Pinback - "Not rocking...but heavier!"

Pinback are a cornerstone band for early new millennium rock, important in a quiet way, known by everyone with more than a passing interest in the scene. Founding members Zach Smith and Rob Crowe have become so prolific that it's hard to separate music from their lives. Tours blended into routine, bedrooms became recording studios, and playing became human nature. We sat down with Zach for the release of their new album Autumn of the Seraphs to get the low down on his musical life, and his life as a musical.

The title of the new album almost sounds like it could be the title for a Lord of the Rings spin-off, explain please sir…

"It's just a follow on from our last one [2004's Summer in Abbadon] and it relates as Summer being hell and Autumn as heaven and what not, they're opposing in a yin-yang kind of way. But we didn't think about titles until the very end; Rob has named every one of our albums and he blurted that one out. There are some hidden secrets about it too but I'm not going to give those away."

Outrageous. Pinback has been known as a bedroom endeavour in the past. Is this still the case?

"Not really, the first couple of albums were that way but Summer was over in a new place. My dad owns the building; he designed it and had a room that he turned into a studio. It just happens to be twenty feet away from my bed if I want."

For something recorded in a comfortable place, this album is more intense than the all out good fun of the last. Can you put your finger on why?

"First off, it has to do with the drums; on the past records we've used electronic drums and that's really great but we wanted to have something with more beat and just, I dunno, not to say the word rocking… but heavier. It's easy to write music that's melodic and soft, that stuff comes natural to us but there's this other side that's more raw and rough and loud and explosive. That comes across a little bit with this album."

Have the fans reacted well to the subtle shift in genre?

"Yeah, we don't know the whole reaction quite yet but to be honest it doesn't really matter to us. It's not that we don't listen to our fans but we're super into this record and we really believe in it. The first album we wrote we just got together and wrote songs, we weren't planning on releasing it or anything. We just finished some songs and we were like 'Hey we have a lot of songs here, you wanna release it?!' We were never trying to follow a genre or anything and people put us in one because they're always doing that, but we're just two guys saying 'Hey! Wanna write some music?' We're not trying to be rock stars, so I don't mind if this album sells one copy or one thousand."

But how do you feel about it leaking online, months in advance?

"It only bums me out for a couple reasons: Touch and Go are putting a lot of effort into the album and the only way a record label stays alive is by selling a lot of records. When it's leaked and people don't buy the album, it doesn't hurt the band as much because we can still go out and tour and the fans will support us, but it hurts the label and I don't think the fans know about that. TaG have been around for 20 years, they've released some great stuff and they're really affected by this because they don't sell a million records. So you're putting out the little record labels. I wouldn't care if this was Atlantic.

"The other part of it is that people set up tours around the release date. We played a show a couple of days ago and we asked the people there how many of them downloaded our new album - a ton of hands went up. So we're sitting around waiting to do something we could be doing now and it takes the wind out of our sales. So that hurts badly, if a ton of people downloaded, heard and liked the album then, well, shoot, why aren't we touring now? Because our album comes out in September..."

During your downtime, you've been recording a new album with your old band Three Mile Pilot, how's that going?

"We're best of friends, so we've always messed around a little here and there but we really did try and get somewhere this last time. The fans have been asking us when we'll make another record for the last ten years so now we're back, recording and having fun at the same time."

Rob's also in a band called Goblin Cock; does that kind of imagery make you uncomfortable?

"It doesn't make me uncomfortable at all! He's got a new band every month, depending on whatever mood he's in. He's a really prolific guy, he can write tons of songs and he needs outlets for it. He's super into death metal so this was sort of his way to get it out of his system."

So is this a conscious effort to separate his other modes from his 'Pinback' style?

"We've been doing things so long it's not like we have to work at the 'Pinback' style. If he's in another mode it doesn't just get washed away, but when we sit down it's our own thing. It might be an influence, sure, but Pinback isn't sounding like Goblin Cock."