interview by: Dave McGonigle

They’ve only released one album so far, but Kranky’s latest signings Growing have already generated a lot of interest from the avant-underground. Part of this stems from their position as the awkward buggers on Kranky; they’re louder and heavier than many of the label’s bands, having formed from earlier experiments in tonal warfare 1000 AD and BlackManWhiteManDeadMan (having never seen, heard or even heard of either band I can only nod my head blankly). Whatever – Growing do seem destined for greater things, and while I gave their debut album a good drubbing, it peaked my interest enough to want to know more about the band and their music. An email correspondence was close enough, though: my interest hadn’t been peaked enough to actually want to meet them, as I’m a skinny white guy and they may have read my review and wanted to disembowel me. Look, it does happen. Joe DeNardo and Kevin Doria from the band took some time out from their schedules to chat, while third member Eryn Ross elected to stay home and sharpen the knives.

Maelstrom: For the confused (i.e. me) it can be hard to work out how Growing emerged from 1000AD and Black Man White Man Dead Man. Do those two bands still exist? Did they sound anything like Growing?

Joe DeNardo: Kevin and I played in both bands, so we decided to combine them as they started to gravitate in that direction anyways. They both died when Growing began (fall 2001). They were very different from how we sound now.

Maelstrom: On first listen, Growing's songs sound like they're being pulled in several different directions, with both ambient drones and metal riffs vying for the listener’s attention. Is this reflected by each of your different playing styles?

Kevin Doria: No. We didn’t try to merge two different styles, nor do either of us subscribe more to one style or another. We work together and play what sounds right.

Joe DeNardo: I think we all enjoy playing most every aspect of the music. I don’t see the various elements as “different directions.” The overall themes of Nature and Time are intended to unify any sense of digression.

Maelstrom: Care to expand on that?

Joe DeNardo: The natural world is as clear and omniscient a reminder you'll get of Time's relentless expanse. Most of our musical structures help me deal with anxieties concerning the passage of time. The sonic diversity is a reflection of Nature. It has nothing to do with supposedly different styles of music.

Kevin Doria: The music for me has always been about escape. Lately we've been attempting, consciously and unconsciously, to mimic, in a sense, sounds from nature. These attempts have led to more "artificial environment" types of shows/sounds. Our songs tend to be relatively long, so if you like what you hear, hopefully you will relax and be allowed some kind of escape.

Joe DeNardo: Whether playing or listening (and we tend to do equal parts of both during a show), it's important to maintain a sense of light reverie or contemplation. It's as simple as a gentle breeze and a swaying tree.

Maelstrom: Are your anxieties on the passage as time the same as the rest of us? i.e. we've only got short time on this world, time to go and do something with it. Or are you referring to actually trying to use your music to explore different concepts of time?

Joe DeNardo: Both. The latter helps me deal with the former, in that it restructures and redefines time from a measure of “productivity” or “success/progress” into something far more determinedly personal, yet wholly outside an “individual vs. community” problematic. In some ways I think it's trying to get outside of time altogether.

Maelstrom: Most animals exist for an extremely short period of time when measured against markers in the environment, such as climate change, erosion, etc. If man is a three-minute pop song, are Growing's songs a slow process of glaciation?

Joe DeNardo: I was just thinking yesterday how sad pop music is. The commercial radio medium has defined the parameters of what's appropriate, and it's never really challenged. Our song dynamics probably seem glacial in comparison to pop music. Maybe some day we'll try to play at an ACTUAL glacial pace! Crushing...

Maelstrom: I agree with you in spirit, but let's not forget that pop music and commercial radio are not one and the same. I can think of a lot of buoyant pop music being made at the moment that positively revels in only having 3 minutes to play around with, yet would never find its way onto commercial radio. A quick three minute fix is often needed as much as your kind of music is needed; it all gives variety to the cultural landscape. Agree, or crushingly disagree?

