INTERVIEW WITH PATTERN IS MOVEMENT

Pattern is Movement is a tremendous quartet from Philadelphia.They've released two albums so far.Both are absolute masterpieces.Chris Ward (one of PIM members) has been so kind to answer just the half of our usual pack of useless questions.The other half remains (wisely) unanswered.

1.Would you give us a short bio of the band? What has happened with the band until now?

Pattern is Movement began in the beginning of 2001. Andrew Thibodeaux (singer) and I have been working together since middle school. Corey Duncan moved from Seattle, Wa, to Philadelphia with a friend of mine and joined the band. Daniel McClain and I have been working in bands since college. The band started writing immediately and recorded an EP entitled "Pika Doun". In the summer of 2003, we began to write "The (im)possibility of longing". This record was completed in December of the same year. We made a 1,000 copies and hit the road. One of the first shows we played after the record was recorded, was a festival called MacRock in Harrisonburg, VA. That is where we meet John and Matt from NFI. We talked to them and found them to be hard working guys. So we decided to employ their services for promotion. That went over really well and by the end of the summer of 2004 they were re-releasing the (im)possibility on NFI. We kept touring and supporting the (im)possibility till the Spring of 2005. However, we started writing and demo-ing for a new album in the beginning of January 2005. We flew out to San Francisco this June to record with Scott Solter at Tiny Telephone and 15th st studios. We finished the record and flew back home, said hello to our loved ones and went on the road for 6 weeks to support "Stowaway".

2. How would you describe your music to someone who has never heard it? What do you think you sound like? Why do you feel the readers should make an effort to check you out?

Describing our music is hard, and if is hard for those who make it, I can only imagine what people go through trying to describe it to their friends! I would say we are a band who bases melody over and against polyrhythms. We love both.Andrew, the singer and bassist, is a huge fan of musicals such as The King and I, Sound of Music and so forth. And he as well as the rest of us are huge fans of bands like Del Rey, Deerhoof and Blonde Redhead, who use rhythm to break up the melody, to fracture it if you like.

3. Have you been really inspired/influenced by anyone? Where do you take your musical cues from-both now and in the past?

We, as a band, are inspired by bands like Blonde Redhead, Deerhoof, John Vanderslice, Del Rey, Death Cab for Cutie and many others.

4.Can you make a living being PIM? Can you do this full time?

We would like to make a living touring and that is our plan in the next coming year. We will work part time and tour full time starting next Fall (2006)

5.Is friendship an important factor inside a band?

Yes. I personally cannot imagine doing this without a friendship connecting us all. I think that a band can exist on a purely business/musician relationship. But with that said, I would like to have no part in that. Andrew and I have been friends since middle school. Corey has been friend with all of us for the last 4 years and Dan has been my friend since college.

6.Unfortunately I have not had the chance to see you playing live until now. How is your live set in comparison with your recordings?

That is a great question. Our live set is much more explosive. I think that Stowaway captures that element much more than does The (im)possibility because we had not played that much prior to The (im)possibility. Alsoour live set presents a different dynamic than recording. Recording is solely you and the tape machine.Your performance is being watched every turn of the reel. However, in a live setting the performance is full of broad strokes and so you can get away with more which allows you to experiment and react to those around you, say, the audience or the members of the band.

7.In my opinion, there are obvious differences between your two albums: "The (im) possibility of longing" and "Stowaway", but can you tell yourselves something about it? Do you think that the sound of the band has evolved? What do you think people can expect in the future from the band?

I agree with you.The records have obvious differences. I would say the main difference is due to the recording technique. The (im)possibility was recorded over a couple of months and clocked over 200 hours of recording time. This allowed us to overdub as much as possible. However, Stowaway was done is 17 days and this didn't give us the same amount of freedom to overdub. So I think Stowaway is a much more stripped down record in comparison to the (im)possibility.Also, we have evolved as a band. We are a 4 piece but when we recorded the (im)possibility we were a 5 piece) and this affected our writing.What to expect in the future from us, my good man, is a mystery. I guess we'll have to wait for it.

8.Tell us about your producer, Scott Solter.Has he been so relevant/important?
Scott Solter is an engineer from San Francisco. He has worked with bands such as John Vanderslice, Mountain Goats, Ester Drang, Two Gallants, The Court and Spark, ect. He was instrumental in the overall sound of Stowaway. His remixes of John Vanderslice's "Cellar Door" was a huge inspiration to the whole band and we came into the sessions with a confidence that he could capture our sound better than anyone else. And we were right!

9. I love to talk about music so...What other things do you like musically? What's on your stereo right now? What kind of bands/artists do you like at the moment? What were the last records you bought?
I have been listening to Kid Dakota's "The West is the Future" and M83's "Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts". I also have been listening to our friends, The Physics of Meaning from Chapel Hill, NC. We toured with them for a bit and they are such a wonderful band.

10. Finally, what are your upcoming plans?
We are touring each weekend of December - up and down the East Coast of the US. In the Spring we will be playing a lot of shows as well and probably some extended dates out in the mid-west. Next Fall, we will go out on the road for a couple of months. And we hope to be in the studio again by 2007 recording our follow up to Stowaway.

If you want to know more about the band check their website www.patternismovement.com

Interview by Fernando Pérez Herrero

y cederlo para su publicación en la website de Cielo Líquido)