Martsch’s Indie Rock Is Built To Last
By Curtis Ross, Tampa Tribune, Fla.
Feb. 28–Built to Spill was at the forefront of guitar-driven alternative rock when leader Doug Martsch took the band offline following its 2001 album, “Ancient Melodies of the Future.”
Martsch, the Boise, Idaho-based band’s sole constant member, was losing his appetite for the very music his band championed.
“I was getting tired of indie rock and Built to Spill seemed like the epitome of indie rock,” Martsch says by telephone from his home in Boise.
Instead, Martsch began looking for the mystery.
He started getting into “reggae music and soul music …what beautiful sounds.”
“It’s the mystery of not really knowing who those people are,” Martsch says. “I grew up with alternative rock. When I was a teen, that stuff was mysterious.
“You learn about life through music,” Martsch continues. “You get to be 30 and Modest Mouse just doesn’t have that much mystery. It’s not informing you about anything. That’s more important in music than I thought it was.”
The fascination with music outside the indie spectrum began when Martsch developed an infatuation with the blues. He recorded his solo album, “Now You Know,” in 1999 and 2000, but released it in 2002. In contrast to Built to Spill’s soaring guitar epics, the disc was stripped down and steeped in the blues.
“The solo record was me learning how to play slide guitar, making up exercises,” Martsch says. “I became obsessed with the blues, particularly one person playing acoustically, mostly Fred MacDowell Martsch recorded MacDowell’s “Jesus” for “Now You Know”, Blind Willie Johnson, Skip James, things like that.”
Taking a break from Built to Spill was essential, Martsch says, but he never considered it the end of the group.
“I was burned out on Built to Spill but I wasn’t through with it,” Martsch says.
The evidence of that is on “You in Reverse,” released in 2006. There aren’t any radical changes — opening track “Goin’ Against Your Mind,” nearly nine-minutes long, is a defiant statement of the band’s purpose — but there’s a palpable sense of energy running through the disc. It’s the sound of a band glad to be making music together.
While Martsch has called the shots for the group since its inception in 1992, the rest of the current lineup — Brett Netson and Jim Roth on guitars, Brett Nelson on bass and Scott Plouf on drums — is inspiring him to loosen the reins.
“Brett Netson is the best guitarist there is, and Jim’s no slouch,” Martsch says. “We have this untapped potential. It’s complex and hard to figure out how to do it, to incorporate jamming in a manner that’s not too ethereal, and to keep it within our pop-rock sensibilities. That’s our plan, anyway. We’re a couple of records away.
“We’re interested in exploring,” Martsch says. “It’s something we have the ability to do. Everyone in the band is pretty good at it.”
Martsch formed Built to Spill after departing Treepeople, a Boise-based band that relocated to Seattle in the late ’80s.
After an iffy debut with 1993′s “Ultimate Alternative Wavers,” the group hit its stride with 1994′s “There’s Nothing Wrong With Love.” They signed with current label Warner Bros. for 1997′s “Perfect From Now On,” following with 1999′s “Keep it Like a Secret” and 2000′s “Live” before “Ancient Melodies” and “You in Reverse.”
ON TOUR
Built to Spill
WITH: Meat Puppets and Helvetia
WHEN: 8 p.m. Thursday
WHERE: State Theatre, 687 Central Ave., St. Petersburg; (727) 895-3045
COST: $19
Curtis Ross can be reached at (813) 259-7568 or cross@tampatrib.com.
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Copyright (c) 2008, Tampa Tribune, Fla.
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