Events

[INDIE] It was time to rip it up and start again. Five years ago, touring their Infinity Overhead album, Minus the Bear nearly imploded. Between then and VOIDS, just out this month, the Seattle-based post-prog outfit fired some key support staffers and returned to Suicide Squeeze Records, the label of their more humble beginnings. Though they released a pair of retread discs in the interim (one acoustic and the other a rarities compilation), the long absence of new music had fans wondering about MTB’s future. Talking to bassist Cory Murchy on the eve on launching the tour that brings them to Town Ballroom on Thursday, March 30 with Beach Slang and Bayonne, it sounds like VOIDS almost didn’t happen.

“There was definitely a cleaning of house that went on,” he said. “I think we ripped up the parts that weren’t working for us any longer, which also allowed us to take stock and answer some important questions — should we carry on? Do we still feel the passion? We had to take the time between to really search out those answers on our own, but we’re pretty happy on this side of things. We’re definitely excited about this record.”

VOIDS still sounds very much like fans would expect a Minus the Bear album to sound, brimming with killer riffs (“Give and Take,” Invisible”) and more introspective mid-tempo numbers (“What About the Boat?”). But there are noticeable differences, including lead vocals sung by keyboardist Alex Rose on a trio of tracks. There are also some cracks in the pristine production polish that characterizes OMNI (2010) and Infinity Overhead — bits of distortion creep in, and a percussive edge repeatedly breaks through the din thanks to the addition of drummer Kiefer Matthews, which ended up being a temporary arrangement when he decided not to tour with MTB. Matthews was brought on after original drummer Erin Tate announced his formal departure in 2015, and while he’s prominently featured on VOIDS straight away with opener “Last Kiss,” Murchy is even more pumped about jamming with Josh Sparks, who’s behind the kit for the tour.

“Losing Erin was game changing, and the thing with Kiefer was all business, the way that played out,” he said. “It just wasn’t what he wanted. But it’s turned out pretty awesome, I have to admit. Josh and I have been spending a lot of time working on our own, just on being a tighter rhythm section.”

Thematically, VOIDS is pretty dark. Endings, shocking loss, destructiveness and unrest permeate the songs, which periodically cross into wall-of-sound territory – several mixes are quite dense. For listeners that have been tuned in from the beginning, it may not seem all that radical a change, but folks that came on board with the smooth R&B flavorings of OMNI are in for a choppier ride.

“We decided to work with Sam Bell as producer,” he said. “Between that and having a new drummer on board, making this record was a very different process. It also proved to be quite fruitful because we pushed one another to try different techniques, work on different musical ideas – it opened up possibilities for us. We had an opportunity to meet Sam in Athens, GA. He came to a show and we sniffed each other out. He spent a lot of time with us, getting an understanding of how we operate. If there’s anything I learned while making this record, it’s that being able to yield with your ego so that the producer can do their job is all important.”

Bell’s impressive list of credentials includes more engineering work (Taylor Swift, REM, Weezer) than production (Little Matador, For All My Sisters), but VOIDS definitely bears the stamp of some new blood in the mix. Fan reactions have been divided, but Murchy’s pretty clear that Minus the Bear needed to make this record for themselves before worrying about anybody else.

“The whole thing – getting through the last five years, weathering the storm, dealing with what we were dealing with… I had to put this record away for a long time after it was finished,” he said. “When I was finally able to come back to it, it sparked a new electricity as far as my attitude toward the band… toward everything. The good news is that we’re still firmly in each other’s corners. For us, it was definitely worth the wait. If we’d released something earlier, it would’ve sounded like we just crapped it out.”