Ambulance Ltd. |
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Tue. June 29.2004 12:00 AM EDT |
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Ambulance LTD: Who Can It Be Now?We spin them songs without revealing the artist. Do they know Modest Mouse? What about Miles Davis? See who the Brooklyn boys are really into. by C. Bottomley |
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(TVT Records) |
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Ambulance LTD bassist and occasional gambler Matt Dublin is explaining the art of picking a winning horse.
"You have to know how to handicap," he says. "You got to go with the weight, and how the horse has performed in the last three races.
It's tough to assess Ambulance LTD's form. With their thrift store duds and Brooklyn zip codes, we'd peg them as yet another New York band from the ultra-cool 'hood of Williamsburg. But they're not. There isn't a cowbell or a copy of the Cure's Disintegration evident in their guitar rock. Doesn't matter. Singer Marcus Congleton knows why people paid attention to his band in the first place. "We got signed because of the Strokes," he admits. "All the labels started looking to sign hipster dudes and shabby Lower East Side guys. We kind of fell into it. We weren't even pursuing a record deal, really. So it's hard to get a sense of what direction we're headed in." Where they're at right now is just fine. Ambulance LTD's impressive LP lifts off with a spacey instrumental "Yoga Means Union" and then the foursome bring Congleton's songs to life with delicacy and intelligence. He croons rather than sneers, and the music has an intimate feel that's closer to the Velvet Underground's brittle third album than the Rapture's new wave fiesta. The guys submitted to a session of our "Who Can It Be Now?" game with courage on their faces. We played them tunes without showing them the record cover – they had to guess who was singing. With Congleton admitting he originally started writing songs inspired by Pink Floyd and the Doors, and Dublin claiming GNR's Slash made him pick up the bass, it was clear our play-list would have to be diverse. Along the way, they saluted the virtue of chastity, pondered Modest Mouse's dilemma, and explained why rock is like a parlor trick. Lou Reed – "We're Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together," from Street Hassle (Arista, 1978) Marcus Congleton: Is it Spacemen 3? What's wrong with his voice? Matt Dublin: What's right with it? VH1: That's Lou Reed. Matt: I freaking thought it was Lou Reed. Yeah. What album is that on? Street Hassle? I gotta get that record, man. It's supposed to be really good. VH1: Is Lou Reed the quintessential New York rocker? Marcus: If anyone deserves that title he probably does. I love him and the Velvet Underground. Who else would be a runner up for that title? Maybe the Ramones. VH1: Is he also an example of longevity? Matt: Definitely. You gotta look at the long haul, from way back in the '60s starting with the Velvet Underground to all the weird records he did in the '70s. There was that one record he put out, Metal Machine Music, that he told people not to buy 'cause it was so bad. No artist can get away with that. They can't do those kind of experiments and make those kinds of records. Marcus: [laughs] He said, "If you make it to side four of that record then you're dumber than I am." The House of Love – "Shine On," from The House of Love (Fontana, 1990) Marcus: The Stills? Matt: Some English band. VH1: It's The House of Love. In 1990 they were going to be the next Smiths. I think they're the perfect Ambulance LTD band - strong songs, great guitar sounds. You've never heard it before? Marcus: No. It's interesting. I like it. It's like the Smiths but with slicker production. VH1: Why did you decide to record in London? Marcus: All the New York bands go over there and become huge rock stars. So they tried to have us follow suit. But we ended up not really doing a very good job just because the producer was a little more controlling than we're used to. Also, not being in your hometown is a hard mindset to really do your thing. For two months, five guys living together ... Matt: It was like The Real World on a bad acid trip. Marcus: I don't think London worked out as much as the label wanted it to. The NME was into our EP but then they saw us live and thought we were boring. We did kind of suck at that show. Modest Mouse – "Float On," from Good News for People Who Love Bad