No Age Enlist Third Member for Live Shows

Enlisting a third member for live shows wasn't a tough choice for Los Angeles noise-punk duo No Age. The band's new album, 'Everything in Between,' is complex enough that guitarist Randy Randall and drummer Dean Spunt wanted a little help with the samples and electronic sounds that underpin their music.

"Most of the songs on the new record are impossible to play with just us two," Spunt tells Spinner. Instead of having to trigger samples and twiddle knobs while also singing and playing traditional instruments, the pair enlisted William Kai Strangeland-Menchaca to handle those duties.

"We're not circus bears," Spunt says with a laugh. "I want to make stuff sound good, and it got almost to the point where I was trying to impress myself, like, 'Look what I can do!'"

So far, having less to focus on is having a positive effect.

"It's made us more confident," Spunt says. "Before, we pulled off the songs in a way that they fell short of the way they needed to sound. There was always a third element to us, which was the noise kind of sample element, and we used to do that ourselves. Now it lives as its own piece, and it fills up the sound more."

No Age first contemplated adding a third musician onstage after last year's EP, 'Losing Feeling,' which featured a pair of songs the band found difficult to adequately recreate live. Although a handful of purists objected, Spunt says it's definitely for the best.

"People were like, 'You're a two-piece. You can't add a third member,'" Spunt says. "But if it sounds better, it doesn't matter."

'Everywhere in Between' is due Sept. 28 on Sub Pop. Check out No Age performing with their new member below.