Party of Helicopters takes inspiration from heavy metal and creates a unique rock sound
by Matthew T. Everett
The Party of Helicopters built a solid reputation among indie kids and rock critics in 2000 with their second full-length record, Mt. Forever. It wasn't the biggest surprise of the year, but it did earn the band raves— from Spin, which picked Mt. Forever as one of the top 20 albums of the year, and the Village Voice, as well as alternative weeklies and music 'zines all over the country.
"We were all surprised by how many big publications got into it," says guitarist Jamie Stillman. "None of us expect much attention."
The big draw on Mt. Forever was the unexpected combination of hip indie rock and old-fashioned powerhouse metal: bludgeoning riffs and harmonized lead guitars up against abrupt tempo changes, and, particularly, singer Joe Dennis's dreamy, atmospheric vocals. It was a sound the band worked hard to achieve; they spent a year in the studio, perfecting the razor-sharp texture of the guitars and adding layers of vocal tracks to create an unearthly mix of lilting melodies and powerful riff rock.
"That's how we wanted to do it," Stillman says. "Our goal for Mt. Forever was to record a record that we couldn't exactly do live. But Mt. Forever isn't exactly representative of how we sound. A lot of times people see us and go, 'What's this? This isn't what I expected.'"
To better capture the spirit of their live performances, Stillman, Dennis, bassist Ryan Brannon, and drummer Cory Race banged out five new songs in two days for the first half of the double CD/LP Space...and How Sweet It Was, set for release in March. (The second half of the double album is a re-release of the limited edition The First Two Years of Conquering the Tundra.) Jon Finley, whose experimental math-rock drum rhythms were a key part of the musical tension that made Mt. Forever a success, left the band at the end of 2000. Stillman says the split was amicable—Finley's even opening for POH on this tour, playing solo with acoustic guitar—but Race was better suited to a rawer, less produced effort.
"Things changed significantly after we got a new drummer," he says. "There's a slower, more consistent tempo, and the songs are a lot more controlled. It's less schizophrenic—We didn't want it to be such a shock when people see us live, then buy a record, or vice versa. Every band sounds different live than they do on a record, but we wanted to get closer this time."
The new record's still not much different from Mt. Forever. It's a bit more metal, a bit more punishing, with crunchier guitars and more straight-ahead vocals. But Dennis's singing, even without a year of studio engineering behind it, still adds an ethereal tone to complement the buzzsaw assault of guitars, bass and drums.
And Stillman's not worried about a slump after the surprise success of Mt. Forever. For one thing, POH isn't interested in becoming MTV stars.
"We just want to tour and play," he says. "We welcome the chance to play to more people and in bigger places. Any band does. But that's not why we're doing this."
In addition, he's confident that they've lived up to the pressure of a breakthrough record with Space...and How Sweet It Was. "I feel that all of us feel the new record is better than Mt. Forever. The overall response from people we've sent it to—and we've sent it to a lot of people—is that everyone's been surprised by the new recording," he says. "It's easy to see a lot of good stuff about your band and say 'OK, we don't need to work now.' I think (the success of Mt. Forever) made me realize that's why people do that, and we decided not to do any of that stuff."
Even though POH is clearly influenced by British and European heavy metal, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, and less well-known black metal bands, Stillman resists the new metal tag.
"For the most part we're all metal heads turned punk rockers," he says. "That was our intention. We wrote very metal guitar parts. We get compared to the Deftones a lot. They don't rap so much as a lot of these other new bands. That's what gets me, all this pseudo-angry youth stuff. We were never into this big pants thing. We've always worn short pants."
January 10, 2002 * Vol. 12, No. 2
© 2002 Metro Pulse
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