

Similarly, what are your feelings about the future of both the world and music in general? Is it something you look forward to?

You have no choice but to move ahead unless you want to kill yourself or drink and do drugs until you lose all touch with reality… which is what some of our songs are about…which can be found in the future on our album…which is something to look forward to.

What is one great thing about being a part of the Chicago music scene? Is there something about it that you also find challenging?

My favorite thing about being part of the Chicago music scene is getting wasted and hanging out with all these crazy people who play music in this city. Just shooting the shit, talking a little business, and hearing about all the great stuff they’re up to. Songwriters and musicians are not usually very stable or normal people, which always makes things interesting. I really get so excited when I hear that these bands are doing well, and I’m usually kicking down their doors for them to give me copies of their new records. On the practical side, we’ve been lucky enough to befriend very amazing and talented people who are willing to go out of their way to help us.

Not too long ago, you toured for your ep Plume Delivery outside of Chicago. How did you find the experience of opening other cities up to your music?

If a band plays in the forest, and no bloggers hear it, does it make a sound?

On the other hand, New York was much more enthusiastic than I’d imagined. They liked us for the reason I thought they would hate us: we don’t stand on stage looking bored and trying to seem cooler than we actually are. We just go for it, and I guess that was refreshing for them. Overall, this is an area we need to explore much more, the road is still green for us.

I really enjoy your live sets and each of the five times I’ve seen you, you seem to grow more as a band when you play live. Do you often feel more comfortable on stage now? Are there songs off of Plume Delivery in particular that you especially enjoy playing?

The main thing for me is singing. I’ve never been a “lead singer” before and it’s usually an enormous amount of stress for me. I’ve come a long way just since starting the band, learning how to belt it out and hopefully stay in tune a little more. I threw up before all of our first 10 or so shows, and thankfully that has stopped, so maybe that tells you something.

My favorite songs are naturally the ones I don’t sing, which I think there will be more of in the future, like good boys, and the songs I actually get to play my guitar on, instead of the ol’ strum strum. New songs are always the most fun. If we could always just play new songs I would be fine with that.

I love all of the six songs off of Plume Delivery but I do have a favorite which is “Patron Saint of the Mediocre.” (I’ve on occasion listened to this song on repeat play for over an hour) Was there
anything special about the way this song was created or a special inspiration for it?

That’s certainly our most debated song so far, and it was something we wrote as a band. We’ve gotten tons of reviews saying that “Patron Saint” is the weakest on the Plume Delivery EP cuz of its length and wankery. For others it is the standout track. I’m in the middle; I think it probably could have been done a little better, but in the end its shambly-ness is kind of the point. Originally I sang the song, but pretty much on the last day of recording I had Jeanine give it a go – a great move because her voice has a base sensuality to it that kind of feels like an unholy seduction, which is perfect because the song is about holy seduction.

You can hear songs by the 1900s by visiting their myspace page. Also, check out their upcoming show at the Subterranean on September 30th

This entry was posted on Monday, August 28th, 2006 at 7:20 am and is filed under Interviews, music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.