Pilot Speed

For the last three years, I’ve been a consistent source of word of mouth promotion for Pilot Speed. And that’s because Todd Clark & Co.’s melodies have become a consistent listening source of excellent pop/rock structures. The Toronto band blossomed north of the Great Lakes through most of the past decade until finally leaking Stateside with 2007’s Into the West. The results were fantastic Euro-tinged pop rock with all the proper swells and builds.

Now, the band is on Wind-Up Records (Stars of Track and Field, Cartel) for their permanent home, a solid rock base that should lend the band’s new tunes a proper support structure. And a chance is really all that Clark and the rest of Pilot Speed is hoping for. From there, tracks like “Put the Phone Down” and “Bluff” should take over.

We caught up with Todd Clark outside a coffeeshop recently to hear this thoughts on this time in the life of the band, working with different producers on the album and finding truth in the latest Malcolm Gladwell book.

SSv: Coming off of Into the West, I’m wondering what it is you’re aiming for with the new record, Wooden Bones?

Todd Clark: This album follows two years after the last one and it’s the first one we made with Wind-Up, our American label. So in a way, it was a clean slate and I was really happy about that because there were a lot of things I wanted to do differently on this new album. I worked pretty closely with Wind-Up and our A&R guy, Gregg Wattenberg, who was really good about pushing me and pushing us to make sure we got really good songs. We took the time that was needed and I became really interested in writing songs that could work in any capacity – whether it was on an acoustic or whether you record them the way that we recorded them.

Even if they are self-indulgent or art songs, we wanted to make sure there were hooks you could still hold onto. It wasn’t for any commercial reason or because there’s a label on it, but because when I look back, I thought about the songs that I loved growing up and ones that I love to this day. It’s songs that have very familiar surroundings, that have things you can grab onto. You look at some of the great songs, they are these textbook songs or formulaic songs, but there’s something great about them.

When something is good enough, all of those little criticisms go away. People always struggle with something that’s kind of plain or it’s not a new take on things, but if it’s good, then all of those things go away. Good songs make all the criticisms and all the moribund things about them go away. So that’s what we were going for. I don’t know if we achieved it all, but that’s what we wanted – songs that were conventional in a way, but uniquely conventional.

SSv: You guys worked with Dennis Herring on this one…

Todd: We only did three of the 11 songs with Dennis and that experience was good in a lot of ways, but in other ways, we had to pick some of the stuff that we didn’t see eye to eye on. I know we’re going to get a lot of questions about this and since this is one of my first interviews, I’m still figuring out how to talk about it. We have a good personal relationship and stuff, but we didn’t do what we needed to do to get those songs where we needed to be. So we did the last eight songs on the record with Kevin Killen. So we really did it with two producers.

SSv: So where did Kevin come in? How did you hook up with him?

Todd: Well, Kevin had worked with Gregg, our A&R guy, and his name came up in producer lists. I was aware of his work with U2 on The Unforgettable Fire. He was the engineer on that and on Peter Gabriel’s So. His credits were unbelievable. And again, it was one of thos things where you’re rolling the dice. But he was great. Working with Kevin was the easiest process that I’ve had so far working today, whether it’s interviews or touring or recording or whatever. Recording those songs with Kevin was incredibly easy and incredibly fun and pleasurable.

Ultimately, working with a producer can be so different and the relationships are hard to predict. But I’m very satisfied with the ultimate work we made with both producers.

SSv: How does that producer relationship work? Obviously some connections will click and others will not, but wondering what you’ve learned in this process?

Todd: When you’re talking about producers, you’re taking a leap of faith. You talk to a guy, you fly down there and you work and you can hit it on so many levels, but on some levels if you miss it… it’s a funny thing, because there are no other relationships in your life where you jump in with someone like that. But it was good in many, many ways, but in other ways, we kind of had to get a little closer to what we needed it to be. But personally it was not a bad experience at all. You just come back to your own city, look at what you got and realize that you need to do the work to make it into what you need it to be. At the end of the day, everyone can walk away from the project except you.

SSv: How are you navigating ahead in the industry now?

Todd: The industry is definitely different now. Someone coined the phrase, ‘There are no home runs anymore. There’s only bunts in the music industry.’ And now you have to bunt your way to success. I think that’s a good analogy. I think that’s fair, too, because everyone has a fair shot. You just have to do things piece by piece. My goals are really to make enough money to continue to do it. For me, each project has to deliver a progression as well, a step up. The minute things start to go backwards, I think I would look at what other options there were out there to do, even outside of music.

From an artistic standpoint, I think this is our best record. I really believe that. And if any band finishes a record and can say this is their best work, then that’s most of it. Somewhere deep down, I still believe that if you make great work, then you’ll be okay. There’s a possibility that you will make a really great album and no one wants to hear it and that happens. And that’s fine, too, you know? But the only thing we can control is the work itself and I’m happy with that.

SSv: So there’s never that frustration level or at least not often about the lack of attention to a certain song or album?

Todd: Well, no, at least not on that last album. I look at the last album and I think there were a lot of self-indulgent tracks on that album…

SSv: Really?

Todd: Yeah, there’s a lot of songs that kind of meander. A musician is often misled about their own music. [Laughs] I think I’d be somewhat disappointed if this album doesn’t do well, because I do think there are some unique tracks that have the ability to be good singles and stuff like that. A song like “Put the Phone Down” is a unique song. It’s a bit off-color, a bit weird, a bit quirky, but it’s got these really obvious pop moments and hook moments. I think if it didn’t help us step out a bit and move forward… well, at the end of the day, I don’t care as well because I have also learned that you can’t control these things. I’ve accepted that. You just have to make the best music you can, throw it out there, and let the people decide whether it will react with them or not. As long as you get that shot, as long as you get opportunities to be seen, then the people will eventually decide.

Let me backtrack. One of the frustrating things within a band is that you’re not getting opportunities for people to make that choice. You’re not getting the tour or the opportunity for people to decide if they like you and help take you to that next level or not. Every band wants that opportunity to be heard and then whatever happens beyond that is fine. If you sit 10 people in a room and play your music and nine of them don’t like it, you can’t change that. You have to live with it, but you just want the opportunity to be heard and to work. Most bands are willing to work hard, so it’s just about the chance.

It’s about the Outliers book by Malcolm Gladwell with his 10,000 hours rule in saying that the biggest thing that determines if they get to that mark of 10,000 is opportunities to continue to do that sole thing. That’s what any band wants is the ability to continue to work at their music until they get really good at it. So that’s the frustrating part on a daily basis. You’re working hard and making good product and still hoping for those opportunities to be seen – that trendy band of the month or having a writer like you. But then again, I believe that if your product is truly good enough, then that will take care of itself. It’s aiming for the Joshua Tree or OK Computer or What’s the Story (Morning Glory)? and making that.

SSv: So the plan is to tour as much as you can? What’s the plan for you guys after album release?

Todd: We’re basically going to do as much touring as possible to get to as many places as we can. Hopefully we can get on with some good tours and have some opportunities there. Getting on the radio isn’t what it once was, but it still is a large part of the market. I think we have songs that can work on radio, so I’m hoping for a little success there. But in today’s music industry, it’s not about having one thing but a lot of little thing going on at once, whether it’s with some films or radio or touring opportunities. It’s about hitting people on all fronts so that people keep hearing about your band and building momentum that way.

Related posts:

1. Pilot Speed – Wooden Bones
2. Better Than Ezra

Tagged as: Rock, Toronto

blog comments powered by Disqus