No strangers to the world of music, The Felix Culpa have been featured on numerous “Best” and “Top” lists, publications, and blogs. Beginning in 98’ with Singer/guitarist Marky Hladish and drummer Joel Coan, under the guise Twostepsback, the band later began playing as The Felix Culpa during 2001. Though having been played together for some time, both Marky and Joel accredit the band truly taking form to the addition of bassist Tristan Hammond, saying, “He really brought a new life to our music, our dynamic, and definitely our live show that just wasn’t there previously. I actually remember telling him at one point that I was so excited that he was in the band because it made that much of a difference.” (Joel Coan) The band added a fourth member Dustin Currier in 2007 creating the quartet as it is today.
With the release of their newest album and second full-length Sever Your Roots just around the corner (January 23rd to be exact) the men behind the music have every reason to feel proud. Having a two-year gestation period laced with many trials and tribulations, the band has successfully pushed through and earned an amazing amount of support and anticipation for the upcoming release.
2009 in particular was a miraculously challenging year for the group as they endured instances of musician misery such as equipment failure, scheduling conflicts and vehicle difficulties, to the darker hand life dealt them in family loss, health deterioration, and financial problems. “We’ve labored so damned hard with this album, enduring countless frustrations to the point where we sometimes doubted if it would ever happen at all” (Tristan Hammond)
However, despite all this the band does not gripe about the challenges they faced, instead saying, “There were definitely points where it didn’t feel like we were gonna come out the other end alive, at both professional and personal levels. It was tough. But in typical Culpa fashion, somehow we seemed to pull our selves through. I never thought I would end this year this excited about what we have in store. That’s definitely a good feeling.” (Joel Coan) It’s a good feeling for Culpa fans as well, as they see the fruition of this full length finally come to be, having patiently waited since 2004 for the band’s sophomore LP. In between Commitment and Sever Your Roots the band was kind of enough not to leave us hanging, releasing 2005’s Thought Control EP/DVD through Common Cloud Records, as well as the 2009 SoSoRemission Digital EP.
By associating with the name “The Felix Culpa” (which loosely translates into “the fortunate fault”, referring to Adam and Eve’s fall through original sin) these four have definite expectations laid before them. Both lyrically and musically they continue to earn this weighty title, with the few “teaser tracks’ the group released from Sever Your Roots earlier this month. (Read our review of these tracks here) Continuing their Indie/Post-hardcore sound with their signature abraded yet astral guitar, galled vocals, and the quixotic rock vibe that just doesn’t exist anywhere else the way it used to, The Felix Culpa may have kept fans waiting with bated breath, but we can guarantee listeners will take Sever Your Roots in with deep, rapt inhales.
The Felix Culpa will be playing their CD release show this Saturday, January 23rd at the Metro alongside Robbers, Loyal Divide, and Suns. Doors at 6pm/Show at 6:30 $11.00 at the door.
Click the flier to purchase pre-sale tickets for $10.
$5 with the promo code ‘betta’
The Felix Culpa online:
TheFelixCulpa.com
Facebook
Myspace
This week Reviewsic’s Telegram Sam talked to the musical outfit about Sever Your Roots, the growth of The Felix Culpa, and the music they love.
Telegram Sam: Does the album have a particular muse or concept behind it?
Marky- Well, basically the album is about “starting over”, hence the title and most of the lyrical content. I went through a lot since the beginning stages of this record personally, more so than at any other time in my life, and I think the lyrics probably reflect that. Most of them were written or re-written in the studio over just the last part of this year. A lot of it probably reads like a boy/girl thing, and that’s fine, but most of the actual lyrical ideas are directed at my love of playing music and finding where that fits into real life. The two concepts kind of got intermingled along the way and I’m ok with that. I’m happier with people drawing their own meanings from things that I write, if they so choose. Who am I to tell them what to read into lyrics they listen to?
Joel- This album definitely has a lot of common ground as far as the lyrics go, I feel. There is a lot we’ve endured together. Things we’ve gone through as a unit, and then as friends. I think it’s safe to say that all 4 of the guys in this band can heavily relate to a very large portion of the lyrics on this album.
