The buzz around Crystal Antlers keeps building, and after seeing both of their shows in Brooklyn a couple weeks ago, it’s not hard to understand why. They’re not only a great band, but also pretty cool people. Before their last show in Williamsburg, singer/bassist Jonny Bell took some time to chat with me outside of Glasslands, right across from the old abandoned Domino Sugar factory, where he filled me in on the chimney sweeping business, Crystal Antlers’ new album, and what they have brewing next.
Kelly Knapp: So I read that you guys formed – a couple of you started out as chimney sweeps?
Jonny Bell: That’s true. When we first started, we were a three-piece – Kevin, Errol, and I. Kevin and Errol were still in high school, and I had just gotten a summer job as a chimney sweep. When they graduated they both ended up getting jobs with me, and we all worked for this really crazy guy named Mr. Kincaid. He named himself Mr. Kincaid because he said that he was our band’s manager.
KK: That wasn’t his real name?
JB: No, that’s not his name at all. That’s the name of the manager of the Partridge Family. So he took on that name and then we all worked for him for years. Kevin’s still working for him now, but now I have my own company chimney sweeping.
KK: How do you even get into the chimney sweep field?
JB: It’s complicated.
KK: You have to know someone who knows someone? That has a chimney?
JB: Yeah basically. I met Mr. Kincaid, and I just asked him for a job. It’s been a weird ride.
KK: And then he gave you guys instruments?
JB: Yeah, he gave us the first organ that we had; this Farfisa organ that he bought. He would kind of bribe us to do different things. Sometimes he would make us go to his church, just because he liked to see us argue with the Christians. So that was what we did to get the organ.
KK: Entertainment for entertainment.
JB: Yeah, and that’s kind of why we ended up having an organ in our band – because we had one. Our friend Victor knew how to play it, a little bit.
KK: And you started out by learning cover songs?
JB: Yeah, that was another thing we had to do for Mr. Kincaid. He wanted us to play all these 60s cover songs by garage bands and stuff that he liked. We had to learn a bunch.
KK: Did you have a favorite song out of those?
JB: I liked “Baby Blue.” It’s like a Bob Dylan song, but it was kind of a garage bin standard. Every garage band ever covers that song. And I never really thought of us as a garage band, really, but that was one of the covers we had to start doing for him that stuck, and we still play it every once in a while.
KK: Did that influence your sound at all, playing all the standards?
JB: Not so much. In fact, we sort of ended up rebelling against that in a way. Like we never had steady drum beats or anything like that. We try to avoid things that are standards.
KK: So it kind of influenced you more to do the opposite.
JB: Yeah, I would say so. But now, we’re not really fighting that so much. If we come up with a part that sounds like some kind of classic thing, then we won’t necessarily axe it right away.
KK: So has there been a kind of evolution to your music, from the beginning to now?
JB: I don’t know if it’s an evolution, but it’s changed.
KK: And your latest album, Two-Way Mirror, came out recently last month.
JB: Yeah, and we’ve been working on that for about a year and a half.
KK: I was reading that for your album before that you were really rushed, whether you wanted to be or not.
JB: Yeah, it was a very rushed experience. Very stressful.
KK: So you were able to take more time with this one.
JB: Yeah, this one we deliberately took forever making it. Even recording; we were recording for about four or five months. Really long time.
KK: Was it better to have that extra time?
JB: Yeah, it was. It was nice. It gave us a chance to really shape it.
KK: Were there things you specifically wanted to do on this album?
JB: We wanted to focus more on dynamics a little bit, and we wanted to make sure that different songs had different recording styles so it would seem interesting throughout, and have little pockets of different sounds. I don’t know, maybe we took too much time. The next record I think is going to be right in the middle. Not rushed, not too slow, but probably a few months.
KK: So you don’t become a band of extremes.
JB: Yeah, we don’t want to be like Boston either, and spend 10 years making one record.
KK: Yeah it better be epic after that, and bring world peace.
KK: But so you’ve been touring in support of the album?
JB: Actually, we haven’t really been touring too much. We did a little west coast jaunt and played Reno, went out to Texas for a few shows before the record came out, about a month before. And then we’re doing this trip, which is just to cut a couple shows in Brooklyn. Then we’re finally going to do a real tour supporting it in late October through November, and we’re doing that tour with a band called Wu Lyf.
