POST SOCIAL 101: AN ORAL HISTORY-PART ONE

1. BEGINNINGS: MEMORIES, INSPIRATIONS, THE SHRUNKEN HEADS 
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 2^nd 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 4^th 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.