1. BEGINNINGS: MEMORIES, INSPIRATIONS, THE SHRUNKEN HEADS
AND THE BIRTH OF POST SOCIAL
AND THE BIRTH OF POST SOCIAL
What is your earliest musical memory?
SHANNON
CONNER (Post Social guitar/keyboards/vocals, age 18): My earliest
musical memory is probably dancing around the kitchen of my old house to "This Kiss" by Faith Hill, which was my Mom's guilty
pleasure in the late 90's. I also remember getting a CD boombox for my 5th or
6th birthday, on which I used to play whatever albums were lying around the
house, the most prominent of which were the greatest hits of Bob Seger and the greatest hits of the B-52's. In addition to all of this, my
Dad played acoustic guitar and did his version of “The Rain Song” by Led
Zeppelin, which I thought was his own song for the first 10 years of my
life.
Wow! Now that is very interesting to me right
there. What did you
think when you first realized that "The Rain Song" was by Led
Zeppelin and not by your Dad?
SHANNON: It was a profound realization.
It shook my perception of my reality. It wasn’t upsetting. Just strange. He
never had made it seem like he wrote it but I just assumed.
Mitch, how about you and your earliest musical memory?
MITCH
DEITZ (Post Social guitars/vocals, age 18): My earliest
musical memory is when I first started playing a hand drum we had out in our
living room when I was about five or six years old. I remember I started
banging on it in a rhythm I thought was pretty cool, and almost immediately my
Dad came into the room, picked up a guitar and started playing along with me,
and it turned into a family jam. I remember the feeling of elation I got from
starting the jam, and contributing to a song for the first time. After that, I
was kind of addicted to playing music.
I am of the
understanding that you come from a very musical family. Is that correct?
MITCH: Yes, my Dad has
been playing guitar since he was a kid, and was in many bands growing up in
Kentucky and during his college days at Virginia and UW Madison. My Dad was the
one who inspired me to play, taught me to play and write, and continues to be a
role model. Now he plays folk music under his own name, and is signed on the
local Madison label "Uvulittle
Records," which is run by Mother
Fool’s (editor’s note: a local
coffeehouse) owner John Haine,
and he has a new album set just released on September 8th, called "Small
Blue Green Letters.”
My
brother Wilder has inspired me in so
many ways as well. Early on, it was by playing and song writing alongside me
with The Shrunken Heads, and now as
an avid fan of Post Social. But more importantly, he is a brilliant musician
and composer. His music now is so inspiring to me and frankly, I kind of look
to him as a music guru because he is so infatuated with it and knows so much. I
highly recommend that you find out for yourself on October 2nd at the Stoughton
Opera House. I'll be there. I try to make every Wilder Deitz show and I hope
to play beside him at the UW Black Music
Ensemble this spring.
And Brendan, how
about you and your earliest musical memories? I can only imagine how much you
were surrounded by it.
BRENDAN
MANLEY (Post Social, drums, age 18): It's difficult, at times, to distinguish between personal
memories and stories that were told to you, but I would say my first musical
memory is playing at the Lowell
Elementary school talent show as a first grader. I played a drum cover of "I'm A Believer" by The Monkees. As nice as it was to grow up with an
abundance of music at my disposal, I think my mother, Anita, played more of a
role in my musical (instrument playing) development. She taught me the basics
of playing drums before I was 3 years old!
Which artists were your first sources of
inspiration?
SHANNON: The first time I
really connected to an artist was probably when I started listening to The Beatles, when I was 8 or 9 years
old. That was the first time I wanted to learn about a band, and I went through
basically their entire discography and just soaked it all up. After that, I
developed a huge appetite for music and I started trying to find cool music at
the library. I got into a lot of classic rock stuff at first, but once I was in
Middle School, I discovered that there was a ton of music that didn't have to
be distorted and loud, and had more of an emphasis on nice clean guitar
melodies.
For
me, listening to “Murmur” by R.E.M. was a huge turning point. I also
started listening to whatever new bands were out there, the big ones in Middle
School being The Strokes, Vampire
Weekend, Deerhunter, Arcade Fire, MGMT, Bloc Party, etc. Then in high
school, I got really into contemporary clean stuff like Real Estate, Kurt Vile, and Yo
La Tengo. Also Pavement and Built To Spill have been huge for me in
high school and there was electronic music and instrumental hip hop (Aphex Twin and J Dilla), which inspired
me to learn how to make beats and learn computer software for music. Recently,
I've been really inspired by Elliot
Smith and José Gonzalez of Junip,
as well as Juan Wauters.
