Nick: Right off the bat, let me ask a question that I am sure everyone wonders at some point. Why the two i’s?
Jared: Richard?
Richard: I guess it was my idea. It was mainly to avoid confusion with another band, but we ended up just liking it better. It’s kind of exotic, with my love of Swedish psychedelic music.
N: One reviewer has already compared Morning Kills The Dark to Pet Sounds, and your piecing together of multiple recordings is reminiscent of Brian Wilson’s method during the Smile sessions. Is this coincidence, an homage perhaps?
J: I think there are definitely parallels there in the spirit of both records. I think how we came to record in so many locations came more by default - out of necessity.
N: You’ve Got Darkness progresses from dark and complex, to light and whimsical, with a stop at a dub bar somewhere in the middle. Does the song’s unique structure have the six different recording sessions to thank, or was it arranged in its current order from the beginning?
R: That is one that wasn’t as pieced together actually. Jared and I played it in a room together and over dubbed later. The dub thing, I guess I sort of masterminded that. We were trying to figure out a way to segue in the middle. It was just something fun to do.
Kala: That song really came together in the studio.
J: And went through many different phases I think.
N: I noticed the arrangement of the song was quite different tonight, as was the rest of your set. Is that something you typically do live?
J: I think the album version is one version, and with the live show there are no boundaries. We can just do whatever we want to the tune.
N: The album is continually referred to as a bouillabaisse, and understandably so. Was it your intention going into MKTD to produce such a diverse mix of styles?
K: I think it kind of just happened that way, because we are all into different things.
R: We are all into different music. Everybody got to produce their own little sections of songs.
N: Jared, you have said that out of all the albums you have been involved in, MKTD is your proudest. Would you mind elaborating on that?
J: I sincerely believe it is the finest record to date that I have been a part of. A lot of that has to do with the people that helped record it. We just had a really good time, but it was not an easy time. We spent most of the year working on it. And that was east coast stuff, west coast stuff. Friends flying in and flying out. But I think as far as my song writing, I am most proud of it.
N: At the time of this interview, Morning Kills The Dark is four days away from official release. Considering the time, love, and self that have gone into this album, what are you feeling right now? Excitement, anxiety, a little of both?
R: We hope people like it.
J: I would just hope that we can get as many people to take a listen as possible. To come out and say hello at the shows, and see what were going to do to the tunes live.
*At this point Jared turns to Keith, who has been keeping quite*
J: I just wanted to introduce Keith. He has been out with us and really helps take the show up a notch. And were just getting going. I can’t wait to see where the show goes 3 months from now, 6 months from now, a year, by the time we get to the next record. Which we could probably approach by that point, as a band.
N: So the album wasn’t recorded as a band. You played multiple instruments, and the spots were filled in later?
J: Yeah sure, I think it came together, record first and then band.
N: MKTD has received outstanding reviews both online and in print publications. How has the audience response been, to both your live set and the album?
J: Really, all we can go on now are letters. We haven’t really toured the record at all. This is one of the first of few shows. We have got a ton of dates coming up.
K: It has been an overwhelmingly positive response, I think.
N: I have to admit that I listened to the album 4 times through a few days ago at work, and then again during the car ride home.
J: Yeah, we heard. We have to learn it again!
R: We haven’t even tackled all the songs.
N: The friendship the four of you share obviously shines through on MKTD, with band member names being mentioned numerously through out. Where do you plan to be in the next few months, and even years, as a band and friends?
J: I would love to pay tribute to the Rolling Thunder Review Tour, and get everybody out on the road.
R: I think with the friend thing, ideally we would love to take it even further. Have a posse with us.
N: An entourage?
R: Totally.
K: Lots of people up on stage singing.
R: It’s a big task to undertake.
N: Now, you said the next album could be done relatively soon?
J: There is definitely plenty of material, as far as songs to choose from. But I think we should get out and support this record first. Since no one has really heard it.
R: Plus it helps to play all those new ones live. You find out ways to approach them and they will evolve too. When we go to record them, it will be so much easier. Rather than having to figure out arrangement on the spot in the studio. But that has its fun too, you have got to keep a little bit up to chance. It’s great to live with the material for a long time.
J: Which is different from how we made MKTD, where we just went in with skeletal version of the tunes, and really worked them out on the spot.
N: Would you say there are portions of the songs, dropped in the studio, which will never see the light of day?
J: There are definitely parts of songs that we did drop, and different mixes. Some of the songs have gone through half a dozen mixes before getting to that final version that is on the record. And as we’re working songs from the record into the set I think a fair starting ground would be what’s on the record, and go from there.
*Jared turns to consult Richard*
J: I think we may use that as a foundation. You start with, “we know it went like this at one point…”
R: I mean, were not precious about anything.
J: That’s what makes it most interesting, I feel.
N: How long has the band been together?
J: 6 weeks.
N: That’s as a full band. As the concept Biirdie, how long?
K: Maybe like a year.
J: A little more than a year. Soon after the three of us came together and met for the first time.
N: How did you meet our buddy Keith here?
K: I knew Jared. We actually went to Kindergarten together. We were in a band the last year of high school and the freshmen year of college. I have always respected Jared’s songwriting, and he’s somebody I have wanted to work with again. He asked me if I wanted to be a part of the band and I was more than happy to come down and join these guys. I think there is a great camaraderie, being that we are all pretty tight.
J: And Keith can play anything you put in front of him. So he is not a bad guy to have around. And he sings like a bird.
R: … and runs like a bird.
J: I didn’t mean that to be a pun though.
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