Photo courtesy of Meow vs. Meow

Sometimes a band clearly wears the contents of their music library on their figurative sleeves. The dissonant post-punk thrash of the Meow vs. Meow speaks to a college education studying At-the-Drive-In and Q and not U with a few extra courses in emo courtesy of Saves the Day. The eight songs on their second album, Lapses stay true to the energy of those bands. There’s a sense that any stage housing Meow vs. Meow is probably covered in sweat by the end of their set.

Unsurprisingly, our conversation with singer/guitarist Steve Soly and keyboardist/bassist Jocelyn Soly (drummer Todd Rowen was absent) began by talking about other bands they have enjoyed: Murder City Devils, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Thee Oh Sees. However, the conversation that follows speaks more to their sense of humor and their desire and their spirit of fun.

Find them online: http://www.facebook.com/MeowvsMeow

So do you aspire to have that kind of energy and that kind of fun whenever you’re onstage?

Steve: Oh, one hundred percent. I’m not out there to put on this weird show. I want it to be natural. People dress a certain way and I understand and it’s really cool when it works. But I don’t know how I can pull off anything.

Jocelyn: I think I get this kind of unique perspective because he’s my husband and I know all these things about him, but I’ve never seen anyone get so naturally into something. I know he’s not faking it. I know a lot of people that we’ve talked to after the show have always said, “You’ve got such great energy.” So now I just need to bring up my game a little bit.

Steve: That’s another funny dynamic with the band. We’re really serious about it, we want to play well.

Jocelyn: But we like to have fun. We encourage heckling.

Have you actually been heckled?

Jocelyn: Not really. Every once in awhile, a friend will yell out something silly. If we ask for it, maybe people will say more! That’s something that Todd always says. Steve does all of the singing but we mike Todd up, too and in between songs he’ll throw out a little funny words of wisdom.

Steve: We try to set the drums angular on stage when we can. Some sound guys are uptight about it which I guess I unerstand. We’re not the most aggressive people and then we get up and play and it’s like, there, we’ve got our aggression.

Jocelyn: We just like to have a good time with it. It’s fun. Even judging by the names of some of our songs. There’s one where the full title is Episode 19: Crockett Goes Undercover to Take Down Dealer of Weasel Dust. Which is a title of a Miami Vice episode.

Additionally, one of your first songs on the new album is titled “Stegosauri.”

Steve: That’s actually a different direction. I actually play bass on that song and she plays keyboards. There’s a really cool bassline to that. I like the song a lot.

Jocelyn: I think it’s just different because that’s our only one where we switch up instruments.

Steve: It’s that change on stage. I can tell by my face how I feel about it sometimes ans other times we’ll play it really well and I was like, “That was a really good take. Why didn’t we record it that way?” I’m picky like that. Ridiculously picky like that.

Was that pickiness something that was an asset when you recorded this album? Was that something enhanced when you worked with Devin Ocampo?

Steve: Well, he just mastered it so we worked with him remotely. At one point we sent it to him and he said, “I can hear some things that would make it sound a lot better.”

Jocelyn: We did all of the actual recording in the basement of our house. We did all the tracking and just sent him the files.

Steve: He went above and beyond in that respect. We never met him. We’ve seen him play.

Jocelyn: I think the really awesome thing is that with the last song on the album, “Routines,” even after we got everything recorded we were all feeling like, “Do we really want to put this song on the album?” Something was missing. And when we got it back we were like, “Oh my god. You brought this song back to life.” It’s amazing. It was really cool to have that moment where we’re like, “That’s how it’s supposed to sound!”

Steve: That’s something that I never want to do again. Tracking and recording and trying to mix? Not me. But that’s why the record has this partial garage recorded sound because it was just all in our basement which is cement walls. I mean we tried our best.

Jocelyn: But the little imperfections add character, I think.

Steve: Going back to the days growing up where even if it didn’t sound great, it still made sense. It’s not like, “We’re trying to connect with people.” It’s like, we’re trying to play our own tunes and have a good time. Again, there’s that energy. There’s really no answer for it.

I definitely could hear some familiar sounds from ten years ago…

Steve: Let me see if we have that connection. What bands did you hear?

Minus the Bear, Q and not U, At the Drive-In…

Jocelyn: We get those two a decent amount. Q and not U and At the Drive-In.

And Minus the Bear?

Jocelyn: A little bit with some of the guitar stuff, I think.

Steve: I don’t think I play an open chord on the whole record.

