American Mars, alternative band and rockers, talk about life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and oh yeah, music...
DM) Which song on the album is your personal favorite? The
one that most reflects the musical style of American Mars?
TT) I guess I'm partial to "Grief," which closes
the record. I fought hard to convince the band that the song
deserved a spot on the album. I think it captures the emotional
intensity of the band in a special way and I'm proud of the sounds
that we managed to get in there. There's little touches, like
the beeps and the horn at the end that are close to my heart.
They surprise me every time.
DM) It sounds like you and Karla (the other lead singer) have
slightly different musical styles. Who are your influences?
TT) Karla and I do have different influences but we always
felt that those made the band more interesting to ourselves and
to our audience. When we made "Late" Karla was listening
to a lot of Jeff Buckley and this friend of hers Brendan Benson,
which I think is where the popiness of "Queen Bee"
came from. I was listening to a lot of Joy Division and the Clash
and maybe not so surprisingly to the Afghan Whigs "Gentlemen"
record at the time. I'm also a really big fan of Aphex Twin so
I tried hard to get some sounds on the record that I thought
might have the same sort of sonic quality that you find on Ambient
Works Vol. 1. We obviously didn't make a very electronic record,
but I did want to incorporate some "found sound" elements
in the sonic fabric of "Late."
DM) In "Hourglass" you start off with "I was
born in the year of the Tet Offensive". What influence did
the Tet Offensive have on you?
TT) That line, and that song in general, was written as some
explanation of who I am as a songwriter. It just seems so strange
to me to have been born in a year that was so turbulent. I, and
I suppose many folks of my generation at times feel very identity-less,
and I often feel that who I am as a person has been determined
more by the events that occurred in the year of my birth than
anything I have done or said or will ever do. I mean I was born
in the year that America killed MLK, where do you go from there?
DM) Who did you have the crush on in "Crush"?
TT) I'm afraid I can't tell you that.
DM) What inspired the long lyric-ed (2 words) song, "Sugar
Cone"?
TT) "Sugar Cone" came about as just an improvisation
that we'd play once in a while. We were talking about it one
night at practice and it was decided that it should have some
sort of vocal that would give it some kind of direction other
than its basic surf rock context. We all thought it should be
kind of sexy and I don't really who remember came up with the
words "Sugar Cone." The whole thing is kind of throwaway
but it still makes me laugh.
DM) If it wasn't for music, what career would you be following?
TT) I think I'd probably become a professional student. Other
than music, the only other thing I really enjoy doing is reading
and going to movies. There aren't too many careers that those
skills benefit. I'm not very good with numbers.
DM) What was the last dream you had?
TT) I had a dream about walnuts. The next morning I woke up,
went to the refrigerator, and it turns out my wife had bought
walnuts the night before without my knowledge. It that strange?
DM) Was there a particular song is exemplary of the cutting
edge of your music?
TT) I guess that "Grief" is one that I'm proudest
of. Again, I think it captures what the band is about emotionally,
lyrically, musically. It certainly is perhaps the darkest thing
that we've ever done, but I still consider it an early benchmark
in a lot of ways in terms of the kind of
intensity that I would like us to have.
DM) I hear some overdubs, effects and the such, have you ever
done one of your songs acoustic?
TT) Most of the songs are written acoustically and then built
up from there. Our guitarist Gary and I just got done doing a
series of shows as a duo where we both just played guitar. I
was real nervous about doing it at first, but in many ways it
was a great experience for us as musicians and me personally
as a songwriter. It was good to find out if the songs could stand
on their own without all the bells and whistles. I think they
did.
DM) Did your mother sing to you as a child?
TT) Yes she did. There was always a lot of music in our house.
I remember that very soothing voice at night as I was going to
sleep. I think all kids should be sung to.