News (Epic, 2004) Marcus: Modest Mouse? I prefer their earlier stuff. I don't think this is really the best example of what they do. I think it's kind of sad. It sounds better than their other recordings, but ... VH1: If you didn't know if was them would you like it more? Marcus: The guitar riff is really selling it for him. I don't like the way he's singing though too much. Matt: Yeah, a lot of bands are trying to do that David Byrne kind of thing right now. VH1: Now, they'll be remembered forever as the "Float On" guys. Has Isaac Brock ruined his legacy? Matt: I don't know, man. He was probably hungry, you know? That's a tough call. I don't really think he was too concerned with his legacy. Being as long as they were together, struggling for as long as they did, he probably wanted to make some dough, not that he penned it like he was gonna be a huge success. Marcus: He said that. I read an interview. He's like "Dude I gotta pay rent. Give me a break, you know?" Miles Davis – "Concierto de Aranjuez (Adagio)" from Sketches of Spain (Columbia, 1960) Matt: Miles Davis. We're recovering jazz addicts. Marcus: We were actually listening to that the other day in the van. VH1: Hard to imagine you all chilling out in the van to Miles. What do you like about him? Marcus: You don't have to be a jazz fan to appreciate him. He's so expressive. He's a compositional genius. The Miles Davis albums I really like, like Bitches Brew and Water Babies, aren't necessarily jazz records. It's really hip. It's just interesting music. VH1: There's something about the omnivorous nature of jazz that lets him get away with it. Is there anything limiting about just using guitars, bass and drums? Marcus: Yeah. But that's the challenge. It's like a parlor trick, being able to use four chords, some guitars, and melody and make it interesting and simple at the same time. Rod Stewart – "Young Turks," from Tonight I'm Yours (Warner Brothers, 1988) Matt: [Modern English's] "I Melt With You"? No? It's not Bruce Springsteen. It sounds like ... Marcus: Oh, it's Rod. [Sings] "I just ran away ..." Matt: Rod Stewart? [laughs] How does the chorus go, [sings] "Young hearts ..." VH1: It bears a very strong resemblance to one of your songs, "Anecdote." Marcus: Yeah. I knew that little guitar melody was too catchy to be totally new. I didn't know what it was but I knew it was something and then someone pointed it out. A friend pointed it out after we recorded it, like "Oh it's that Rod Stewart melody." Sh*t. But we only used it as a guitar thing, so, it's a minor fraud. VH1: Well, Rod knows a thing or two about borrowing a melody. Marcus: I often [reference] songs that I don't even necessarily like, but have in my head. I hear the chorus or a certain brilliant chord change that won't go away... VH1: As a front-man, do ever think about what it's like being someone like Rod? Matt: I see Marcus as more of a Tom Jones than Rod Stewart. Avril Lavigne – "Don't Tell Me," from Under My Skin (Arista, 2004) Matt: It sounds like a million other songs. Marcus: Oh, it's Avril. VH1: Is Avril setting a good example for girls? Matt: Yes. Why? I'll tell you. Because in that song she's kind of mad because her boyfriend thought she was gonna have sex with him. I think that's nice. Chastity is a good quality. I think it's good. Especially when you're Avril Lavigne and you're ... how old is she? Like 12 or something? VH1: She's 19. Marcus: She should give it up by now. VH1: Beneath the punk skater chic, is she really that different from Jewel? Matt: I see her more as sort of mix of Jewel and blink-182. If you're gonna look at the musical tree where all these acts sort of come from, she's got that punk thing that blink-182 made commercial, but then she's also coming from the Jewel kind of vibe. The Matrix write all of her songs, right? VH1: Does what blink-182 did for punk eventually happen to all scenes? Will there eventually be a cartoon version of the Strokes? Matt: I think people are gonna get tried of the ironic t-shirts in a couple of years and start looking for something else. Who knows? I think what's different is that even though this movement is kind of based in fad - like the Strokes and all these bands that are supposed to be indie but now they're trying to market - they are more song-based than the sports metal bands. The Strokes, Interpol, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, they all have good songs on their records. |
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