The Rebirth Of The Faint

Tue 28th Dec, 2004 in Features

“When I think of Australia I think of warm air for some reason, different light,” says guitarist Dapose languidly. He’s just come off a freezing stage with his band, The Faint, in Germany, so perhaps that’s why he is lusting after warmer skies.

The five piece hail from Omaha, home of the Saddle Creek label, which houses The Faint, Azure Ray, and ex-Faint member Conor ‘Bright Eyes’ Oberst. The band have actually been around in various incarnations since 1994, with core members Joel Peterson on bass, vocalist Todd Baechle, and Jacob Thiele on keyboards trying out other instruments for size before settling down.

It was only later that some guitarists were enlisted, for their sophomore album Danse Macabre, in the form of Clark Baechle and self-professed creative consultant Dapose. Um, creative consultant, Mr. Dapose?

Dapose laughs. “I was just kind of there [to be consulted]. The Faint talk a lot, a little of it is actual music, but about 90% of it is us talking about ideas. I was originally there as a video aid, helping them with their visuals for a few years, and then they needed a guitar player and I played guitar so they asked me to join”.

The time during Danse Macabre was a time of flux, with new members, new sounds and new instruments to figure out. And Dapose says it was difficult to know where to go from their debut album, Blank Wave Arcade. “It took us a long time to figure out how to move on actually, we had to wait until it felt right”.

Something must have felt really right. 2001’s Danse Macabre marked the turning point for the band, when both their music and their profile flourished with the success of such songs as Agenda Suicide, the synth-heavy, menacing track that got people dancing worldwide.

The Faint’s sound is a strange amalgamation of synthed-up cut-out beats, punk rock intensity and ‘80s no wave, which probably has something to do with the diversity of influences within the band – Dapose was originally a death metal rocker. But he says, “The other guys in the band were all interested in me joining the band for reasons other than my death metal background. We listen to all kinds of music”.

Now a much tighter unit, The Faint have come out with their latest offering, Wet From Birth – not a title for the squeamish. But Dapose says the title marks their rebirth as a band. “Wet From Birth is kind of like being a naïve little baby, with the whole world at your fingertips”.

The band decided to record in a rented out warehouse, which sounds idyllic, but the reality was otherwise. “The warehouse started out pretty rough; the place was a complete mess, it was freezing cold, we’d all stand around in front of our own little space heaters in our winter coats, we didn’t get to sit and be comfortable,” Dapose shudders.

Once the place was spruced up a bit, however, the band thrived on the freedom of writing outside the confines of a recording studio. Dapose says, “Before we’d written our songs in tiny basements – write for one hour, then go and watch TV and talk or something”. The warehouse harboured no distractions of the outside world, and so the band was able to explore their ideas further.

“The new environment was a lot different to the other times [recording]; in the past it’s been, okay, who has a day off work,” says Dapose. “This time we could take our time with it, and develop songs fully”.

Not your typical rock band, the band likes to probe their fascination with electronica. While writing Wet From Birth, “The sounds were literally created with our mouths, us sitting around talking about it, then we’d go and figure them out on keys or synthesiser,” Dapose says. “The batch of songs from Wet From Birth is basically a response to the electronic world in general; it’s an organic, natural thing”.

The result is a more concentrated consolidation of the electronic synths, manic riffs and dance beats that the band so treasure. With so much production on the recording side of things, the sound has the potential to fall apart live. But says Dapose, “As far as the sound live it’s pretty similar – maybe a little more rocking? I know that’s a weird term to use, but we’re louder, distorted, aggressive [live]”.

This aggression is perhaps the perfect platform to expound their political stance. But Dapose says firmly, “I wouldn’t say we’re a political band – yes we are aware and concerned with politics, but we don’t want to be preachy about anything”. He says however that politics will inevitably find their way into their songs and live shows. “As artists, I think it’s wise for someone who can speak to an audience, and something is fucked up in the world, that that someone needs to talk about it. It’s a reaction to what’s going on”.

So expect quite an involved live show, with smoke machines, lots of lighting, and projections of anything from exploding bombs and towers, trippy spirals, to cheeky phallic symbols during their song Erection. The Faint spent 14 hour days putting together their live show before hitting the road. Dapose babbles like an excited kid about his new toys. “We just bought a bunch of lights, like a programmable console. We like to have our own projection screens, gadgets, it’s fun”.

Why such an emphasis on the live show? “We’re all visually orientated people, we’re all artists – I come from a graphic design background. We like to think of ourselves as artists, therefore doing just music is limiting,” says Dapose. “We want it to be a sensory overload – it’s what our brains are like, we’re interested in our environment”.

Don’t go expecting severe, Clockwork Orange-esque intensity, though. “Expect to dance – phat beats and awesome hooks,” Dapose laughs. “I just hope people will have fun”.

“One of my favourite things is when we’re nearly done and about to leave the stage, and I look down and people are smiling, it feels like they’re thinking, ‘What the hell was that’,” he chuckles. Right, then: The Faint are definitely not your garden variety band.

Catch The Faint:
Melbourne, Friday January 7, Prince of Wales
Sydney, Saturday January 8, The Gaelic Club
Brisbane, Sunday January 9, The Zoo