Jocelyn: But to hear that makes us feel really good because those are bands that we grew up listening to.

What are some of the less obvious influences that people don’t usually get?

Steve: Well, for me, I just bought the Vaselines three vinyl thing and I’ve known the Vaselines. I grew up listening to the Vaselines, but the whole storytelling thing is what I tell Todd. I don’t care what you write about, just have some kind of point to what you say. Keep it abstract, but say it in a way where someone can get a totally different message. That’s what the Vaselines did. That’s what I hear when I listen to the Vaselines. The story but it can be taken a million different ways. Not too deep though.

Jocelyn: Inspiration for me, too…when you hear a new band that you get really excited about and you hear somebody trying to do something new and unique, that in itself is an inspiration to keep playing and to try something different.

Steve: It’s so easy to get into a rut.

Jocelyn: But when you hear that one thing where you’re like, “Wow, it’s so unique!” — it could be a part, it could be a song or album…

Steve: There was a cool band from Colorado that we just walked in and said, “We’ll take it.” We didn’t even give them a chance. If you enjoy Fugazi, you will enjoy these guys. They’re definitely jazzier than Fugazi, but Fugazi has that sense to them anyway. They’ve got a cool way of constructing their songs but they were called Six Generals and they were really really cool. Really cool guitarist. Off-time stuff.

Jocelyn: We were on vacation there last summer and it was one of those things where we tried to listen to the myspace because we couldn’t listen to the vinyl until we got home and it was like, “I can’t wait to get home and play it again.”

Steve: Everyone has something to offer musically, but it’s that part of gelling, which I think we can do easily. We have similar personalities so kind of pick at each other and have fun…

Jocelyn: I’m Switzerland. I keep the peace.

Steve: But when we play music, that’s when we’re not just picking on each other and inside joking.

How long have you all lived here?

Jocelyn: We’ve lived in the area for about seven years. We met Todd around 2007 I think.

Steve: One Craigslist success that actually worked out. I can’t believe that I actually answered one of those.

Jocelyn: You didn’t! I did it for you.

Steve: Todd had some criteria about grammar, which I have but I just don’t care about.

Jocelyn: But when we first moved here, I wasn’t even playing music yet and Steve was looking for people to play with. He was kind of having a hard time. He was talking to people but just didn’t find anybody.

Steve: A lot of Christian rock bands. A lot of “Hey, let’s play these 40 cover songs” bands.

Jocelyn: So, we both just kept perusing Craigslist and wherever.

Steve: Which was funny in and of itself.

Jocelyn: I think Craigslist was way different back then.

Steve: It was more open.

Jocelyn: But I was at work and I thought, “This guy would be perfect for Steve”. I answered it for him, pretending to be Steve because of the grammar stuff and said, “I got this one for you!” But they met, they played and they clicked immediately.

Steve: We had one bass player who was a great person but who just didn’t fit.

Jocelyn: So, they asked me to come in one day and said, “Can you play this simple bass line on the keyboard so we can finish writing this song?” So, I was like, “Fine, you just have to tell me exactly what I need to do.” We did that a couple of times and it actually worked, so I decided that I wanted to get a bass and actually learn how.

How long ago was that?

Jocelyn: Three years ago. So, they taught me everything.

Steve: We played our first show and she had only played for four months.

You also have a very interesting name. Where did that come from? I really remembered you over time just because of the name.

Steve: That was the point. All band names are dumb.

Jocelyn: It started with us just brainstorming every name we could think of. We had a ton of different names. It was just, “Do you like this? Is this something you can’t live with?” just to kind of rule some out and we saw what other band names were. It’s one that we just kept coming back to and laughing about and we were like, “You know what? At least it’s memorable! At least it will stand out for people.” But I think it kind of fits our personalities, too.

Steve: It’s taken on some context just with us. Todd and I are great friends. He’s just smarter than me. Meow vs. Meow, she’s Switzerland, she must be the “vs” and I’m just one Meow. He’s the other Meow and that’s what it’s taken on.

Jocelyn: They just get mad because usually when they’re picking on each other, I won’t choose sides.

Steve: It could have been anything, Chair vs. Chair. I just think it’s interesting how much an influence that band name really has on you to come in. Now, if I saw that name, I’d be like, “God! The fuck?!”

Jocelyn: Why?

Steve: I don’t know. I’ve told everybody that. But then again, that’s a bad thing.

How so?

Steve: You don’t know what you’re going to get.