A Lot Like Birds are a band that have been steadily on the rise the past few years. Their third studio album No Place came out last week through Equal Vision, and we asked guitarist Michael Franzino to give us an inside look on what went into making the record. The group recently kicked off their fall headlining tour and they’re soaring across the US with HRVRD, Night Verses, and My Iron Lung. Beware: they may ruffle a few of your feathers.
You recorded No Place with producer Kris Crummett, who you also worked with on Conversation Piece. Was there a different approach with recording the new album than the previous one?
Conversation Piece was the first truly professional record most of us had ever recorded, and we only had three weeks to do it (which was extremely difficult for us because we are inclined to heavily layer our music on record). At the time, a lot of us did not know what to expect or how prepared to be, so a lot of extra stuff and ideas were cut due to poor planning. This time around we knew how we work with each other, we were comfortable with Kris, I had the entire record demoed out (including the horns, strings, and various other instrumentation and programming), and we had two months to do it. Somehow that still wasn’t enough time haha, Kris Skype-produced a few sessions for us back in a hometown studio. This record was a much, much more in-depth picture to paint.
When writing for the record, what were your objectives; what did you want to achieve with the new album?
I already touched on it a little already, but for me, I really enjoy writing bigger compositions and we have always intended to have our music include orchestral elements/various textures and voices. Plan B had a lot of that kind of stuff, and I missed doing it when reflecting on Conversation Piece after it was finished.
How would you compare No Place to your debut Plan B? How has A Lot Like Birds progressed?
[W]e made a conscious effort to bring back our more densely layered songwriting. However, our music has come to be much more cohesive as we have come to really find our sound. I had no idea what the band would be when I made Plan B, so we ended up sounding like a different band from song to song. Also, we have worked hard to structure our music more cleverly than just mashing various riffs and parts into a song. We really try to have the songs sound like one idea, and furthermore, have the whole record sound like one entity as well. I think this album is harder to enjoy without listening to the whole thing at once, more than our previous efforts, and we like that about it.
There are a bunch of bands emerging in the scene right now, A Lot Like Birds being one of them. What are some bands out there that are doing it right?
Hail the Sun, Stolas, and Exotic Animal Petting Zoo are to us as Touche and Pianos Become the teeth are to La Dispute. We all have something in common, and we love that something. letlive. (who are by no means new, but really coming up in recent times). Our whole tour package (HRVRD, My Iron Lung, Night Verses), Code Orange kids are rad, our buds in From Indian Lakes, I the Mighty of course, Rolo Tomassi (not that old), And So I Watch You From Afar (not that new), O’Brother, and Balance & Composure. …I cant think of many off the top of my head! We are honestly kind of out of the new band loop unfortunately!
Aside from the fall headlining tour, what’s in store for the future of A Lot Like Birds?
More touring. Hopefully we will get out to Europe again next year. We really want to give this record a good healthy touring run. Other than that, we can never be sure.
A Lot Like Birds tour dates:
Nov 04 Long Branch, NJ @ Brighton Bar
Nov 05 New York, NY @ The Studio at Webster Hall
Nov 06 Worcester, MA @ The Palladium (upstairs)
Nov 07 West Chester, PA @ The Note
Nov 08 Poughkeepsie, NY @ The Loft
Nov 09 Rochester, NY @ The Dub Land Underground
Nov 10 Lansing, MI @ Mac’s Bar
Nov 11 Columbus, OH @ The Basement
Nov 12 Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen
Nov 13 Minneapolis, MN @ Nether Bar
Nov 15 St. Louis, MO @ Fubar
Nov 17 Lubbock, TX @ Jake’s Sports Center
Nov 18 Albuquerque, NM @ Launchpad
Nov 21 West Hollywood, CA @ Roxy Theatre
Nov 22 Bakersfield, CA @ B-Ryder’s
Nov 23 Walnut Creek, CA @ Red House
Nov 24 Fresno, CA @ Strummer’s