Rogue Wave Face Their Biggest Challenge Yet

“Every day.” That’s how frequently Zach Schwartz felt like giving up while making Asleep at Heaven’s Gate (Brushfire), his band Rogue Wave’s new album. “Whenever there’s a song that I ended up feeling like I was happy with, there was always a point in it where we went down a path where I was scared,” says the vocalist/guitarist. “I was like, ‘This song is a waste of time.’ You feel like you don’t know where to go.”

It’s been only two years since Oakland’s sinewy and poetic indie rockers released their critically lauded sophomore LP, Descended Like Vultures, and they went through what most bands do in twenty. Schwartz and his wife had their first child, a baby girl. The band switched from legendary indie label Sub Pop—Nirvana’s onetime home—to Brushfire, a major label imprint owned by Curious George troubadour Jack Johnson. And most importantly, they took about a year off to work only on music. That’s when the tedium began, frustrating the usually affable Schwartz.

“The first song on the record, [‘Harmonium’], it took me a long time to get it from a demo to an actual arranged song,” Schwartz says. “I was saying I want this huge opener for the record, having this huge, epic song that… right out the gate we encapsulate all our ambition as a band and, right there, the first song is a very strong statement. And I made the demo—I did it with like a drum machine and a piano, and [drummer Pat Spurgeon] didn’t really hear that. He was like, ‘I hear this quiet song here. How are you going to get from there to what you’re saying?’ It took a long time in the studio.”

That was just the beginning. Working with co-producer Roger Moutenot (Yo La Tengo, John Mayer), the group recorded partly in upstate Cali. Upon returning to Oakland, they found that the sessions’ tape changed speeds, and they had to pitch-correct every note of every instrument, which slowed their process even more. It got so bad that they just re-recorded some of the parts. This alone took over a month and a half, followed by another couple of weeks just for mixing. In the end, it became Rogue Wave’s labor of love, and for Schwartz, it was worth it.

“It’s hard to be precious with songs in the studio, because you can’t ever make headway,” the singer reflects. “When someone’s making a recommendation, you maybe try it in a completely different manner, like letting your guard down. It’s good to try different things and to let go. The more you let go the better the songs can be, I think.”

This entry was posted by RNYK on Wednesday, November 28th, 2007 at 8:20 am