Librarians With Hickeys look to jangle pop and make it rock. As a fan of that genre from the 80s onward, I absolutely wanted to hear this, and was rewarded with a great album.
Ray and Mike from the band were kind enough to answer a few questions.
Andrea Weiss: Who were you listening to while making the album?
Ray Carmen: I host a show on Luxuria Music called the POP! Radio Program, so I listen to a lot of different things! Believe it or not, I’ve been listening to a lot of punk stuff, like The Pill, The Darts, Honeychain, and bands like that, but one of my current favorite bands is Alvvays, who a friend of mine turned me on to. I am now an Alvvays superfan! Another band I love is The Surfrajettes, a surf band from Toronto. They have a new album out called Easy As Pie, and it’s great--or should I say tasty! And I love the Go! Team, the British band, as well as the Go Team who were on K Records back in the 80s. Then there’s always The Beatles, The Monkees, Queen, The Residents, R. Stevie Moore, Martin Newell, XTC... The list goes on.
Mike Crooker: I wear a lot of hats when writing and recording, so it’s really difficult for me to actively listen to any outside music. I sort of live inside “studioland” 24/7, usually falling asleep with the headphones on while listening to that day’s output. That method seems to work as far as our records are concerned, but it’s not really conducive to hearing any outside music.
AW: What do you think is the difference between jangle rock and pop?
RC: What is the difference between jangle rock and pop? When I think of jangle pop I think of bubblegum music, which I love. When I think of jangle rock, I also think of bubblegum, so to me maybe there isn't much difference.
MC: Sonically, I think of jangle as the sound of a “band”--two guitars (in our case, Rickenbacker and Stratocaster), bass, and drums. Pop, these days, tends to live outside of those parameters: more attention to non-rock band sounds and vocal effects. We live closer to the jangle edge of things.
AW: “Everything Will Be All Right” is a good way to end the album. Did you mean that to be the message?
RC: Yes. Because at the end of the day, you really should shut off social media, which for most people means putting their phones down. It's weird how people still use the phone to stay connected after all these years, but in a completely different way. Most people spend as much time texting or looking at TikTok as they do actually talking to people, and I’m as guilty of that as anyone.
AW: I love the timpani on it. what do you think they add to the song?
MC: With this track I really wanted the Mellotron (strings), chimes, and percussion to shine and give it that epic flavor to play off the lyrics.
RC: The song was meant to be a message song and was written to be the album’s closer. We wanted the song to sound like an epic, and we thought adding tympani (and chimes) would do the job. It did!
AW: Most of these songs seem to be about off-kilter relationships, which I like. Did you mean to emphasize that aspect?
RC: Not really emphasized. That’s why we wanted to make it clear that this isn’t some sort of -urgh! - concept album. When we put the songs together, we realized they just happened to be about how people have tried to communicate over the years, and how nowadays everyone uses their phones, but again, in a completely different way. Mike and I almost never email each other and we never talk on the phone. We always text.
MC: It’s true! One time I accidentally hit “call,” panicked, hung up, and then texted him to apologize!
AW: Is “Hello Operator” one of the most off-kilter?
RC: Well, maybe. Back in the day, people talked to operators all the time, whether it was to get a call put through, to get a phone number, or even to get the time and temperature. Nowadays the only time you would talk to an operator would be to argue with somebody about the gas bill.
MC: The dynamic is one you don’t often get in current music, because of the era it’s set in. But, as we wrote “Hello Operator” first, it really did set the tone for the rest of the album both lyrically and musically.
AW: Are there any local Akron bands that you recommend?
RC: Dave Rich & His Enablers, who are sort of Akron’s answer to Guided By Voices--odd song titles, cool collages for album covers. And they also put out several albums a year. But Dave Rich’s songs are more in a power-pop vein, and they are absolutely top-notch. And Dave’s vocals almost sound to me like an arena-rock Outfield.
Lauren Brabson is a singer-songwriter with a charming, intimate, personal take on indie folk pop. She has some great songs, like “Leo and I Don’t Love The Way You Hate Yourself,” which are my favorites. She just released a new EP called Hey, It’s Me Lauren. She was supposed to sing on our new album, but we couldn’t get our schedules to mesh. Hopefully we will be able to in the future.
The Akronauts are a great alt-rock band with a lead singer who jumps around like he’s in a remake of Flubber. I swear he has springs on his shoes. They put on a fun show, and Joe Baker is a great frontman!
AW:Do you have any plans to tour?
MC: Maybe a series of small house shows, or libraries.
RC: If AARP will foot the bill, sure.
