| Help us out and click all three buttons below. | |
| This Session | |
| Violitionist Sessions | |
| Follow @violitionist | |
Session Date: May 4, 2011
Posting Date: July 11, 2011
Artist Hometown: Denton, TX
Links: SansSoleil.net, Facebook, Tumblr
Recorded by: Michael Briggs
3 QUESTIONS
ONE: Tell us a little bit about yourselves. How did you meet and where did you get your name?
Cyrus Meyers: I met Lee 4 Years ago when we both worked at the Guitar Center in Lewisville.
Lee Fatheree: Yeah, we met at Guitar Center. Dustin and I went to High school together, and Eva and I met at school, or through mutual friends. I had moved to Denton in 2005 to start school, and we starting playing together around 2008 with the current members.
Dustin Anderson: We’ve known each other a long time. When he moved home in the summer after freshman year after the dorms were out, we played in a band together, and then decided to move here. We changed the name to Sans Soleil, which is from a Chris Marker movie called Sans Soleil. That was the hardest thing to come up with, but it kind of stuck.
BF: Did you have any alternative names that you wanted to use?
Eva Lynne Aldridge: We had Ghost Sluts!
Cyrus: Yeah. We played a few house shows without Dustin as Ghost Sluts.
Lee: We wanted to call it Dolly Parton and The Cock Stranglers, but it didn’t work out.
BF: That’s a shame.
Lee Fatheree: Yeah, we met at Guitar Center. Dustin and I went to High school together, and Eva and I met at school, or through mutual friends. I had moved to Denton in 2005 to start school, and we starting playing together around 2008 with the current members.
Dustin Anderson: We’ve known each other a long time. When he moved home in the summer after freshman year after the dorms were out, we played in a band together, and then decided to move here. We changed the name to Sans Soleil, which is from a Chris Marker movie called Sans Soleil. That was the hardest thing to come up with, but it kind of stuck.
BF: Did you have any alternative names that you wanted to use?
Eva Lynne Aldridge: We had Ghost Sluts!
Cyrus: Yeah. We played a few house shows without Dustin as Ghost Sluts.
Lee: We wanted to call it Dolly Parton and The Cock Stranglers, but it didn’t work out.
BF: That’s a shame.
TWO: You have recently released a self-titled EP. What was that process like? Do you have any plans for a future full length?
Eva: Those are all just songs we’d been working on and tried to record track by track, with some newer/different ones.
Lee: That was kind of disastrous. Recording track by track just didn’t work.
Dustin: We kind of grew tired of those songs, and I think when we actually recorded, I don’t think we recorded any of the songs we started tracking. Well, we had one that we kept. We recorded with Dan Phillips from True Widow and that was really cool because we recorded in his work space inside of a warehouse they rent in Dallas. We drove out there and it’s this huge warehouse with a bunch of wood because he makes furniture and designs stuff. It was really cool, a huge room, a lot of space for sound to travel…it was weird, but cool.
Lee: I guess that was May of 2010. We wanted to get down there because those songs were some of the first songs we put together with this configuration, with a couple of other people, but we wanted to get something down to kind of send around, to get some recordings so we could give something to somebody…to put up links up for people to actually listen to. Its a lot easier to get shows when people know what you sound like. [laughs]
Dustin: Our first show at Rubber Gloves was a trial thing. We talked to Shep, and he was like “Well, we need someone to play, so if you want to…” Josh was there, and booked us a bunch of other times, which is fun cause I like playing there a lot.
BF: Right on. What are some of your influences?
Dustin: I mean, of course, there’s always the…
Cyrus: Typical post rock bands, the obvious influences…Godspeed…
Dustin: Silver Mount Zion, and the other project they did. I really like Spacemen 3 (it’s been a big influence over the past year), Earth, Thirteenth Floor Elevators. That whole kind of sound. I mean, a lot of different stuff. We change a little bit from song to song. So, its kind of cool. I don’t know. That’s me.
