The November 11, 2008 release of Secrets are Sinister marks the end of a bittersweet three-year hiatus for Brooklyn’s own Longwave and the beginning of a somewhat new start for the band. In a phone interview from the road in Portland, Oregon, lead singer Steve Schiltz, answered my questions about life on the road, the making of Secrets are Sinister, and the one thing every fan needs to know about this band.
Toying with mainstream success for sometime now, working with mega-producers Dave Friedman and Peter Katis, casually referring to The Strokes as “friends,” and calling the hip but hard streets of Bushwick Brooklyn home, I imagined my conversation with Longwave front man Steve Schiltz to be affected to some extent. But I admit, he was anything but. Rather, I found him to be sincere, albeit a bit restrained. His responses were without ornamentation or snare, as if perhaps the challenges that the band has encountered over the past three years have had a grounding effect.
He answered the phone and greeted me like an old friend. “Hi Steve? It’s Reni, from Popwreckoning. How are you?” His response, “Good, how are you? What are you up to tonight?” My awkward response, I realize now, was strangely similar to the one I recently received from a seven-year-old girl when I asked her the same question, “talking to you.” “Aside from that?” he was reaching with what I imagine was an arched brow and a fear of what the next fifteen minutes of awkwardness might bring. I responded with a proper shout out to a friend’s band, “shooting my friends, Two Seconds To Midnight in the studio,” hoping this might redeem a bit of my journalistic cred. Thankfully, after that, our conversation was far less cringe-worthy, and Schiltz left me with the impression of a band that seemed content to be making music that inspires them in the present tense, to be on the road again, playing for friends and family, and generally not all that concerned with what the future holds.
A recurring theme throughout many of the reviews of Secrets are Sinister is what journalists have referred to or described as Longwave’s “newly expanded sound.” I mean sure, the guitars on Secrets are Sinister are monstrous and the reverb, decidedly super-sized, but “newly expanded sound” is somewhat of a bold statement. For a band that has been on a three-year hiatus, Secrets are Sinister could be seen as new starting point. When I asked Schiltz to comment on this, he admitted to being disconnected from any sort of media-imposed labels that the new album has been given, and revealed without hesitation that he rarely reads reviews unless his label sends them or looks at the band’s website. In fact, he had no idea that this was even being said about the album. “I’m really bad about that,” he professed.
I took it upon myself to give him a short survey of what people have been saying about the new album. Basically, that everyone loves the album, (including me!) and that there is this general impression that Secrets are Sinister is bigger in some sense than the albums they have made in the past. “We don’t tend to compare ourselves to the last record we made, how we sound right now is how we sound on Secrets are Sinister,” responded Schiltz. He explained that while he did play more guitar on the new album, “We didn’t make a conscious choice to expand our sound or anything like that.” When asked about comparisons to heavy hitters such as Radiohead, U2, or Coldplay, Schiltz gladly took the compliment, saying, “those are great bands and when doing a review there need to be touchstones to compare to.”
When we spoke, Longwave had at that point been on the road promoting Secrets are Sinister for about two weeks. From LA they moved on to Petaluma, California. Schiltz remarked that their show at The Phoenix the night before in Petaluma was by far “the best stop so far on the trip.” The band’s guitarist Shannon Ferguson is from the area originally and used to play there as a kid. According to Schiltz, the venue is an old theater turned multi-dimensional performance/community space. Apparently there is even a skate ramp inside. “It was a really good show, a lot of our friends and family were there and it meant a lot to Shannon…Primus and Green Day used to play there,” remarked Schiltz.
As a fellow New Yorker, I couldn’t help but to comment on how a lot of the great NYC venues such as CBGBs, Brownie’s, and Coney Island High, have closed over the years and I was curious to know where Longwave felt most at home on stage. Schiltz countered me saying, “the Bowery is a great venue.” And as for CBGBs, “if they couldn’t pull in the bands they needed to stay open, then it’s time to go…Brownie’s was a great place, but at some point you have to let it go. New York is about turnover, you have to move on with life.” Fitting words I suppose for a band that appears to be taking their return to the music industry, after an extended break, at nothing more than face value.
Perhaps this is a result of the past three years, which Schiltz admits was a tough time for the band after a label merger and subsequently being dropped by RCA. “It’s hard to compress it all…we didn’t decide to take time off…there was a lot of bad stuff going on behind the scenes with the label, we were doing a lot of shows to make money but eventually fell into a lot of debt.” Despite a tough past, Schiltz seemed at peace with the band’s second coming of sorts, “as we were making the album I definitely thought it was our best…I’m happy people are excited about it.”
The band recorded Secrets are Sinister mostly on their own, setting up camp in their Brooklyn basement digs, with Peter Katis putting the finishing touches on things. While Schiltz confessed that his dream collaboration would be likely to involve Brian Eno or Steve Albini, he also cops to wanting to record an album in a “remote way,” describing a house in the woods and the band moving in there for a period of time and recording. We then shared a laugh about how recording in a Brooklyn basement wasn’t really that far off in concept.
It also seems that life on the road has changed this time around for the boys of Longwave. Schiltz said that their friends Little Joy were playing across the street that night and that after their gig they were going to head over there and hangout back stage, maybe drink a few beers. What? No rock star antics? “We’re smart enough now that seeing old friends on the road is the highlight for us,” Schiltz admitted, “we’re happy to be seeing people again.”
“So what’s the one thing you think every fan should know about you guys, that they don’t?” the girlish, borderline band stalker in me couldn’t help but ask. Schiltz chuckled and then responded with a deadpan delivery, “Jason [Molina] is the handsomest drummer we’ve ever had.”
Longwave: website | myspace | Secrets Are Sinister review
Written by: Reni Papananias
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