The Akron/Family Interview

Photo by Sebastian Mlynarski courtesy of Dead Oceans

Don’t try and pin Akron/Family down on what its sound is. Trust me, I asked. On the band’s MySpace page, the members describe their sound as, “1. Very mysterious. 2. We possess abundant noodling capacity 3. but we’d like to be able to rehearse more. 4. We play music for people who like boats 5. for those, Ak Ak 6. is not very mysterious….” UM, so if that doesn’t help, how about this. Akron/Family counts Bob Dylan and free jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler among its influences. If this still doesn’t help, let me try my own stab at it. The band plays a blend of psychedelic folk music that utilizes improvisation, electronics, and some non-traditional rock instrumentation. Additionally there is, what I call the spirit of Radiohead to its music. This is not to say they sound like Radiohead. I mean the way they approach making music reminds me of the music Radiohead has since it released “Kid A” in 2000. That is to say, without worrying about the constraints of style, genre, or instrumentation. In the end, though, the two best ways to find out what Akron/Family sounds like is to check out their show at Castaways at on September 16 at 9 PM and to buy their albums.

Akron/Family formed in Brooklyn in 2002, specifically the hub of Williamsburg Brooklyn that has had such a fervent music and arts scene in recent years. Since their inception they have released five albums, the most recent, “Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free,” was released this past May on Dead Oceans. The band is made up of vocalist and guitarist Seth Olinsky, Dana Janssen on drums, and Miles Seaton, bass.

I was fortunate to be able to interview Seth Olinsky by email with less than 24 hours notice. Read on in my interview with him to find out more about Akron/Family and what the band has in common with our very own Gimme Coffee.

Dynamic Meter: How does the band write and arrange?

Seth Olinsky: Writing and arranging changes from song to song and album to album and night to night. Generally we are searching for something that feels good to us or sounds inspiring and this is constantly changing, so the music gradually changes as we learn how to communicate our new ideas and new inspirations and new directions.

DM: Take a song such as “Creatures,” for example. It starts with a lot electronic sounds and kinda morphs into this more acoustic tune with lovely harmonies. How did this come together?

SO: “Creatures” started as a piece that Dana wrote and demoed in Pro Tools. When he came it had the melody and rhythm and a lot of stylistic elements. We started working on it as a group and added more lyrics and the end section and just began to try and rerecord it, reconsider approaches to it trying to bring it to life as a group piece. So in some ways the different elements are a reflection of Dana bringing an inspiration to the table and opening it up to have everyone input their ideas into it. Whether its shakers that sound like flying creatures or tropicalia flute or a future myth reference.

DM: How do you incorporate improvisation into what you do?

SO: Improvisation is something that I think we all just love as musicians. We incorporate it in lots of ways. Our live shows definitely have moments of openness where we change the way we play a song or segue from song to song from night to night. Writing and recording is definitely a sort of improvisation albeit in a slowed down form.

DM: Is it true you did a lot of your early performing around the Gimme Coffee in Brooklyn? Gimme Coffee was founded in Ithaca.

SO: I worked at Gimme Coffee even before it opened its doors on Lorimer Street. I moved down the street from Gimme and it was definitely a headquarters of sorts for us in the early days. Hanging out drinking coffee, listening to Bob Dylan and Albert Ayler, and performing down the street at Pete’s Candy Store. Those were definitely great days, and we will definitely be stopping by Cayuga street for a coffee before the show Wednesday at Castaways.

DM: How do you define your sound? Or do you?

SO: One of our greatest attributes is that we don’t define our sound. I think there is a consistent openness to what we do that allows us all to bring new ideas to the table, and makes our relationship flexible and open enough to grow into new places as we change as people.

DM: You released your latest album, “Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free,” back in May. How are the promotions and touring going behind that?

SO: Touring around “Set ‘Em Wild” has been great. We have played some amazing shows and festivals. We had our first tour in Japan, which was totally amazing and completely inspiring. It was some of the most rewarding and best playing we have done in years I feel and has really opened up some artistic doors for us. As always, we are excited about making new music, coming up with new ideas, planning the next things, but we are very happy with the record.

DM: Did you play a lot of festivals over the summer? If you did, how do festivals gigs differ from club gigs?
SO: We have played a handful of festivals. They are certainly different from playing our own show, where people are coming out to see us and more focused on our show in its entirety. I think we are learning and getting better and presenting our show and our music in a festival setting but it can definitely be difficult to create an overwhelming and unique experience and get people to come on a journey with us at a festival.

DM: What should folks expect from your live shows? Do you use a set list?

SO: People can expect to have fun and enjoy themselves. We tend to have a set list or basic plan that changes from night to night depending on the situation, venue, vibe.

DM: What bands or other artists are inspiring you right now?

SO: As I’m writing this, we are currently driving along the very inspiring Columbia River heading into Portland and listening to the always-inspiring Fleetwood Mac.

See you next week!
Seth