KK: Do you have any memories that stick out from your past extensive touring?
JB: Too many. Too many to count. Little things will happen that refresh your memory, little events that happen. But there are just so many.
KK: Do you find inspiration when you’re on the road, or do you like to save the writing for when you’re settled?
JB: It’s definitely harder to write on the road. I haven’t completely mastered that…yet, although I’ve worked on it a lot. It’s good for writing lyrics. There’s definitely stuff that’s really inspiring about traveling. Look at this old sugar factory – it’s pretty inspiring. There’s always things, people you meet while on tour that are really inspiring.
KK: What do you like to do on your down time, when you have a day off in another city?
JB: I usually like to go explore, and really get to know a city. It’s kind of weird, especially in Europe, we’ll get to spend just a little bit of time in each city, but we’ll go back three or four times sometimes a year, so we’ll get a little bit more each time. We had a day off yesterday, so we went to Coney Island. Never been there.
KK: Nice, how’d you like it?
JB: It was fun. We went on the Cyclone.
KK: It’s kind of brutal, right?
JB: Yeah.
KK: That’s like one of the most painful rollercoasters.
JB: Yeah, bruised kidney now or something. And our manager, he was playing one of those ball games, to try to win a Jamaican banana. He lost some money on that.
KK: And no banana?? They should have given it to him anyway.
KK: But you guys also have a film in the works?
JB: It’s been in the works for a long time. It’s on the backburner at this point, because we don’t really have funding for it.
KK: How did that even come about?
JB: Our friend Michael, he decided he wanted to make a film about us, so he went on tour – that first European tour that was about two months – and he had this kind of loose script that he wrote. It was also changing a lot along the way.
KK: Did you guys have to act in it?
JB: Yeah we acted, and we had lots of random people that we met act too. Anybody that we would meet, we would find some way to incorporate them.
KK: Are there any other projects you’re doing, or any other projects you want to do?
JB: Yes, but they’re all top secret (laughs).
KK: (laughing) Alright then, fair enough.
KK: Any other bands that you’re really diggin’ on right now?
JB: Love Dam-Funk. Dam-Funk is my favorite.
KK: Would he be on your dream bill, to tour with?
JB: Yeah, that’d be fun. We played with him before. He’s amazing, so much fun. Yeah, I think it’d be really good to do a tour with him, because he’s a lot different than us.
KK: Besides your upcoming tour, what’s next for Crystal Antlers?
JB: Lot’s of stuff. We’ve already been working on new songs, and we’re building our own studio…there’s endless possibilities.
Crystal Antlers’ tour does include a stop at Music Hall of Williamsburg on November 8th. Pick up their new album at one of their shows (all dates listed below), or grab it here. You can also keep up with the latest haps by following them on Twitter.
Aug 26, 11 – Freak City – Hollywood, Ca
Sep 10, 11 – Bar Pink – San Diego
Oct 19, 11 – The Barn (UC Riverside) – Riverside
Oct 26, 11 – Rhythm Room – Phoenix, AZ
Oct 29, 11 – The Mohawk – Austin, TX
Oct 30, 11 – GOOD Records (3PM) – Dallas, TX
Oct 31, 11 – JR’s – Lafayette, AR
Nov 06, 11 – Rock N Roll Hotel – Washington, DC
Nov 08, 11 – Music Hall of Williamsburg – Brooklyn, NY
Nov 10, 11 – The Middle East (downstairs) – Boston, MA
Nov 11, 11 – IL Motore – Montreal, QC
Nov 12, 11 – Legendary Horseshoe Tavern – Toronto, ON
Nov 13, 11 – Now That’s Class – Cleveland, OH
Nov 14, 11 – Empty Bottle – Chicago
Nov 15, 11 – 7th Street Entry – Minneapolis, MN
Nov 18, 11 – Electric Owl – Vancouver, BC
Nov 19, 11 – Crocodile Cafe – Seattle, WA
Nov 21, 11 – The Independent – San Francisco, CA
Nov 22, 11 – The Troubadour – West Hollywood
