From Stratford 4: Sheetal (Bass) and Jake (Guitar)
YC: You just finished your tour with Beulah. How was it?
Jake: It was amazing. It was good to be with bunch of guys who were enjoying being on the road. I mean...a lot of times people take things too seriously, but these guys (Beulah) decided to have a good time because it was their last tour, so that made it overall a lot more fun.
Sheetal: And the crowds were very great. It was very exciting.
Jake: A lot of all-age shows. It was like a treat because we rarely get to play all these shows. And we got to play at the fillmore!! It was like the best thing ever.
YC: Yeah! Was it fun?
Jake: Oh it was amazing. Just look out and see sea of people, you know? And it was the biggest show we've ever played in San Francisco anyways.
YC: Do you prefer big venues like the Fillmore or smaller ones?
Sheetal: I don't think size matters so much, it's more about the crowd. As long as the crowd is into it, and you feel the energy that's going on with the crowd...that's really important.
Jake: Yeah, and we've had just as bad shows playing the last 10 years, and we played to a lot of people as well as playing to just two people...it goes either way.
YC: So was the whole tour about 2 months on the road?
Sheetal: It was actually just 3 weeks. So it wasn't that long.
Jake: Yeah and we just basically completed a show a day while we were out there, and we had to drive all the way out to New York to start it.
YC: So you crossed the continent from east back to west...
Jake: Yeah that's what we did.
YC: How did you guys meet each other?
Sheetal: (looking at Jake) Do you want to tell the story about it?
Jake: No go ahead.
Sheetal: Jake and Andrea were in a band together before, and they moved out here from Seattle, and I met them and we formed a band. So it was just 3 of us for a really long time, and we were looking for a singer and went through a couple of them but no one really worked all that well. Then Christopher, who used to belong to BRMC... we shared the practice space with them, and they knew we were looking for a singer, so they recommended Chris, who used to be in the band with them. So we met up, and it worked.
YC: How long ago was it?
Sheetal: Maybe 5 years ago?
Jake: 6. You think 5 but it's really 6.
Sheetal: Well this was 99 and now it's 2004, so 5.
Jake: Seems like a long time now.
Sheetal: Well, 5 years is a long time.
YC: Who has been most influential in creating your sound or style?
Sheetal: Well most of stuff...we all have our individual influences, so it's pretty hard to say. But there are some overlap...we all like British music, the 2000-music...something like My Bloody Valentine.
Jake: But then we also have a lot of respect for a lot of American bands before that time, too, like Sonic Youth.
YC: How about contemporary bands?
Jake: Yeah, we like a lot of newer bands but I wouldn't really call them straight influence. It's a little young to be calling a lot of bands that are out there now as your influences unfortunately. But I think there are a lot of good bands out there.
YC: If you get to play with any bands out there, who would that be?
Sheetal: new ones of just anyone?
YC: Just anyone.
Jake: Supergrass would be really fun. I guess they've been around long enough to be our influence...and they're a good band. And somebody like that who are having a good time while they're on tour.
YC: How do you write songs?
Sheetal: It's not really a defined process, some people bring ideas in, and we generally work them out as a band that turns into a song. That's just one way of doing it.
Jake: It's generally 3 of us...either Sheetal, Chris or myself bringing musical ideas in, but Chris writes all of the lyrics.
Sheetal: Oh he couldn't be here because he had to work...
YC: Oh that's too bad!
YC: Are you working on next album?
Jake: Oh we're done with it.
Sheetal: We recorded a record in January and February in New York at Electric lady Studios. It was a great experience. We worked with Ric Ocasek. And it was a lot of fun. We totally finished the album and mastered it. And we... our label, the label we were signed to, Electra, actually went under. So, we are currently looking for a new label.
YC: Are you looking for a label around here or are there ones you've been specifically looking into?
Sheetal: Well, there are a couple...and I won't jinx it by saying who they are, but there are a couple that we are really hoping for and talking to. But we're open to offers. We just want to make sure that we find a label that's really enthusiastic about the record, and...
Jake: Enthusiastic and somewhat ethical.
(Everyone laughs)
YC: Yeah I can see how that's important.
Jake: Yeah that's like the biggest lesson we've learned. Doesn't matter indie or major...they all do something wrong along the way.
YC: Do you guys have your own lawyer?
Sheetal: Yes, we have one who's been working with us the past year...
Jake: with no pay.
YC: Wow, that's generous. So how long did it take to complete the album?
Sheetal: We finished it pretty quickly.
Jake: Yeah, we did the record in a month and half. We were writing for good 3 months straight before we went in. We were signed before we went on a tour, we got off the road, had to write a record...so we got off road in what September...?
Sheetal: October
Jake: October, so as soon as we got back, we started writing and started.
Sheetal: Yeah we were told to write whole bunch of songs...like 20 or 30 songs...and we were like ŇOh sure, no problem!" So we just worked hard and focused on arranging stuff and recorded the whole thing.
YC: So just to give an idea to those who are starting to form a band or create music...if you're gone to New York to record something for a few months...and there are people like Chris who has a job on the side...how does that work?
Sheetal: Ohh, it's really tough. Obviously you need to work especially if you live in a city like San Francisco because it's really expensive to live. For a long time, we...any vacation time we had from our jobs, we would use it to tour. And we have to take time off from work sometimes...so it's really hard. But you kind make sacrifices but eventually you get to a level where you can do it, because suddenly Electra was giving us money to live off of it and they paid for our expensive in New York so it was really good.
