Local band Secondhand will bring its brand of rock to Luther’s Blues Tuesday. Recently The Badger Herald sat down with the boys for a question-and-answer session where Jake Shimon (lead vocals and acoustic guitar), Derek Arnold (electric guitar), Jason Shafton (bass and recording engineer) and Blake Arnold (drums) bared their musical souls.
Badger Herald: Why is your music likeable?
Jake Shimon: Why is our musical likeable? Because we play songs and it’s not too complex. We think our music can speak to just about anybody who wants to listen.
BH: What band would you likely be compared to, but the comparison would really annoy you for some reason?
JS: Jack Johnson. I guess it would annoy me more than anyone else, only because his stuff is so incredibly simple.
Derek Arnold: John Mayer. I guess we kind of sound like him, but I would rather be compared to Ben Harper someday. They are all excellent musicians in Ben Harper’s band.
JS: I’m better at being a songwriter than a musician. I mean, that’s how the Beatles were.
BH: What would best describes the style and attitude of the band?
Jason Shafton: We came up with a way to describe the band before. I think we say its ‘acoustic-driven rock with an emo feel,’ but there is no way to completely characterize our sound.
JS: I just like to say we’re musicians that like to play songs. We don’t have to play to any certain genre. It’s really better that way.
Jason: We get asked a lot what our music sounds like, but we’ve never come up with a really good answer. You’ll just have to see us play.
BH: When you play live shows, who talks to the audience the most?
DA: That would be me, although I shouldn’t. We haven’t really played too many shows, but there was one time where I got a little too drunk and slurred a little too much into the mike, if you catch my drift. I just started talking, but at that point, anything at all was too much.
JS: We all sort of say what we want when we want, but it’s unprofessional to have everybody yelling in the mike at once. If we can subdue Derek, it’ll be all good.
Jason S: Jake’s the front man, he’s the guy that all the ladies want and he’s the one that gets to talk into the mike.
BH: Describe the concept of love in exactly thirteen words.
DA: In exactly thirteen words? Okay, Love-is-a-piece-of-crap-it-leads-guys-blind-and makes-them-try-to….oh, crap that’s like fifteen. Man, this thirteen word limit thing sucks.
Blake Arnold: Yeah dude, I have no idea. Oh-crap-dude-I-have-no-idea. Yeah, that’s only seven, that won’t work. I guess I’ll have to think of something else.
JS: If-you-ask-me-love-is-for-stu-pid….curses, that ain’t gonna work.
Jason S: Don’t count syllables.
JS: Okay I got it, Love-is-what-people-do-when-they-are-tired-of-masturbating-so-much. Yes I got it.
BH: If you owned your own restaurant, what would you name it?
DA: How about Used Food to go along with the Secondhand thing?
Jason S: Delicious, I can just see everyone lining up to grab themselves a plate of other people’s leftovers.
JS: I’d call it Unsanitary, and our slogan would be: “It’s not good unless it’s not clean!”
BH: What is your favorite musical moment of all time on an album?
JS: My favorite moment. Pink Floyd, “Echoes” where it breaks down and it’s just the wind and in comes this really high pitched guitar part. I’ve always wanted to take that, loop it, and make it into a techno song.
DA: I have two. The first time I ever heard the song “#41″ by the Dave Matthews Band, the song’s powerful lyrics really spoke to me. My favorite moment in any music ever is the bridge on “Divided Sky” by Phish. The guitar solo is unbelievable. Tre is amazing.
Jason S: Jimmy Eat World. Their intro to “Table for Glasses” and the outro too, I guess. I love that entire album (Clarity). That whole thing is one big musical moment. You can’t listen to one song, you know? You have to listen to all of them.
BH: Describe the typical writing and recording process for a song or an album.
JS: I write all the songs. I usually come up with a guitar part and lyrics. Freshman year, I lived in Sellery Hall and I played all the time. I’m that guy who played guitar out in the courtyard.
DA: It used to be that we’d write our parts separately, but now we just take what Jake has written down into our basement/practice pad and sort of play around with it. After the main structure is set, the rest of us add flavor.
BA: I add my special sauce. Ughh!
Jason S: Conveniently, when it comes to recording, I own my own recording studio called Rubber Room Records (www.rubberroomrecords.com). After the music is recorded and mixed, there’s the whole process of producing it. We like to add effects like in the song “Crossfire” on our latest album Two Hours Late. We added an awesome panning delay effect to the guitar solo, which was in fact Derek’s idea. This album is very produced and turned out really well, much to our surprise. We used a variety of effects like reversed cymbals and delays to create a sound that separates the studio album from our live show, making it all the better to see us live. But since we didn’t really embellish the music too much–like adding any extra instruments to the album–the live show still gives a good idea of our complete sound.
BH: If you had to make an entire album with one instrument not including computer software, what would that instrument be?
JS: I would definitely use my voice. That would great. I would love to write a song where I beat box, then do a bass line, and then add some high notes. Then I would sing over it and make all sorts of weird, funky sounds. There would be tons of layers of me doing that. It would be hilarious. I would do it now, but I can’t do it all at the same time.
DA: The guitar will always be my instrument of choice.
BH: What’s your favorite effect?
DA: Mine’s the Vox Wah pedal definitely. It’s the best money I’ve ever spent. Jimi Hendrix used it to make his riffs all the more incredible.
BA: We need more cowbell!
JS: My favorite effect is echo, but I like a lot of effects. It’s the way that you add them to the mix that can make or break a song.
Jason S: My favorite effect of late is mono delay. We used it in the chorus of “Crossfire” and it sounds a little more pop than I usually like, but it’s a sweet effect.
BH: Define the people in the band.
DA: I would say that Jake is the mother of the band because he gave birth to it. Jason is the father because he keeps everybody in line and mixes the music. Blake and I are like the two kids that goof around.
BA: I’m the special love child.
JS: Dude, I really don’t want to be referred to as the mother.
Jason S: Yeah that’s a bad answer.
BH: What two people would you like to work with on an album?
JS: Trent Reznor and any of the producers from the Roots.
DA: I would really love to collaborate sometime with–and this is not possible–Dave Matthews and Jimi Hendrix.
Jason S: If I could work with anyone from any era, I would choose to work with George Martin who produced Beatles to see just how he made them into the sensation that they became.
Catch Secondhand live at Luther’s Blues this Tuesday, Feb 17 at 9pm, with Special Guests inchWORM (Chicago) and SLIM (Madison). For free tickets to the show visit www.2ndhnd.com and just print them out.
