Heavy Traffic was born by the
efforts of Ian Caddick (guitars) and Tav Palumbo (drums, vocals) a
couple of years ago. The guys have were enthusiastic to create about
5 (or 6?!) records since then and in December 2016 Twin Earth Records
released their new album “Plastic Surgery”.
This album was recorded with new
members – Davud Grzedzinski (bass) and Dan Bradica (drums) who
added their influences in Heavy Traffic sound. So what hides behind
that title? A crazy combination of stoner, electric psychedelic rock
and shoegazing stuff performed with punk-styled approach. I’ve
trying to sort out how it works, and Tav Palumbo himself helps me
with that.
Hi Tav! Let's start from the
origin of Heavy Traffic - how did you meet each other?
Ian and I met each other in Santa
Cruz and we were playing in band called Spanish Moss. That broke up
and we went on to form this band. It started as a home recording
project and we were mainly focusing on writing for about two years
before moving to Brooklyn where we met Dan and Davey, our rhythm
section. With them on-board we were able to put together a good live
band and were able to adopt a tighter and heavier sound.
How did you elaborate your sound
to the one we hear on your full-length "Plastic Surgery"?
Davey and Dan brought a lot of
recording experience and insight to the table which was great. We
recorded in a different space where we did live to tape as a full
band with better isolation that allowed us to experiment with new
recording techniques, whereas before the guitar and drums only
composed the initial live base tracks and we mostly in the same room.
What influenced on your sound?
Some of your songs sound lo-fi and chaotic, were these loose
structures and raw production done consciously?
The fidelity and the structure of
the tracks are mostly a result of working within our means on 80s
Tascam tape machines.
Okay… Then let’s speak
straight. What kind of bands influence on Heavy Traffic?
We really like Japanese psychedelic
rock bands like Boris and High Rise. German krautrock artists like
Holger Czukay and Amon Duul ii. Bands that can be aggressive are but
also can embrace a sense of levity.
Heavy Traffic – See Right
Through
Heavy Traffic’s bandcamp shows
that you have seven albums; how did you manage to create these amount
of records in such a brief period?
After the last project, Ian and I we
really intent on doing as much as we possibly could ourselves and
pushing our skills of home recording. Working with only another
person and focusing solely on writing and recording probably had a
lot to do with it.
How long did you compose the
material for "Plastic Surgery"? What are the strongest
sides of this record from your point of view?
Most of the material on this album
with a few exceptions were tracks written by me and Ian while living
in Santa Cruz. If the record is interesting its probably has to do
with the many different influences coming together when we write and
how easily we were able to mesh together as a four piece.
Which song on “Plastic Surgery”
album represents the best of Heavy Traffic?
“Acid Sweater” was our first
song and we believe it represent a lot of what we are trying to do.
That said the title track is representative of some of our more
current influences.
Yes, “Acid Sweater” is a nice
title, what are the lyrics about?
A few years ago one of our friends
donated a nice robe with a dragon on it for us to use with a video we
making. Around the same time we acquired a technicolor lined fur coat
that we dubbed the acid sweater. Its lyrics are loosely about
processing internal and external experience in times of purgatory or
in between states.
What are your requirements to the
sound your instruments?
We function on a lot of analog
effects that we have picked up over some years. We really like Death
by Audio effects. Ian uses his Fuzz War Overload and both of us use
Echo Dreams.
Where did you record "Plastic
Surgery"?
We recorded over a long weekend last
February 2016 at my parents house outside Buffalo while they were out
of town. It was nice to get out of the city a spend a few days fully
focused, hopefully we didn’t bother the neighbors to much.
How do you share duties in the
band? Do you have a main song-writer in the band or does everyone put
their effort in equal measure?
It’s always been a shard process
when we assemble the songs. This album and the next one we are
working on continue that idea, if someone has a good song we play it.
What meaning did you put in
“Plastic Surgery” title? Do you care much about lyrical content
of your songs?
Ian would probably go on about how
its representative of American values, but I always thought it was a
good analog to our sound; carving and slicing through lots of juicy
parts, rearranging things in unnatural ways. We like to use vocals
more as another instrument, and there is usually more concern with
the phonetics of a given phrase than any lyrical sense.
American values? Can you
enlighten this poor Russian boy on that subject?
It seems sometimes that its easier
to assimilate an identity here in the States that isn’t yours than
developing the one you have.
Man, you live in Brooklyn, NY;
how many opportunities does this city provide to such bands like
Heavy Traffic?
A lot of our favorite venues have
shut down in this last year; we really enjoyed playing at Palisades
and the work Leeor and Ariel were doing. It can be difficult to plug
into existing communities but we were fortunate enough to meet some
great people who have helped us out. The King Pizza community is also
something special happening locally. Greg and company have been
really supportive and a lot of fun to work with.
By the way, why is Heavy
Traffic?!
Our name comes from the 70s animated
movie by Ralph Bakshi about a sexually frustrated virgin trying to
get laid in NY.
Heavy Traffic “White &
Green”
There's the bonus track "White
& Green" in my promo, it sounds pretty refreshing. What’s
the story behind this song?
It’s one of our oldest songs that
has a few other recordings. Actually something won’t wrong with
that recording with one of the tracks and we decided to leave it out
for that reason and due to time limitations for the release.
What are your plans consider the
next full-length album? And what would you like to change in your
sound? Will you stay on this stoner doom way or will you turn to more
sludgy sound?
We are hoping to record next with a
higher fidelity. Our new songs are all new material and fold in more
variety from our growth as a four piece over the last year. We are
getting a bit more chaotic in some ways; Ian has been getting into
more aggressive heavy styles of metal and punk and the next record
will reflect that in the songs he writes.
Thanks for the thoughtful questions
and for highlighting what we and other underground bands are up to.
We are excited to get this release out there!
Words by Aleks Evdokimov and
Tav Palumbo
