Ideamen Interview ~ with bassist Mark Vasquez
http://www.myspace.com/ideamen1. For us new to Ideamen tell us a bit about the band?
Ideamen is a 5 piece rock band inspired to write & perform music that's artistic and accessible, yet a bit unreal and outragous. We love to perform as often as possible & we're usually fans of the bands we get to tour with. We recently signed on with Rotten Records & we're gearing up for touring in 2010 to support our new album, "May You Live In Interesting Times".
2. Your music is a mix of so many styles ~ Pop, Jazz, Blues, Post Hardcore and Experimental sounds. I love the vocal harmonies and the Beachboys meets Queen meet Faith No more sounds. Is it hard to get a fan base with so many sounds and styles going on?
We try to actively seek out people who like the same things we do, either on-line or live at shows. (We do this one actual person at a time, with no marketing tools or robot friend adder. It's always someone in the band who hit you up to be myspace friends). Also, becuase of the way we blend our music, Ideamen has the ability to fit in with many different kinds of bands. We've played live shows w/ almost every kind act you can imagine, from bubble gum pop bands, death metal bands, progressive indie bands, experimental jazz bands, hip hop groups, punk bands & catholic boys choirs. If your music is good, we'll listen to it, play shows with you & support you. In turn, there's always someone in the audience or in a band we're playing with who digs what we do. Beyond that, we just try to stay as accessible to people as possible ~ by keeping a visible on-line presence, via the usual Facebook, Myspace, Last FM, Twitter and the rest.
3. How did you come to working with Rotten Records?
Our keyboardist & founding member Tim Swanson toured with Dog Fashion Disco for a short while before they broke up in 2006. Over time, Ideamen started opening shows for DFD's new band "Polkadot Cadaver". We got to play in front of RR's owner Ron Peterson a few times & I think that with a bit of nudging from PDC members Todd & Jason, "Rotten Ron" must have felt that we were right for his label. Rotten Records is good fit for us. We're huge DFD fans & the DFD fans seemed to really like seeing us live & bought up all our copies of the "Progress" EP which is now out of print. Ideamen has really benefited from those guys, to whom we're openly gay for.
4. Do you prefer studio or touring with Ideamen?
I personally can't think of anything more wonderful & yet more grueling than being out on the road. We've been stranded on the highway a handful of times, which sucks. Sleep deprivation is a constant companion, gas costs are high, we want to kill each other and the "oops we booked a BAD show" happens on occasion. Then we come home and have all missed time off work and play catchup until the next time out. But it's beautiful when we play a new town & the people there know the words to our songs. Sometimes we'll have to sleep in our van, but more often than not a friend, fan or family member is in the same city we're playing in, so we usually get fed well & sleep on warm comfortable couches.
5. Do you think Chicago has something to do with your sound so many great avant artists are from there Tub Ring, Tortoise,Big Black just to name a few and labels like Touch and go and Thrill Jockey?
We've truly been influenced by Chicago bands like Tub Ring, Smashing Pumpkins, Cheap Trick, Smoking Popes, Ides of March & so on. We're inspired by their success, breaking out of Chicago & onto the national scene, which is what we aspire to do. We also listen to & support many local Chicago area groups. They don't have to be successful or popular for us to listen to or support them. Shall I name a few??? Nah... go see our top friends on myspace.
6. Is there a running theme on your new CD "May You Live In Interesting Times"
The album as a whole is a commentary on the state of the world today, with injected fiction hinting at where it might be headed. It speaks from a myriad of contradictory perspectives: heroes and villains, rich and poor, leaders and led, concerned and oblivious - all tied together by the also contradictory themes of tyranny and independence, order and collapse.
"It's almost, but not quite, a concept album. The lyrical content does have a running theme throughout. But the primary phrases are just vague enough to let the listener interpret the meanings how he or she sees fit". -Dave Solar, chief lyricist.
7. I know there are members form other projects in this band is this a full time band or an outlet for your other desires that don't fit in your other projects?
Ideamen is a full time band for us or, it's at least our main musical priority. Tim has solo material that he's working on right now. Dave, Phil & I still write music in the vein of our old band "Soulvasq", which is experimental rock that's a bit more bizarre than Ideamen. We still get requests to play Soulvasq songs like "Aliens Ate My Buick". At the same time, we all still have day jobs & in some cases, careers & significant others, so that factors in too. Ideamen is lucky enough to also have a back up member in Chris Gardner to always help out in some way. He's recorded us, toured with us & he's yelled at us.
8. If there was a band you could collab or tour with who would it be any why?
As far as collaboration, it would definitely be Rob & Kevin Of Tub Ring, since we tour together, have similar tastes & since they are so close to us in Chicago. We've talked with members of Now Soon Nowhere from Philly, PA to possibly do some stuff together too.
9. Are Ideamen pro digital age of promotion and musical sales or do you miss the days of print zines, tape trading and traditional radio promotions?
We're not snobs, we use it all. If it weren't for this modern technology, some people may have never gotten the chance to listen to us. Message boards are very important for us it seems. And to my knowlegde, traditional print zines & underground music traders are still out there. Some of our fans are exclusive supporters of experimental & underground music. Ideamen has played many a DIY communist collective anarchist type venue here in the midwest, and even they all have websites & email lists & laptops to surf on.
10. Does your older material if there is any sound like this or has there been a major evolution?
11. The artwork is very interesting tell us about who did the cover artwork and is there a reason it looks the way it does?
We wanted something that looked like comic book art, but didn't know how to approach it at first. Dave had been messing around with a 3D program called Pov-Ray and thought it might be a good way to create artwork that could be used later from different perspectives, even animated. He created a scene meant to be reminiscent of Plato's allegory of the cave with a modern twist. As an accidental result we now have a new mascot in the "Gear Head Kid" character, which, in a long story of deadlines and quick decisions, was never built past a demo version. We decided that simple was good, and they looked kind of cute.
12. In the 21st century how would you tell a new band starting out how to get known and promote there project to the world as you have achieved a level not many do in this day and age.
13. Thank you for your time any closing thoughts here..
Thanks for supporting Ideamen. If you, the reader, dig our band, then you should try to do something to help support us. Our Progress EP is out of print, but you can download it on I-Tunes. Buy our new CD directly from us or at Rotten Records. You can get it anywhere but this helps us the most directly. Share our music with friends & your little brothers & sisters. Send your enemies to our website. Repeat.
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