Trances Arc

The members of Trances Arc may tell you they don’t have a crowd or niche, but don’t believe them. Well into our interview, guitarist Michael Dorio mentions that they’ve never been a part of any real scene and are just out there by themselves. But after listening to their album, Xoxox, more times that I can recall, it’s impossible for me to really buy what he’s selling.

The reason is simple: I feel like I’ve heard all these songs already. It’s as if I grew up with them. The music of Trances Arc is familiar, if anything, and therein lies there charm. It’s instantly memorable, marked by tight musicianship, larger-than-life hooks and Eric Toledo’s stellar vocals.

The band’s upcoming release will only make the familiarity come true as they seem destined for endless media placement. All the more reason I was excited to sit down with the band before everyone else gets to them…

SSv: Now the record has been out for awhile digitally but the album has a March release.

Michael Dorio: We’ve been doing this for a long time without really a lot of support. So when we do things like make records or tour, we just have to do it ourselves. When we finished this record, we decided to get it on iTunes as soon as possible and also start sending it to out to people. For awhile, not that we’ve ever been disappointed, but sometimes you send them out to people and they don’t respond. We sent it out to people and Big Hassle quickly responded. They said they wanted to do the press for this thing and got quickly behind it. All of a sudden, it was a March release. I had already put it on iTunes, but they had no problem with that. That’s how that happened.

SSv: Does that feel anticlimactic?

Dorio: Well, yeah, the way I look at it though is that we’re gonna have them in all the huge stores in March. So nobody really knows it’s out there now. Obviously when people begin to find out about as our press grows, that will change. Right now people can find it on iTunes, Rhapsody, eMusic and all these sites. But as of a couple months ago, you had to know the band’s name and search for it. So I guess I think of it as posting early but the second we get some press out there, people who go to buy the record in March will think it was just put there.

SSv: There’s such a strong focus on melody on the album, so is that something that’s just natural to write in that vein or are you really concentrating on a good hook?

Dorio: Absolutely. We’ve all been playing music since we’re really little. I guess that used to be the norm, but today there seems to be a lot of people who don’t start playing a guitar until they’re 16 or 17 and then here comes the record. I think that’s cool, too. But we’ve been crafting since we were a lot younger than that.

Eric and I, we usually start the songwriting process in the band, I play basically rhythm guitar and Eric’s the singer. He’s a great guitarist and pianist, too. But we make something and build around it. Then we bring it to the band and they build around it. At the end of the day, if it’s not something that’s not melodically infectious or something someone will want to hear more than once, we’ll generally put that to the side. Not to say that we’ve never put out a song that’s a little different.

We’ve got lots of music and we write a lot of songs and we’ve got three or four albums worth of material since the band originally formed. That allows us to be picky in the studio. We came with 15 or 16 songs and we narrowed it to the best ten that went together. So that’s something that Eric and I and the band are really, really strong at. We grew up listening to bands that did that. I’ve always wanted to write and play music for people for that reason and I’m glad that people are hearing that when they’re listening to it. That’s something we strive for.

SSv: It seems so many are moving away from accessibility…

Dorio: Absolutely. So many bands, even ones I like, will talk about making the record “we wanted to make.” They say it was so rewarding for them because they spent 18 months in the studio and got all these issues on the table and that they don’t give a shit who likes the record. But at the end of the day, I think that’s cool, I guess. Some people who say that are bigger artists, so I guess that’s okay.

But for me it was never about that. I don’t have any insecurities or strange behavioral issues I need to get out through my music. I was raised in a great house with a great family, so we’re all happy people. When we go into the studio, we’re actually trying to make music that may inspire other people to play music and listen to more music. So that was always our goal. We just love it. We just love writing and this has been so nice this time around. We’ve had a couple EPs out but just to have more people listen to this one, that’s been great.

SSv: How does that play into your music, just having played together for so long?

Dorio: It’s huge for us. Specifically when we’re writing a song, we can walk into a room with an idea that Eric and I developed and we can start playing it and over the next six hours, no one says anything to anybody to do something specific on their guitar or drum. It’s not that we want it to be a freeform thing, but it really is the level of trust. That’s what makes our band our band. I had an interview a couple weeks ago and he was just saying how great the record was and how thought out the guitar parts were, weaving together. And I told him it wasn’t that way at all. It just came out that way. That’s just how good everyone is and how well we work together. That’s why I love playing with these guys. The trust and ability to let it become what it is – that’s awesome.

SSv: I’d love to hit a couple songs that really stand out on the record. “Cold Drivers?”

Dorio: Eric is an incredible pianist and one day he was in the studio playing this melody. I picked up a guitar and started to play along. That song is pretty simple in its chord structure. I remember that the outro part – that idea before it became big – he started singing the melody and we decided that would be great to do that at the end. But we put it aside for awhile. We don’t rush anything as a band. So he probably played around on that for a week before practice and everyone would hear it a different way. Finally one day, we started really working on it. He started singing the lyrics and I was just blown away.

It was right around the time of the Washington D.C. sniper and he had been watching it closely. I listened to the lyrics, but I didn’t ask them what he was about. But when I heard the words when we were recording, he said it was about those guys. If you go back and listen to it, it’s genius. He’s actually going back and talking to them and in one line, he’s exploring their mania and why they’re doing this. And he’s also discrediting what they’re standing for, but he puts it in a way that’s so poetic, you don’t think it’s about a serial killer.

When we play it live, it’s become this benchmark part of our show. Even when no one knows who we are and we show up in a town, you might get them with some rock songs up front or some driving rock at the end, but we put that dead middle. And either way, if you haven’t sold them at the top or bottom, everyone always erupts when they hear that. I don’t know if they know what it’s about but they obviously feel the power of it when it’s performed.

SSv: I was going to ask how that song translates live.

Dorio: Actually, I was scared shitless. When we put something on a record, we always ask if it’s something that we can play live. Now we did bring in someone on cello and Eric plays a bit of xylophone but mostly we make sure it’s something we can play ourselves in concert. That doesn’t mean we won’t have an orchestra on a future album – I’d love to – but for now…

So the end of “Cold Drivers” is literally three of us singing and then the guitars that are played and the cello is in there and that’s the only thing that’s missing in the live show.