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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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King of France
Wednesday 04 June @ 12:04:20 |
 by P.J. Morel
Due to a scheduling glitch, Tom Hallett and I wound up writing about the same band this week. Not to worry though: I managed to get a pretty good interview with the band. So you can read this here article to get a handle on The King of France’s personality, then flip over to ‘Round the Dial to hear about their tunes.
In Bushwick, you never, ever leave the keyboard in the van.
The King of France is a combination of three rather odd personalities. Guitarist Steve Salad made a name for himself in the Twin Cities music scene as a member of the Kelly Deal 6000 and then as the leader of Deformo. Keyboard player Tom Siler is well known as the dude from Tulip Sweet, and was also a member of local weirdo rock favs The Od. Drummer Michael Azzerad is best known as a music critic: he’s the author of the highly-praised treatise on indy rock “Our Band Could Be Your Life.” The band’s lineup was secured about a year and a half ago, when Siler moved to New York to join his band mates. I checked in with Salad and Siler a week ago to see how the big city was treating them: they managed to confirm all of my suspicions.
PULSE: So how’s New York been treating you?
SALAD: Sometimes it’s really great, just awesome. And then sometimes it really sucks. We’ve been having a lot of fun playing music and less fun having our van set on fire.
SILER: New York is like a logistical nightmare in trying to get things done. The actual show, once you’re there playing on stage, is great. But everything else is just a giant-sized headache.
PULSE: Wait—you got your van set on fire? Is that for real?
SILER: Yeah. We still don’t have the windows on, so now it’s like having a flat-bed truck.
SALAD: And the inside, you can’t really touch anything ‘cause it’s got this charred film.
SILER: But we’ve got to leave it that way as a deterrent against theft.
PULSE: Do you mind if I ask how that happened?
SILER: How did it happen? We got back from our stadium tour that night, and for some unknown reason I decided to leave my keyboard in the van. I always bring it inside with me on my block. I thought, ‘Just tonight it’ll be fine. It’s 4 a.m., two hours till daylight: it’s gonna be fine.’ This is a great neighborhood... [He pauses to allow the sarcasm to sink in.] It isn’t. I live in Bushwick; Bushwick, Brooklyn. The same place where Harry Nilsson was born, actually. It’s definitely a hood. Anyways, I woke up the next day around 2 p.m., went out. The thing was just torched and smashed. The keyboard was gone. And it was only two hours till daylight! I guess it builds character.
PULSE: Have you guys been playing out much?
SILER: A lot—five times this week.
SALAD: We played last night at this thing called ‘Automatic Vaudville,’ which is this comedy club. Actually, ‘Automatic Vaudville’ is a comedy show at this club that’s, like, super nice. It’s made to be a practice space for television. Like a studio. It’s really beautiful.
SILER: Who was that guy from Saturday Night Live?
SALAD: Jeff Richards. He was there. It was like a mini-Saturday Night Live, and we were the musical guests.
SALAD: We think we’re really funny onstage, but then you get on stage with professional comedians and you realize that you’re just an idiot.
SILER: They did the interview thing with us. They were all funny and everything and we had nothing to say. After we finished our song they lined us up and proceeded to roast us, basically.
SALAD: They gave us instructions and we couldn’t even follow those. The instructions were, ‘Talk to us like we’re in second grade,’ because, you know, we had to be the straight men. They got to act like idiots. But yeah, it’s funny because you see these bands come on Saturday Night Live and they look so awkward, especially when they’re in a little skit. And you realize why is because—
SILER: —They’re outta their league.
SALAD: Outta their league for one, and also you don’t know what you’re supposed to do. There’s a territory thing going on. You can’t tell the jokes. They’ll get pissed off.
SILER: I personally didn’t find any of them very funny.
SALAD: I thought they were pretty good.
SILER: They sucked, pretty much.
PULSE: So tell me how Salad Days came about. Do these recordings date from before you were a, uh...a definite band?
SALAD: I guess I really think of The King of France starting when Tom joined it, but we played around—the drummer and I, Michael and I—for a couple years before Tom came to [New York].
SILER: And then Steve would come to [Minneapolis] and we’d do shows also.
SALAD: I was doing Reformo, which was the reformed Deformo band—
SILER: —which is like most of the songs on the CD—
SALAD: —Right, and The King of France at the same time. So I wrote most of the songs in New York, but then kind of developed them and recorded them in both New York and Minneapolis.
SALAD: It reflects the way we’ve developed as musicians and developed what we’re doing. Deformo—we were just moving and changing. So since we are The King of France now, it makes sense to kind of plot it as The King of France to show our transition.
PULSE: I see that Michael Azzerad is credited as a ‘Special Thanks’ on the album—did he not play drums on the record?
SALAD: Nick Hook plays drums on the record. That’s just kind of the changeover thing. The reason why Michael gets a special thank-you is because I developed a lot of songs with him in New York, but it was before The King of France had really got going. I had all these great musicians to play with in Minneapolis, and we were psyched to play with each other. We were more of a full band at that point, whereas Michael and I, we were a little bud, a little fledgling.
PULSE: I meant to ask you about your musical aesthetic. You use some of the most off-the-shelf synth sounds around. Is that a conscious decision, or is that just a matter of working with what you’ve got?
SALAD: I have to cap my hat to Tom Siler for those aesthetic choices. He was obsessed with his Casio at that point.
SILER: While everybody else was buying vintage I was buying Casio. And the reason is because you need those digital ice picks in your ears.
SALAD: I’m pretty sick of hearing Wurlitzers or Rhodes or whatever. I feel like I’m done with that.
PULSE: I’m waiting for the return of the orchestra hit myself.
SILER: There are some orchestra hits on the Od record.
PULSE: Oh—Tom, you were in The Od?
SALAD: Yeah, Tom sang for the Od. He was the heart and soul. And the penis.
PULSE: Mark Malman was in the Od too, right?
SILER: Yeah—he was the butt. [Pause] Sorry Mark.
PULSE: Now, Michael Azzerad is a respected critic—he wrote that book “Our Band Could Be Your Life” and all. Is that weird…?
SILER: He’s the most opinionated asshole I’ve ever met.
PULSE: So is playing with Azzerad different from playing with Joe Average musician?
SALAD: I wish I could say no, but it is different. I think it’s different because of the critical mindset, not because he’s a critic. It’s a rare combination of personality types for a musician to have.
SILER: There’s less unconscious stuff going on with him than you find in other musicians.
PULSE: Does he become ‘the skeptic?’ I’ve noticed that every band has to have a skeptic.
SALAD: No, actually he’s super pyched about everything. I mean the skeptic...that would be me, wouldn’t it?
SILER: Yeah! With your, ‘Uh, it doesn’t look good’ answering machine messages.
SALAD: I leave very depressed messages on Tom’s answering machine.
SILER: Like, ‘We’re gonna be recording in Minneapolis coming up here and, uh, you should call me...[gravely] it doesn’t look good.’ And I’m supposed to be excited to call him back!
The King of France will have the CD release party for Salad Days this Fri., June 6 at the Turf Club in St. Paul with Lady Hardon and Vinnie and the Stardüsters. (The latter is headlining.) 9 p.m. $4. 21+. 1601 University Ave, St. Paul. 651-647-0486
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