BRENDAN: I'd say the Arctic Monkeys were my first real inspiration. When my Dad, Steve
brought their first album home and told me he thought I would like it, he
wasn't kidding. I loved it and couldn't help but try to emulate their drummer
somewhat.
MITCH: The earliest
influences I can remember would definitely include my Dad, who was my biggest
influence and is the entire reason I not only started guitar at such an early
age (with focus on song writing rather than sheet music) but also the reason
why I play guitar at all.
Could you please
explain a little bit about how you focus upon song writing rather than sheet
music?
MITCH: The way my Dad
taught me guitar was by showing me a lot of different chords and he let me
choose how I could put them together, which is what I mean by focusing on song
writing rather than sheet music. Because right from the start, I was practicing
my own songs and not somebody else's, which was a huge reason why I had such a
passion for it then and why I still have passion now. In my opinion, writing,
recording and playing your own songs transforms music from being a hobby to a
lifestyle.
And as for any
bands that have also inspired you?
MITCH: As far as bands,
Led Zeppelin was probably one of my
biggest influences growing up, along with Jimi
Hendrix and AC/DC. As I got
older, my influences definitely changed a lot but these were my earliest ones.
When did
all of you realize that you wanted to express yourselves musically?
BRENDAN: It was more of a
recent realization that I truly wanted to express myself this way, actually.
When I was about half the size, it just seemed natural to form a band; I knew
how to play drums (the drums definitely chose me) and I knew people who played
guitar and were more willing to sing than I, so why not? It was more around the
time we recorded "Post Social" that I realized how much I love
playing, writing, and expressing.
SHANNON: I realized that
I wanted to DO music when I saw Mitch and Brendan playing in a band together,
but the self-expression part came more recently. I started gaining a lot of
confidence in my own musical ideas in the last two years. So, I've started to
write and release more music outside of the band. I also sang lead on a song
for the first time on our album. Neither the guitar or singing have come
naturally to me, but I've worked at guitar long enough to be comfortable with
it. I'm still trying to find my voice as a singer, and truthfully I like being
able to step back and just play guitar more, but I want to write my own lyrics,
so I'll keep working at it.
MITCH: I don't really
think there was a specific moment where I realized I wanted to express myself
musically... I just knew I really liked playing music and I had a huge drive to
get better so I could be really good for my age. Singing was definitely the
more difficult thing for me to do, because when I started performing, the first
form of Post Social was a band called "The
Shrunken Heads" and it was me, Brendan and my brother, Wilder, on
bass, and he did essentially all the vocals. And from that point on, my guitar
skills outshined my vocal skills by far, not to mention my voice was going
through changes through Middle School. In general, the voice is a much more
personal form of expression that is easily exposed. At this point, neither of
those things make me nervous on stage anymore, but I'm still working on getting
better at both; especially my voice because I want to learn how to support it
and sustain it better.
Twice
now, you have mentioned the earlier incarnation of the band called The Shrunken
Heads. How did all of you first meet? Did the band really first form while you
were in the 4th grade?
BRENDAN: Well, I met
Mitch and Shannon in preschool, and Sam a tad later in kindergarten. We all
maintained our friendship through the years until we formed the band.
The origin of
The Shrunken Heads is actually very trivial, but fitting for an 8 year old to conjure
up. I was watching the third “Harry
Potter” movie, the one with the double or triple decker bus, and grew to
really enjoy the character of the shrunken head hanging at the bus entrance.
Then and there, I exclaimed to my Mother that I thought “The Shrunken Heads”
would be a good band name and not long after, I proposed the idea to Mitch. As
a little side note, The Shrunken Heads didn't start out with the members we
have today. Instead, we formed in third grade
as a trio and consisted of Mitch, his brother, Wilder, and I. We even have some
recordings archived of that one year as a band.
It was in 4th
grade that Wilder decided it was time to pursue a musical project with peers
his age, so as an answer to his absence, Mitch and I recruited Shannon and Sam
to make the eventual Post Social we know and love today.