Dustin- the process of recording this album has had a very serious effect on the outcome of it - musically, lyrically and otherwise. it wasn’t easy, and it took pretty close to forever to track and mix. The process was physically, emotionally, musically and financially exhausting, but everything we’ve poured into it has only contributed to what it’s come to be and what it’s come to mean to us. Hopefully other people can see that and get something out of it that’s half as valuable to them as it’s been to us.
Tristan- I think that, as much as we tracked to ProTools, we tried to keep the album as organic as we could. Roomy sounds recorded in foyers, room mics for tracking things live, using pre-amps to keep a sort of warmth instead of constantly relying on plug-ins for everything, no beat detector, no auto-tune, etc. Of course there are edits, and things are ultimately going through a digital interface, but I think we (and our engineer) did a great job of keeping the tone and warmth we wanted on everything.
T.S: Any band resolutions for the New Year?
Joel- Still be a band by the end of the year. Ha. Oh and - have something to show for it. I think we can all agree that we are going to push it as far as it can go, especially after what we’ve endured for the last 2 years.
Marky- Put out the album, tour.
Dustin- Fix the van, tour behind the release of the record, write some new music.
Tristan- Re-energize and show appreciation to the people who once used to support and love us. We’re still here and we want everyone to know that.
T.S: What were your top bands/albums of 2009?
Marky- Well for me Bon Iver was the most listened to artist of the year, but I’ve said that for the last couple years. Brand New and As Cities Burn also put out great albums this year. Really recently I’ve been getting into Helen Earth Band and Robber’s new EP FLESH. Some local artists put out some amazing releases this year, like Kevin Prchal from Chicago, Fable & The World Flat from Milwaukee, Kid You’ll Move Mountains from Chicago, The Chairs from Appleton, Zach & The Broken Bones from the Burbs, all amazing bands self releasing truly awesome records that deserve tons of praise. i think this is the year for the independent, unsigned artist to release music. 2009 was also the year of unreal reunions - Sunny Day Real Estate, Jawbox, Get Up Kids, Hey Mercedes… it’s like my high school CD collection exploded all over chicago. it was awesome.
Joel- Brand New - Daisy, As tall As Lions - You can’t Take It With You, P.O.S. - Never Better, As Cities Burn - Hell or High Water, The Color Morale - We All Have demons, (A sixth for good measure) Fable and The World Flat < - too good to be left out
Dustin- Into It. Over It. - 52 Weeks; Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca; Fable & the World Flat - Ladies & Gentlemen; P.O.S. - Never Better; David Bazan - Curse Your Branches
Tristan- P.O.S - Never Better, Mew - No More Stories…, As Tall As Lions - You Can’t Take It With You, Helen Earth Band - Our Own Ghost City, Oceansize - Home & Minor
T.S: After the epic finish of this album, what comes next? Touring, more new music by 2011, etc?
Joel- New Music by 2011?! That would be a Christmas miracle!! But truthfully - that would be awesome. It’s a personal goal, and hopefully the guys agree, to get our next full length or maybe even an EP out in a timely fashion. 2010 tour = most definitely.
Dustin- I can only say that I hope to tour as much as we can, given our circumstances with family lives, jobs, etc., and that we’re ready to write some new music before the year is up.
Tristan- I think we can all agree that taking 3 years to write, re-write, demo, record and produce an album is… not fun. I *think* I can safely say that the turnaround time for whatever we do next will be significantly faster. And, yes, we are certainly planning on touring this year.
Marky- We have a few smaller tours in the works. We really don’t have much of a plan outside of promoting this album. The idea to release it (and do it ourselves) came up pretty suddenly and unexpectedly, so we’re really still trying to catch up to that. We’ll see what the release brings. Also, the other guys don’t really know it, but i already have a ton of new music for us to record, so who knows?
T.S: Comparing yourselves as musicians at the release of your first album to yourselves at the release of this one, what do you think has changed?
Joel- Honestly, we’re not even the same band that we were back then. Our approach, our mindset, pretty much everything is entirely different. The writing has matured, the decisions we make (for the most part) are better. Yeah - a lot has changed, no doubt.
