Brooklyn trio A Very Special Episode have never been interested in choosing between melody and mayhem.
On their self-titled EP, AVSE, the band compress shoegaze haze, post-punk tension, noise-rock abrasion and sharp pop instincts into five volatile tracks that feel both carefully constructed and liable to fly apart at any moment.
Originally conceived as the beginnings of a third album, the project found its shape after the band won Our Wicked Lady’s Winter Madness competition and channelled the prize money straight back into recording.
Created across several Brooklyn spaces with a close-knit team of friends and collaborators, AVSE captures the physical chaos of their live shows without sanding down the hooks underneath.
With the new EP and a UK tour lined up for October, vocalist and guitarist Kasey Heisler joins FM for a Quickfire 5 covering creative constraints, Brooklyn’s DIY infrastructure, danceable darkness and the teamwork required to make chaos sound cohesive.
When in doubt, we find that taking a hard, sharp left turn is a reliable trick.
Q1. AVSE was originally heading towards becoming your third full-length before you realised these five songs worked better as an EP. What made that shorter format feel right?
Kasey: We have a tendency to bite off more than we can chew or lean toward a “more is more” ethos in both songwriting and in album creation.
We did basic tracking for several more songs in the main studio session, but ultimately it felt like these five said something about us as a band and where we are now in such a fun and concise way that it seemed silly to try to force it into something bigger that the project didn’t want to be. Some of those cut tunes may appear out in the world sooner than later.
Q2. The record moves between noise, shoegaze, post-punk and pop hooks, sometimes within the same track. How do you know when a song needs abrasion and when it needs melody?
Kasey: Our sound often feels like a tug of war between our own tastes, from moment to moment in a song to track in an EP or LP. So much of how we write comes from the feeling of performing it live; those are usually the songs that make it to the finish line.
I personally get bored if a song stays the same for too long, and I think the boys agree, so when in doubt we find that taking a hard, sharp left turn is a reliable trick. The juxtaposition of the different styles often manifests from my love of pop songs mixed with our collective sensibilities and background in playing in multiple corners of the punk scene in NY.
Def Bones in particular was written intentionally as an inverse to the tried and true quiet-loud-quiet Pixies formula; it answers the question of whether or not the formula works with abrasive, aggressive verses and chiller, prettier choruses. (A question on the tip of everyone’s tongue!)
Q3. Winning Our Wicked Lady’s Winter Madness helped fund the recording and mixing of the EP. How important is that kind of local DIY infrastructure to keeping an independent band moving?
Kasey: It’s incredibly important. Being in a DIY band means pouring a lot of your own money into trying to keep the whole thing afloat. Having an opportunity to earn money from music on this scale feels so gratifying and motivating.
It’s validation to keep pushing. That said, the greater community connection we got from participating in the competition was just as meaningful and fulfilling as the money to record, if not more so.
Q4. Too Cool channels some of the darker, groove-led energy you hear in bands like Dry Cleaning and Savages. What attracted you to that tension between something danceable and something slightly unsettling?
Kasey: We’ve always wanted to write a dance-y song, but every attempt in the past got a little lost in the sauce. I have a tendency to belt out something huge in the moment while improvising over a new musical idea and usually the song starts to evolve into something else after that.
With Too Cool we decided from the beginning to constrain the verses to a spoken word vocal which allowed us to focus more on the groove and the vibe of the song. I think giving ourselves a (very) loose framework helped us succeed on the dance-y-ness where we previously failed.
Speaking to the Dry Cleaning influence specifically, I had a lot of time to think about the sound of Dry Cleaning a few years back when I think I was hands down the shortest person in the audience standing behind perhaps Brooklyn’s tallest man, so all I could do was listen.
Q5. FM PRO TECH Q: AVSE came together across multiple Brooklyn venues with different friends involved in the process. How did you keep the recordings sonically cohesive while preserving the chaos and physical energy of the band?
Kasey: I really believe it is all thanks to the recording/mixing team we had working with us. We’ve recorded our last several projects with Jeff Berner at studio G and we love working with him and love the gorgeous space of studio G. But sometimes, you gotta get a little more crafty to make the money stretch.
So for the first two singles, Def Bones and Suspirium, we recorded basic instrument tracking at our practice and DIY show space (the East Williamsburg Econo Lodge) where we feel the most comfortable and at home as a band. We enlisted our friend Zach Resignano who has recorded many projects in this space to record those for us.
He interned at Studio G and has worked with Jeff a lot, so they spoke about microphones and things ahead of time knowing that Jeff would eventually mix it. Then anything we couldn’t finish at Studio G we overdubbed at the Palace of Sports (Jeff’s home studio).
Finally, post-mixing we again employed the lovely mastering skills of our friend Jennica Best at Tessitura Studios which helped it all gel together. So the communication and coordination of the team with a shared vision and understanding of our sound was what brought it all together in a cohesive fashion, the EP wouldn’t have worked otherwise!
Fun fact! The aforementioned Zach is also an incredible drummer (Debbie Dopamine, REDS) and will be coming to drum with us on our October UK tour!
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UK LIVE DATES
Thursday, 8th October – Brewdog Aberdeen Castlegate – Aberdeen, Scotland
Friday, 9th October – The Audio Lounge – Glasgow, Scotland
Saturday, 10th October – Venue TBD – Sheffield, England
Sunday, 11th October – Shackwell Arms, London, England