Interview: Zak Kaplan of Smalltalk
Zak Kaplan, best known for his design work (Rogue State Design) and
for playing in bands such as The Ratchets, Worthless United and
Detournement, took some time to answer a few questions about his new
band. They call themselves Smalltalk and they recently released a video
for the song “Fountain Of You”.
How did Smalltalk come about and who’s in this new band of yours?
Usual scenario, a couple friends with shared musical interests, a basement full of equipment, a few beers and a couple hits of acid, standard deal. We’ve all been in and/or currently are in other bands, some of those other bands are quite popular in certain circles, but Smalltalk is its own thing, if you want the “featuring members of” list you’ll have to track it down yourself.
People don’t know a lot about the band except for the video you released a little while ago. How would you describe what it is you’re doing? It doesn’t sound like anything I’ve heard from you before.
I don’t know how to describe it. It’s poppy, it’s noisy. Twenty years ago I could have called it an “Indie” band and you would probably have a decent idea of what it sounds like but I don’t think that term is much of a describer anymore. It’s influenced by the catalogs of labels such as Creation, Sarah, Postcard, 4AD, etc. etc.
Have you been getting any response so far?
Yeah, the response has been great. There has been a lot of amazing support from some people that I really respect. Local radio has been playing us, a number of blogs and podcasts and things like that have been getting behind us. Overall, I’m really happy with the response. I’ve also read some of the enlightened comments coming off the “punk” news outlets, and entertaining as they may be, we’re not really concerned if fans of our previous bands take to this or not, but whatever, it is what it is.
Looks like it was freezing at the video-shoot. How come you decided to shoot it on the beach in the middle of the winter?
It was so cold! Might have been one of the coldest days of the year. We just wanted to shoot a quick, easy, simple video, and since we live just a few blocks from the ocean, it was a no brainer to take advantage of that resource. But we were not expecting it to be so cold that day. We almost cancelled because it was snowing and too dark. It was pretty brutal, I thought I had frost-bite after the first take. But then the sky opened up, the sun came out, warmed up just a couple degrees, and we were able to knock the thing out.
From what I’ve heard Smalltalk have an LP coming out this spring, is that correct?
Nope, not correct. We have a 3 song EP that we pressed 100 copies of, we’ll have some available at our shows and maybe we’ll sell a few online, but they are primarily for promotional use. We start recording again this week. We don’t have any set plans for an official release at the moment; we’re holding out for a multi-million dollar deal, until then everything will be super limited vinyl and hopefully more videos.
You guys have other bands as well. Is Smalltalk a “side-project” or do you see yourselves as a “ready to tour and make more records” kind of band? What are your expectations?
Aside from getting that multi-million dollar recording contract, I don’t think we have any expectations. We are just going to keep writing and recording, we’ll play shows if and when things are offered to us, and if they seem like things we want to do, we’ll do them. If there is a reason to go tour, if there is a demand to do so, then we will go on tour. But to be honest, I’m the most happy just playing in the basement with my friends once a week, anything more than that is just icing on the cake.
How did Smalltalk come about and who’s in this new band of yours?
Usual scenario, a couple friends with shared musical interests, a basement full of equipment, a few beers and a couple hits of acid, standard deal. We’ve all been in and/or currently are in other bands, some of those other bands are quite popular in certain circles, but Smalltalk is its own thing, if you want the “featuring members of” list you’ll have to track it down yourself.
People don’t know a lot about the band except for the video you released a little while ago. How would you describe what it is you’re doing? It doesn’t sound like anything I’ve heard from you before.
I don’t know how to describe it. It’s poppy, it’s noisy. Twenty years ago I could have called it an “Indie” band and you would probably have a decent idea of what it sounds like but I don’t think that term is much of a describer anymore. It’s influenced by the catalogs of labels such as Creation, Sarah, Postcard, 4AD, etc. etc.
Have you been getting any response so far?
Yeah, the response has been great. There has been a lot of amazing support from some people that I really respect. Local radio has been playing us, a number of blogs and podcasts and things like that have been getting behind us. Overall, I’m really happy with the response. I’ve also read some of the enlightened comments coming off the “punk” news outlets, and entertaining as they may be, we’re not really concerned if fans of our previous bands take to this or not, but whatever, it is what it is.
Looks like it was freezing at the video-shoot. How come you decided to shoot it on the beach in the middle of the winter?
It was so cold! Might have been one of the coldest days of the year. We just wanted to shoot a quick, easy, simple video, and since we live just a few blocks from the ocean, it was a no brainer to take advantage of that resource. But we were not expecting it to be so cold that day. We almost cancelled because it was snowing and too dark. It was pretty brutal, I thought I had frost-bite after the first take. But then the sky opened up, the sun came out, warmed up just a couple degrees, and we were able to knock the thing out.
From what I’ve heard Smalltalk have an LP coming out this spring, is that correct?
Nope, not correct. We have a 3 song EP that we pressed 100 copies of, we’ll have some available at our shows and maybe we’ll sell a few online, but they are primarily for promotional use. We start recording again this week. We don’t have any set plans for an official release at the moment; we’re holding out for a multi-million dollar deal, until then everything will be super limited vinyl and hopefully more videos.
You guys have other bands as well. Is Smalltalk a “side-project” or do you see yourselves as a “ready to tour and make more records” kind of band? What are your expectations?
Aside from getting that multi-million dollar recording contract, I don’t think we have any expectations. We are just going to keep writing and recording, we’ll play shows if and when things are offered to us, and if they seem like things we want to do, we’ll do them. If there is a reason to go tour, if there is a demand to do so, then we will go on tour. But to be honest, I’m the most happy just playing in the basement with my friends once a week, anything more than that is just icing on the cake.
Links & Further Information:
https://facebook.com/smalltalkplus
https://facebook.com/smalltalkplus
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