Three friends leave the comfort of their Dallas home to embark on a road trip en route to musical greatness. Along the way, they make an eight-day pit stop in Chicago, hook up with Brian Deck at Clava Studios and record songs for the band’s 2002 indie release, “September 000.” Eventually the guys land in a cold, wintry New York, settle into a flat in Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood, and quickly become one of the city’s most buzzed-about live acts.
So goes the tale of Secret Machines.
Brothers singer/keyboardist Brandon Curtis and guitarist Ben Curtis, and their powerhouse, wall-of-sound drummer Josh Garza launched into the national spotlight in 2004 with “Now Here is Nowhere,” a collection of dreamy, progressive rock songs that cite Krautrockers Neu and experimental bands Flaming Lips and Stereolab as big influences.
Metromix caught up with singer Brandon Curtis at his apartment in Manhattan’s Chinatown as he looked out of his apartment window at a Chinese funeral procession.
It was really cold when you first got to New York. Did you ever huddle together really closely to stay warm and make a pact never to talk about it?
[Laughs] It never got to the point where body heat was our only way of staying warm. Emotionally you have to huddle together . . . you have to [have] the same mentality where you won’t complain.You’re heading to the studio this afternoon. Working on new material?
We’re trying to get a bunch of new songs ready for this tour. We want to play them live and then go into the studio. It’s easy to tell in a performance setting what’s working and what isn’t–it’s more of what you feel.
Why do people call the Machines the best live act around?
I don’t know, I’ve never seen us play live. [Laughs] The three of us are very interested in live music. Since playing together is what we care about, we try to convey that. Who knows, there are probably people who say what we’re doing is boring.
You recorded your first album, “September 000,” in Chicago. You know how much cooler you’d be if you stayed here?
We didn’t stay there because it gets a lot colder! We had a good time in Chicago, but we agreed that moving from Dallas to Chicago wasn’t extreme enough. We might have been too comfortable in Chicago.
You’re opening for the Chemical Brothers in Europe. That seems like an odd pairing.
People we know in the UK work with them and gave them our record several months ago. I heard they’re fans of us, and that’s really thrilling because we admire them. They mentioned they’d like us to tour with them. The thing is, in London we’re presented as a different kind of band–we’ve played these dance clubs. We’re open to putting ourselves in that setting where a crowd isn’t expecting a rock band.
What did it mean to be nominated for the Short List Prize?
Oh man, it was amazing. Just to be held in the same regard as those other contemporary artists was awesome. I think what we’re doing is as good as what’s happening out there.
Secret Machines
When: 9 p.m. Friday
Where: Metro, 3730 N. Clark St.
Tickets: $12
