Manchester Orchestra: From Cope To Hope (Interview)

No, they’re not British…indie band Manchester Orchestra is based in Atlanta, Georgia. The quintet will play their first New Zealand show at Auckland’s Powerstation on November 17th. This follows the release of Hope, the band’s second album of 2014. In April, the band released Cope, a record they have described as being “unrelenting and unapologetically heavy”.  Hope, which was released in September, was conceived as a companion piece to Cope. It consists of the same songs as the previous record, but re-recorded acoustically. The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda recently spoke to Chris Freeman, the keyboard player for Manchester Orchestra, and asked him why the band decided to re-record an album they had just released a few months earlier.

Click here to listen to the interview with Manchester Orchestra:

Or, read a transcription of the interview here:

MD: I guess the first thing that I want to talk to you about, the main thing is obviously the changing, you know, the Hope recording as opposed to the Cope. The thing that I find really amazing about that is, when I speak to most bands and artists, once they’re done recording a record, they kind of are done with it and they really are not interested in dealing with those songs anymore and you guys have done the exact opposite you’ve turned around and re-recorded them all. So how did that decision come about and why?

CF: It seemed like a good idea, you know, I think our fans like the two dynamic sides of our band which is, you know, being very loud and very quiet. I think we didn’t really give that gentle side of us on Cope and it felt like a nice little labour of love that we could give, we knew we could make that record quiet and sort of bring out the vocals and have the lyrical content really be the fore front of the record. So we kinda just took the time to make it pretty and that’s to sort of satisfy, not satisfy but sort of appease that side of our fan base who I think was maybe a little disappointed in being super loud the whole time, which not many people were disappointed just, you know, give them a little of what they’re asking for.

MD: A little dynamic range.

CF: Exactly.

manchester-orchestra-copeMD: But I got to guess that when you first started recording these songs for what ended up being Cope, you didn’t plan on recording a second version of the album.

CF: No we did not, that was definitely an after idea. We finished the record and then it seemed like a good next move. We like working a lot so it was nice to get back in the studio and work together.

MD: And where did the initial idea to re-record it come from? Was it any particular band mate, was it any kind of group, kind of light bulb on top moment?

CF: Well we like to be our own creative force. So we sort of brainstorm a lot of what we could do that can to promote our band and sort of putting new material out there whether it be like through visuals or our music. So I think in all the ideas being thrown out we just decided that would be a fun way to continue portray the idea of our band being a talented group of dudes who like to work in the studio.

MD: Right, right.

CF: So just kinda went with it.

MD: You really must love being in the studio after having been in it for however long it took you and then to dive back in again so…

CF: We do. We all, we live really close to the studio too so it’s not that far away, we can run away back home if we really need to.

MD: Right. And from what I understand you kind of recorded Hope somewhat secretly. Is that true and if so why did you kind of keep it under wraps?

CF: Well it’s kinda easy where we’re at. It is true we did it sort of in secret. I think probably, in part of, if it didn’t work out we probably would have just scrapped it and never thought about it again and nobody had to hold us accountable to it.

MD: Right.

CF: But we were able to actually finish it and it came out well. So we told people about it. We’re always working in the studio, we have a lot of different projects going on. So I think it’s just sort of a, it just happened to be secret really and then, we’re in the suburbs of Atlanta, so nobody’s really hanging out around to see if we’re coming to work on stuff.

MD: Gotcha.

CF: You know, it’s just sort of, we’re in our own little world out here with soccer moms and like high school kids. So nobody’s really that worried about us.

MD: You didn’t have to kind of get some tips from David Bowie about how to go about recording in secret? Keep everybody from finding out.

CF: No, but maybe Bowie should be asking us.

MD: Record it in suburban Atlanta and you’re all set.

CF: Yeah

MD: And not be David Bowie would also help, I suppose.

CF: That would help.

Manchester Orchestra hopeMD: Yeah. So when you went in to record Hope. Was it, did you have to kind of stay away from or avoid kind of repeating yourself? How did you avoid being influenced by what you had already recorded on these songs as a musician?

CF: Well we knew we didn’t want it to be an acoustic record so and we were confident in the songs that were there so we knew that all we had to do was focus all of our creativity into the different aspects of song writing rather than worrying about getting a good product, all we had to do was sort of change the product we already had and that just sort of left it open for us to creatively go any direction that we wanted to. We feel like, as a band we can go in any direction so why not take the chance. You know, and we’re in our own studio so it’s very easy for us to feel free to do what we want and to make mistakes without anybody yelling or costing us too much money.

MD: Right, right. I was hoping maybe I could get you to just…I’ll mention a couple of track names, songs and you can kind of point out to people who are going to be reading and listening to this interview how the song has changed from one version to the other. Like for instance, the song Girl Harbor. How would you tell people the two versions on Hope and Cope, you know, have transformed from one to the other?

CF: Well it’s sort of a, that’s difficult cause’ we’re working on it right now so all I’m thinking about is my piano part.

