Unwelcome Guests

In the heavily wintered cities like Buffalo, is melody a way to keep warm through the harshly cold winters? Well, maybe not, but Unwelcome Guests have taken the pages of later Husker Du and Replacements and created their latest LP, Wavering, built on the belief of melody first and the rest will follow. It had been four years since their first LP, Don’t Go Swimming, but now the band are back and one review has already billed Wavering “as one of the best of 2014.”

Interview by Ed Stuart

Who’s answering the questions? 

Micah Winship and Stephen Schmitt 

Where is the band from? 

Buffalo, NY

  

Who is in the band and what instrument do they play? 
Micah Winship: Guitar, Vocals
Stephen Schmitt: Lead Guitar
Stephen Floyd: Bass
Jason Bauers: Drums  

Micah: Chris Oakes was the bass player and he’s on Wavering.  Stephen Floyd started playing with us after he helped put the record out (he runs One Percent Press); probably to make sure we actually did stuff to promote it, ha. Chris got married, had a baby and is settling down in the small-town-apple-farming-life he was destined for. His wife is awesome and the baby is super cute so I guess it’s alright.

How did Unwelcome Guests start? I had read that initially the band was a two-piece folk band then became a full band. Can you give some background on this? 
Micah: Yeah, that's how it began. The first year consisted of me playing acoustic guitar and Colin Scharf playing electric guitar. We got some people to play bass and guitar because full band is a million times more fun. A year later Colin moved away and Steve started playing guitar. It's funny how different things sound, I have a hard time hearing the super early stuff now.  

Steve: I think Micah actually went on a search-and-destroy mission to eradicate all the physical copies of the early stuff. I’ve never even heard it.

What is the scene like in Buffalo?  
Micah: The scene in Buffalo is constantly changing. There has always been a strong hardcore music following though. Bands that play music on the fringes of the definition of punk come along and mix in with everything else. For example, Failures' Union is a rock band but some members have a strong hardcore music background and the singer, Tony, plays Saxophone in a funky, dance, soul band called Mallwalkers - with everyone else in the scene (there are 9 people in that band, including Steve). They're weird and good. I know that some cities have multiple punk scenes and they don't crossover. Buffalo has one music scene and we all know each other.

Due to Buffalo’s location right by the Canadian border, does the city have a lot more Canadian bands come through town than US bands? 

Micah: Not so much on a DIY level because the border is super annoying. If a band is going to deal with that they often times do a larger tour. We do have a lot of Canadian beer though such as Molson and Labatt. Steve and I go to Wellington pub every Monday for what were once $1 Molson pints; they’re $1.50 now but we still go. Big radio bands like Tragically Hip are household names here and people in the South have usually never heard of them.   

Steve: I haven’t read too much about it yet, but I believe Canada has removed work permit restrictions for bands so hopefully there will be an influx of Canadian DIY bands now able to play here and vice versa. I also want to go to Newfoundland badly so maybe we can plan a hassle-free Canadian tour now?

How did you get connected to Dirt Cult Records? Did Dirt Cult seek you out or did you send them a demo of the tracks for Wavering? 

Micah: Dirt Cult put out our Painter EP 7” and Chris Mason helped us book a West Coast tour back in 2007. I thought that Wavering sounded more like a Dirt Cult release than Don’t Go Swimming so I asked him if he’d be interested. One Percent Press, which is run by Stephen Floyd, split released it with Dirt Cult. Then Stephen joined our band.

Steve: Chris hasn’t asked to join the band yet, but we hope he does.

I had read in an interview in Rock Star Journalist, Micah, referring to the split record with Saint Sweetheart, said, “I really don’t like that record. I’m fairly proud of all of our material that has made its way to vinyl but if I could pluck that out of existence, I would.” Did this bit of disappointment regarding a prior release have anything to do with Wavering taking about two years to record? 

Micah: I do hate that record. Not to downplay the fact that we put a lot of time and effort into Wavering but what took the most time had nothing to do with us perfecting every detail – we’re not that complicated, ha. After Don’t Go Swimming our drummer quit and we went on a tour with a different guy which didn’t work out and then our previous drummer came back and then we went on tour in England with a different bass player and drummer. You get the point; we had a lot of changes in the band and life stuff just kind of got in the way. It made it really hard to get the songs tight and record them. I’m really enjoying our current lineup and we all seem to be on the same page.

