Paperwork

[Excerpt of article about Paperwork and the Rock the Fort Music Festival in El Paso, TX]

...You can probably file Paperwork, and Austin-based quartet and the lone out-of-town act on the bill, under "laidback."

"We're not too hard and not too soft," says Jarrod MacKay, singer and guitarist.

Formed in January 2005, the band plays a brand of melodic indie rock that MacKay likens to Death Cab for Cutie and Now It's Overhead, an act on the famous Saddle Creek Records.

He and Paperwork's other singer/guitarist, Ross Ingram, are El Paso natives and both graduates from Franklin High School.

"The music scene is a lot different out here than it is in El Paso," MacKay says. "El Paso is a fantastic place to play, but it's harder to get on bills with big touring acts. There aren't as many in El Paso."

In Austin, the band has opened for such buzz-garnering indie bands as Koufax and Cordero. But at Ft. Bliss, they'll get to play to huge numbers and in front of a crowd they've never really tried before - the military crowd.

"Part of the reason I'm particularly excited about this trip is I don't know what to expect," he says. "The audience will surely appreciate that everyone's out there to entertain them and show their appreciation for them. The military people that I'm personally friends with all seem to react to rock-and-roll, so it should be a good show." - What's Up Weekly - El Paso, TX - Aug 2-9, 2006

Texan rock group dangles the forbidden fruit of rock ingenuity in front of all of our faces. But they do so in an inviting way that isn’t the least bit mocking. It’s not their fault that their songwriting is crisp and bountiful; nor are they to blame for their innate musical genius. To Paperwork, rock music isn’t rocket surgery nor is it brain science. Mammoth riffs coupled with indie rock roots and spacious layers of sonic textures spotlight this courageous debut album that will have folks who yearn for the days when the Get Up Kids did us all right via their stirring “Four Minute Mile”. - Smother Magazine

How do you feel about your day job? Yeah, I thought so. The Austin band Paperwork makes a musical dissection of the dull anguish felt by so many in cube farms across the world. Just peer over the cube at your huddled-over co-worker, working away their adult life -- clacking on the keyboard, shuffling paper, emailing, and someday retiring with a grand retirement party at the local buffet restaurant. What happened to those dreams, man? (Side note: I always love those Bring Your Kid to Work Days, watching high schoolers find out how boring their parents' jobs are. Aren't those days supposed to inspire kids?)
Well, the band Paperwork is hanging onto their dreams, working away at the day job just to get a chance to create some music in their off hours. Paperwork's debut full-length, Parts and Labor, plots the band's revolt against the nine-to-five-grind while commiserating in the harsh reality of it. The music is standard alt-indie-rock fare but very calculated, with no loose ends or reckless noise. The vocals are well done by both of the band's primary singers, and there are some nice mathy beats and rhythms, as well. I guess you could call it post-college rock; err, um, grad-school rock with lyrics to get you thinking a bit.
Take the song "Company Man," for example; Paperwork sings, "Put away your childish things / Isn't it enough to have had a dream?", and then they end the song with, "I'm giving in / I'm not giving up." On the track "Accts Receivable," however, there's a hopelessness: "I blink away days at a time / Waking dreams by fluorescent light." And the disc goes on like that, one song getting discouraged by what seems like just wasted time ("Buried in Layers") and then the next song revving up the energy and not allowing the day job to be all that defines you ("Part and Parcel")...check out Paperwork if you find yourself thinking about such things. (Pedro // 04/10/08) - Space City Rock (Houston, TX)