Joey Ryan & The Inks are preparing to release their debut album Well, Here We Are Then this Friday, December 18th at the Triple Rock Social Club. They’ve only been playing as a band for a little over a year-and-a-half, yet their catchy throwback sound and fun stage presence already sets them apart from much of the Twin Cities music scene. Go see them live already and pick up their record too, as I am certain you will undoubtedly enjoy this band.

Mike: You guys are pretty much a new band on the scene. You’ve only been playing for about 18 months now, so tell me a little bit about the band’s origins and how you all met?

Chris: Matt and I are brothers. (band laughs)

Matt: We’ve known each other for quite a while. (more laughs) Other than that, Joey and I played in a band together called The Exchange that ended about two years ago. And Joey and Paul were in a band together…

Paul: We were in a band called The School Shootings for like two years (background laughter), and you can tell by the name it didn’t really work out. (continued laughs) We went to elementary school together as well.

Joey: That is the truth, Paul and I went to elementary school together, and Matt and I played in a band together. And then, like Matt was saying, The Exchange came to an end, and I started playing some solo shows for a while. Got bored with seeing myself on stage, and had talked to Ryan Mach—actually, well, talked to everybody kind of at the same time—because Matt and I were looking to play with some other people and start recording some other songs more geared towards the full-band realm of things. We got some other guys involved, and then Mach’s back-story goes…

Ryan: I was playing in a band [The Alarmists] for a long time and met The Exchange guys through several shows with them. They happened to be some of the sweetest guys on the block, and when I wasn’t playing in that [former] band anymore, I got an E-mail from Joey. I got some songs from Joey and I heard awesome things, had a lot of ideas. I saw way into the future and thought they were amazing. I wish that would have panned-out… (joking, band laughs and banters)

Chris: Well, here we are then… it’s in the title of our album. (band continues to laugh)

Mike: So what was the inspiration for album title then? Was it just everything coming together like that?

Joey: I coach basketball up at Forest Lake, and the head coach there always says, “Well, here we are then.” And it’s just notorious for us making fun of him for it. It was kind of stuck in my head, and I think in our situation, where we were all involved in past projects and all found each other gravitating towards this new thing… (laughs) Anyway, we just found ourselves playing new songs and liking what was happening and not thinking too much about it… and well, here we are then.

Ryan: I think that’s the biggest thing, I don’t think there was really any scheme. It all just kind of came together and a lot of the past projects we were in didn’t really end in the best of ways in every case. (laughs) So when we all found ourselves in this one, it just seemed pretty easy.

Chris: That’s funny, I think it might have a different meaning for all of us. For me, the first time that I played with Joey we came together like a week before the CD release of a band that Matt and I were in called Consolation Champ.

Joey: We were called “Patrick Ewing and The Verticals”.

Chris: We were… (background laughter) From there, I didn’t see it going to this place, but that’s exactly what happened.

Joey: This really, for the majority of these questions, there really wasn’t a whole lot of thinking involved in the whole process. (band laughs) It just kind of happened, and I think we’re pretty happy with it.

Matt: If one person throws something out and has a little bit of a push behind it and nobody else feels differently, we just go with it. And that’s I think how the album got named… Joey said, “How about, Well, Here We Are Then“? He gave his reason, and then everyone else said, “Sure, sounds good to me!” (band laughs)

Paul (joking): Saves us from having to come up with our own title. (more laughs)

Ryan: Although the rejected titles we did have…

Paul: “Jobbed at the Tanveer!” (band breaks out in laughter)

Joey (joking): And we can always change it.

Paul (joking): Maybe on the reissue?

Ryan (joking): Well if we have a decent-sized roll of masking tape we could just go over every album and just Sharpie it on there. (more laughter)

Mike: Tell me a little bit about the songwriting process. I mean, would you say it’s quite similar to where everybody just sort of goes with it, or do you go back and forth about things?

