A War Unto Themselves

Battles’ John Stanier looks like he’s about to throw up on his shoes.
“Math rock – I hate that term,” he fumes. “What’s even more annoying than the word itself is the fact that it’s been around since the early ‘90s. It’s a scene that (A) we don’t have anything to do with and (B) is really, really old.”

He’s right, of course. Math rock was originally coined to describe the proto-emo whininess of groups such as The Get Up Kids and Weezer, during Rivers Cuomo’s ‘difficult’ (i.e. barking bonkers) period. To the enormous chagrin of Stanier and his bandmates, however, the term has been resurrected as a handle for Battles’ jazzy, syncopated and very, very out there post-rock. Which, if you stop to think about it, is pretty damn hilarious.
“For some reason they latched onto it in Europe, particularly in England,” sighs Stanier. “And it’s such an early ‘90s term. It doesn’t make any sense.”
It’s early morning in Cologne and Stanier, whose unconventional drum work is the bedrock of the Battles sound, is recovering from a recent trip to Japan, where the band played a concert marking the 20th anniversary of their label, Warp Records (very much the jetset veteran, he divides his time between Manhattan and Germany).
“It was pretty much a full on rave,” he says. “It was really chaotic. There were 12,000 people inside an airport hanger on the outskirts of Tokyo. It was insane. It started at 9pm and ended at 7am.”
Battles scored a novelty hit two years ago with the twee-tastic ‘Atlas’, a track that sought the middle-ground between Mogwai, experimental jazz and Alvin and the Chipmunks (the tweaked vocals of guitarist Tyondai Braxton suggested someone OD-ing on helium).
“Are there lyrics? That’s a hard one to answer,” Stanier laughs. “I would say ‘yes’ but I have no idea what they are. That’s definitely a Ty question!”
‘Atlas’ went viral in large part thanks to its amazing video, which became a huge YouTube hit.
“I think it’s great that the internet helped spread the word. Every day I’m learning more and more that the web is a good thing. I’m getting sick and tired of hearing about how the ‘net is ruining the music business. People complain that nobody is buying records any more, that albums are leaking... and, okay - that’s kind of true. But on the other hand, the effects of the internet are amazing. Last March we did a tour of South East Asia, places I thought we would never play. We performed to a thousand people in Beijing, and it’s impossible to get our records there. They knew us from the songs we have up on our MySpace.”
Though they’re understandably wary of the term, Battles are a supergroup of sorts. Braxton has a parallel career in experimental jazz; guitarist Ian Williams served a spell in Philly grungsters Don Caballero; bassist Dave Konopka used to play in Boston heavy rockers Lynx. And, in a previous life, Stanier beat the pigskins for grunge braniacs Helmet.
“It’s radically different music,” he says. “It’s definitely not going to the same kind of crowd. The energy you get off the audience is completely different. Of course, if people are just standing there then I’m kind of bummed. If they’re going nuts, that makes me go nuts.”
Does he remember anything of Helmet’s visit to the early ‘90s Sunstroke festival, which culminated in headliners Red Hot Chili Peppers taking to the stage at the crumbling home of Irish soccer that is Dalymount Park wearing nothing but strategically placed socks?
“I vaguely remember it... It was like a huge stadium right? I don’t remember the Chili Peppers. I remember Rage Against The Machine were playing. That was a really hectic day. It was my first time in Ireland and we had like maybe 10 hours in the country. We played the show and I took like a three block walk and had my picture taken in front of a pub. Then we drove straight to the airport. I remember being bummed that I didn’t see anything of Ireland.”
Battles will be headlining a show marking Dublin promoter U-Mack’s 15th birthday. At it, they plan to debut four or five tracks from their upcoming new record, which Stanier estimates is “about 50% done” and will see the quartet progressing from 2007’s Mirrored.
“Is it going to be radically different? I’m not sure,” Stanier ponders. “We’re going to record it in a a different way, so that’s going to have a lot to do with it. Nobody wants to make Mirrored part II. At the same time, we still want to make a Battles record. There’s an art to that.”
Even if you aren’t a fan, chances are you’ve encountered Battles’ music by happenstance. Their songs have cropped up on everything from Playstation game Little Big Planet to an Audi commercial. As a grunge survivor, Stanier can appreciate how far we’ve come from the days when any band daring to get into bed with the ad-man was instantly branded a sell-out.
“It doesn’t bother me,” he says. “Maybe it would have 10 or 25 years ago. I would have been way more cautious. But everything is so much faster now. I think people’s attention spans are like, so tiny. People forget stuff like that in 48 hours. And we have to make a living somehow. And it’s not as if these people pay us a tonne of money or anything.”