My hometown of Spokane, WA is hardly known for music. Spokane’s typical sell-out shows include Tech N9ne and Puddle of Mudd. Growing up, we caught national attention not for quality tunes, but meth troubles and Robert Lee Yates (#509pride). So when Spokane group The Globes signed to Barsuk and began making waves (in addition to stellar music), it certainly came with a very warm welcoming. After half a decade of dedication, The Globes struck solid results in 2011. Last summer, they released their debut LP Future Self, rocked Sasquatch and Portland’s MusicFestNW, won Seattle Weekly’s “Best Rock Band of 2011” and toured the country extensively. Those high marks came with much invested time and effort, including over 100 live shows in 2011. When I talked with vocalist/guitarist Erik Walters last summer, he noted it had hardly been an easy “rock star” dream. Refreshingly, Erik kept from sugarcoating things and gave an honest, in-depth interview about the Globes’ path and enjoying what you love in an oft-jading “music biz”

Apes on Tape: For those that haven’t heard your music yet, could you describe a general vibe or maybe some similar artists to give them an idea?

Erik Walters: We get compared to a lot of early/mid 90’s bands. Like earlier Radiohead, Unwound, Fugazi, R.E.M., Sunny Day Real Estate. But we also get compared to Yes and Genesis (laughs). I mean, there have been tons of bands. As far as influence, describing our sound, it’s kind of experimental, progressive rock, I guess. It’s not something that we really talk about too much.

Don’t pick a chart of artists….

No, we don’t pick out what we want something to sound like. It just kind of happens.

Is it weird being compared to bands you’ve never thought about? Like a Genesis?

It’s just funny. I mean I love it when, someone says “you guys remind me of this or that” and a lot of times we’re like, “cool, though none of us listen to that band”. Even like Sunny Day. We like Sunny Day, but none of use are big fans. It’s just funny what people pull out. I think it’s really cool, cool that everyone hears something different. And not just younger people too. People seem to find something they like or something familiar in it.

That’s exciting when that happens. I think it’s a sign of success.

(Laughs) I mean I don’t know about that. But it’s interesting and cool to hear other people’s perspectives. Sometimes it’s like “oh yeah they get it! This is cool”. And other times it’s like, “wait a minute, are they listening to the same band?” (laughs)

Going back to origins, you guys went to LC (Lewis and Clark High Shool), right?

Yeah, well Sean, Kyle and I did. Marcus went to Ferris.

Back then, was it “For Years Blue”? Was that the first band?

Yeah it was Hubris Youth, then it was For Years Blue. Then when we graduated and moved to Seattle, it became the Globes.

And is that when it became the final line-up?

Yeah, I mean that’s when we started taking it seriously. The summer of 2007, we had a meeting in Kyle’s bedroom discussing “do we want to do this?”. Because, you know, we kind of gave up a lot to take the risk to move there and pursuing the band. The other guys were going to school and I wasn’t. I should’ve been, but I didn’t. Before, with For Years Blue, we had like seven people and it was something we did in high school. Basically, the four of us were the ones who really wanted to pursue it or cared enough about it to give up other things and go for it. So we decided to change the name and move on.

And when you moved on was that just to get outside Spokane to a little bigger market?

Yeah, I mean, there’s not much here…

(Laughs) Oh, really?! Yeah. 

Spokane tries really, really hard to have a scene or this music scene. But there’s just flat out, there’s nothing here. I mean there’s a little bit. I love that there’s a lot of really cool, independent…I mean there is a scene here. But going to Seattle…there are labels there, there’s KEXP, there’s way more bands, way more places to play. Being on the West side of the state, if it’s not Seattle, there’s Portland, there’s Bellingham, there’s Tacoma. We grew up here, and we just wanted to move to a bigger city and just experience that. A chance of pace. And it was great. We love Seattle. We just had to relocate back to Spokane because we’re touring so much we just can’t afford it. In a nutshell, more opportunities.

“Back in the day”, when you were here in high school, where were you playing here? Old Empyrean or what?

