CougaBear

"I had been hearing about Idaho, Alaska shows around town lately but it wasn't until last week that I realized they were locals. Shameful, I know. The band consists of long time Lexington music-makers Mark Murray, Mitch Snider, Chris Soulis, and Mike Matthews. The songs consist of inoffensive pop rocking with obvious Modest Mouse and Pavement influences. "Mechanical (Wave/ What's The) Matter" feels strangely familiar, perhaps due to the very Isaac Brock-esque lead line, and comforting in a way, reminding me of days long passed."

-Samantha Herald - Smiley Pete

By: John Crowell
Posted: 2/13/08
Idaho, Alaska is a Lexington band that has accomplished a lot for a group together for under a year. Since spring 2007, the band has played shows around town and released a full-length album, "Kissin' With The Devil." They play a mix of indie pop and fuzzy rock that has been described as a mixture of Dinosaur Jr., Built to Spill, Modest Mouse and assorted instrumentation.

Idaho, Alaska usually sticks to the standard guitar-bass-keyboards-drums rock-band structure, but are known to include doses of trombone, slide whistle, trumpet and kazoo. The members of Idaho, Alaska: guitarist Chris Soulis, drummer Mike Matthews, bassist Mark Murray, keyboardist Keith Birchfield and guitarist Mitch Snider all agreed to answer questions about how they met and where their sound is going.

Idaho, Alaska will play at Salotto's tomorrow.



Q: How did Idaho, Alaska get started?

Mitch: Well, for me, I was at a party, and Chris and I started talking about music. I asked if he needed a guitarist, he said yes, and that he already had a band started, and that I could practice with them. Do bands start any other way?

Chris: I met everyone in the spring of '07, and by early summer we were playing shows and had recorded "Kissin' With The Devil." Keith joined right before we opened for Wax Fang and Don Cab in August. The only person I knew previously was Mitch, and that was from several years back.

Keith: I don't know the whole story, just my own. I was asked to step in and play trumpet on "Muscle Car." After a handful of practices, I was working on trumpet parts for a few of the other songs and dusting off my keyboard to explore some new sounds and melodies.



Q: I've heard a lot of people compare you to bands like Built to Spill and Modest Mouse. Songs on "Kissin' With The Devil," especially ones like Muscle Car, sound like "Lonesome Crowded West" stuff, but I hear other influences as well. Perhaps the blues? What would you say you want your songs to sound like?

Mitch: Speaking for my part, I took lessons from a blues-oriented guitarist for my first year of playing, and it's influenced me ever since. As far as Modest Mouse goes, they were one of my biggest influences in college, and while I hear stuff sounding like them, I'm glad when people say we sound like other bands. It's kind of stupid to aspire to be exactly like anything else out there.

Chris: I like how Built to Spill and Modest Mouse blend the lyrics with the music. They seem to achieve the perfect mood or setting with their songs. I'd like our songs to mean something, to be catchy and interesting - lyrically and musically dynamic.

Mark: 'Muscle Car' sounds more like (Built to Spill's) "Keep It Like A Secret" stuff to me; "So Long" and "Mechanical Wave/What's The Matter" sound like Modest Mouse stuff ... I don't care much for the blues - I'm more into reggae and breakcore.



Q: I also hear a lot of odd instruments on your record, like the kazoo and slide whistle. How do you like to use odd sounds? Do you do them live as well?

Mitch: Well, slide whistle's me, and I do it live, but everything else we seem to drop. Although I don't think we're averse to putting them in live.

Chris: Mark builds all these crazy electronic instruments, and he used a couple of them on "Mechanical Wave/What's The Matter," but I'd like to incorporate more of those in the future.

Keith: I would like to incorporate more odd sounds into our live set. One of the best live bands I have ever seen is Man Man. Their use of pots, pans, bells, whistles, horns, hands, stomps, etc. is musically brilliant and incredibly entertaining. It's hard to pull off, but it's a blast trying.



Q: What was the recording process for "Kissin' With the Devil" like?

Mitch: Everything was recorded in my old apartment - huge, huge ceilings, and everyone was comfortable. It was a really fun time.

Chris: It was fun. Copious amounts of cigarettes and alcohol fueled the days. Our engineer was my friend from Austin, Brandon O'Leary. To me, the best thing was our collective ability to record 50 minutes of really good music after being in the band together for less than six weeks.

Mike: It was hardwood floors, drinking other people's beer because I was broke, spending 16-hour days listening to the same tracks over and over and not having enough energy to get up off the couch and walk home.



Q: Do you see your sound changing at all on future songs or albums? Are there sounds or instruments you're itching to explore?

Chris: I think it changes with every practice. The songs get tighter and consequently, we play more relaxed, which tends to open up new avenues to explore. Our newer songs seem to reflect that attitude. Growing up, my parents only really listened to classical music. I really like the variety of instruments used in those compositions. Adding vibraphone, strings, more horns, piano, percussion - that could be cool.

