Song Exploder - American Football - The One With The Tambourine

Episode Date: September 3, 2015

The band American Football formed in 1997, and released only one album and an EP before breaking up about three years later. Their critically acclaimed debut went on to achieve cult status as one of the most influential records of the '90s, and was reissued as a deluxe double-LP last year. In this episode, Mike Kinsella, Steve Holmes, and Steve Lamos of American Football break down the first song they wrote together, "The One with the Tambourine," from their self-titled EP. They talk about being influenced by the Chicago music scene of the '90s, and how they combined alternative tunings, unconventional time signatures, and naiveté to craft their sound. This episode is sponsored by Hover, Lynda.com, and Lagunitas Brewing Company.

You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs, and piece by piece, tell the story of how they were made. I'm Rishi Kesh Hirwe. Just a heads up, there is some explicit language in this episode. The band American Football had a short lifespan originally. They formed in 1997 and broke up in 2000. In that time, they released an EP and an LP to a small but passionate fan base. But over the years since, more and more people found their music. 14 years after they broke up, they reissued their LP.

and book some shows. The LP ended up being a surprise hit, landing on the Billboard charts, and their tour dates sold out. I asked if they'd do a song from the LP for Song Exploder, but here's guitarist Steve Holmes. This is how unexpected that anyone would give a shit 15 years later. We don't have the master tapes. They don't exist. After we recorded the actual album, we left them at the studio. Can't find them. Don't exist. Probably lost or thrown out. So I happen to keep the single. So in this episode, the very first song recorded by American Football from their debut EP. It's called The One with the Tambourine. I'm Mike Kinsella, and I play the guitar and sing in the American football. And I'm Steve Holmes, and I also play guitar, but I do not sing. Mike and I were 20 to 22

when this was a band. It was sophomore through senior year of college, basically. So Mike was in a band with Steve Lamos before this band. And that broke up. As soon as our band broke up, I said, ooh, I'm going to steal Steve Lamos as my drummer and start playing with him. And then I think the idea to have Mike join was because the previous band, if anyone's heard of it,

the one up downstairs, the guitar playing in that band was ridiculously good. And Mike and I thought the two of us together would be as good as him alone. So that was the plan. Steve would go practice with Steve Lamos. He'd come home and he had a cassette, he's like, oh, this is what we're working on.

And it was this song, I was like, oh, that's a cool riff. Mike and I discovered alternate tunings, and it all took off from there. You mess around to tune this up, or I'm trying to hit a note that, oh, this will be much easier to hit if this string is half a step lower or half a step higher. And you play until it sounds good. This song happens to be a big E major seven chord, which I don't think I knew at the time. It just sounded cool. It's E, B, D, G, sharp, B.E. That's what I'm in.

Mike is in a slightly different tuning. stupid. It's so stupid. The challenge of it is you're now you're stuck in that key, which, you know, you can't write 10 songs in that key because they'll sound ridiculous. But it sounds really cool for one song. My name is Steve Lamos and I'm the drummer in American football. I was teaching myself drums at that point. My father had a drum kit when I was a kid and he had these 60s era books kind of teach yourself different beats and Bosanova was one of the beats that I was trying to teach myself. And for whatever reason, it sort of fit with the riff that Holmes was playing, or at least

the main part of it. That was the name of the song until we went to the studio and actually recorded it. We called it the Bossa Nova, because that was the drumbeat. I think Steve's drums in particular make these songs jazzy and unique. And I always said, like, if I was the drummer of this band, nobody would care because it would sound like every other band that exists. That riff, and a lot of the American football stuff, is me kind of. stealing from the sea and cake.

That was a big band for us at the time. That was my version of jacking the ball off the first seeing cake record. It doesn't really sound exactly the same, but sort of the feel we were going for. I do think that the idea not to rock out was intentional. I think going into this band, we knew what we wanted to sound like,

and we'd been in loud bands, and we were kind of done with that. We were so young and naive. This was the first song in this band, and sort of ever I recorded vocals. like I was a singer in a band. By default, by the way, I don't think I joined to be a singer or anything.

