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The ups and downs that Longwave have been through in their 10-year career would make a pretty good episode of Behind The Music. They received a huge amount of buzz after opening for The Strokes and The Vines in the early '00s, two of the biggest bands around at the time. Major label interest soon followed, and the band signed to RCA Records and recorded with producers like Dave Fridmann and John Leckie.
A string of bad luck followed: getting lost in the Sony/BMG merger and having multiple tours canceled for various reasons. As a result, their 2005 album, There's A Fire, never received the attention it deserved, and the band went on hiatus as a result. Lead singer Steve Schiltz toured as a guitarist for Albert Hammond, Jr. and Teddy Thompson for the next few years before reuniting the band in 2007. They released their fourth album, Secrets Are Sinister, late in 2008 and just finished a stint opening for Bloc Party. We caught up with them at the D.C. show and were impressed with what we saw. Now the band is back on the road, this time opening for Blue October, including tonight's show at the 9:30 Club. Schiltz took the time over the weekend to answer a few questions for us over email.
1) You went from opening for Bloc Party to opening for Blue October. Hard to think of two audiences that differ more. What kind of adjustments (if any) are you making for this tour?
None, really. So far the Blue October crowds seem to be really into the noisy stuff, which was a bit surprising to discover.
2) You've been a band for 10 years or so, and your career has had your fair share of ups and downs. It must have been hard to keep an even keel through that.
It was tough around There's A Fire for a lot of reasons. We had lost our drummer, and then our bass player. We were under contract to do another record, and we could have used a better perspective. We went right in to record it during a lot of upheaval. The record came out in the middle of a huge corporate merger, and everyone at the company was scared. That said, I still like some things about it. We made it through.
3) You recently parted ways with RCA Records. What did you learn about the music industry while being on a major label roster?
Too much to explain here! There was a lot of money being spent, there always seemed to be more somewhere. We did meet a lot of great people who are still our friends. Those relationships are still important to me.
4) Steve, you toured for a year or two as a backing musician for Albert Hammond. What brought about getting Longwave back together? Other than the obvious personnel changes, what's different about the band this time around?
Well the band is pretty much the same now as it was on the touring for There's A Fire. Our drummer Jason is still here, and our bass player Morgan has been a friend for years. We never stopped talking while I was away on tour with Albert, and when I was home we would get together and make plans, work on songs. The Albert experience was great for me, and I rediscovered what I liked about playing guitar. So when it came time to make the Longwave record, I brought a lot of new ideas with me.
5) I am a huge John Leckie fan. He's produced quite a few of my favorite records. What was the experience like being in a studio with him?
John is great, the best story I can remember about our recording together involves working on a song called, "Underneath You Know The Names." We didn't know where the song was going, and I had just figured out an arrangement for it. So we were playing it, and feeling kind of shitty about it, when he asked us to play it SLOWER. So we did, and felt even shittier. Then he asked us to play even SLOWER. Which only made us feel worse! This went on a few more times, and then he asked us to come in and listen. He had added a big H3000 reverb on Shannon's guitar, and it sounded just like the Stone Roses! It was awesome. I looked over at him and he was smoking a cigarette with a far away look in his eyes...
He doesn't even play an instrument. But he is good about finding the best in a song.
He also still sends me weird pictures from his trips to India and Mexico from time to time...he is a riot.
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Longwave open for Blue October tonight at the 9:30 Club. Doors are at 7 p.m. Tickets are $30.
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