Tape Deck Mountain Avoid Egos, San Diego 'Sound' -- Top 100 Acts at SXSW 2011

Posted on Mar 3rd 2011 7:15PM by Arielle Castillo
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Tape Deck Mountain

Travis Trevisan never wanted to be a frontman. He got his musical start playing saxophone in the school band, and even when he discovered Smashing Pumpkins, the Verve and Spiritualized, he was more interested in playing guitar than hogging the spotlight.

After playing in dozens of bands with musicians who would often flake out or move away, Trevisan took matters into his own hands and formed his own project, Tape Deck Mountain. The earliest material drew heavily from his favorite English shoegaze acts, but with its newly fleshed-out lineup, the band has been branching off in new directions. In an interview with Spinner, Trevisan discussed the genesis of his group's "mid-fi" sound.

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What was the first music of you were truly a fan, and what inspired you to start playing?

Neil Young was super. My dad would listen to Neil Young a lot. Then in high school, I liked Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead and Spiritualized while the other kids were listening to Blink-182. There wasn't the Internet, really, so you had to search out bands in magazines and stuff. I found out [about good music] through Radiohead and Smashing Pumpkins name-dropping bands like Guided by Voices.

My first concert was Smashing Pumpkins, on the tour behind 'Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.' Billy Corgan -- he was so cool then. He was just this huge dude, a giant rock legend walking around.

I never wanted to be a frontman, though. I was into the Verve and the guitar player in the Verve, Nick McCabe. I always wanted to be the lead guitar player, because the frontmen always kick people out and break up the band with their egos.

Finally I'd been in, like, 40 bands, and I was like, "I have to write my own music." You have to write your own music if you want a steady band, and if you want to be able to go anywhere.

You grew up in San Diego. When you first started playing, was there anyone else in the local music scene into the same things as you?

Not really. There's a San Diego sound they do, which is either pop-punk or like a Pinback influence. Relatively few people listen to shoegaze and cool psychedelic stuff. People are really into beaches and burritos and bullshit like that. I love the beach, and I love burritos, but I don't want to hear that music. It's boring; that's what I experience every day.

I was in this band that was first called Liberty Park, but then Linkin Park came out, so we changed our name to Holiday Minor. It was a Britpop kind of band, in a Blur-Verve style. We played a couple of years and then college got in the way. Somebody was going away and couldn't do the band.

After that, when did you start Tape Deck Mountain?

It was around 2008. I just started writing the songs on the 'Sparks' EP and recorded them with my neighbor. That's when I wrote that song 'Scantrons.' I was done with school, but at the time, I was having nightmares that I was missing class. I guess it was post-grad stress syndrome.

I always had that slightly British and shoegaze sound to my guitar playing, because that's how I learned to play guitar, by learning those records. I was also influenced by the Magnetic Fields and quirky lyrics like that. Those were the first songs I wrote, so I feel like I'm kind of growing out of that. I'm not even listening to that stuff as much; I still think it's cool, but I'm trying to advance.

You've described your music in other interviews as "mid-fi." Is that just a result of the recording tools at your disposal? Do you have more sweeping visions for your production in the future?

That was kind of a joke, because for a while, the only bands getting attention were these lo-fi bands. We just make music with the materials and the budget that we have. I think it falls in between those two, something like really high-fidelity and something that's lo-fi. I think the next record is not going to be this huge production, because we don't have that kind of budget.

Last year was the first year your band played SXSW. What was the experience like? Do you think it helped raise your profile?

People take you more seriously when you go out to these things. I felt like SXSW last year was a clusterf--- of bands. When there are a billion bands, how do you stand out? I don't think we really stood out last year, but we'll see how we do this year.

It's a fun time. You can't really go there expecting anything. It's just so many so many bands -- so many good bands, so many crappy bands too. It's hard to stick out to the crowd. I don't think we really did that much last year, you know. We played some showcases, and they were awesome and a lot of fun, but I have a little higher expectations this year. Hopefully we'll get our necks a little more above the water.

Watch Tape Deck Mountain's Video for 'Scantrons'