Very early on this year I was pitched a song by Detroit group Turn To Crime and in just seconds I was sold on this Motor City outfit’s sound. The minimalist approach to production, the DIY mentality, the perfectly executed use of repetition, and the beautifully Pop-y hooks were more than enough to make us fans.
The group will be coming to Chicago to play a FREE show at The Empty Bottle on October 5th so we got band leader Derek Stanton on the phone to talk to us about all sorts of topics surrounding the band’s sound and their approach to being a band in today’s environment for music consumption. So hit the jump and read what we learned about this awesome band.
What are some of the highlights of your recent tours?
Our recent tour was really short and that went from NY and through to Canada before ending up in Detroit for a record release show. That was fun. NY and Detroit were fun; the other shows nobody really came but that was expected. It was still cool.
Before that we had an opportunity to tour with Modest Mouse, and that was fun too. Some of those highlights were playing in Ithaca, NY at this big kind of army armory at Cornell University. Every show of those were sold out and just about the entire audience was there by the time we went on and they seemed to like us. It was fun and reassuring to play in front of that many new people with positive reactions.
How did that supporting slot for Modest Mouse come about?
It was cool how we booked that gig. Our booking agent basically sent them a CD and they listened to it. They checked it out and liked it and were basically like “yeah let’s have them at some shows.” It was nice that we got in there because of our music.
What’s been the reception like for the album released this year?
It’s really hard to judge things. We got some good reviews and we got some bad reviews, like any other record, mostly good for this one and the last one. But it’s hard to tell because people don’t really buy music anymore. I don’t know what the reception was like; no one really bought the record or downloaded it, but we have hundreds of thousands of streams with great numbers on Soundcloud, Spotify, and Pandora. People are listening to it and they know the band exists, but it’s not translating into sales.
Monetarily it can be seen as a failure, but people are listening to it and we have great reviews and that’s a success to us. I don’t think I’ll be selling music anymore; I think I should just give away all of our records for free. Because I have such a great body of work, I’m thinking about releasing an official single with an “A-Side” and “B-Side” on my website for free every two weeks and you can just put in your email and you can get the music directly and for free.
We don’t know if we’ll be making money for paying half of our rent or making a career out of being in a band, but it’s all about the music.
How would you describe your writing process?
I really just try to experiment with sound and develop very small parts and just work around that. I try to work in guitar tunings that are not standard tunings and I try to work in instruments that I’m not great at like I am with the guitar. The guitar is my first instrument but I haven’t written a song on guitar in a very long time. I’ve been starting a lot with drums and rhythmic ideas first. I’ve been starting with piano or organ or keyboard, basically just doing things that are not natural to the way I used to write songs (sitting down with a guitar). Now I’m trying to work the opposite of what’s comfortable and easy; I’m trying to challenge myself.
Once the songs wrap I try to come up with weird tunings to create this odd and ever-changing sound that we have.
What is it that you enjoy about working on your music in your own studio and how does having a studio enhance your creativity?
I’m never opposed to anything. I would work in another studio with a producer and I get to write songs with my bandmates there. But it just kind of happens that because I have a studio, I have all day to work on material. It’s a really nice studio and I have all day free to go into the studio to work on songs. The last two Turn To Crime records were mixed by my friend and the reason why I’m into having someone else mixing my records is because I’m writing so much, it’s just nice to have someone that can sit down and complete that process while I get to work on the music.
I have three or four albums already done, and then I’m writing every day. So that brings me back to giving away music for free. I cover all the costs for releasing physical copies of new albums and it can be hard to pay that myself, so it’s making a lot more sense for me to just release the music for free so that I can stay on top of my workflow so that eventually I can get to the point where I can release music that was made that month or that week. On the other hand I would love to find a label that would support my music and put out the stuff that I do, but that’s a tough path that I don’t think I should pursue anymore.
When do you expect to get started on releasing new music?
I have two completed records. I probably won’t be sending them to record labels myself, but maybe have some people that I know send them out to see if there are any bites for maybe a month. And so depending on that response you can expect some music later on this year for free. Look out for it in November.
I have so many songs and I’ve been working so much that I just can’t keep it to myself anymore.
