The Library is On Fire

The title of the Library Is on Fire's debut album isn't just a token act of indie-rock nostalgia; it's part of a high-concept theme that runs from the music to the CD booklet, which includes a lengthy essay (plus endnotes!) that reference Devo and poet Wallace Stevens. Frontman Steve Five believes that all art captures fleeting impressions as best it can, for as long as it can. That would be so much intellectual wankery, if the music didn't rock so hard. Cassette nails the post-Nirvana soft-loud dynamic with a wall of noise that incorporates lacerating guitar, chest-jabbing drums, and grace notes from a flutophone and toy keyboard. And in the ethereal "Dream of Patti Smith #4 and #5," Five chases the punk priestess, all the while gaining ground. - Cleveland Scene / D.X. Ferris

Though I remain uncertain what exactly an “art punk” band might be three decades after the punk movement, Cassette is an interesting romp from Brooklyn (by way of Kent, Ohio) band The Library Is On Fire. At first, the nearly squirty slashes of guitar collide in entertaining fashion with a pleasantly hyperactive rhythm section; quick musical turns and short tunes don’t allow for much boredom. At their best, The Library Is On Fire nod toward fellow Midwesterners Guided By Voices (and it turns out Todd Tobias of GBV fame produced this disc). That said, the album sags into a three-chords-and-the-truth, wandering brand of rock in the middle of the album, never quite returning to the jaggedly interesting turns.

—James Heflin - Valley Advocate Easthampton, MA

When we first heard this track, who do you think we thought of right away?

"Vanessa's Theater of Peace" - The Library is on Fire from Magic Windows, Magic Nights

Yes! And so we Google'd and everything else to see if it was possible that Doug Martsch had formed a new band project, or perhaps was singing lead vocals on The Library Is On Fire's track, "Vanessa's Theater of Peace." But, it's not him.

The Martsch and BTS aspects of The Library Is On Fire do crop up from time to time on Magic Windows, Magic Nights. The 15-track album, produced by Todd Tobias, the producer for Guided By Voices, has a good handful of strong tracks, including the songs featured here, but the LP's high points are somewhat dragged down by the number of so-so and not-so-good tracks. They could have easily cut out more than a few of the 15 songs to make the album more streamlined and stronger. At least that's how we would have done it - nevertheless, promising band; good album. - Hype Machine - Indie Rock Cafe

When we first heard this track, who do you think we thought of right away?

"Vanessa's Theater of Peace" - The Library is on Fire from Magic Windows, Magic Nights

Yes! And so we Google'd and everything else to see if it was possible that Doug Martsch had formed a new band project, or perhaps was singing lead vocals on The Library Is On Fire's track, "Vanessa's Theater of Peace." But, it's not him.

The Martsch and BTS aspects of The Library Is On Fire do crop up from time to time on Magic Windows, Magic Nights. The 15-track album, produced by Todd Tobias, the producer for Guided By Voices, has a good handful of strong tracks, including the songs featured here, but the LP's high points are somewhat dragged down by the number of so-so and not-so-good tracks. They could have easily cut out more than a few of the 15 songs to make the album more streamlined and stronger. At least that's how we would have done it - nevertheless, promising band; good album. - Hype Machine - Indie Rock Cafe

If you've had up to your lids with electro-indie/hipster indie and the like, then I suggest you pick up a copy (or download it) of "Magic Windows, Magic Nights" by Brooklyn's THE LIBRARY IS ON FIRE. If everything is in a 20 year cycle, and the '90's are back, look no further than TLIOF to give you that Dinosaur Jr punch in the mouth that's missing from the mix. This album I'm still just catching up to and it will probably take another month to begin to process it, it's that good.

After a little intro, the track "Magic Bumrush Heartz" comes in and makes you remember why Nirvana snapped us out of Debbie Gibson-land at the start of that decade. The band is a trio, another comparison to the previously mentioned gods of grunge, comprised of Steve Five, Pete Sustarsic and Mark Shue. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the beauty of a trio is that there is no where to hide, each player has to bring it or it's obvious. This bunch brings it and couldn't hide if they wanted to, some neighbor would be banging on the wall and calling the cops. The ending to "Cinematic Idea" is so big and furious that you feel like you were paddled so hard you won't be able to go potty for weeks.

