SIDE TWO: RECORDINGS, SUCCESSES
AND THE EVOLUTION OF MODERN MOD
Now, we
arrive with your debut album, “Tunnels.” Congratulations to you and the band
for created such a finely crafted album!!! What was the experience of recording
the album like for you?
Recording “Tunnels” was one of the
most trying, yet exciting and rewarding things I’ve ever done. I learned how
long and difficult a process making an album can be, but it was some of the
most fun I’ve ever had. When we initially tracked all of our songs, we were at
the Exchange studio in Milwaukee,
where we saw a picture of David Bowie
recording exactly where we stood, which was surreal. We stayed in Milwaukee for
two nights, and on the second night, we slept in the basement of the studio,
which ended up to be so cold and uncomfortable, but we all for some reason
wanted to do that so it was just part of the learning experience.
What was the
easiest song to record? The most difficult?
I don’t really remember what was
the easiest song to record. They were all pretty difficult to me because I put
too much pressure on myself to make each take perfect. I ended up psyching
myself out, and I learned how unnecessary that was. I remember that recording “Papercuts”
was a bit of a disaster because we had started and finished it about a week
before we went into the studio, so it was barely rehearsed and the structure
was confusing. That was the last song we recorded that night and we felt like
giving it up, but I think we tried it again the next morning and then we were
able to get it done and perfected.
I’m so glad
that you stuck with it because it really is one of the highlights of the album.
And it really did pay off in the end as “Tunnels” has received considerable
attention and not just in Madison. What has it been like for you to know that
there are people and fans as far away as California?
Yeah! Someone at Stanford’s radio station liked the album and
wrote a really fun cat-themed review of it, rating each song with “MEOW’s”
instead of stars. It’s very exciting to know people you’ve never met are
enjoying your music. It’s a hopeful feeling.
And then,
there are the two MAMA awards the band won this summer. Congratulations to
that! What was that experience like for you?
The Madison Area Music Awards were
great! We got to dress up and cheer on our fellow Madison musicians. We were
pretty convinced we didn’t have a shot at winning, and were surprised to even
be nominated in the first place. When we won the first award, we were sitting
in the top balcony, and when they called our name, we immediately started
sprinting down to the stage. It was a huge honor to receive awards for the
something we took so long on, and I’ll always be proud to have contributed to
an *award winning* album as a high schooler.
It feels as
if the band is experiencing a certain momentum, especially with its current
lineup. Would you agree or disagree?
Yeah for sure! I think especially
with winning the MAMA awards and continuing to book shows and get radio airplay
around Madison lately, that has all really helped us get some more local
attention. The current lineup has gelled exceptionally well and we continue to
write material that’s further and further away from the band’s origin, and I'm
really excited about what our next EP is going to sound like.
Speaking to
the current lineup of Modern Mod, how do you feel that the band has changed
during all of the personnel comings and goings, if at all?
We definitely have gone through
many stylistic changes. Mostly it has just expanded our musical variety because
every new member we have has a different musical background and influences, so
it’s always refreshing to write new songs with someone who has a fresh and
unique approach to writing. Every member, past and present, has had such
distinct styles and contributions.
Could you
please spend some time telling me about the current lineup and how you feel
they have all contributed to Modern Mod and how they compare and contrast with the
original members?
Emily Massey (lead vocals, guitar): Emily’s voice is Modern Mod.
She’s got this airy, innocent, but far from timid quality that complements, if
not makes, every song of ours. No matter the lyrical content or song style, she
can perfectly convey whatever she wants to say. She came into the band with our
debut album completely written but not yet recorded, and did an amazing job at
reinterpreting all of the songs and really putting a standout, natural
personality into the album. She’s always been great at the onstage banter and
working a crowd, and is purely fun to watch and perform with. When she joined,
our live show became the most fun it’s ever been; I remember the first show she
played with us, the rest of the band ended up watching her a good amount of
time because she brought this live energy we had never experienced, which then
pushed us to match that. Plus, she is the style queen and taught me practically
everything I know about fashion.
Cal Pocernich (guitar): Cal introduced me to most of
my favorite current music, for which I am eternally grateful. But, his playing
and writing style are very 90’s alt rock which I absolutely love. He is one of
the most creative musicians I’ve ever worked with; he can take a basic idea of
mine and transform it to something I’d never think of, and I almost always end
up liking what he comes up with so much more than my original idea. Cal has
always pushed the rest of us to be less conventional, which took me until this
year to realize how important that was/is, so he has been such a positive
influence. He’s got such a serious, aloof persona and people are always drawn
to him, but I can always get him smile at me on stage whenever he or I mess up,
so that’s something to look forward to whenever I do something wrong, but I
love it.
Brendan Manley (drums): Brendan had a really tough role to fill, because the
new drummer slot was replacing the co-founding member, primary songwriter, and
my best friend, so he or she had to be darn good. But, wow, is he incredible!
He brought our energy level up a whole heck of a lot, and we’ve since gotten
even more of an edge to our music, enabling our experimenting with more punk
and heavy psych as of late. It took Cal, Emily, and I several months to find
him, and before then we were struggling to write as a trio, but once Brendan
joined, our creativity level was higher than it had ever been. We never, ever
“jammed” as a band until he joined, and it was insanely fun to do that for the
first time. We can always connect and come up with some really awesome stuff.
Once he joined, we began writing songs collectively instead of one person
writing a majority, so it was a huge change of pace but works perfectly for us
four.
What is a “band”
to you? There has been this consistent issue within rock music definitely, that
if one
member departs a band, then the “band” as it is known ceases to be. With all of
the lineup changes in the band and since you are the sole original member
remaining, has the concept of Modern Mod changed for you? What do you think is
the identity of Modern Mod?
I
think that a band can still be a band after a member change. It just marks a
different stage in the music they create; it’s all part of its evolution. Even
though Modern Mod has gone through 2 name changes and 6 or so lineup changes, I
still consider it the same band because we still played the same songs. I think
our identity is in our light-hearted, purely fun music and live show, and that
has always been the underlying feel, and naturally too with every member's
demeanor. Each new member brought a different energy and a whole new element to
our writing process, but we’ve always been focused on having fun and enjoying
what we do.
Stay tuned for Part Three as Alivia discusses making music videos, her adventures with live performances as well as a compelling look at her vantage point with gender politics within the music industry.
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