Single File History
 While
there is undoubtedly a universal quality to the Denver-based rock trio’s
story – that hard work and unswerving dedication to one’s craft can pay
off, particularly when combined with a little luck – it’s probably safe
to say that most people don’t spend a big chunk of their twenties
tooling around the U.S. in an RV named Maggie Mae and nipping into gas
stations to fill its water tank before the attendant catches on. “We
were little pirates, just living in this crappy RV,” says Anderson.
“We drove, we promoted on MySpace, we played shows – that’s all we did,”
remembers Joe Ginsberg, who alternates on bass and guitar with Anderson.
“We’d post – ‘hey, if you want to bring non-perishables or water to the
show, we’ll hook you up with some free merch.’”
“It’s important to maintain a sense of humor, because if you can’t laugh
at yourself and at the things that happen to you, you’re not really
enjoying life to the fullest,” adds drummer Chris Depew.
Their collective sense of humor has seen the three friends through a
tumultuous decade together. Anderson and Depew started playing music
together in junior high, when they rigged up a drum kit out of cardboard
boxes, Legos and G.I. Joe parts. Upon meeting Ginsberg in high school,
they immediately clicked as a trio but took separate paths after
graduation. In time, Anderson – who had moved to North Carolina and was
working as an artist at a video game company – began writing songs over
the phone with Ginsberg, who was studying jazz at U.S.C. in Los Angeles.
Collaborating became easier once Activision offered Anderson a job in
L.A. and relocated him. The two recorded Single File’s first EP, As You
Were , in Anderson’s office after hours. They gigged around a bit,
working with a local drummer, and self-releasing a second EP, Heartbreak
& Masturbation, in 2004. Things just weren’t the same without Depew, who
was still living in Colorado, so the pair coaxed him to join them in Los
Angeles – just in time for a poorly planned tour that December.
“We had no clue about promotion, we were like, ‘let’s just show up,
maybe people will be there,” says Anderson. They self-released a third
EP, My Best Defense, which landed them a feature on MySpace, which in
turn led to the opportunity to play two dates on the Vans Warped tour.
They wound up playing to the line in the parking lot for the rest of the
tour – in between gigs they’d booked in nearby cities. It was at the
Dark Room, a venue in Baton Rouge, LA, that they reached a turning
point. With no money left after filling Maggie Mae’s gas tank, should
they just quit – or should they dig in and try even harder? The trio
decided that when the summer tour was over, they’d stick their stuff in
storage and hit the road for the long haul .. They had learned the
importance of playing all-ages shows, hooking up with bands that were
the local favorites and hitting the same cities repeatedly, so their fan
base was growing.
In 2006, Single File recorded a full-length album with Ed Rose (Motion
City Soundtrack, The Get Up Kids), who had mixed My Best Defense. They
eventually shelved the record, feeling it didn’t represent their full
potential, but released one song on their MySpace Page – “Zombies Ate My
Neighbors,” a surreal, garage rock anthem involving an ex-girlfriend.
After wrapping up their second Warped tour, Anderson submitted “Zombies
Ate My Neighbors” (a subsequent version of which appears on
Common
Struggles) as a lark to Denver hard rock station KBPI, which
was having a contest for local bands. It caught the attention of KBPI’s
program director who, knowing it didn’t fit his format, sent it on to a
colleague at KTCL, the Clear Channel alternative station in Denver. The
song, which takes its name from a Super Nintendo game Anderson played as
a child, climbed to No. 1 at KTCL, where it stayed for four weeks. Indie
and major labels took note, and in April 2007, Single File was signed to
Reprise Records by Craig Aaronson, who had worked with many of their
favorite bands (My
Chemical Romance, Less Than Jake, Jimmy Eat World).
“We went in the studio right after we got signed and it was a little too
soon,” says Ginsberg. Working with producer Howard Benson, they laid
down seven instrumental tracks, but lyrics proved elusive. “I just shut
down,” recalls Anderson. “I had the worst writer’s block of my life.”