Steve: I’m still pretty charmed by the cover of that release: a crayon (I think) drawing of a lounging beaver and a wily-looking alligator. I like absurd stuff.  But, yeah, it was a weird, tumultuous time when we recorded the Saint Sweetheart 7” and the recordings kind of reflect that in a bad way.

One review of Wavering stated, “Despite the fact that we are only three full months into this year, I am confident in labeling this album as one of the best of 2014.” I’m guessing when reading a review like that made it worth it to put so much time into Wavering and not rush a follow up release after Don’t Go Swimming? 

Micah: I’m glad that people are enjoying the record. The big differences between Don’t Go Swimming and Wavering are the production and the drumming. Zac was great and we definitely came into our sound with him, but Jason is insanely good and there’s a lot more variety and clever little percussive things going on with Wavering. The production also captured what we do live a lot better because we’re a loud band and John Angelo (guy who recorded Wavering) did a great job of capturing a sound that conveys that. We also wanted a record that was really concise and went with 10 songs that go well together. We were tinkering with a full band version of “Resolutions” from the demo we did beforehand, but it didn’t fit with the rest of the songs so we ditched it. 

Steve: It was definitely a protracted process, so it’s great to see positive reviews.  It’s great to see any kind of attention at all after so long between releases!

There have been a few reviews that I have read that compare Unwelcome Guests to Husker Du, Replacements and Bruce Springsteen. Are any if these bands influences on the band’s sound and songwriting? 

Micah: Of course, they’re all wonderful. I’m surprised no one has commented on how similar the beginning of New Day Rising is to Aerostatic, which wasn’t intentional but I felt no need to change. 

Steve: There must be some connection between Buffalo and Minneapolis, maybe the winters or the regional accents? Micah introduced me to the Replacements, and they’re great, so definitely an influence. I know almost nothing about Bruce Springsteen though. Except when he did that Super Bowl halftime show and slid on his knees and his crotch collided with the camera. That’s an influence, for sure.

Do you think music can still be a vital force in such a disposable age? 

Steve: Definitely, people are always going to connect with music, despite the way the majority of the world consumes it now; and nothing beats a live show. We recently saw Cher perform and it was mind-blowing. She emerged from a full-size Trojan horse. Full-size. Fucking. Trojan. Horse.  I guess that made the music kind of secondary. I don’t remember what my point was.

Micah: Yeah, I don’t know. Music and art have always been important but our interaction with each just changes with each generation. 

In an interview with Eighty-sixed Fanzine, there is a quote from Micah that reads “I can’t imagine where I’d be if it weren’t for going to Cobra La when I was a teenager and for that reason I feel like every town and city should have a common space for kids to get together and work on creative projects.”  Does Buffalo have these types of places?  

Micah: Yeah, we have Sugar City, which is an all-ages art space. They’ve actually been without a space for the last couple of years and would hold events at other venues to fundraise. They used that money and some weird grant that landed in their lap to open a new space. Should be open soon from what I understand. 

Steve: I got into playing music and going to shows pretty late; I wish there was a space like Sugar City when/where I grew up. 

  

50 years ago people used to buy music and get their water for free, now people pay for water and get their music for free. How do you think this affects music in any way? 

Steve: That’s a pretty striking analogy. I’m guilty of subscribing to the digital age myself. Of course, I love how easy it is to just search and listen to any song on Spotify or Google Play and get instant gratification. So I think it makes it even more necessary for bands to put on a great live show, have interesting artwork on releases and cool merch. For example, I recently saw Psychic Teens (from Philly). I had enjoyed listening to them on the internet and whatnot before, but when I saw them live, they were amazing - their LP artwork is fantastic and they have a T-shirt with Winona Ryder (as Lydia from “Beetlejuice”) on it which I bought instantly.

Where can people hear Unwelcome Guests and what’s next for the band?

Micah: We’re working on a new record and hope it won’t take so long to get it finished and out there. It’s about half way put together and less concise than Wavering and bounces around to a lot of different sounds and styles, so far anyway.  Our “to do” list has return trips to Puerto Rico, England, and the West Coast on it. We’d really love to do a full European trip but aren’t really sure how to make that happen at this point.

