The Sea Navy ::: Photo by Sarah Jurado

The Sea Navy are playing a record release show, tomorrow, Friday August 21st at the Sunset Tavern in Ballard with Battle Hymns and The High Strung. With the long-awaited (at least by me) release of their latest record Memory Matches next Tuesday August 25th, the Sea Navy have revealed yet another collection of short sophisticated pop songs out of the mind of front-man Jay Cox. The output of a year and a half of work, this time around Cox had his drummer Jordan Cumming to shoulder the weight of recording and mixing and the result neatly bottles the sometimes overflowing bursts of energy the band exudes on stage and then some. Through clever production and a determinedness to be what they are, I think with this new record they’ve set themselves among our city’s finest examples of heart-on-sleeve pop.

Jay and Jordan responded to a few of my questions about the new album and where they’re at right now via email, with sometimes slightly snarky answers.

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SOTS: The previous Sea Navy record came out before the current lineup had been able to form. This record found you playing many of the songs as a band long before committing them to tape. How did that change the song creation process for you this time around?

JAY: It changed the process to where the people recording/playing the songs are the ones that wrote the parts (for the exception of certain parts of “Rodeo”). We were able to make this record as a band and not “people playing with Jay.” Up until meeting both Jordan and Stuart I had missed the feeling of operating as a band and I am very happy at where we are at in our development. It has a long time since I felt so excited towards what a “band” was able to create and play. I’m so glad that the three of us function so well and I can’t imagine having written these songs with any other players. I don’t mean the previous comment as a negative comment on former members of The Sea Navy but more that having a stable lineup and having people equally invested made the whole process more comfortable and less rushed or on borrowed time.

SOTS: You guys’ bread and butter is the short form pop song. Not a song on this record tops 3 minutes. Is that result of an increased pace in general over the last record, it is even a conscious thing or does ’shorter’ just seem to be the natural length for the songs you guys are creating right now?

JAY: I think maybe 1% of the songs I have ever written have been over 3 minutes. I never worry/think about the length of the song. I think there is enough going on in each song to where the listener will not feel ripped off.

JORDAN: We play for as long as the song needs to be played. We could make the songs longer but then practices would run longer and that’s the last thing we want.

SOTS: One of the pitfalls of such a short time can be that the songs start to be indistinguishable from each other because there is just less time for melodic theme development. It’s something that I think you guys have avoided pretty well with this record. Was there a concerted effort to step away from any formula? It seems rarely is a turnaround simply a turnaround, there are lots of vocal tricks to add some character, and the guitar “solo” moments are just as energetic as Jay’s freak-out moments on stage amount to.

JAY: We have no formula. However it should be said that two out of three members of the band operate on the metric system. There are a lot of aspects of the songs that we will not try live but I think it does capture the character of the band well.

JORDAN: We did quite a lot of experimenting production-wise for this record, but that didn’t spawn out of an effort to step away from any formula. Making a record should first and foremost be fun…. and we had a lot of fun making this record. Going into the studio we had no idea that we would be adding so many layers to these tracks but after listening back to the basic tracks, we realized there was a serious lack of micro korg…. and the possibilities soon became endless.

SOTS: For the production of your record you worked with Tom Pfaeffle at the Tank over a period of months. How did he and his experience put a stamp on this record and the development of the new Sea Navy sound?

JORDAN : Tom’s impact on this record was felt long before we even started tracking. We did a decent amount of pre-production with Tom and added/re-arranged a number of parts based on his notes. Although Tom did not do any of the mixing for this record his impact was still felt on that end. Being a former student of Tom’s and then getting the chance to work as his assistant at the tank, Tom very much became a mentor to me. Most of the mixing was done in my studio, but there were a couple of sessions down at the Tank where Tom would come into the studio late at night, listen through the songs, and tell me what he thought. Tom had an amazing ability to hear exactly what was missing from a song, and his advice was priceless. I really wanted Tom to hear this record… more than anybody… but unfortunately that never happened. Working with Tom has made us a much better band, and I know that I can speak for the other guys when I say that we are forever grateful for the opportunity.

SOTS: (To Jay) I drool over the Telecaster you have each time I see it. Since you play it solely I suspect you have special relationship with it. Does it have a name? Do you consider it part of the Sea Navy sound? Was it the only guitar used recording the record?

