Three Stars: Tereu Tereu

Visit Tereu Tereu online at: http://www.tereutereu.com or http://www.myspace.com/tereutereu

See them next: Tereu Tereu doesn't have any shows coming up since they'll be heading into the studio, but Ryan Little will be playing on May 16 at The Red and the Black with Ryan Walker of The Beanstalk Library (***).

Buy their music: On iTunes. Three songs off of Feline Ambition are also on a split they did with The Light Footwork which can be bought digitally on iTunes.

Questions for Tereu Tereu:

How did you four meet each other?

Adam: I think the other 3 knew each other from attending the University of Mary Washington at the same time. I went there too but many years earlier (I'm the grandpa of the group). I had been living in Seattle and D.C. for a few years and when I moved back to Fredericksburg, somebody told Ryan I was a bass player and I started playing with him and Ross. Matt was the last permanent addition. He used to be a special guest on a song or two, and then quickly found himself completely indispensable and a major component of our sound.

How did expanding from a two-piece to a four-piece change your sound?

Ryan: Well, we started writing better songs for one. Playing as a two-piece was fun in a punk rock sort of way, but it was mostly a matter of circumstance.

You have a rather interesting band name, how did you come up with it?

Ryan: I was reading through some T.S. Eliot and I stumbled upon the phrase. I really chose it because I like how it sounds, but as with most of Eliot, you could probably write a thesis on it if you felt like doing the research.

Do you feel that your involvement with Fredericksburg All Ages helped you get involved with other D.C. bands since a lot of them play at Fredericksburg All Ages?

Adam: I would say that its definitely helped. My favorite part about FAA is getting to meet cool and interesting people from touring bands. We've had a lot of awesome bands play here, from DC and from all over, and have made some great friends. Good friends are always important when you're in a band.

Do you consider yourself a part of the D.C. music scene, or somewhat removed from it since you're based an hour away?

Ryan: Most of our musical peers, in terms of friends our age playing music with similar influences, live in D.C. We love Fredericksburg, but we play in D.C. almost as regularly. I like to think of it as a sort of dual citizenship, which is a mixed blessing, of course, but it suits us.

What bands do you like playing with?

Ryan: There are so many fantastic bands in D.C. right now... we recently played with Georgie James, which was fantastic. We opened for Jukebox The Ghost before that, and we really love those guys. And of course, our friends Bellman Barker, Carol Bui, Statehood, Paul Michel... the list goes on.

Adam: We played two nights in a row with Ra Ra Riot last summer and that was a blast. Such a great band with so much energy. Opening for Maritime and meeting Davey von Bohlen (one of my favorite songwriters) was pretty special for me.

Matt: I'm occasionally given the opportunity to sit in (on trumpet) with a band we're playing with on a song of theirs. I've had the honor of sitting in with Jukebox, our good friends Pash, and the Bronze Episode, to name a few. We've played with so many great/friendly/awesome bands and it's so much fun for me.

What bands do you like listening to?

Ryan: Lately, I've been listening to The Zombies and Hank Williams a lot, and I also stumbled on this gorgeously strange band called Collections of Colonies of Bees. You might call them a post-rock band, but they're more hopeful feeling--they sound like a looser, more organic Phillip Glass reinterpreted by Jim O'Rourke, if that makes any sense.

Adam: Bruce Springsteen almost exclusively since I saw him play the Verizon Center the last time around. Also, Doris Duke's "I'm a Loser" hasn't left my CD changer for almost a year.

Ross: Lately, I've been listening to Luke Temple a lot in my car. We played with them a while back in D.C. and New York, and I've been endlessly impressed with them since then. Also, I can't stop listening to Steve Reich.

Matt: I've recently been on a Jukebox the Ghost kick, like many people are these days. I really like what those guys are up to. I'm currently wearing a Flaming Lips t-shirt, which reminds me that I really enjoy listening to them too.

I see that you're about to spend some time this month recording. Will you be recording with Jason Caddell and Travis Morrison again? If so… what did you like last time that you'll be looking forward to again? If not, where and with whom?

Ryan: Working with Jason and Travis was really amazing, and they were a huge help in getting that EP together. They're both great guys and have tons of smart ideas from a production standpoint. This time we're going to work mostly with Devin O'Campo, who mixed the EP at Silver Sonya. When we worked with him before, we just felt like there was a certain chemistry that we'd like to take full advantage of on a full-length.

What direction do you think that you have taken with your songs from Feline Ambition?

Ryan: I'd like to think we've stretched our ideas further. We've taken hooks and placed them in the context of noisier parts. We've still got lots of quirky, dancey grooves, but we've got some freer, more ambient sounding sections as well.

Adam: We've also learned how to utilize Matt's many other musical talents since recording Feline Ambition. He still plays trumpet, but he's playing a lot of keys now too.

What venues do you like in the D.C. area?

Adam: We've had great experiences at every venue we've played in D.C. The Black Cat has to be my personal favorite. I've been going there and seeing shows since I was in high school. Its an amazing stalwart of the D.C. music scene and still going strong. The Rock and Roll Hotel has also been very good to us.

What aspects of the D.C. music scene do you like or dislike?

Ross: I think my favorite aspect is the community. As musicians who grew up listening to D.C. bands, it's really nice to be part of that community. So many musicians play in bands other than their main gigs, and because of that, the music scene really grows. There's a wealth of similarly minded people with totally different but compatible aesthetics. It's really a beautiful thing.

Since you've grown up knowing the local scene, what is your sense of how it has changed?

Ryan: There aren't many aggressive, post-punk bands playing now, but that's made space for a slew of catchy, pop bands to get noticed. It's not as brutally anti-authoritarian as it was, but the radical community still exists. There aren't as many overtly political bands, but I think there's more political subtext to a lot of D.C. music than people think. It may be wrapped in a more pop-driven melody, but the sentiment behind Georgie James' "Cake Parade" is not altogether unlike Fugazi's The Argument.

What do you guys like to do when you're not playing music?

Ryan: Not playing music? I don't understand...

Adam: I like to brew my own beer.

Ross: I've been spending most of my time finishing my last semester of college and studying Steve Reich.

Matt: When I'm not playing music, I really just like playing more music (...?) I play in a funk-rock fusion group called Junk Science, and a couple of the university ensembles at the University of Mary Washington.