Reviewsic [ri-vyoo-zik] -noun: Music worth talking about

Charles the Osprey is a band that will blow you away, befuddle you, then leave you feeling oddly elated despite the fact that you don’t totally understand that the hell you just heard. A serious gem pulled out of Grand Rapids, the duo- Rafael Ohli and Derek Lancioni- manage to take a simple two-piece line up, mix it with a little curiosity, and produce a carefully calculated clutter of sound. Time signatures you can’t count along with, tempos you wouldn’t dream of, and an extremely no muss-no fuss attitude make up the singular voice for these two talented musicians. Constantly challenging one another’s technical skill throughout their newest record, Consider, the summer released full-length plays like a spazz-rock version of that Irving Berlin ditty “Anything You Can Do” (though those of a less musical theater biased upbringing may simply know it from Gap commercials). The give and take throughout Consider leaves the listener with plenty to do just that with, ensuring that brains are scrambled and heads need to be shook just to make way for the next track.

Once warranting a note from a disgruntled bar audience member in Grand Rapids that said she really enjoyed the bands “obvious LACK of musical talent. It also really helps to play your bad music really, really loud. Give me a call sometime.”, Charles the Osprey is obviously not music for everyone. While in the short term that little note did get the twosome some fame (it was featured in the passiveaggressivenotes.com’s recent print publication) more immediately the chaotic crashes and bubbling swells these two specialize in may take some time to procure fans and appreciation. One thing is for certain though- these guys have held back very little in their experimentation and put minimal limitations to just how far they’ll push the musical envelope.

Reviewsic: Can you give us a quick recap of what the band has been up to as of late?

Derek Lancioni: We really were trying to get another record written before the summer was up and Raf goes back to school on the East side of the state, but with all the work we put into getting the record out and setting up shows for the rest of the summer, including a couple out-of-state shows, it’s been difficult to find the time.   It’s also tough to finally get this out and then have to think about creating another one.  We’re really just trying to enjoy the summer.

Reviewsic: What is the back-story on how the band came to be what it is today-how did you come into playing the kind of music you do, in the way you do it?

Derek Lancioni: It’s really a collision of many different genres, and different backgrounds from Raf & I in what we like to play.  I started out playing drums to my dad’s Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin records, before turning to punk rock, and eventually to emo, with some other genres peppered in there, including funk, jazz and country.  Raf has a pretty solid jazz background, but with his guitar playing it’s mostly been metal.

Photo by: Paul Carlson

A couple times over the years, Raf & I got together to try and do something, and without direction, it always ended up being a Rage Against the Machine cover session.  Then, in 2007, I saw his band Enso play in Grand Rapids, and he and the other guitarist were pulling off crazy fast harmonic riffs, which were just incredible.  After the show, I said to Raf “do that, but faster” – and he totally got it.  We wrote our first song soon thereafter.  With so many different influences in what we’ve played before, along with what we listen to (we’re both metal, but Raf’s also way into techno dancey shit, and I’m into a lot of folk, alt country, and still all my old punk rock albums), the result becomes some sort of strange mashup of many genres.

Reviewsic: What are your top three musical influences?

Derek Lancioni: Shellac, Rainer Maria, American Football

Reviewsic: Is there any instrument you don’t play, but wish you did?

Derek Lancioni: Piano, or Xylophone.  I should have stuck with that during my drumline days.

Reviewsic: What are the last three albums or bands you listened to?

Derek Lancioni: The Black Dahlia Murder – Deflorate, Denison Witmer – Safe Away, John Brown Battery – Is Jinxed

(That last one is a result of having a nostalgiac day – JBB is a band my old band used to tour with, and we just found out that the dude from Into It. Over It. from Chicago is roommates with the old singer from Since By Man (who we also used to play with) and knows the JBB guys really well.)

Reviewsic: If you could work with one person in the music industry (musician, label, producer etc), who would it be and why?

Derek Lancioni: Steve Albini – I think that’s pretty much a stock answer, but let’s face it, the dude’s a genius.  His drum sound is the definition of having a signature. You just know when you hear an Albini recording that it’s his.  Plus, I think he’d be an incredible resource for independent musicians.  Just talking to him for a couple hours would be an absolutely eye-opening experience.

Reviewsic: What is the most memorable concert you’ve ever attended?

Reviewsic: Who are three of your favorite local bands?

Derek Lancioni: Oh, great, this is where I make enemies, right?  There are seriously so many incredible bands coming out of Grand Rapids these days, it’s very hard to pick three, but I guess I’ll have to.  We have a bigger list in our liner notes, but even then I had to leave out a few bands.  First, Ozenza.  Think Baroness, Helmet, Torche, the heaviest shit ever.  It’s not all that new programmed technical metal bullshit.  They are absolutely the kings of that thick tone and super solid drumming.  Second, Paucity.  Fellow instrumental band, 4 dudes, crazy solid grooves, a band we respect for having enough musicianship and songwriting going on that they don’t need a singer.   Third, Shores.  Ex-members of some of the best bands to come out of Grand Rapids, creating something truly unique to this region.   Slower, melody driven, with a  solid backbeat, it’s the kind of thing that you wish you were able to write.

Reviewsic: If you could book a tour with any 3 bands, past or present, who would they be and why?

Derek Lancioni: One would be Russian Circles.  We’ve been compared to them a lot, but I really think they figured out how to make what we’re doing work to their advantage.  It’s tough being an instrumental band.  We’ve been told a lot that our lack of a singer is holding us back, but then we look at a band like RC and wonder if that’s really true.  We are playing with them on August 12 in Kalamazoo, MI, and we’re very very excited to finally meet them.

