The guys in the New Jersey based band The Parlor Mob know all too well about the downside of the music industry over the past several years. With the band signed to Capitol Records and a merger between a few different labels, many bands were dropped from the labels, causing them to release their music elsewhere. The Parlor Mob found this out through an email of all things and in a moment of frustration to be heard, the band released their EP on the internet.
Well, someone listened to that EP, because the band was signed to Roadrunner Records shortly there after and released their debut, “And You Were a Crow” in 2008. The band decided to switch gears majorly with the writing and recording of the album that would become their sophomore release, “Dogs”, which was released this past fall. The album is a celebration of the band’s perseverance and trials dealing with being a band during this time in the music industry.
The band is on the road at the moment, but during an off day back home in Jersey, I had a chance to talk with guitarist Dave Rosen about the band’s journey to their second album and some of the more economically downtrodden places that the band has played in recent time.
Here’s my interview with Dave:
AM: How has the reaction to “Dogs” been so far?
DR: It’s been great for the most part. We really didn’t know what to expect with this album because it was such a different record than the first album. This album wasn’t exactly a sure thing, but it’s worked out pretty well so far.
AM: Was there a conscious decision to move away from the sound on the first album?
DR: Nah, it wasn’t a conscious effort to change everything up. The first album was written when we were a lot younger, back in 2005 and 2006. We toured over two years behind the first album. I think we’ve got a lot more tight as a band and knew what we wanted on this album. Overall, I think “Dogs” took less time to write than the first album. It was only when we sat down and listened to the first cut of the new album that we realized it sounded so different than the first one.
AM: How long did the recording process take this time out?
DR: After we got off the road, we took about two months off to slow down a bit. The process took about six months altogether, because we extended our pre-production period. We decided on Matt Rose to produce early on, so we had to fly him out from LA out east. We wrote thirty-something songs in the beginning, recorded 15 and ended up with 12 on the album.
AM: Where was the band coming from lyrically on this album?
DR: There were interesting things going on with this album. When we wrote the first album, the world was totally different and we wrote more about things going on in the world. This album was an expression of the battle we’ve had for everything in this business. It’s the sound of the band’s struggle to make it to a second album. It personifies the world around us and being walked on and how you fight that.
AM: Did the band catch any heat for releasing the debut EP online from former labels?
DR: We got signed with Capitol Records early on and when they merged with another label, we got an email one day that we were dropped. We weren’t sure if it was legal, but we just wanted to get the word and the music out to the people. When we released it, the label didn’t seem to care about it, so we never had any problems with it.
AM: How has the touring environment been for the band?
DR: It’s crazy and noticeably different since the last time we toured majorly. It’s hard to get people out during the middle of a week for a show until 1 A.M. when they gotta work the next day. You go to places like Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse and you can tell just how tough these places have it. For people to go and buy beers and a ticket, it can run you 40-50 bucks for the night and that’s a lot of money. So, we’ve been trying to get the word out about some of our guest list spots out on Facebook and sometimes, we end up doing that as well, just to get people to come out to the shows and hear us.
The Parlor Mob plays at the Pike Room on Friday, December 16th. The show is free and more information can be found at www.thecrofoot.com. Additional tour dates and band info can be found at www.theparlormob.com.
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