Culture

Band Spotlight: The Tramlines

Michael T. Toole

I’ll leave it for some other hack to find the next big indie thing in our glittered city.  For me, I’m not looki ng for the next big, the essential or the necessary thing, just give me a band whose CD I can toss into my car player without frantically jumping from track to track; and a live band whose musical chops I can appreciate because they can at the least sound rehearsed enough to play in time with each other and at the most rev it up convincingly to deserve their idiosyncrasies.  Next up, the Henderson-based Tramlines, and I think I’m a fan.

I certainly didn’t plan for it, but when I came across drummer Michael Catalano in a chance meeting one weekend, I was struck by both his thoughtful self-deprecation, and stellar knowledge of all good things past.  In short, he had a keen appreciation of music styles before him and “so does the band” he claimed.  That’s a good start, for any band that has a love of period flavor and distills that influence into a contemporary musical form is a band I’ll listen to - and keep in mind I’m a bit of a cynic.


I was pleased when I finally gave their freshman effort “The Bottom of the Sea” a listen.  Produced in Santa Monica by Ed Goodreau -- who has worked with the likes of David Bowie, Guns n’ Roses and (gulp!) Phil Collins -- the album is so full of rich, layered guitar work (there are three guitarists in the band), tempo shifts, and smartly choiced sonic distortions that most critics and fans have compared them to such shoegazing darlings like My Bloody Valentine and Swervedriver.  A take on some of their better tracks like “Paradise,” “We Don’t Grow Up,” and “Sail, Sail, Sail,” does heed that notion, but a second spin to my near 40-something ears and I also pick up an emphasis on neo-psychedelic jams and densely textural pop songs, just like those sublime ‘80s incarnations Let’s Active or The Dream Syndicate - and that’s a positive thing.  Finally, if there is a notable flaw in the album (i.e. the Quaker’s quilt), it’s that there was a slight cast of inertia hanging over their performances, a feeling magnified when I recently caught their fierce, first-rate live set at the Freakin’ Frog just the other weekend.

So what’s next for one of the more promising bands in valley?  Well, that’s something an interview might help answer.  And recently, all the members of the band sat down with me to do just that.  As we all met at the Crown and Anchor, Michael introduced me to the rest of the band: Chad Felix, 19 (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Tyler McKusick, 20 (guitar, keyboards); Dillon Shines, 19 (guitars, keyboards, mandolin); and Cory Van Cleef, 18 (bass, keyboards, percussions).  This was the current band for the past 19 months, and at press time, they was no desire on anyone’s part for a personnel change. 

LVW: Tell me about the origins of the band?

Chad Tyler and I attended Green Valley High School, and it’s something we always wanted to do.

Tyler: We were tired of being in all these emo and screamo bands.  We wanted to start our own thing.

LVW: So you met in high school?

Chad: Actually we go back further, we’ve know each other since we were three!

LVW: So you two are the core nucleus of the band?

Tyler: Yeah, it started with us.

LVW: And the rest of the band?

Chad: I met Michael when I was a freshman, and he joined in.  We were just jamming in this hot garage and along comes Dillon on his skateboard, riding around in the neighborhood; and Cory, he joined just before we did the album, and that was it and before you knew it, there were fliers about us all over school.

LVW: You mention about getting away from the “emo thing” which is a genre that is most characterized by your age group, and your CD does hint at some eclectic influences.  How did you develop such sophisticated tastes?

Chad: Tyler's dad is cool!

Tyler: Well, I guess (cue the rolling eyes).  He’s just into songs like “Piggies” and “Revolution #9” and he’s all into the Beatles and ... I don’t know, I just had this understanding that there was more out there.  And as for moving past emo, we all had this understanding that it was no longer fashionable anymore, we weren’t feeling it.  So maybe it was time to stop writing guitar parts and start writing songs.  So that’s what we did, and we just started to simplify things.

LVW: I’m sure there’s a collective with you guys on influences.  Could you name a few?

Chad: Oh ... Radiohead, Wilco, Low, Pavement, Sonic Youth ...

Tyler: Definitely Radiohead and Wilco, the Beatles of course, and a great Norwegian musician, Songdre Lerche.

Michael: I’d go with Radiohead, the Beatles, and Low.

Dillon: I’m a fan of the Shins, certainly Radiohead and the Beatles.

Cory: Casket Lottery, The Snakes, Minus the Bear, and I’m sure a few more.

LVW: Chad, there’s a nice grain to your vocals that I really like.  Anyone in particular you admire for singing?