MITCH: As The Shrunken Heads, we played the Lowell talent show, and
then the Harmony Bar and then the Yahara Waterfront Festival as this trio. But
after a year of playing, me and Brendan were able to convince Sam and Shannon,
two good friends who were beginning to show interest in playing, to join. (Me
and Shannon had been experimenting with me on guitar and him on keyboard
earlier, I think we had a song together about a graveyard in A minor... I
remember performing it for his parents in his garage during the summer before
fourth grade.)
Even though neither Sam nor Shannon really
played bass or guitar yet, we put them up to it. For about the first couple of
years I was a dominant force in the song writing for the Shrunken Heads, and
due to the fact that Sam and Shan were newbies, I wrote pretty much all the
parts for our first couple of songs. But, through Middle School they were
learning quickly and by the end of eighth grade we had changed our name to
"Post Social" and everyone in the band was writing our own parts and
we had found our groove.
Do you remember your very first gig as The Shrunken
Heads? What was the response? Not just to the music but also to the sight of
these young kids on stage?
BRENDAN: I do remember our very first gig! It was that
3rd grade talent show. We played an original called “Wonton,” along with a cover of “Voodoo Chile” by Hendrix. I don't
remember the response all too vividly, but I remember people being quite
impressed with us. Mainly the fact that we were so young and could play a
decent version of a Hendrix tune. There is a VHS recording of this somewhere...
MITCH: Yeah I remember
it was the Lowell Elementary School talent show I think, when me and Brendan
were in 3rd grade so that would be February
2006. It was a blast, and I was lucky to have been performing with my Dad a
lot before that, so I didn't have any stage fright, just "stage
excitement.” The audience was mostly screaming kids younger than ourselves,
whose adoring wide eyes were racked along the steps of the auditorium stage (an
image I'll never forget). But, the response from all of the parents who were
there to watch, and my teachers, that really had a lasting impact on me. It was
a great feeling to wow so many adults.
I
remember getting mad at my Dad after one of our shows, because we were invited
to perform at something outside of school but my Dad wouldn't let us do it.
Later I realized he did a great thing, because the reaction from a lot of
adults was sort of "look at these kids play" rather than any sort of
sincere interest in our music. It was very important that my Dad staved off any
quick flashes of fame when we were very young, in order so that we could get
real recognition for our music later in our career, rather than being
remembered as "those kids who could play rock and roll pretty well when
they were little." I'm thankful we can be remembered as The Shrunken Heads
and Post Social rather than a circus act or local attraction.
What is the
origin of the name “Post Social”?
SHANNON: The name Post
Social came about after I saw the words
"Washington Post Social Media" together and instead of
identifying the "Washington Post" and "Social Media" as two
separate things, I grouped "Post Social" together. Since then we've
had a lot of people ask us if it's some sort of statement on the "modern
era" and people becoming antisocial through technology and smartphones or
whatever. Mitch hates smartphones, but that's not really where the name comes
from. We all don't really like the name anymore because I came up with it when
I was 13, but we're fine with keeping it.
So, if the band
were to actually change the name, what might come to mind these days,
especially now that you are all 5 years older and more seasoned musicians?
SHANNON: I think the
thing that we've realized, which might be the ultimate enlightenment, is that
band names are super arbitrary and we could really be named whatever as long as
the music we're making is good.
Were your
parents always supportive of your musical aspirations, as well as your roles in
The Shrunken Heads and now, Post Social?
BRENDAN: My parents have
always been my biggest supporters, since before I could make memories. My
mother always pushed me to play music and always supplied the instruments to do
so, which is entirely why I am a drummer and musician today.
Now, it’s one
thing to receive praise from your parents.
How have you been received by your friends and peers? Was one set (either
adults or peers) easier or harder to get on your side?
MITCH: We've
definitely been received well by our peers, starting in Elementary School,
through Middle School and High School and today we still have many loyal fans
who are our peers. But, it's very hard to get people to come out to hear live
music these days. It was definitely hardest when we were in High School because
most venues are 18 and up, and high schoolers are definitely the hardest age
group to get to come out in huge numbers to anything that's not a party. But,
the thing I like is getting fans of all different ages because they all like
our music or connect with it for their own unique reasons.
BRENDAN: I would say the
reception to our music has been mostly positive, with indifference coming in as
a close second. Very seldom do we receive negative feedback. If I had to choose
which set of people were easier to win over, I would have to say adults, even
if it was simply because we are minors hitting drums and wailing on strings.
