Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
The If You Wannas, with Kovacs and the Polar Bear, will celebrate the release of their new record tonight at the Emerald Lounge. Should be a fun show.
From the Mountain Xpress:
It’s hard not to talk about Electric Toaster & The Battle Axe, the upcoming third release by Asheville’s If You Wannas, without mentioning the work and homemade gear that went into it.
“I worked at Moog Music here in town for a few years,” lead vocalist and guitarist Ryan Cox tells Xpress. “I wound up with a really great catchall of spare parts left over for building stuff. I managed to stitch the junk I had together.”
It’s not something that jumps out on the album — in fact, you’d probably never guess that some of the vocals were recorded with a microphone built over the summer by Cox, or that the guitar distortion and tremolo were the result of DIY kits and trade magazine tutorials. Cox is quiet, reserved — there’s something mystical about him. You can picture him as the wizard of the group.
While he worked with Moog Music, he was literally the guy that Rick Wakeman (or his son) would call up when his Minimoog started making the wrong type of weird sound. He’s modest about what electronics he knows, but you get the sense that he’s being just that — modest.
Now, you might say, if you can’t discern it listening to the album, what’s the point? Doesn’t the studio or the music store down the street have the same fuzz effect? For one thing, bassist Trevor Stoia explains, having your own gear, built the way you want, is liberating.
“It’s so great to record when you don’t have to worry about 50 bucks an hour in the studio,” Stoia says. “You get to really spend time messing with mic placement and crafting your timbres.”
If You Wannas seem to care a lot about its albums, almost more than its live shows.