They recorded 'Magic Windows, Magic Nights' in 2 weeks with Guided by Voices producer/member, Todd Tobias in Ohio in January on an analog 4-track, and it has that working class, Midwestern feel to it by lacking any attempt to chase the buzz band tail. The album is all smash-mouth football, it has plenty of slow moving, crunching numbers, but even still has endings that turn on you, like on "Smoke & Mirrors". “I Miss You So Much, It Hurts So Bad,” is just fuzzy.

For me, it just feels good to rawk! Bravo to this full-length, all 15 songs worth, because it takes a lot these days to get anyone to give a new band a chance past 1-3 songs, and these guys deliver the payoff throughout. - Future Sounds

All things considered, you’d think Steve Five would stay in Ohio.

The Library is on Fire singer grew up listening to bands like Guided By Voices — also from his hometown of Kent. He and bassist Mark Shue bonded over their mutual appreciation of the band, meeting at an art opening for the band’s leader Robert Pollard. The trio, filled out by drummer Pete Sustaric, also spent last winter in Ohio with Voices producer Todd Tobias recording their sophomore album, “Magic Windows, Magic Nights,” out April 6 on Fill in the Blank Records.

In the end, it’s always back to Brooklyn. First brought here by love in 2004, Five returned two years ago after a brief stint back home, this time to pursue literary talents.

“I spent a year starting the band and also applying to graduate schools, not sure what I was doing with my life,” said Five. “Now I’m trying to figure out what to do post-grad.”

Five’s managed to keep busy, tweaking albums for the bands Red Dawn II, USAISAMONSTER, and Oneida, as well as booking acts like Knyfe Hyts, Pterodactyl and Doug Guillard of Guided by Voices at the band’s Bushwick loft, “TLIOF Headquarters.”

And there’s “Magic Windows,” a charged piece of unpretentious noise-pop that sees Five moving away from his lo-fi roots.

“I wanted to make something that sounded like a real record for the first time in my life,” said Five, “instead of doing cheap back alley studio work that sounds not quite pro.”

And before you think the band’s name is some homage to his Midwest upbringing or an insider reference to Guided by Voices, it’s actually taken from the title of a poem by obscure war poet René Char.

OK, so maybe they’re a little pretentious.

The Library Is On Fire plays Death By Audio [49 S. Second St. between Kent and Wythe avenues in Williamsburg, (718) 599-5103] on April 8 at 9 pm. With Doug Gillard and Landlady. For info, visit entertainment4every1.net. - New York Post

Brooklyn band The Library is on Fire has been steadily gaining momentum since debuting live at Glasslands Gallery in 2008 (with the Tings Tings opening). With a sound that’s reminiscent of the early 1990’s American indie/alternative rock scene, the songs are a noisy, yet melodic whirlwind of raw guitar riffs, bass and drums, very loud when performed live. “We’re all about volume and sex,” jokes Pete Sustarsic, the band’s drummer.

2009 was quite a year for the band, who played countless shows in New York and threw a lot of parties (read: DIY concerts) at TLIOF HQ, the loft in Bushwick where two of the band members live (the third lives a few blocks away) and where they’ve showcased other acts such as Pterodactyl, Oneida, My Device and Doug Gillard, to name a few. In the same year, the band released an EP called Blue Rider and The Looking Glass Fern, which lead singer and guitarist Steve Five refers to as the band’s heavy record, “Because the guy who recorded us was a hardcore dude and didn’t know what else to do with us besides making us sound like a metal band,” he says, laughing. The Library is on Fire also completed their second full length, Magic Windows, Magic Nights, just released on Fill In The Blank Records.

With their name taken from a poem by 20th-century French poet Rene Char (a favorite of Five’s), The Library is on Fire was at first a manifesto written by Five, a collage artist with an MFA degree in Creative Writing, and it became a recording project in 2007 when he was living in Kent. The debut album, Cassette, was released in 2008, and not long after, Five, an Ohio native who had lived in New York for a stint a few years earlier, returned to the city where he was joined by fellow Ohioan Sustarsic and bassist Mark Shue (from Virginia), completing TLIOF’s line-up.

