May 2011 Trabants

Band: Trabants

Genre: Surf / exotica / soul

Geographical area: Boston

Interview with: Eric Penna by email on 5/1/11

1. What is the current line-up of your band?

Eric Penna - guitar

Mora Precarious - drums

Joe Marrett - bass

Kevin Corzett - sax

Bryan Murphy - trumpet

2. How and when did you get started with your band?

The bulk of this line-up played together in a band called Ketman. We toured nationally and internationally for the better part of 7 years. The recording of our last album was really intense and involved. When that was over, I wanted to record something for fun in mono. I put together some basic ideas and recorded three tunes. It was a relief from the intense thinking and pre-meditation of the last Ketman record and the end result reflected the fun I had making it. I decided to make a whole album and so Highwire Surfing was born! We picked up some shows at a local Cambridge bar called Plough and Stars where we'd have to do 3 hours of music a night. We really honed our live show there and it forced us to embrace and mold the off-the-cuff feeling of imrov we melded into our approach. We gained some momentum locally and were offered a great slot as part of Boston's first night celebration. About a month later, we had a very successful CD release show which filled Davis Square's Rosebud Bar with a crazy sold out crowd. The rest is history!

3. What bands or music have influenced you most?

We are influenced by everything, the amalgam of which keeps our sound alive and morphing. I personally love The Ventures, The Beatles, Link Wray, Ennio Morricone, numerous French singers and arrangers such as Serge Gainsbourg, Francoise Hardy, Jean-Claude Vanier, France Gall, Dalida; Brazilian singers and songwriters such as Chico Buarque Antonio Jobim, Sonia Rossa, Caetano Veloso; Italian film composers like Piero Piccioni and Piero Umiliani; a lot of assorted Northern Soul tracks; classic power pop like Cheap Trick, The Raspberries, The Records, The Replacements, Big Star, Todd Rundgren; classic country like Hank Thompson, Jean Sheppard, Connie Smith, Joe Maphis, The Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers; jazz greats like Grant Green, Coltrane, Mingus, Dave Brubeck; I grew up on classic punk rock like Suicide, The Ramones, The Clash, Minor Threat, Black Flag; some newer indie pop like Tennis, Best Coast, a lot of stuff on Hardly Art records. It's important to be inspired by many things. Variety is the spice of life!

4. What is the break down of cover vs. original material in your live shows and/or recordings?

All of our recorded material is original. We have a number of songs we do live that are covers of assorted old surf tunes some often covered (Walk Don't Run) some less so (Heartbeat originally by Avengers VI), along with some interpretations of old exploitation film soundtrack music from the 60's. A lot of this comes from Italy and has very open structures we can play with and imrov over, creating an almost totally new thing that morphs every time we play it. There's a lot of funk, soul and jazz in the soundtrack tunes so we toss in a healthy dose of the California surf feel and it feels fresh and new and old all at the same time.

5. What recording have you done?

Our first album, "Highwire Surfing", came out at the end of January. We're currently tracking tunes that will make up a digital EP and a cassette tape-only release. We're in the thick of it now so details are sketchy. The online digital release will be a space-themed collection called "The Cosmonaut". It's all shaping up slowly.

6. What kind of gear do you use?

I'm a big fan of vintage gear. Live, I've been playing an original 1963 Vox AC-30 (pre top boost). It does all the hard work for me. I have a '65 Fender tank reverb that's smooth as cream and an original (though pretty beat up) Mosrite 60's Fuzzrite for distortion. I have a flip tremolo pedal which is one of the best newer tremolos I've ever heard. Sometimes I use a cheapo Berringer compressor pedal for a volume boost for leads. I usually play a Strat or a Gretsch 5120 with Gold Filtertron pickups.

In the studio, I always like the old 60's AKG D19-C as an overhead mic and the AKG D12 on the kick drum. It's simple, solid and effective. I've always been a huge fan of Reslo ribbon mics for guitars or the Unidyne 545. I use either the AKG D12 or Electro Voice RE20 for bass which I usually double with a Fender Jaguar baritone guitar to produce a natural compression and chorus effect which rounds out the bass tone. I'm currently tracking to a Tascam 388 1/4" 8-track reel to reel. It's very gritty. "Highwire Surfing" was tracked to a computer but every mic passed through a tube preamp and an analog Soundcraft 600 console before hitting the A/D converter so I was able to mask that clean digi-sound. I like noise. I like grit. It's all just the personality of the recording.

7. What is your band’s favorite food/beverage?

I wrote a song on our album called Zubrowka which is the name of a delicious Polish vodka unlike any other. We're also big fans of Old Speckled Hen, an excellent British beer served with love at the Plough and Stars where we've played often.

8. How do you get gigs?

We met a lot of people through our other project which traveled far and wide so we're fortunate to have good roots to build off of. The harsh winter here helped us too because EVERYBODY wanted surf music to pull them out of the tundra.

9. What are the difficulties you find playing your kind of music in your area?

Instrumental music is always good for licensing but there aren't any companies here that do that so I've had some difficulty breaking into that world or even meeting people involved with it.

10. What positive attributes does your band have that sets you apart from other bands (of any genre)?

I think the variety in our musical influences make us capable of many moods and sounds. Too many bands niche themselves into a genre.

11. What have you found to be the single most effective promotional tool you’ve used to further your band’s musical path?

I've found a lot of new listeners from exposure in instro publications and websites. Playing with a variety of bands is promo good too though. Anytime you get in front of new people, it's a victory.

12. What’s the most interesting performance experience you’ve had?

Playing at Boston's First Night was great because we played to a very diverse crowd but we had everybody moving. It's a testament to the timelessness of Wipeout!

13. What do you hope to get out of being a NESMA member?

I ike to hear about and read about different bands all in some proximity to us. I hope we can utilize those great bands sometime to do a tour.... only time will tell.

14. Anything else?

It's a pleasure to be a part of NESMA. I hope to see it grow continually and flourish always!

Feature for

May 2011

Trabants