“The title Common Struggles says it all – I’m not pretending that any of what I’ve dealt with is new, it’s just the human condition,” says lead vocalist/guitarist/bassist Sloan Anderson, explaining the choice of title for Single File’s full length debut album, which was produced by Howard Benson (My Chemical Romance, The All-American Rejects, Less Than Jake).
While there is undoubtedly a universal quality to the Denver-based rock trio’s story – that hard work and unswerving dedication to one’s craft can pay off, particularly when combined with a little luck – it’s probably safe to say that most people don’t spend a big chunk of their twenties tooling around the U.S. in an RV named Maggie Mae and nipping into gas stations to fill its water tank before the attendant catches on. “We were little pirates, just living in this crappy RV,” says Anderson.
“We drove, we promoted on MySpace, we played shows – that’s all we did,” remembers Joe Ginsberg, who alternates on bass and guitar with Anderson. “We’d post – ‘hey, if you want to bring non-perishables or water to the show, we’ll hook you up with some free merch.’”
“It’s important to maintain a sense of humor, because if you can’t laugh at yourself and at the things that happen to you, you’re not really enjoying life to the fullest,” adds drummer Chris Depew.
Their collective sense of humor has seen the three friends through a tumultuous decade together. Anderson and Depew started playing music together in junior high, when they rigged up a drum kit out of cardboard boxes, Legos and G.I. Joe parts. Upon meeting Ginsberg in high school, they immediately clicked as a trio but took separate paths after graduation. In time, Anderson – who had moved to North Carolina and was working as an artist at a video game company – began writing songs over the phone with Ginsberg, who was studying jazz at U.S.C. in Los Angeles. Collaborating became easier once Activision offered Anderson a job in L.A. and relocated him. The two recorded Single File’s first EP, As You Were, in Anderson’s office after hours. They gigged around a bit, working with a local drummer, and self-releasing a second EP, Heartbreak & Masturbation, in 2004. Things just weren’t the same without Depew, who was still living in Colorado, so the pair coaxed him to join them in Los Angeles – just in time for a poorly planned tour that December.
“We had no clue about promotion, we were like, ‘let’s just show up, maybe people will be there,” says Anderson. They self-released a third EP, My Best Defense, which landed them a feature on MySpace, which in turn led to the opportunity to play two dates on the Vans Warped tour. They wound up playing to the line in the parking lot for the rest of the tour – in between gigs they’d booked in nearby cities. It was at the Dark Room, a venue in Baton Rouge, LA, that they reached a turning point. With no money left after filling Maggie Mae’s gas tank, should they just quit – or should they dig in and try even harder? The trio decided that when the summer tour was over, they’d stick their stuff in storage and hit the road for the long haul. They had learned the importance of playing all-ages shows, hooking up with bands that were the local favorites and hitting the same cities repeatedly, so their fan base was growing.
In 2006, Single File recorded a full-length album with Ed Rose (Motion City Soundtrack, The Get Up Kids), who had mixed My Best Defense. They eventually shelved the record, feeling it didn’t represent their full potential, but released one song on their MySpace Page – “Zombies Ate My Neighbors,” a surreal, garage rock anthem involving an ex-girlfriend. After wrapping up their second Warped tour, Anderson submitted “Zombies Ate My Neighbors” (a subsequent version of which appears on Common Struggles) as a lark to Denver hard rock station KBPI, which was having a contest for local bands. It caught the attention of KBPI’s program director who, knowing it didn’t fit his format, sent it on to a colleague at KTCL, the Clear Channel alternative station in Denver. The song, which takes its name from a Super Nintendo game Anderson played as a child, climbed to No. 1 at KTCL, where it stayed for four weeks. Indie and major labels took note, and in April 2007, Single File was signed to Reprise Records by Craig Aaronson, who had worked with many of their favorite bands (My Chemical Romance, Less Than Jake, Jimmy Eat World).
“We went in the studio right after we got signed and it was a little too soon,” says Ginsberg. Working with producer Howard Benson, they laid down seven instrumental tracks, but lyrics proved elusive. “I just shut down,” recalls Anderson. “I had the worst writer’s block of my life.” The sessions ended and they went out on the 2007 Vans Warped tour, followed by some dates with The Fray. The road offered ample opportunity to party – and thus evade the fear that they had blown their one big chance. “But eventually we pulled our heads out of our asses and decided, alright, we need to do this for real, we can’t let fear stand in the way anymore,” says Anderson. The trio holed up at a mountain cabin owned by Ginsberg’s parents and wrote the bulk of the songs for Common Struggles, then headed back into the studio with Benson.
“Howard was really understanding of us and where we were coming from and the kind of record that we wanted to make,” says Ginsberg. The result is an exuberant, adrenalin-fueled album that simultaneously celebrates and subverts classic pop songwriting, with a tip of the hat to musical forebears such as Tom Petty, Weezer and the Beatles. “We were really looking for a raw-sounding record, not necessarily a grunge thing but more that early 90s sound,” says Depew, noting how instrumental mixer Tom Lord-Alge was in the process.
Album opener “Mannequin Loveseat” sets the tone – lighthearted on the surface but dark around the edges as its cheeky, self-absorbed narrator surrenders to social phobia. Bookended by the trio’s cheery whistles, lead single “Girlfriends” details a cycle of self-loathing and self-medication while pleading “so what if I’m a burnout, baby, you don’t gotta celebrate it.”
While the “I don’t care” attitude and euphoric pop-rock melodies of “Pizza Girl” and “Miss Cherry Lipgloss” mask an underlying pain, songs like “Airports” and “Don’t Hate” confront it head on. “Three years is a long, long time to fly standby/And pillow-talk from a cellular phone isn’t healthy--/Neither am I,” confesses Anderson on the former, coming to terms with the ruins of a relationship.
“Loneliness and distance are probably the two biggest themes of the record,” he says. Yet with “Blue Sky Happiness” and “Benson Shady Grove,” Single File emerges on the other side, finding a sense of hope and resolve. Heady stuff for a bunch of songs that clock in at about three minutes each.
“Yeah, we’re not messing around – none of those four or five minute long songs,” Ginsberg jokes. “There’s a lot in there, if you’re looking for it. If you’re not, there’s still a lot in there – or you can just bob your head,” says Anderson. “We were going for timeless. I don’t know if we’ve got it or not, but damn it if we didn’t try.”
Band Members
Sloan, Joe, Chris
Website
www.singlefilerock.com
Influences
The Beatles, Saves The Day, Say Anything, Motion City Soundtrack, Gatsby's American Dream, Bloc Party, Thrice, Counterfit, Weezer, Brand New, The Clash, Death Cab / The Postal Service, Bayside (RIP Beatz), Further Seems Forever, Rise Against, Straylight Run, Jet's to Brazil, The Get Up Kids, Apples In Stereo, Bright Eyes, Thursday, Sunday's Best, Green Day, Jimmy Eat World, Led Jeppelin, The Impossibles, Coheed & Cambria, Moneen, NOFX, The Fairlanes, Pinhead Circus, Face To Face, The Weakerthans, The Mars Volta, Mock Orange, Park, Armor For Sleep, Alkaline Trio, Jawbreaker, etc.
