The Bound Stems
Chicagoans may have to share their beloved indie band with the rest of us
By Elizabeth Rhodes
Published: February 19th, 2007 | 6:10pm
Janie Porche ducks her head into Chicago's Schubas Tavern with her band-mates around 9 pm to check out the scene. Wearing a grey wool coat with a black stocking cap pulled down tightly over her short brown hair to guard against the bitter winter, the singer and multi-instrumentalist weaves through the packed, smoky, century-old bar and concert venue unrecognized. She frowns disapprovingly at what she thinks is a hefty $15 ticket price - an amount that will only increase as her up-and-coming local band, the Bound Stems, gains exposure.
If Modest Mouse songs were written in a cramped, vintage apartment in Chicago's Wicker Park and infused with early Pavement's literary wit and the Fiery Furnaces' experimental antics, the resulting sound would resemble that of the Bound Stems. The off-kilter five-piece has generated a lot of buzz since performing at South by Southwest in March, 2006.
With an EP and a full-length under their belt and a potential label change in their future, the Bound Stems are on the rise. Guitarist Dan Fleury, vocalist-guitarist Bobby Gallivan, and bassist-keyboardist Dan Radzicki met on their high school basketball team. After a few years of playing together, they enlisted ex-Harvey Danger drummer Evan Sult in 2002. The Logic of Building the Body Plan EP followed in fall 2005 and Porche joined the guys in time to record their debut full-length, Appreciation Night, which features the same complex, erratic indie rock as the EP in a tighter format.
At Schubas three hours later, about 200 ticket-holders finish their drinks and file into the intimate performance space behind the bar. The Bound Stems take the stage and immediately dive into "Andover," the frolicking, highly layered and rapidly shifting opening track off Appreciation Night. The album was released in September on Chicago's Flameshovel Records and quickly earned industry attention. It is clearly inspired by the Windy City, with direct lyrical references and sound clips of the elevated train, O'Hare airport, and crunching snow.
The 45-minute set spans the band's entire catalogue, including "Excellent News, Colonel," which begins with Porche singing the infinitely bitter line, "I've fallen for someone in New York," and slowly builds to a punchy, hook-laden climax. "Wake Up, Ma and Pa Are Gone," a gritty, fuzzy guitar-laden track stemming from the band's EP, gets the biggest response from the crowd and concludes with Porche and Gallivan screaming, sweating and loving it.
"The fact that 3,000 people have Appreciation Night is insane," Porche says after the show. "This isn't widely popular, bling-making music, but I do really believe in this group, whatever product we are making. If we were running a store, I think it would be a great store."
To increase distribution for their sophomore album, the Stems are strongly considering signing with Vagrant Records, a Santa Monica, California, label that's also home to the Hold Steady, the Eels and Dashboard Confessional. This move will doubtlessly leave many Chicagoans feeling abandoned and intensely possessive.
"It's a big step," Porche says. "Some people might think it's a weird step. I've just been avoiding saying it in other interviews."
Although the transition to a bigger label might mean a more comfortable road ahead, life isn't glamorous for the Bound Stems yet. The band almost didn't make it to Schubas because their enormous 15-passenger, 1999 Dodge van, affectionately named "Bunny," broke down last-minute. They eventually had to borrow friends' cars to get to a hometown show.
* * * * *
Two days later, Bunny strikes again, leaving Sult stranded in the band's rehearsal space when he is supposed to meet Porche for an interview with VenusZine. Fortunately, Porche is laid-back and gregarious enough to speak for two. Sitting on an old, faded couch in a Wicker Park neighborhood coffeehouse, she chats with VenusZine about touring with the boys, playing six against seven, and the upcoming Bound Stems album that should be out in October.
How did you think the Schubas show went?
It was great. We just got off touring and we're dealing with contracts so [it's nice] to get back to playing a live show.
Why are you considering leaving Flameshovel for Vagrant?
Vagrant can put more records in stores. Flameshovel put out Appreciation Night and it seemed like the people who got it really liked it. If we can do that again with a wider scope, that can only mean better things for us. It was a hard decision and no one is sore with anyone.
What is it like touring with a group of guys?
I think you have to be the right girl to do this kind of touring. This isn't bus touring. You're gonna change clothes in the van. The food is gross. If we can stay on someone's basement floor, we're saving a lot of money. I sleep with a different band member each night. But there are times when it comes in handy. If we want to get a deal on a hotel room, they'll send me in.
What made you want to be in the band?
This was an opportunity to join a band that had done all the hard work. The shows you play in front of nobody, they'd done. When you can't get a show in your hometown because you only have two shows under your belt - they went through that step and that's credit I give them all the time.
Has there ever been a moment when you thought you should go back to your day job?
We're in a really delicate place right now because we made the commitment to quit our jobs to tour in the summer and now we kinda need those jobs back. Appreciation Night certainly didn't pay anyone's rent, but we were never asking for it to do that.
Appreciation Night is packed with unusual time signatures, like on "This Is Grand."
Sometimes it's a challenge to say, "Can we do six against seven but have a melody?" There's a really small percentage of the population who geeks out on six against seven. We love that population but realize that that's alienating to a lot of people.
That seems like it would be tough to play live.
When it looks like we're having fun on stage, that's always funny to me because we're counting furiously. We're trying to register with each other these drastic, precise tempo changes.
Are there any particular bands that have influenced your sound?
We've listened to a lot of Pavement, but there's a lushness and layering in our music that's not in Pavement.
Have you got any feedback from your fans?
Whenever people buy the album, I try to tell them to e-mail us because we're really easy to get a hold of.
Why did you decide to have Chicago be so musically and lyrically present on the album?
[You know] that movie, The Fugitive? Harrison Ford is on the phone at one point with the cops and in the background they hear the sound of the elevated train. They do some detective thinking and say, "Where is the elevated train in the United States? He's in Chicago!" There are so many distinctive sounds - transit sounds, crunching snow.
If the Bound Stems blow up, Chicagoans are going to very possessive of you.
I want to make Chicago proud. At the same time, a lot of what we've been thinking [for] our next album has been on the road, so maybe it will sound like the road. But I'm really glad that Appreciation Night was in Chicago.
So you're working on new songs…
Yes. We're on a really tight deadline.
What's your goal as a band? Tell me when you'll say, "Wow, we did it."
I think we've already had that moment. Appreciation Night is exactly the album we wanted to make. We presented it, it got put out in the world and nobody got hurt. There are so many bands waiting to do just that.
Issue #25
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