Frequenting Illinois stages for the past five years, local Americana rockers The Curses invest much more time producing excellent live performances than they do on tangible recordings. Scrolling through previous tour dates reveals the band averages at least one or two shows every month. Along with the ratrace of life (and whatnot) and a pretty drastic shift in the band’s organization, one could understand the delay in a follow-up to 2011’s Old Magazines.
Frequenting Illinois stages for the past five years, local Americana rockers The Curses invest much more time producing excellent live performances than they do on tangible recordings. Scrolling through previous tour dates reveals the band averages at least one or two shows every month. Along with the ratrace of life (and whatnot) and a pretty drastic shift in the band’s organization, one could understand the delay in a follow-up to 2011’s Old Magazines.
“We used to pride ourselves as more of like a street band,” said frontman Ben Spoden. “After our 2011, we would go out on Sixth Street, or go play in front of the Blind Pig all the time at night and do a lot of busking. We had a whole different set up, with a Cajon, which is like a box that you sit on that sounds like a drum snare, that Dave Garcia, our drummer, would sit on. I’d play a resonator guitar so you could hear it over the street traffic, and we got the upright bass, and the trumpets. We haven’t done that this year. We’ve pretty much got a drum set now and our using our amps again, rocking out to freakin’ Black Sabbath.”
Spoden also noted the departure of violinist Claire Cannon to New Orleans, which significantly changed The Curses’ set-up, ultimately contributing to a major delay in the release of new material.
“When she was here, about 2013, 2012, we actually did try to record those songs, a bunch of songs, at home,” Spoden recalled, “and we tracked all kinds of stuff, and then when it came to mixing time, we really didn’t know how to use the equipment as well. Everything just kind of got jumbled. I think we ended up giving up on the whole project. It’s still out there. When she left, it changed the whole sound, too, so we didn’t want to go through the whole process of taking it somewhere that wouldn’t sound like us, since she’s gone now. We just had to push the reset button. That’s probably why it took so long.”
The Curses resolved to remain a four-piece, with Spoden on vocals and guitar, Garcia on percussion, bassist and vocalist Chris Strand, and multi-instrumentalist David Tcheng on everything from brass to the udderbot (invented by Urbana resident Jacob A. Barton). With schedules sorted and enough funds invested, the quartet finally trekked to Chicago a couple weeks ago to record a six-song 7-inch with former Champaign resident and Last Gentleman Brian Leach.
According to Spoden, The Curses have written around two dozen songs since Old Magazines and have performed most of them at one point or another. So, it was “just a matter of selecting them.”
“We’ll have a folky song, and then we’ll have a swing song, and then a rock n’ roll song…” Spoden said. “We just kind of boil it down to Americana. It’s just kind of rootsier, all different kinds of roots. Choosing those songs, I felt pretty good because they were all original songs that had those tinges of roots. They were more original sounding. They didn’t sound like your typical rootsy songs. They were poppier, a little more hookier, but they also had a nice balance of darkness to them. It just sounded more unique, six of our more unique songs than the other ones that almost sounded too straight-forward. I’m proud of them.”
While The Curses and Leach mainly took a live approach to recording the currently nameless EP, Spoden explained that the whole process was extremely organized; the band went in with almost every part of each song clearly written down.
“This time around we just kind of wanted to get what was in my head out,” Spoden said. It’s just kind of been there too long. It’s like closure when it’s done. It’s like, ‘Ah… Check.’ It feels good.”
Spoden anticipates to be done with the EP by mid-November, after which they need to find artwork, a pressing plant, and possibly a way to manufacture the EP onto “flash drive bracelets.”
Instead of twiddling thumbs waiting for those six recordings, Curses fans, family, and friends should attend the band’s Halloween bash tonight at Cowboy Monkey with support from Kilborn Alley Blues Band. The Curses also played Cowboy Monkey last Halloween.
“Besides the usual fog machines, we were skeletons last year,” Spoden said. “Like from the original Karate Kid, kind of the dudes that were chasing Ralph Macchio on the bike. They had these cool, weird skeleton costumes. We bought some of those and played the whole show with that, with like black light, and it looked pretty neat. This year, I think we’re gonna stick with that same thing, and I guess I’m gonna be a pirate. I don’t know. Nothing out of the ordinary besides just having fun, dressing up, and playing well, I guess.”
Spoden also hinted at a Black Sabbath cover and general spookiness.