Interview: Alphabet

By Chris Karr in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 3, 2006 5:55PM

In order to get you all pumped up for the upcoming Ctrl-Alt-Rock concert, we've been going around chatting with the stars of the show. Last week, we chatted with Travis Chandler - one of the fellows behind the band Alphabet:

Chicagoist: Can you explain the name of your band - Alphabet?

Travis Chandler: Our favorite thing to do musically is to express somewhat complicated ideas in simple ways.

Chicagoist: What are the things that you want listeners to take away from your music?

Travis: Nothing they can't give back. We're selfish that way. Ok, if they have to take something, they can have some of my beer. If you take anything from the music, it's liable to fall over, because there's very little in it that doesn't need to be there.

(More after the jump.)

Chicagoist: What lead you to adopt the style you've chosen?

Travis: Inexperience with any other. Just kidding. Actually, not really, I guess I'm serious... I can't imagine playing in any other "style", although i think our style is actually several styles. And now I'm confused. I think the style we play in was the inevitable conclusion of everything that has ever happened to each one of us. How's that for convoluted? Let me try again:

We like Jon Brion, David Bowie, Komeda, Tom Waits, Interpol, Aimee Mann, Os Mutantes and the Pixies, but those styles were already taken.

Chicagoist: What's the deal with Hoboken, New Jersey?

Travis: I've never been, actually. In the song, nobody's there. It's a twilight-zone episode in song form. I think it was important to me that it take place somewhere that I've never been. It could have been Nantucket. Fun things rhyme with Nantucket.

Chicagoist: Can you describe the typical process of going from an idea for a song to a performance?

Travis: Well, first off, if I try to write a song from an idea, it's usually a disaster. I end up forcing the song to do tricks it doesn't want to do. They only survive the process when I let them grow and change as the band plays it. Then, once the song has survived its tumultuous childhood, I can hone it in a little more towards what I want it to be. Even then, though, you can screw it up by trying to make it something other than what it naturally wants to be. That sounds a bit organic, but i assure you we are not hippies, or even particularly eco-friendly.

Chicagoist: What aspect of performing in Chicago do you like the best?

Travis: To me, Chicago's blessing and curse is the thriving indie culture here. It's great in that ideas that are less mainstream can really flourish. It's bad in that some of those ideas actually suck and should be stopped.

Chicagoist: What things could the Windy City work on, music-wise?

Travis: Harmony.

Again, Alphabet will be performing at Ctrl-Alt-Rock on Feb. 16 at Schubas. For more information about the concert, check out our Ctrl-Alt-Rock archives.