Dustin- When Commitment was released I was about 15, so I’d like to think I’ve grown quite a bit. I learned how to play some new instruments, basically for the sole purpose of joining this band, and since then playing with these guys has been the greatest blessing I could ask for. I’ve learned a ton personally and as a band, songwriting has become a bit more focused and taken new shape in a really interesting way.
Tristan- Everything has changed. I don’t think that any of our lives are in the same place they were in November of 2004. We have a 4th member this time around, who was like 9 years old when Commitment came out, we are thinking differently, writing differently, communicating differently, approaching the business side of things differently… I think that there’s an odd balance of experience, being jaded, and a growth of understanding. I can only hope that we are able to continue communicating who we are through what we say and do with our music.
Marky: Wow, a lot has changed. I think just most obviously, growth. All of our lives are so different now. At the onset of that first album, we really had no idea what we were doing in a lot of ways. Joel and I had just kicked out our bass player and I actually played bass on the first few songs that we tracked for Commitment. We had no idea if that recording was going to be the start of something or the end of our hobby band. Also, at that point it was our first time recording with Jeffro, and we’ve since developed an incredibly strong working relationship with him which has transcended onto this latest recording. He’s grown tremendously since Commitment as well.
I think on Sever Your Roots, musically we are far more focused. Tristan has gone from being the fill in bass guy whose gear we borrowed, to being an irreplaceable part of the music we all make together and an inseparable friend. We’ve obviously added Dustin into the mix to help us fill out the sound we were looking for and that has been HUGE in terms of what we’ve been able to accomplish musically. He’s definitely added a different perspective on our music than what we’ve had in the past and I feel like I can always count on him to steer us in the right direction when writing. Since then, we’ve also toured the country together in a van more times than I can remember, which adds to the ability to feed off each other and know what to expect from one another. We’re just far closer and far different people from what we were then, which makes us different musicians.
All of our lives are more stable and grounded, albeit unbelievably more complicated now than they ever were then. Joel got married to an awesome girl named Dre and moved to Milwaukee, Tristan and Dustin now have big time jobs with Threadless that have taken them from the Rockford area to Chicago, and I have my full time graphic design business to run, three kids to take care of with my wife heather, as well as another band with Heather and Dustin called Venna. There’s definitely a lot going on.
T.S: If you could have one guest musician play a show with you, dead or alive, who would it be?
Marky- I would want to play with Defraim Santiago, alive or dead.
Dustin- Bjork probably. I have no idea how that would work, but it’d be insane.
Joel- I feel like every interview I ever do will have the same kind of answer for this one, but… Jeff Buckley.
Tristan- Frank Sinatra or Billie Holiday. I have no idea what would come from that type of collaboration, but it sure as hell would be an amazing moment in my life.
T.S: Who are your top three musical influences as a collective band? Individually?
Marky- My musical influences are all over the board. Everyone from the above mentioned to Bjork, Jeff Buckley and Mew to Hum and Sunny Day Real Estate, and Twothirtyeight.
Joel- My father, Defraim Santiago, and my friends that I grew up playing music with.
As a band:
Hum, Sunny Day, Engine Down, Jimmy Eat World, Deftones…there are a ton, really. Hard to answer that one.
Dustin- As a band, I think we all agree on some variation of Engine Down, Shiner, Radiohead, Small Brown Bike, Jimmy Eat World, Mew… personally, I think the influences that find their way into my playing range from Miles Davis and Jimmy Page to Braid and These Arms Are Snakes.
Tristan- I would say that, as a band, that question is hard to answer. Sure, there are some core elements to what we do, but I feel like that core is constantly rotating and evolving; some stay, some go, some show up unexpectedly. Personally, I’d have to say that my list is ridiculous. I tend to draw influence from things that range from my friends and people watching, to piano stuff I heard in the car with my mother at 10 years old, to soundtracks from people like Philip Glass or Hans Zimmer, to bands/musicians like Flashbulb, Dillinger Escape Plan, No Knife, The Notwist, etc.
The Music: Cher, “If I could Turn Back Time”