Yeah, well even four years ago there was way more places to play here. Growing up here there was Fat Tuesdays, the Detour, Soileil, Real Soda, obviously the Empyrean—which is where we played most. And Christie and Michelle were awesome, I’m really bummed that place isn’t around any more. In addition the Empyrean there was Big Dipper, and that’s all gone now. There’s just nothing here. It’s just sad because, like the Empyrean, brought in some incredible shows like Glenn Kotche of Wilco. The fact that that came to Spokane was amazing. They’ve had dozens and dozens of amazing bands come through. It’s just sad to see that all go. It’s really easy to wear out your welcome. I mean, unless you have a residency at Zola, which is cool. But, we’re not that type of band so we can’t really do that.

When you moved to Seattle you did those two EP’s, with John Goodmanson right?

We did the first one with our friend Jonathan Warman, who plays with Fences now. And he recorded the Mt. St. Helens Vietnam band, their latest one. But we did that with him, in our basement and at the studio he was working at. And it was kind of when we were getting used to being a four piece, learning and getting our feet wet. Then we did the Sinter Songs with Goodmanson. Basically, the four songs from that were from the session we did for the record. We just released four songs earlier. But we did that about a year and a half ago and the record’s just coming out now.

Yeah, I was going to ask about that. How did the Barsuk connection come about in that process? Did he connect you?

We met Ben Barnett (Kind of Like Spitting), we were actually judging a night of the EMP Soundoff! and he was there promoting the School of Rock because he had just become the music director there. So we became best friends with him. And he introduced Josh from Barsuk, the owner and our manager, to our music. Then Josh just kept coming to shows, kept bringing people from the label, over the course of about six months. We’d been talking to Barsuk for about a year before we signed a contract with them. But Josh got Goodmanson to come see us at a show in Seattle and Goodmanson agreed to do the record. We took out a loan from a family member to record, took us a month to do it. We did it at London Bridge studios where they recorded Ten, the Pearl Jam record. Amazing, amazing studio. We spent a week there, then did another three weeks in John’s little studio where we did overdubs and remixes. But we were pretty much done with the record before Josh heard it and then decided to sign our band. So we didn’t even know if we were going to put it out or…

You just did it anyway?

Yeah, we just did it anyway.

And were you pursuing labels at the time?

You know we weren’t really shopping it to anybody. And even when we were talking with Barsuk, they’re our management as well, we were even toying around with the idea of just having them manage us and shopping our record to other labels. But we decided the best thing to do was just have Barsuk release it. And it’s worked out really well.

So the process of getting the record together, those four years, was that just getting the record to where you wanted it? Or due to a lack of resources and time?

Well, we wrote a bunch of songs and did that first EP when we first moved there. Then did some touring on our own. And then we spent a year writing songs. All the songs from the record, like we didn’t sit down and say “alright, let’s write a record”. They’re just songs we wrote over the course of the year and happened to put together. It’s very much a snapshot of what we’re doing. It’s weird to talk about because those songs are two years old and we’ve been playing them forever.

I was going to say, I feel like I heard “Stay Awake” two years ago….

Yeah, I mean we’ve been playing these songs forever. And even though the record is just coming out, we’re ready to move on as a band creatively. It’s just a strange position to be in.

Yeah, the logistics of releasing a record versus where the band is actually at.

Yeah, now we’re writing. And I think our goal is to put out an EP. I mean, it’s been hard. Even moving back to Spokane, it’s been hard to work on new material because we have to focus on this record and all the touring behind it. It’s difficult, and frustrating. But it’s fun.

In terms of Future Self, we’re you trying to keep a theme going through the record or was it just a collection of songs? Was there a thread between them?

Not a deliberate thread. I think the songs work together, lyrically and stylistically. We basically took the approach where we had all these songs and tried to put them together in a way that worked, even though they were written separately. But there are a lot of common themes on the record, even though that was totally accidental.

It worked out though.

It worked out. I hope people get that, even though it’s not intentional. The whole Future Self concept, Kyle wrote the lyrics to that song. It definitely wasn’t something we thought of as a theme for the record. When we were trying to figure out a name for the record after it was done, we felt like this record was a snapshot of what we were. Future Self is looking forward. That was then and this is now.