Steve: Also, Newfoundland.

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Low Culture

     Las Cruces is a city that has arguably lived in the shadows of Albuquerque even though New Mexico State University is there, but this might change with furious pace at which Low Culture has been releasing records. Low Culture was born from the ashes of Shang-a-Lang and Total Jock. In a short time, they have taken their workman ethic to produce a demo, release two 7 inches and a debut LP on Dirtnap titled Screens which is equal parts garage punk and Husker Du. Las Cruces Rock City? Maybe? Not bad from a band that is so confident in their own songwriting that their debut video just shows them at band practice drinking beer and eating pizza.

Interview by Ed Stuart

How did the band start?

Prior to Low Culture, I was playing in two bands, Shang-A-Lang as well as a hardcore band with Cade and Sam called Total Jock. As it would happen, at around the same time, Andy, Shang-A-Lang’s drummer, told us he was moving to Boise and James, Total Jock’s guitar player, told us he was moving to Albuquerque. So both my bands were pretty much done for within a matter of weeks. I asked Sam and Cade if they wanted to start a new band with me since I had enjoyed playing music with them in Total Jock, and I got down to writing some new songs for the project. We practiced a couple of times and then recorded a demo. The week before our first show, Joe, who had been in Shang-A-Lang with me in the past, moved back to Las Cruces from Denton. We got some beers before a practice and I asked him to join the band. He showed up to practice and I basically said “hey dudes, Joe’s in the band now.”

Describe the Las Cruces scene? Isn’t New Mexico State University there? So are there a lot of bands there or is Low Culture the odd band out?

Like anywhere else, the Las Cruces scene has its ups and downs. We’ve run a DIY space called the Trainyard for the past 3 and a half years or so and prior to that the scene was primarily house show driven. Currently, it seems like things are looking up after a bit of a lull. Shows are generally better attended than they have been for at least the past year or so, and there are more houses and other spaces willing to do shows so things don’t feel so stagnant.

It’s funny, for years there was a shortage of bands and it seemed like I was in all or most of them. I’d have three or four bands at a time and would be playing a show at least once a week. These days there are actually a ton of great bands and there’s not nearly as much pressure to be the “local opener.” This has allowed us to really spend time on new material instead of just practicing for the next show.

Recently Low Culture just had two releases in a short span of time. The first release of the year is the Screens LP and then the second being the Evil 7-inch. How has band kept up this frantic release schedule while working day jobs?

I guess, in addition to what I said above, it helps that we have three songwriters. For the past two releases Joe and I have pretty much split songwriting duties and Cade has contributed the more “hardcore” songs on the S/T 7” (Nervous Wreck) and Screens LP (Nightmare). As a result, it’s rare that there’s a practice where one of us doesn’t have something new to work on. One of the best things about being in this band is that all four of us are competent and opinionated musicians. It’s rare that a song is brought to the table where suggestions aren’t offered and changes aren’t made. It has been incredibly refreshing to be a part of such a collaborative process, because I think it pushes us to get better.

Low Culture has been on a variety of different labels, Dirtnap, Dirt Cult, Dead Broke, Rad Girlfriend, Drunken Sailor, can you give some insight on working with these different labels? Do they usually ask the band for releases or is the band sending out demos?

Well, it helps that I run Dirt Cult Records. We recorded the demo and the next day I posted it on Dirt Cult’s Bandcamp page and started dubbing tapes. As for Dead Broke, Rad Girlfriend, and Drunken Sailor; those are all run by friends I’ve made from running this label and from being in other bands. Every single one of them has either put out a split record with Dirt Cult and/or released a record for one of my previous bands. I don’t really remember how they initially got involved with Low Culture, but I’m pretty sure I knew they liked the demo so I asked them to help with the 7”.  Then when I ran out of tapes Mike from Dead Broke asked if he could repress the demo tape.

