Manchester Orchestra

Calling upon the elder member of Manchester Orchestra is rather misleading considering the average age of the Atlanta quintet hovers around 20. Still, drummer Jeremiah Edmond has a few years on his indie rock band mates and holds perhaps a bit more perspective on the accomplishments achieved and themes discussed thus far.

The former is quite a list for such a young band, whose debut – I’m Like a Virgin Losing a Child - earned placement on both Conan O’Brien and David Letterman. Jeremiah recently told us all about the success and the perspective they strive to maintain in the midst of it, as well as the details of next year’s follow-up with Joe Chicarrelli (My Morning Jacket).

SSv: As a starting point, where’s the band at right now?

Jeremiah Edmond: We’ve been out in L.A. trying to mix our new record. We’ve been off of the road as far as touring goes for the last two months for the most part. We’ve done a few shows here and there, some festivals and stuff, but for the most part, we’ve been at home working on the new record.

SSv: In terms of the EP, is that material culled from the first studio sessions?

Jeremiah: There was a documentary made about a year ago and we played some stuff for that at some point and we decided to wanted to put that out along with some new music as well between album cycles. We wanted to have something to give the fans while they waited on the album when we weren’t on the road as much. We wanted some new songs on there, so we went and recorded two brand new songs and then also put on a few live tracks and radio performances and stuff like that to give a few things that weren’t available anywhere else.

SSv: There’s so much spirituality in your music and it’s a subject many bands won’t approach, especially for a young band like yourselves. Just wondering how you dealt with that.

Jeremiah: It’s one of those things that just kind of happened. We all grew up in very religious families and going to church and being engulfed in that world to an extent, at least at different points. It’s always something that’s been around and a part of our lives, whether at this point we’re completely in it or not. With the first record of I’m Like A Virgin Losing A Child, we didn’t even realize how spiritual it was until after we made it and people started pointing out that all of the songs had this spiritual element to them.

Andy [Hull] writes all of the lyrics and after that, we sat back and said, ‘Well, I guess you’re right. They pretty much all have something in them.’ But it was never meant to be that way or some kind of conscious decision to write about those things. A lot of the songs are about a lot of different things, not just one story or point. So it was interesting because we never set out to have a lot of spiritual elements in our lyrics. It just happened. And I do think there’s something spiritual about the music as well, I guess, but none of it was on purpose.

SSv: I wanted to ask about your role in the band specifically. At what point did you enter the picture?

Jeremiah: I had moved to Atlanta five or six years ago and was working as an engineer and producer, just making records with Dan Hannon who was actually our producer on the first album and who is working on the new album with us. I met Andy while I was working on this band called Elevation. I don’t really remember, but I think we were probably hanging out at a party or something and he gave me a call when they ended up parting ways with their old drummer. He asked me to try out and I hadn’t been playing in bands for years at that point since I’d just been working, so I thought I’d give it a try and it slowly came together.

SSv: Now you’re the eldest member of Manchester Orchestra?

Jeremiah: Yeah, I’m the old man. I’m 25. That makes me still way older than everyone else. [Laughs]

SSv: Do you ever talk about that as a group and what you’ve been able to accomplish in these early years?

Jeremiah: Yeah, definitely. We very often have to step back and wonder how we’re making a record with Joe Chicarrelli. We have to step back and realize how blessed we are and see the big picture and see how we’re able to do the things we’re doing. It’s not about how talented we are, but instead that we’ve been blessed with these chances.

SSv: Is there one moment more surreal than any other?

Jeremiah: You can feel that way pretty much every night we’re on stage, but there are definitely moments like when we played Letterman, that was a big thrill for us. Playing Radio City Music Hall and playing Wembley, those are all huge moments where we’re wondering, ‘Are you kidding me? Is this really happening?’ It just feels like a dream a lot of the time. It’s all happened so quickly.

SSv: Are there any worries with that? With things happening so quickly?

Jeremiah: Well, but in a way it’s been the complete oppposite. We’ve been grinding it out for three-plus years now. We’ve been working on this record for two years now, just touring and touring and touring. We’re away from home and on the road 200 days from last year and slowly building this thing up. As you hear about it, it’s ‘oh, where did these guys come from?’ but it’s actually been a really long process that we’ve slowly built piece by piece, trying to be really smart about it.

We didn’t get a really big record deal and put it out and use the whole machine and the marketing and stuff. We didn’t want any of that. We wanted to set ourselves up for a longer career, so we held the reins on this record and tried to build it really smart and slow and steady. We just wanted to pick up fans while we’re on the road rather than get the marketing machine and have a song on the radio.

SSv: When you think about plotting out that career trajectory, is there another group you look to and love how they handled themselves?

Jeremiah: Yeah, very much. In the beginning, we looked at the way Death Cab for Cutie handled their career because we’ve all been big fans of theirs for years and years, since before they blew up at all. Bands like Death Cab and Modest Mouse and Wilco and My Morning Jacket, we’ve really looked to learn from them. When we set out to make decisions, we use them as examples to people as this is the sort of career we want to have. We don’t want to blow up. We want to have a long, touring, fulfilling career where we can make records that matter and have enough of a fan base around those records that matter to have some large scale success in the long run.

SSv: How do you measure that? Making records that matter?

Jeremiah: I don’t think you can necessarily measure it because there are a lot of records that matter on certain levels, that might matter to me but nobody else cares about them. There are records that when you talk to somebody else, it steers the conversation, or when they come on, there’s this connection there. Everybody feels the same way about it. For us, there are records like Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane over the Sea. If that comes up in conversation, it usually turns to how important and how amazing that is. Sorry, not sure if that answers your question. [Laughs]

SSv: No, that’s just fine. [Laughs] Earlier you said you were working with Dan and then you mentioned Joe, so what’s the production situation on the new record?

Jeremiah: Joe’s producing but he had a little bit of time where he had to wrap up another project and we wanted to keep working. So we’re co-producing the album with Joe and we also brought Dan in to help us out as well during the time that Joe had to leave to track and stuff. We’ve known Dan for so long that he really gets our creative process and is really good in working with us. So we wanted him to help us while Joe needed a break and then we kept him on when Joe came back in. He and Joe worked well together.

SSv: What’s the first half of 2009 look like?

Jeremiah: It’s getting back out on the road. I think the first couple months will be spent preparing for this album cycle – getting everything set up and being ready to get on the road again. In February, we might end up in the UK. Toward the end of March, we’ll release the record and then get out on the road for that. So it’s just gearing up. The last record, as I said, was a really slow build. But with this record, we want to use that momentum from the last record to see how we can go with this one and see what we can do.

Tagged as: Atlanta, Georgia, Indie Rock

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