ANTIETAM

In the decade between Dark Edson Tiger and Double Star, Rick and Eleventh Dream Day put out Stalled Parade (2000) and Zeroes and Ones (2006) on Thrill Jockey, while TK and Antietam, working with Carrot Top, put out Victory Park (2004), and Opus Mixtum (2008). But, again through yearly visits from Rizzo and file exchange in the form of Pro Tools tracks rather than ADAT tracks, the record that became Double Star was always on their minds.

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In an interview with Althea Legaspi for WBEZ on the eve of the pairing of a slightly belated record release party for Double Star and an of-the-moment record release party for Antietam’s Tenth Life (2011), they tell the story best:

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TK: “When you get older and have families and life gets a little bit more complicated than when you’re on the punk rock scene all living in the same neighborhood all playing on the same equipment, you have to find new ways to have partnerships and make commitments to each other and this is just you know helped by technology… I find our partnership really exciting because I think we both spend a lot of time really paying attention to the words we sing when we write songs for our respective bands. And it just feels like a holiday to me to be able to speak through sounds because that’s kind of where even in my band, that’s where it starts for me. I’m not the type of person personally that sits down and writes a set of lyrics and puts music to it. And so that’s the well spring for me anyway, but to be freed to nail it all down in black and white and just let there be sonics to express what I feel just always feels like a holiday for me.”

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RR: “When I actually went to NY, and we were in the same room, we tended to get a little noisier and when we went to the rehearsal space to play together, yeah, we did make a little bit more of what people would find our typical sounds, but I think the distance you know when we weren’t together lent itself to the quieter conversations.”

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TK: “I think Rick at one point wanted to call our record ‘The Inevitable Delay…It just took a while, I mean you know we had we had commitments to our bands and life commitments, too. You know the one rule about this is it’s done as a pleasure and it’s done in its own time, there not like any fitting square pegs in round holes. So it just took as long as it needed to take.”

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RR: “We were up to about 18 songs, I’m like, ‘Tara, let’s put this one to bed and make some decisions,…Cause Tara needs an editor for her brain. You know, she had - the last Antietam record was three discs, so. We had enough material, and then she worked like crazy, she’s like me, you know I have to compartmentalize. She has a lot of artistic projects, she did a great ‘Star Spangled Banner’ for NPR. There’s a lot of things competing with this project, but it’s like, ‘C’mon. Let’s make the time, finish it, and put this baby to bed.’”

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TK: “Yes, and that’s when I need an editor and his name is Rick Rizzo.”

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CLICK HERE FOR FULL INTERVIEW WITH RICK AND TARA ON WBEZ 91.5 CHICAGO

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Rizzo/Key record release event at the Hideout, June 4, 2011. Filmed by Sei Jin Lee.

Chicago band: Tara Key (guitar), Rick Rizzo (guitar), Tim Harris (bass, cello, guitar), Josh Madell (drums), Mark Greenberg (keyboards)

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