Channel One

Music:

Member Since: 8/22/2007
Band Members: AA - DrumsDuff - BassG Hoops - Guitar/ VocalsGerm - Tenor SaxLaith - Trumpet/Back up VocalsJT - Lead Guitar
Influences: Selecter, Pietasters, Specials, Hepcat, The Toasters, The Slackers, Aggrolites, Madness, ...just too many to name, really....
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Sounds Like: "The most important thing about last night was how great Channel One sounded. To be honest, I remember The Resistors sounding like a good high school (?) ska band (damning praise, to be sure), but Channel One was a complete package. Tasteful harmonies, catchy tunes, humor, and drama were all displayed with a skilled touch. I’d be happy to go see them play again." - Bill Grady, founder/member of the influential Houston, Texas SKA band, The Suspects1. Who is Channel One and how did you all come together?Unfortunately, I give long explanations to things that can easily be related in few words….I went to work for Columbia Records after school. After Columbia, I went to BMG/RCA. Working for a major label ruined music for me. There was a 3 year period where I couldn’t even look at a guitar – and I definitely would not go see a show…of ANY kind.After I got my walking papers from RCA, I returned home. Being home, and near people I had made music with when I was younger, made me want to write songs again.So, I’d say Channel One is born out of a batch of songs I wrote right after coming home from Detroit and New York.I called Laith Fisk (trumpet) and Jeremy “Germ” Garza (sax) who I have spent almost ALL of my musical life working with. They were down for it. I met up with Jorge from Spies Like Us at a Slackers show in SA. We talked about the good old days, and I told him that I was in talks with Laith and Germ, and he said he’d be interested in jamming. Jorge introduced me to Al Amaya (drums). Duff (bass) was a friend of Laith’s. We got together and everything was cool, but I knew we needed more “beef” in our rhythm section, so I got Jason Trevino’s (lead) number from Jorge. Jason joined after seeing the band show up on time to rehearsals (rare). So, I owe a lot to Jorge for introducing me to some great people. That’s how it started.2. Channel One is considered by most as a “ska band”. Is that a label that you embrace?Man, I don’t wanna sound like a dick here. I don’t like this question and I don’t like being labeled anything other than the name of our band. I recently got a message from some guy that said we sucked and that some other band was way more “Real Ska” than us. To me, music is music is music. As a Bill Hicks used to say “Play from your fucking HEART!” So, I’m no snob. Music is hard to make and even harder to pay bills with. If you love electro house jungle boogaloo what the fuck ever dance music, then get after it.3. As the group’s primary songwriter, what are you trying to say and why are you using ska as your voice?This music has always spoken to me. All my favorite bands were influenced by ska and reggae. Costello, Blondie, Talking Heads, etc… Great ska always delivers LIVE as well. I go to straight rock shows and I get bored. I’m not really into the herky/jerky ska/punk either…but I’ve seen some very dynamic ska concerts over the years – and all the energy is a plus, most of the time. Shoegazing is for folk singers – and I LOVE folk music – but I feel that hard or loud music is a strange showcase for deep levels of introspection. I get about as complicated as a ska band should get with lyrics. Actually, the slackers are probably even more cerebral than my lyrics. The Slackers are one of my favorites, but I think Vic can be meanderingly poetic in a genre that doesn’t always call for it. Aggrolites are the OTHER way. A ton of call and response material that KILLS live. But you could make the argument that different material would hold up better on record. I’m not saying we make the right decisions all the time – I’m just trying to explain my thoughts on where I think we fit in, lyrically…4. You founded a popular ska band in the 90’s called the Resistors. Having recently returned to ska in Channel One, can you comment on how today’s scene compares with the “Third Wave” scene of the 90’s?Y’know, I’ve been as big a part of the SA ska “scene” as anybody. But I’ve never shared a secret handshake at the mall, or a knowing wink with someone at a bar. I’m very wary of calling anything or any group of people a “scene”. Depending on the city, it is evident, that people love ska and it’s influence … and they also believe in it’s live manifestation. To me, it’s all the same. Right now, we don’t have popular music or MTV to tell kids that ska is cool. So, I’m just handling it one day at a time. I’m trying to avoid label, and promote the band! A kid that is into deathcab for cutie WILL or COULD enjoy my band. And it’s up to us to let them know that.5. There have been many “Costello” references to you and your band. Why is this?Are you trying to be an asshole? There is no one on earth that sounds like Elvis. I think we’re a song-based group. We don’t jam, we don’t elongate solos. We care deeply about arrangement and length of song. We are entirely focused on melody and how the melody is treated. Costello is the same way. If anyone thinks my melodies sound like his, they are out of their fucking minds…that guy is the shit and no one could rip him off, no use trying.6. Are there any artists that you would consider a kindred spirit to you and an inspiration to what you’re trying to do with Channel One?I love all songwriters. Bucket Hingley of the Toasters. Vic from the Slackers. I’m sort of a solitary figure for the first 80% of a song. I am lucky to work with super tasty musicians that finish songs off. Jason and others in the band have their own projects. I am not a very skilled musician on the guitar, so I really don’t enjoy writing with a band. I do my homework by myself, and then present a product to the guys. I’m sure they wish I would bring in rougher nuggets for them to work with, but I am pretty set in my ways about how the melodies should go… I think Bucket and Vic are like this as well. But both of them are much more talented on their instruments. I’m almost PURELY a songwriter.7. The 2-Tone British ska movement lasted from 1979-1982. The 90’s Third Wave’s heyday was from 1994-1997. How will Channel One survive another possible “death of a ska movement”?Quailty. That’s how you survive anything. Channel One HAS to put out great records. If we can record well, and write well, then it doesn’t matter. To give everyone an example in a genre that I don’t listen to – grunge rock – Nickelback. Grunge has been dead forever. But Nickelback, regardless of what I think about them, put out GREAT songs. I don’t like the songs, but it is apparent that they are good. I mean, who can really say that they AREN’T well written tunes?8. Channel One is releasing its debut album in the fall. Can you talk a little bit about it?This album is our art. And any artist knows, that your creations are your babies. People are gonna hate the record, and I can pretend that it won’t bother me. But that record is my child and I don’t like people making fun of it on the playground. We made a great record in a short period of time with incredible people. Recorded at Keith Harter Music studios in San Antonio. Engineered and mixed by Jerry Fuentes in Seattle at a studio that doesn’t even know we were there and also at Metrosonic studios in Brooklyn, NY (where moby recently laid tracks). Mastered by Turtlestone and West West Side Music in New York City. It’s been a lot of work and I think people will dig it.9. What kind of album would you make if money, time, or any other resources were unlimited?Well, there would be a lot more overdubbing. What you hear on this record is 6 guys in a room. We played together, had minimal overdubs, and tried to capture what we actually sound like. Casual listeners do not realize what small changes can mean to the overall product. For example, I would love for the guys to be able to jam with or try many different lead lines, or different voicings, or different instruments…but there’s just no time. Being in a recording studio is like setting cash on fire.10. Desert Island: What 3 albums would you bring if you were stranded on a desert island?David Byrne “Look into the Eyeball” Sublime “40 Ounce to Freedom” David Wilcox “How Did You Find Me Here”
Record Label: Megalith Records
Type of Label: Indie