EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: Growing - Live At The Ottobar In Baltimore, MD (12-04-2008)
The gassy marshes of noise you wade through with Growing are some of the gnarliest out there. It's like they listened to Suicide on acid with wet towels wrapped around their heads and then tried to recreate the sound, eventually finding something hovering between doom and ecstasy. A Tiny Mix Tapes headline regarding their slot as openers on Hot Chip's recent fall tour read, "Growing To Scare Hot Chip Fans This Fall." They likely did a lot of that.
All The Way, their most recent album for The Social Registry, is a expansive piece of corrugated noise and sampler stomach pains, an album perfect for anyone that ever thought Animal Collective were a bunch of softies but had something cool going with the whole "noise band makes dope beats" thing. The Registry dudes and the band were kind enough to hook us up with a full recording of a recent gig in Baltimore, excellently captured to tape by Jeff Mewbourn from Baltimore Taper. Dive into that below and hit the break for a Q+A with Growing's Joe DeNardo about his thoughts on the show and touring life in general. And if you are actually still coherent in the waning seconds of "Innit" when everything sounds like platinum rainshowers, you can thanks us in the comments.
Sounds like: Fuck Buttons, Blues Control, Animal Collective
Q+A with Joe DeNardo of Growing
So do you guys have any specific memories from this gig in Baltimore?
This was one of the first shows with Sadie. Its just been the two of us, Kevin and me, for about 8 years, so Sadie has added a lot in terms of live dynamics. Jeff Mewbourn recorded this show, and I think he did a nice job, because you can hear all three of us fairly clearly. It was refreshing to realize we could add this other component and it would come across pretty much how we planned.
How do you guys initially write material? Is there any jamming that goes on in the practice space? Your music is pretty obtuse.
I guess we "jam" a bit. We kind of make parts on our own, or build on or try new angles on previous sounds and ideas, and then see how things fit together at practice. Like putting together a puzzle but since there aren't strict shapes, its really all up to how we hear it.
What's the live rig like? Is it mostly samples or are you creating any actual sounds onstage?
Kevin and Sadie play samples. Me and Kevin play guitars. And Sadie sings. Sometimes we'll pre-record some sounds to bring in and out. Its like a lot of electronic music where there's really no limit to the processing, but personally, I like to start a lot of my sounds with guitar because it takes away or at least softens the element of infinite repeatability. You can say the same thing about voice, which is part of why I think our music will gain a lot of dimension with Sadie singing.
Does the set list change every night and are you reaching back into your catalog at all?
We usually have a tight set for each tour, and it changes here and there when we play locally, as we try new things. We always move forward, and so don't play anything from our older records.
All right. Worst show experience?
Man, that is tough. Going on ten years now, there are some beauties. I don't mind when we play a bigger show and people are bummed, because honestly, at least its a reaction. The ones that
really depress me are the smaller towns, where there's nothing to do, a few people show up, and there's no reaction at all, good or bad. I would just much rather be at the local sports bar getting tanked and watching SportsCenter before passing out in a Motel.
Anything cooking at the moment?
We're going to try and record this spring, and playing Japan for the first time in April. Can't wait.
