Achille Lauro practice in the basement of the Olympic Auditorium. It’s a place that, like any good band practice space for rent, is both totally sketchy and somehow charming. Walking down the creaky stairs with Jon Evans (bass) and Luke Mossman (guitar), I could hear dubstep beats coming from a loft area and a pretty sloppy funk band playing down the hall. It also seemed like a hardcore punk band was loading into one of the other rooms, but that would be judging their sound by its member’s appearances. So yeah, they were some kind of hardcore band.
While the guys set up, we talked about Abelton Live, playing various gigs around Colorado, and how being a musician means accumulating lots of random cables that you’ll never be able to find when you actually need them. When we officially sat down, Matt Close (vocals, guitar, samples) settled on the old couch with a bag of trail mix while Ben Mossman (drums, sample pad) and I sat on drum thrones across from each other. My first question seemed like an obvious one: where’d you get the name?
Matt: ‘We had this book of names….Not baby names, but just names of random stuff. Boats, planes, whatever. We thought it sounded really cool.’
Luke : ‘It’s good because it’s hard to spell. People really have to like us in order to remember it.’
Jon : ‘It’s also hard to say when you’re drunk.’
Harrison: ‘Kind of like the title of the new album, Flight or Flight.’
Matt: ‘You’re the first one to actually get that right.’
Harrison: ‘Exactly. Flight or fight. Fight or fright. Fight or…’
The origin story on their facebook page is much more interesting that anything we talked about, but we did touch on how they first started to incorporate samples into their music.
Matt: ‘When we started about six years ago, we had another member. He was a trumpet player whose input was really varied. Keys, percussion. ’
Jon: ‘It definitely wasn’t surprising that soon after he left we added two laptops to our setup.’
Matt: ‘I didn’t have a computer for most of my life. When I finally got one about 3 years ago, I quickly realized you could use it to play music. That’s really when phase two started.’
Earlier when setting up, Matt showed me his MAudio box, which he uses to not only play Live out of his computer, but also to plug in various inputs from VHS players, old cassette tape decks, vinyl records, and anything else he can find. We talked about how their creative process often involves Matt coming in with a sample or idea and then the rest of the band building a song around it.
Matt: ‘Some of the songs take so long to finish….We get into a place where it’s all work. But it’s definitely cool to just mess around and have something come out where it’s like: yeah man, play that!’
Jon: ‘It is really nice to get back to jamming once in awhile.’
When we venture onto to the topic of their previous releases, I have to ask about the scented candles they released last year that contained download codes to their latest single.
Matt: ‘It came out of a mutual frustration with releasing music today. The candles were actually Jon’s idea.”
Jon: ‘Yeah it was awesome for the release show. We sold more merch at that first show then we ever had before. After that, though, it was a tough sell. People would be like…what do I do with this?’
Matt: ‘It seems like every time we would try to sell someone a candle at a show, we’d see the visor in the car filled with CDs.’
Luke: ‘Flight or Flight will be our first release in years coming out in CD. It’ll be on vinyl, as well, but I think lots of people still like the CD. Musicians tend to want those different ways to get music, but more people then not still want to play it in their car on the way home from a show.’
While discussing their new record, we get talking about their label, Hot Congress.
Luke: ‘It was kind of Matt’s idea….’
Harrison: ‘So you own and run Hot Congress?’
Matt: ‘No, it’s not like that at all. It was an idea we had years ago to create a community where everyone kind of helps each other out and supports one another. It’s not really a label so much as it is a collective. It’s definitely not a traditional kind of set up.’
The guys go on to tell me that there are somewhere around 15 acts from Colorado currently associated with the label. Like many DIY ventures, it’s really more for collective promotion then about making money selling music. They put out compilations, and bands often change because they break up and reform as something else a few months later.
Matt: ‘One of the best parts is the diversity. We’ve played on lots of different events with so many different kinds of really interesting bands. It’s very cool to get to do that.’
This leads me to wonder out loud what the most interesting gig Achille Lauro has ever played.
Matt: ‘A devotional rap group in St. Louis. They somehow managed to work two rap verses into a Lynyrd Skynyrd cover.’
Luke: ‘So basically, we opened for Kid Rock.’
Jon: ‘Another was in Oakland.’
Matt: ‘It was this industrial living space in a neighborhood where all the houses around us had thick bars on the windows. I think we drank an entire bottle of Jim Beam during our set.’
Luke: ‘Yeah, and after we played, this girl got up there with this quilt…She had put drum pads and samplers and stuff in the patches and she would hit it to make all these really crazy noises.’
Before leaving, I asked if they had anything special planned for the CD release show at the Hi Dive this Friday.
Matt: ‘We’ll probably wear nice clothes. I’ll probably take a shower.’
Jon: ‘I’m planning on making and wearing a jet pack.’
Harrison: ‘It seems a bit dangerous in a small space like the Hi Dive.’
Luke: ‘We’ll burn down the house. Literally.’
Jon: ‘I dunno though. If we’re still planning on making T-shirts, I might not be able to get it ready in time.’
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