Pelican

Instrumental metal is a genre that has been treaded upon lightly. While bands that compose this style of music are few in numbers, there is one Midwestern band that’s managed to make a name for themselves while at the same time putting this vein of rock on the map, Pelican. Their individual and combined talents have made them the poster boys of a genre they’ve undecidedly come to represent.

They are currently touring in support of Thrice and Circa Survive with their latest offering in tow; a live performance DVD entitled After the Ceiling Cracked (which we’ve come to learn was more or less created from happenstance). Based on our exchanges, it seems as though this band has grown considerably since the time that the London show centerpiece of Ceiling was filmed. They’ve begun to lighten up when it comes to being critical of themselves as musicians and they’ve learned to be more fluid when it comes to their performances.

Drummer Larry Herweg took some time from his currently busy touring schedule to discuss Pelican’s songwriting process, why they’ve continually veered away from a vocalist, and the realities of making the switch from headliner to opening act.

SSv: I really enjoyed the DVD, particularly the London performance, but was curious as to the decision behind the time and the place and how that all came about.

Larry Herweg: Thanks for the compliment! Well we actually had no plans for a DVD at the time. We knew we would eventually want to try and do one, but not at this point in the band’s career. So we had this brief tour in the UK planned for December of 2005. We were going there just before the holidays, to kind of wrap up the year of touring our The Fire in Our Throats album. Shortly before heading out we were contacted about doing the DVD at the London show. We were kinda surprised cause the offer seemed too good to be true. It was a 5 camera set, shot at the beautiful Scala venue in London, filmed for almost nothing money-wise, and with Justin Broadrick manning the sound board. Muckspreader Productions were fans and super excited about doing the video. So we decided to do it and see how it turned out. We are all more than happy with the final product.

SSv: I also learned from the DVD that you guys are probably your harshest critics, especially when it comes to your performances. It is always great to hear about bands holding themselves to such high standards, but do you ever feel like you’re too hard on yourselves?

Herweg: I think we’ve lightened up as time has gone on. Touring has changed us for the better. We used to be super self critical in the earlier days, almost to the point where we weren’t enjoying our live show. That was from the lack of not playing or touring often. We all had full time jobs, college, etc. In the last two years we have become a full time band and now we tour year round.

Over time we learned to lighten up and enjoy ourselves more. We are all more confident now in our ability to play live. We’re not as up tight and as nervous as we used to be. We were actually still pretty stiff on this DVD. At that point, we were still getting used to being on the road and getting used to the amount of attention that particular record had received.

I think now we play better and are probably more exciting to watch, as we are more animated live and don’t just stand there like professors or something. But I do think having a high level of self analysis makes for better songs. We take a really long time to write a song and debut it live. Then we usually play it out for a while before we take it to the studio. This way we know what we like and what the fans like.

SSv: There’s this ebb and flow to your music as aggressive elements are mirrored against mellow ones and I wondered if there’s a conscious decision to ensure this balance exists during the songwriting process, or if songs just tend to take on a life of their own as they are being created?

Herweg: Yeah I think we all have a good gauge with our songs and to know when enough is enough. If a song is too heavy for too long, we know its time to make the song take a turn and maybe mellow out for a bit. You know, just ways to alter the song’s mood, play on the listener’s emotions a bit. I think it makes a song more interesting and keeps peoples attention. I mean our songs are long, so we need to be conscious of the listener’s attention span as well.

We are all into a lot of different styles of music, so we try and let those styles and influences play into our songs. For example, all the Pelican guys love metal, but after you listen to super heavy music for a hour straight, it starts to lose it “heaviness”. If you are constantly being pounded by death metal, I think it almost gets boring after a while.

Maybe its partially because I’m getting older and have a shorter threshold for metal. But I think its good to change up a song or a record, after a while. Too much of the same is no good. We like to take chances and try new things. I think thats exactly what we did with City of Echoes.

SSv: I read in an interview that you guys just don’t know how to make vocals sound right with your music, so I’m assuming there have been some attempts either by fans, or otherwise. What exactly about vocals doesn’t mesh with what it is you do?

