The Secret Machines
(Brandon and Benjamin Curtis)
February 2005
Los Angeles

New York City-based trio Secret Machines introduced themselves to the world via revolutionary means: making their entire debut album available on their website for listening and download months prior to its physical release in stores. It was a move perfectly representative of their fearless, groundbreaking nature, which bowls you over in every song and leaves you breathless at every live performance. What was even more impressive is that the band had signed with a giant label – Warner Bros. Records – and to have convinced such a corporation to go for such a stunt in this age of piracy paranoia was proof the Secret Machines were certainly a force to be reckoned with.

Coming out of Dallas at the turn of the millennium, Secret Machines’ first release was the EP September 000, a tantalizing (if confusing, many say) offering of songwriting and instrumentation that determined from the start this group was not out to score radio hits or big money from commercial tie-ins (can anyone imagine one of these songs being used for an Oldsmobile spot?). And thank the heavens for such integrity and originality.

Two years after September, the band had relocated to New York City and recorded their debut full-length under the guidance of producer Jeff Blenkinsopp, whom they discovered while searching for a repairman for some of their more eclectic equipment. Blenkinsopp cut his chops working with Pink Floyd, and such a powerful influence drips from the sonic density in each and every track on Now Here Is Nowhere.

I first spoke to Brandon – the group’s singer, bassist, and keyboardist – in April 2004, just prior to the album’s release. He and band mates Josh Garza (drums) and Benjamin Curtis (guitarist and Brandon's brother) were excited about what lay ahead but no one had any idea what, exactly, that road would entail. Since then, Secret Machines have toured the world and the country several times, performed at huge festivals like Reading and Coachella, and exponentially increased their fan base to enviable levels. It’s the stuff rock ‘n’ roll dreams are made of, and since in this case the dream is rooted in true creativity, talent, and hard work, it’s a well-deserved dream indeed.

Today, the interview with Brandon and Ben is conducted in the legendary Hollywood Palace (now known as the Avalon), where the band is set to headline later that night...

The last time that I saw you guys, which is the first time that I saw you guys, was at the Echo [in Los Angeles] last year.

Brandon: In February, yeah. It was right after South by Southwest.

Right. Then you guys went off touring and came back to LA in June, but I missed that show.

Brandon: We played the Echo then, too.

Ben: No, we played the Troubadour.

Yep - it was a little step up venue-wise, I remember.

Brandon: That’s right!

And now you’re here at the Avalon.

Brandon: We played at the Wiltern with Interpol last fall.

Ben: Yeah, as far as our shows are going, they’re moving in the right direction.

Brandon: Like here, I saw the posters downstairs from past shows. They’re cool!

We’ve seen some amazing shows here, my sister and I. She's informally shooting this interview, so no nose picking or anything.

Brandon: (Laughing) That’s kind of our style, though.

Well, if that’s your image these days… Speaking of image, I like the coat.

Ben: Thank you.

Is this what you guys are wearing tonight?

Brandon: I don’t know yet. I gotta see what’s clean and how much ironing I have to do. (Laughs)

So in your progression towards the pinnacle of success, has visual image become more of a concern?

Brandon: Actually, it’s less of a concern because we have more help with it and have actually been able to collaborate with people.

(Laughing) What font?

Brandon: Yeah, totally.

Speaking of lights and the visual aspect of your live show, even at a place as small as the Echo your visual presentation was just as powerful as the music. I’ve often thought about that – if I hadn’t had that to watch, would the music have totally bowled me over as much as it did? Has it changed at all since you have started filling bigger and bigger spaces?

Brandon: It’s developed, definitely.

Ben: We’ve done it since the first – what you saw at the Echo we did at our first show, you know?

Brandon: I don’t know if it’s the exact same thing…

Ben: We always had different shapes and different numbers of lights –

Brandon: But just Home Depot work lights and stuff. The catch was we were always on stage setting it all up and plugging it into our gear, and we actually operated it onstage with pedals, on and off. Now, we have this guy who is a really talented lighting designer – it’s his thing. We just have somewhat vague conversations about lighting and he interprets it and turns it into something else, you know.

