The self-titled debut from Brooklyn’s Black Black Black arrived with minimal fanfare. There was no hype machine at work to herald its coming or viral video campaign to tease song snippets. First there wasn’t an album and then there was.

By the account of vocalist Jason Alexander Byers, this follows suit with the general ethic at the heart of the band to be as bullshit-free as possible at all times. His telling of how Black Black Black got together — he moved to Brooklyn from Ohio, knew guitarist Jacob Cox from their shared tenure in Disengage and they started the band with bassist Johnathan Swafford and drummer Jeff Ottenbacher — and his recollections of the three-month songwriting process for the album’s 12 tracks and the two-week recording with Andrew Schneider are the epitome of sans drama. They wanted to make these things happen, and they happened.

For that being the case, however, Black Black Black‘s Black Black Black — you’ll never guess what color the cover is — charts a surprisingly diverse course across its span, from the vaguely ritualized overtones of the “Seance for a Sucker” intro and the noise rock boogie of “Pentagram On,” to which Unsane‘s Dave Curran contributes guest screams, on through the blistering punk intensity of “Redeath” and the dreamy ’90s-style alt melodies of “Lexipro Devil.” Through all this runs a thread of heavy tones captured at their most crisp by Schneider‘s production and a still-lighthearted attitude that comes through in clever titles like “Light Light Light” and “Drum 0))))” even as Byers‘ graphic contributions to the album — a 40-page artbook released with the vinyl through Aqualamb Records, detailed here — leave grim, lasting impressions.

Byers‘ explanation? “You don’t want to do a steady 4/4 all the time. It gets boring.”

Fair enough. Black Black Black will be joining the likes of Lo-Pan, Gozu, Borracho and Supermachine at the Eye of the Stoned Goat 3 fest at The Acheron in Brooklyn on July 27 (more info here) and a follow-up to the self-titled is already in the works. In the interview that follows, Byers gives the background on the band’s origins and some of his theories on how the visual and aural sides tie together.

Complete interview is after the jump. Please enjoy:

What was the timing on you moving to Brooklyn and starting Black Black Black?

I moved three and a half years ago, with really no intention of being in a band. I thought I was done and I was just gonna concentrate on visual art. And probably a year into me being here – I went to see  Unsane; I’d seen Unsane a bunch since I’d been here – and they blew me away, and I started to miss it. I talked to Dave about it, hoping he had similar feelings, and when I finally realized I should ask Jacob, who I’ve been friends with forever, and of course he was into it, and Josh, I’ve been friends with for a long time, and Jeff I’ve been friends with too. We’ve all known each other, to some extent, and it’s just one practice and that’s all we needed to realize that we were gonna do this.

How has it been working with Jacob again?

It’s been great. We took, what? Six years off? It’s been great. Natural.

One of the things that struck me listening to the album was how varied the songs are? Can you talk about the songwriting process? Does everyone contribute?

Yeah, everyone contributes. Including myself. I don’t play guitar, but I have riffs in my head and I’ll sing them to Jacob. Most of those songs are written by Jacob and Jonathan, riff-wise. Of course, Jeff comes up with his own parts. The reason I think for all the dynamics on the record is we’ve all been doing this for a long time and you don’t want to do a steady 4/4 all the time. It gets boring. All those songs come from jamming. We’re pretty minimal. We don’t get stuck trying to do transitions or changes. It’s just fun, basic, riffs. It’s fun. It’s pretty simple. That was my idea for the band. I wanted to come across as if we were a band in sixth grade, for the first time, just messing around. I can’t listen to a lot of the bands today because there’s too many riffs, too many notes. It seems like they’re all competing for Best Guitar Solo, and we’re not about that, and Jacob’s never been about that. He likes to create soundscapes. More so than… notes.

How long were you did it take for the songs to come together before you recorded?

I think we’d only practiced for like three months before we went into the studio. We wrote all those songs in three months.

Wow.

Yeah. I was like, November, December, January. In the studio February.

And how long were you in the studio?

It wasn’t long. We’re all working, so it was scattered a little bit. I think tracking to final mix, it was two weeks. I would go in the evenings and sing, after work, and those guys, I think they did most of the tracking during the day. They did the tracking in like no time at all. Maybe two days? I can’t remember. It’s just kind of a blur, especially when you’re working and you’re not really in touch with what’s going on in the studio.

That was with Andrew Schneider too.

Andrew’s so easy to work with. Time’s not a problem. It just gets done. You don’t have to worry about it. He’s so good. He’s very easy to work with vocally, too.

How so?

Maybe I was looking out, but the tracks were going real smooth. He’s real supportive. No stress whatsoever. He’s just like, “Do your thing, we’ll make it work,” and that’s it.

