Paper Rival

Posted by Rob Ortenzi on 07-Jul-08 @ 11:27 AM

HQ: Nashville, TN
NOW PLAYING: Dialog (PHOTO FINISH; photofinishrecords.com)
WHY YOU SHOULD KNOW 'EM: Paper Rival are a rare breed of band that can make songs about the ugly side of humanity sound incredibly beautiful.
YOU LIKE? YOU'LL LIKE? Death Cab For Cutie / Manchester Orchestra / Iron And Wine

STORY: Andrew Kelham
PHOTO: Dave Hill

"A lot of our debut record is about my friends and family," admits Paper Rival vocalist Jake Rolleston of the band's upcoming release Dialog. "It's me trying to figure out why I keep people in my life [when] some of them are really bad people. I have a real hard time letting them go."

Rolleston's best friend from high school, Philip, is one of these bad people. He murdered both his parents by shooting his father as he lay in bed and then fired point blank at his mother as she struggled to get the weapon out of his hands. The police found him in the process of dismembering the bodies with a chainsaw so that he could burn them in kegs in an attempt to get rid of any evidence that would link him to the crime. "It's not good," says Rolleston, offering no excuses for his friend's actions. "But I still feel terrible for him because in some ways he is dead, too. He will be in prison now for the rest of his life. His life has been taken from him, too. I visit him sometimes, [and] he's not in a good place. It's depressing to see someone you know--someone so free-spirited--stuck there. He will never again do any of the stuff we totally take for granted."

Paper Rival (called Keating until legal papers from a Canadian band of the same name appeared) formed three years ago to write music they loved with no regard for scene dogmas that had bound their previous projects. In a genreless grey they created Dialog, a disarmingly honest conversation about the problematic friendships, tensions and disappointments of modern life: "Bluebird," the song about Philip, is a sweet folk lilt that emulates Death Cab For Cutie at their most reflective, "Swimmer King" is a choppy alt-indie number reminiscent of mewithoutYou, while "Keep Us In" has the kind of soaring guitar work and vocal harmonies that Circa Survive would kill for. In some ways, it appears to be an imbalanced collection of troubled and confused tales, but it is organized by this common thought: "We like indie music but we are suckers for hooks," admits guitarist/drummer Patrick Damphier. "When we write a song, we approach it from a pop angle; then, we colour outside the lines with the instrumentation. We always start with something that people will remember."

Damphier, who produced Dialog, knows how he wants Paper Rival to make music; before the band got a record deal and began touring, he attended school while holding down a job in Nashville as an audio engineer at a recording studio frequented by many of the biggest names in country music. It was an eye-opening experience to see how big-name producers operate with big-name musicians. "Producers can be a pompous breed," he explains. "I have actually heard stories of a producer who sung lead vocals for somebody who could not make a session, and this is a really big band we are talking about. He just did an impression of that certain lead singer, and it made it onto the record. For us, it's about comfort in the studio. We didn't want to be bullied by a big name and then become just another overproduced band you might hear on the radio. We didn't want to be around for a year then die away."

Paper Rival want to do things in a way that's honest and sets them apart from those they have shared stages with. "A lot of times we play with bands whose music does not reflect their personal lives," singer Rolleston asserts. "Maybe some people are only playing the type of music they play because they love to make 15-year-old girls dance. If that is why you play music, fine. Go for it. But it's not us. There is no image, no sheen on what we do. It's just five sweaty men telling you stories about their lives."

UNDER THE INFLUENCE
What Album's Had The Greatest Influence On You?
"My stepbrother loved Pixies when I was growing up but I never really got [them]," admits Paper Rival vocalist Jake Rolleston. "I fell in love with the Toadies album RUBBERNECK because it felt like a version of Pixies' sound that I could relate to. It was a dark record but easier to digest at the same time."