Q&A with The Method

What lessons have you learned from the recording and release of “Boulevard Sessions,” your latest EP released in April 2009?

We realized a lack of ideas was not our problem, which was something of a problem. We were confident in the handful of songs we decided to record, but these songs had been changing for as long as we’ve been playing them. In our live sets, there’s always some way to twist, modulate, or stretch the basic structure. When we went in to record, we had to be very meticulous about which of those motifs and grace notes to leave in and which to abandon temporarily. Of course since finishing the EP, the songs continue to change for almost every show. If we had our way, we probably would have recorded six different versions for each track (in fact we did for a couple).

We also learned just how immensely talented Brian (keyboards) is. He’d always been a solid player, but when he got behind the mixing board he had an intuition about how to get us into a groove and get the best sound out of us. We couldn’t have asked for a better engineer and producer.

What are some of your favorite local venues to perform in and to go to as an audience member?

The Rock & Roll Hotel has always treated us swimmingly, and the great house sound and big stage is appropriate for our style. The crowd in there can be encouragingly overwhelming, which makes those rare moments of near silence when we cut out for a couple measures even more exciting. On the eve of our second show at The Bullpen, I’d have to say I’m pretty excited about that spot becoming not only a pre-game/happy hour venue, but a real place to see bands that have put in the work to produce a tight set.

The great hegemon of DC venues is the 9:30 Club, and I hate to pile on, but I’ve never left there disappointed. Even a mediocre band gets a halo dropped on them by the flawless sound and attentive staff.

If you could work with any artists and create a remix based off of one of your original songs, who would you work with and what would be the end result?

“Sideways” I always thought could use the hip-hop treatment, and there’s no one hipper or more savvy than ?uestlove/Questlove. I imagine the end product would involve some various loops, delays, scratches, and horn punches. Other than that, I’m probably more a fan of various producers than I am of artists: Nigel Godrich, Steve Lillywhite, and T-Bone Burnett are some of my favorites.

The Method has received numerous music accolades and won several regional music contests, including an opening spot performing for Blues Traveler at the Celebrate Fairfax festival in June. How has this mainstream notoriety and recognition helped or hurt the band?

I’m not sure any of it provided notoriety, but it can’t hurt. The thing is, we’ve always considered ourselves a mainstream band (by design). We take the challenge of writing songs that have instant, familiar appeal very seriously. I feel like a lot of jam bands (which I suppose we are) either recede into self-indulgent noodling, or otherwise write songs that try to “educate the audience a little somethin’” through complexity for its own sake. If we throw in an asymmetric time signature or a non-diatonic key change, it’s really because we think it sounds better and because it fits the overall hook. I hope we continue to find kinship in a wider range of audiences for this reason.

Your improvisational tunes affirm each band member’s musical proficiency and highlight a fun extension of your band’s sound. This may seem like an oxymoron, but have you tried to formally record any improvisational work or do you have plans to do so?

None of the songs start out as improvs or jams. They have a very strict structure that hopefully gets the point across. Most of the time accents or variations are added so we don’t get bored and also to weave the songs together into a coherent live show. We’ve recorded some of our live shows, but I’m not sure if we’d try to capture that spontaneity in the studio. Not that it would be impossible, but it would be besides the point.

What lessons have you learned from the recording and release of “Boulevard Sessions,” your latest EP released in April 2009?

I’m not sure any of it provided notoriety, but it can’t hurt. The thing is, we’ve always considered ourselves a mainstream band (by design). We take the challenge of writing songs that have instant, familiar appeal very seriously. I feel like a lot of jam bands (which I suppose we are) either recede into self-indulgent noodling, or otherwise write songs that try to “educate the audience a little somethin’” through complexity for its own sake. If we throw in an asymmetric time signature or a non-diatonic key change, it’s really because we think it sounds better and because it fits the overall hook. I hope we continue to find kinship in a wider range of audiences for this reason.