The Static Jacks
The Static Jacks talk Springsteen, 'Laces' and James Cameron's hair.
The Static Jacks have no qualms with telling you how much they hate your parties and your bullshit, but they'll at least tell you in a manner that allows subtle toe tapping and head bobbing. The Static Jacks released Laces a few months ago and will be playing SXSW in Austin. They'll soon be bringing their energetic live show to a city near you in the somewhat near future.
HEAVE: You all grew up in Jersey – what was it like knowing you pretty much had to set your success bar at Bruce Springsteen or bust?
Ian Devaney: It is a pretty daunting task, but at least it’ll keep me from ever getting lazy and thinking I have actually “made it”. I will die a failure.
Nick Brennan: I am a huge Springsteen fan. Really, he is one of the best songwriters of all time and maybe the best performer ever. "Born to Run" and "Darkness on the Edge of Town" are two amazingly dark, desperate and touching albums.... very close to my heart.
HEAVE: Laces was released in October of last year and had Andrew Maury as producer. How much did you let him influence the record?
Henry Kaye: Well, to start before we ever spoke about working on a recording together he had done a remix of one of our earlier songs, and when we heard the finished version we were really freaking out because the bass sounded exactly how we would want it to on a new release, and Ian’s vocals sounded incredible. Things we were lacking on our actual recordings he was already fixing and tweaking to our satisfaction. It was just one of those things where before we even said what we wanted, or what we were looking for he had accomplished it. We were on the same page immediately. And as far as songwriting, we had all of the songs that are on Laces written and finished before we started working with him. He was just incredible with suggesting and adding nice textures to certain parts.
HEAVE: At any point do you get tired of The Strokes comparisons? Obviously a great band to be compared to - but do you ever find yourself saying to critics, “But we are The Static Jacks.”
Henry Kaye: Fortunately comments like that have slowed down greatly! I love The Strokes, but before we released Laces we would get that reaction every single time. But I think once we hit 18 (when we started writing the material for Laces) we really started to pull from different areas. I started getting into a lot of other music, and I think with these newfound influences the comparisons kind of died down, sort of. So, thank you for bringing back awful memories!
Nick Brennan: The Strokes made me love music, but it got a little unoriginal to compare us to them...having said that, I still relish it.
HEAVE: What’s the best compliment you’ve received from said critics?
Henry Kaye: I just love when people call us “refreshing.” I love that word. Seriously, I get red whenever someone says it. We just get so excited and motivated by performing, it’s nice to see people can pick up on it and feel the same way. Pretty often we play acoustically in the subway in New York and in parks within the city, and even for the few seconds that some people might walk by and see us I think you can get a really good idea as for what we are like as a band and how we do things. There are no machines affecting our vocals or machines playing percussion. We do everything on our own. Whether it’s the music side or business side of things. We’ve gotten an incredible response in the subway.
Ian Devaney: “Exciting” is one of my favorite compliments. We’re a pretty energetic band, and I think a lot of people that need high-energy music don’t get enough of it.
HEAVE: You guys are all pretty young – what’s it like dealing with success while barely being removed from high school?
Ian Devaney: If I am not as big as Springsteen then I have no success to deal with.
HEAVE: Good point.
Henry Kaye: Here’s a good story. There’s this storeowner in our town that thinks we are a lot bigger than we actually are and he once emailed us asking if we would do a meet and greet in his store and sign autographs for everyone that came in. He thought it would be huge and it would bring in large amounts of money for his business. So one day our manager Adam, Spencer and I went downtown to go talk to him about his idea and as a joke (for our own amusement really) we got to the store and ran in with our hoods up and big sunglasses on, trying to avoid the local paparazzi and all of the screaming young fans that could have spotted us along the way. He didn’t get it.
HEAVE: Your lyrics seem to walk a fine line between fact and fiction – how much of your writing is based on things going on in your life? It’s pretty hard to tell.
Ian Devaney: Pretty much all of the lyrics are based around our own lives. We’re not really telling anyone else’s story at this point. There are exaggerations at times, but I think the emotional responses to most real-life situations are exaggerated when you look back at them, so it fits.
Henry Kaye: That’s true. I just think it varies song to song. A song like “Parties And Friends (And Bullshit)” is completely straight forward and easily understood from the first line what it’s about. But then songs like “Revolver” or certain parts of “My Parents Lied” are just metaphors for less epic and cinematic scenes. We weren’t pointing guns at anyone, or waiting on death row! If you look at “Revolver”, which is the song on LACES we’ve had the longest, and then think about the fact that we wrote it when we were really young teenagers and for the first time we were dealing with girls and sexual relationships and all of the anxiety that comes with that, the song should make a little more sense. By the way, I’m going into this song specifically because some blog that recently reviewed our EP really tore up “Revolver” and called us really juvenile and idiotically violent for writing such a threatening song about pointing a gun at someone. They really didn’t listen! So to be blunt, “Revolver” is about struggling to get it up. There!
Ian Devaney: "Revolver" is actually about already having it up, but not being able to use it, for one reason or another.
Henry Kaye: Oh.
HEAVE: I look at your accomplishments and they are pretty ordinary for a band on a rise, including the rites of passage of having your music on The Hills. But, how exactly, did having your music featured on Zoey 101 come together?
Henry Kaye: (Laughs) This happened right before the show got canceled because of Jamie Lynn Spears pregnancy. It was great. We were on one of the last episodes. I’m not too sure how they found us but one day we got a random Myspace message from some guy who claimed to work for a production company involved with Nickelodeon. I didn’t really believe him at first because, well it was through Myspace, but I guess I didn’t realize that at the time Myspace had become a legitimate source of communication! We spoke back and fourth and then I investigated this guy further and then he sent us a contract and we signed it shortly after. I just got a new check in the mail actually. Apparently the episode just aired in Japan last week!
HEAVE: Last but not least - give me your favorite album, movie and celebrity scandal of the decade.
Henry Kaye: Album - Everyone will say Is This It, so I’ll go with Room On Fire.
Movie - Only because it’s fresh in my mind and I’ve seen it three times in the last few weeks, but The Fantastic Mr. Fox was great. I was him this past Halloween, too - you can find a photo of that somewhere on our Twitter if you want.
Scandal - I loved when Charles Barkley was arrested for speeding and DUI, and then when he later admitted he was speeding because he was on his way to meet a prostitute. Actually, was she a prostitute? I don’t remember. I just remember he was on his way to meet with some woman he was rather excited for.
Nick Brennan: Album - Funeral or Is This It.
Movie - School Of Rock, never gets old...oh, or Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Scandal - When everyone hated James Cameron for having hair like a 20 year old.
Ian Devaney: Album - Few albums have affected me like The Airing of Grievances by Titus Andronicus.
Movie - I would say either There Will Be Blood, because the protagonist is just a misanthropic monster (sometimes I can relate), or High Fidelity, because it’s a romantic comedy from a guy’s perspective. We needed that.
Scandal - When everyone thought Mike Sue-Poi quit drinking.
You can download your own version of "Parties and Friends (and Bullshit) here.
Posted by Wes Soltis on Jan 18, 2010 @ 9:00 am
