Welcome to the December edition of Three Stars. Tomorrow, we'll be reviewing the Lucky Bastards, and on Friday, we'll bring you coverage of LeJeune. Today, we talk to The Bonapartes, and discuss their new EP.

The Bonapartes

So, DCist last saw The Bonapartes at an under-the-radar benefit gig in the front room of a Florida Avenue townhouse, where the lo-fi sound setup had our ears ringing and the advertised open bar was a couple of kegs. We'd seen the band before, months ago and not long after their inception, at a DC9 show where we loved the songs but found the group tight and restrained, and still growing into their music. Time has been good to them, though, and their recent performance radiated a deserved confidence. The well-dressed ethic had lapsed, with only guitarist Ben still rocking the neck-tie, and restraint was gone, as the band threw themselves into their set, animating the crowd in the process.

Next week, the band takes the mainstage at Black Cat at a release party for their first real disc, a five-song EP that very accurately captures the live sound of the band. The disc is short, clocking in at a little over fifteen minutes, but it powerfully displays the band's songwriting capabilities. The Bonapartes have a knack for crafting guitar hooks; they pepper their track intros with themes that repeat throughout the songs, bringing to mind the guitar driven rock of Queens of the Stone Age, but with the indie sensibility of a Husker Dü. The rhythm section drives much of the band's work, differentiating the songs and preventing the hooks from becoming repetitive, navigating the group between punk and dance-rock. Lead-singer Scott's vocal work is bright and distinct, with ambitious vocal melodies that call to mind Yan of British Sea Power or Bono when, as on the EP's highlight track "Concentric," his notes rise and fall in chill inducing cadences.

"Concentric" is the hit of the album, combining unforgettable guitar harmonics with a subtle synthesizer and Bloc Party drumming, but all the tracks demand repeat play. This is a release that is likely to stir wider attention for the band, and The Bonapartes seem ready for the spotlight. See them fill it on the mainstage next week, before the buzz LP that's sure to come lifts the band beyond DC's cozy local venues.

Visit them at: www.thebonapartes.com

See them next: Saturday, December 17th at Black Cat

Questions for The Bonapartes:

How do you guys work together as a band? Who writes the songs?

Ben: We believe in a division of labor, and don’t have a single songwriter or artistic focal point. I think we distrust the notion of having a single personality dictating the creation of the music. Each of us can write songs in his own right, so in the band we do it democratically, with each person writing his own parts and also contributing to the collaboration as a whole. But yeah, to answer your question more specifically, what usually happens is that one person will bring in an instrumental part (usually an idea that is in an embryonic state), and then we will all work on building the music around it. This comes through practicing and re-practicing, writing and re-writing. Most of the time the songs take a lot of work, but sometimes the song will appear rather easily. Sometimes we drink absinthe and go throw up on a beach in Delaware somewhere, and you know, that can be a song. From there we will make a scratch recording of the arrangement, and then Scott will write the lyrics and melody over the track. Specifically in terms of the words, Scott pretty much has total control over them—he writes what he wants to write and we go with it. But see, it’s the same with each of the instruments—we all write our own parts. Overall, I think we utilize a good mix of individualism and collaboration in the songwriting.

You've had tracks on your MySpace page for a while, but your new EP is the first thing you've released. Where and how did you guys record it, and did you consider recording a full album instead?

Ben: The EP was recorded at The Bastille, which is in Herndon, VA. Eamonn (guitar) is the owner/proprietor/engineer/producer over there at the Bastille, and the production of the EP was basically his baby. Working in a home studio involved some trial and error, but it also allowed us a little more space to be comfortable and get the sounds that we were going for. The songs were all totally complete before we recorded them, so I think that there’s a no-nonsense feeling to the EP as a result. We thought about doing an entire LP, but basically decided to adhere to a ‘quality over quantity’ model. A full album would have had its place, but since this is our first serious, non-demo recording, we wanted give people just a small taste of our stuff. Who needs oversaturation, anyway? And honestly, the rest of our songs either suck or are too amazing to ever be laid down on tape.

Oh yeah, it was mastered at Silver Sonya.

Why The Bonapartes? Are you guys more imperial or revolutionary?

Ben: Is this a trick question? Ok ok, seriously, it’s funny you ask that because, as a trick question it is totally appropriate. The name comes from a book I was reading about the Russian Revolution actually. The author used the word "Bonapartism" to describe what happens when a strong leader captures the popular will of a revolution, only to use that power to fashion himself/herself into a dictator. Napoleon did this, Lenin did this—you get the idea. I think part of what we initially liked about using "the Bonapartes" for a band name was that it expressed something more complicated than simply "imperial" or "revolutionary"; it has more than one connotation. Of course we want people to think "revolutionary" when they hear the name, just because, hey, who doesn’t want that? We love revolution, no matter the reasons for it. Just as long as there are some cool beheadings and we end up living in lavish palaces. Ahem. Really, we consider ourselves to be ‘of the revolution’ in the sense that we like to drink cheaply and all vote extremely liberally. Also, the name is French, obviously, and with all the anti-French sentiment in this country, it just seemed like a rather puckish idea to name ourselves after the founder of the modern French State. Finally, I think the name also embodies the ultimate futility of our ambitions. They are Napoleonic in scope, you might say.