Ben: But it’s the same intent, I guess – sensory overload.

Exactly – giving the eye something to focus on rather than turning internally.

Brandon: Yeah. A lot of times it seems like it brings out some of the movement of the music. We always had a very static light but the music sounds a little different to me now that I have a visual reference, like sound pulsing.

Right. It’s interesting to think about how much the light presentation affects you guys, because they’re all on you or above you or behind you – you’re not necessarily watching this go on and obviously it does change the way that you guys play.

Brandon: We feel it, yeah. Everyone feels that, I think. We have lights pointed at us just for us to look at, too.

Had you never heard his show before?

Ben: No, I had no idea.

So you guys really don’t spend a lot of time in L.A.

Well, you guys are rock stars – that’s what you’re supposed to do.

Ben: No, that’s everyone in LA.

Very true. I didn’t wake up until like 1:30 today. (Laughing)

Brandon: Steve handed us a guitar and said, “Here – can you play it?” You can’t really say no, you know? He prefaced it with like, “There’s a lot of bands that come in here that can’t even play their own music and songs.” And it’s like, all right!

Right – you want to prove that wrong. It was awesome to hear the song that way, to hear it have as much impact totally stripped down with just your voices and one guitar.

Brandon: A lot of them start out that way.

That’s a very good segue to another question: How does the composition process happen? Are you engaging in it now or is it too hard to do on the road – do you prefer to do it when you’re not touring?

Brandon: We are always adding and creating. We’re playing five new songs tonight; we have ten new ones all together, more or less. It’s always a progression, you know; even if it doesn’t get recorded anytime soon, for us it’s just important to continue with that. It’s almost exercising another part of your brain – there’s the performance part and then the creative part, two different lobes. And ideas kind of start out that way, like you heard on the radio. But we’re pretty obsessive about arrangements. I mean, we’re still arranging songs from our record.

Just listening to the sound check right now, when you played stuff from the album that I know so well I kept saying to myself, “Wow, that’s different!”

Ben: We’re making improvements, like tightening them up.

Brandon: It’s an ongoing process.

So a song’s never really done, then?

Brandon: It hasn’t yet. We haven’t gotten to the point where it’s like, “Let’s don’t change it ever again.” I think the best people have always done it. If you record it, it’s just a snapshot, you know? It’s different than painting when you have to put it down, because it’s music. I mean, you can write it down and give it to someone and they can play it.

Then publish a songbook and all the little kids that want to copy you will get it down and then they’ll get pissed off when you change it live.

Ben: But they’ll play it differently, you know?

Because now it’s so much better?

Ben: Yeah.

During the interview last year with Brandon, we talked a lot about how things had come to fruition and what it was like being on a big label. Now it seems that you guys have a lot of experience under your belt in terms of travel and touring and performing and doing things like radio shows with Steve Jones and all that hot shit. What are some of the things that you’ve learned in a good way – like, “This is a life lesson not to let go of!” – and some of the things like, “We really don’t ever want to be the kind of band that does that!”

Brandon: They go hand in hand – it’s kind of the same question.

Ben: We probably shouldn’t name any names. We’ve toured with other bands and have spent a lot of time opening up, seeing how musicians conduct their day-to-day existence. Some of them have been really impressive and some have been pretty despicable.

Brandon: Either way it’s inspiring because it’s like, “I like the way they do that, I like the way they handle themselves and actually perform and deliver music,” and sometimes it’s like, “I really hope we never are like that.”

I guess it’s more a reflection of what they do personally rather than their music.

Ben: Well, it carries over.

Does it affect the music for you, too? Do you start to realize, “Wow, they suck!”?

Ben: If you’re traveling with people, it’s impossible to separate personality from music, especially if you’re on any kind of long tour with people because you see them every night and you hang out with them and watch them play. The lines are blurred about where people stop being just people to where they’re on stage performing.