I caught up with all three members of The Library is on Fire right before one of their recent shows in NYC.

How did you all meet?
Mark: Steve and I met at an art opening for Robert Pollard, and we realized we had a lot of common interests.

So, Steve and Pete, you’re both from Ohio, did you know each other before moving to New York?
Pete: A little bit – we knew of each other when we were living in Ohio, but we didn’t start hanging out until he moved to New York. Then we started living together, once we fell in love (jokes!).

“But their love life is a little rocky,” jokes Mark, to which Pete responds, “I’ve been on the couch.” “We have a working relationship,” adds Steve. [with everyone laughing]

Tell me about the manifesto (The Library is on Fire) that you wrote.
Steve: The manifesto came from my personal beliefs about life. At the time, I was picking myself up from hitting rock bottom, and had a very laid-bare approach to life in general. The manifesto is basically a call to action for doing something with your life before you die, or for doing things despite being faced with oblivion. Most of it was included in the liner notes to Cassette, our first album, but the typeface gets more and more difficult to read the further the liner notes go on. That in and of itself is pretty The Library is on Fire-esque: the breakdown of knowledge.

On the making of Magic Windows, Magic Nights:
Steve: We recorded about half of the album using an analog 4-track. We used a Tascam Porta One that we found on Craigslist for about $75. It’s the first commercially produced 4-track. Guided By Voices did their first two records (Alien Lanes and Bee Thousand) on that same model, and Bruce Springsteen recorded Nebraska on one as well. It has a very distinct sound quality to it. I also did some field recordings for incidentals between songs on an old Solid State cassette deck. We had a lot of the ideas hashed out with pre-production and everything before we went into the studio with Todd Tobias. And we’d booked a couple of shows right before recording, so we were tight when we went into the studio. It went by really quickly — we just sort of banged it out.

Mark: We did the basic tracking in three days. In all total, with mixing and everything, it was maybe not quite a week and a half. We did a couple of shows during the studio time as well, while we were doing the tracking.

Steve: We were very efficient, I think. And we even had guests! Derek Stanton from Awesome Color came down from Michigan and recorded a solo with us. He kind of has the same way of doing things, so he just came in, plugged in and did it without being too much of a prima donna about it! [laughs]

Pete: I’m excited that the record is finally coming out. We recorded around Christmas 2008, but when I say 2008 that makes it sound like years ago. [laughs]

Steve: Yeah, we finished it in January 2009, and we had it mastered and then remastered it over the summer with a guy Brooklyn who had really good equipment. We’ve been thinking about this record and dealing with it for a long time, so it is kind of a relief to have it out now.

So is your writing style a collaborative effort?
Steve: Yeah, it has been. Mark has written some of the songs, and I’ve written some. And there have been a couple of songs where we would bring in the bones or structure of a song and then hash it out in a band set up. “Monkey in My Chair” and “I Am Warrior” are songs Mark wrote. “Smoke And Mirrors” I wrote sort of the structure for, but it really came to life within the band set up.

Mark: We had this rehearsal space in Manhattan where we rehearsed for a while, and we had a slot super late at night. We’d come in and get drunk and, like, play. There was this furious pace – we were only in there for two or three hours at any given time, maximum once a week. We were sleep deprived and there was this sort of fiery pace and haze in which the songs were written. I think the pace that it was recorded at was an honest reflection of how it was conceived.

The-Library-Is-On-Fire-Album-Cover

The new album seems little mellower, slower overall, at least on my first listen.
Steve: I feel like I got better guitar tones on the new record, but in places it’s probably heavier than the first one. It also has more dynamics, so there are some softer spots.

Pete: It has heavier parts and it has softer parts, whereas Cassette was more even straight through. But this album doesn’t feel weird. Everything kind of makes sense and it flows well, and there are peaks and valleys in it, which I enjoy.

