With their latest album, Kill the Moonlight, receiving critical acclaim and an ever-widening fan base, Texas rock outfit Spoon hit Detroit’s Magic Stick last Tuesday with fellow indie act Crooked Fingers.
Before the show, Spoon lead singer/guitarist Britt Daniel and drummer Jim Eno took a break before the show to speak with The Michigan Daily.
The Michigan Daily: Kill the Moonlight is less guitar-based than your previous albums. What went into the decision to go into that direction?
Britt Daniel: We didn’t really have a sit-down kind of decision-making process. A lot of the songs started out with more guitars, and then we changed them, molded them.
TMD: How do you guys look at it when you go into the studio? Do you have a plan mapped out when you start recording?
BD: We record at Jim’s house, so we know all about the equipment. But we don’t start recording until we have an idea of where we want songs to go. And that’s not to say that we don’t change things up or decide that we’re going to scratch that one and completely record another song over it. But usually we’ll have thought it out and worked on it quite a bit before we go to work.
Jim Eno: We do have the flexibility to try more things.
TMD: There’s been a big garage rock explosion over the last few years and more focus on rock in general. Do you think that has helped you out at all?
BD: There a lot of good things that have come from it. The overall scope – where the center is – of music is a lot better now than it was four years ago. Some of these bands I love; some I’m not too crazy about. But at least we’re not talking about Limp Bizkit and Korn anymore.
JE: And it’s great to hear those bands on the radio, too. We’re not on the radio, but it’s great to hear them.
TMD: Where do you guys come from when you write? On Kill the Moonlight I picked up a classic rock vibe a little bit.
BD: We’re into a lot of classic rock, a lot of punk rock, folk-rock.
TMD: I’ve heard you guys often compared to two acts in particular: Pavement and Elvis Costello. Is there any secret influence that no one has picked up on yet?
BD: I don’t know … CCR?
TMD: You were recently featured in Rolling Stone. Do you think that was because there was something about that last album that really caught on with people, or was it just a matter of time?
BD: I think it was a matter of time. I think all the records are pretty good.
JE: It’s also been pretty gradual, too. We’ve been touring our asses off on every record. We have been seeing more and more people come to the shows. How many people were here last time we played?
BD: There were like 15 people. We didn’t play Detroit for a while because of that. We have a new guy we’re working with who said, “Play Detroit again.” And then we sold 260 tickets in advance, so we’re happy.
Visit www.michigandaily.com for a full transcript of this interview.
– Daily Arts Writers Andrew Gaerig and Scott Serilla contributed to this article.