Brandon: The last time we spoke, we were probably talking about how we were gonna tour a lot. Now that we’ve been on tour nonstop since then, it has a different context now. We actually know what that means – but we still wanna do it. (Laughing)

Right. It seems there’s the necessary balance between composing or recording and performing.

Ben: Yeah! And living, too.

Living is necessary, I suppose, so that you have stuff to write about. You have to have these emotions and experience.

Brandon: It’s really easy to get absorbed in just the day-to-day and week-to-week and month-to-month of your work, you know what I mean? You can really get sucked into it. I never would have guessed…. This is the first time we’ve ever been able to dedicate this much time specifically to just playing music and it’s kind of like, be careful what you ask for.

Right – for it shall be yours.

Brandon: It’s bottomless, you know? It can take more than you actually may have to give. It’s amazing.

Are you guys going to be on tour through Coachella?

Ben: Uh-huh.

So, no breaks.

Ben: And then keep going, yeah.

Brandon: I think we actually have a couple of weeks in April where we might disappear.

Ben: Well, they were talking just now about another gig that came up.

Brandon: But actually we would have a couple of weeks –

Ben: Oh, we would?

Brandon: Yeah, to just go to Panama. (Laughs)

How much input do you guys have on decisions like that? Can you say, “Don’t book anything for these two weeks!”?

Brandon: We could say what we want – obviously, if we don’t wanna play, we don’t have to play. But, we’re not gonna be ungrateful.

Well, yeah, but you need to rest! It’s a balance, again.

Brandon: That’s true. But I think we’re also starting to realize that if there’s work available, then you take the work because this kind of lifestyle and this kind of thing can’t go on forever. It just doesn’t. No one has this kind of schedule and works like this forever. This is a really good opportunity for us.

Ben: Migrant farmers. (Laughing) It’s true – it’s the same as freelance, how do you turn down work? Because you never know.

It’s true, and I agonize over that all the time, asking “Why do I never stop working?” It’s because you never know when you’re going to go hungry. (Laughing) But at the same time, it’s art – you’re driven to want to do what you live for, and this is what you guys live for, so, how could you say no to that?

Brandon: That’s the coolest thing, because we still feel it every show, every show – even if we have a bad show, we still have a blast playing it.

What makes a bad show?

Brandon: Usually technical problems.

Ben: We get a little weirded out. I mean, there was a time when we probably really would have freaked out, but now it’s just kind of like, “All right, well…”

Brandon: You have these really emotional, personal relationships with these shows and performing these songs and when you get these technical hurdles in front of you, it’s hard to really not react emotionally to it. I think it might even be impossible.

Does it ever make you think, “Shit, we should just do this with a couple of mics and an acoustic guitar!”?

Brandon: I don’t think we’ve ever really thought about that. (Laughing)

Ben: Never. (Laughing)

Brandon: It’s seriously an option, though.

So you’ve never done that before, that’s amazing.

Ben: We’ve never performed a song acoustic before.

I feel to blessed to have experienced that. (Laughing)

Ben: I mean, we do it in our living room or something like that.

Brandon: We have a hoedown in the back of the bus a couple of times a week. (Laughing) It’s not really open – no invitations are given out.

I hope you don’t have the bonfire to go along with the hoedown in the back of the bus because that could be a little dangerous.

Brandon: (Laughing) No, it’s more like a hayride. We fill the back lounge up with hay.

Ben: God, that’s a good idea. (Laughing)

Brandon: It is a good idea, man! (Laughing) We’d be chewing on straw…

Hay in your socks is not fun.

Brandon: No, we’d do something like shrink-wrap the hay so it would be nice and sterilized. (Laughing)

Put that on your rider, I wanna see that: “One bale of shrink-wrapped hay for back of bus.” Now on to Coachella. Have you been to the festival before?

Ben: Never.

Brandon: It seems like it’s a big deal. I’ve never been, so I don’t really have anything to relate it to. I mean, we’ve been to festivals in England and Japan…

What festivals have you played?

