Earlier this week, I reviewed Secret Grief's excellent new album The Sea of Trees. I was also able to reach out to the band and got an opportunity for an interview. I talked to Scott Nelson, Secret Grief's lead singer and founder of Triple Deke Records, about the band's history, influences, and what's next for Triple Deke. You can stream The Sea of Trees on the band's Bandcamp page as well as Spotify.
Scott, thank you so much for doing this. You've been recording music with different bands, with your work as Tiger! Tiger! serving as a precursor of sorts to what is now Secret Grief. But The Sea of Trees is your first real full-length album as Secret Grief. Can you explain what led the band to this point, and what went into the recording of the album?
Scott Nelson: More than anything, it's been a weird ride up to this point. The roller coaster metaphor is so cliche and overused, but we really have had our share of soaring heights, and troubling lows. Making The Sea Of Trees was almost a two year experience that tested our commitments to this band, as well as music in general. Along the way we lost a member, sold our van, lost and gained personal relationships, and struggled to actually get the album recorded. Fortunately, these hardships didn't break us and we've come out on the other side with an album that we are proud of, and regained our enthusiasm for the band.
We started demoing and writing the songs for the record in March of 2013. Recording started in early November of 2013 when we went to Chicago to record drums with Mark Michalik. Mark has recorded stuff for me in the past and is an awesome engineer. He's worked with a lot of really cool bands, too. After that we returned home to Michigan and started tracking all of the remaining instrumentation with our friend Jake who is in a band called The Fever Haze. This would happen on sporadic weekends where it would usually just be Jake, one other band member, and myself. I don't think we were all in the same room recording until the final weekend in the Summer of 2014 when we finished up all the instrument tracking.
In August, I went back to Chicago to record the vocals for the album with Mark. Mark then mixed the record before it was mastered by Carl Saff. We received those in the first week of February this year and decided that we just wanted to get the album out and not wait any longer. Plus, our music is much better suited for the colder months, so we didn't want a Spring/Summer release. And that brings us to the present.
The description of the record that you sent me mentions Brand New, Cursive, and Death Cab for Cutie as influences/stylistic comparisons for the album. Is there any other music that inspired you while recording The Sea of Trees, perhaps some that might not be as easily heard on the record?
SN: Pink Floyd was actually a huge inspiration for the record. It doesn't shine through as much as we'd like, but there were a few sessions where we spent a good chunk just listening to Dark Side of the Moon or Wish You Were Here and trying to figure out ways to emulate some of the sounds that they were making.
Gatsbys American dream is also a big influence on everything I do musically. I've seen some people on the internet say that "The Black Horse Of Night" sounds like a Gatsbys song. That's cool. They're approach to music, especially with eschewing traditional choruses, is always prevalent within my songwriting. That's why they're my favorite band and will forever play a role in the music I make. Even if it doesn't necessarily sound like it.
Gatsby's American Dream is one of those bands that I've always loved and thought they've never gotten their due, so I love to hear they influenced you. Aside from your work with Secret Grief, you're also the founder of Triple Deke Records. What can we expect from your label this year?
SN: The two big releases this year will be this Secret Grief record and then a new LP from a band called The Fever Haze. I'm trying to focus really hard on those two releases to use them as a stepping stone to start growing the label more. I've been doing it for a few years now and it's been pretty stagnant. I'd like to use this year and into next to grow a little more. There probably will be a few other releases this year, but nothing set in stone as of right now.
At this point in your career you've played a variety of different kinds of shows. From house shows to opening for other bands to playing festivals like Bled Fest, how does a band approach these different atmospheres when preparing for a concert?
SN: I like to think that we have the same approach for all of them which is: go play our songs the best that we can and hope that the people watching us enjoy what we have to offer. Obviously things are a little different when you're playing in a basement and are inches away from everyone at the show all night than if you're playing on a stage or at a festival, but we try our best to give the same level of performance regardless of venue (or even number of people in attendance). I personally like playing the bigger shows more because I don't feel like I have to talk in between songs as much and that is my least favorite thing about playing shows.
One last question: Now that The Sea of Trees is released, what are Secret Grief's plans going forward?
SN: We have quite a few shows around Michigan through May. I'm taking classes right now so unfortunately we are unable to tour until the summer. We're throwing around the idea of doing a full US tour (something like 6-7) weeks. The positive response we've gotten from the record so far helps with convincing us since we would be booking it and doing everything ourselves.
Sometime this year we have a split with the band The Most Dangerous Animal coming out as well as a song on a Jawbreaker compilation that our friend Tony at Save Your Generation Records is putting out. We also hope to have our next LP written and started recording by the end of 2015.
