The Meanwhiles - By Erin LaCour
keep it in the family

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Brothers Josh and Todd Allen's first full length, "The Nights Rewind," is a record for the melancholy, a pretty album full of layered sound and the occasional vocal harmony by Martha Wainwright. In this interview, the brothers talk about how they came to join forces and create The Meanwhiles.

Q. Tell me about "The Nights Rewind." How is it representative of and a departure from your previous recordings?
J. It's really a culmination of things we've been working toward for a while. This record took almost four years to make, partly because we began it just after we broke off with our drummer at the time. So the initial idea was to arrange the songs without drums or cymbals, to use different sounds... everything from strange electric pedal noises, to banging on furniture. That left room for a lot of interesting atmospheric layers, and a lot of experimentation. Then, after a certain point, the songs started to sound really full, to the point where we decided to go back at the end and put tracks of real drums over all of that.
Also, this is the first time we've worked with an outside producer that was a really good match for us. Alan Weatherhead did an amazing job mixing the record with us, refining the sounds, and playing some great pedal steel. He did a lot towards making the recordings into something solid... something you can lean on.

Q. You were both in other bands before joining forces in 96. What made you want to team up?
J. Well, this is a long time ago... my band was really into songs with kind of stacked arrangements, lots of layering of acoustic instruments... more harmony vocals than we normally do now... mainly a studio thing, for the most part. Each of us played a lot of instruments and we switched around a lot. I was just getting into louder electric guitars and effects when Todd joined started playing with me. His band was much more raw, and feel oriented.

Q. Do you think it's easier to keep it in the family?
J. I think everything's a little more intense with family, which is a really good thing for music. We're certainly not afraid to tell each other what we're thinking. And we usually have a pretty good idea of what the other's going to do. It makes the fights more interesting...

Q. How'd the two of you come up with your name?
J. It just sort of came out one day. I'm not really sure where it came from exactly...

Q. Tell me about your collaborations with Martha Wainwright.
J. I met Martha late one night when I came home to our old loft. She was there hanging out with Todd, and Reuben (Maher) and Aidan (Orbinsky), who both now play in our band. Within minutes we were singing harmony on old Boudleaux Brant songs. You know, "Love Hurts"... things like that. She's a great singer, and our voices blend really well. After that, we'd sing together every now and then at shows while we were recording The Nights Rewind. "Long Walk Home" just seemed perfect for her voice. I love the way that turned out. "Middle of Nowhere" as well... that's a little more subtle, she does the echo, sort of answer part in the second verse. She's a great songwriter too. Her album just came out...

Q. For the most part on your record, it's just the two of you, but live you play with a drummer and other musicians. How does this affect your sound?
J. Yeah, we have a five piece band now. It's the best we've ever sounded live. Reuben and Aidan who I mentioned before, and our drummer Ian Ljungquist. It's a big sound. Drums, bass, sometimes three guitars, sometimes two and a keyboard... lots of effects. We stay true to the record in some ways. We're definitely more expansive live. Songs tend to get longer, and louder... more dynamic. There's more space within some of the songs. We really enjoy improvising in a kind of hypnotic, atmospheric way... building things up and breaking them down again.

Q. Where do you most like playing?
J. So far, the West Coast has been really great, Seattle in particular. We did a Halloween show out there that was just incredible. One of those nights where everything just came together perfectly. The Sunset Tavern is probably our favorite venue there. Also, The Sugar Refinery in Vancouver, a cool little room with a piano and a bartender with a heavy hand with the Slivovich. In NY, our home has been Sin-E for a while now. We're doing an outdoor show for Rooftop Films in Brooklyn in June that we're looking forward to.

Q. Tell me about your upcoming plans - recordings, tours, etc.
J. We'll be touring through Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands in September, after our record is released in those countries. We'll also be recording our newer songs soon with the full band, and we'll be doing shows on the east and west coasts this summer.