New York’s Ladybug Transistor have been building up fans slowly and surely since their debut album, ‘Marlborough Farms’ in 1995. Now, shortly after the release of their seventh studio record ‘Clutching Stems’, singer and founder Gary Olson took time out of the band’s touring schedule to chat to Undercover.
“We'll we reshuffled things a bit since our last album (Can't Wait Another Day) was out,” Olson told Undercover when asked when he was ready to return to the studio. “We added guitarist Michael O'Neil and Eric Farber stepped in on drums after San passed away. It was like starting new again and Michael and Eric helped brighten up the dynamic after some really hard times.
“We also recruited a song writing friend Mark Dzula to submit material. His collaborations make up about half of Clutching Stems and he's since joined the band as well. We toured a bit playing the new songs and then finally got into the studio last year. It was a longer process than usual, but much needed.”
Speaking of the death of the band’s former drummer, San Fadyl, Olson said: “There is a lot of him in [the new album]. He was a large personality and left a big impression on everyone we had met while touring in the eight years he was with us. We miss him tons as a dear, dear friend and as a true drummer, one of the purest drummers I've ever heard. We still carry around a lot of his wisdom and humor.”
So while many indie pop bands are writing about a number of things, Olson isn’t immune to a good old fashioned breakup song.
“Gee I'm only just realizing how much the break up theme runs through the album!” he said. “My approach is that I try to only date the craziest girls possible so I can stockpile new material.”
And when he’s not dating the craziest girls possible, he can be found to be writing about girls in other ways.
“‘Oh Cristina’ is about subway crushes, imagined romance and the ultimately the break up. It's a long ride back to Brooklyn on the Q train, so it's perfect writing time. You spy plenty of "Cristinas" along the way heading home to Little Odessa in Brighton Beach. Sometimes they are wearing Ian Curtis t-shirts… and high heels.“
As a fan, I do love a band who isn’t shy of a good old fashioned sax solo. Going back into the band’s career, fans will find ‘Always On The Telephone’ and its saxier ‘Always On The Saxophone’.
“It's the perfect example of getting carried away but It was really meant as a novelty, b-side sort of thing,” Olson explains. “I agree the art of the sax solo is becoming largely extinct, but it's just a matter of time before it will be truly in vogue again. There's actually a really nice solo on TGIF by Katy Perry, they stick it through an autotuner, it's just wonderful!”
So Australian Ladybug Transistor fans hoping to get a glimpse of the band on stage down under sometime soon will hopefully get their chance towards the end of the year.
“I was just over in March doing some solo shows with some assistance from the Lucksmiths, but we are looking at late this year. The Ladybug proper has never been over so I'm looking forward to showing them around Australia.”
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