Here's a interview we did recently in one of our favorite music sites...
http://thedumbingofamerica.net/2009/10/13/your-new-favorite-band-apteka/Thanks Todd....
Your New Favorite Band: Apteka
You know that feeling when you stumble upon a great song? The thrill
of discovering a great, new band? That internal battle of wanting to
keep is as your own private secret versus shouting it from the tallest
building? Well, we’re taking the express elevator to the top floor to
tell you about Apteka. Hailing from Chicago, they made a huge splash at
SXSW in 2009. With a heady mix of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, the
epiphanal rush of shoegaze, with the intensity of Jane’s Addiction
they’re truly the great band that’s flown under your radar too long.
They released a “tour EP” to coincide with their appearance at SXSW and
subsequent tour that would end up on most critics top ten lists if
there was any justice.
Without any mega-buck videos for us to show, we’re going to stream some
songs here and throw a live video at the end for your viewing. Close
your eyes and just imagine this sound washing over you while standing
in your town’s mega-arena.
TDOA: You’re sound has been compared to the “shoegaze” movement
that’s started to gain momentum again. Do you like the comparisons and
what music do you think influenced you the most?
Apteka: We’re all really into some of the early shoegaze bands like
MBV or Ride, but we’ve always been a bit surprised by the comparisons.
We’re definitely not opposed to the shoegaze label or anything, and it’s great to see all this exciting guitar music reemerging under the
shoegaze banner, but I guess it’s hard to see it in our own music. The
ethic is definitely there. We write songs to envelop and blanket you
with sound; to create some sort of sensory overload or take you
someplace else, whether that’s through our use of volume or guitar
textures or whatever. So I guess in some ways, the end results may be
similar. But to be honest, we all grew up rock kids, so as much as we
love Slowdive, we’re probably more influenced by Led Zeppelin.
TDOA: The sound on your ep is tremendous. Please tell us about the
recording process for the band; where you recorded, who produced it,
etc.?
Apteka: Thanks, we actually recorded everything ourselves in our
noisy little practice space, which can be a total madhouse. If you
listen close you can hear all sorts of ambient noise from metal bands
down the hall, or a stray vocal traveling through the vents, or just
someone slamming a door. But, all the little mistakes and imperfections
really ended up adding something to the recordings. especially because
they were recorded digitally. The imperfections seemed to give it an
analog quality.
None of us has ever really worked in a studio, so the process of
getting things sounding right was done mostly by trial and error and
trusting our ears. By recording it ourselves we could compensate with
time, what we didn’t have in gear or experience. We could spend hours
or even days working on guitar tones, or the drum mix, or changing the
arrangement a bit. Not having an engineer or producer really forced us
to improvise and experiment with the ways we record and write, which at
times was really frustrating, but in the end opened a lot of doors
musically. That being said, it would be a lot of fun to spend some
serious time in a proper studio and see what we would come up with.
TDOA: When we hear bands with such a dense sound, we’re always
intrigued about the songwriting process. Does one member of the band
generally write parts that the rest of the band build on or do you find
most of the music comes out of rehearsal “jams?
Apteka: It really varies from song to song, but for the most part
our best stuff happens pretty spontaneously. I’m not really sure where
it all comes from, but someone will play a riff or a drumbeat or
whatever and everyone will just lock in. We’ll look at each other and
just know. These are my favorite moments, when everything is happening
in real time, and the four of us are in sync. A song like “Traitors”
for instance came together that way. I just started playing this riff
and within minutes the song was pretty much all mapped out.
TDOA: What do you think are the overall themes of the band lyrically?
Apteka: I’m not sure if there is an overall theme to the lyrics, but
most of the songs deal with pretty standard themes, you know, love,
loss, excess, fights in the dark. Often the actual lyrics are left
intentionally vague. I don’t want to imprint the songs with a specific
message or meaning
that hits you heavy over the head, but rather to leave things a bit
more ambiguous so they can evolve or adapt to the situation or listener.
TDOA: It sounds like you got some good press from your appearance at
SXSW this year. Tell us about the experience of playing their. What
were the crowds like and did you get a chance to see any bands that you
really enjoyed?
Apteka: SXSW was amazing. we played 5 shows in three days. It was
hot, chaotic, and a lot fun. We played in all sorts of venues from a
biker bar to a little taqueria. We were so busy that we didn’t have
much of a chance to check out that many bands, but it was a great
experience. We can’t wait to get back.
TODA: Most of the press you’ve gotten discusses the injustice of
your failure to be signed. Are you just waiting for the right offer or
is this another case of even the indie labels having their heads buried
in the sand?
Apteka: Yeah, we’re working on that now. More than anything we’re
looking for a supportive label that’s a good fit for the band. It’s not
like we’re holding out for some insane deal with a crazy advance or the
promise of a castle in the English countryside or anything.
TDOA: I remember a time when the Chicago music scene was pretty
vibrant with labels like Drag City and the Chicago Reader covering
local bands. How would you describe the scene now and the level of
support
from local media?
Apteka: Chicago is pretty much the same as far as I can tell. It’s
taken some hits recently with the closing of Touch and Go and some of
the print media has gone under or has radically changed, but with the
rise of
Pitchfork and other online media, it’s kind of reasserted itself as the
center of the indie universe. Chicago has always had this really strong
indie identity, to a fault at times. Not being New York or LA, it’s
developed a sort of outsider complex, and I think that’s why so many
great indie labels started here. It’s still a great place to start a
band. the rents are reasonable, there’s a lot of great places to play,
and a lot of great bands making exciting music.
TDOA: The only videos of the band are youtube performances and you
don’t post pictures of yourselves anywhere. Do you think the visual
emphasis people put on musicians is over-rated and takes away from the
purpose of being in a band?
Apteka: I’m not sure that was really our intention or that conscious
of a decision. We’re not photo averse or anything. We just happened to
find this designer when we first started playing shows whose posters
we really liked, and whose work seemed to represent our music visually
in a way that band photos just can’t. His name is Dylan McConnell and
we love him.
TDOA: You released your first EP in April. Any plans to record a full-length?
Apteka: Until we get the whole label situation figured out, we’re
just planning on pressing limited edition 7in’s. We would love to make
a full length and all, but at the moment, it just makes more sense for
us to put out singles on a regular basis, than to disappear into a full
length.
TDOA: What’s the next step for the band? Will we see you outside of the midwest and at SXSW in 2010?
Apteka: Yeah, hopefully we’ll get out of the midwest for some of the
winter hate. We went out to the west coast in June to play a couple
shows with Band of Skulls, and had a great time and are looking forward
to
playing there again sometime soon. We’re definitely planning on heading
back to Austin for SXSW. In the meantime, we’re about to demo out a
bunch of new tunes, and see where they go.
For more information about Apteka, visit their MySpace page
here. To purchase their ep,
go here.