Mike: We have about five new songs that we've been highlighting at our shows and would like to record soon. Personally, I enjoy playing trombone on the recordings, but it's pretty impossible live with drumming too.

Keith: Evolution of sound is a natural part of any new band. Once you stop exploring and growing, it gets boring for the band and the audience.



Q: How has your time as a Lexington band been? Do you plan on staying

in town or leaving?

Mitch: Fun - who knows what the future holds?

Chris: We've had fun playing in Lexington. Good crowds and people seem to give a s---. That said, Lexington seems to be on the edge of either becoming a really cool city or a really s---ty, homogenized one. We'll see.

Mike: Lexington is full of talented, ambitious musicians. All artists and art lovers should promote the music and performance arts because we really have an opportunity to become a great music city.



John Crowell is a journalism senior and public relations director of WRFL. E-mail jcrowell@kykernel.com © Copyright 2008 KY Kernel - KY Kernel

This oddly-named crew connect the dots between The Pixies, Built to Spill, and Modest Mouse with their expansive, wiry-guitar-laced soundtrack. The sonics are watery and impulsive, flowing like a stream of consciousness and loaded with interesting textures and song shifts. While a mere two years old, the band is already hard at work on a second album. Kentucky's Indie Rock fertility appears to still be as fruitful as ever.
~MB - City Beat

Posted by Nick
Idaho, Alaska has been making waves down in Lexington, Kentucky for a few years now and after a number of Louisville performances, their presence is heating up here as well. “Manipulate and Multiply” (2009) will only fuel the fire. It’s a heavy-hitting barrage of tracks that keeps you on your toes the whole time. It’s rough enough to be punk and transitions in and out of mellow pop-rock and metal war cries. Just when you think you have them pegged, they go a different direction. That, for me, is what is most appealing about the album. They can go from each end of the spectrum while maintaining continuity. Sometimes, they even switch it up mid-track. It’s tough to do and they pull it off. Check out two tracks below for a sample of the two-headed monster. “Brand New” is a catchy little tune that would be perfect for the drive home from work with a cigarette, while “Drowning in Trust” is a track that would be a perfect theme song as you protected your house from invasion during the apocalypse. Your next chance to see them will be on October 8th at Transy in Lexington (with These United States). We’ll let you know next time they come up here.Grab a copy of the album at eugenerecords.com.http://backseatsandbar.com/2009/09/08/local-listen... - Backseat Sandbar (backseatsandbar.com)

Idaho, Alaska plays songs of their upcoming album live on WRFL 88.1. Hear the show in its entirety here:

http://wrfl-live.blogspot.com/2009/05/idaho-alaska.html - WRFL

"Idaho, Alaska is one of Lexington's most exciting local outfits, comprised of five members that hail from a variety of musical backgrounds. Like a mixture of Modest Mouse and Pavement with a dash of The Pixies, Idaho, Alaska cover all the bases. While their influences are apparent, the band's songs are heartfelt and fresh. This show is recommended for all who have been missing classic indie rock, the vein of Folk Implosion or any other band with soul power. Idaho, Alaska has got so much soul it's spilling over onto the floor." - The Dame/ Samantha Herald

regional flavor

Kissin’ With The Devil is the self-released debut album from Lexington indie-rockers Idaho, Alaska. And though Idaho, Alaska is far from becoming a household name, these guys rock out with the passion and skill of seasoned veterans.

Obvious influences on range from Pavement to early Modest Mouse, but Idaho, Alaska also exhibits a number of qualities that separate them from the greats. They definitely aren’t hesitant to experiment with different recording techniques, which really works to their advantage on the 10-minute jam “Mechanical Wave/What’s The Matter.”

There’s a stripped down, early ’90s feel to the recording, and lead singer Chris Soulis’ muffled vocals tend to compliment this well. He touches on several dark themes, including substance abuse and failed relationships, and you can sense his desperation on “Muscle Car.” However, the band has a strange, cathartic side, and by the end of Kissin’, the album is more about hope and progress than anything else. —Aaron Frank - Leo Weekly Blogspot

I first saw Idaho, Alaska around a year ago at Al’s Bar. I was a relatively new patron of the bar, I was thinking about moving into the neighborhood, and the music I was hearing from the stage reflected my love for the bar and the neighborhood. Raw, diverse, complex, it seemed familiar, but escaped easy definition. At first it seemed dangerous, but if you took the time to listen closely, you could sense a deeper soul. It definitely wasn’t the standard sanitized rock music that was being offered on any of Clear Channel’s corporate stations.

Flash forward a year later to the next time I would see them. I am now living in the MLK neighborhood. Al’s Bar is a fixture of the local scene and Idaho, Alaska is releasing their second studio CD Manipulate and Multiply after coming back from a tour. The second show, a raucous party at Al’s Bar celebrating the release of the new CD, was infused with the excitement of their finishing the summer tour and the music they played that night carried the same raw power and complex music of the first show.

