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Well, I must admit that this band did't catch my ear right off. Their very tricky and almost jazz-like sound demands a lot of patience from everyone whose ears has been used to simple three-chord punk rock so far. But with no doubt they now belong to one of my favourite bands. 31Knots from Portland are three geniusses and they don't leave out an opportunity to prove it. They just released "It Was High Time To Escape" on 54° 40' or Fight! records and impressively substantiate their striving for originality. I got to know them quite by chance, because their label ist pretty young and just trying to get one foot into Europe. I talked to Joe Haege, guitarist and singer, about the band, the new album and their plans of coming over here to tour Europe.

Joe, please introduce yourself and the band. Where, when, who and why?
31knots. I am Joe Haege. I play guitar, piano, samples and sing. Jay Winebrenner plays bass. Jay Pellicci plays drums and recorded our album. The history is as such: Jay W. and I were in college and had started playing together about six months before. Well, neither of us were really enjoying our "education" so we felt the pull of Rock and Roll. After a brief break, we ended up in Olympia, WA with our first drummer (even before Joe Kelly). We were so out of touch with underground rock music and the ways of living on own that we pretty much took two years to figure out what we wanted to do. In those two years we pretty much wrote very pedantic, epic songs that had very little direction. Then Jay and I split ways with our old drummer and moved to Portland. Well, about two months after being here we met Joe Kelly. Things clicked rather quickly, so he joined the band. during this time we really found our own identity a lot more. It really helped having Joe Kelly be more in touch with a lot of underground punk music then. I think it made us be more conscious of our surroundings. It also made us realize that we weren't as unique as we thought we were. So, during this time we recorded our first full-length, which actually included five songs that our original drummer, Mark, played on. This album was entitled "Climaxanticlimax". Then we spent the next three years doing small tours and recording "The Rehearsal Dinner EP" and "A Word Is Also A Picture Of A Word" Half way through recording "High Time..." Joe Kelly decided to quit the band. He got sick of touring and he wanted to move in a different musical direction. Then Mr. Pellicci entered the picture.

What’s living and making music in Portland like? It seems to have quite a vibrant music scene, because I know a couple of bands from there.
It's very nice. Living is relatively cheap, if you can find work, and you can still find houses that you can play music in. Oh, and it has a fair amount of culture for a city this size. The scene is quite good, because it's very diverse. I won't lie, I'm sure some people think it's totally esoteric and elite, but I really don't think it is. It is so large and varied, musically and with people's personalities, that it seems quite impossible to cast vague judgements on. Regardless, there are several great bands from here, including The Planet The, The Thermals, the Swords Project, The Joggers, Party Time, etc.

The Planet The from Portland will also release on 54° 40' or Fight! soon. Who's that and how did it come up, have you something to do with it?
It's quite funny that we're on the same label, seeing that Jay W. and I went to highschool with those guys back in the suburbs of Chicago. Essentially, The Planet The is an amazing band that had yet to find a label. I pretty much hassled Steve (Brydges, of 54° 40' ...) to listen to their record and see if he liked it. He did. So, he decided to put out their ep this fall. A lot of talent goes unnoticed in this town becaue there aren't any big indie labels out of here, except Temporary Residence, which is pretty recent. So, yeah, too many bands miss out because of no hometown labels.

This question is always silly, but I keep failing in search of references to describe your music. Please help me.
The most common reference we get is to the progressive rock of the 70's, but with more of a punk twist. More than once we've heard people use Yes, MinuteMen, Genesis and Fugazi in some arrangement. All of those seem like fairly good touchstones to me. As long as someone never compares my lyrics to true absurdity that some Prog rock achieved I will feel ok by being lumped into that category. For us, though, I think it's really strange. We've never tried to sound like anything in particular. I only got into progressive rock because people were telling me that we sounded a lot like it.