Does the title Magic Windows, Magic Nights have anything to do with the loft in Brooklyn? If not, where did it come from?
Steve: The album title isn’t directly from the loft, though we do have a nice view of Manhattan. The title actually came from a book called Inspiration for Printers, from the West Virginia Printing Co. It’s this crazy book with all these different strange illustrations and fonts, all really well made with quality ink and paper. They don’t print ‘em like that anymore. The company has since merged into a bigger, boring company. I found the book in the dollar racks outside Strand bookstore in Manhattan. When we were flipping through it, we first saw the phrase “magic windows,” and we thought that was awesome. Then we saw the phrase “magic nights” and thought that was awesome and couldn’t choose. So we chose both.

Who are some of your influences?
Steve: I’d say the usual suspects like Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr., Guided By Voices. Matthew Sweet was a really big influence of mine when I was probably about 13, so I’ve never been able to escape that sort of sappy lovelorn kind of thing. [laughs] And also a lot of post-punk and 1990s post-hardcore, like emo hardcore before it was like what people call emo now — bands like Born Against, Fugazi, The Monorchid, Universal Order of Armageddon. Nick Drake also is a big influence of mine. I spent a year learning how to play some his songs, in between one of my old bands and this band. Devo, The Shins, Iron & Wine, I could go on and on! - Sentimentalist Magazine

Brooklyn trio The Library Is On Fire is a straightforward, all-thrills, unpretentious alt-rock blast--a band that understands the perfect balance between noise and melody. It helps that frontman Steve Five is a working engineer to the art-stars, tweaking the most recent albums by Red Dawn II, USAISAMONSTER ,and Oneida. Sure, he's adopted a good bit of their crunch and wail, but melodically, the Library On Fire could have been introduced by Matt Pinfield circa 1996 between some new ones by Local H, Hole and Dinosaur Jr. Unlike their Alternative Nation forebears, however, TLIF like their choruses loud and their verses loud too. Much of the credit for that can be given to drummer Pete Sustarsic, who just beats the everliving fuck out of his drums all over their upcoming debut, Magic Windows, Magic Nights (out April 6 on Fill In The Blank/RED). First taste, "Vanessa's Theatre Of Peace" chugs like a Jawbox for the Death By Audio generation, full of Five's well-played harmonies, while Sustarsic and bassist Mark Shue take turns at being virtuoso and caveman.

Download: The Library Is On Fire, "Vanessa's Theatre of Peace"
The Library Is On Fire frontman Steve Five on "Vanessa's Theatre of Peace"

What is "Vanessa's Theatre of Peace" about?

"Vanessa's Theatre of Peace" is about the comfort of being caught in a dream state where the feeling of someone whom you've lost has gone away. If you've ever had a dream where you gain that lost feeling or state, then upon waking you lose the feeling again, that was the starting point for the song. From there, it was an attempt to work out that cognitive dissonance and resolve those feelings of loss instead of regressing back to nostalgia and bad feelings again. The tragic thing is that you really can't control your dreams, so a person is totally helpless to the recurrence of this feeling of loss, even if they want to get past it. It's an attempt at joy.

What inspired the creation of this song?

There was a very special person who was very dear to me, and in classic style, I lost them pretty much unequivocally. I had an extremely difficult time with that, and found myself to blame mostly, to the point of pretty much a total meltdown and moving out of New York City. This song was sort of a Jeff Mangum-esque attempt at describing my state after surviving the loss. For a long time I had recurring dreams about them. I still do, occasionally...

Who is your favorite Vanessa, living or dead, and why?

Probably the Vanessa of the song, because she's not real, splits into two, is at once transgressive yet innocent and is totally beautiful. And she has good style. That said, all three of us are extremely fond of the Vanessa who opened Vanessa's Dumpling House in Lower Manhattan down by where Sonic Youth used to live... At first the song was called "Veronica's Theatre of Peace", but our drummer kept saying "Vanessa" because he couldn't remember. It made more sense to us to call it that.

Tell me about making the noises at the beginning.

We set out this old solid-state cassette recorder at practice one day. It's this huge green thing with a built-in condenser mic that says "educational model" on it that I found at a thrift store in Ohio. We were totally just fucking around, going totally apeshit, then spliced it in for dynamic effect. It's basically an excuse to freak out and do something weird during our set, like some mutant musical Pentecostal exorcism. It changes every time. I donated the recorder to [GBV producer] Todd Tobias for use at his studio.