Joe DeNardo: Yes, I think I agree with you. Actually I have no loyalty to “long” songs, in fact a lot of growing songs are around two minutes. I was referring only to “pop” as in “popular” to the large mass, or really that which is commodified for the consumption of all, decided upon by whoever. The real unfortunate [thing] is that I love some of the new jams and even their respective videos. The seemingly unavoidable overplay and glut is what kills me. Big radio literally drives each song into the ground, until something once very pleasant becomes the last thing I want to hear. I feel bad for the people that really care about their music, because it gets so abused. But whatever, I'm not exactly losing sleep over it.

Maelstrom: Can we expect more field recordings and found sounds to begin infiltrating Growing records in the future?

Joe DeNardo: They already have.

Maelstrom: A lot of people have commented on the use of the chord sequence to “Norwegian Wood” in “Tepsije” (if I remember right!). Bizarre homage to Liverpool, postmodern comment on the use of sitar in that song, or just, “hey – let's play some Beatles”?

Kevin Doria: Who are the Beatles?

Joe DeNardo: The melody from “Norwegian Wood” is played in “Cutting,” Opening, Swimming Southern Wrights” (not "Tepsije"). The titling can be a bit confusing. “Cutting...” was written a long while ago, but I’m pretty sure it started as messing around with what we thought was an original riff, which we quickly realized was not the case (Kevin and I were both listening to a lot of Beatles at the time). We think it sounds nice, and we love that song. We don’t usually play covers, but it seems more like a respectful conflation of the two worlds.

Maelstrom: Over the past ten years or so, instrumental rock music (or post-rock or whatever) has been growing in popularity, so much so that it’s weird to think that much of what forms the average college radio playlist now would probably have been decried as “hippy shit” by the late 70s/early 80s punk generation. Are we just so apathetic and self-absorbed now that instrumental music is all that we feel happy with?

Joe DeNardo: Everything happens in waves.

Kevin Doria: First, it is hippy shit. Second, who cares if we’re apathetic? What do you want to do, change the world? Music is just music. Sometimes you want to hear ambient hippy jams because you’ve heard too much rock. Sometimes you want to hear rock because you’ve heard too many hippy jams. Give it some time.

Maelstrom: Your live shows are already renowned for their ear-shattering intensity. Do your amps really go up to 11 and you want to show off, or is volume an essential part of listening to Growing?

Joe DeNardo: We have some really loud amps. But while playing loud is fun, the intention is more focused on feeling as much of the dynamic range in amplitude as possible.

Maelstrom: Are you worried about the coming war between men and machines that will erupt once Governor A.S. passes the “Skynet bill”?

Kevin Doria: Hell, no. Governor Schwarzenegger is the best thing to happen to American politics since JFK got his brains blown on to his prude wife’s lap. The Skynet bill just has a bad rep due to the poor direction of James Cameron.

Joe DeNardo: I’m unfamiliar, although I like the idea of total liberation from toil as labor, freeing us to explore new ways to engage in genuine, fulfilling, creative work, after the proliferation of robotics into all spheres of industry. Does Skynet do that?

Maelstrom: Finally - can you let me know of tours, upcoming releases, and what band.records that you're all listening to most at the moment?

Joe DeNardo: Trying to figure out a summer US tour right now, probably in July. This month sometime, Animal Disguise Records is putting out a re-issue of our 2002 tapes (Fear of Life/ Death and Five Patterns) as well as our 2x tape Above/ Below Sea Level, meant for simultaneous playback through four channels. Heroine records in Italy is pressing the CD of our split with M. Evan Burden this winter.

This spring we're trying to finish up for a split with Pelican and our next full length. We did the soundtrack for a video called “Kubota,” which is on display at the University of Washington Jacob Lawrence Gallery right now. My last year has been filled mostly with Popol Vuh, Hermann Nitsch, Bulgarian Folk Song, Trouble, Khanate (“dead”), and Young/ Zazeela Two Tamburas....

find out more about Growing at www.brainwashed.com/kranky