Ben: Reading and Leeds and Summersonic. But I mean, we’re going to be great; I don’t know how good the festival’s going to be. You know?

That’s confident! Well, the festival seems to be getting better year after year.

Brandon: New Order is this year –

Ben: Cocteau Twins!

Brandon: Yeah, Cocteau Twins is going to be psycho. I’m ready for that one.

Ben: I heard it’s a great site.

It is a great site. Although last year it was like inhumanly hot and people didn’t really expect it. They were dropping like flies.

Brandon: It’s better than rain, though, right?

No, I don’t think so. I’ve been to Glastonbury in the rain and that was not as bad as the heat.

Brandon: I think every Glastonbury it rains, doesn’t it? That’s just part of it.

Yes and it sucks, but heat is bad, so wear a hat, for the love of God.

Brandon: Sunscreen, too, totally.

Yeah, sunscreen’s important, but a hat keeps the sunstroke away, and that’s what killed everybody. They were out there dancing and then they just dropped. But it is kind of like tragic and Cocteau Twins-esque, you know?

Brandon: (Laughing) It is cool – people dropping like flies.

For all the Goths attracted by the line-up this year it’s going to be hysterical.

Ben: They’re gonna be all in black. (Laughing)

Brandon: They should have a Goth misting tent.

Ben: Oh, my God – it’ll be all dark!

Brandon: Black drapes, totally dark with just mist.

You guys should call Goldenvoice [Coachella promoter] and tell them.

Ben: All right, it’s done! (Laughing)

Back to being at all these festivals and touring with other musicians, you talked about watching them, but has somebody ever given you a piece of advice, like, “Hey kid, don’t ever do this…”?

Ben: “Stick with me, kid!”

Yeah, that kind of thing – have you encountered any sort of I guess mentorship from more seasoned musicians?

Brandon: You know what? To me, more than anything else, it just seems like no one really knows what they’re doing, which is really encouraging. No one has ever said to me, “You know, you guys really oughtta do it this way,” because I think everyone really doesn’t have a clue, either. They all try, and there are some people that obviously have more success than others.

Ben: It’s true.

Brandon: We’re real lucky that we’re working with a tour manager in the U.S. now that we worked with in Europe who seems to actually know what she’s doing; she’s really an expert. She’s the only person who really has ever said, “You know, if you did it this way, it would be simpler.” But no band members ever said.

Ben: Yeah, as far as musicians go, it all seems so equal, you know? You could talk to anyone and they’re like, “Wow, what are you doing? How do you do that?” (Laughs)

Did Steve Jones tell you anything in particular along those lines today?

Brandon: He said he was a celebrity. That’s all he said.

(Laughing) Did he make you kiss his feet or anything?

Brandon: No. We told him that he was playing shit songs. He played a really crappy Bowie cover – did you hear that? “Life on Mars”

Ben: I don’t know who does it, but it’s offensive.

I’m glad you stood up for that. What about fans – have you guys noticed a change among your fan base after all of this touring?

Ben: We don’t know all of them. (Laughing) That’s a change.

They’re not all related to you?

Brandon: Yeah. (Laughs)

And they’re actually paying money to come see you.

Ben: You know, that’s interesting – I was thinking about that. You’re in the middle of some city and you show up and there’s a bunch of kids there… I can’t really put a finger on ‘em – it’s a weird scene, there’s not really any particular kind of people showing up at our shows.

Brandon: I think we’re really lucky to have a very diverse and eclectic kind of audience. I don’t see one particular kind of age group or style or anything. You’ll see an old burned-out dude who saw Hendrix and wants to tell you about that time in ’72 when he took acid and saw something. And then there’s the really young kid who’s like, “What are you listening to? Where is this music coming from?”, you know what I mean? He’s never heard anything like it before.

Ben: Or people who have just seen us on MTV, like teenage girls, who then see our show and they’re like, “What is THIS?” (Laughs)

So is MTV putting across the wrong impression?

