Today, !!! (chk chk chk) is dropping their latest album, THR!!!ER, on Warp Records. Known as a high energy, relentless touring band, the group basically wrote the new album on the road and recorded it with Spoon's Jim Eno, who infuses it with his band's taste for groove and space. It is, as the band says, an attempt to redefine their sound as more dance club-ready than albums past. By that measure, they've more than succeeded (See: tracks “Slyd” and “Careful”).I spoke to vocalist and songwriter Nic Offer about reintroducing !!!, the band's obsession with club music, and the enduring resonance of Starpoint's “Object of My Desire.” We also talked about how we are living in one of the most creative moments in music history.You said you want to reintroduce the band with THR!!!ER. What did you mean by that?
Nic Offer: It's interesting, we've been around for 15 years and you can tell when you do an interview what the person thinks of you and what you've become. No one is still the same person after all that time. We're not hitting a cowbell on every song. [Laughs] You feel a bit limited and tied to that when it's not really who you are. My impression of other bands is that, “Oh, they're this and they're that.” You have to fight against that labeling. The intent with this record was to push the sound somewhere else.The single “Slyd” is a good example of that effort. It has a fantastic Acid House and Balaeric vibe. Was this one of the songs where you were thinking, “Now this is something different.”
It sounds like !!! with the bassline, but it was definitely an attempt to try something completely new. That song was inspired by the early days of sampling when all of the breaks were still unused. With us it was a good challenge to make each bit different. It's basically me and Theresa using different pitch shifters and vocal effects, and it was really liberating to sing from this totally different perspective.How did the songs come together when the band is scattered across the US?
A few of us live in New York, so Rafeal and I work there. And then I come out to California and work with Mario. Literally, we practice less than any other band, I swear. [Laughs] The album was written in five or six different countries. If we're playing a festival in Singapore, for example, then we just meet up two days before and practice the set once or twice, and then we say, “Okay, let's work on some new songs.” The new songs come from demos, and when we're together we just work it out. We had a batch of songs and we toured straight into the studio.So the upside of being together for quite awhile is that it helps in the act of creation.
Yeah, it's funny that we're able to always flip into it so easily. Someone asked me once, “How do you guys all get back on the same level?” Man, we're old friends—as soon as we see each other, it's hugs and jokes. We're just able to sit there and do it.Did any cultural or musical influences infiltrate your mindset in the making of THR!!!ER?
With a question like this, you really want to sound smart and say that you were influenced by painting, books, or film, but in general, musicians are obsessed with music. We were absolutely obsessed with club music for this last record. There was a real feeling that we don't get played at clubs and we're more for home listening. Why is that? But, largely, the animus on the record was our continuing fascination with music. It felt like a good time culturally and we were absorbing so many musical influences, which was exciting for us.Right, it seems like we're living in one of the most musically creative times in recent memory. There are so many different influences swirling about, inspiring everyone. Would you agree?
Without question. I'm actually kind of worried that if the record labels win and piracy is killed, then it will dry up the well that everyone is drinking from. If that happens, then that's when this era will be over and there will be a blank, boring period. There is no doubt that this is feeding something really exciting.Can you talk a bit about the track “Careful?”
Before working with Jim on THR!!!ER, we kind of wanted to give him a trial. I had this song, so I said to the band, “Let me and Rafael go into the studio with Jim for the weekend, and if you guys don't like the song, then I will use it for a solo record or something.” It was a way of trying out Jim. We went in and it was great. We've never worked so fast.With “Careful,” we were going for a Berlin groove with Fleetwood Mac chords. The orchestrated part came about because we were driving home from a show one night and the song “Object of My Desire” by Starpoint came on the radio. It has this orchestrated synth breakdown two-thirds of the way through the song, and I thought it worked really well. I wanted someone 20 years from now to have the same reaction to “Careful” that I had to “Object of My Desire.”Are you hoping to translate that dance club vibe to the live show?
We sell as a live band—that's pretty much the rap on us. Everyone thinks the live show is good and the albums aren't as good. And I think the reason we're a good live band is because we're always trying to make it better. It always upsets me that I think a DJ set works better than our live set, so we're trying to incorporate that without selling ourselves out and messing with the magic. But, there is something about the way a club moves that I enjoy.@djpangburn
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Nic Offer: It's interesting, we've been around for 15 years and you can tell when you do an interview what the person thinks of you and what you've become. No one is still the same person after all that time. We're not hitting a cowbell on every song. [Laughs] You feel a bit limited and tied to that when it's not really who you are. My impression of other bands is that, “Oh, they're this and they're that.” You have to fight against that labeling. The intent with this record was to push the sound somewhere else.The single “Slyd” is a good example of that effort. It has a fantastic Acid House and Balaeric vibe. Was this one of the songs where you were thinking, “Now this is something different.”
It sounds like !!! with the bassline, but it was definitely an attempt to try something completely new. That song was inspired by the early days of sampling when all of the breaks were still unused. With us it was a good challenge to make each bit different. It's basically me and Theresa using different pitch shifters and vocal effects, and it was really liberating to sing from this totally different perspective.
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A few of us live in New York, so Rafeal and I work there. And then I come out to California and work with Mario. Literally, we practice less than any other band, I swear. [Laughs] The album was written in five or six different countries. If we're playing a festival in Singapore, for example, then we just meet up two days before and practice the set once or twice, and then we say, “Okay, let's work on some new songs.” The new songs come from demos, and when we're together we just work it out. We had a batch of songs and we toured straight into the studio.So the upside of being together for quite awhile is that it helps in the act of creation.
Yeah, it's funny that we're able to always flip into it so easily. Someone asked me once, “How do you guys all get back on the same level?” Man, we're old friends—as soon as we see each other, it's hugs and jokes. We're just able to sit there and do it.Did any cultural or musical influences infiltrate your mindset in the making of THR!!!ER?
With a question like this, you really want to sound smart and say that you were influenced by painting, books, or film, but in general, musicians are obsessed with music. We were absolutely obsessed with club music for this last record. There was a real feeling that we don't get played at clubs and we're more for home listening. Why is that? But, largely, the animus on the record was our continuing fascination with music. It felt like a good time culturally and we were absorbing so many musical influences, which was exciting for us.
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Without question. I'm actually kind of worried that if the record labels win and piracy is killed, then it will dry up the well that everyone is drinking from. If that happens, then that's when this era will be over and there will be a blank, boring period. There is no doubt that this is feeding something really exciting.Can you talk a bit about the track “Careful?”
Before working with Jim on THR!!!ER, we kind of wanted to give him a trial. I had this song, so I said to the band, “Let me and Rafael go into the studio with Jim for the weekend, and if you guys don't like the song, then I will use it for a solo record or something.” It was a way of trying out Jim. We went in and it was great. We've never worked so fast.With “Careful,” we were going for a Berlin groove with Fleetwood Mac chords. The orchestrated part came about because we were driving home from a show one night and the song “Object of My Desire” by Starpoint came on the radio. It has this orchestrated synth breakdown two-thirds of the way through the song, and I thought it worked really well. I wanted someone 20 years from now to have the same reaction to “Careful” that I had to “Object of My Desire.”Are you hoping to translate that dance club vibe to the live show?
We sell as a live band—that's pretty much the rap on us. Everyone thinks the live show is good and the albums aren't as good. And I think the reason we're a good live band is because we're always trying to make it better. It always upsets me that I think a DJ set works better than our live set, so we're trying to incorporate that without selling ourselves out and messing with the magic. But, there is something about the way a club moves that I enjoy.@djpangburn