I'm awestruck of your musical capabilities. How did you get this good with your instruments?
Well, without being some faux humble asshole, I will state that, compared to my idols and heroes, I suck. I've always tried to emulate the complexity of classical and jazz players, yet with more of a cutting sound. Jay W. and I pretty much learned to play together and he introduced me to a lot of classical music that I love. Then he got into Abba. Wow, I really have no idea how we got to where we are. I think we just have this desire and joy that we derive from slightly more complex/busy music that made us driven to the point of wanting to play it. Pellicci is exactly the same way. He's always wanted to be a good musician and he takes it seriously, because he loves it.

What idea of music do you have (when you force the listeners to think about what's happening)?
I have a lot of ideas. Sometimes way too many. I want to confuse them and myself. I want to make something epic. I want to make something creepy and atonal. I want to make something melodic and memorable. Most of all I want them to feel as if they are seeing something that is fueled by real passion and not some publicity hype. I want them to feel as if sincerity is coming at them in beautiful and ugly ways. I'd like to remind people that we're all walking around in a beautiful fucked up world.

You once said that 31knots were "striving for originality". Do you measure yourself with your preceding albums or with all the other bands out there?
This is a great question. I would say that I measure myself in a series of ways. First, I always seem to think about if it's intelligent. Whether or not there is some valid twist to the melody that makes it admirable to my own sensibilities. Secondly, I compare it, unconsciously, to what I have written before and try to ask myself if I'm starting to mimic my own tricks. Thirdly, I ask myself if it's something slightly new and worth trying. All this, of course, is not set in stone. Some times I just hear a melody in something I'm playing and I chase it until I have it. Or sometimes, I just like the way certain chords go with certain words. But I definitely do both: compare myself to others as well as my past self.

Then, in which way is "It Was High Time To Escape" better than the albums before?
The main way is the recording quality. Pellicci went above and beyond the call with this record. He worked his ass off to get the sound we wanted, and for the first five song sessions he wasn't even in the band!! But, yeah, not having any "live sound" to the recording has been our goal for a while now and we finally achieved it. Aside from that I would say that our sense of song placement and layering made this album a lot better than our last one.

Apparently you have an aesthetic sense, concerning music and above all artworks. Who's responsible for the artworks? I think there's a certain similarity between the ones on "A word..." and "High time...".
Her name is Rachel Carns. She used to be in The Need and she is currently in King Cobra. She is also an AMAZING ARTIST. I love her work so much. I don't think I've ever seen anything she's done that hasn't been visually striking. I will always be grateful that she was willing to do our record. We definitely tried to go for similarity in the artwork of "A Word..." and "High Time...", and she did it perfectly. I think it just felt as if there was some weird connection amidst the sentiment of the music that we wanted to make certain.

On your homepage you said that you "have gone through a couple of different phases" since your last album. What happened? What do we have to expect? Has it something to do with your new drummer?
The main phases we went through between the old record and the new one were pretty subtle, but pretty pronounced to me. We had realized after "A Word..." that we wanted to have a little more consistency in the tempos of our songs. So, we went through a period where we were writing a lot songs with more "groove" to them. Kind of like soul music. Most of the songs were cathartic more than anything, but it definitely helped me become a better songwriter and helped the band move in a different direction. However, it has definitely had something to do with Pellicci joining the band. He has made the band complete. It is now the right lineup. I think Jay W. and I have been looking for the right match for years, and we finally found him. He's an amazing drummer and he has great sensibilities. With our old drummer I was somewhat limited as to what I could bring to the band in terms of completed songs. With Joe Kelly we had just gone down the path of writing everything together, piece-mealing parts. It worked great for a long time, but it was really starting to get to me. I felt as if we just always had songs that showcased our abilities and yet didn't have any constant sentiment to them. With Pellicci, I am completely able to bring completed songs to him and Jay W. and they can constructively work on them, while adding their own sound.