You did some recording with Robert Pollard. What was that session like?

I went over to Todd's studio, sometimes we go get cheeseburgers. That particular time I went over and he was like, "Do you want to play guitar on Bob's record?" and I was like "Yes." Bob had already completed vocals, I think. There was a guitar plugged into the board, ready to go, and Todd started the song. I listened to it once and was just getting warmed up, then the song ended and Todd was like "Ok, that was good." I was like, "Wait, what just happened?" I couldn't even remember what I played until I heard the record. It still seems surreal. It is one of the greatest pleasures of my life and an absolute honor to even be a small blip in the GBV canon.

Tell me about the wildest show that you've your loft space, "TLIOF Headquarters."

Oh man. The School's Out Tequila Loft Party. Women, Library, Red Dawn II and Knyfe Hyts. I sang for Knyfe Hyts on a song and freaked myself out when I started sounding like that Deftones dude. Some dude from Greece puked up three flights of the stairwell, and I woke up to my landlord the next, well, afternoon. Someone also threw a rock through our window, presumably because of the noise.

What's been the most memorable show you've played in New York?

We played Devil's Night at Glasslands last year as Nivarna, our Nirvana cover band. It was really intense, I was totally spent three songs in, sweating in a wig and wool cardigan. Our friend Wolfy did a cameo as Curt Kirkwood. There was a girl crying when we were done, and these people saying "Fuck you, Kurdt! You killed yourself!" I think they actually thought I was him for a second. I didn't know what to think of that. It freaked me out.

What's your favorite place to eat in Brooklyn?

Doubles Trinidadian sandwiches on Nostrand Avenue and kimchee dogs at Snacky in Williamsburg.

The Library Is On Fire! plays April 8 at Death By Audio with Doug Gillard of Guided by Voices and Landlady - The Village Voice

LIBRARY IS ON FIRE: Magic Windows, Magic Nights
May 11, 2010
By Amelia Trask

The Library Is On Fire has decided that enough time has passed and the coast is finally clear for a '90s indie rock and grunge resurrection. It's not just nostalgia, though; these guys know how to write a damn good song. Magic Windows, Magic Nights is a 15-track LP jam-packed with well-crafted tunes and clear-as-a-bell production for your listening pleasure.

The Brooklyn-based trio is a textbook example of a three-piece done right, living comfortably in Dinosaur Jr.’s "ear-bleeding" territory, offering noise with purpose and holding every instrument in its place. It's virile rock. It's loud, and it's back-to-basics. But TLIOF isn't simply making music as an homage to a sweet vinyl collection. It has a much more personal relationship to the wellspring of its inspirational source, especially a little band by the name of Guided By Voices.

Frontman Steve Five and bassist Mark Shue met at a Robert Pollard art opening. Magic Windows, Magic Night was recorded in Ohio at Waterloo Studios with Guided By Voices producer Todd Tobias. And last month former GBV guitarist Doug Gillard opened for the band at its album release show at Brooklyn's Death By Audio. In other words, TLIOF's revival of those good old '90s gold soundz has an integrated stake; it’s not just a second-hand mimicry. And the result is a record that is sincere and resolute, completely unfettered by the murky seas of buzz-band reverb and snarky garage din.

Track Listing For Magic Windows, Magic Nights:
01. The Stone Statue II
02. Magic Bumrush Heartz
03. Gilding The Lily
04. Cinematic Idea
05. I Miss You So Much, It Hurts So Bad
06. We Are The Electronic Newspaper Ripoffs
07. Visionary Embolist
08. Smoke And Mirrors
09. The Stone Statue I
10. The Monkey In My Chair
11. Vanessa's Theatre Of Peace
12. My Kind Of Man
13. Pointing Fingers
14. Postmodern Falconry
15. Supernatural Disasters


http://thelibraryisonfire.com - CMJ

From obscure war poets, to laid back snacks, to words of wisdom. The imaginative and in-depth answers about such an interesting group of musicians awaits your attention below. I thoroughly believe that The Library Is On Fire has embarked on an intense yet creatively stimulating adventure, and has involved AltSounds readers by giving us an insight into exactly what they are all about. With all the shallow and materialistic artists that pollute our soundscape, The Library Is On Fire definitely humbles you by showing exactly what's important to them.