Brandon: No, it’s great! It’s a little spoonful of sugar, you know? We’ve been lucky to have the TV stuff as our calling card. We’ve been really lucky to have performances on TV at all, much less we’ve been super-lucky that they are actually somewhat decent representations of what we do. It’s kind of like, “God, that really didn’t sound that bad!”

I haven’t seen you on TV yet but I know you’re doing Jimmy Kimmel's show tomorrow.

Brandon: Yeah, it’ll be tomorrow that it’ll all go south. (Grins)

You guys have two videos out now, right?

Brandon: We have two and we’re making a third one.

What’s that gonna be like? When is that gonna happen?

Ben: Hopefully we’re not gonna be in it very much, that’s what I’m hoping for. (Laughing)

Brandon: We’re really pushing for it.

Ben: It sounds really cool, though.

Brandon: We’re doing our part on Wednesday.

Who is directing the video?

Brandon: Chris Mills, who did Modest Mouse.

Ben: It’ll be good. We’ll make him do it well.

Did you audition video makers for this?

Brandon: It’s weird, because there’s some people out there who are just aggressive and ambitious and those people seem to always be the ones we end up working with – people who are really pushing the door down to work with us. It’s really hard to dig around and find people, especially to fit into our schedules.

Ben: It’s more about who wants it. That’s how everything’s happened with us, every decision we’ve made. It’s not been through a major deliberation through a lot of people, it just kind of happens that way. Suddenly we’re shooting with Chris Mills on Wednesday. (Laughing)

Brandon: And it’s more about him and his company really lobbying…. That’s true, that’s really the only way it’s every happened, because we’ve never really coerced anybody to work with us. I think even with Warner Bros. – I mean, we didn’t really ask them or seek them out. And we didn’t really seek out a management company. We’ve been lucky.

I’ll say! But after being signed to a label like that, how much influence have they had over these kinds of decisions? How much are they doing in terms of pushing people on you, saying, “You make a video with this person now!”?

Brandon: There area few people at this label that have earned our trust creatively through our working together, and we can have conversations with them and feel safe. We’re really lucky; it doesn’t happen to a lot of people, you know? Everyone that we know like that still works there. (Laughs)

Yes – there’s so much turnover in this business. Who knows, you could be on some other label tomorrow if everything merges into one huge conglomerate.

Brandon: It’s totally possible. But the good thing is it’s the same for us anyway. We still play the same shows and stuff.

Do you guys read the press about you, reviews and articles and stuff?

Ben: I’ve stopped.

Brandon: You get really obsessive about it, like, “What do they mean by that?”

That was the other question I had: How seriously do you take it and are there any reports that you would like to correct?

Brandon: A lot of people just don’t get stuff…like some people say he’s the drummer.

Ben: Yeah, fact checking is kind of a lost art.

Brandon: Accuracy in journalism is something that’s kind of gone.

It’s such disgusting laziness, especially with the Internet – can’t you press a button to find out what you need to know?

Ben: Well, the thing is, if you look on the Internet, it’s all started wrong from the beginning, so where are you gonna find the right information?

Well, on your own website, for starters!

Ben: (Laughing) Ah, there you go!

Brandon: We’ll read this one and expect no flaws – it’ll be perfect.

No, I think I’ll make it the opposite just to spite you and say, “Oh, that drummer’s really cool!”

Brandon: (Laughing) Yes!

Why is your drummer not here with us – does he not do interviews?

Brandon: No, I think he’s actually scoring some drums right now. We’re trying to get him a drum set for the next two days because we’re playing Austin on Thursday and our gear has to leave tonight to get there, yet we have two more real gigs to do here, so we have to duplicate our rig somehow. It’s complicated. There’s people out there that are probably better at getting that together than I am.

Isn’t that what the tour manager or the label is for?