Lee: I’ve had a lot of same post rock influences, like Godspeed and Silver Mount Zion. Over the past six months or so, I’ve been listening to a lot of old records, I guess heavier stuff, and I think we’ve kind of gone in a heavier direction than we had before.
Eva: This is something I thought about recently. I mean, like, when I, when I get…
Group: This is a safe place.
Eva: No. When people ask us what our influences are, I don’t really think about that as much when I approach songwriting…because I’ve played in orchestra for so long I feel like I understand the theory of music, you know… compositionally…the dynamics and the different intensities. That’s what I think about whenever I’m in rehearsal and we’re writing.
BF: What’s the writing process like?
Lee: Painful.
Cyrus: Frustrating. [Laughs]
Dustin: Usually, someone will hash on something and will come to practice, and we’ll work on one song for probably a month or two…
Eva: No! Way more than that. We started that new song whenever Tim left in January and we just recently finished that. The other song we played today, well, that went really fast.
Dustin: It kind of depends. We’ll have one piece, I mean, someone will bring a main body, chord progression, with structure, a whole skeleton of a song, and we’ll kind of fill in everything else at practice over time. Let everyone kind of do what they want, but keep it kind of loose. I mean, I still don’t play the same thing. Like what we played tonight…there are a few things I play different every time. It’s just kind of how I feel. That was the hardest thing about recording track by track. It didn’t really work. It was slightly different every time.
Lee: That was kind of disastrous. Recording track by track just didn’t work.
Dustin: We kind of grew tired of those songs, and I think when we actually recorded, I don’t think we recorded any of the songs we started tracking. Well, we had one that we kept. We recorded with Dan Phillips from True Widow and that was really cool because we recorded in his work space inside of a warehouse they rent in Dallas. We drove out there and it’s this huge warehouse with a bunch of wood because he makes furniture and designs stuff. It was really cool, a huge room, a lot of space for sound to travel…it was weird, but cool.
Lee: I guess that was May of 2010. We wanted to get down there because those songs were some of the first songs we put together with this configuration, with a couple of other people, but we wanted to get something down to kind of send around, to get some recordings so we could give something to somebody…to put up links up for people to actually listen to. Its a lot easier to get shows when people know what you sound like. [laughs]
Dustin: Our first show at Rubber Gloves was a trial thing. We talked to Shep, and he was like “Well, we need someone to play, so if you want to…” Josh was there, and booked us a bunch of other times, which is fun cause I like playing there a lot.
BF: Right on. What are some of your influences?
Dustin: I mean, of course, there’s always the…
Cyrus: Typical post rock bands, the obvious influences…Godspeed…
Dustin: Silver Mount Zion, and the other project they did. I really like Spacemen 3 (it’s been a big influence over the past year), Earth, Thirteenth Floor Elevators. That whole kind of sound. I mean, a lot of different stuff. We change a little bit from song to song. So, its kind of cool. I don’t know. That’s me.
Lee: I’ve had a lot of same post rock influences, like Godspeed and Silver Mount Zion. Over the past six months or so, I’ve been listening to a lot of old records, I guess heavier stuff, and I think we’ve kind of gone in a heavier direction than we had before.
Eva: This is something I thought about recently. I mean, like, when I, when I get…
Group: This is a safe place.
Eva: No. When people ask us what our influences are, I don’t really think about that as much when I approach songwriting…because I’ve played in orchestra for so long I feel like I understand the theory of music, you know… compositionally…the dynamics and the different intensities. That’s what I think about whenever I’m in rehearsal and we’re writing.
BF: What’s the writing process like?
Lee: Painful.
Cyrus: Frustrating. [Laughs]
Dustin: Usually, someone will hash on something and will come to practice, and we’ll work on one song for probably a month or two…
Eva: No! Way more than that. We started that new song whenever Tim left in January and we just recently finished that. The other song we played today, well, that went really fast.
