Blank Dogs, the New York singer/songwriter whose last album, Under and Under was one of our very favourite records released last year, releases a new EP this month on his Captured Tracks label.

Infamously prolific, Blank Dogs has released dozens of records in the last few years (he’s confessed in the past that he often forgets he’s made records until finished copies arrive at his door), many of which were limited edition releases that now trade hands for silly money. A large talking point with Blank Dogs revolved around his identity; he initially remained anonymous, posing with sheets over his head and gauze coating on his face until eventually revealing himself as Mike, a bassist from various low key bands including New York’s DC Snipers.

Phrases, the aforementioned new EP finds Mike’s mask slipping further still; his past work was notable for its washes of tape fuzz and often unintelligible vocals, but on Phrases’ second track, ‘Blurred Tonight’, he gives one of his cleanest, most naked vocal performances to date in amongst tracks of ice-cold synth-pop.

One of the last decade’s most intriguing music figures, interviews with Blank Dogs are rare (though this one, from The Fader is recommended), but we were granted one this year. We spoke to Mike about Phrases, lo-fi, him “coming out” and more.

“Now things are called “Lo-Fi” because of what label it’s on or who that band tours with, despite the fact it’s recorded professionally on 2-inch tape or even a clean digital recording. Lazy journalism, I think.”

What’s new in the world of Blank Dogs this week / month / decade?

“I just put a new live lineup together, so we’ve been playing a bit locally, just trying to get the kinks out. It’s now a lot more wimpier, less rock-sounding. Then we do a full North American tour in April, hopefully Europe soon after. Other than that, I’ve been recording for the new LP for months. That and working on Captured Tracks business/pleasure/pressure.”

The last album, Under and Under was great. To my ears it was the most fully realized thing I’ve heard from you. Could you tell us a bit about the record?

“It was pretty exhausting and I think it sounds like it. I intended it to be cut up into four sides, five songs each, and ingested like that. I failed to realize that most people download it and listen to it through headphone pods. Which I think could make the whole thing seem like a gauzey mess with little distinction. That’s not to say there aren’t songs on there that I’m proud of. I need some distance from it first, I suppose, before I can have a different opinion.”

To get into the Blank Dogs story up until that point – I guess people know about DC Snipers, but what were your other forays into music before then?

“I was in bands since basically my 1st year of high school. While in high school, my tastes were constantly shifting, so I was in a punk band, a band where we put contact mics on metallic objects like Einstuerzende Neubauten did (because we were basically trying to rip them off), Jesus and Mary Chain/Velvet Underground type bands. I tried all of it out, including some stuff that I would say kind of sounds like Blank Dogs. After high school I went to college, afterwards I continued to start a ton of bands that went nowhere in places like Ann Arbor, Providence, Chicago, LA…

“DC Snipers was pretty much a dare. It was a fun time, we made some OK songs. Never expected that it would be the first thing I would do musically to get any bit of attention, not that it was much.”

I’d be really interested to know what music you grew up loving. In the few interviews I’ve read, the only older artist I think I’ve seen you mention is Prince. And even though you get compared to other modern “lo-fi” artists, when I listen to your music it brings to mind The Cure and Joy Division before it does say, Wavves. What are your early reference points?

“Yeah, I really see no correlation whatsoever with Wavves. The term “lo-fi” at first was kind of understood, because it was a fact, a lot of it was low fidelity, but now things are called “Lo-Fi” because of what label it’s on or who that band tours with, despite the fact it’s recorded professionally on 2-inch tape or even a clean digital recording. Lazy journalism, I think. Yeah, I love Joy Division and The Cure. I was an avid tape trader in grade school and my older sister and cousins had a lot of Heavy Metal tapes they would hand down to me which I would promptly trade with this guy Gary Post, who’s older brother was into stuff like The Cure. I bought The Top when I was nine and it scared me to death, but it was one of 8 or 9 tapes I had, so I had no choice but to listen to it. I was also into all the bad stuff, pop radio at the time. But, slowly I’d find things on cassette or LP or dreading to have to spend $27.00 on an Import CD. There was a cutout bin at the local mall while I was in middle school, I found a ton that way. Throbbing Gristle, Chris and Cosey, Fad Gadget, Gang of Four, all in the $1.00 cut-out bin (tapes, not records, sadly.) Yeah, I like Prince ok, I don’t own any records because it’s just around everywhere. But, as far as 80′s megastars go, I’d say he’s the best.”

You started home recording when you were sixteen, which I think I’m correct in saying was the mid-nineties. Were you aware of bands like Eric’s Trip and Guided by Voices doing the whole lo-fi thing during that period? And what sort of music inspired those early recordings?

“Yeah, it was about ’93 or ’94? I really liked Guided By Voices, Eric’s Trip I hadn’t been aware of yet at the time. I think around that time I was into a lot of the UK stuff, good and bad. Teenage Fanclub, Lush, Slowdive, that kind of thing. As well as Sonic Youth, Pavement, and lots and lots of New Wave and Post-Punk, couldn’t get enough of that.”

The vocals on ‘Blurred Tonight’, from your new EP Phrases are quite clean – it’s easier to make out the intonation and the lyrics. Is that a case of you becoming more confident as a singer, or just wanting to move away from heavily treated vocals?

“I think it was a natural progression. There’s a ton of stuff I recorded in between Under and Under and the stuff on Phrases but it might seem abrupt to outsiders. I think I just wanted to create a more sophisticated mix, I wanted to make space and separate the sounds more, not so glue-like.”

When was the material for Phrases written?

“They were recorded over the past 8 or 9 months, I recorded a large cluster of material and over the process of determining what was on the next LP, I decided these were good enough to release but didn’t fit on the LP itself.”

This entry was posted on Monday, March 15th, 2010 at 2:15 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.