PHOTO BY KEITH MARLOW
“WE USED TO USE A FUCKIN’ ANALOG FOUR-TRACK, AND THEN DUMP THAT ONTO A FRIEND IN SEATTLE’S 24 TRACK DIGITAL THING, AND WORK FROM THERE. AND A LOT OF THE SOUNDS YOU JUST CAN’T GET IN A STUDIO. YOU HAVE TO USE CHEAP SHIT, AND THAT’S WHAT WE STARTED DOING.�
It’s not the first time The Spits have their latest album is even more of accidentally predicted the future. a return to roots. In a sense, the entire essence of the band was ahead of their time. One “We really want to go back and of their defining characteristics is write good songs, and make it the brevity of their songs—most fall- sound like it used to sound,� Wood ing between the one- and two-min- says. “We used to use a fuckin’ anute mark. They’ve been writing short, alog four-track, and then dump boppy songs since their formation in that onto a friend in Seattle’s 24 the early ’90s, back when the stan- track digital thing, and work from dard in popular music was three or there. And a lot of the sounds you just can’t get in a studio. You have four minutes at least. to use cheap shit, and that’s what Fast forward almost 30 years, and we started doing.� short songs have become the norm. ago, when they were just a bunch of Granted, many bands and artists "The first couple records, we had punk skaters from rural Michigan. are doing this because streaming what I called the Chickenbone Guiservices incentivize shorter songs tar,� he continues. “And it was an old “In order to return to a special feeling with the way their royalties are no name ’60s Japanese guitar. And that you had before, you gotta go paid out. But, regardless of the rea- the top of the guitar where the nut back to that [place],� Wood explains. is, by the headstock, it was busted son, Wood sees this as a positive. out. So, we were eating fried chicken, Perhaps it is the scrappy nature of “It’s like, duh! You don’t need a and trying to jam, and I just stuck [in] the band that has contributed to three-minute long song,� he says, a fuckin’ chicken leg bone, and with their longevity. Few bands in this laughing. “It loses its fun, it’s not fun af- a butter knife, cut out some notches, scene last as long as The Spits, and ter a minute fifty! I’d say it’s good that and it actually worked great!� it doesn’t seem like the party is gopeople are writing shorter songs. Being to end anytime soon. cause, the way I look at it is like, if you To return to the sound of their early put a record on, you listen to it, you flip years, the band went back to the “It’s not really a job or a band, it’s it over, side two, you listen to that, and place where it all began: Michigan. more a way of life,� Wood says. then if you want to flip it over to listen The return to their home state put “We’ve been doing the same thing to side one, because you haven’t got- them in an environment where they for twenty something years. We could get into a headspace to write never stopped. This new record is ten enough yet - then that’s great!" While The Spits never strayed away a record that sounded like the mu- the first one out in eight years. We from short, catchy punk songs, sic they were putting out decades said, ‘let’s just go back to our roots
36 NEW NOISE
and try to write some old classic songs.’ And that’s kind of what we did. We kept it lo-fi, and it sounds great. I’m proud of it.â€? đ&#x;’Łđ&#x;’Łđ&#x;’Ł