That’s funny. One of our buddies from Spokane, who moved to Seattle, is always throwing around the same term “future self” (shout out to Robert Millsap). So that was pretty funny when I saw the record a few months later.

That is funny.

In terms of songwriting, I know you split duties with Kyle. Is there any rhyme or reason there? Or do you both present the song and then others add on to it? Is it collaborative?

It’s extremely collaborative. Usually, Kyle or I will present an idea to the band and then we’ll collectively interpret it. I feel like our songs come across as sounding very deliberate, and they are. But that’s because we’re working around everyone’s creative input. We try to compromise a lot and make sure everyone has equal say.

Keep it democratic…

Very democratic. Marcus and Sean have a lot to do with the directions that the songs go. The way Marcus approaches rhythm really has a lot to do with how we structure a song. So we spend a lot of time deliberating as a group. It’s never just one person…

Dictatorship.

No, never, never. Sometimes there’s a little bit of that. But it’s like…98% collaborative.

And I think that comes through with your dynamic changes going on, how very drastic pieces fit together.

Thanks, thanks. Yeah it’s very challenging and very frustrating, but very rewarding at the same time.

In terms of rewarding, looking at past tour schedules, the Two Door Cinema shows, Archers of Loaf, Sasquatch, etc. Has that been surreal, the way those things have come to fruition? I don’t know what your goals we’re coming into this…

It’s weird. I mean it’s really exciting. It’s funny, because going into this we would never have imagined touring with those bands. I think the weirdest one was touring with Minus the Bear because we all grew up listening to them. That was pretty surreal. It was surreal playing the Fillmore, just walking into that place and being like, “we’re playing the Fillmore. Holy Shit”. When we’re on tour, we take it really seriously and we don’t like freak out and gush. We’re there to work and present ourselves well. And to make sure we put on a good show. We don’t really think about it that often. I mean, none of us really care. They’re just people. I feel like we’ve become very jaded (laughs)… towards the “coolness” or “glamour” behind going on tour with this band or what not. It’s cool and we’re excited, it’s just hard to explain. I feel like we’ve done it so much already. I don’t know, I’m trying to explain this without sound like an ungrateful dick.

(Laughs) No, no. I understand what you’re saying. The newness wears off after awhile.

Yeah sort of, I guess none of us are that type of person. I mean if we were to go on tour with Radiohead, we’d be shitting our pants. But we’re always super excited to be playing with bands no matter how big they are or who they are. We love it. We love being on tour. We love playing music. Just to be able to do that in front of people is always fun. It’s always exciting to play new rooms and new cities. For me, that’s the most exciting part, seeing new places. It’s hard to be awestruck when you’re really fuckin broke and you’re not making any money. It’s just not glamorous at all.

Yeah, the reality of it. Feel you on that.

The reality of it is not glamorous. And I think that’s why we’re a little jaded. Like going down to Austin for SXSW and just being exposed to so many people and so many bands. It just kind of loses its luster a little bit. It’s really hard to explain, I hope that makes sense.

No, fair enough. You analyzed that well.

We’re really excited about the Archers of Loaf though. And we’re going on tour with the Get Up Kids after that. Then we’re doing some headlining shows, which we’ve never done before. We’re pretty nervous to do those, I’m not really sure how those shows will be. We’re just going out to support the record. We’re still a very unknown band so we’re just trying to go out and slowly expose people to our music. We’re definitely not a hype band. We’re not a buzz band. And we never will be, which is fine. And that’s how we’ve approached it, being this band that no one’s heard of and to put on as best of show as we can. Hopefully people will like it. And if they don’t, they don’t.

And by now have you sort of cultivated that attitude, that you go out and enjoy it for yourself?

Yeah, definitely. We’re not trying to appeal to anyone in particular. We just go out and do our thing. And if you like it—awesome. And if you don’t—that’s cool too. We’re really grateful. People have been very receptive to the songs on tour and we’ve been really surprise. It’s hit or miss, but we have fun. That’s the important part.