Nineteen Forty-Five
By Pam Huwig
Originally appearing in Technodyke – www.technodyke.com
What would we do without Daemon Records? Really, this isn’t a rhetorical question. Think of all the rocking music they’ve given us, and how much it would suck to be deprived of bands like Nineteen Forty-Five. Granted, Nineteen Forty-Five would undoubtedly get signed to another quality indie label, but we all know it just wouldn’t be the same as having that little half-dog, half-woman (or whatever the hell that is) logo stamped on the CD, verifying it was done by Daemon.
Luckily, the Daemon folks realize our addictions, and to junk us up so good that we’ll probably never come down, they’ve recently released Nineteen Forty-Five’s, together we’ll burn like autumn leaves.
Katharine McElroy (vocals, bass), Hunter Manasco (vocals, guitar), Larry Holt (guitar), and Will Lochamy (drums) are Nineteen Forty-Five, and Technodyke recently chatted with Katharine and Hunter about the new CD, dealing with Daemon, and good ol’ rock n roll
PH: So, did you decide to pitch to Daemon since you had done previous work with them as Three Finger Cowboy?
Hunter: We had sent a demo to Daemon, among several other labels. I guess I kinda thought Daemon was still kinda pissed at us or something, because I don’t think we played as many shows as they wanted us too before. But, the story is that Katherine came home one day and there’s a message on her machine from Amy, saying..,“Hey, this is Amy Ray. I got your record demo and want to see if you want to do a record. I’m in an airport right now, and I’ll call you back later, bye.”
PH: At least she gets right to the point.
Hunter: I’m glad she did, and I’m glad that’s what the point was!
PH: Ya’ll are from Birmingham, did you record it there?
Hunter: Yeah, we recorded it here in Birmingham. It’s well, you know, it’s a nice town if you’re not wanting to play music [laughs]. But, if you’re an original band it sucks. Really, the only thing that people go out to see is like hippie and cover bands. The biggest band in Birmingham is a cover band, so it’s kinda weird in that way. Bizarre, really.
PH: Oh, you poor dears. That sucks. How do the locals like your music?
Hunter: I guess they seem to be liking it okay. I don’t know [laughs].
PH: Do you hate being interviewed?
Hunter: No, not really. I’ll tell ya an interview story, though. We got this one review that says that we’re very much like the band Pavement, and it’s just like a knife in my side [laughs.] Not because I don’t like Pavement [giggles], but, like, I went to see them in Atlanta, and they just sucked. God, they sucked. And they sucked b-a-d. It just ticks me off. Not that I’m adverse to their records, but you know, I’m not going to buy their records. How in the world can we sound like Pavement? I dunno.
PH: That’s funny, in a sad kind of way.
Katharine: You don’t hear the similarities? [Laughs]
PH: Uh, no, I’m sure I didn’t hear any. Hints of Husker Du, Dinosaur Jr, The Replacements, T-Rex all might be fair comparisons, but I flat-out missed anything that sounds like Pavement. So, if not Pavement, who could you possibly like listening to?
Katharine: I’m a big, life-long Velvet Underground fan, and, yes, a T-Rex fan, and a lifelong Kate Bush fan. I’ve heard that Kate is working on something, but it’s still kind of a rumor. But maybe in the next couple years we’ll see something from her. But, you know, it’s been forever since she put out The Red Shoes, and it is high-time that she put out something. I listen to 70s rock, my great love.
PH: While I threw out names of other bands just a minute ago, I have to say that your sound definitely stands on its own, and there’s healthy mix of musical roots, it seems. You have a good scald on those songs.
Hunter: Uh, what? We have what?
PH: A good scald.
Hunter: [Laughs] What the hell does that mean? Does that mean you like it?
PH: Yeah, that’s totally what it means.
Katharine: A large part of what makes us, us, is that the varied musical backgrounds that we come from. Will, the drummer, has a heavier background “very Nirvana-inspired“ so he brings that element to it. Larry has a very different mindset about playing guitar. He’s not a conventional guitar player at all. Generally, the stranger stuff you hear on the album, that’s him. He has the most drastically indie rock background. And then there’s someone like me, who was much more pop-oriented. Hunter is kind of all of those things.
PH: How about being on the road? Does that work out well?
Katharine: I like it for short periods of time, but I get kind of homesick. We travel in a mini-van with a trailer. We used to travel in a smaller minivan, cramming the four of us in with all of our equipment it was a deathtrap. We had to sit the high-hat stand, which, you know, is rather pointy [laughs], inevitably shooting right at someone’s face. If there had been a wreck, someone would have been impaled, I’d say. It just was pure danger.
PH: What about all those crazy lesbians who turn out at your shows? Do you find that surprising in any way that you’d have such a queer following without being gay yourselves?
Hunter: I mean, we automatically have a gay following because we’re on Daemon. Well, I mean, I hope it’s my good looks, maybe, but I don’t think it is. I think I’m the only person in the band who hasn’t gotten gay fan mail. So if you can include that in the story, that I’m waiting for some gay fan mail [laughs, but I can tell he means it]. Katherine gets it all the time, though. I’m cool with it, any following is a good following, so long as it’s not a bunch of skinheads or something. It’s great to first, have a following, and then to have gay/lesbian angle, so we have that link to the
gay and lesbian culture, which is one of the most encouraging subcultures out there. No doubt that it’s a very positive thing.
To learn more about Nineteen Forty-Five, and to download a few songs from together we’ll burn like autumn leaves check out daemonrecords.com.