Brandon: Yes! (Laughing) Isn’t it amazing? It’s only recently I think that we’ve been able to give that up and not stress about it. Before we’d be like, “Are you sure you’ve got the right thing? Are you sure?” Then you call and say, “Okay, what’ve we got? You got that thing? Okay, well…really?” (Laughs)

You were talking about the teenage girls seeing you on MTV and then coming to a show and being shocked. But one thing that strikes me about you guys is that you’re a little bit older and more serious than what’s typically being pushed to fans on MTV so it should follow that your fans are older, too.

Ben: Yeah, we’re not teenagers, man! A lot of bands who have teenagers after them are teenagers themselves… it’s so weird.

Brandon: Yeah, but people need that. It’s just a different time in your life to express different emotions. I mean, come on, there’s some great records by young people. I mean, Bowie made Hunky Dory when he was like 22!

Brandon: And the Beatles' first records.

Brandon: John Lennon made his first solo record when he wasn’t even 30.

Yes, I know. George Harrison was even younger when he did his first solo record – he was only 27.

Brandon: See, that’s crazy.

It’s also depressing if you haven’t done anything of value by that age. (Laughing)

Brandon: Everyone has their own time to figure out what they’re doing. There’s no hurry to it.

That’s true. Do you feel a little bit more grounded and mature than some of your contemporaries?

Brandon: I don’t know if we feel more grounded or just more comfortable with the fact that we’re not young, you know what I mean?

Ben: Yeah, we’re pretty neurotic people, but we’re all right with that.

Maybe it fuels what you do in some crazy way.

Brandon: I’m sure it does.

Although that’s odd – I would never describe your music as neurotic or insecure in any way. It just seems so absolutely sure of itself.

Brandon: We’re totally confident that we’re neurotic. (Laughing)

Ben: Yeah, and we’re not going to be healed or cured –

Brandon: We’re uncompromisingly flawed. (Laughing)

What are most of your songs about? Are they about concrete people or events or memories, or are they about more general emotions?

Brandon: I think the subject matter of the songs is difficult. It’s not really important, you know what I mean? It’s not important for the listener. I mean, it’s something that’s probably there at the point of inception – there’s an idea or a thought, and then it’s developed and it becomes me humming that idea or thought or story or narrative. Once it’s recorded or performed or put out there, it’s subject to everyone’s interpretation at a given moment. If you write a song like, “Oh, I’m so in love,” and blah blah blah, then a year later you play it, it’s like you draw on a whole other set of feelings or emotions because when it’s done right, it seems like it’s about whatever is happening in the present moment. Something people write a lot is that The Secret Machines music is vague, and I think that’s too bad. You can use that word “vague” but “nonrepresentational” is probably a nicer way of saying it. Every picture doesn’t have to be a photograph, every film doesn’t have to be a documentary, every novel doesn’t have to have a protagonist and a narrative, you know what I mean? You can write words about colors, you can write music about words, you can write words about dancing, or something. (Laughs)

That’s a very good point – vague is the wrong word. It’s more about universality and possibility. “Vague” has a negative connotation.

Brandon: Definitely.

How does composition take place? Who brings ideas to the table and how do they get worked out?

Brandon: Well, there’s a burning bush and we assemble around it and it speaks to us.

Ben: The Ouija board! (Laughing)

Brandon: The Ouija board writes the lyrics. That’s true, yeah.

That’s an interesting mix – a bush and a board.

Ben: Seriously, anything that anyone brings into the room, they can’t really be too attached to it because it’s gonna get flipped on its head.

Brandon: It just gets poured in this big community kettle –

Or just thrown out completely?

Brandon: Hardly anything ever gets thrown out. It may stick to the sides of the pot. (Laughing)

Right, to be scraped out later on. When do you think you might go back into the studio? Are you gunning for a date?

Brandon: We are, but at this point we’ve been gunning for a long time and I don’t know when it’s gonna happen.

Ben: I think around Bonnarroo in June.

Brandon: Late spring, early summer.

Ben: Yeah – in late spring we’re making a record!

You heard it here first, folks. And at some point you might get to go on vacation or take some time off.

Brandon: This is a vacation.

Ben: It is? You didn’t tell me!