Paul: For this record especially, Joey had most of the songs written start-to-finish. There were a couple sections that people wrote, but usually it would come when we were in the room arranging. People would say, “At the ending, maybe we do this?” or “Why don’t we start a song like this?” A lot of the band stuff was arranging existing tunes into a fashion that we could all get behind.

Ryan: How long have some of these songs been around, in your book?

Joey: They’ve been around for quite a while, but I think part of the thing I was most excited about was I had these songs that were almost the point of getting stale. And then I got four new fresh perspectives on it, they all brought their own taste into it, and the songs ended up being way better than they were in the first place. So that was the main enjoyment for me.

Matt: Three fresh perspectives and one… (laughter breaks out)

Paul (joking and relating to Matt having already been in a band with Joey): In case you’re wondering, Matt is old. (more laughs)

Joey: We just bust his chops.

Matt: The songwriting process was basically, Joey built the house and we decorated it. (band laughs) We play our parts on the record, but Joey had the ideas for most of the songs on there.

Joey (joking): That’s why it’s pretty average across the board. (band laughter)

Mike: So I’ve seen you guys play eight times by now over the course of the year, and I’ve seen you play some really good shows. And you tend to have a lot of themes to some of your shows. Like on St. Patrick’s Day, you were all wearing top hats and green sort of “St. Patrick” outfits. You had a beach party show with Yer Cronies. And I remember right before Halloween, there was the show at Mario’s Keller Bar… Joey, you were wearing the Santa outfit, Ryan, you were the Double Dare contestant. I’m like, where do you guys come up with these awesome ideas for doing these themes? Cause these themes, I think they make your shows really fun and they sort of take it to a whole ‘nother level but they go well with the music. Tell me a little bit about bringing these themes into your shows and what they mean to you.

Ryan: I think a lot of it is we really don’t want to take ourselves very seriously. That’s the key to, I think, the way we get along and the way that we keep having fun doing this. But a lot of it was maybe originating with the “Crony Christmas” [December 2008], and just realizing that—especially if you get all of the bands on the bill going along with it—you can really make it fun for everyone in the crowd to let loose.

Paul: It should be said that most of these shows had an existing theme lying in wait… (band banters)

Matt (joking): And the only reason we’re admitting to it is because you have photographic evidence. (band laughter)

Joey (joking): I think it’s all part of our grand scheme to take the focus off of our music and just make us look really cool. (more laughs)

Chris: I think that—like you said in your question—it can take things to another level and make it more fun for the audience. I think the festivity is fun.

Paul (sarcastic): Cause frankly local shows get pretty boring most of the time if someone’s not spicing it up. (band laughs)

Chris: It makes each show unique too, or it can make it a unique experience for the people that are coming out.

Ryan (sarcastic): Well think about how Matt, how is he gonna remember… (band breaks out in laughter) At his age how is he gonna remember these shows? Unless he remembers the one where he was wearing the beer mug on his head?

Matt: Yeah, it’s the funny hat show! Oh yeah!

Joey: And it helped that I had a family heirloom of a Santa suit lying around too, which if it’s okay with you guys I might bring that out for the release show.

Chris: Sure. Yeah, we had a family heirloom of a Double Dare contestant suit, so that helped also. (more laughs)

Mike: Tell me a little bit about the influence of the Minneapolis music scene… the music that you hear, bands you know, friends you have… and Paul, I know that you are also working with a few other members of another band called New Century Masters who are playing at your CD release show, so if you could tell me about that as well that’d be good.

Paul (joking at first): Um, I don’t know if I can comment on that actually. There’s some legal things that prevent me from… (band breaks out in laughter) I dunno, you should come to the show and check it out I guess.

Ryan: One of us has to be a man of mystery.

Mike: Well, then tell me a bit about the local music scene and how that has influenced you guys, bands that you know and whatnot.

