Without a doubt our interview with Dean Spunt a couple months back has been one of the most popular articles on Letter to Jane and for the first issue of our magazine Dean and I thought it would be a good idea to do a follow up, since a lot new stuff has come out of the No Age camp as of late. Their new EP You’re a Target has been one of my favorite listens this year and they recently wrote a score for the movie The Bear. You can read the extended interview in Letter to Jane Magazine.
You recently did a new score for the film “The Bear” for the Seattle International Film Festival. How did that project come to be and is there any chance for a DVD release? I’d love to see it.
DEAN SPUNT: We were throwing around the idea to do a live score for a long time; it was really pushed by Randy to get us to do one.We put the word out and the Seattle Film Festival invited us to perform. It was great fun; we also did it at Cinefamily here in LA and are going to be doing it at the New Museum in NYC in October. I am not sure if anything will be released, we have been recording each show though.
You usually make music for yourself, what was it like switching it up and writing music for something that already existed?
DEAN SPUNT: It was fun. The main difference was the length, it’s a 94-minute film, we are only used to playing for about 50 minutes max, and so it was a different kind of thing. It was really fun and exciting to get to make that much live music.
Your new EP, “Losing Feeling” is out now. What is the response you’ve received and what are your thoughts on the new record?
DEAN SPUNT: I have only heard positive things, I think it is good, it is just a small sketch, a four song EP before we release a full-length album. I like to listen to it; we go in some different areas, which is al- ways exciting. We have been writing a bunch of songs for a new record, those were some songs we thought would be good together as a four song thing.
The lyrics feel like a look back on your past or a retrospective on youth at least. Is this somewhat accurate or am I reading too much into it, (which isn’t uncommon by the way)?
DEAN SPUNT: Ha, it’s whatever you want it to be, they are songs about losing feeling in one way or another, and they are also love songs, especially “Target” and “Genie.” Losing Feeling has a darker sort of growing, expanding vibe to it…
Can “Losing Feeling” be considered it’s own record or can we look at this as a taste of what the next LP will be like?
DEAN SPUNT: Losing Feeling is its own EP, not to say that the next record won’t have similar moments, but it was meant to be four songs that flowed and existed together. The songs for the new record so far are unique in ways I can’t describe… I am really excited.
The first thing critics talk about is your cleaner, more mature sound. I was wondering, is there still a sense of novelty to recording still like when you first started cutting demos?
DEAN SPUNT: Well, we have gotten used to recording, we are more comfortable writing and getting songs down on record and we are always getting closer to the sounds that we want. To me the new stuff just sounds and feels natural. Sometimes I go back and check out our EP stuff, like Weirdo Rippers and realize how different it is, but it really is the same thing to me. They all hit the same line in my head, it all sounds pretty progressive and pretty and catchy and simple.
No Age are known as road warriors, what are the tour plans for the year?
DEAN SPUNT: Ha, we are TRYING to take it easy for the rest of the year. We got some East Coast and Euro stuff in mid October and after that we are writing and recording and experimenting until early ‘10.
The first thing critics talk about is your cleaner, more mature sound. I was wondering, is there still a sense of novelty to recording still like when you first started cutting demos?
DEAN SPUNT: Well, we have got- ten used to recording, we are more comfortable writing and getting songs down on record and we are always getting closer to the sounds that we want. To me the new stuff just sounds and feels natural. Sometimes I go back and check out our EP stuff, like Weirdo Rippers and realize how different it is, but it really is the same thing to me. They all hit the same line in my head, it all sounds pretty progressive and pretty and catchy and simple.
No Age are known as road war-
riors, what are the tour plans for the year? DEAN SPUNT: Ha, we are TRYING to take it easy for the rest of the year. We got some East Coast and Euro stuff in mid October and after that we are writing and recordin
From the Mag: Interview with Dean Spunt of No Age
Without a doubt our interview with Dean Spunt a couple months back has been one of the most popular articles on Letter to Jane and for the first issue of our magazine Dean and I thought it would be a good idea to do a follow up, since a lot new stuff has come out of the No Age camp as of late. Their new EP You’re a Target has been one of my favorite listens this year and they recently wrote a score for the movie The Bear. You can read the extended interview in Letter to Jane Magazine.
You recently did a new score for the film “The Bear” for the Seattle International Film Festival. How did that project come to be and is there any chance for a DVD release? I’d love to see it.
DEAN SPUNT: We were throwing around the idea to do a live score for a long time; it was really pushed by Randy to get us to do one.We put the word out and the Seattle Film Festival invited us to perform. It was great fun; we also did it at Cinefamily here in LA and are going to be doing it at the New Museum in NYC in October. I am not sure if anything will be released, we have been recording each show though.
You usually make music for yourself, what was it like switching it up and writing music for something that already existed?
DEAN SPUNT: It was fun. The main difference was the length, it’s a 94-minute film, we are only used to playing for about 50 minutes max, and so it was a different kind of thing. It was really fun and exciting to get to make that much live music.
Your new EP, “Losing Feeling” is out now. What is the response you’ve received and what are your thoughts on the new record?
DEAN SPUNT: I have only heard positive things, I think it is good, it is just a small sketch, a four song EP before we release a full-length album. I like to listen to it; we go in some different areas, which is al- ways exciting. We have been writing a bunch of songs for a new record, those were some songs we thought would be good together as a four song thing.
The lyrics feel like a look back on your past or a retrospective on youth at least. Is this somewhat accurate or am I reading too much into it, (which isn’t uncommon by the way)?
DEAN SPUNT: Ha, it’s whatever you want it to be, they are songs about losing feeling in one way or another, and they are also love songs, especially “Target” and “Genie.” Losing Feeling has a darker sort of growing, expanding vibe to it…
Can “Losing Feeling” be considered it’s own record or can we look at this as a taste of what the next LP will be like?
DEAN SPUNT: Losing Feeling is its own EP, not to say that the next record won’t have similar moments, but it was meant to be four songs that flowed and existed together. The songs for the new record so far are unique in ways I can’t describe… I am really excited.
The first thing critics talk about is your cleaner, more mature sound. I was wondering, is there still a sense of novelty to recording still like when you first started cutting demos?
DEAN SPUNT: Well, we have gotten used to recording, we are more comfortable writing and getting songs down on record and we are always getting closer to the sounds that we want. To me the new stuff just sounds and feels natural. Sometimes I go back and check out our EP stuff, like Weirdo Rippers and realize how different it is, but it really is the same thing to me. They all hit the same line in my head, it all sounds pretty progressive and pretty and catchy and simple.
No Age are known as road warriors, what are the tour plans for the year?
DEAN SPUNT: Ha, we are TRYING to take it easy for the rest of the year. We got some East Coast and Euro stuff in mid October and after that we are writing and recording and experimenting until early ‘10.
(You can find out more about No Age by going to their website at http://noagela.blogspot.com/)
Listen:
No Age – You’re a Target
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