AltSounds: If you had to compose a slogan to describe your band, what would it be?

The Library Is On Fire: We are the only rock band left.

AltSounds: The name “The Library On Fire” was taken after a poem written by obscure war poet Rene Char. How did you come across it?

The Library Is On Fire: I had a professor at Kent State University named Thomas Jensen Hines. He didn’t belong to the Arts department or the Literature department. I guess they didn’t know where to put him. He taught a lot of esoteric and avant-garde literature, art, and cinema – Kokoschka, Kandinsky, Schiele, Baudelaire, German Expressionism, the Surrealists, etc. He was a massive influence on me, artistically. I latched onto him as if he were my mentor. Hines lived and studied with Rene Char in France under a Fulbright Scholarship in the ‘60’s. He was in line to translate Char’s work for New Directions, but he gave it up to Mary Ann Caws. He had some interesting stories to tell about Char, and his unique perspective on Char’s life had a huge impact on me.

AltSounds: Are you a fan of poetry? If so, what genre do you enjoy reading the most?

The Library Is On Fire: I am a huge fan. Poetry is the distilled essence of meaning in words, and so much more besides – that is to say poetry is everything to someone who seriously cares about writing lyrics. Or at least good lyrics, anyway.

I don’t necessarily adhere to any one genre. I enjoy the New York School, a few of the Beats, the Romantics, and the French Decadents. Wallace Stevens is probably the single most influential poet to me, followed by Baudelaire, Shakespeare, Keats, and Richard Brautigan. Brautigan was great; I think he is extremely underrated.

AltSounds: Do you think poetry influences you at all when it comes to your music?

The Library Is On Fire: Definitely. Peppered throughout our songs are a lot of references to different poems or even poets. The things I love about poetry, the expression, the phrasing, the metaphor, the building of imagery, those things are just as easily rendered in songwriting. They’re practically the same thing. The nuts and bolts of songwriting and writing poetry might be fundamentally different, but the outcome is the same. At least if the poem or song is successful.

AltSounds: What was the first record you remember buying?

The Library Is On Fire: My mom used to take me shopping with her to Kmart. I remember walking past the shelves of 45’s, and picking out “Take On Me” by A-ha. I was 6 years old. I loved the video, which is probably why I bought the single, but the song was great too.

AltSounds: Do you remember certain songs playing in the background, courtesy of your parents, whilst you were growing up?

The Library Is On Fire: I remember my mom singing “Danny’s Song” by Anne Murray. Also, “Annie’s Song” by John Denver. We played the Muppets Christmas album during Christmas time. John Denver was played all the time in my house. She also used to sing “I gave My Love a Cherry”, which I think she learned from her mother. She always sang in the church choir and I would go with her to rehearsals when I was very small. She has a beautiful voice.

AltSounds: Has music always been an influential part of your life?

The Library Is On Fire: Definitely. I was obsessed with the one Kiss record my sister had. I think it was the Best of their solo records. I just remember all their faces on the back. My fixation on it probably frightened my parents a little bit. I remember asking my mom one time to put on some music that I could sing over, music with no vocals. I think she put on some Ferrante & Teicher or some record club piano music. I remember the record cover had guys in tuxedos with a red velvet curtain behind them. It wasn’t the type of music where you could make up lyrics and sing along with, especially not as a child. I was extremely frustrated by that. I was probably about 3 years old.

AltSounds: ‘Magic Windows, Magic Nights’ was released on April 6th. How was the experience of creating this record, from the initial composition of the music and lyrics to promoting it by touring?

The Library Is On Fire: It felt charged when we finally stepped in the studio. We felt like we were doing something very exciting and good. We would get excited as new songs came up in practice. For the months leading up to the studio time, we wrote a lot, and we hashed out all the details beforehand. It was mostly to save money so we weren’t ignorant or confused while the clock was ticking in the studio. But once we got in there, we were a crack team. There’s nothing like that feeling of it all coming together. It took a long time to finally come out because we went through some label changes, so there was a bit of a lull in late 2009. But the momentum has picked up since the album was released.

