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The Station Myth is made up of four guys named Daniel. I shit you not. Think for a moment what the odds are. I stress that you download She Can Reach and listen to it while you're reading this.
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How did songwriting come together on this disc?
Daniel Whitt: Daniel Fickle is definitely, historically, the lead composer in The Station Myth. Many of the main parts (instrumentally) on our album were already composed before The Station Myth even formed. Not all, but many. We all sort of edited together and concepted what worked and what didn’t. And we all contributed lyrically to the songs, but Daniel Ryan took ideas and ran with them in his own unique way. Daniel Ryan, fittingly, is the best lyricist in the band, and so we all tend to defer to him in that capacity… I mean he is the lead vocalist. We’ve never been too proud to defer to each other in any way. Sometimes, I let Fickle write drum parts electronically, and then I will commit days to learning it. In the same vein, Fickle will write a guitar part in 4/4, and Bellury will alter the bass line to be in 5/4… Then we all just defer to Bellury, and the whole song changes. That’s what happened with “On the Mountain,” and the song became extremely more sophisticated in my opinion.
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What was the recording process like? Where / with who was it recorded?
Daniel Whitt: We rented a van and moved everything we own to a cabin on top of a mountain in Pine Mountain, Georgia. We were secluded alone (just four guys and all the gear you could imagine) for an entire month. We ate mostly the strange combination of frozen edamame, a month’s supply of barbecue (in spite of our vegetarian tendencies), and pancakes. My father owns a barbecue restaurant, so we were very lucky to be sustained for very little money. Fickle and I are both audio engineers by trade, so we didn’t need an engineer. We converted a bedroom to a “live room” and used the den as a “control room.” That’s what you must do when you’re broke. Luckily Daniel Bellury had some extra cash and a very generous mother that helped with an Apple G5 tower. All four of us are Apple freaks (endorsement deal?). We recorded some vocals, etc upon our return to New York, and most of the mixing happened here as well.
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Tell me about the CD cover. Who designed it?
Daniel Whitt: The painting is by a friend of ours in Atlanta named Kathryn Forester. When we saw it, we all four knew it was perfect. We had the painting photographed professionally and sent the file over to Micah Whitson, one of my best friends since high school (and college roommate) who lives in Durham, North Carolina. Micah is a bad-ass designer/art director at McKinney-Silver (an advertising firm in Durham). He had a preliminary mix of our record and a photo of the painting. We gave him complete control over layout, design, etc. And we haven’t looked back since. Micah is our partner from here on out, and we will forever be in his debt for the work he has done for us.
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What are your promo plans for this release?
Daniel Whitt: Well, assuming we remain independent, we will continue to push the album online with advertising and overall presence (for instance, Virus Zine). We begin radio promotion with Team Clermont (Athens, Georgia) in August. We have yet to decide on a single, but the well-qualified minds over at Team Clermont will know exactly what to choose. A company in Boston, Powderfinger Promotions, is slated to begin publicity assistance at the end of August to support our upcoming East Coast tour. With a budget like ours, we’re feeling maxed out with just that. Word-of-mouth and MySpace have proven to be quite an asset.
Any news about the east coast tour? Any thought on crossing the border?
Daniel Whitt: Unfortunately, the route we’ve chosen does not allow us to visit Canada on our fall tour. However, with the tour van and trailer we have recently purchased, we can come any weekend that pleases Toronto. We intend to be there before our September 22nd start date, but it will not be considered part of the tour. We’ve gotten some love from Toronto (Virus Zine, as well as Leanda at WCIUT radio… thanks darling). We’ll be there.
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Daniel Whitt on where The Station Myth fits in New York
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'Our sound definitely fits here in general, but it’s hard to classify us. Even our snobby-music-crazy friends struggle to classify us, so we’ve been a bit confused as to what we are in the eyes of the public. All we know is who we are between the four of us. And that’s enough to move us forward.'
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What is the independent music scene like in New York?
Daniel Whitt: The scene here in New York is strange. We’re a drop in the bucket. Although we feel our music expresses something far different than most of the bands in our scene, so does everyone else… and there are thousands of bands here. Its hard. We just have faith, and we keep playing.
Where do you feel you fit within that community?
Daniel Whitt: Our sound definitely fits here in general, but it’s hard to classify us. Even our snobby-music-crazy friends struggle to classify us, so we’ve been a bit confused as to what we are in the eyes of the public. All we know is who we are between the four of us. And that’s enough to move us forward.
Who are some of your favorite local bands to play shows with?
Daniel Whitt: We love The Diggs. Good people. We’re also fond of Robbers on High Street. We’re still a young live band, so we don’t have quite the brilliant answer to this one.
How important is it to you to be hands on about all the non musical aspects of The Station Myth? (fliers, cd artwork, web design)
Daniel Whitt: It has been very important in the past. The first impression is crucial, and we can only trust ourselves to make final decisions. But… we’re tired. The logistical, managerial side of things is very draining, and we’ve been busting our asses to make it happen. It has probably negatively affected us artistically, but we’ve tried to separate the two and tackle them in the proper time and place. Bottom line… we need help, but we’re capable.
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Are you looking for label support? What are you looking for in a label?
Daniel Whitt: Of course we are. The most important thing to us is that the label loves us. We don’t really care how large or small the label is. We just want honest support based on mutual respect for our trades.
What are you reading right now? [and please, please, don't say these questions…]
Daniel Whitt: Bellury’s been reading “On the Road” by Jack Kerouac. I’ve been reading a wicked movie script by our friend Neil Van Natta. Don’t know about the other fellas.
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The Playlist
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Daniel Whitt's Playlist
1. Arizona - Some Kind of Chill
2. Hum - Suicide Machine (this song will stay in my top five until I die)
3. Elbow - Any Day Now
4. Massive Attack - Future Proof
5. The Diggs - It’s Just Like You Say
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