RFC Interview - The 1900s

One of the local bands that has received the most buzz this past year has been The 1900s. Baring a sound that's as classic as their name, this indie pop sextet (an octet if you count "the birdz") has garnered comparisons to such legends as The Zombies and Love. RFC recently caught up with lead singer Edward Anderson to find out more. When you write songs, is it a collective process or is there someone who usually ends up taking the lead? Are you careful to give everyone input or would that just get too challenging with such a large band? It depends on the song. Everyone steps up when needed. You've said in previous interviews that many of you in the band have similar music tastes and backgrounds, but has there ever been any great moments when someone puts on an album that no one else has ever heard before? A few months ago Charlie started playing the song "Roscoe" by Midlake in his car. I nearly lost my shit when I heard it. It sounded so fucking incredible I just couldn't believe it. A few days after becoming obsessed with "Roscoe" we learned that we were going to be opening for Midlake at the Mercury Lounge in NYC. That was a big moment. Another great moment was when we all first got together and we listened to the entire Belle & Sebastian catalog (but skipping "Chickfactor") and masturbated the whole time to it. You've said before that you chose than name the 1900s because of nostalgia for the century past. If you could change one thing about our present day what would it be? Nothing. Similarly, what are your feelings about the future of both the world and music in general? Is it something you look forward to? You have no choice but to move ahead unless you want to kill yourself or drink and do drugs until you lose all touch with reality... which is what some of our songs are about...which can be found in the future on our album…which is something to look forward to. What is one great thing about being a part of the Chicago music scene? My favorite thing about being part of the Chicago music scene is getting wasted and hanging out with all these crazy people who play music in this city. Just shooting the shit, talking a little business, and hearing about all the great stuff they're up to. Songwriters and musicians are not usually very stable or normal people, which always makes things interesting. I really get so excited when I hear that these bands are doing well, and I'm usually kicking down their doors for them to give me copies of their new records. On the practical side, we've been lucky enough to befriend very amazing and talented people who are willing to go out of their way to help us, which has ruled - and we haven't even had to give away too many bj's. Not too long ago, you toured for your EP Plume Delivery outside of Chicago and I was wondering how you found the experience of opening other cities up to your music? If a band plays in the forest, and no bloggers hear it, does it make a sound? On the other hand, New York was much more enthusiastic than I'd imagined. They liked us for the reason I thought they would hate us: we don't stand on stage looking bored and trying to seem cooler than we actually are. We just go for it, and I guess that was refreshing for them. Overall, this is an area we need to explore much more, the road is still green for us. "Patron Saint of the Mediocre" seems to be the real stand-out track on Plume Delivery. Was there anything special about the way this song was created or a special inspiration for it? That's certainly our most debated song so far, and it was something we wrote as a band. We've gotten tons of reviews saying that "Patron Saint" is the weakest on the Plume Delivery EP cuz of its length and wankery. For others it is the standout track. I'm in the middle; I think it probably could have been done a little better, but in the end its shambly-ness is kind of the point. Originally I sang the song, but pretty much on the last day of recording I had Jeanine give it a go - a great move because her voice has a base sensuality to it that kind of feels like an unholy seduction, which is prefect because the song is about holy seduction.