AltSounds: It’s been said that ‘Magic Windows, Magic Nights’ is “the sadness, hopelessness, rage, and redemption that accompanies great loss [that] had become acute in Five’s songwriting coming into fruition.” Would you say there were more positive elements to your music as well as all these aspects?

The Library Is On Fire: I’d say overall, celebration is a main element. The songs “Magic Bumrush Hearts” and “Supernatural Disasters”, which more or less open and close the album, are celebrations of the things in life that color our particular way of making art and music, or viewing life. Those things may be tragic or sad, but ultimately its about survival, which I think can be a joyous thing. Survival is essentially ultimate positivity – hey, look at you! You’re still here! – so I think that beyond all those more gray elements there’s a certain sanguine nature underlying all of it. I would feel like I wasn’t telling the truth if we weren’t to convey those less positive aspects in our music, they’re so closely attached to my life experiences. That, and I have trouble writing “happy” songs, or songs that aren’t emotionally charged. Maybe someone like James Murphy can successfully do that every time around. For me personally, I don’t think I’m concerned enough about being witty and to do so just feels fake.

AltSounds: You recently toured the U.S in 2009 with a British band called My Device. How was that experience for you?

The Library Is On Fire: Talk about the travelling boys’ club. My Device are probably the funniest and most ridiculous group of lads to cross the pond. They’re like the Beatles trying to play The Fall, but on crack. And to be there when they experienced the American Midwest for the first time, well, that was an experience that could never be recreated again in our lives. It was pure fun.

AltSounds: Do you plan on coming over to the UK any time soon?

The Library Is On Fire: We would like to, but we have no definite plans to do so this year. Perhaps in 2011. Unfortunately My Device just recently played their final show, and they were our closest friends in the UK. I hear they have some new things in the works, so hopefully we’ll be able to get our arses over there. I could really use a Drifter…the “laid back snack”.

AltSounds: If you could perform with anyone, dead or alive, who would you choose?

The Library Is On Fire: Maybe we could share a bill with Roxy music circa 1973, T Rex circa 1970, Fleetwood Mac circa 1977, and Nirvana?

AltSounds: 2009 seemed like a very busy year for you, especially since you managed to write over 40 songs as well as touring. How did you manage to balance touring as well as creating new, fresh songs?

The Library Is On Fire: Well, we didn’t tour much, maybe for two or three weeks, though we did play a lot of shows regionally and in NYC. But I was getting my Master’s degree from New School, and working on a book that was my thesis, while also bartending. And we made a handful of music videos, so we were very, very busy. I guess it was just a lot of hard work. We were extremely determined and focused. On a personal level, I told myself, “You have to do one thing every single day involving the Library is On Fire, whether that be songwriting, making videos, booking, or promotion.” I think that was a big part of getting so much done.

AltSounds: How important do you think social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace are for promotion these days?

The Library Is On Fire: For smaller bands, I think it has completely changed the way people know about shows. A lot of shows get booked and bands don’t even make flyers. They just post an event on Facebook, list it on Myspace, and send out an email blast. We still enjoy Xeroxing and putting things together, but sometimes shows get booked so fast that the only way to really promote it is via the internet worldwide superhighway web.

AltSounds: Do you still believe that music magazines are just as important and influential as online sites?

The Library Is On Fire: Unfortunately, anymore I don’t think print magazines are read as widely as online publications. Its really disheartening, and its just one symptom of music culture’s technological changes. I was reading a Creem retrospective put out a few years ago, a coffee table book. The washed out, bright colors, the fonts, the bleed of the photos, it just felt rock’n’roll, and it was an artefact you could hold in your hand, with pages to rip out and post on your wall. Walking into a record store and hanging out in front of a 7-11 reading a rock magazine, those are the types of pastimes that American youth just doesn’t have anymore. It sucks, to put it plainly.

AltSounds: What words of wisdom could you give to your AltSounds readers?

The Library Is On Fire: To paraphrase a close friend who is much wiser than me, “You are a point of consciousness in the universe, a source of light and illumination. Never forget that.”
- AltSounds.com Writer: FFion Davies