Manvils Work To Perfect Their Sound

08/19/09 12:05pm

by Keith Carman (CHARTattack)

Vancouver's The Manvils are a strange lot. Given most rock musicians rarely fit into the normal confines of society, that's saying quite a bit.

The band recently released their self-titled sophomore full-length via Sandbag Records. Guitarist/vocalist Mikey Manville was keen to discuss how this album expands on their debut and finds him, bassist Greg Buhr, drummer Jay Koenderman and guitarist Mark Perry pairing their outwardly conventional radio-rock style with something more extreme.

Unfortunately for him, that also meant revealing a deep-rooted and incredibly geeky obsession with recording techniques.

Regardless, the finished product is 11 tracks of inspiring pop/rock that will make women melt and men jealous; a smooth commingling of gearhead with off-the-wall rocker certain to establish The Manvils as one of the country's foremost independent offerings.

CHARTattack: How difficult was it to get your sophomore full-length together?
Mikey Manville: It was a challenge, but we did it. It feels like the band is here to stay. So many bands have their first release and then blow it. The chemistry isn't right or whatever.

When you work hard for two years and persevere through the ups and downs as a writer or through getting the right producer — making the right decision — everything culminates. I wanted to bring the best team together for this release, and I think we made all of the right turns. We've come out with something everyone is really proud of.

Before you can get into that, though, you have to start writing songs. When you were crafting this record, did you have specific goals? Was it a free-for-all?
It was the first time as primary songwriter that I had to write the record in less than a year. It's the big worry: the first record is the cliche of having your life to write the first one and how will the second one fare?

But I was writing solo albums and other albums for years, so that whole thing never really applied to me. I didn't have a lifetime to write this one. I've always been writing and as soon as I have a bunch of songs, I go to the studio.

This album came naturally. So did the pressure. But the stakes weren't this high, though. The Manvils lets me take the songwriting to a new level. I feed off of those guys, so the confidence level was there. The biggest thing was that my stomach was churning because the album had to sound right.

What do you feel the final product offers?
There's something for everyone on this record. Metalheads like the second half, while pop kids dig the first half, which focuses on the singles and songs that are less than two minutes. The Manvils have never done something like that before.

Getting into the studio element, I hear you had quite the officious experience as opposed to how many bands boast about fucking around and ending up with an album.
The primary focus was the boot camp of recording.

Ryan (Dahle, producer) pushed me. I know how to get pushed, but he went past that. He was trying to bring out the rasp in my voice by killing it. He had a vision and made me sing the song "Strange Disaster" alone for about five hours over and over again. It was take-after-take until finally we started getting that balance of disastrous consequences for my throat and the perfect vocal take.

That drive and passion affected the record.

You guys are self-admitted gear hounds, loving the whole analog trip while still embracing digital means of recording. Isn't that seen as sitting on the fence of a deep issue between musicians?
The attention to detail psyches out bands. It can lead to overproduction in certain elements of the sound because you end up with robotic elements of the record. If you blend the aesthetics of old gear with the amazing advances in modern technology without overusing one or the other, you can get some great sounding records out there.

That's kind of the case with your record. The end result is really streamlined. It sounds great, but blends the natural feel and attack of a band with surprisingly perfect sound quality. I guess you've proven your point.
Thanks! That's a great compliment. Hopefully other bands will appreciate it and realize that musicians are in the best position nowadays to get that warm sound mixed with amazing ways of capturing it.