Interrogating Spanish Prisoners

Over the last few weeks, QBiM has been held captive by Songs To Forget by Spanish Prisoners. Leo Maymind, the brains behind Spanish Prisoners recently agreed to partake in some third degree grilling as he and his band gear up for the album's release with a series of dates in and around their home base of NYC before taking the show on the road.

QBiM: When's the album released?

SP: Songs to Forget is coming out early April on Exit Stencil Recordings. It'll be available on CD, vinyl with a hand-screened sleeve with free digital download, and also with a limited edition silk-screened poster that also comes with download. And of course, it'll be available purely digitally.

QBiM: What was the musical evolution you went through to end up becoming Spanish Prisoners?

SP: I'd like to say I have an interesting musical history, but I don't think that is the case. I played alto saxophone (poorly) all throughout middle and high schools. When I was 17, my twin brother and I bought an electric guitar together, and since it ended up residing in my room most of the time, I resolved that I would learn how to play it. It seemed like the most impossible thing at the start; I didn't think my fingers could do most of the things they were supposed to do, but I stuck with it and practiced a lot. Eventually, I just began learning songs and putting chords together. Then in college, the idea that I could actually be a songwriter sort of solidified, I started recording myself, singing more, picked up the banjo, harmonica, piano, bass, some synth programming, and it went from there. I was always really interested in music, writing, and poetry, so the whole progression happened quite naturally. By the middle of college, I was pretty much just going through the motions, waiting to be done, which was unfortunate because I was a pre-med student and was taking killer classes. Suffice to say, I'm not in med school now. Spanish Prisoners was just the name I finally chose for my music because I never really wanted to use my own name.

QBiM: You've just recently moved to NYC. How has the scene there influenced your music?

SP: I don't think I'm too influenced by the New York scene because I haven't lived here that long. I recorded the album in Columbus, Ohio, where I used to live. I've always really liked a lot of New York bands and felt my music had more of a place here than in Columbus. I'm less influenced by what is going on immediately around me (both in location and time) because I'm always slightly wary of things that everyone immediately likes. I enjoy discovering things on my own, letting them seep in naturally.



QBiM: I have to ask this. Which do you prefer: Wings or Beatles?

SP: Definitely Beatles. I've barely heard any Wings. The Beatles were my first favorite band.


QBiM: Coffee or tea?

SP: I'm a big fan of both coffee and tea, which is one reason I enjoy winter so much. It's hard to have a good cup of tea when it's 90 degrees outside. There are a few cafes in Park Slope that I go to all the time. As for flavors of tea, I'm all about Ginger Peach.

QBiM: Cats or dogs?

SP: Da puppies!

QBiM: Another one! I wonder why so many musicians are dog people? I have two cats, myself. They seem so much easier to care for, especially if you're a traveling musician. Anyway, let's move on from the 20 questions stuff for a bit and talk about the business of music for a bit. You've experimented with self-releasing prior to signing with Exit Stencil. Is the conventional record company still the way to go for aspiring musicians or should they just take matters into their own hands?



SP: I think there's certainly a place for conventional record companies, though I'm not totally sure what we're calling 'conventional.' I think there will always be a group of people that enjoy having the physical product. I think the record companies that succeed are the ones that have brand recognition.

QBiM: That's interesting that you mention brand recognition. Lately, it does appear that labels like Arts & Crafts are going back to the aesthetic that Tony Wilson created for Factory Records. You can look at the cover and instantly know that that label has released it and have a pretty good idea of what the songs are going to sound like.

SP: Yeah, these labels have dedicated fans, and are thinking forwardly about how to work in the digital realm, giving people extras and bonuses and treats.



QBiM: Speaking of treats, what item from your childhood do you still wish you had today?

SP: My idealism. I was very idealistic as a kid, though I think a part of that carries through to who I am today because I think I'm a positive person, though I don't know how much that
comes across in the music. Honestly, I still have a lot of my childhood toys in the basement of my parents' house, so there's nothing I really wish I still had. I didn't have a lot as a kid growing up anyway and we moved around a lot.



QBiM: Listening to the record, it sounds like you had a lot if fun in the studio. Do you prefer recording in the studio to playing live?

SP: I don't really have a preference. They are two totally different worlds that are both really fun. The only thing is I wish I had more control over the sound at our live shows.



QBiM: Any big shows coming up in the next little while?

SP: We're opening and backing up Daniel Johnston in a few weeks, which I'm pretty excited about.

QBiM: I found it kind of hard to describe your music to a friend of mine recently, and I cam up
with the notion of "psychedelic pop" but even then, I don't feel like I did the music justice. Have you consciously stayed away from being pegged into a particular genre?

SP: Genres exist as a way to catalog and explain music, more for people who are trying to sell music than for people who are making it. Certainly the lines between genres are blurred, which I think is a natural progression as more and more music is being made. I certainly made no effort to have Spanish Prisoners fall into a certain genre, though it's often called 'indie pop.' We've gotten compared to a huge range of bands, which I always find amusing. I think some of the best music comes from disregarding any lines of genre and following your creativity fully.

QBiM: There seems to be so much creativity out there these days it's hard to keep it all straight. Writing this blog, I'm sometimes amazed at how short my attention span has become with new music. I literally forget about albums that I loved just a few days ago.

SP: I wonder if we'll ever get to the point where new music is just being made and immediately forgotten about. We're already approaching that point as I think there's an over-saturation of new albums coming out and attention spans are becoming shorter and shorter.

QBiM: That's got to be a huge struggle for artists trying to keep interest up for their music. That's probably why things seem to be coming back full circle where singles are an event and released more frequently
, while albums are serving as compilations and stop-gap work. We're back
 to a late fifties, early sixties model.


SP: I think there's certainly a resurrection of interest in the single, but I think albums are still certainly as a greater achievement and a more complete work of art. I'm an album person- I don't think I've ever even put an album on shuffle. I like hearing it from beginning to end. To me, it'd be like jumping around in a book.

QBiM: I used to love using the shuffle feature in iTunes, but I have gotten away from it because I tended to focus on the singles only, and missed out on the album experience. What I love about digital music is how easily I can access music in my library. When you sit and listen to an album and it instantly reminds you of some other album you haven't heard in awhile, you can quickly go to it and enjoy it again. Speaking of innovations in technology, in your opinion, what's the greatest invention of all time?

SP: The printing press. It was the first thing that broke down the barrier between the rich and the poor because it allowed knowledge to be disseminated.

Well, even though blogging is far from more traditional printing methods, we're happy to help keep the fine art of information dissemination alive:

You can check out samples from Songs To Forget at Spanish Prisoners' Myspace page now, and look for the album from Exit Stencil on April 8th (pre-orders are being taken now).

For those in the NYC area, the band are will be opening and backing up Daniel Johnston at Manhattahn's Highline Ballroom this Thursday, February 21st. If you go, tell them you heard about it on QBiM.

Spanish Prisoners "Some Among Them Are Killers"
[Songs To Forget, 2008, Exit Stencil]

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