Joey: From the fact that we’ve all played in different bands in the past and have been involved in a bunch of different things, we all have a pretty broad scope of friends that play in other bands, and we like to get out to see other shows. We have a lot of pretty close friends in some other bands, a lot of which are playing at our release show. Yer Cronies; we’ve become pretty close with them and really enjoy playing with those guys. Patrick from Big Lake; we’ve played with Victory Ship quite a few times and like those guys a lot. If you get in with the right people, it’s fun to have shows that you’re playing with bands you enjoy to watch, and you enjoy their company as well. It just makes the whole thing way better.

Chris: I think it helps that there are bands that are pushing you to be your best or to keep things sharp. Like when we play shows with some the bands Joey mentioned, we’ll watch them from the audience. And a lot of times I’ll be in awe and get ideas from them. But mostly we just want to live up to that standard or play up to that standard. So I think that’s how it influences me the most.

Ryan: I think another point is that we’ve all been doing this for a long time, and we’ve definitely met a lot of great people over the years. [It's great] just knowing that there are people that inspire you and they’re also your friends. They’re the people you see walking down the street or you’re watching football with on Sunday. It’s just pretty cool to just wrap it all up in one, definitely makes it a lot more fun.

Matt: It’s something to be said about the scene in general, and I know people talk about it a lot, but personally I think a lot of us have a lot of friends who don’t live around here anymore; who maybe we played in bands with or grew up around here. [They'll] always say, like no matter where they live—big cities/small towns—”There just isn’t that big of a local music scene [elsewhere].” I think it’s cool that we have… all sorts of genres, all sorts of things going on. Just the fact that there are all the clubs and places where you can go see live music seven nights a week, it’s pretty cool.

Paul: It’s nice that there’s so many outlets for people to be creative, and that you can actually be go, and be entertained, and be surprised on whatever night you choose to go out. It’s nice to have that option.

Mike: So, name a show recently that has impressed each of you guys.

Ryan: Teenage Moods, 331 Club.

Chris: …November 13th.

Ryan: Wow! He’s sharp. November 13th.

Mike: What about it did you like?

Ryan: Well, it’s another case where I know somebody, definitely a friend, but it was the first time I saw one of my old friends play with this band. They’re relatively new, and they have a really good sense—a rawness about them—but they’re also very smart songwriters. Very melodic, and really catchy. I listened to the album twice that night…

Chris: I saw Zoo Animal not too long ago, and I was just blown away. I just think they’ve got a pretty unique sound and they put on a really good show. I’ve been impressed every time I’ve seen them actually.

Joey: Speaking of unique sounds, I actually haven’t seen them in a while and I don’t like that fact, but Fort Wilson Riot has always been one of the bands that every time I see completely takes me to a different world or impresses and surprises me every time. I went to “Idigaragua”, the half-theater/half-rock show that they put on last year. That sticks out in my mind as one of the most creative and original works that I’ve seen locally for quite a while.

Ryan: I always wondered how that band actually sits around and decides to arrange their songs, like what the thought process would possibly be.

Joey: Yeah, they’re pretty awesome… I enjoy seeing everything they do all the time.

Matt: I saw Big Lake over at The Nomad in November, and for a band where it was only their second or third live show, they’re really coming together and definitely have big things on their horizon.

Paul: I saw The Whispers at the Turf Club last month, and it’s really new, but the songwriting is pretty unbelievable. The lead singer’s got a really cool voice, I really enjoyed it.

Mike: So obviously we’re sitting down here in Joey’s basement. It’s your rehearsal space and your recording studio. So, tell me about recording the album, just sort of doing it on your own, doing it in this space and just making this magic happen. Because from what I’ve heard of the album, it’s going to sound amazing, and I want to hear about it from you guys.

Paul: Mach is a magic man, he knows his stuff.