Speaking of your new drummer. It's Jay who used tp play in Dilute. How did that happen, and what will be with Dilute (which I love)?
Pellicci ended up in the band by means of some minor star alignment, if you ask me. He was recording our next record down in SF. Well, about half way through recording the album, which was going to reconvene in a couple months, our drummer, Joe Kelly, had decided to leave the band. It wasn't a surprise and I think that there was relief involved for everyone. Jay W. and I really wanted this record to come out. We really didn't want to just call it quits while finally having the chance to record an album that sounded the way we wanted it to. So, I called Pellicci, who lives in San Francisco, about ten hours away from Portland, and asked him if he would be willing to play drums on the rest of the record. Thankfully, he agreed and thought it would be fun. Then there were a couple weeks when I was totally lost as to what to do for touring. I mean, we definitely have a technical enough sound that we are limited in the kind of drummers we can play with. So, Jay and I had no idea what to do. Even if we did find someone to play with they would be going on tour, which isn't guaranteed fun in the U.S., playing songs that they had absolutely no involvement in writing. For this to work, and for us to get along with this mythical person, we would have had to hire a clone. Instead of spending Millions of dollars on a clone-hybrid of Jay W. and I we asked Pellicci!! The nice thing is that he didn't think about it for too long, making feel as if he must genuinely like the music. Dilute is AMAZING. I love that band. They were the main reason we excited to be on 54° 40' or Fight! Unfortunately, due to jobs and whatnot they are not able to play as much as they would like. But they are still playing and writing together, just in a different capacity.

I just noticed that you replaced Joe with Jay, so you have been two Joes and one Jay and are now two Jays and one Joe. What kind of dark forces are working here?
We are a well-oiled machine. I will just say that our criteria for drummers is VERY obscure. If you have the same first name as one of us is only one example. No one ever mentions how we require our drummers to levitate while sleeping. Very strict, we are.

You are about to come over to Europe and I guess it's the first time for a band on 54° 40' or Fight! What are your expectations/fears? Have you already made a name for yourselves over here?
We are VERY EXCITED TO TOUR EUROPE. SO EXCITED. YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW EXCITED. The U.S. is very difficult for us. My theory is that, because we are the #1 consumer nation we have the most people with no attention span left, which definitely makes it difficult to appreciate music like ours. And I think a lot of people just don't see profits when they hear us, so people in the industry don't want to get involved. Wow, I don't think I guess the only fear I have about going over there would be people not liking us. I'm obsessed with so much of the music of certain European countries that I think it will be nothing but amazing. Of course, ask me when I'm broke and cold on some crummy ferry to England. As far I know, "A Word..." was received rather well in Europe. I know that some German and Italian online magazines really like it. The way in which they describe how they like it also seems more thorough too. I really hope after this tour we will feel comfortable over there. I don't like the way the U.S. operates on the whole. I think most American bands trying to band unique and inspired bands feel more kinship with the European countries than our own. Let's face it. America is one deranged nation.

You are not speaking friendy about your home country. How far does your criticism towards the US of A go? Are you politically involved in any way?
I would not say I'm politically involved, except for voting at elections. I would say I'm politically conscious. I am very grateful for what I have in my life, including the opportunities that living in this country provides. However, I think that anyone who grows up and begins to question their faith, patriotism and nationalism for their homeland will see holes in what is the truth and what they were told. they will also see that nothing is perfect, especially a nation's government. The USA is one HUGE imperfection. It probably wouldn't be so over-bearing on my conscience, except for the fact that the U.S. is trying to be involved in every affair in the world. Also, the U.S. has no foresight as to how it is constantly feeding an exponential growth of world wide hatred towards it. Overall, though, it is the government that I have a problem with. It's especially gross to see the stupid/ignorant people, which I'm sure every nation has an abundance of, live and breathe the shit the government handfeeds to them.

Last question, what's your relationship to your label like?
Our relationship with the label is like that of a student body with it's university; we always want more and don't fully realize how well we have it. Steve Brydges is a working machine. He does so much in one day it's unbelievable. I'm very grateful he every decided to put out our albums. It can be hard, though, because the label is still very young and so the growing pains can still be a little unsettling, but it gets better by the day.