Interview: Longwave

Longwave are a four piece indie rock outfit from New York. Their new album Secrets Are Sinister is out Nov 11; check out ‘Satellites’. Indiecision brings you an exclusive interview with frontman Steve Schiltz who talks about Secrets, John Leckie and moving on from a major record label.

1. Tell us about your new album Secrets Are Sinister. This is obviously the band in its new avatar, with a different sound. How different is it from your previous releases?
It is hard for me to say. I like it better than our previous records, but I have felt like that with each one. It is the most accurate representation of what we sound like now.

Take the jump for the full interview.

2. You were signed to RCA for your last album, but that deal broke down. Was It hard coming off a major label like that for Secrets?
It was only hard at first, when we realized that we were going to have to find new ways to pay to record and tour. Once we figured a few of those kinds of things out, it became much easier. We made this record completely by ourselves, and that was very satisfying.

3. It’s been a rough few years for Longwave and I notice that some of the songs on Secrets are very moody and introspective (‘Satellites’, etc). Did the ups and downs since There’s A Fire have something to do with that?
I don’t know. I had ‘Satellites’ for There’s A Fire. John Leckie liked the song but it was very late in the game when we brought it in. We had quite a few new songs to choose from for this record, and we just picked the 10 that seemed the strongest together.

4. Fire was recorded with John Leckie who’s a big, sort of ‘mainstream’ producer. On Secrets you’ve worked with Peter Katis who’s a more ‘indie’ producer. Do you think that’s affected the sound in any way?
John is a pretty weird dude! Much weirder than Peter! Just kidding. No I don’t think it was too different. Peter helped us get sounds and then came in for the overdubs and mixing. Neither one forced anything on us. I think the band just sounded like THAT then, and like THIS now. The fact that we had different band members, and the fact that we had more songs this time were probably bigger factors.

5. Top 5 songs on your iPod right now.
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds – ‘Straight To You’
My Morning Jacket – ‘Wordless Chorus’
Weezer – ‘Tired Of Sex’
Lykke Li – ‘Tonight’
Radiohead – ‘Bangers And Mash’