Dustin: It kind of depends. We’ll have one piece, I mean, someone will bring a main body, chord progression, with structure, a whole skeleton of a song, and we’ll kind of fill in everything else at practice over time. Let everyone kind of do what they want, but keep it kind of loose. I mean, I still don’t play the same thing. Like what we played tonight…there are a few things I play different every time. It’s just kind of how I feel. That was the hardest thing about recording track by track. It didn’t really work. It was slightly different every time.
THREE: You’ve been performing in Denton since 2009. How do you feel about the music scene in North Texas? What makes the city so special?
Cyrus: There are some really great bands in Denton! I really like Red Faced Laughter. They’re one of my favorite bands, and some of my favorite friends. Geistheister! I’ve wanted to say those two since the first time we got interviewed.
Dustin: There’s a lot of good stuff, and its very diverse.
Eva: Its REALLY diverse.
Dustin: I mean, there’s a good folk scene. There’s a lot of people who get into that. There’s a good punk scene too. I don’t know. There’s just something for everyone, it seems like. It’s just a lot of bands try really hard to do what they like to do, which is cool.
Eva: I really like that about Denton, because I don’t feel like there’s one sound that defines the whole city. I think a lot of people think of folk, just cause of…
Lee: Paste Magazine! [laughs]
Cyrus: What about Neon Indian?!
BF: Yeah. There’s a pretty strong electronic scene.
Cyrus: Yeah, and a really great noise scene.
Dustin: There’s so much stuff that I don’t think a lot of people know about it. And that’s the crazy thing, there’s so much stuff its hard to keep up with it, people don’t know about it. And most of its free!
BF: Right! And so, you’re moving to Austin this Summer?
Lee: Yeah, Eva and Dustin and I are moving into a house together in late July or August, so we can have a more organic songwriting process. We’ll be able to work together more, and we won’t have to get everyone together, and only get to work on our stuff a couple times a week. And Cyrus is moving down a little bit later.
Cyrus: I’ve got another semester of school.
Lee: We’re gonna be writing some new songs and playing some shows IN Austin and then hopefully elsewhere.
Eva: Yeah, I’m excited to play out of Denton.
Dustin: Yeah. We’ve only been out a couple times, in Dallas. And the shows weren’t really promoted very well, but it happens. It’s hard to play out there and develop too. So, I don’t know. I mean, I don’t go to school, and they’re basically all almost graduated, if not already graduated, and I think this is what we all love to do, and this is all I really plan on doing.
Dustin: There’s a lot of good stuff, and its very diverse.
Eva: Its REALLY diverse.
Dustin: I mean, there’s a good folk scene. There’s a lot of people who get into that. There’s a good punk scene too. I don’t know. There’s just something for everyone, it seems like. It’s just a lot of bands try really hard to do what they like to do, which is cool.
Eva: I really like that about Denton, because I don’t feel like there’s one sound that defines the whole city. I think a lot of people think of folk, just cause of…
Lee: Paste Magazine! [laughs]
Cyrus: What about Neon Indian?!
BF: Yeah. There’s a pretty strong electronic scene.
Cyrus: Yeah, and a really great noise scene.
Dustin: There’s so much stuff that I don’t think a lot of people know about it. And that’s the crazy thing, there’s so much stuff its hard to keep up with it, people don’t know about it. And most of its free!
BF: Right! And so, you’re moving to Austin this Summer?
Lee: Yeah, Eva and Dustin and I are moving into a house together in late July or August, so we can have a more organic songwriting process. We’ll be able to work together more, and we won’t have to get everyone together, and only get to work on our stuff a couple times a week. And Cyrus is moving down a little bit later.
Cyrus: I’ve got another semester of school.
Lee: We’re gonna be writing some new songs and playing some shows IN Austin and then hopefully elsewhere.
Eva: Yeah, I’m excited to play out of Denton.
Dustin: Yeah. We’ve only been out a couple times, in Dallas. And the shows weren’t really promoted very well, but it happens. It’s hard to play out there and develop too. So, I don’t know. I mean, I don’t go to school, and they’re basically all almost graduated, if not already graduated, and I think this is what we all love to do, and this is all I really plan on doing.