Atticus Fault - Self-titled debut
Melting Soundtracks: Atticus Fault
By Doug Van Pelt
Describing the atmospheric sounds of Atticus Fault (or Radiohead or The Choir or The Violet Burning) is difficult but nevertheless fun for music journalists. Swirling, dreamy and chiming guitars climb and dive in the mesmerizing "Soundtrack," the opening track of Atticus Fault's self-titled debut album, relaxing the listener until the lush but stark vocals of Todd Evans start painting with urgent words that are both soothing and striking. "Just one more time, just one more kiss, just one more look -- upon your wilderness." Being grabbed by this combination of texture and thought is what must've been like for those teenage girls swooned by The Fab Four back in ‘‘64. Closing the eyes and melting are options worth considering while spinning this disc. Modern day worship leaders would do well to look into and explore this sound, the way it whispers in like smoke and touches the inner emotions so powerfully. Beautiful on every level, Atticus Fault will certainly turn heads on radio —— if ever that thing called justice works its way into the offices of programmers across the country.
The following is an interview with vocalist Todd Evans that took place in July.
Please give us a brief history of Atticus Fault and, if you are able, give us details on previous bands that each member has played in (even the goofy garage bands).
To get the brief history of how the band started, we need travel back to 1996 at a club in Nashville where me, Chris, and Jason worked. At night, after we would close the dance floor, we would gather in a coffee shop in the back where we would have poetry reading and music for anyone with enough guts to perform. Sometimes it was a bit rough to sit through...because, as i said, anyone with a guitar or voice could take the microphone.
Nonetheless, it was quite entertaining to see what people were willing to do to get some attention. Every once in a while, we would go to the mic...and that's when Chris first heard some of my songs. We began getting together playing through some stuff, and he soon hooked me up with Jason. We remained a trio for a while....but soon added Paul...well, actually Paul was sort of stolen from the band he was playing in at the time. His band would play at the club where we worked.
As far as our members' previous involvement in bands, Paul is the only member who really played in bands before Atticus Fault...his last band was called 3-Car Pile-Up. Chris and Jason may have had a band in college....but this is my first.
In 1998, we recorded a 5-song EP with Steve Hindalong at Strawberry Studios. This was our first time to pick up electric guitars...as well as our first time to play our songs with Paul on drums. There were a lot of firsts back then...including one of our first truly horrible shows soon after that.
What led to you getting hooked up with MCA? How did your group's fanbase grow and what do you attribute that growth to?
We never stopped playing and practicing. We never stopped pouring our troubles, passions, and hopes into our music. That's what kept us alive and still does...literally. If it wasn't for this outlet, there could have been a couple of us who wouldn't be here now.
We miraculously hooked up with Jay Joyce when we worked at Fido, a local coffee shop. At first we only knew him as the guy who ordered a "double-skinny latte to go," but soon discovered him to be the producer Jay Joyce who did Patti Griffith's Flaming Red record, as well working with Macy Gray, The Wallflowers and Iggy Pop. He liked some of our songs and asked us to be guinea pigs for some new equipment he was getting. We really poured ourselves out on those recordings, and the chemistry with Jay was amazing. One song turned to 3, and 3 turned to 9. Those 9 songs were what caught the ear of Jonathan First, who was president of Edel America and then started Uninhibited Records under MCA.
Why the delay in this album release? We had an advance sometime in January, I believe, and it just now came out -- when, July 1st?
Well, the record was officially released May 14th. As you know, the political side of the industry is a monster. Many people don't even know it's out yet......but we won't dive into that arena at the moment.
Anything behind the name Atticus Fault? (I had some friends in Houston in a band called Atticus Finch, who were tributing the obvious)
Atticus Fault is inspired by a short story I was writing in the early days of the band. In the story, whenever someone here goes through an intense struggle or experience, their soul travels down into a fault in the spiritual realm. (It could be addiction, depression, etc.) Perched all along the edge of these faults are creatures who watch and protect these souls. They travel down and help souls who are trapped, escape.... as well as sustaining the souls who are trying to escape but must stay in the fault for while.
While working at the club, Chris was reminded of the name Atticus. We loved the way the name sounded and the images it conjured up. So we decided to name one of the faults in the story the Atticus Fault.
Your band seems to really gel when it's creating big atmospheric sounds and creating a mesmerizing/dreamy vibe. How important is atmosphere to you? And how do you create these ethereal sonic landscapes in the context of writing a song? How does one remember what one did when you're "tripping out" in a jam session?
Sometimes the atmosphere is born before the song comes to light, and other times the song already exists and we must attempt to find the best atmosphere for the song to live in. A good example is "Soundtrack." It also may answer the second part to your question. We were trying to figure out how to bring people into our world...and Jay suggested an intro...soon we were fooling around on any piece of equipment we could find. We kept recording while us and Jay experimented. Soon we found ourselves in the sweet spot, and we kept rewinding and expounding on melodies and sounds.
The Sept. 11th terrorist attacks had just occurred and so the feelings of desperation, confusion, and longing were hard to avoid. Jason started a melody and Jay went off on some electronic equipment. At one point I hooked up an AM radio and we played with the sounds and the preachers discussing their views on the attacks (you can hear it in the beginning of the intro if you listen carefully). We recorded everything we did as it happened, so we wouldn't lose it. The funny thing is... it took quite a while for us to learn some of those arrangements and spontaneous events for our live show.
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