Features | Interviews
SXSW 2007 :: Interview: The Faint
By Andre Perry | 4 February 2008
Walking around 6th Street in Austin, Craig and I stumbled upon the Faint. We had no prior plans to interview them or even knew they were playing shows for SXSW, but Craig urged me to check in with them about any developments since their last album, Wet From Birth (2004). Lead singer Todd Baechle obliged and shared some words about the band's plans for a new album as well as some reflections about their past work.
CMG: What's up with the band? Are you guys working on a new record? How are things turning out?
TB: Yeah, we're still writing songs for the new record and we're building a studio at our practice space. Hopefully we'll have all the songs we need to make the new record. We're going to record it all ourselves.
CMG: Where are you guys going on this new record?
TB: You know it's changed. I think we originally thought it would be a band album where everybody writes the music like a garage band would. The two albums before have been a little heavier on the planning and using a computer. Now we've written a bunch of songs [in the band-style] and they've gone well but I'd also like to make some computer music. So it could be either type of record. Once we actually get in the studio we'll probably record all the songs and then we may do different versions of each one now that we have our own studio. So, who knows what the album will sound like. We don't.
CMG: When you guys have time to sit back and think of Danse Macabre (2001) and Blank Wave Arcade (1999), how do you see those albums now that you have a little space? What do you think about them?
TB: I think we think of Blank Wave Arcade as the album that represents the playing in basements days or living rooms or kitchens. Small clubs with no PAs. At the time we wanted to make a record that would capture the spirit of that. So we kind of purposely made it sound shitty. We look back on that set of songs as something we're proud of but nothing before that. We had made other music before [Blank Wave Arcade] but we kind of just draw the line right there. Danse Macabre was kind of our attempt at making electronic music. We like the way it turned out but I think we like how those songs sound live more than the actual record. The newest one, Wet From Birth, I like it but it has more layers than I think we'll do next time.
CMG: So what are to we expect from the live show these days?
TB: It always depends on what we can do in the room. In a small room like what we're playing tonight -- and I love playing as small a room as we can -- but it changes what we do as far as video or lights. Tonight we're not bringing any lights. We're just going to project on the band and have some of it show up on the screen and the walls behind us. I like that kind of show but it's very different than what we'll do tomorrow night at La Zona Rosa, which is more of a classy and bigger venue.
CMG: What else do you want the people to know about from Camp Faint?
TB: I wish I knew what anybody knew about our band at all. I have no idea what anybody makes of what we do but I hope they continue listening to it and coming out to the shows because we'd like to do it forever. But we'll see.
CMG: What's up with the band? Are you guys working on a new record? How are things turning out?
TB: Yeah, we're still writing songs for the new record and we're building a studio at our practice space. Hopefully we'll have all the songs we need to make the new record. We're going to record it all ourselves.
CMG: Where are you guys going on this new record?
TB: You know it's changed. I think we originally thought it would be a band album where everybody writes the music like a garage band would. The two albums before have been a little heavier on the planning and using a computer. Now we've written a bunch of songs [in the band-style] and they've gone well but I'd also like to make some computer music. So it could be either type of record. Once we actually get in the studio we'll probably record all the songs and then we may do different versions of each one now that we have our own studio. So, who knows what the album will sound like. We don't.
CMG: When you guys have time to sit back and think of Danse Macabre (2001) and Blank Wave Arcade (1999), how do you see those albums now that you have a little space? What do you think about them?
TB: I think we think of Blank Wave Arcade as the album that represents the playing in basements days or living rooms or kitchens. Small clubs with no PAs. At the time we wanted to make a record that would capture the spirit of that. So we kind of purposely made it sound shitty. We look back on that set of songs as something we're proud of but nothing before that. We had made other music before [Blank Wave Arcade] but we kind of just draw the line right there. Danse Macabre was kind of our attempt at making electronic music. We like the way it turned out but I think we like how those songs sound live more than the actual record. The newest one, Wet From Birth, I like it but it has more layers than I think we'll do next time.
CMG: So what are to we expect from the live show these days?
TB: It always depends on what we can do in the room. In a small room like what we're playing tonight -- and I love playing as small a room as we can -- but it changes what we do as far as video or lights. Tonight we're not bringing any lights. We're just going to project on the band and have some of it show up on the screen and the walls behind us. I like that kind of show but it's very different than what we'll do tomorrow night at La Zona Rosa, which is more of a classy and bigger venue.
CMG: What else do you want the people to know about from Camp Faint?
TB: I wish I knew what anybody knew about our band at all. I have no idea what anybody makes of what we do but I hope they continue listening to it and coming out to the shows because we'd like to do it forever. But we'll see.