Matt: Thanks for saying that, it’s very kind. (band laughs) We hope everyone loves it. It was a fun process. It was a long process, but long in a good way, not…

Ryan: It would have been a lot less long if NHL ‘08 wasn’t part of the whole process. (band laughs again)

Joey: If you’ll notice, there’s an Xbox 360 about 15 feet from our recording studio. (more laughs) But it was good, we pretty much had complete freedom, whatever we wanted to do. We got a little bit “off the beaten path” with some tracking…

Matt: We tried a lot of tactics…

Joey: Oh, we definitely had a lot of tactical roadblocks, just system-wise, that sucked and put us back… as far as putting a mic in the back of the room or recording vocals in a stairwell.

Ryan: We used a lot of this basement. Obviously it wasn’t designed as a recording studio… a lot of the time we spent was just redoing it if it didn’t sound good, or getting that extra take, or putting the mic in a different place even after we’ve recorded the whole song. Whatever it might be. Sometimes we went with it…

Joey (joking): Yeah, we’re deciding to keep a shitty take just for the feel you know. (laughs)

Ryan: I mean, all that stuff separates you from every clean, polished record that you’re able to do now, which is great. The fact that technology has gotten to that point where like, you can spend $500 and… or you could be, who’s that kid from Owatonna?

Joey: Owl City?

Ryan: Yeah! You can do that, but at the same time, I think this record and the time we spent making it, I think it’s pretty human. There’s definitely a flaw here and there, and I think it’s better for that.

Chris: I like to think of the basement as the 6th “Ink”. (band laughs and banters) We recorded demos probably about a year ago for this record, and I’d be curious to go back and listen to the way that the songs sounded then and where they’ve ended up. I think in this process we’ve added a lot of cool things, we’ve even revamped some of the songs a little bit. In that sense, it’s actually helped the music; the recording process has had an impact on songs and the way we play them now.

Matt: And like you said, we haven’t been playing all that long. Joey had pieces of everything recorded to begin with, and so we just started building on everything. And the way that things have changed is, as we evolved as a band from playing live, we would come over here and half the time we didn’t know if we were gonna jam or if we were gonna record. We got into the feel where it felt like jamming when we recorded, and it felt like recording when we jammed. At least for me, everything started to feel natural.

Ryan: Yeah, just the one or two days a week we’d have, it’s just be Inks day. It wasn’t any pressure… there were some times that we had to get drums done because we were using mics or something that we only had for a certain amount of time. But for the most part, we could leave; if we didn’t get something we could leave it and come back to it. And I think that really took the pressure off and made it so that we didn’t have to force anything.

Chris: Yeah, not having to pay for time down here, I think we tried a lot of things. Some of which sucked and some of which didn’t. Somebody would hear something in their head, we’d try to put it down; and then a lot of them we kept and a lot of them we got rid off. But having that freedom to do that and having the time and the space really helped shape the album.

Paul: Going off what Chris said, you’ll notice the solo in “Yellow Bird” was Chris and I with a mic pointed away from the amp, which is definitely not the way you do it. (band laughs) But that’s how it sounds, and it actually sounds pretty cool.

Ryan: That was one of those takes that wasn’t actually probably recorded the best, but we went with it.

Chris: I think you can take the “probably” out of that statement. (band laughs and banters)

Paul (sarcastic): Definitely the best thing on the record.

Matt: Also, having Mach around… he mixed the record for us. So he would hear things as we were going, but then everyone else kind of has a little bit of a background in home recording…

Ryan (joking at first): I wanna stop you from putting too much credit where it doesn’t belong. (band laughs) Basically, every aspect of the final product, everybody had a final say in and we all made this album just as equally.

Paul: A band of brothers. (band laughs and banters)

We chatted for a while off-tape, then cut back in here:

Mike: We’re talking about the original demo for “You Are All Friends of Mine” off your new record. (Listen to it on their MySpace.) Joey, tell me about how that went.

Joey: Well, we like that recording so we’ll probably keep it on our MySpace and keep it around somehow to be accessed, cause…

Chris (joking): Be one of our bonus tracks for the reissue?

Joey: It was one of those circumstances where we all found ourselves with a few too many beers in our system, and we recorded it all in one night basically all around one microphone. We started and kept going until it was done, and it was pretty much perfect what we ended up with.