Chris Soulis (Singer), Mike Matthews (Bass) and Mitch Snider (Guitarist) formed Idaho, Alaska in 2007, and the current incarnation includes Mike Grote on the drums. Chris writes most of the lyrics for the band with Mitch contributing his first two songs, “Define Your Terms” and “The Inverted Front End,” for this new release.

The songs for Manipulate and Multiply were developed and practiced over the last year. The band then recorded all 15 songs live in one day on May 15, 2009; it was mixed by Mark Borders the following three days at Nitrosonic studios (http://www.nitrosonic.com/). 11 of the songs are on the new CD and the other four will form the base of a following release in February. This is their second studio CD (Kissin With the Devil: 2007) and they also have a live recording (2008).

Manipulate and Multiply.

My first impression was that this is a sinister title for a CD. It brings to mind the paranoid scenarios of 1950s Cold War ‘B’ films in which alien creatures take over the collective body. After a first listen to the CD, I sensed it could refer to the more dehumanizing aspects of contemporary American culture in which artists are treated as commodities to be manipulated, sold and multiplied.

In direct opposition to this surface interpretation of the title, the CD’s music and lyrics challenge my cultural anxieties. On the one hand, it reminds me that manipulate refers to the shaping power of the craftsman and the artist; to take raw materials and shape them into something unique. On the other hand, any expressive work of imagination involves a desire to see it multiply through the world. Working with our hands we manipulate our world through the objects we shape, and working with our minds we manipulate our culture through the stories we shape.

Manipulate, like propaganda, often evokes a negative association from creative, independent people. However, if we reflect honestly, artists, as much as politicians, seek to manipulate their world and hope to multiply their vision of that world. This is the sense that I have developed through the music of Idaho, Alaska’s newest release. There is a portrayal of the material darkness of the collective soul, but underlying it is the hopeful exploration of how we can change it through creative exploration of that cultural landscape.

“In the Desert,” which opens the CD, evokes the madness of a culture in which a “life worth living [is] vanishing.” It evokes a landscape of “silent deserts” in which we are tilting at illusionary “windmills.” These illusions cause us to be deaf to the “lost cause” and “hopeless extremes” that are right in front of us if we would but hear them. Artists do not escape blame for this cultural wasteland because they are shown to be complicit in the emptiness of the desert: “And I cried through the night - all the horrors I had dreamed came to life/As though they were scripted, recited, performed on cue, predicted/And the crowd stood and cheered as my head was lost in an overwhelming fear/Of the desert swallowing my soul and sense of well being, wondering...” Professionally it can be suicidal to follow your own path, rather than perform to the cues of the entertainment industry; creatively though the only performance that counts, that really counts, is the one that is authentic to your vision.

In “Define Your Terms” we see the struggle these days is not simply the struggle against what we may find to be wrong with the world, but an even deeper existential problem of attempting to even begin to define one’s authentic vision. Throughout the CD we witness the struggle of developing an authentic vision: “It took me quite a while to realize I'm not right” (The Inverted Front End); “Maybe in a while we would understand the game/Of meanings” (Station Wagon); “There was volume and distraction only a nomad could see” (In the Desert); “evenings when you spent asking, "What went wrong?" (Brand New); “I can't tell shit from this education” (March, April, May); and “The noise from the fuzz is getting on my nerves/I'll try and ignore it through the meaninglessness of my words” (Projections Fail).

Throughout Manipulate and Multiply we are reminded that the process of producing maps, stories and histories is the best way we can face this existential problem. We are all responsible for the authenticate awareness of our lives and we all need to recognize our complicity in allowing mass-produced illusions to divert us from the reality of the world. There is despair in their assessment, but in their powerful live performances, and on Manipulate and Multiply, there is the insistence that through instinctual performance we can challenge this desert wasteland. Through our own potential as artists and thinkers we can wrestle with the silence of the cultural desert.

The rest of the CD explores familiar situations and landscapes that are slightly askew. How do we perform our lives in the midst of these passive spectacles of conformity?

Idaho, Alaska seeks to shock us out of our complacency with a sensory and intellectual bombardment, perhaps in an attempt to renew our appetite for the authentic. - Michael Dean Benton

The 52-second opening track of Idaho, Alaska’s Manipulate And Multiply — a grinding, lyric-less and feedback-driven arrangement — teases you into thinking that the Lexington-based foursome are following up their 2007 debut with a heavier, darker sound. On “In the Desert,” lead singer Chris Soulis croons a nightmarish sequence, before the antipathy underneath his low tone erupts into shrieks about when silence is the sound. But the band is not just appealing to the gloomy. A later track gleefully proclaims feelings of being brand new. Others, such as “Monterey,” are downright spry. Those contrasting feelings manifest themselves often in the form of slow, low-sung verses that precede bellowing choruses. The end result is a sound akin to that of Modest Mouse or The Eels, mixed with a temper sometimes absent among their indie brethren. - David A. Mann