28 july 2006 -

EXCLUSIVE Interview: Irving
Chuck Norton, deadjournalist.com

If you drink cheap wine all the time, you tend to forget just how smooth a good glass of wine can be. The same can be said with music - too much music is just good enough to quench your thirst - but not good enough leave you with a sense of enjoyment and satisfaction.

The Los Angeles collective, Irving, is like a good glass of wine - smooth, satisfying and enjoyable. Blending classic California rock with radio-friendly pop sensibility, Irving released its first full-length album, Death In The Garden, Blood On The Flowers, earlier this year.

With three vocalists and five songwriters, Irving is more of a collective than a traditional one vocal lead band. Formed in 2001, the group's current line-up of Aaron Burrows, Alex Church, Brent Turner, Brian Canning and Steven Scott has been working together since late-2002.

Although five songwriters and three singers could cause disjointedness and lack of direction, Irving's ability to utilize different sounds and vocalists is a strong-point. The collective's musical diversity can be heard in the tracks "If You Say Jump, I Will Say No", "Jen, Nothing Matters to Me" and "Situation".

For more information on the band, visit their Web site: www.thebandirving.com or their MySpace.com page: http://www.myspace.com/irving.

DeadJournalist.com caught up with Irving's Steven Scott for this exclusive interview.

Is it true that Irving originally formed to support a friend's art opening?

SS: Yes, sort of. Brian, Alex and I were writing songs together when a friend asked us to play her friends art show. So we got a keyboard player and a drummer, and called ourselves Irving.

Did you think that you'd take the band this far when you started?

SS: Yes. After our first show, we thought we were headed for the big-time! Antony Bland (Crysalis Music) was there and offered to manage us. I actually called my mom and told her that I was gonna be huge! Its embarrassing now, but that's what happened.

What has been the biggest change musically in the band since Good Morning Beautiful was release in 2002?

SS: Well we changed keyboard players and aged 4 years! We got better musically and lyrically. We became a little less "cute".

The band has worked with producers from such bands as The Shins, Earlimart, Grandaddy and Modest Mouse. How has this helped you grow as artists?

SS: Well, our buddy Aaron Espinoza from Earlimart engineered our first record. And Jim from Granddaddy is our friend too, so honestly, they were there engineering and giving us encouragement. It's always fun to work with friends!

Phil Ek (Modest Mouse, the Shins) showed us how fast things can get done - when they need to. He's the best. Everyone forgets Elliot Chenault even though he produced more than half the record! He's really good too! He did our EP. Hopefully folks will talk about him in the future.

What has been the most satisfying part of your success?

SS: Well, success is all relative, you know? We still have a long way to go if you ask me. Not that I need to be rich or anything, but it'd be nice to be at the Shins level. That said, I've got a lot of friends that would love to be at our place.

It's not hard to play in front of a crowd - it's hard to play for 7 people who are questioning why they even came, you know? The most satisfying part of any success is that it proves that its worth all the effort.

Since the release of Death in the Garden, Blood on the Flowers, have you seen a change in fan response at your shows?

SS: The response to this record has been really nice. It's a fun record to listen to. It's dancey but thoughtful. That can be a fun show to see. We play lots of the new songs and only a few old ones.

It used to be that we'd get a good reaction to the new ones, and people shouting and singing along to the old ones. But when we played at the Knitting Factory in NYC, Brian said, "We're gonna play some of the older songs now." and like, five or six people actually booed! It was weird. Good, but weird.

What can someone expect from an Irving live performance?

SS: We all sing live. We usually only do three lead singers but everyone pitches in vocally. It's very energetic. I think people don't really expect to see that but we play all the rock songs, and keep it really fun.

You've had the opportunity to play with some of the most influential artists of the last decade. Was there an artist or group with whom you were most excited to perform?

SS: Oh, that's hard! To tell the truth, I think I was most excited to play with Polyphonic Spree! But then again, we didn't know that Franz Ferdinand would blow up THAT big - the same with Arcade Fire.

Although in retrospect, Arcade Fire was the best show.

They just throw a party on stage!

What are you future tour plans? Are you working on a new album?

SS: We are playing July 28th in San Francisco (Bottom of the Hill) July 29th in LA, (the Echo), July 30th in Brooklyn (Mcarren pool w/ of Montréal) and July 31 in NYC (Mercury Lounge). After that, we won't be touring much till October and November. We are going around the nation with +/- then.

We're always writing new songs, but we are going to record in January for the next Irving record.

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