The Decibel Tolls

Black Moth Super Rainbow’s tacit ringleader Tobacco took a few minutes by e-mail to talk about their new album Eating Us and his love for the album Happy in Galoshes. I love to hear imaginative artists like Tobacco discuss enjoying things that make the hipster dorks cringe.

KB: What’s the origin of your name Black Moth Super Rainbow and your moniker Tobacco?

T: It just kind of popped into my head one day, before I had the idea for the band.  Then I wanted a band that would sound like that name.  Tobacco comes from a character that freaked me out as a kid.

KB: Eating Us seems to have a much more mellow and classic pop-focused vibe compared with the earlier full-lengths. Part of that seems to come from the addition of more acoustic instrumentation. Was that change something intentional or something that sorta evolved in the studio?

T: It’s good that a lot of people are noticing that.  I didn’t want to make another synth album because I was getting worn out on the sounds I could make within this kind of music.  There’s always been just as many guitars, and maybe even more acoustic guitars in the past, but the focus in the mixing is less on the synthsizers and more on the other instruments this time around.

KB: How did you hook up with the legendary Dave Fridmann?

T: Our friend Andy knew Dave and his wife from SUNY Fredonia, so we met up once a little over a year before we ended up making the album.

KB: How did you get interested in the old analog equipment that you all employ, like the vocoder and mellotron?

T: I wanted stuff that was more colorful than the regular guitar and attention-seeking-singer kind of bands.  It took a while to figure out what worked best, and now maybe it’s time to move on again.

KB: What can folks who come out to the shows this spring expect at the Black Moth Super Rainbow show if they haven’t experienced you all live yet?

T: Expect a bunch of people who are still uncomfortable on a stage with hopefully some decent visual distractions.

KB: How does the songwriting process defer between your Tobacco solo project and Black Moth Super Rainbow, besides working with the other members?

T: It’s strange, because there isn’t a difference.  The Tobacco stuff came about more from deciding that certain songs didn’t fit with what Black Moth Super Rainbow had become.

KB: Are you considering doing any more collaborations like you all did with the Octopus Project?

T: No, I prefer working alone.  That’ll probably be my first and last, but I guess you never know.

KB: What music, new or discovered, influences or inspires you as of late?

T: I feel like I get inspired by things that aren’t music these days.  But I really love the Scott Weiland double album.  While everyone else i talk to has their Animal Collective now, I’ve got my Weiland, and it feels great.

Black Moth Super Rainbow kicks off their month-long excursion May 19th in Lexington. Eating Us drops on Graveface Records May 26th, and it’s a sick jam (expect a full review soon).

MP3 :::
Black Moth Super Rainbow – Eating Us Medley
Black Moth Super Rainbow – Born On a Day the Sun Didn’t Rise