Three Stars: Telograph
Brit-rock leanings are nothing new these days. Every gig-hungry band with an amp seems to be able to put a few three minute wonders together. But it takes musicianship and an imagination to turn of-the-now genre adherence into an actual good band. Luckily, Telograph has both.
We'd love to write them off as a band that's squeaking by on the merit of their lead singer's good looks and detached charisma, but fortunately Telograph brought more to the table last weekend at the Velvet Lounge. The band opened their set with driving bass and percussion, and worked their way through a slew of different treatments. They have a very full sound, with well-reheared, tight instrumentals coming from Arash Ardalan on drums, Gary On on bass and Benoit Tilizien on keyboards and violin. Andy Boliek's vocals came off a bit dramatic at the outset, but proved strong and the band's biggest asset as the set wore on.
They wrapped their deft instrumentals around a few different sounds, ranging from atmospheric to dark to up tempo, and shining on their smaller, faster tracks. Telograph sounds most at home in the aforementioned light, Brit-rock setting. The've definitely taken a few notes from The Killers, but have worlds more energy and charisma on stage. And Telograph appears actually to enjoy playing music (unlike The Killers). That love for music has apparently rubbed off on plenty of people, as the packed room danced and sang along with every song, culminating in a big clapping, friendly, fiddle-fueled sing along. With studio time booked and a summer full of shows left to play, Telograph isn't going anywhere but up.
Visit them at: http://myspace.com/telograph
See them next: August 12 at DC9 with The GoStation, Camera, and The Run In
Questions for Telograph
Let’s get some bio info out of the way – where are all of you from?
Andy: I am originally from the first state.
Gary: I grew up in the suburbs of Montgomery County, Maryland.
Arash: I've lived in a few different places, born in Akron, Ohio and lived in Paris for a few years, but have been in Northern Virginia since I could rollerblade.
Benoit: France
What brought you to D.C.?
Gary: Well, I’m from here, so D.C. is home. I had a brief stint in the San Francisco Bay Area, but I realized that I’m an east coaster at heart.
Andy: I came to D.C. for college.
Benoit: A taste of adventure, curiosity with a blend of VENTI craziness.
Arash: My parents made me and thank God cuz if they hadn't then I never would have met Andy and he sings like an angel and God loves angels.
How did the four of you start playing together?
Arash: Andy and I met in early 2004 and began working on some song ideas I had. Sparks flew, and we realized the potential was there. So began the search for a bass player. Gary was the first bass player we met, and the last we needed to meet. He joined full time and the three of us began working on our material. There were elements missing. We realized the need to be sonically complete. We began to search for a keyboard player, and found Benoit (The pride of Paris) shortly after his arrival to the U.S. In France, Ben was a violin player for the successful French rock band Armens. Telograph was complete; this was the band we wanted.
You’ve been together as Telograph for about a year now and perform fairly regularly; how did you go about starting to gig and getting a presence on the local scene.
Andy: As soon as we had a handful of songs complete, we went into the studio and recorded them. The recordings allowed us to start booking shows. Our first few shows were pretty rough. As in, ten people on a Tuesday night or something. Eventually, we were able to break out of that cycle and play better and better shows. Recently, we have been leaving free CDs around town, which has proven effective.
Benoit had some pretty significant success in a band in france – could you tell us about that? Given his experiences, what does he think of Telograph and the D.C. scene?
Benoit: In France, I played with the band ARMENS and recorded 3 albums for Sony Music/Columbia. I performed all around Europe in major festivals and venues, and shared the stage with Portishead, Stereophonics, Nick Cave and the bad seeds, Robbie Williams, and Iggy Pop. Telograph are my buddies, are generous guys, they are great guys and very mature. Except maybe Andy, Gary and Arash, otherwise they are... The D.C. scene is very interesting and eclectic.
You all have day jobs on top of Telograph. What occupies your daylight hours?
Andy: I work for a brokerage.
Gary: I work for a large accounting firm. Next question?
Arash: I wax hair at a tanning salon.... so what? I also teach the art of karate on Tuesday nights at Johnny Lawrence's Xtreme Dojo in Manassas, come on out, get a belt.
Benoit: Graphic Design, Web Design, and speaking English.
You’re recording a new EP soon. Are you going to a studio or doing it yourselves?
Andy: We’re actually working on a full-length album right now. Our anticipated release date is sometime in late September. We are tracking it ourselves, and our good friend Erik Dean is mixing. Recording ourselves gives us luxuries that we wouldn’t experience in a professional studio. We have unlimited time to come up with new ideas, and we’re not pressured by the clock.
Do you have much material ready to record?
Gary: We currently have about eight songs that are pretty close to completion, and have two that are still being worked on. Our new album, "Little Bits of Plastic" will consist of ten tracks. At this stage, we're fine-tuning each song to bring out the best qualities in them, for example, adding violins on "We Won't Settle Down". We actually have a lot of material ready to record, but we're trying to be consistent with a particular sound, style and uniformity for this album, so much of our material didn't make the cut.
How does the writing process usually work for you guys? Is it more centralized or collaborative?
Andy: It’s a bit of both. Generally, I write a chord progression and put words and a melody to it. The arrangement of the song, however, is completely collaborative. Everyone has their own influences, so when it comes to collaborating, we all bring different ideas to the table. For example, Ben might give me advice for a vocal part, or Gary might help Arash with a drum beat. All of us play various instruments, which makes the creative process easier.
So what’s with the O in your name? Where did your name come from?
Arash: The definition of Telegraph is to audibly communicate over long distances. We liked the word, but we wanted to give it a twist. The "O" in Telograph is nothing but a stylistic choice.
Do you have any favorite venues to play? To see a performance?
Andy: My favorite venue to play is Iota. As far as DC and VA venues go, their sound system is top of the line next to the 9:30 club (which is my favorite place to see a performance).
Gary: I like playing Iota because it’s so close by to where I live, it sounds good, and load-in and parking is really easy. Plus they give you food if you’re playing. They take good care of their bands.
Arash: Every time we have a show, that venue we play is my favorite because in that time and moment, I make that stage my home, my musical sanctuary. I am free again, free to express myself through music. Actually, that's crap, I love playing my drums in the nude and there's not a lot of places that will let me do that but that's when I really feel free.
Benoit: Iota. 9:30.
What do you like most about the D.C. music scene? The least?
Gary: We like the fact that it’s small enough that there’s a little bit of that sense of community, yet big enough that there’s still room for new bands to break in and be discovered.
Who are your favorite local artists?
Andy: There are a lot of bands creating great original music. As Ben said, the scene here is quite eclectic. A couple of our favorites are Middle Distance Runner and Greenland.
Anyone you particularly enjoy playing with?
Gary: Recently we played Iota with Soft Complex and Cedars. It was our first time headlining the club, and we got to share the stage with two great DC bands. We love playing shows with bands whose music we are excited about. Playing with Middle Distance Runner is a blast too. They've been known to visit us on stage during our sets.
What were the last albums you all bought?
Andy: Bunnymen - Siberia, Sigur Ros - Takk
Gary: Hmm… well the last album I downloaded, uh I mean bought, was Ted Leo and The Pharmacists – Shake the Sheets
Benoit: Gorillaz
Arash: Sufjan Stevens - The Avalanche, Muse - Black Holes and Revelations, Huey Lewis and the News - Sports (Digitally Remastered)