Brandon:
I keep telling myself
that – “This is great!”

Ben: Remember how you always wanted to go to the west coast?

Brandon: I was at the beach the other day and it was amazing! We were sound checking and ten minutes after sound check you go out and watch the sun set…

Ben: Beautiful.

Brandon: We played the gig and hung out after. The bus didn’t leave ‘til really late, so we were just sitting there on the sea wall watching the moon on the water and a wall of waves come over. We were there for hours.

Ben: We hung out on the beach and drank too much and got sick in the sand –

(Laughing) Aw, good times!

Ben: It was so good.

Brandon: It was beautiful! It was great! (Laughing) See, it’s vacation! You don’t even need to go to Cancun!

Right, forget that stuff. (Laughing) What’s your favorite place so far? Was there any place that made a particular impression on you?

Brandon: There are a lot of beautiful places… I had a Belgian waffle in Brussels. (Laughs)

Not everyone can say that so I guess it’s pretty cool. (Laughing)

Brandon: It is pretty cool. I felt like it was.

Ben: We went to Cheddar Gorge in England and got some real cheddar. We went to Deadwood –

Brandon: Ben won like $400 on slots.

Ben: The layover at the Vegas airport is pretty cool with the slot machines.

Brandon: We had a pint of Guinness in Dublin; that was amazing. Although we didn’t see the daylight in Dublin. We got there, flew in, played a gig and left in one night – we were there for less than 12 hours. The miraculous phenomenon of modern travel.

Ben: The cathedral in Cologne was beautiful. Very gothic.

Brandon: They built it for like 700 years.

Well, like you said, everything has its own timeline.

Brandon: (Laughing) Yeah, they’re thinking, “We’ll get done at some point…”

It goes to speak to that art and I guess only the artist can only tell when something is finished.

Brandon: Except when the artist is long dead –

Ben: Yeah, like 26 generations later!

You see, they might consider that the artist is still alive, given the fact that it’s a religious institution and they’re being divinely inspired. Think about that.

Brandon: Hmmm…I am gonna think about that.

Discuss it with the burning bush or the Ouija board later.

Brandon: You know what? That’s a bunch of crap.

Ben: Maybe our next record won’t be completed until long after we’ve given up the ghost.

To wrap things up, I can’t wait for the show tonight.

Brandon: Oh, it’s gonna be good.

I’m so glad that you’re back but I can’t believe that a year has gone by already.

Ben: That’s insane.

Brandon: It was a year ago that our record was just going on sale on iTunes…

Ben: Now that’s madness. God, we’ve done a lot of shit in a year! (Laughing)

Do you still consider New York home?

Brandon: Um-hmm. I mean, I pay rent there. (Laughing)

Not like you’re really there, right. Do you think you might record there next?

Brandon: We’re open to it definitely. There are some ideas of where we’d like to record but at this point it’s just… I mean, you generally get things by not being too specific with your goals but still working towards them. That way, you’re more likely to get it. So we’ll say we’re going to record in spring, summer…

Ben: This year.

Just say, “We’re going to record again,” period.

Brandon: (Laughing) Yes!

Ben: We recorded two songs the other day in Madison, Wisconsin. And there’s gonna be an EP out with four covers, a new song, and a track from the album.

What are the covers?

Ben: “Girl From North Country” by Bob Dylan, “Astral Weeks” by Van Morrison, “De Luxe (Immer Wieder)” by Harmonia, and “Money” by Berry Gordy.

That’s totally interesting – how did you pick “Money”?

Brandon: It’s just a sentiment that we were feeling. It was actually like a valentine, an internal sentiment, you know what I mean? I don’t know.

Yeah, I don’t know either. (Laughing)

Brandon: But that’s what I want!

Ben: That’s what I want.

The Secret Machines’ latest video for “The Road Leads Where Its Led” will begin airing in June in conjunction with the release of their EP for the track, which features the previously unreleased song “Better Bring Your Friends” and the covers tunes mentioned above. Warner Bros. will release the EP on June 28.