Our involved with Dirtnap is perhaps a bit more complicated, but not really. Ken has been someone I’ve known for quite some time as we’ve traded records through our respective labels and hung out at Fests and when previous bands have been in Portland. I’ve always respected and admired his label. Frankly, releasing something on Dirtnap has been a dream of mine since I first encountered the label in the early 2000s. Joe is in the Marked Men and they have released nearly all their records on Dirtnap. So he kind of spearheaded asking Ken if he was interested in doing something for us. We figured at the most, he might be interested in doing a 7” but he got back to us fairly quickly saying “I want to do an LP for you guys!” Needless to say I was excited…we were all excited. So we went about writing a ton of new songs. And we’re currently about halfway through writing another record for Dirtnap, so our excitement continues!

As for our newest 7”, Evil b/w Slave to you, that was released by Drunken Sailor and Cut the Cord That…Records. Flo, who runs Cut the Cord That…actually booked our European tour so I asked him if he’d be interested in doing a European 7” for it. Julian from Drunken Sailor got involved with that one because we love him, and we were playing some dates in the UK where he’s based out of.

Evil has been described as “deliver[ing] punchy, poppy garage with melodies that get caught in your head without wearing themselves out through repetition.” Is this review from Scene Point Blank describe an intended direction of the songwriting? What is the general songwriting process for the band?

I don’t know if we have a “process” per se. Basically, as I alluded to above, someone brings riff or song to practice and we spend a few hours dissecting it and trying to make it better. It can be a pretty humbling process. I’m pretty sure that we all, at one point or another, have gone into practice thinking we had a pretty solid idea and thrown up our hands in the middle of it all and said “never mind, I don’t like it” and either trashed the song and took it home to try to make it better. It’s been a really different dynamic in that way than in many of my previous bands where you show up with a song and it’s done, or only a few minor changes are made. I like it. It challenges me.    

In terms of the quote you mentioned, I think that’s rad that people feel that way. I’m a fan of melody. Even the hardcore I listen to has to have a hook. So while I don’t think its “intentional,” at least for me, I write what I like and I write what comes naturally for me.

Do you think it’s tougher for bands to get noticed today than it was ten years ago or do you think it is easier? By noticed I mean fans finding the bands, press etc.

I think it’s both tougher and easier. I mean, when I was a kid I had to dig to find out about bands by reading the “thank you” section on band’s I liked liner notes and by reading reviews in zines. I really had to investigate and there was no guarantee that I’d even like the band if I ended up deciding to purchase a record. But the “hunt” was half the fun. These days EVERY band is a click of a button away and it makes checking new stuff out so much easier. At the same time, with social media it seems like we’re bombarded with links every day, and I for one don’t have time to click on every single one.  There are plenty of bands I’ve slept on for years, only to finally check them out and find out I love them. So it goes.

Razorcake has described Screens as “the recording is the cleanest it’s ever been with a band with Chris Mason involved in it, but it’s not a false dress-up—like a movie-ticket-taker in a bow tie—but a fuller, higher fidelity sound that provides a greater depth.” Why the desire to have a cleaner sound for Low Culture than in previous bands?

I think Todd is primarily referencing Shang-A-Lang in this one. Shang-A-Lang was “dirty” out of necessity. We recorded on four-tracks in our practice space because there is no one in Las Cruces who we trusted to record us and coordinating schedules to get out of town to record was always a nightmare. Looking back, I think that lo-fi sound turned a lot of people off, and that band would have been a bit more “successful” (whatever that means) had we figured out a way to go into a proper studio. Then again, doing everything ourselves allowed us to be pretty prolific, with an LP and more singles, split 7”s, and compilation appearances than I can count. For whatever reason, it’s just been easier to go out of town and record with this band. And since we’ve been happy with the results, we’ve just kept doing it.

I had read that there was a European Tour in the works?

We were in Europe in March. We played in Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, France, the UK, Belgium, and Holland. We’ve been back a little over two weeks and I already want to go back. It was the best time of my life.

What’s next for Low Culture and where can listeners hear the band?

We’re playing Chaos in Tejas in June and Awesome Fest in August. I’m also hoping we make it up to the Dirtnap showcase in Portland and Seattle in September. And as I said, we’re writing a LP that I hope we’ll be ready to record by late summer. We’re also recording a song for a Big Boys tribute comp coming out sometime this year on Stiff Hombre Records. 

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