Ryan: If it was more than just one take, there weren’t really that many more I guess.

Joey: It was just, “Take a crap on a piece of paper and let’s see what it looks like.” (background laughs) And it ended up being very real, and I love it.

Ryan: It got to the point where we liked that one so much that in the album version, we were trying to strip some polish off of it to try to get that vibe again. I really like the album version too, but there’s something that’s really captured on that demo.

Paul: I will say that, just because you play live in a room and you do one or two takes doesn’t mean that it’s gonna sound that good. I’ve done whole records like that that are not spectacular… (background laughs) So it’s a good recording for what it is.

Joey: Especially when there’s Flowers in a room by himself in the corner whispering to himself. (band laughs) I believe there’s a profanity in there somewhere, and it definitely made the cut so if you listen closely you can hear it. (band banters)

Matt: Also, we’re all on weird instruments, different instruments. I think I was playing bells…

Ryan: You’re playing the bells…

Joey: Mandolin.

Ryan: We’ve got a mandolin, which never really made the record…

Chris: A mandolin that I had never played before and have never played since I believe.

Joey: Flowers is on the mellotron.

Ryan: He’s on the mellotron…

Paul (sarcastic): Poor man’s mellotron.

Joey (laughing): Poor man’s mellotron!

Matt: Like, tronotron? (laughs)

Ryan: And I was playing a pair of sticks on the back of a chair, and that’s basically the rhythm track on that song.

Joey (joking): And we actually hired singers to sing the chorus.

Paul: We did a lot of whispering in the corner… (band laughs)

Mike: Let’s talk about what to expect from the CD release show, and do you have any other future plans too? What are we gonna hear at the release show, what are we gonna see? Any big surprises you can tell us about yet?

Joey: Other than Santa Claus? (background laughs)

Matt: It’s gonna be a lot of fun, and I know after the release show we’re gonna keep playing shows… (band laughs and banters)

Chris: I think we might be debuting a song at the CD release, which should be cool. We’ve been focusing pretty hard on the record and on these songs, but it’s actually been really fun to play some new stuff.

Ryan: This record, as far as the way the songs were structured, it’s been done for a long time. And we have been itching to write and record new music too, and that won’t be far in the future.

Joey: We’re gonna get to work again soon, probably an EP or something, but we’re gonna get back in the studio shortly after this one dies off. To be honest, for the release party I think it’s just gonna be a huge party with a lot of good friends and really good music. I think the three other bands we have on the bill are just gonna be fantastic.

Matt: I am really excited to see the New Century Masters kick it off… (band banters and laughs)

Chris: We’ve also got a show lined up in January with bands that we’re really excited to play with. The Arms Akimbo at Sauce [January 30th, also with The Debut], we were actually just talking about them and that show. They just released a CD and I think we all like what we’ve heard; or I’ll speak for myself, I like what I’ve heard.

Ryan (sarcastic): Speak for me!

Chris: Okay, I’m speaking for at least two of the six Inks… (band breaks out in laughter)

Matt: You never know, at these CD release shows and stuff like that sometimes people get up on stage with other people, and bands start mixing…

Chris: It’s not out of the realm of possibility.

Paul: And we will be filming a minor documentary there, so people should come so they can be on the camera. If that entices you in any way, you should be there. (half-joking)

Joey (joking): I’d say sport the worst Christmas sweater that you have available. That’ll make things better. Always does…

You can download a FREE song from Well, Here We Are Then from the latest edition Tracks, our regular feature on Borangutan where we offer for download a single song from recent local releases. And you’d best be at their CD release show at the Triple Rock on the 18th. You should also be sure to check out Joey Ryan & The Inks at Sauce on January 30th with The Arms Akimbo and The Debut, as all three bands on that bill are quite amazing to say the least.

Links

Joey Ryan & The Inks – MySpace

posted December 16th, 2009 at 4:54 pm Interviews, MN Rock