Getting to Know... Gliss

One day last week, the sun was fighting to escape a mass of clouds hanging over the Paste offices. But even as its rays momentarily broke through the overcast sky, it seemed to be a losing battle—much like Devotion Implosion, the second album from Los Angeles trio Gliss, who had just played a low-volume, stripped-down set in the Paste studio. Although some parts may sound brighter than any song off their noisy, druggy debut, Love the Virgins, there's no mistaking that Devotion is a dark endeavor. Fittingly, by the time bandmates Martin Klingman, Victoria Cecilia and Dave Reiss sat down for lunch on the patio at a neighboring pub, the sunlight was completely lost in the gray April skies above.

Though plugged-in, the band seemed a little out of their comfort zone during the studio set: There were no monitors for vocals, and when the trio traded out drumming duties, the percussionist used brushes, not their usual sticks. But later, looking over the menu, the three seemed much more at ease as they pondered the next important item on their itinerary before their show at Atlanta's Drunken Unicorn that night: Lunch. While waiting for the food—greens for Cecilia, trout for Klingman and steak with fries (from the half-off entree menu) for Reiss—Gliss chatted with Paste about recording the new album, odd musical comparisons and the magic of the Internet.

Paste: How was SXSW?
Klingman: I had a nice time. Good weather. It was easy-goin'. Not as overwhelming as previous years. Have you been out there?

Paste: No, I've never been there.
Klingman: It's a bit ridiculous. It's kind of like a circus. There's so much going on. So there's either two things—you can go there and not play any shows and see some shows, or you can play some shows and not see any shows. We saw a show.
Cecilia: We saw The Duke Spirit.

Paste: How is Devotion Implosion different from Love the Virgins?
Klingman: [Whistling]
Cecilia: More cohesive.
Klingman: Definitely cohesive. Love the Virgins was recorded in, like, five different studios over a longer period of time, and it was kind of like the greatest hits of songs that we had to that point. So it was kind of a collection of what we thought were the best songs that kind of worked as best together as possible. But that's why it's kind of like an early Beck album. But I like that. That doesn't bother me. But I think that's the major difference between Devotion Implosion, because Devotion Implosion was recorded pretty much in one studio, recorded the same gear. Everything changes everything.
Reiss: Same guy mixed it all.
Klingman: Yeah, it feels more like a cohesive album.

Paste: Feels more like an album.
Cecilia: Yeah.
Klingman: Yeah, it does. It probably sounds like one, too. [Laughing]

Paste: Yeah, it does. [Laughing] Do you think it's a little bit more hopeful than the previous one?
Cecilia: That's weird, 'cause I don’t feel like that at all.
Klingman: That's a good question, my friend.
Cecilia: I feel like it's really dark, but I personally felt like I was in a really dark place last year, too.
Klingman: I guess it's kind of a therapeutic record, because I was going through a lot of stuff, too, when we made the record. That was a tough time.
Paste: What kind of stuff?
Klingman: Just a lot of anxiety happening. I don't know why. It never happened to me before.

Paste: Did anything positive happen in the last two years? Because I feel like the guitars brighten up some of the music.
Klingman: I think there's more confidence to it, which probably translates a little bit to hope. I know what you’re saying. I kind of felt like we took the reigns. And when you take the reigns, you feel like you're in control of your destiny. I think that's the key. Whatever was gonna come out of it, we knew that we were doing the record that we wanted to do, and we took a big gamble by producing it ourselves. That was, like, a huge gamble because we'd never really done that before. And we were hoping to get a good mixer, and then we wound up getting the guy that we wanted originally. So there was a lot of nice things going on. Even though I was having a hard time, there was these perks that were—you know, being able to record the album was very exciting for me. I was very proud. It was a neat experience to go from like working on a 4-track growing up, and then getting to a point where you actually feel comfortable to record a record. It's a big transition. It's a lot of responsibility.

Paste: I think songs like "Morning Light" and "Beauty" sound a bit brighter. And on "Sad Eyes," it just sounds like you guys are having fun. And Love the Virgins seems a little more monochromatic.
Klingman: What does that mean?
Reiss: One color, one tone.