Two, Shellac.  Again, the Steve Albini thing.  Plus Todd Trainer is a crazy good drummer, and Bob Weston is hilarious.  Someone put together the famous Q&A sessions that Bob does live, which is hard cause they try really hard to discourage bootlegging their shows, but it’s just Bob fielding questions from the audience while Steve tunes or whatever, and it’s absolutely hilarious.  They’ve gotta be a riot, but I don’t think they tour at all anymore

Three, La Dispute.  A band from Grand Rapids that I didn’t include in those top three, though I think they deserve it just as much as anyone.   They’re better suited for this question anyway since they are touring machines.  They just came back from Europe and have a few months off – the longest stretch they’ve been home in years.  They’re the nicest guys you’ll ever meet, and they got us on some key shows when we were coming up.

I’m sure I could have really spent time on this and picked some bands that don’t exist anymore, but there are far too many bands out there that would be fun to tour with and I figured I’d just stick to the present.

Reviewsic: Tell us about the Consider - What do you hope people take away from it? Is anything you wish you did differently?

Derek Lancioni: I really hope people aren’t bored by it.  HAHAHA…seriously though, it’s tough to create something without lyrics and have people pay attention to it, want to listen to it again, and not just write it off as background music.  We’re trying really hard to bridge that gap between super mathy crap that only musicians will appreciate, and commercial pop songs without a singer.  I think we’re pretty close to nailing that.  I wish we’dhad more money…hahahaa…there are a few parts (that only we and the engineer will notice, really) where I screw up, or Raf screws up, that we just accepted because we were out of time and money, or because we were frustrated.

Reviewsic: How would you compare yourselves as musicians at this point as opposed to when you first began playing together?

Derek Lancioni: I think we’re way better at understanding that what we’re creating has to make sense.   On the first EP, we essentially just threw a bunch of complicated parts together in a song, creating really jarring and nonsensical transitions.  We’re to the point now where we pay more attention to the composition of the song, not just throwing parts together, but rather starting with a part, and writing the other parts based on that, and then arranging them.  It seems simple, but with a pop band, you just have to write Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus-Bridge-Chorus-Done.  With us, that’s one of the things we’re trying really hard NOT to do, because once you do that, it sounds like there should be vocals going on over that.

Reviewsic: What are some of your favorite cities and/or venues to play?

Derek Lancioni: We haven’t really been out of the city much, so this isn’t the best time to answer this question, but in Grand Rapids, Founders Brewing Co. is definitely our favorite.  Big, open room, usually a great crowd.  Our first show was at an open mic night at their old location.  There were maybe 20 people there, mostly hippies, and they responded to our first three songs with a standing ovation.  It was very interesting.   We’re also very excited for the opening of the Pyramid Scheme, which is hopefully coming next spring, from Jeff & Tami VandenBerg, who run the Meanwhile Bar in GR, and our record label Friction Records.  They’re amazing to work with, and I think their venue is going to be an important part in fostering some of these up and coming bands, as well as draw some mid-level tours to GR that wouldn’t ordinarily take that detour up into Michigan except to go to Detroit.

Reviewsic: What are the best and worst band moments so far in your career?

Derek Lancioni: The best was getting this record out, for sure.  It was nice to finally have it done and out, and on vinyl no less.  Everyone involved, from the jacket artist, label, printer, press plant, PR company, they’ve all been so awesome through the whole process, and we got exactly what we wanted.  Well, we were supposed to get a gold/green mixed vinyl, but Jeff got his way accidentally, which is probably good, cause we’re selling a crapload of the solid Orange.  We actually have sort of a bet going, and Jeff is certainly winning, since I thought the Army Green would sell more than Orange.  I’m definitely losing.

For worst moments, I don’t think there’ve been any.  The best thing about being in a 2-man band is that there’s only one other dude.  One other opinion, schedule, attitude, writing style, etc., so rarely do we have any sort of fight.  We make fun of each other all the time, but really there are no blowouts.  I guess the worst moment (and I’ll leave names out here so as to not embarrass anyone) was when we travelled to Chicago to play a house show.  It was in a gated community, we played in a garage with the door shut in mid-June when it was like 95 degrees out, it was a kid’s dad’s house, so we had to drink beer out of Pepsi cups from the gas station so his dad wouldn’t know (I’m 28 years old, by the way, which makes this situation absolutely ridiculous), no one showed up because all the kid’s friends were watching some other band record, and we got a handful of change for coming out.  It was awful, but good things also came out of it.  We met The Reptilian from Kalamazoo, who are amazing dudes, and have been very supportive of us along the way.  We also met The Midwestern from Chicago, who played our 2-man band fest the first year, and who’ve helped us get a show in Chicago for our upcoming trip to Minneapolis, so it wasn’t all bad.

Reviewsic: What are a few items essential to your “tour survival kit”?

Derek Lancioni: We haven’t been out as a band, but my old band, Hunter Rose, toured a few times years ago.  We brought a loaf of bread, peanut butter and honey.  We lived on that the whole time, and I think that’s important.  A big chunk of the money you potentially waste on tour goes to eating out, and that’s also obviously not especially healthy.  I think if we do go out, we’ll have to travel in something that has an iPod input.  CDs take up a great deal of room, especially if you’re out for a couple weeks or longer – with us, we are trying to tour in one vehicle, no trailer or van, just an SUV, so our space is very important, and Raf’s gear is not small.

Reviewsic: What are your plans for music in the next year?

Derek Lancioni: We’d planned on having another album written this summer, but it looks like we’ll be trying to do that long distance, since Raf moves a couple hours away in about a month.  I don’t think the music will change dramatically, but there will be some changes made for us to move forward.  We also potentially will have a split coming out with Shores on Friction Records, where we’re going to cover each other’s songs, which will be absolutely hilarious.