If you took the sardonic wit of They Might Be Giants and mixed it with the groove of early Talking Heads, you'd be close to describing The Bogmen. But you'd still be missing something, because neither band exactly describes the sound the Bogmen have developed.
Lyricist Bill Campion is a major element of the band's uniqueness. He writes, for example, about human induced environmental disaster, lack of personal responsibility, quack psychiatry, a broken relationship, and the sorrow of a lovers death, with humor and a depth of intelligence rarely heard in rock music today. It's this humorous approach to such bleak subjects that makes the band stand out.
This lyrical strength is then coupled to a six piece ensemble - Bill [Campion] on guitar and vocals, Bill Ryan on guitar, Mark Wilke on bass, Brendan Ryan on keyboards, PJ O'Connor on percussion and vocals, and Clive Tucker on drums - resulting in songs having intricate and engaging arrangements which complement each other perfectly.
Their freshman album, Life Begins at 40 Million, was produced by former Talking Head, Jerry Harrison. I talked with Brendan about the influence Jerry had on the band during the recording and beyond.
Consumable: Parts of the album remind me of Remain In Light. Did Jerry have the same influence on this recording, Brian Eno had on the Talking Heads' album?
Brendan: That's my favorite album of theirs by far. I've talked to Jerry about that many times and he knows it, too. I love that album. I'm the person who should be doing this interview, because if anybody else was here they would have laughed. They know how much I like it and listen to it.
He definitely did have fine touches that are heard on the record. But one thing I would have to say about Jerry - which I found to be a huge positive, we were a debut band signed more for our following, I think, than our music. The record company showed interest in us because of our following.
So, here comes a guy who's made huge amount of records. He came in and I think we were all a little bit nervous. I was ready for him to turn everything around and make it "Jerry Harrison and the Bogmen." And he did have a strong input on some songs. We listened and worked it out - and in that sense, yes, he did have his hand in the music and the arrangement, just like Brian Eno did.
But there were songs he didn't even touch. I mean, on a few tracks on the record he said, "You know what guys? I don't think that song needs anything. I think it's fine just the way it is."
For me, that showed he wasn't this huge ego that wanted to change everything to the way he liked it. He let the Bogmen go down on the record as themselves. He made us listen to each other more, "You're walking over this bass line, you're walking over the guitar line, lets try to clear everything up." and he definitely did improve things. Brought it up a notch.
C: How does the songwriting/arranging work in the band?
B: We are definitely a collaborative band. We're a six piece, so obviously some people are more important to the songwriting than others. Usually it starts with music first and Billy puts his lyrics to it. But it has also gone the other way. He had songs that were already finished - lyrics, arrangement, chord structures, melody, everything - then we just put our parts to it. So there's a few different methods.
C: Whatever makes the best song?
B: Right, whatever makes the best song. Nobody's feelings get hurt. I mean, we're musicians but we're also friends first, so we have no problem telling each other if something doesn't work or if it's a great idea. There's no power struggle. By the time everybody has their parts done, it definitely sounds like the Bogmen. No matter who came up with the initial idea.
C: Did working with Jerry have an impact on your live performance?
B: Yeah. Especially me, 'cause I used a lot of new equipment in the studio I never had live and I got a lot of new sounds. So, when the record was done, I had a lot of sampling to do to get the sounds on the album so I could put them in the live show. I think that's true for everybody. Everybody's tried to sound a little more like the album. But, everybody agrees, our live show has a more energetic, more dynamic sound to it.
C: How much of your catalogue made it on the album?
B: That's one thing with a debut album. We had so much material, it took us a long time just to narrow it. There's 12 songs on the album... we have, including all the old stuff, maybe 30 or 40. We narrowed down to 18 or 17 and then, finally, we just went with 12. And since the album has been released, we have four or five brand new songs we're putting in our live set.
If we tape our live show and listen back to it, I can only listen to the stuff that's not on the album, because it's new and fresh for me. And I think it's a lot more mature. The songwriting, musically is. So, we definitely continue to write all the time. We don't stop. I think that's the most important thing. If you want to be a band with longevity, you can never stop writing.
C: Is the sardonic point of view wired into the band, or just this group of songs?
B: That is definitely our attitude - our personality - in our lyrics. And the new songs, that aren't on the recording, are more comic. There's more humor in the new stuff than what's on the album.
C: The music complements Bill's lyrics, really well.
B: He's satirical in his writing. I can't really answer lyrical questions, but that's the way I interpret them. He wrote his lyrics and we all put our parts to it, but I tried to put things in I thought would go with his lyrics. And there are sounds you can hear, which just go with his lyrics. "Doctor Jerome's" a good example. We used tuba solos, we wanted to make it sound like, almost, a carousel. So we put tuba samples, french horns, trumpets, and stuff in there.
C: Do you change the arrangements for the live performances?
B: No. We're not a "Jam Band," we're not a big "Solo Band." We don't extend our songs too much.
C: Do you rearrange them to keep them fresh?
B: Actually, we do that a lot. Even if it's as little as putting a new ending on it, because we feel our ending's boring.
C: And different sets every night?
B: It's funny, because it drives our crew crazy. They always want to know what song is up next, because they have to get the guitars or the program presets ready. We write a set list... we procrastinate, because every show is different. If we're playing in front of 10 people, we're not going to come out with a huge, rockin' song. If it's a quiet setting, we'll start off with something more mellow. So, we change our set every single night. I don't think we've ever played - I don't want to sound like the Grateful Dead [laugh] - the same set two nights in a row.
C: Do you try to read the crowd?
B: Yeah, we do try to do that. It's hard when you're a six piece. Everybody wants to have a set and stick to it, because you change instruments, change programs, whatever. But, sometimes we'll have a mellow song and if it just doesn't fit, or we feel the momentum's going, we'll call it off and say, "No, let's do this other song." So, yeah. We cater to the crowd.