Paste: Yeah, and it seems like you guys may have opened up the blinds a little bit.
Klingman: Yeah, totally.
Reiss: We definitely had more fun, in recording and in songwriting, I'd say, just in general. Just, like, hanging out in our rehearsal space, jamming—kind of goofing around and stuff.
Klingman: [Laughing] There's some funny stuff.
Reiss: Yeah, rehearsal tapes, and just, like, the most ridiculous stuff you'll ever hear.
Klingman: When you record in a studio—there's nothing wrong with it, 'cause I'd actually like to do it again with somebody that I really, really admire. Like the guy that mixed our album here, Gareth Jones—I would be honored to go into a studio with him and record a full record...
Cecilia: Yeah, that would be exciting.
Klingman: ...because he makes great music. But the difference between recording it ourselves in our own space—you have so much leeway. You have so much...
Reiss:...time.
Klingman:Yeah, it's on your side. If you don't like it, you just do it again. But if that happens when you're recording with somebody, where it's, like, $350-800 a day, self-consciously, underneath there, you know that you've gotta get it, and that's not really creative—a good creative environment for me. I'm not that confident. [Laughing] I'd like to say I was, but honestly, I'm not that confident where, when I have, like—[Interrupted by train passing by across the street.]
Reiss: [Joking] What?
Paste: It should still be able to pick you up.
Klingman: I sang all the vocals at home. I did a couple of vocals in the studio that we recorded the instruments in. "Anybody Inside" was recorded where we did the music. Maybe, like, one other, but all the other stuff I sang at home. It doesn't get any more intimate than that, and personal, and I think a lot of that translated in a positive. The voice is such a delicate instrument. I feel like I've realized that a lot lately. I was always disappointed, sometimes, with my vocals on Love the Virgins. Even though [Victoria] would say, “I love it on this song or that song,” I didn't love it. When we did "Blue Sky" on Love the Virgins, which is a big song for everybody, I sang it in the studio, and I didn't like my vocals. So I had to go home and find the original demo that I sang in my apartment. I had to take it out of my computer, load it into something and bring it to the studio. So that was the light for me. I trusted myself. I trusted my ears. That's how I really wanted to do this record. That's why it was such a gamble to do it that way.

Paste: When people see you live, the first thing they're probably asking about is the instrument switching. Tell me about that.
Cecilia: Well, when we first got together, we did originally look for a drummer, but we just didn't find one that fit in right. I was already programming drums, so we did some shows with just programmed drums. Marty was originally a drummer, so he started playing drums on a few songs. [Dave] had played drums before, so they just started mixing it up—drum programming, a little bit of drums—and then they made me play drums.
Klingman: It was fun.
Cecilia: But I'd never really played drums before. So I did it, and now I play drums the most out of us, which is really weird.
Klingman:You know when you get out of your comfort zone and its refreshing?
Paste: Yeah.
Klingman: That's exactly what it was. It was so refreshing to do the abnormal. I'd never really worked with drum machines before, so that was exciting for me. It was fun to get on bass. It was very liberating. That's what I love about playing in the band, still. I hate to say it, but I don’t want to feel like I'm stuck on something. It's such a terrible thing to say, but, especially when you're on tour, you're playing these songs every day and stuff. So it's very refreshing to be like, “OK, I’m gonna go play drums tonight on this song.” And I notice how different I feel from night to night on instruments. It's a cool thing.

Paste: Is it the same changes for each song, or do you change it up?
Klingman: However it's recorded, it's performed.
Paste: So all three of you do the instruments on tape, also?
Klingman: Correct.
 
Paste: Let's hear each of your favorite instrument.
Klingman:I don't have one. I really like 'em all for different reasons, because I feel like I bring something to the table that they can’t, and the same for them.
Reiss: [Laughing]
Klingman: No, it's not a putdown. [Laughing] Did that sound bad? [Cecilia and Reiss laugh.] I know there's things that I can play on drums that they can't play. I know that I play bass a certain way that they don't play. I know I play guitar a certain way that don't play. That's what I mean. And I know the same for them. Like Victoria hasn't been playing drums near as long, but I actually am jealous of the way that she plays the hi-hat. It's like, I don’t know how to do that.
Reiss: Yeah, sometimes when we write the songs, we'll start jammin' on this bass part and like, whatever, “Ah, it's not quite working. But I can hear you playing drums on that better than I can play drums on it, so let's switch and see what happens.” Sometimes it gels and fits. Martin: That's what it is. And it's almost like being too good on some things sometimes hinders bands. Sometimes it's great to be a little naïve. It brings that innocent energy back. That lack of knowledge, that lack of experience, benefits music. Sometimes, somebody will start out, and they'll just do something for the first time and it's incredible, because they're innocent. They're not jaded yet. Like [Dave] was saying, switching it up and getting a fresh perspective— it changes everything, because you'll notice when people cover a song how drastically different the song changes, because it's an interpretation.

Paste: So, no favorite instruments for any of you guys?
Cecilia: No, definitely. A favorite instrument for me would be bass.
Reiss: Guitar for me.
Cecilia: I mean, bass is my main instrument. It's what I spend most time on.
Klingman: I like piano. [Laughing]
Cecilia: I actually like vocals. But [Martin] forced me.
Klingman: At gunpoint.
Cecilia: Pretty much.

