A Common Interest In Sound

Maserati Revives Its Psychedelic Post-Rock On Inventions For The New Season

originally published June 13, 2007

Instrumental rock bands can be uniquely suspect. With the exception of some great surf instrumentals and the early output of Athens' own Love Tractor, the very term conjures up some of the more noodley and indulgent excesses imaginable. Why is it, then, that Maserati is a band that has been, for nearly eight years, almost beyond reproach? It’s not my familiarity with the members - full disclosure: guitarist Coley Dennis and I work together - it's because of the the band's history and perseverance.

Back in 2000, Maserati's self-released debut album 37:29:24 was emotionally charged and a fresh respite from the dying dog of third-wave emo that was limping around town. A few years back it was because they were keeping the course following the 2002 release of The Language of Cities, and staying surprisingly original in a rapidly crowding instrumental world. And now in 2007, it’s because the band's newest album Inventions For The New Season, out this week on Temporary Residence Ltd [see Record Reviews] showcases a band with musical maturity, taste, highly selective restraint and razor-sharp sensibilities.

Although the band's permanent lineup stands as Coley Dennis (guitar), Matt Cherry (guitar), Jerry Fuchs (drums) and Steve Scarborough (bass), Maserati's current touring lineup has pinch-hitters guitarist Josh McCauley (A.Armada) standing in for Cherry and bassist Chris McNeal (ex-Paper Lions, Teenage Methlab) replacing Scarborough.

Flagpole spoke recently with Dennis, freshly back from several tours - down the East Coast as well as over in Europe, where Maserati sold out a number of shows, particularly in Germany - to talk about the new album and the band's plans for the future.

Flagpole

Let's talk a little about Maserati's recording. How much of the material is written before you head into the studio? Since the band is physically separated, what's the writing process like?

Coley Dennis

A lot of the material for this record [was from when] Matt and I got together over various weekends last year and got some ideas together. We would have Jerry fly down for a long weekend every three months or so and we would all flesh out the ideas to see what would work and would not. One of the songs, "Show Me The Season," grew out of a jam during rehearsal and "This Is A Sight We Had One Day From The High Mountain" was an idea that Jerry wanted to try while we were in the studio and everyone else just added the little things that filled out the song.

Flagpole

Inventions For The New Season seems to be a crossroads album for the band. That is, it will likely gain new fans, but where do you see Maserati going with its sound after this one?

Coley Dennis

That’s hard to say. We all definitely want to evolve our sound and move forward, but it's hard to say where exactly it will go until we start writing the material. We’ve been talking to friends of ours from Pittsburgh, [Relapse Records recording artists] Zombi, about doing a split record so that’s what we're looking to work on next. I’d definitely like to add some more ambient material on the next record we do, though.

Flagpole

The members of Athens band Love Tractor used to complain that no one took them seriously as a rock-and-roll band because they were an instrumental band. Have you ever felt Maserati was unfairly tagged with the "art-rock" label?

Coley Dennis

No, not at all. I think it's fairly common today for bands to not have vocals, unlike in the early '80s when Love Tractor started. I think also we’re not too far out in the experimental area, so we’ve kinda avoided the tag as "art rock."

Flagpole

Since the music is never tied to the verse-chorus-verse structure, how do you guys prevent the band from sliding into wanky prog-rock territory?

Coley Dennis

I think we definitely have certain things we like to achieve when writing songs, so that keeps us on track. We’re always trying not to repeat ourselves in song structures. So, I think with that balance we're pretty good about keeping things pretty focused.

Flagpole

Can you talk a little bit about how the band wound up on Temporary Residence?

Coley Dennis

Jerry has been friends with Jeremy Devine who runs TRL for a few years now. We’ve all met him before as well, so when it came time for us to shop the record around he was interested. He really loved the record and knew we were wanting to support this one by touring a lot, so we were fortunate. We all love and respect a lot of the bands that are on TRL and look forward to working with them.

Flagpole

There's a very real possibility that Maserati will wind up being embraced by the jam band fans of acts like Particle, STS9, etc. What makes Maserati markedly different from other loud, instrumental and expansive rock bands?

Coley Dennis

I think, if anything, we take a bit of a different approach with our sound than a lot of instrumental bands at the moment. I think we all feel kinda bored with the quiet-loud-quiet formula, so we're trying a lot of different approaches, like having a lot of ambience as well as using more traditional writing methods.

Flagpole

When do you know a piece of music is finished? Without any set rules to follow, what rules have you incorporated on your own?

Coley Dennis

I think we try not to clutter up the songs too much. We all feel that it's as important to not play as it is to play. Once we're feeling pretty comfortable with the structure and playing the song live, I think we consider it finished.

Flagpole

The moods on the new album shift substantially. Maserati can be very dark but also quite uplifting - "Show Me The Season," specifically. It's a very physical music in that, if one listens to the tracks in order, you don't get the catharsis without going through the dark.

Coley Dennis

Yeah, I think once all the songs were finished in the studio we definitely wanted to create a mood with the album. Everyone was on the same page with how we wanted it to move. The flow and feel of a record is just as important as the songs themselves.

Flagpole

After the album's U.S. release what will the band do?

Coley Dennis

We’re hoping to get out to the West Coast at the end of the year. The only concrete plans after this tour is to do a tour of Australia and focus on writing in November and December.

Gordon Lamb

WHO: Maserati, Summerbirds in the Cellar, A.Armada
WHERE: 40 Watt Club
WHEN: Friday, June 15
HOW MUCH: $7