Chad: Wow, thanks!  Gosh...no one has ever asked me that.  I’d have to say Jeff Tweedy [Wilco], Alan Sparhawk [Low], Stephen Malkmus [Pavement].

LVW: Most of your fans have stated that your music has an artfully ambiguity to it.

Michael: That’s cool, They’re saying it’s artful, but we’re not wearing it on our sleeves.

We take a break as the food arrives.  After all, budding musicians need their dose of fish and chips.  In the interim was a chance for a quick reflection and I will say this, I like the affability of their personalities.  Refreshingly, there is no overlapping dialogue like a Robert Altman movie, and nobody has a bitter contradiction to any of the answers given so far, and that makes life easier for an interviewer.  In between the munchies, we continue.

LVW: Moving onto the CD, how did the connection with Ed Goodreau come about?  He’s a fairly notable name in record industry.

Chad: We had no intention of writing a CD, we just had some songs, but it sort of just developed from there and we had enough for a CD.  We just wanted a few songs for our myspace page.

Tyler: We knew this guy in town, James Doucette.  He had this bigger board we wanted to use for the recording, and he listens to our songs and he says “boys this is bigger than me!”  He makes a call to someone at Interscope [although the CD was not released through that label], and within a week or so we were in a studio in Santa Monica.

Michael: Yeah, it happened pretty quickly.  We recorded it in February 2007.

Tyler: We went down for three weekends.  10 Songs in three weekends.

LVW: Is the CD moving?

Chad: Not including family members, 500 units.

LVW: Getting back to your fans, they say the CD is a little lacking when compared to your live shows.

[A mutual nod ensues]

Michael: Yeah, that’s been brought to our attention.

Cory: Personally, I feel it does suffer from not capturing our live sound.

Dillon: It was a lot different than what we have now.  We’ve developed a lot since then and it just didn’t convey a lot when you compare us live versus disc. 

LVW: So we can expect something different for the the follow-up?

Michael: It’ll be more straightforward, simpler and more focused than with our last record, and more space and dimension.

Cory: We’re willing to hold back more, leave it more to the listener, and strengthen our sound on disc.

LVW: How is the support between bands?  Is there a scene here?

Chad: Well, it helps to have venue support, and it’s great to have media coverage, like what we’re doing now, this interview.

Tyler: There aren’t too many built-in crowds though, (pauses) I suppose there’s the Beauty Bar.

Chad: And as for band supporting other bands, that’s hard to say.  Everyone is out to get that big deal, so there’s competition.

LVW: Speaking venues, any place you enjoy playing?

Tyler: Steady Fans, Freaking frog, zia, rockin java, the alley, Jillians is just nice because they have a real sound system.

LVW: What’s the plan down the road?

Michael: A few of us our attending the University.  I’m majoring in marketing

Chad: English!

Tyler: Music!

LVW: Those are very applicable majors, but I meant further down the road.

Chad: If music isn’t working, it’ll still be part of our lives.  Even if we haven’t made a big break, we’ll always put out full force.  We always want to improve as musicians.

Michael: Music will always be a part of me in some way.

Tyler: The core of it all is that you’re having fun. 

Dillon: Yeah, as long as it’s still fun.

Cory: Whether or not we get the big break, as long as people are listening. I’m okay with that. 

And with the last bit of grub from their plates, the interview was over.  As we cordially parted company in the parking lot, I thought of one thing.  Having lived in the city a long time, I’ve seen many bands start and fade.  And over those years, if I had dollar for every boast from them that claimed they were the greatest thing since the invention of the toaster oven, I could afford health insurance by now.

Not that I have a problem with self-confidence or cheeky self-promotion, but all too often I’ve seen talented groups slide away into obscurity because they lack a sense of proportion or context.  For years it was easy to claim you’re the best in the city when the competition is limited - big whale in a small minnow pond syndrome - and musicians, writers and artists in general who had lived here suffered almost always from it. That’s why I have hope for the Tramlines. Apart from being capable players with intriguing musical ideas, they also have the realization that there’s always room for improvement. That’s why I won’t say they’re the next big thing. Because to say that is to give them a ceiling and vitiate their ambition and I think they’re capable of more than that tired moniker.

In the end, it’s all just conjecture as to what their fate will be, but I’ll leave you with this. On my last road trip to L.A., I didn't have time to to grab any CDs from home, so I had to reach under my car seat for my listen through that dreadful, soul killing El Cajon Pass on I-15. I had a slew of stuff lurking underneath: Big Star, Brian Eno, Kirsty MacColl, the Undertones, Cocteau Twins and the like, and what do you think else was there? Yep, I had “The Bottom of the Sea” in the mix, and I wasn't disappointed about that at all.

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