Family Band Built Recording Retreat in Catskills, Debut LP
"This album is all about upstate" Kim Krans tells me when asked how living outside the confines of the city impacted the making of Family Band's album. "In fact, I don't think these songs would exist otherwise."
Thankfully, Krans and husband/bandmate Jonny Ollsin had fertile ground, far away from the bustle and distractions of the city to focus on woodshedding the songs that would become the Family Band debut LP.
Krans and Ollsin bought property in the Catskills two years ago and began making regular weekend flights from their Brooklyn homebase to work on the upstate cabin retreat. This became the backdrop for the skeletal, haunted folk framework that forms the basis of Family's Band's unique songs. Krans used the natural setting of the Catskills as inspiration for songs that inspire a sense of vague dread as often as they do a cathartic release. One can almost picture the long shadows of mountains falling over the land at sunset, or the menacing beauty of a drop of blood on fresh snowfall.
Prior to the writing of the Family Band material, Krans had little experience writing music or playing in bands – a stunning fact, given the weathered, lived-in feeling of the songs, which feel like they've existed for centuries in the collective unconscious. Just as surprising is the fact that lead guitarist, Jonny Ollsin, comes from decidedly less subtle musical pedigree, playing in Vancouver, B.C. skate-punk legends, S.T.R.E.E.T.S. for years before starting the straight up thrash-metal outfit Children in NYC.
The musical adjustment, while at first difficult, is one that Ollsin has welcomed, embracing the challenge to do more with less. "Every band I'd been in before had been more about coming up with complicated arrangements, and just…play!, play!, play!, the whole time. Now I get to step back and really look at things from a standpoint of the overall mood of a song, and how whatever colors and shades I add will affect it."
This scaled-back approach has clearly paid off, resulting in the majestic processionals that make-up the band's self-released debut album, Miller Path – an independent record in the truest sense of the word. The band managed every detail of the album's creation from the songs' inception to the moment the LP hit the merch table for the first time. Everything from the recording to hand-screening the album covers was done by the band members, on their own terms.
While this DIY methodology insures complete creative control, it also insures that everyone involved will have significantly less time for their day-to-day lives, including other creative pursuits. Krans comes from a fine arts background, which she still pursues between Family Band time and the increased workload she's seen with her burgeoning family business, The Wild Unknown, an enterprise that husband Jonny occasionally lends a hand in as well. The Wild Unknown started mainly as a way for Krans to make simple, unique gifts for her friends, but the finished product resulted in so many additional requests from friends for their own prints, calendars, etc. that Krans took the next logical step, starting a small, mostly internet business.
Even with the various member's busy schedules, they've wasted no time getting back in the studio to work on new material. These new recordings mark the first time the current live lineup will have recorded together – an auspicious prospect, as it finally feels like they've found the right combination to fully hit their stride with. While bassist Scott Hirsch has been on board as a key contributor since the early days, producing and adding lap-steel guitar to the band's recordings, drummer Luke Fasano (ex-Yeasayer) is a relatively new recruit. Judging by their recent live shows, the band has ample reason to be excited at this addition.
-Jon Treneff
Family Band plays this Friday, August 13, 2010 at Union Pool in Brooklyn // $8
Jon Treneff is a drummer living in Bushwick, with a long history opening for bands you probably know. He works at Other Music, Matador Direct and formally Sonic Boom in Seattle. People fly him places to appraise their record collections and we think that rules. Look for a new post — or extended feature! — whenever the moods strikes.