Herweg: Well we’ve never tried a vocalist out, so none of us really know what our songs would actually sound like. I think we are just going with our gut on this one and assuming Pelican is just good as is and why change now. I think we’ve had people send us stuff in the past through myspace but nothing really grabbed our attention. I think if we heard something that we thought could work we would consider trying it out. I’m not gonna say we’ll never do it. We’re just not at that point yet. We like the band as is and we still enjoy writing instrumental music for now. And people seem to dig it, so why change now?

SSv: I’ve also read how touring has influenced your musical direction from “slow-building” to “straight to the point” in order to bring more energy to your live shows. How do you picture this philosophy playing out on your next album? Does this mean the demise of the 10 minute song?

Herweg: Well I think that was accurate for the City of Echoes LP, but I think the new album with have a few longer jams as well. When we started touring full time, we were going out with bands like Big Business, Cave In, High on Fire, etc. These are high energy rock bands. Some nights it was hard to go up on stage because I felt like we were boring live in comparison. So we decided to try and mix it up on the last CD. Add a little speed, shave down the song length a bit, etc. Make the songs more focused and more to the point.

We love our old songs, but they get kinda hard to play, mentally, over time. We wrote australasia when we were hardly playing out. So once we started touring those songs became harder to get excited about over time. I mean “March to the Sea” is a 12 minute song and our longest, but there is a different life to that song than some of the older material. We just felt inspired by the bands we were touring with and tried to learn from them.

I think the new album is gonna be a nice mix of our last two CDs. Two of the new songs are already paced a little slower than City songs and have a more relaxed vibe to them. One new song is kinda like a drugged out, proggy, version of Quicksand.

SSv: I noticed you’re playing some headlining shows through the middle of March before you embark on a month and a half long tour with Thrice and Circa Survive. How do the dynamics shift when you move from one position to another like that? What sort of adjustments will you have to make, if any?

Herweg: Well obviously headlining, means playing longer and later everynight. So I think there is more pressure on headlining tours to deliver each night. Your playing to your fans, who know your songs and want a good show. Where as the support tour with Thrice is a little less pressure. I mean yeah, the shows are in way bigger venues and is a new audience, but we get 30 minutes to go up on stage and try and kill it. There are no expectations and it gives our band a kind of a new life as well.

When we did dates on Taste of Chaos in 2006, we were playing arenas to thousands of people who had no idea who we were. We had nothing to lose. So we went up there,like a new band and tried to win over the crowd. Its a great feeling. We met Thrice on that Taste of Chaos tour as well. So we’ve already done shows with them and we’re excited to go back out on tour with them.

SSv: There have been a lot of exciting new bands coming out of Hydra Head. Do you have a particular favorite, or are there any specific releases we have to look forward to this year?

Herweg: I think the new Torche is gonna be the big HH release this year. They got a great buzz and put on a killer live show. I’ve been a fan of Steve Brooks since the early 90′s when he was doing Floor. Torche is a continuation of his trademark sound and song writing. We are gonna tour Europe with them in Fall, so we’re all looking forward to that. I also think the Heat Seeker record is gonna blow people away. Its Caleb from OldManGloom, Cave In, and also Aaron Harris from Isis. Any fans of those guys previous bands will be stoked! And I believe its Aaron Harris’s debut as recording engineer and it sounds sick!

SSv: I’m also a fan of Russian Circles, who are also from Chicago, and I know you’ve played shows together in the past and share similar musical landscapes. Has your relationship benefited both bands creatively, or in any other way?

Herweg: We are tight with those guys and yeah we share a space with them. They are great dudes and great musicians, but I don’t think our bands sound anything alike though. I think both bands draw their influences from different places. I think its easy for people to say we sound similar cause we are both from Chicago and both instrumental, but I think both bands have different things to offer in their songs. I think we appeal to similar fans so that benefits both bands for touring and selling albums. I’m actually going to see them this Thursday in LA and looking forward to hearing their new CD.

SSv: Finally, being a local, what’s your favorite place to play in Chicago and why?

Herweg: I think our Empty Bottle shows are always sweet. The turnout is always great and they treat us well there. Its a smaller room, so its a more intimate vibe. I do enjoy the Metro as well, just because their sound system is amazing and it was where I went to see a lot of my first shows when I was growing up.