Not long before Le Loup came to T.T. the Bear's in Cambridge – a night after playing in Union Hall in Brooklyn, a couple weeks after playing at SXSW in Austin, and a couple of nights before their next show in Indiana – they toured in Europe. All of this came within a year of their first album release party.
Sam Simkoff – whose one-man apartment/studio recordings got him a call from Hardly Art and led to the craigslist assembly of Le Loup – happens to be a good friend of mine. We played together in such widely heralded Kenyon College bands as Perversalist Papers and Those Are the Shrieking Eels, so I had a good idea of Sam's musical knowhow and vision – but it didn't prepare me for the sweeping orchestration of The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millennium General Assembly, or for the roaring, electric stage adaptation I saw at T.T. the Bear's (and earlier this year at the Middle East upstairs). The band finishes up their tour in May, and later this year plan to begin recording the next album. I, for one, am really excited.
melophobe: So, you said that musicians are treated really well in Europe.
Sam: Yes.
melophobe: Um … elaborate?
Sam: We toured around France and Switzerland and Benelux, that area, and they treat their musicians very, very well. They put you up with accommodations, and there's always basically a full hospitality rider, which means there's a meal and then drinks – all the sound systems are top notch, they've all got these crazy light systems, so you get really spoiled, you know, you have all these bells and whistles. I mean, there were several times when the people who ran the venue ended up also cooking us a meal in the apartment above it. Everybody would get together and have a party after the show or before the show, and it's very familial, very warm.
melophobe: Does that kind of thing happen in the U.S., the afterparty?
Sam: No, not really – there's not really time, we have to travel these huge distances. It's also easier in Europe because between cities that we play it's like a three hour drive, whereas here it's like, you know, we've got to drive 8 or 9 hours at a time.
melophobe: So when you're onstage are you looking at the audience? You know, for feedback?
Sam: Yeah, we always look at the audience, just to see how things are going over. Sometimes you see people singing along – I think in the states more than in Europe. But they're big dancers in Europe – it's awesome when people dance along. It's more like, I don't mind, obviously, if people don't know the songs, but I like to see people enjoying it. It's a little daunting to have an audience that just kind of stands there and stares.
melophobe: Is there a cure for that?
Sam: Cocaine. Actually, we bring two kilos of cocaine to every show we do and just blow it all over the audience.
melophobe: 'Cause I always wonder when bands just kind of ask people to dance –
Sam: Yeah, it's that crowd participation – it's like making the audience clap along with you, and there's always that awkward moment when the clapping just dies off –
melophobe: Right!
Sam: But I don't think we've ever asked people to dance or clap along. We've asked people to come to the front because it's lame when everybody just stands way in the back, but no, the rest is kind of up to them. Or us, I suppose.
melophobe: Well, indie crowds especially might just be more into shoegazing.
Sam: Right – we should consider that dancing.
melophobe: … When you were writing these songs at first, versus now when you're writing these songs, do you think about how it's going to sound live, or is it just about getting it down for studio?
Sam: Yeah –
melophobe: I guess – was it different then than it is now?
Sam: It definitely was. Now there's a real careful balance because – you know, with seven people you can make a pretty big sound, but you have to worry about losing complexity. And so the earlier songs, they were done without really a shred of attention to what could be played live. And that meant that suddenly when we were supposed to put together a live show, it was pretty difficult – you know, we had all these parts to choose from, which was nice, but paring it down and just figuring out just what were the most important parts was difficult, and then translating it live and making it coherent was difficult too.
And so now with the older songs, we kind of rely on the energy of it, and this dramatic reinterpretation, but with the newer songs I'm definitely writing them with an ear towards – you know, are we going to be able to do this coherently live? So I'm trying to make much simpler songs. And the flipside to that is that I'm just more interested in making simpler songs – now I'm much more interested in what makes a song a song. So with the new songs you'll hear a bunch of drums, or just rhythm section in general, and that's kind of playing around with a pretty simple melody line.
melophobe: Have you started thinking about what it's going to sound like? Because it's already such a difference between the live and studio right now.
Sam: Yeah, and I really want to keep that difference – I think what makes a live show interesting is that it – or at least it ought not sound just like the recorded version. I hate shows where you go and it's just them playing back the album. So I'm definitely putting thought into it. It's definitely going to be different from the live show. I think there's just so much more room for delicacy, and more time to just kind of be creative about it.
melophobe: Do you guys talk about what you're going to wear on stage, or is it just kind of each to his own?
Sam: That's for girls. No, I mean, I think there was a point when we just kind of made a conscious decision to kind of tone it down onstage. Because we go to all these shows where kids are dressed so hip –
melophobe: You don't want to be dressed like the kids!
Sam: It's like, how can you compete? You can't keep up with that stuff. So I think we all ended up just wearing T-shirts, loose jeans … I don't care how tight they are! Not me.
melophobe: Good. That's a refreshing perspective.
Sam: Well, that's what I'm here for, Sam.
