Skip to main contentThings are a-changing in the world of Talkdemonic. The drums/viola/beats/pieces duo have just announced that they are leaving the friendly confines of Arena Rock Recording Co. - the label that released the band's last two albums - for the equally friendly Glacial Pace Records, the imprint run by Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock.
It's a fitting move for both band and label. Brock is a huge fan of Talkdemonic, taking them along with his multi-platinum selling band on a recent tour, and helping out with some mixing duties on their upcoming LP (out this fall). Talkdemonic have been gaining a lot of respect and new fans over the last few years thanks to their spotless albums and intense live performances.
For more details on this story, we caught up with Talkdemonic's drummer/programmer Kevin O'Connor, forcing him to stop washing dishes and speak with us on the phone.
How did the Glacial Pace signing come about?
Isaac was a fan of our music and had been hearing the mixes as the record was being made over the last year or so. I was just thinking of putting it out on my label Lucky Madison, and thought, "Oh that's cool that he likes it." But Isaac was, like, "No, really, I want to put it out." So we met with him and the other folks that work for Glacial Pace and felt like this was a great way to do it. Everything gelled and we decided to go with them.
Did you know Isaac much before that?
No...I guess about a year and a half. Actually, I did know him from way back. It's one of those strange NW circle of music stories. I put on a show for Modest Mouse in Tri-Cities in 1997. Isaac and Jeremiah stayed at my house and I remember my dog peed on Isaac. Another good story from that was we were getting a ride back to my house after the show and we were listening to a CD-R of Lonesome Crowded West. You know that song "Out of Gas"? It sounds like it's not true, but it really is: that song came on and Jeremiah ran out of gas in his truck. We had to walk to 7-11 and get some gas in a gas can. And I remember Isaac flipping through a Rolling Stone and it had a little article about the new album. And he says, "Look at this," and he showed me. And he's like, "And I'm still pulling weeds every day." I guess this was back when he was still doing manual labor to make ends meet.
Has Glacial Pace been talking about a plan for the record?
We actually have been talking for the last three months about what we're going to do. We just hired a new publicist and a new booking agent and we'll be out on the road a bunch in the fall and into 2012. We got a whole new team together. It's nice. After our last record, we parted ways with folks and didn't really know what was going to happen. But we just stuck it out and wrote a new record. It's a whole different kind of record for us too.
How do you mean?
I wrote two albums worth of songs in between Eyes At Half Mast and this one that I threw out because I thought they sounded too much like our last two albums. I wanted to make a concerted effort to really change things up. This time around, that started to happen. There's a lot more synths. A lot less of the folk aspect in the music. It's abrasive at times. Intense. And Lisa's really amped up on this one. She's pretty much like a lead guitarist on viola. We're really happy with it. We really don't know if people are going to like it or not but that's really exciting too.
Talkdemonic is playing another show with Modest Mouse on July 2nd at Edgefield in Troutdale, OR, and will also be a part of MFNW 2011 opening for Handsome Furs at Branx on Thursday, September 8th.
WWeek 2015