That said, quite a few people (adults and peers) have been impressed with us
simply because they enjoy our music, which is, of course, the goal. Peers have
generally been less receptive to our band with the exception of our close
friends and a few huge fans.
What is the
writing process like within Post Social? Do you write together? Do members come
up with bits and pieces and then merge them together? Are you all encouraging
of each other?
SHANNON: The writing
process in our band has always been pretty open. We write our own individual
parts most of the time, but generally how all the songs form is from some sort
of chord progression/riff that Mitch or I have brought to the table, and then
they get fleshed out through just playing with each other. Sam can completely
alter the mood of a song when he adds his bass, which is really cool. Brendan
is also just the most reliable drummer when it comes to writing great parts
that carry the song. I'd say the most important part of our writing process is
that it's really intuitive. We usually don't have to talk about a song unless
we're making minor tweaks or suggestions to one another after we've already
worked on it for a while. We mostly let the songs develop on their own, which I
think is a skill we've developed playing with each other for so long.
BRENDAN: I think there
are a few reasons we write so much together: since we've been a band for nearly
a decade now, we understand each other's creative process like the back of our
hands, which makes jamming very fluid, as if we can read each other based on
what we play alone. It just helps to crumble any creative walls that threaten
to slow us. Another reason may be that we rarely trash a song, by choice
anyway. If a song goes by the wayside, it's simply because we all forgot about
it. This certainly helps in the area of being prolific but it also means we
will produce a less than good song every once in a while.
Have you ever
surprised yourself with any piece of music that you have written?
SHANNON: I was actually
very satisfied with the first song I ever sang lead on, which is “Change Your Mind” from our album we
did last year. I wrote the whole thing on my cheap Chinese Fender acoustic
guitar, and the whole time, I was envisioning it to be this really pastoral,
beautiful song with the phased out guitars, and when we finally recorded it in
the studio, it sounded exactly how I heard it in my head. I was definitely
really surprised by how satisfied I was with that one.
MITCH: I don't think
I've really surprised myself with anything that I've written, but I've definitely
been surprised over and over again how a piece I've written (a riff or series
of riffs) gets transformed once I bring it into the band. I'm also surprised at
a lot of the stuff we write entirely together on the spot at practice. But, the
biggest example of being surprised by a piece was hearing "Something In The Water" played back for us in the studio
for the first time after we recorded it. That song wasn't really doing it for
me before we took it into the studio, but something clicked in there and I
remember hearing it and getting an amazingly warm feeling inside hearing it
start to finish. I don't want to sound conceited, I just love that ending part
so much and it surprises me every time.
BRENDAN: I have been
surprised time and time again with some of the songs we write collectively. My
songwriting standards are constantly being raised as the immensely talented
members of my band write a song that tops the last. It's so much fun to be a
part of and a privilege to work with them. I'm not sure I can say the same for
anything that I've written alone, as I often find I will give myself criticism
rather than praise.
I am of the
understanding that new material is constantly being written and stockpiled. How
does the band determine which material stays, goes, is shelved and/or returns?
To what would you attribute Post Social’s prolific nature when writing new
material?
MITCH: I would definitely
attribute our chemistry to our prolific nature. Me and Shannon are always
writing riffs on our own/together but that's one thing, and making it a song
with the band is another. It's something I feel like our nine years together
play a big factor in. Basically the unspoken rule is that if one of the members
is really not feeling a track, we have no choice to scrap it. It's sort of like
the UN where all of us have veto power haha!!
SHANNON: As we've gotten
older, we've gotten a lot better at songwriting. I think we're in a period
right now where we're almost having growing pains as writers because we've
written more songs in the last year than we have in any other time period. Part
of the reason we have a lot more songs now is because I've been pushing myself
to write more. Mitch has been writing more, and he was already the core
songwriter for our band. We also have been indulging in more effects pedals
than the last go round (especially delay), so we're expanding our sound as well.
The problem we have now is we're not really sure where we want to go
stylistically as a band. So we have these two kind of separate batches of
really fast, aggressive songs that aren't really similar to anything we've done
before, and then we have these clean pop songs that are sort of a refinement
and improvement on our current sound. We want to record them all, but the hard
part will be deciding if they all belong on a single record.
Stay tuned for Part Two of this Oral History where we speak with Siv Earley and learn about the recording of the "Post Social" album.
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