The Thousands

You know what’s really rebellious? Five indie rockers starting a band playing 20 minute long songs fusing jazz, prog, dub, Krautrock, avant garde, and film music, in 1993 – at the height of grunge, amid the afterglow of 80s hardcore.

One of the first bands labeled ‘post-rock’ for employing sounds from throughout the history of modern rock, Chicago’s Tortoise  have consistently produced great music and explored unique ideas. Keeping it from being too dry and cerebral are the excellent melodies that progress throughout each tune, and the fact that it’s all played with punk rock panache.

2009′s Beacons of Ancestorship is one of their tightest releases to date, sporting a more hip-hop indebted sound. Wilfred Brandt e-mail interviewed Doug McCombs just prior to their upcoming tour.

Wilfred Brandt: Hi Tortoise! What are you guys excited about seeing or doing in Australia?
Tortoise: Excited to see our friend and ex-soundman [Casey Rice] who lives in Melbourne. Bummed that Rowland Howard is not alive.

WB: I am really curious about decision-making in Tortoise. Because your music is so amorphous and could go in so many different directions, it seems like placing a value on one direction, as the ‘right’ way to go with a song, would be tough.
TRTS: We push songs in the direction that seems ‘right’ at the time. Sometimes that leads to a dead end and we have to start over or scrap it.

WB: What do you attribute the longevity of the band too? You all have very diverse interests and backgrounds, yet you haven’t had a single member leave or change since the mid ’90s?
TRTS: We get along well with each other and like playing together. The chemistry of the group is very complex and satisfying in a way that I can’t describe.

WB: You guys debuted in the early ’90s, and your early music was interpreted in the context of those times. Do you think people react differently now to your music when they first hear it? It seems like some of the juxtapositions of sounds and your approach have become more commonplace since you debuted…
TRTS: People have much more access to different kinds of music now than they did when we started. Some of our reference points are less obscure than they were back then and may not seem as strange to the average listener today. But, I don’t think reference points are what make Tortoise special. It’s the chemistry I mentioned that people react to. That’s what makes the group work.

WB: Do you guys get into very heated debates about what you like and don’t like when writing; like, someone comes up with a dub bassline that you think is totally out of place or throws the whole song and they think it fits?
TRTS: We are usually within a couple of degrees of agreement in regards to what it might take to make a song work. If someone has an idea that the rest of us don’t understand we all trust each other’s instincts enough to indulge a tangential experiment or two. That’s usually how some of our most interesting moments come about.
 
WB: Does the song’s original author usually have ideas of how the other parts will sound?
TRTS: Sometimes yes. Most of the time no.

WB: I really love [singles and remix compilation] A Lazarus Taxon. What’s your attitude and approach when remixing, are there certain things about a song you look to maintain or expand upon, and certain ways you want to fuck with the original song? How much of a responsibility do you feel to the original author’s work and intent?
TRTS: If someone asks Tortoise as an entity to work on a remix then they are usually looking for that thing that makes us special as a group. I take that to mean we have carte blanche. If they hire John McEntire or John Herndon or Bundy Brown individually, then I take that to mean that they want that person’s specific talent.

WB: Chicago has such a rich, cultural history (jazz, blues, literature, Drag City, Thrill Jockey, Touch & Go, Wax Trax, Pitchfork, etc), yet it often gets overlooked for New York or L.A. or wherever. What do you think is unique about the Chicago art / music / creative scene and perspective, and do you think Chicago’s ‘second city’ mantle is part of that perspective (the ‘quiet achievers’ persona)?
TRTS: I think that there’s definitely some validity to the second city tag, but that’s not necessarily a negative thing. Chicago has a working class rep and that’s reflected in the work that people do here. There seems to be less clamoring for the limelight here.

WB: Some of your production is decidedly lo-fi and punk; some of it is super glossy. Do you ever argue about production choices? Does anyone ever think something is too corny, slick, or new age sounding? Does irony come into play?
TRTS: We try to make the songs sound like something we’d like to listen to. That means that corny doesn’t make the cut but slick sometimes does. We are sometimes perverse and occasionally humorous, but I find (musical) irony condescending.
 
WB: Lastly, your music seems really polarizing. What are some of the funniest, strangest, or most memorable reactions you’ve had from people who loved – or hated – your music?
TRTS: I don’t need to hear that people have sex to our music.