The Wake

When I ran into Military Special for this interview, they were in the midst of an argument over aesthetic. Short songs versus false endings? Are the beats to be hard and heavy or do they just come off as sad bastard music? How much minor key is too much? “I wanted this song like a drunken anthem,” said guitarist Peter Blomgren, “but [keyboardist] Danell wants it to be a serious happy song with a melody,”. The band bandied back and forth their ideas over cigarettes and PBR at their practice space in downtown St. Paul. The space, adorned with posters that “nobody wanted to put up in their own house”, was well-stocked with beer and a range of instruments. The six-piece dance-rock band uses keyboards, vocoder effects and programmed drums intertwined with guitar, bass and live drums to bring the sensibilities of live rock and roll to electronic dance music. The result is a sound which captures both the infectious energy of dance and the hard drive of rock without either side being buried in the other.

Guitarists Joe Schweigert and Peter Blomgren originally played with current MS drummer Matt Robshaw in the band Look Down, and were looking to start another rock-oriented project. Joe and Peter were working on an album that was intended to as rock and roll, but Joe had also come into possession of a Juno keyboard. As the other band members (keyboardists Charles Smith and Danell Norby and bassist James Shaff) began to slowly flock into the fledgling group, the original concept of a rock album became an electro-rock album. The addition of electronic instrumentation to the band’s jam sessions led them to their current format for song-writing, and served well in getting the audience to dance. They let me play around with the vocal distortion they use to create the spacy robot voices incorporated into songs such as “1971″, and I saw why they felt they needed this in the band. I was also shocked they didn’t get caught up in the fun of messing around with these electronic goodie bags. I know I probably would waste a lot of time saying inane things into a distorted mic, but they manage to use the effects sparingly and when appropriate.

Military Special manage to come off as more than just electronic beats with guitar or rock and roll with synth, instead encompassing that center rung in the Venn Diagram of indie rock and dance music. It’s clear that the discussion I walked in on at the beginning is a necessary component to finding this stylistic middle ground. Each song is poured over, reconfigured, and removed of unnecessary or cluttering elements, until it becomes a final product. “Everybody comes up with their different parts, and after we figure out what parts we like, we start to scale back what isn’t necessary,” says Joe. The electronic beats are usually programmed first by Joe and Charles and brought into practices to begin writing live sections.

When asked if the band would ever delve more into the programmed side of their music, Joe responded that the band has more fun with the live element. “Our first album was lot more produced, and we’re trying to incorporate more of the live sound into our next album,” said Joe. “It seems like here in Minneapolis people are more about that then a couple of dudes with a bunch of computers,” The producer for their first album conceived of a band consisting solely of Joe and Peter and having the rest of the sound pre-programmed, but the group element and the performance element seems to be too important to the band’s sound to forgo the full lineup. Live, Military Special play off of the energy from bandmates and the crowd to bring the house to a frenzy. As a paired down, more electronically influenced band, I doubt they would have the same atmosphere of raucous abandon they have now. Without the rock element, the dance portion would not be as strong, and vice versa.

Military Special is currently working on a new album which is set for release early next year. Their current six-song EP can be purchased from their web site. If you require your legs to move and your head to nod, do yourself a favor and check out this band. Fans of dance music and indie rock will enjoy the bands melding of sounds, and everyone else will be too busy dancing to care. Check them out this Friday as they join Sleeping in the Aviary, Ouija Radio and Gospel Gossip at the Hex.

Military Special on MySpace
Official Page

Military Special with Sleeping in the Aviary, Ouija Radio and Gospel Gossip
Friday, November 21st
Hexagon Bar, 2600 27th Ave S
21+, FREE, 9PM