The Deadly Syndrome
Youthful Energy Abounds
Ahhh… The joys of youth… If science could harness the intense, sincere, and heartfelt idealism that overflows from a young band, we’d never again have any use for fossil fuels, ethanol, or biodiesel to power our homes, cars, and businesses. Everyone is dedicated and convinced of a whole host of things: they’re going to make it big; they can’t help but make it big; there’s nothing that can stop them from making it big; and/or making it big is just around the corner. Sadly, that idealism is statistically prone to come crashing down sooner rather than later, but there are often those bands who do make it — they start touring extensively, they’re signed to a label, and they cut a full-length record. The Deadly Syndrome is a band out of Los Angeles (LA) whose live shows have received rave reviews in the past year and subsequently helped get them signed to Dim Mak Records. The signing led to them recording their debut album, The Ortolan, set to be released on Tuesday, September 11th, 2007. I recently had the opportunity to talk with the four guys about the record, their music, and life in a band.
APN: Hey there guys. How’s it going? Who’s all there that I’m talking to?
William Etling (WE): Well, this is Will. Jesse and Michael are here and Chris will be here soon.
APN: Excellent. This is a very diverse record you’ve made here. Who plays what on The Ortolan?
WE: We all play a little bit of everything, but in general, I play guitar and piano, Jesse plays the drums as well as some piano and guitar…
Jesse Hoy (JH): Accordion too!
WE: Accordion too. Michael plays mostly keys and some drums, while Chris takes care of the vocals and plays acoustic guitar, bass, and some keys. Granted, on the song “This Old Home,” Aaron (Older, one of the album’s producers), Michael, & Chris played the wine glasses. they set up this series of wine glasses filled with various levels of liquid to where they were in tune with the key of the song. It was great! We could have played those tones on a synthesizer, but we wanted to try out the wine glasses.
APN: How cool is that! So, you’re a bunch of young guys in a young band. How have things been different since signing to Dim Mak and cutting this record?
WE: In one sense, nothing is different. We all have to work a day job in order to pay the bills so that we can afford to practice and play shows at night. In another sense, it’s more of a struggle because we have to work and play in a band. But in general, we’re excited to be in a band that’s getting lots of press and has people talking.
APN: Very cool then. I really enjoyed this record. How do the four of you write songs? What does that process look and sound like?
JH: It’s truly collaborative and it’s totally different, depending on the song. We all contribute lyrics to each song and we all work together. Often, Will starts things by writing some lyrics down as well as the basic chords and melody and will then come in and sing it for us. At that point, we’ll start working on the component parts for the song and will change the key if Chris needs to sing it in a different range. Other times, it works out like it did on the song “Creature, Creature” — we were gathered together practicing and the song just came out of that time together, including the lyrics. It can be quite spontaneous and disorganized.
APN: I can imagine so. So what did you guys do to harness all of that ridiculous creativity?
JH: Aaron Older and Nico Aglietti deserve all of the credit for collecting and meshing together our divergent sounds and make it into one complete album. We literally couldn’t have done it ourselves.
APN: Who do you point to as your inspirations and influences? Is there anyone you want to point to or is it more of a general influence upon the album?
JH: It’s a mishmash of all of our favorite bands, the soundtracks we’ve heard, the live shows we’ve seen and heard, as well as all of the various videos, movies, and media we’ve absorbed over the years. There’s no one thing we can pick out because there’s so much that has impacted us.
APN: What are your hopes and dreams for this record?
WE: Wow. I’ve never really thought about it that way. [pauses for a few seconds] I never really thought I’d ever have a record people could buy. It’s awesome that it’s out and that people actually like it.
JH: Yeah. We were never expecting this. In the beginning, we wanted to play together because we loved it. That’s why we started. Now, it’s just all crazy, this creative process, the fact we’ve made a record.
[shuffling heard in the background]
WE: Hey! Chris is here!
APN: I’m glad to hear that.
WE: So are we.
APN: Musicians always say that they can’t pick a favorite song because they’re all your children, but are there any you’re most proud of? Are there any that you feel define you as a band?
WE: We love them all. We can’t pick just one. People pick out those songs for us.
JH: We do love them all, but in one sense, we’re proud of the last two tracks — “The Ship That Shot Its Selef” and “This Old Home.” “The Ship…” was the first song we wrote and “This Old Home” was the last song we wrote as we were recording the album. To have these two songs sitting next to each other on the album is such a great testament to the progression of our collective songwriting ability.
APN: That’s exciting to hear from you guys. Are there any songs on the album that you and/or Dim Mak are thinking of marketing as a single?
JH: “Eucalyptus” [the first track on the album].
APN: So, where can we hear it?
JH: You can download it for free on the Internet! [laughs throughout the background] It’s going to be released soon on 7″Â vinyl, with the B-side being “Raw War.”
APN: Which isn’t on The Ortolan.
JH: Right.
APN: When will it be available to purchase?
JH: Well, we would like it to have been ready for our CD release show this Saturday night, but we’re still waiting for it get out of production.
APN: Well, I look forward to getting hold of it. So, where do you guys live in LA?
WE: We don’t really live in LA itself; we live primarily in the Echo Park and Silver Lake areas. And actually, none of us are even from LA originally.
APN: So where are you guys from?
WE: I’m from Santa Barbara, Jesse’s from St. Luis Obispo…
Christopher Richard (CR): I’m from Orleans Parish and Michael’s from…
Michael Hughes (MH): [in a horribly cheesy, yet funny New York accent] Staten Island!
[Everyone laughs]
APN: Did he just scream Staten Island?
MH: Manhattan!
[More laughter]
WE: Just write down that he’s from New York. It’s safer that way. Where are you from?
APN: Well, even though you can’t tell from my lack of an accent, I’m from Houston, TX.
WE: Oh. Ok then.
APN: So, what kind of touring do you guys have planned?
WE: We have some stuff up our sleeves.
APN: Anything you’d care to share with me? Anything you can share?
WE: Well, we can’t release that info yet. Technically, we don’t even know where we’re going. We just go where we’re told to go.
APN: Ahhh…Â You’re just told to stop working for weeks at a time, go on that tour, and then get back home and go back to work.
WE: Pretty much. We just wait until Alexandra starts putting out the flyers and getting all of her PR stuff sent out to people about the tour.
APN: Well, make sure that you put in a good word for me to that she sends me that information when she sends it to everyone else.
WE: Absolutely. We’ll do so.
APN: Thanks for this interview guys. It’s been great to talk to you today.
WE: You’re welcome. It’s been fun.
APN: Bye!
The Band: Bye!