Choose one of your songs, tell us how it came about and why you like it.

Ben: Ok, the song "Concentric", which is on the EP and is one of our earliest songs, is interesting just because of how many guitarists have asked us how we got the guitar sound for it. This was Eamonn’s doing. He had this part, and it almost sounds like he’s playing behind the bridge of his guitar or something. He’s not doing that, and I won’t reveal what he’s actually doing, but it’s funny to me how many questions we’ve gotten about it. I will say that his technique involves EVPs though. Really, I think we originally liked the part because it sounded similar to an EVP. That’s "Electronic Voice Phenomenon" by the way. Brad especially likes EVPs—I think that’s why he plays a Warlock bass. Anyway, so yeah, Eamonn had this part, and Brad and I just came up with a simple progression to put behind it, which basically doesn’t change. The song is just so damn simple, but I think it sounds more complicated than it is, and that’s kind of cool. I think what really drives it is Dex’s drumming—it’s just a matter of dynamics. Dex is an amazing drummer, by the way, which really helps every song we have. So Scott wrote the lyrics to it, which I think are about geometry (kidding), and that’s how it came about. Really one of the simpler songs we do.

Scott, as a frontman without any instrument but your voice, do you feel pressure to act frontman-ish? What would be the most original thing a frontman could do?

Scott: There is nothing I can do that is original. I do my best to rip off every notable frontman in the history of rock with as much affectation as possible. Since I pretty much do nothing but sing, I realize that I'm pretty much just a hanger-on.... nah, really; is there anything that a band can do that's actually original? Whether one is a guitarist, bassist, drummer or keytarist, there is an inescapable norm to which their perceptions of roles are tied and their styles derived. Frontmen are often attached more so than others to stereotypes because of their salience in rock history, i.e., the ever-presence of "arms akimbo," erroneously attached to Mick Jagger alone, yet re-used by Freddy Mercury, Rod Stewart (circa the Faces) or, more contemporaneously with myself, Karen O. (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) or Pelle Almqvist (the Hives). When you think about it, how many places are there for a lead singer to put their hands? Anyway, my philosophy is to bring as much energy as possible to a performance...inevitably, some of my antics will be attached to my predecessors; I really don't care. Drummers will twirl sticks, guitarists will jump around, bassists will sway to the rhythm and, yes, singers will stand with arms akimbo. Get over it.

What are some positives about the DC scene?

Ben: Well, a lot of people complain about the smallish size of the scene, but I think of that as a good thing. There is more of a tight-knit community, and everyone seems to know everyone else. I think that’s good for fostering togetherness and squelching competitiveness. Bands in the scene work hard and try to come up with good music. You can’t ask for much more.

Negatives?

Ben: I actually don’t think there are any real negatives. People complain about the scene a lot—hell, I complain about the scene sometimes—but really, what limits do we have here? DC has good venues, it has a large enough pool of people who see shows, and there are a manageable number of serious local bands for those people to check out. If a band doesn’t play too many local gigs, and promotes the shows they do play, then it’s possible to get people out—even those that are unfamiliar with a particular band. In our case, I think if we were from New York let’s say, it would be exceedingly difficult to get the same kind of name recognition that we can have here. There are just so many bands there. Sure, the population of music fans is higher in New York, but still, a "scene" can only be consciously aware of so many bands. If there is a negative, it’s that less-than-tangible notion of perception. I think that sometimes people in town aren’t aware of or just don’t expect as much out of DC bands, just because local bands are too close to home, you might say. Maybe it’s just that being from another city is sort of exotic when you’re talking about an unknown band. Like, if I go out to see a show and there’s a band from Des Moines, then it’s like "wow, they’re from fucking Des Moines." I guess if we play a show in Des Moines, maybe those people would say, "wow, they’re from fucking DC." Unfortunately, I think DC may have a knock against it because it’s seen as such a blue-suited company town. The government is the company, and so many people here work for it. That’s not a bad thing—obviously jobs are good—but I think DC then comes across as being kind of boringly serious and policy-oriented or something. I think Michael Azerrad characterized DC that way in Our Band Could Be Your Life. So I think it’s probably about recasting what DC bands are and what DC is. Let’s bring in some gusto and panache, some good old rock and roll posturing. Hell, maybe I should just put it this way: "The Bonapartes are more important than Jesus, and DC is too." Easy, eh?

But we do really appreciate how the DCist respects the locals just as much as the out-of-town bands; I know local bands wholeheartedly appreciate the job that you do in that regard.

Who are your favorite local acts?

Greenland, Death by Sexy, the Run-In, Army of Me, the Apes, and the Cassettes. None of these bands are originally from Des Moines, by the way. Go check ‘em out. Really, go check out any local band—I know they’d appreciate it.