Spill! Photon Band

Art by James Ulmer

This past week was the release date for the Photon Band's exciting new album, Back Down to Earth on Empyrean Records. Local long-time musician and artist Art DiFuria took a few moments out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions and to talk to us about his work on the new album, its many collaborators and the future of one of Philadelphia's hottest local live acts.

Girl About Town: The Photon Band has had many releases on indie label Darla Records, but this year it will be your first release for Empyrean Records (the same label as Wheat, Cardinal and The Yarrows). How did working on a release for a new label come about?

Art DiFuria: Well, we actually do have an earlier release on Empyrean: a digital-only EP came out last July, called "Get Down Here in the Stratosphere".  It's the songs that were written and recorded for "Back Down to Earth" that somehow didn't fit. Our relationship with Empyrean came about during the Summer of '05. I was in Berlin, hanging out with Dave Doughman, from Swearing at Motorists. We were giving each other tunes from the albums we were working on, and he really liked "Where Did the Love Go?". So he sent an mp3 of that to Secretly Canadian. Chris Swanson really liked it, too, and Empyrean is one of the labels in the SC distribution family. He turned Empyrean on to us.

Your live stage setup is usually as a 3-4 piece act, but on Back Down to Earth, your collaborators were many. Who are some of the people who worked with you on the new album; and do you feel they added to what your original vision of Back Down to Earth was, or was this the way that it was originally intended?

I had recorded "It's a Lonely Planet" (Darla, 2003) and the one before it allllll by myself. Every blessed note was me, even the drums. I was so sick of hearing myself on every track! So I was definitely trying to free the songs from sounding like the products of my own habits. I wanted other approaches. Along those lines, Jeff Tanner was a great contributor, even though I was used to playing with him: his bass lines are so unique to the way he plays.

Of all the outside people on this album, I have to mention Brendan Gallagher first. He played drums for us on most of the songs on this album. *GREAT* drummer! He needed very little guidance to find his way on those songs. It was like, "okay, here's the guitar part, go to the ride cymbal for the chorus," and then BOOM; he had it. I also had Ed Farnsworth who played with Bardo Pond for a long time, and Dave Frank, who was in The Lilys with me a long time ago, playing drums. I got those guys involved on songs I thought they'd enjoy playing. Ed was always into The Monkees, and "Where did the Love Go" seemed a perfect choice for him, because he loved The Monkees song "She" so much. I couldn't imagine recording it with anyone else.

It was the same with the other people: I'd realize I needed another track and that I wanted to hear what someone else would do with it. Andy Clees, from the Uptown Bones and Pan Am, has the crunchiest, most Keith Richards-meets-Pete Townshend approach to guitar I've ever heard, so it was obvious that he should play on "Whatchagonnado".  And I was right.  He was such a natural for that song, that It only took him two takes to get it. Tracy Stanton (from Matt Pond PA), John Boothman (from Vibrolux), and Dmitri Coats were all deliberate choices for similar reasons, and it was really easy for them to do their parts. Then we'd go have a drink.

You're a very exciting and talented guitar player/front-man, and you play coy; but we know you love it--what's your most and least favorite thing about being center stage in a band?

Thanks for the props! I guess I never want to impose on people.  I'm grateful that they'd even bother to show up at all. So I don't ever want to come off as someone who's saying "Hey!!! Look at me!!! UP HERE!!!  It's all about me!!!" I think it's possible to be a front person and not come off that way: show gratitude to the audience, be comfortable and have fun onstage, have a bit of conversation with them, play about a 40 to 45 minute set so as to not presume that they want to hear you all frickin' night, and then allow them to decide if they want to hear any more than that.

What are The Photon Band's plans for 2008, now that you've come 'Back Down To Earth'?

Lunch! Seriously, though, I want to play this summer! And record, too. We've got new songs that are less... ummm... *old* sounding. So the answer is: to play and record, play and record, play and record!

What song, in your opinion, has The Photon Band's cleverest hook (a hook so clever, that it even
surprises you)?

Clever, huh? That's tough. I don't consider myself a very clever person. But I'm proud of the way the time signature changes for the phrase "Where Did the Love Go", because it mimics the patterns and inflections of regular speech rather than adhering to the rhythm of the song, but at the same time, it doesn't sound like a forced time change for the sake of doing something surprising.

If The Photon Band made a rock n' roll movie, what would it be called and who would direct?

It would be a cross between Logan's Run, the Bad News Bears, and River's Edge, and Crispin Glover would direct it. It would be called "No Way!!!"

If Joan Jett was covering a Photon Band song; which one would it be and why?

Ha. She'd probably think our songs are wimpy. But I would want her to play "CryCrycrycry", because she could make those lyrics a lot more fun and colorful than I did on the recording. She could do "Whathcagonnado", too, I bet.

Download This: Photon Band - Cry, CryCryCry

What is your favorite thing about Philadelphia?

Hmmm...its kidneys? No, cities don't have kidneys. Seriously, I think Philly is a virus. It's the one place on earth where you can catch bad luck like it's contagious. I don't know why, but I LOVE that about Philly. If you can survive this hell hole, ...you can survive anywhere in the universe.



Back Down To Earth Track Listing:

1. Back Down to Earth
2. Ka-blammo
3. Thinkin' 'boutchoo
4. Where Did the Love Go?
5. Your Doubt, Your Truth
6. Whatchagonnado?
7. Cry, CryCryCry
8. Just Between Me and You
9. Last Call, Bad Night

Upcoming Photon Band Tour Dates:
Feb 1 The Red and the Black // Washington  DC
Feb 8 Johnny Brenda's // Philadelphia PA

Photon Band - empyrean records / myspace

Comments

[frankenslade]

Go Photon Band!