JAY: I have two telecasters that I use depending on the sound they are making at the time. I have a yellow late 80s tele that I really love and the sound is more bright and jangly. In the re-issue of Crooked Rain Crooked Rain (or it might be Slanted & Enchanted) you can see the version of it that Spiral Stairs use to play. I think they are the same make – I was never able to confirm it. I think I sent him a fan boy email a while back about the year of his yellow tele. The other tele is brown-ish and has a darker tone that sounds better distorted. I have been using the brown one of the new songs that we have been writing and I feel back in love with it.

They do not have names but they have different pickups.

SOTS: It isn’t immediately apparent why the title “Memory Matches” was chosen for the record. I do find a couple of related themes where maybe it’s drawn from that I’ll share, but feel free to tell me if I’m completely off base. Within a number of the songs there seem to be reflections on history repeating itself. And not only that, but pondering the reality of second chances and inevitable built up history behind those situations.

JAY: The title was taken from an article in the Book Review section of the New York Times. “Memory Matches” has more to do with my way of telling a story than a theme. Sometimes you remember things in a way that is uniquely your own. I have a problem with exaggeration. The history of how I got to this point (mentally, physically, socially…) is something I think about quite often. I could also answer that question by talking about my love for the show LOST but different blog…different interview.

SOTS: I feel your songwriting very much reflects an immediate perspective on a time and place. At the same time, the state of traveling and in movement is a reoccurring theme, song to song and even record to record. Are you not a person who is disposed to sitting still for very long?

JAY: Immediate is a good word to describe these songs. I think each batch of songs I do tend to focus on a particular place and time. According to the internet we as humans are 72% water so it is safe to say we are in constant motion even if we are sitting still. We are all waves. We are constantly crashing against the shore. This record takes place once the wave hits the shore and then thinks “now what?”

SOTS: Along that notion of time and place sensitivity, you also you seem very rooted in the idea of “home”, or at least using “home” as a songwriting device. You’re previous hometowns of Chicago and Boston, Seattle are all mentioned in “What Curse?” You’ve mentioned to me previously “Under Protest” plays with the first letters of downtown Seattle street names and the story of how the city’s street design went down. Yet you’re lyrics imply you’re “not sure it really has a name” meaning not “home” (not really sure if you’re referring to yourself). Now that you’ve been in Seattle for a few years and seem to have thoroughly absorbed the place, do you feel like a Seattle is your home? Do you call yourself a Seattlite? Is it important to you that you have a “home”?

JAY: The locations listed in the song correspond with certain sports team in those cities. After 5 years I feel like Seattle is the place I am living. Where home is I think is a bigger question. The song is more an ode to the Seattle Mariners.

SOTS: Is “Not My First Rodeo” explicitly about our country’s misadventures into the Middle East?

JAY: The song was focused towards someone not someplace. I would be lying to say that I didn’t purposely name it in a way where people might think it was political.

SOTS: Tell me a bit about the inspiration for using Creative Commons (CC) footage in now two music video you’ve made for this record, “talktalktalk” and “What Curse?” Do you feel like it’s important to have a video component these days?

JAY: I think having a video element is always interesting in that it lets you see the song/band in another way. The main factor in using the CC footage was price – the videos were totally free. Our friend Brad who owns some editing software was able to piece them together for us super quick (thanks brad!). Also bands have been able to use videos to spread the word about themselves/record - look at what great viral videos Mt. St. Helen’s Vietnam Band made… and I think that really helped with the buzz.

It seems that more bands around town are making videos again (Damien Jurado, Throw Me The Statue….) and I like that that medium for indie bands is making a comeback. 120 Minutes/Subterranean is now longer on TV but I think there are plenty of blogs that are happy to have some images (moving/still) on their sites next to all those words.

I posted the videos on vimeo.com and I found the site really user friendly and easy to use and I prefer it to posting videos to youtube.

For the video for “What Curse” I wanted to use the Looney Tunes footage of “Baseball Bugs” which is a classic Bugs Bunny baseball bit but I would have to gotten the rights to us it and that would NEVER have happened. I was searching for some footage of old Seattle and I came across the World’s Fair footage and I knew I HAD to use it – the colors, the action, the monorail! We were lucky that it matched up to the song pretty well and theme wise it kind of plays into the words.

SOTS: The record is completely self-released? But at the usual digital outlets?

JAY: Yes the record is fully self released. We individually stamped and packed each one ourselves! Sonic Boom & Easy Street will have them on the 25th and all the normal digital outlets have them (thanks to tunecore.com).