Have you ever worked with someone who wasn’t like that?

Oh yeah. There are times where you’re like about so sink because you’re like, “How many times can I sing the same three words over and over again? Come on!” Andrew’s totally different.

How did you wind up bringing Dave in for “Pentagram On?”

I’d wanted some guest vocals for the record and that just had the chorus that completely fit his voice. I think I might’ve said something like, “We need to get Dave in here to do something,” and Andrew was the one who was like, “I think he’d be great on ‘Pentagram On,’” and he is. Perfect.

It does fit him really well.

And he did it in one take (laughs). “There you go.” He’s a pro.

How long have you guys known each other?

I’ve known Jacob since – I knew him briefly before he joined Disengage. He actually did a tour with us. He did the merchandise. He was the merch guy for the tour. I’ve known him since probably 2000. I’ve known Jonathan, the bass player, even longer. We had never been in a band before, but his band and Disengage had played quite a few shows together. Jeff, I knew briefly several years ago, but we hadn’t really known each other till the band started.

And how did Disengage end? Did it just kind of stop?

It just kind of stopped. We had been doing it for so long. We had had so many ups and downs, I think it just finally got to us. We did a couple successful European tours and on the way back from one of them, we were just so burnt out. We landed in Cleveland and I think the next day Jacob moved to New York City, and that was it. We didn’t even talk about it, we just all agreed that we needed a break, we were all totally burnt out. We just did a reunion show last September, which was great, so we’re still talking, we’re still friends.

You might say you and Jacob are in a band together.

Right! And the other guys. We did the last Disengage show as a five-piece, so we had both guitars. But, you know, who knows? Something might happen at some point. We’ve already talked about it. Half the band’s in Cleveland and half the band’s here. Our focus is a little different now. I’m much more interested in continuing Black Black Black right now.

Tell me about putting together the artbook for the Black Black Black release. Where did those pieces come from?

The book, I had no idea that it even existed. I had no idea. Jonathan came up with the idea, “Hey, we can get this done in like three days. We can have a book at our next show.” Honestly. That’s how it happened. We did it in three days. I had some of my pieces that I hadn’t used yet, except for the cover. I had that in mind. Some of the lyrics are influenced by something on the cover. I had that cover already done and everything else inside pretty much collages and some of the other targets that I had, I did within three days that had subject matter similar to the lyrics. Jonathan’s a great artist too, and I think that visual art will always be a major part of Black Black Black. We’re gonna continue to do things like that for sure. I’m sure the next release will also have a much better book too, because we’ll have some more time to work on it (laughs). I already have mini-pieces that I’ve done that I’m like, “That would totally fit the next record.” The reason I moved to New York was to concentrate on visual art. I’ve never had the ability to do music and art at the same time. I’ve always either done one or the other, but since I’ve moved here, I’ve realized the connection between the two. My lyrics will influence my art and my art will influence my lyrics. Much easier to do here. I will continue that for sure. There will always be visuals to some extent. Not necessarily on stage, not films or anything like that, but it’s important to us that we continue that.

Would you be interested in making the visuals part of the live show?

We’ve talked about it. We have ideas. We’re probably going to shoot a video by the end of the summer and a lot of subject matter will be in that video (laughs) from the lyrics that inform the design. It’s hard to explain because I could give you a hint and you’d know exactly, so I’m not gonna say. It’s going to be more of a surprise.

In the meantime, you’re writing for the next album?

Oh yeah. We played last week at Public Assembly and we played four brand new songs that night. So yeah.

Working quick.

Yeah. I want to release another record this year. I think we have the mentality that all four of us agree we’re just gonna keep going. We have nothing to lose. It’s not time to sit back and see how a first record does. It’s like, “Let’s make a second record.” Why waste time?

Any idea when you’d record again or how much more you want to write?

We’re talking about it. It depends on how much more we get done this summer. I think we’re gonna concentrate on writing this summer. We have that show in July, I’m not sure what else we have booked. We’ll probably do some out of town shows.

That was my next question. Are you at all interested in touring?

Uh, yeah. At some point. Jacob and I have done so much of it, to think about doing it at that level again is kind of hard (laughs). It’s not easy living. It would be nice to do it, for sure, but the timing has to be right.

How did you get added to Eye of the Stoned Goat 3?

Jesse from Lo-Pan asked us if we’d be interested and I love to play with Lo-Pan, so I’m not gonna turn that down.

Black Black Black, Black Black Black (2013)

Black Black Black on Bandcamp

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Tags: Aqualamb Records, Black Black Black, Black Black Black Black Black Black, Black Black Black self-titled, Brooklyn, New York City, self-titled

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