The sessions ended and they went out on the 2007 Vans Warped tour,
followed by some dates with The Fray. The road offered ample opportunity
to party – and thus evade the fear that they had blown their one big
chance. “But eventually we pulled our heads out of our asses and
decided, alright, we need to do this for real, we can’t let fear stand
in the way anymore,” says Anderson. The trio holed up at a mountain
cabin owned by Ginsberg’s parents and wrote the bulk of the songs for
Common
Struggles, then headed back into the studio with Benson.
“Howard was really understanding of us and where we were coming from and
the kind of record that we wanted to make,” says Ginsberg. The result is
an exuberant, adrenalin-fueled album that simultaneously celebrates and
subverts classic pop songwriting, with a tip of the hat to musical
forebears such as Tom Petty, Weezer and the Beatles. “We were really
looking for a raw-sounding record, not necessarily a grunge thing but
more that early 90s sound,” says Depew, noting how instrumental mixer
Tom Lord-Alge was in the process.
Album opener “Mannequin Loveseat” sets the tone – lighthearted on the
surface but dark around the edges as its cheeky, self-absorbed narrator
surrenders to social phobia. Bookended by the trio’s cheery whistles,
lead single “Girlfriends” details a cycle of self-loathing and
self-medication while pleading “so what if I’m a burnout, baby, you
don’t gotta celebrate it.”
While the “I don’t care” attitude and euphoric pop-rock melodies of
“Pizza Girl” and “Miss Cherry Lipgloss” mask an underlying pain, songs
like “Airports” and “Don’t Hate” confront it head on. “Three years is a
long, long time to fly standby/And pillow-talk from a cellular phone
isn’t healthy--/Neither am I,” confesses Anderson on the former, coming
to terms with the ruins of a relationship.
“Loneliness and distance are probably the two biggest themes of the
record,” he says. Yet with “Blue Sky Happiness” and “Benson Shady
Grove,” Single File emerges on the other side, finding a sense of hope
and resolve. Heady stuff for a bunch of songs that clock in at about
three minutes each.
“Yeah, we’re not messing around – none of those four or five minute long
songs,” Ginsberg jokes. “There’s a lot in there, if you’re looking for
it. If you’re not, there’s still a lot in there – or you can just bob
your head,” says Anderson. “We were going for timeless. I don’t know if
we’ve got it or not, but damn it if we didn’t try.”
Bio courtesy of
PlayMPE.com |
Listen to Music
"Girlfriends" (WM)
"Girlfriends" (QT)
“Mannequin Loveseat” (WM)
“Mannequin Loveseat” (QT)
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Tour dates with
Plain White T’s:
3/12 Thu Cleveland, OH House of Blues
3/14 Sat Detroit, MI St. Andrews Hall
3/15 Sun Grand Rapids, MI Intersection
3/16 Mon Cincinnati, OH Bogart's
3/17 Tue Milwaukee, WI The Eagles Club
3/18 Wed Minneapolis, MN Varsity Theatre
4/3 Fri Denver, CO Gothic Theater *headlining
4/5 Sun Albuquerque, NM Sunshine Theatre
4/8 Wed Mission, TX Las Palmas Race Track
4/9 Thu Houston, TX Numbers
4/10 Fri San Antonio, TX White Rabbit
4/11 Sat Dallas, TX House of Blues
4/13 Mon St. Louis, MO The Pageant
4/15 Wed Norfolk, VA NorVa
4/16 Thu Lawrenceville, GA Rider College - FREE SHOW
4/17 Fri New York, NY Blender Theatre @ Gramercy
4/18 Sat Newport, RI Salve Regina University
4/19 Sun Allentown, PA Muhlenberg College
4/21 Tue Terre Haute, IN Indiana State University
Tour Dates with Alkaline Trio and Saves the Day
4/28 New York, NY – Highline Ballroom
4/29 Pittsburgh, PA – Club Zoo
4/30 Philadelphia, PA – The Trocadero
5/1 Baltimore, MD – Sonar
5/2 New Haven, CT – Toad’s Place |
Single File
