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A Fine Day For Spooning

Just landed in the UK for their opening show in support of 7th release Transference are Spoon, hard-working Texan rock'n'rollers. Q caught up with founding member Jim Eno to talk mortgages, Hummers and fish fingers...

Q: So Jim, how's your Valentines Day been?
Jim Eno: [Chuckles] It's good, we arrived from the States yesterday so I spent most of it sleeping. But I've sent a couple of Valentines e-mails to some lucky ladies - my daughter, my girlfriend, you know how it is.

Q: Are you getting the romcoms out on the tour bus?
JE: [Laughs] Well, it's day one so we'll see what happens after the show, pull out some DVDs. I like that "romcom" is known over here. Good term.

Q: This [King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow] is a small venue, you played an outdoor parking lot recently in Austin, your New York show will be in Radio City Music Hall... Where does Spoon work best?

JE: We love playing small clubs because you get energy seeing the faces in the crowd. Big venues and festivals are like [searching] colours, you don't get that sort of energy without the walls. But the outside parking lot gig was pretty cool. People were up on the parking garage looking down on us, outside the fence, all over the place.

Q: Was it a free for all?
JE: Yeah, there were about 2,000 fans. Sort of like The Beatles thing (at Abbey Road). [Pauses] Except a lot smaller. And yeah, we're not The Beatles.

Q: Seven releases in how do you choose a set list?
JE: A lot of bands do the same songs every night. It's no fun with everything planned and it's a drag for people going to multiple shows. So we do a different setlist each gig and fans call out for songs. If we know it we'll try to throw it in...

Q: If you know it? Have you forgotten some of your songs?
JE: With seven albums we forget how to play everything. We work up old favourites like I Summon You, You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb. Then do as much as we can of the new record.

Q: How's the rawer sound of Transference working outside the studio?
JE: Well, usually we record a lot in the studio and learn it once the album comes out. But this time, tracks like Written In Reverse were actually worked up on the road. Recording wasn't working so we booked a tour, played new songs, ended in New York and got about four tracks done - pretty stellar for us.

Q: It's just reached Number 4 on the US Billboard Chart, congratulations.
JE: Thanks, I'm very excited about that.

Q: Do you feel that was a long time coming or is it just pure elation regardless?
JE: It's all about small milestones with us. Our career has been a gradual build. We haven't had a hit in the States, we definitely haven't had anything happen over here. So reaching Number 4, playing Radio City Music Hall is really awesome. But yeah, it's small bursts of elation as opposed to, We've finally made it! I'm still paying my mortgage, trying to make ends meet.

Q: Critics adore you, commercially it doesn't match up. Why?
JE: We're too old and not good looking enough.

Q: Not Kings Of Leon...
JE: There you go. My pants aren't tight enough. [Smiles] We're working on that.

Q: Most bands move from an indie to a major. Not Spoon...
JE: Yeah, we went from an indie to a major to an indie.

Q: Art over money?
JE: Exactly. The fact that we can finish a record and make it how we want it to sound is amazing. I produce other bands and some of the things I have to deal with are insane - labels wanting to change songs, orders, drop stuff. Having someone from a label do that is pretty insulting. [Voices to imaginary label rep] You don't have a band. This is our band. When you have a band you can dictate! We never have to deal with that stuff now.

Q: When you left the major you went home, got temp jobs. It all sounds a bit Anvil...
JE: Yeah totally. And there are many bands like that. We're just lucky enough to have people start noticing us. It's rewarding to get paid to do your art.

Q: So, as far as use of your music in the wider media goes [Starbucks Pick Of The Week, spots on Veronica Mars, Bones, Scrubs, The OC and film soundtracks] where does the line get drawn?
JE: We've turned down licensing things like Hummer ads. Britt [Daniel, frontman] put it well: anytime you see someone driving a Hummer you think, That person doesn't give a shit about anything. [Shrugs] Why would we wanna support that? But it pays the bills and if it gives us another month of writing without having to do shows we weigh that.

Q: Are you influenced by other music or is there now a Spoon sound?
JE: There's a Spoon sound. It's dry, tight and sparse. You don't set out trying to get a sound. But now when you hear something you think, Yeah that's a Spoon song. It's about Britt. He's a great writer and still floors me on every record.

Q: New bands are influenced by your sound. How about your album titles? Perhaps one Lady's been listening to her copy of Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga too much...
JE: Ha, yeah. We're ballsier cos we got five of them. She's only got two.

Q: She needs to grow some balls?
JE: Absolutely. But I think she has some already, doesn't she?

Q: Ask your friends at Saturday Night Live. How was appearing on the show?
JE: We did a promo with Andy Samberg and Seth Rogen. Chevy Chase was watching us soundcheck. He walks up to us. We're like, Holy shit that's Chevy Chase. And he goes, That sounds alright but you're playing it in the wrong key. Pretty crazy!

Q: You and Britt have been on the road for over a decade. Does humour help?
JE: We've been touring since 1995. We keep pushing each other's boundaries, that's the fun of it. [Jokes] Actually, we have two buses. One for him and one for the rest of us.

Q: He apparently tries to name each album Fish Fingers. Explain.
JE: I don't know. He comes up with some strange titles. Fish Fingers was one he was pushing. I can't have a record called Fish Fingers. Titles are about what feeling it invokes, what it looks like...

Q: Britt's produced for [support act] White Rabbits and Interpol. Now you're producing. Is there more of that coming?
JE: I get a lot of enjoyment being in the studio and helping young bands like Black Joe Lewis and Via Audio. The problem is they never have any money. [Shrugs] It's alright. Some day maybe I'll make something. Some wanna work with me again so I must be doing my job. They like working with me. That, or maybe I'm really cheap [Laughs].

Q: And the mortgage...?
JE: [Laughs] Well, exactly!

Spoon are playing Manchester, London, Amsterdam and Germany with White Rabbits, before heading to the US and Australia.

Words: Eve Barlow (Eve's personal music blog can be found here

12:05 PM | 16/02/2010