MD: Right.

CF: It’s moved so much into more of a sweeping, more angelic version of that song, I think that’s one of the prettier tracks on Cope but we took that into an even more illustrious, I don’t know, I think with that song is, it just took on a whole new beast. That’s what happened with two versions of the same song, they get mixed up together a little bit. But yeah it’s a very, yeah, it’s very, it’s fun, to re-imagine the song but Girl Harbor turned out very, one of my favourites actually to play.

Click here to listen to Girl Harbor from Cope:

Click here to listen to Girl Harbor from Hope:

MD: And what about Every Stone, what about that song?

CF: Every Stone. It’s interesting because it was re-imagined on a piano, a Wurlitzer. It’s very sparse. Where Every Stone on the record has a huge drum thing at the end and sort of, I don’t know, being able to minimalize it the way we did, it’s very, Wurlitzer-based and then having sparse vocal parts everywhere else. Yeah, it’s interesting.

MD: Were there any particular tracks on the record that were problematic as far as coming up with the second version of it that you felt, ‘why are we doing this, it was great the way we did it, we shouldn’t do it again or it doesn’t really work in this format’?

CF: No, honestly, not really. Every, I think we ran into a few walls. Being able to change it, is difficult and it wasn’t, I didn’t want to make it sound like it was an extremely easy process, it was more of a fulfilling process so it’s difficult to remember those walls that you hit.

MD: Right.

CF: Because most turns we took on that record, we imagine that record was fun and it’s rare that you don’t have like the…Sometimes, you know, like in hindsight or whatever it always feels so much easier than it was and Hope was so easy while it was happening that it’s even easier in the past, you know.

MD: Right.

CF: Like an equally as good experience as a memory. So all the songs really went well and if there was a block we could just sort of walk away, there was no pressure to make it.

MD: Right.

CF: When it didn’t need to be. So that made things very, very easy to create, redo these songs.

MD: And did you get any resistance from record company or manager, management those, you know, those kind of outside influences that are going, ‘why are you doing this, why are you going back and spending your time redoing what you’ve already done’?

CF: Absolutely not. There was no push-back. They like us working cause that means we get more content out there.

MD: Right.

CF: We do a pretty good job at, you know, making the right moves. Everybody in our camp has a good head on our shoulders so we try make decisions as a unit, we’ve, people we work with trust us and we trust them. So it was definitely all encompassing,  very positive.

MD: Right, right. So you’re gonna be here in November, in the middle of November. What are we gonna be experiencing when we see you guys?

CF: A very loud rock show.

MD: Okay

CF: …very different from Hope.

MD: Very different from Hope.

CF: Yeah and we’re excited. This will be our first time in New Zealand so I can’t wait.

MD: Yeah. I read that it was the first time. Do you guys get to spend any time in the, do you try to make a point of spending time in countries that you’re arriving for the first time, or are you on a kind of on a one night thing?

CF: Yes we do. We try. We feel on a first trip, you know, we always sort of soak that up. It always gets a little, be a little jaded sometimes you’ve been somewhere 15, England, we’ve been there 12 times.

MD: Right.

CF: So now it’s about finding out good restaurants to go to rather than seeing the sights. But yeah, we have a day off, we’re very excited about it. I think we’re gonna try and do a little exploring.

MD: Right.

CF: We definitely, we make it a point whenever we can to go out and see, enjoy some new things.

MD: And do you know anything about New Zealand music? Did you kind of check that out as well or are you kind of more interested in restaurants and beaches?

CF: I haven’t looked into New Zealand music yet. I didn’t know there was a specific, I didn’t know there is a scene there.

MD: Oh yes. Well there was a, especially in 1980s there was a record label called Flying Nun and it was kind of on the forefront of whatever was going on that was based in little city called Dunedin, that’s at the bottom of the country and yeah. There were bands called The Chills and there was a guy named Chris Knox who was kind of behind it. So yeah, there’s quite a legacy as far as, especially in the 80s, early 90s.

CF: Interesting. I’ll have to look into that.

MD: Yes, you might want to check it out, then again you may not want to, you may want to go hang out on the beach as well.

CF: I’ll do both.

MD: It will be late spring here at that point, but I guess it probably not that different from the way it is in Atlanta at this time of year, right?

CF: No, it’s a little chilly but it’s still pretty warm, got a nice breeze.

MD: Okay. And so other than just being a really loud show, are you concentrating on the new material or are you playing stuff from all throughout your career? What can….?

CF: We’re definitely, we’re spreading it out a little bit, you know, we have some songs from the new record and some songs that we haven’t played in a while from older records. But definitely a dynamic set. But we would change our set list constantly. We’re very particular about the songs we’re playing and what’s working and what’s not, including the emotional ebb and flow of each show dictates what we do live. So we’ll see what happens, but the set list we’ve had for a while now has been working really well, I have like a headlining set so.

MD: Right.

CF: We’ll see how it goes.

Click here for more information about Manchester Orchestra at The Powerstation.