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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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Mile Marker: The Joys of Being Self-Sufficient
Wednesday 28 August @ 10:11:31 |
 by Celeste Tabora
This Chapel Hill-to-Chicago indie art-rock group, formed in 1997, likes to burn the candle at both ends. Their reputation as an “art fag” band reached its peak at a performance where all the audience could see was a TV projecting the word “entertainment” while the band played behind a screen. (Two-thirds of the audience requested a refund.) Since their inception the lineup has never been very solid, but this is not an example of a flighty band.
Contrary to popular belief, their revolving door membership makes them a determined group. Where many stop and throw in the sticks, Milemarker persists. Now five years after the sound of the first strum, Milemarker still is releasing Satanic Versus, (CDEP on Jade Tree Records, Vinyl on Czech label Day After.) The EP includes a video for their song “New Lexicon” and live footage for “The Banner to the Sick” and “The Installment Plan.” And for those who like to add their own flavor, there are files for two songs on the EP that give you the ability to remix. (FYI: They are Sound Designer 2 files.)
Dave Laney (guitar vocals) sat down to answer some questions exclusively for Pulse of the Twin Cities on behalf of his band mates Al Burian (bass, vocals), Roby Newton (synth, bass), and Noah Leger (drums). Here’s what he had to say:
PULSE: What would you say Milemarker is about?
LANEY: On the most fundamental level, the band is “about” playing music. As time runs onward, bands are often hit with decisions that determine how they are going to operate in an environment that is much larger than themselves. We have made many of these decisions, but those decisions are not what Milemarker is “about” per se, rather those decisions are reflections of how we individually believe our band should operate within a certain context.
PULSE: Do you feel there is an obligation to be “about” something in order to gain attention or respect from music fans or media?
LANEY: Gaining attention and gaining respect are two entirely different aims. Most people are actually much smarter than the media gives them credit for, which is to say that it’s very transparent when bands are “about” something. It’s funny the first time and it’s trite the next. The thing that initially garners you the quick attention will eventually be the reason that your fans lose respect for you. On another level, I think that if you went back and asked the Dead Kennedys the first question, they wouldn’t respond that they were “about” overthrowing the right wing or getting Ronald Reagan out of the presidency and so on. They were playing music and wrote aggressive songs about politics. Their songs did not make them a political band, but a band that sang about politics. Inherently, a song can not be political because it can not, by itself, change anything in the world. It can do many things, but change political discourse is not one of the options. The problem is that the format is wrong. If you want to play in a band because you’re dying to express your views on economic disparity in the United States then spend your time and energy mo re aptly: organize a local labor union.
PULSE: What is a common misunderstanding about Milemarker? What do you do to repel that idea?
LANEY: Lately we’ve been getting written up as Chicagoan communists, which we’re not, necessarily. And while we’re always for letting rumors fly around as much as possible, it’s made me more conscious of responding to questions that ask us about an agenda that can be sloganeered into a paragraph. As Al once said, as long as I am standing in front of some people, I might as well try to get something across about how I would like the world to be. The only complication here is that a lot of people need to have a headline genre for what we’re trying to say. And it’s not communist, I mean, it’s definitely not coming from the Right, but it’s just as much not communist ideology.
PULSE: You have a critical theory on Milemarker posted up on the site. What about the initial submission caused you to publish it on the web?
LANEY: The critical theory part of the Web site began because this guy wrote us almost a college dissertation piece while bringing up issues that transcended our band specifically, delving into ideas on what a band owes an audience, the responsibilities of each, and the differences between person and persona. We thought the questions he raised were provocative and well-stated, so we opened it up to public forum.
ULSE: So, what does the band require from its audience?
LANEY: We don’t necessarily “need” anything. We try to work with what is there and build off of it. If the crowd is timid, we generally try to make them more comfortable; if the crowd is rambunctious, we try to feel them out, work off of them. Part of the challenge and joy of playing in a band is that you can’t allow yourself to “require” anything, situations change nightly and your test is to be able to use every unique situation to create something distinct.
PULSE: And what does the band require from a room or sound system? Are you a high- or low-maintenance band?
LANEY: We’ve had different configurations with varying levels of complicity, but we’re pretty self-sufficient. I figure that if you can’t set up in a parking lot and play a show as easy as you can play a 2,000 capacity club, then change your setup. We have big amps and too many of them so that we don’t have to depend on the limitations of the PA or room. We make do with what we have to work with, no matter how big or small it is.
PULSE: What is coming up for Milemarker? I heard something about an East Coast and a European tour. You travelled to Europe shortly after 9-11-01, what was it like then? How do you anticipate it being now?
LANEY: We’ll be touring the Midwest, then to all areas East, then off to Europe for a couple weeks. This will be our fourth, and shortest, trip to Europe. Last time we flew to Germany from [New York’s] JFK on September 16, 2001. It was the first international flight on the airline, and as we lifted off the ground we flew directly over the smoldering towers. It was a very bizarre, emotional, and testing tour. Everything was so immediate, both here and there. The EU was in the process of switching to the Euro, which was projected to destroy certain economies, 9/11 had just devastated America, and terror threats were evident daily. Tanks surrounded Prague’s Radio Free Europe building, McDonald’s was a terrorist target in Italy, and towards the middle of the tour, America declared war on Afghanistan. I anticipate this time being much different…
Milemarker & Song of Zarathustra play with Taking Pictures Aug, 31 @ 5 p.m. for All A ges; and again with Swiss Army @ 9 p.m. for 21+. $7adv. / 9 door. 7th St. Entry 701 N. First Avenue, Minneapolis. www.first-avenue.com.
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