But now I'd be like, well, let's drop that song like six steps so I can hit some notes. But at the time, like, well, the song's there. I got to hit those notes. You're never going to just play my vocal part, are you? No, you're not. I should have made you sign a thing. Fuck you, man.

It was going to be a guitar. It was just like high school journal shit all of it you know what I mean like every I mean even going to record all these songs are just sort of like oh I'll be a singer and I guess it needs lyrics and so the memory

of spending 17 with you and at the time what was I like 18 I was like oh I remember spending 17 with you last year Mike has a natural ability to right around other parts much better than I do, I think. The parts I would come in with would be, you know,

a lot of times a high, noodley part, and then he would add the low end to it. A lot of the shit he played is, like, stupid. Like, if you heard it, you're like, that's not a thing. It's true. I heard it, and I kind of heard where it can go, and there was no structure. So I was like, okay, I'll put a structure on it.

I don't know. It made sense to me. So there's the two parts, right? What would be a verse and the chorus, I guess, and then a verse and a chorus? The second verse, Mike, does not sing. And I don't know why. I don't know that it was a cognizant decision, but in that second verse, it's just instrumental.

And he changes his riff to this polyrhythmic thing going on. The second time we go through, Mike starts doing this patterny thing over it that's in a different time, but like accents things and moves things back and forth. Every time I hear that to this day, I'm like, man, that's such a great part. Towards the end of the song, Mike plays a guitar solo.

He recorded it using something called an Ebo, which is a little handheld, battery-powered device. It vibrates the string, so it rings, and it's like a drone. And you can just move the note. As you move the note, like, it bends between them and stuff. There's a cool harmony that comes in the second time. One of the things that makes this band interesting is the fact that we were kind of learning our instruments still,

at least for myself, and Mike was being a frontman for the first time. and Lamos, as he mentioned, had been playing drums for maybe two years before this band started. I think we were just doing the best we could with our limited resources and talents. And I think part of the stuff that sounds unique is because we didn't know any better. It just came naturally to us

because we were novices in some respects. And now here's the one with the tambourine by American Football in its entirety. Visit songexploder.net for more on American Football and this episode. I have a new album of my own coming out on April 24th. It's been about 15 years since I last put out a full length, and this is the first one that'll be out under my own name, Rishikesh Her Way.

I started making Song Exploder when I was feeling lost in my own music career. And then for over a decade, I've gotten to have these incredible conversations about the process of making music, talking to other artists, and it made me completely rethink my relationship to music and my way of writing songs. And this album is the product of all of that. It features contributions from some of my favorite artists, including some folks that you may have heard on this podcast, like Iron and Wine, Kevin Morby, Vagabon, Fenlily, and the producer Phil Wine Roeb. I'm going to be on tour playing in cities across the U.S. starting in April, and I'm trying to bring the spirit of the podcast with me. So every show that I'm playing will begin with a conversation about the album with a different amazing guest moderator in each city.

like Adam Scott, Samin Nasrat, Jason Manzukas, Josh Molina, Minjin Lee, Ken Jennings, John Roderick, Austin Cleon, and more. They're all going to be my conversation partners on stage, and then I'll play with my band. The album is called In The Last Hour of Light, and the first couple songs are out now. You can listen to the music and get tickets for the shows on my website, rishikash.co, or just go to songexploder.net slash live. That's songexploder.net slash live. Thanks. Next time on Song Exploder, Joey Badass.

You can find all the past and future episodes of Song Exploder at SongExploder. Or on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you download podcasts. Find the show on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Song Exploder. Song Exploder is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a curated network of extraordinary story-driven shows. Learn more at Radiotopia.fm. My name is Rishi Kesh Hereway. Thanks for listening. Everything cool like in the state of mind that the state of my correct, cool, calm, collect, deflect, deflect, the corrupt, where ex is like I talk too much, the jac is up, he is risen up.

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