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I caught up with Joseph D'Agostino the youngest, and most feisty member of the band to chat about their new record and what the band has planned for the rest of the year.

Check out the sneak peek track from the bands new record and head over to their site for more info.

If you dig; Modest Mouse, Plant and Animals, Mendosa Line, Chin up Chin up, Blur or NYC's Grizzly Bear, The Epochs and Vampire Weekend, you should check these lads out!


Cymbals Eat Guitars Interview:

• Bloggertronix - How Long have the band been together?
  

Joseph D'Agostino -  Matt (drummer) and I have been playing together in bands since the tenth grade, which isn't as long as it seems-- about four years.  It was mostly Blue and Pinkerton covers.  Nothing of any great consequence happened between us, as collaborators at least, until our senior year.  At that point, I began listening to decent music and wrote a handful of okay songs, which ended up being recorded and released as a miniature LP (I used that term because the total run time was just under thirty minutes, but it was pretty well thought out for high school students.  We're talking bookend two-part title track, shortwave radio interludes, a wide variety of synth horns...ha) under the moniker 'Joseph Ferocious'.  We thought it was pretty good and so did Jim Testa, but nothing came of it, thankfully. 

After Matt and I both began college in separate states, I decided to get off my ass and wrangle together some people to realize some new material I'd been working on, after Charles Bissell, whom I'd been studying guitar under, had agreed to record my stuff.  As luck would have it, the first three people I messaged were willing to get together and jam.  None of them attempted to mangle me or ask for a salary, so I figure that's pretty good compared to a lot of the Craigslist experiences that'd been related to me... though I'm pretty sure that Dan, the keyboardist, is just taking his time planning out a very public mangling for me.  Updates to come.  Anyway, all in all in its current iteration, our band has been together a total of about four months.  Feels weird to say that out loud.
 

• B - Where did you all meet?

J - I figure my answer for the first question covers this one as well, but for the sake of completion;  Matt drummer and I met in high school, Matt guitar and Daniel were CraigsList gems, and Neil was the friend of a friend who had attended one of our shows in December at Arlene's and liked what he'd heard... enough, at least, that after we'd ousted our bassist, he was willing to step in and take over.
 

• B - You all vary in age, does this cause any problems within the band?

J - Basically, there's this huge rift in the band.  Whenever we practice or get together, Neil and Matt (32 and 33) sit in one corner of the room and discuss how cool it is to be able to drink legally and what it feels like to have a stock broker.  Matt drummer and I (20 and 19) sit in the opposite corner, kind of just welling over with contempt for "the Men", as we've dubbed them, and our fists clench with rage every time they self-consciously mention their portfolios, just loud enough for us to hear.  Sometimes they'll glance at us really quickly and then snicker mutedly.  It's fucking maddening.  Daniel just sits in the middle of the room since he's 24, which means it'd be totally weird if he were to intermingle with either of the other age groupings.  It all makes for a really interesting collaborative process though....

Nah, I'm totally kidding, we're all friends.  Our ages mean nothing at all.

• B - Where are you recording your Full length?

J - We'll be recording our L.P. wherever our producer Kyle "Slick" Johnson says we should.  Ideally someplace with a tape machine and proper isolation for five very, very loud players.  The overdubs will probably be done in Kyle's studio in Greenpoint.

• B - What's it called?

J - It's called 'Why There Are Mountains'?
 

• B - Is there a theme or a tone to this record?

J - There isn't a theme, really.  The songs that make up the record have been culled from a pool of material written over the course of three years.  I think if there's any unifying motif or whatever, it's the struggle to begin living again in the aftermath of catastrophic loss.  There's a vague kind of numinous quality to some of the earlier lyrics... I don't know.  Every song is like a separate window into a series of very specific experiences or perceptions, though I guess that's what every good song is.  Take "My Humps" for instance.  It's nearly impossible for me to give some objective perspective for someone who isn't me.  I guess you'll see, if you listen.  

• B - Who is it being produced by?

J - Kyle "Slick" Johnson, who engineered the most recent Modest Mouse and Hives records.  We're so lucky!
 

• B - Where is the band based?

J - We're based in New York City.  We've got two members in Queens, one in Brooklyn, one in Manhattan, and one in Staten Island.  We're looking for a flautist from South Bronx, write us if you know one.
 
You're relatively new to the New York Club circuit, what can people expect from a CEG show?!
I think we're an incredible live band, though I guess I'd have to in order to live with myself.  I think the live experience probably eclipses the visceral energy of the recordings, though that's probably a result of the piecemeal layering process we went through.  All that matters, however, is that LP #1 will be built upon live performances rather than separate tracking. 
 

• B - Who wrote the lyrics for the songs and what do they use as inspiration?

J - I write all the lyrics.  I've been told that I should be brief in responding to these questions, which I guess I've flagrantly disregarded up until this point... but I'm gonna comply now, because I'm getting lazy.  Suffice to say I like my John Ashbery and my David Berman, and wooded areas and lakes and the houses built near them and shit.  The place I grew up informs a lot of the material, indirectly.  Listen to the songs so that maybe I sound like less of a jackass.  You'll see what I mean, probably.
 

• B - When can we expect a full length?

J - Before the summer is out.
 

• B - What are the bands plans for the rest of the year?

We plan to make a brilliant record, release it through a reputable label, tour on it, and shortly thereafter build sex mansions-- sex mansions of course being huge, huge boning nests that exist only because the fucking done inside is much too filthy and raunchy for our regular mansions.


If Your in New York this weekend check out Cymbals Eat Guitars at  Pianos!! -