Biography
Let's start with a little history, shall we?
Yes, that sounds nice. Shall we put on some tea?
The two thousand and seventh year since the birth of Christ is still in its infancy; the cold has lost its novelty and the people their fickle, feigned appreciation for the season. Spring is on its way, but no one knows it. What they do know is that they are antsily prepared for extraordinary things to happen. It is in this bleak time that Martin Bemberg and Reed Faitak, friends since potty training and musical partners since pubescence, meet Gary Sloan and his twin brother Jim between classes at the University of Arkansas. Martin, having recently heard Grizzly Bear for the first time while on his back and bedroom floor, has some big ideas and finds that the Sloan twins are just the men for the job. The band's first show is in the first week of April at the inauguration of the New Delicious and features Martin's roommate, another friend since toddlerdom, Molly Long. It is to go down as a sloppy, energetic bit of quirk, and an overall success. A few weeks later, the band performs at the University of Arkansas Battle of the Bands and though it doesn't make the top three, the performance turns out to be a monumental one - it is here that Memphis Pencils are introduced to the core members of Mt. Comfort, Andrew McDougal and Drew Wallis, the latter of which is to become the band's drummer. Skip forward a year and the Pencils are on the same stage accepting their "unanimously" endowed frist place prize.
What important events occurred in that liminal year?
Oh - the water is boiling. Yes, of course. In that year the Pencils did two tours through Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Tennessee, where they met E.J. Friedman of Loudersoft, the founders of Fontee Fount, and many other characters. In addition, the band garnered support from local musicians and musical enthusiasts, a fact which helped them land a show with Slaraffenland in October.
What's been happening since then?
Boy, this is good teat...er, uh...how 'bout that Freud? After the battle of the bands, some hypomania, bear hugs, and a nomination for the Northwest Arkansas Music Awards' "Best New Artist" award, the band hit the road again with Mt. Comfort through Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Texas, where they bunked with Transmography (whoa, that's a sweet treehouse) and were asked to include their music on the 8088 Record Collective's newest compilation and potentially play at SXSW 2009. Recently, the Pencils played at the CMJ Music Marathon in New York City after winning OurStage.com's Grand Prize and, having lost both of the Sloans to the Office of Study Abroad, scrambled to replace them with Andrew McDougal and Neil Lord of Mt. Comfort, Brian Wolf of The Kicker Knot, James Pittman of Legion's Endless Summer and Wally Phillips of Niceville, Florida.
How would you describe your music to someone who has never heard it before?
With difficulty.
And so if someone were to ask you whether your songs are very different from one another, whether you treat texture and auxiliary instruments such as banjo, glockenspiel, trombone, saxophone, synthesizers, melodica, and vocal harmonies as the krux of your sound, whether your mantra concerning song structure is "pattern up the quirks and quirk up the patterns," and whether your biggest influences are The Zombies, Grizzly Bear, Andrew Bird, Animal Collective, and The Beatles, what would you say?
"Yes."
Venues played:
George's Majestic Lounge, Fayetteville, AR
Ameroplace, Fayetteville, AR
Froggy's, Fayetteville, AR
The Gypsy, Fayetteville, AR
Cheers, Fayetteville, AR
The New Deli, Fayetteville, AR
The Delicious, Fayetteville, AR
The Soundpony, Tulsa, OK
J&J's Pizzeria, Denton, TX
Trophy's, Austin, TX
Plush, Austin, TX (SXSW)
Chaindrive, Austin, TX (SXSW)
Notsuoh, Houston, TX
Lazer Puzzy, Little Rock, AR
Vino's, Little Rock, AR
Easy Street Theater, Little Rock, AR
Ft. Delicious, Russellville, AR
Some Burrito Stand, Russellville, AR
Minnie Harris Park, Harrison, AR
Uncommon Grounds, Harrison, AR
Some Coffee Shop, Clarksville, AR
Low Key Arts, Hot Springs, AR
The Buccaneer, Memphis, TN
Llama's, Nashville, TN
Fontee Fount, Springfield, MO
Methvin's, St. Louis, MO
NYU, New York, NY (CMJ)
Instrumentation
Martin Bemberg plays lead vocals all the time, usually along with rhythm guitar, though sometimes a Casio keyboard he got from Santa, when he was a wee lad, instead of guitar.
Jim Sloan plays lead guitar on most songs. Sometimes he plays the Casio keyboard Martin got from Santa and sometimes he does this and blows (and holds) the melodica within the same song, though not at the same time. He sings really nice harmonies and his low voice (which is low for a tenor) sounds really good with Martin's.
Jim's twin brother, Gary Sloan, also has a voice, which, like Jim's, sounds great with Martin's. (They are twins, so their voices are as similar as heads are like tails).
Gary plays trombone, auxiliary percussion (tambourine, shakers, his body, toms, cymbals, et al.), glockenspiel, the Casio from Santa, and either guitar or banjo (this depends on his mood). I probably forgot some instruments. Gary doesn't really do much.
Reed has long, blond hair, is tall, and plays the bass in four bands. He is the best bass player we've ever played with.
Drew Wallis plays drums and shouts accordingly. He hits them hard and for a good reason: he LOVES keeping the beat.
Discography
"Crayon Jewels EP" Recorded through the first half of 2007 and whose case we decorated as a band by hand!
1 Un Dandy Dia
2 Get with the Pogrom
3 Happy Birthday, Harvey
4 Keep it simple, Sartre
"Joel Paul's Album" Recorded Summer 2008
1 Like Toast and Tolerance
2 Un Dandy Dia
3 Get with the Pogrom
4 Janet Reno Yawning
5 Keep it Simple, Sartre
6 Happy Birthday, Harvey
7 San Francisco- show and tell!
8 Decay, I'm on my way
Links
| http://myspace.com/memphispencils |
| the 8088 record collective |
| Performance at CMJ 2008 |
| A few old YouTube Videos |