Paste: You guys have had some comparisons to other bands that maybe…
Klingman: So far off, too. So far off!
Reiss: “You guys are an exact cross between Nirvana…
Klingman: …and Radiohead.
Reiss: …and Radiohead.”
Klingman: I read one online recently that was so far off. It was ridiculous.
Reiss: Travis and that weird band. Some band we'd never heard of.
Klingman: First of all, Travis—they're a folk band put through amps. That's what they are. They're great. But there's nothing even…I didn't get it at all.
Reiss: A cross between the Doors and—what was that other one?
Cecilia: Slayer and the Doors!

Paste: Wow. I didn't even hear those ones.
Klingman: I think journalists are very lazy.
Paste: [Laughing]
Cecilia: Be careful what you say, 'cause the guy from White Stripes said that in an interview, and they just tore him up. [Laughing]
Klingman: But then again, maybe that's what they really think, and I can't change somebody's opinion. I can tell you what I think the record is, but it might not be what it is.
Cecilia: You know, you go to a museum and look at a painting. They used a lot of red paint, maybe. Or there's other stuff going on. If I look at it, and somebody asked me, “What's that?” I'm like, “That's a red painting.” You ask somebody that knows a lot about art, they would say something completely different. So the more you know, the wider…
Klingman: …your palette.
Reiss: If all you listen to is Nirvana and Radiohead, then I guess we sound like that.

Paste: What about the comparisons to The Jesus and Mary Chain's Psychocandy?
Klingman: Yeah, it's a funny thing. I know about them, and I've actually gone out of my way to listen them and My Bloody Valentine because of the comparisons. But they were never in my record collection. They weren't. I knew the hits, 'cause everybody does. But other than that… As far as it making an influence on me as a creative energy, I don't know if I would really even consider them. The Velvet Underground would be way more in my blood than they would be. And I think The Velvet Underground was in [The Jesus and Mary Chain's] blood. That's what inspired them. So it's kind of like going back to the real catalyst for all these bands that we get compared to, which makes sense… But they're good comparisons. I'd rather be compared to something like the Raveonettes than…
Reiss: …Korn.
Klingman: Somebody did a review lately, like they really listened to the record. And they really got in there and got to the nooks and crannies, which was refreshing to read. It was neat.

Paste: You guys do a lot of MySpace blogging…
Reiss: And Twitter.

Paste: And Twitter. I still haven't gotten into that. Since there's not a lot out there on you, is this a way to do that? Because from MySpace, I've found out that Dave is this hardcore technician.
Klingman: He'd like to think he is. [Laughing]

Paste: Didn't you fix a phone or something?
Reiss: I did, but then it broke again. Different problem.
Klingman: You still fixed it.

Paste: So is that a way for you to maybe…
Reiss: It's just a way to be more personable with people.
Cecilia: It seems like we get a lot of fans writing. They know what we're up to when we're out on the road, and I don't mind sharing what we're up to. It's like a reality show, but on a blog.
Klingman: It feels good, too. It's just nice to have people checking it and communicating with you. You don't feel like you're alone. It's good.
Reiss: And so much stuff that's funny and random happens on the road. People have a good time checkin' it out.

Paste: You also link all the press you find on yourselves. Is that just an extension of the personal stuff?
Klingman: Yeah, I guess it's to let people know what's going on. So much of the world today is Internet.
Reiss: A lot of Internet gets lost, too. So we could have something come out, but half the people that are into us wouldn't ever see it.
Paste: If you guys get disappointing audience numbers like the Cleveland show in October 2007, how do you react? You're a smaller band. Is it one and out, because you have to make tough decisions to survive?
Cecilia: Well, they say you gotta play every toilet three times before something happens. So when we played that show, that's one time. We got two more to go, and then we're good. [Laughing]

Paste: It's a given that a lot of bands are touring more now, because that's where the money's at. But people also seem to be releasing albums faster, just in the past couple of years. Are you going to try that, or take your time more?
Cecilia: We're going to take our time.
Klingman: I don’t know. [Laughing] I haven't really thought about it.
Cecilia: Well, we write a lot of songs. We have so many songs that nobody's ever even heard. But I don't think we're in a hurry to write another album right now. We just need to tour this one.
Klingman: I was just listening to some demos last night. I was like, “Oh, this is really cool.”
Cecilia: When you're ready, you're ready. I prefer when things are natural. Like, I don't want to force anything.
Klingman: I guess if it makes sense, and everybody's like, “Oh, we want you to make a record,” then we put that hat on. I feel like we're just kind of starting up with this. You'll know. You always know when it's time to change gears. We're gonna go over to England. There's still a whole bunch of stuff to do this year.