Hurricane Bells Interview: SXSW 2010

Hurricane Bells have quickly become much bigger than the personal project Steve Schlitz originally intended. After 10 years and four critically praised albums as frontman for the New York-based indie rock band Longwave, Schlitz decided to unwind after a big tour with a much smaller project. He started recording more personal songs all by himself on a simple laptop-based studio at his Brooklyn home. "I expected to put it out myself and maybe sell a thousand copies, do one little tour, probably on the East Coast, and that would be it," Steve recalls. Instead, a B side from the recordings ended up on the 'Twilight: New Moon' soundtrack, which has led to tons of attention, lots of acclaim, two currently booked national tours and even a planned second Hurricane Bells records. We caught up with Schlitz as he prepared to depart for the band's SXSW performances.

Describe your sound in your own words.

It's incredible! No, I don't know -- it's mellow, kind of late-night music.

Well, how would you explain the difference to fans of Longwave?

Oh, nice... well, it's a little mellower, less steamroller rock or big guitar, more about the vocals, but there are still guitar solos and things, still moments.

How did your band form?

I did all the recordings on my own, on my computer, as demos, then halfway through I decided I was going to just finish them all myself. Just a fun little project for myself. After it was done, I asked a few friends of mine to play with me, and here we are.

What are your musical influences?

Daniel Lanois, Dave Fridmann, M. Ward, T Bone Burnett: That's a good start, I guess.

You name a lot of artist-producers, rather than just artists.

Yeah, sure. I worked with Fridmann a few times. Dave's still a good friend, he's awesome. He's like a space alien, in the best way possible."

I think that Sleater-Kinney record he did '[The Woods'] is one of the best records of the past decade.

That's funny: They took that record to a recording conference, this magazine has a recording conference once a year. They were talking about the "volume wars" – you know, how records made today are a lot louder than records made 20 years ago? So, some producer or someone stood up and said, "This is awful! It's our responsibility to make music the way it should be made," and then held up the Sleater-Kinney record and said, "like this record! This record is bullshit!" Dave apparently was there, I think, or he heard about it later. Either way, he said he was obviously amused by the whole thing. I mean, it's just a record; who cares?

A hurricane bell is a heavy bell that hangs from a tree on the seaside, designed to only ring out when a big storm approached. How did decide to use that as your band name?

I thought it was an evocative image, I thought it fit the moodiness and the storminess of the vibe that I thought I had created on the record. It really seemed to just fit.

What's your biggest vice?

Reese's peanut butter cups. In fact, I've got the shakes; I want to eat one right now.

What's In your festival survival kit?

A plane ticket home. I almost never go as a fan; I've played tons of them. I don't know ... a bottle of water and next-of-kin contact information?

Who was your first celebrity crush?

Salma Hayek, 'From Dusk Till Dawn' -- I don't think the movie's that great, but she's pretty hot in it. The movie, it's a little ... well, it ain't 'Pulp Fiction,' that's for sure."

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

The 'Pretty in Pink' soundtrack, with the Smiths and all, but it's not really a guilty pleasure. You already got me with the Reese's, there."

Beatles or Stones?

Oh, God, do you have to pick? It's like peas and carrots -- you have to have both!

What would be your favorite song from each?

My favorite Beatles song is 'Across the Universe'; for the Stones, 'Bitch.'

What's the craziest thing you've seen on tour?

Cows stopping our tour van in the middle of India. You can't move them, you know, you can poke them with a stick and try to get them to move, but you're not supposed to physically move the cow. So if the cow is chilling and wants to take a nap, you have to wait. I heard they lay on train tracks sometimes and the train has to stop.

That wouldn't fly in our culture.

No, especially 'cause the people on the trains would have hamburgers in their hands.


Matthew Wilkening is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.