Jake: And we are actually all planning to keep working part time when we go back home, and not working was hardly an option. I mean we got signed and stuff...but Sheetal and I got laid off. See we're broke.
Sheetal: See, it was a weird coincidence. When we got back from New York in February, I got laid off and I haven't had a job, but we haven't really been doing anything musically either, you know? We're just waiting for all the legal situation to work out and sign a new label and stuff like that.
YC: Is this situation frustrating?
Sheetal: Oh, it's incredibly frustrating.
YC: Is it?
Sheetal: Well, for me, it is.
Jake: Well we're all frustrated but I mean you just have to...
Sheetal: I mean our advise to people out there...you practice after you get off work, like 7 to 10 or whatever...and you have to keep doing it and you have to really enjoy doing it because there is no guarantee that anything will come out of it outside of hopefully creating some great music.
Jake: Any man who thinks they can make money doing it is fooling themselves.
Sheetal: There are much much easier way to make money.
Jake: That's the thing. I have friends who are...have no professional training, like construction workers and electricians and they're making way more money than I will ever make, you know?
Sheetal: (Laughs) But it's a choice.
Jake: Yeah, it's a total choice. I could have worked for a dot-com but I chose that let me go out on a tour.
YC: Have you gone internationally on a tour?
Sheetal: We haven't toured internationally yet.
YC: Any plan to do it?
Sheetal: Oh yeah, I mean that was one thing that disappointed us because we had pulled out our records from our last label, but neither was ever released in the UK, and everyone has told us "Oh you'll do so well in England"...and I think we would. And we have a really good manager now...we just met this woman while we were in New York in February, and she's now working with us. And she's British and she knows a lot of people in radio and stuff in England, and she sent advanced copies of our record over there, and everyone was very crazy about us...saying things like "this could be very big." So we're hoping that...we're just going to focus on UK for now, make sure we get a separate deal over there, we go and play...and it would be fun. It'd be great for me because I haven't been back there since I left. It's going be a different experience. I told myself I'd go back...I was so sad when I left because I wanted to stay, I felt defeated by the whole thing (to stay in England), and I thought, "you know I'm gonna come back here, and it's going to be a totally different situation." Like, "they're gonna want me."
YC: Haha, London is calling you. So when will this be released to public?
Sheetal: Um, we're hoping that the actual record will be released probably sometime early next year.
YC: Will this be different from Love and Distortion?
Jake: Oh it's a very angry record.
Sheetal: While we were working on this record...we were in a legal battle with the other people.
Jake: We were in a situation that wasn't very nice...
Sheetal: Yes, we were all very frustrated, and I think that came out in a record...it's kind of edgy and kind of dark record. Not very romantic (like Love and Distortion).
Jake: It's basically...lyrically a lot more aggressive, and it's a lot more...yeah it's angry. I mean..for whatever reasons. We've been nice up until this point but now we're pissed. It's not just even we were angry because things were happening to us, but things happening to the world piss you off on top of everything else, like the president throwing us into the war, people losing their lives on both sides, people in the city not giving the shit...that just comes out.
YC: I saw you linking to moveon.org on your site, and I also saw that you (Sheetal) and Andrea involved in the community stuff...is this something you're practicing as a band or more like personal involvement?
Sheetal: It's pretty personal. We're all individuals, and we don't do everything together as a band.
Jake: I mean if situations come up where we can help out, organization as a band, we'll do it, but on a personal level, nobody is...Sheetal and I are a little bit more politically-minded than the others and that's their choice.
YC: So once this legal...(choke)...bullshit...works out
Sheetal: That's a great word for it.
YC: great...well then what's your plan, going on a tour?
Jake: World domination.
YC: domination...musically or politically?
Jake: Oh musically. We'll leave the political domination to others.
Sheetal: Yeah, we wanna tour. We want to go to Japan, we wanna go to Europe. We just wanna play and release the record to make sure a lot of people hear it. And tour the US obviously.
YC: Is there any city in the US you would like to go to that you haven't stopped at?
Jake: I think we've been to them all. We've pretty much seen all major cities...but there are definitely ones that we like a lot and like going back to.
YC: Which ones are they?
Jake: Like Chicago is always a blast for us, and New York.
YC: Is the energy among crowds totally different from city to city?
Jake: Yeah, I mean Chicago crowds are...they're probably the most enthusiastic crowds but Chicago is really a music-minded city.
Sheetal: And people are not really pretentious. Maybe it's a mid-western thing. If they like something, they'll actually show some enthusiasm instead of trying to look cool.
YC: So you like to see people's reaction to your music.
Sheetal: Oh yeah.
Jake: You can say anything you want but in the end of the day, that's why you get on the stage, you want to see people get off on what you do.
Sheetal: And it feeds back to you. It helps you perform better.
YC: Well hopefully people will react at the Bottom of the Hill.
Sheetal: Yeah hopefully.
YC: Who are you playing with on Thursday?
Sheetal: We're playing with a band from Santa Cruz called Bethany Curve and another local band called the Other side.
YC: Have you played with them before?
Sheetal: We've played with the Other Side bunch of times but we've never played with Bethany Curve.
Jake: Both bands are really good.
YC: Well, I'm looking forward to your show on Thursday!
An interview with The Stratford 4 by Yuko Chapman
Photography: Keith Martin
