Interview: Loyal Divide
Back in December, we dropped a track by Chicago electronic/funk/ambient/whatever quintent Loyal Divide. Now we’ve got an exclusive interview with Loyal Divide bassist / songwriter Adam Johnson, talking about the band’s debut EP Labrador.
Mojo Republik: Tell us about how Loyal Divide got together.
Adam Johnson: We got together in 2005 while attending Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. It was very much a casual thing back then, and was so until late 2007, when we decided to move from Columbus, Ohio, where we were all living at the time, to Chicago. Once we moved, I think that we became much more serious about trying to become a legitimate band.
MR: What drew you together as musicians? Were you all friends beforehand? What was your inspiration to start the group?
AJ: I was looking to put together a band to play some songs I had written. We got together more out of this need than any shared musical interests or special chemistry. I knew Sid and Noto from highschool, and they knew Chris and Thundarr. It wasn’t until afterwards that I realized they could help with songwriting or that we all kind of liked Brian Eno.
MR: I can hear the Eno influence, definitely. What are some other influences on your sound and your songwriting process? I would guess maybe Radiohead (or Thom Yorke’s solo record), maybe TV On The Radio (or actually, the bits of Prince’s stuff that influence TOTR), Nine Inch Nails, perhaps?
AJ: Radiohead is, of course, an obvious influence, and it’s one that I’ve struggled to escape from. But I think that our sound is in many ways shaped by our ambition to not sound like Radiohead, a band who we adore, whom we’ve internalized, and who we can’t help but sound like.
[Nine Inch Nails'] The Downward Spiral is certainly an influence, as it’s an album I’ve lived with for many years, and like [Radiohead's] Kid A, it’s one that I couldn’t help but internalize. The album still sounds really well thought out and impressive to me. I’ve lost my taste for the lyrics, but that doesn’t get in the way of connecting to the special music underneath.
Luomo’s Vocal City is just about the only thing I’ve listened to for the past year. My tastes have drifted towards dance music for practical reasons, in that it’s perfect for public transportation. It’s music that you can choose to zone out to, which is nice when you’re on the train everyday for an hour. Labrador’s glitchier moments are copped from Vocal City, and it’s an influence which I think is even more prominent on the next EP.
MR: What is the band’s process of writing? Lyrics first, then music? Vice versa? Since you’re all Eno fans, do you ever use any of his “strategies” for songwriting/recording?
AJ: The songwriting process begins with either a riff, a beat or a sample. That component is then built upon and developed. I come up with melodies independent of any textures and usually just choose one to layer over a song. I then fit syllables to the melodic lines which then eventually turn into words that at the very least make partial sense. It’s not the most complicated process, but it seems to be working at the moment. I’ve never used any of Eno’s methods. (Doesn’t he use a tarot deck or something along those lines?) The idea of using something external and random to determine artistic choice is fascinating to me; I hope that one day I have the courage to surrender myself to something like that; perhaps when the process outlined above begins to fail.
MR: How does a Loyal Divide live show differ from the recorded version?
AJ: Ever since purchasing our sampler, and in truth, making it central to our recording process, we’ve worked towards skimming it out of our live show as much as possible. With a track like “Labrador,” we have our drummer play to the main sample, backed up by bass and electric guitar. I think it’s important to at least always have the drummer playing, because for me, that’s the key difference between the live experience of a dj and a band. Not to detract from everyone else’s contributions to the live set, but I think our greatest asset is our drummer, Thundarr, who can play our sample based songs perfectly in time.
MR: Final question: Now that you’ve got the EP out in the world, what’s next for Loyal Divide?
AJ: We are aiming to get signed and to release another EP within the next five months. We don’t have any reliable transportation at the moment, which makes touring impossible, so we’re focusing on getting exposure in Chicago.
(Thanks to Adam Johnson for answering our questions over e-mail!)
Buy Loyal Divide’s Labrador EP from iTunes or Amazon.
Tags: chicago, interview, loyal divide
