Minneapolis powerpop/punk group Attention have the sound, experience, patience and street cred to be the next MTV poster group.
They’ve toured and made friends with all the right bands, toured internationally and bought their clothes at Goodwill.
The quartet have a tight 6-track EP called Stand Strong, some local Minneapolis tour dates and plans for another trip to the UK. This week we had the opportunity to chat with bassist Bob Lindsey…
Who is Attention?
Attention consists of Jeremy Tappero, David Jarnstrom, Eric Malmberg, and myself, Robert Lindsey. We’ve been in bands you may or may not have heard of…Bands like Gratitude, The Stereo, Gloria Record, Animal Chin, Align, and Dayfeed.
How do you guys define your sound and genre?
Wow, this question is a lot harder to answer than I thought it would be! The simple answer would be to say Rock N’ Roll. We’re not creating music to fit into a typical mold or be part of a specific scene. We basically follow the song’s lead when writing. If that means we write a song that’s heavy, we write a song that’s heavy. If that means we write a song that’s a ballad, well then.
How do you see yourselves standing out from all the pop-punk posers?
Ha ha…I was wondering who we were competing against! Well, let’s just say we’ll focus more on our songs and how we sound rather than our haircuts and clothes.
Your one-sheet says 3/4 of you were in of Gratitude, which played Coachella, Reading, Lees and toured with My Chemical Romance, Jimmy Eat World and others. How did that come about?
Jeremy, David, and I were in Gratitude. We put out an album with Atlantic Records. Thanks to a very nice recording budget, we were able to record at the now defunct Cello Studios in Hollywood. It’s this grand complex of studios where such classics as The Beach Boys Pet Sounds were cut. It was during this time that we became really tight with Jimmy Eat World. They were tracking Futures in the room next to us. Gratitude’s singer Jonah Matranga had already been friends with them from his days with Far (he even made an appearance in the Jimmy Eat World video for “Lucky Denver Mint“). They took us on our first tour in the fall of 2004. Not bad for a first tour, right?
And why Attention now?
Attention was a band before Gratitude came about. It went on hiatus during Gratitude’s tenure. When the former band ended, David and Jeremy decided to breathe new life into Attention. I was living in San Francisco and desperately missed playing music with those guys. When the opportunity to join came about, I jumped on it and moved to Minneapolis. We were really lucky to find a guitarist as qualified and cool as Eric Malmberg to complete this line-up.
You guys are headed to Japan this summer. Been there before?
Attention toured Japan in the winter of 2005 with its original line-up. Bad News Records released the last Attention record, “Yeah, I’m Fine”. From what the boys told me, it was an amazing experience. Let’s just say the Japanese love their Rock N’ Roll. The new line-up is glowing about the upcoming summer Japan tour!
What’s different about playing to international crowds?
With Gratitude, we were able to tour the UK twice. Our first tour there was with Funeral For a Friend, Bullet For My Valentine, and A Static Lullaby. We were definitely the odd band out. However, none of that seemed to matter. The crowds were so enthusiastic and energetic for those shows. Lucky for us that they were very open to discovering new music.
Who did most of the writing on the EP? Did you have a hand in it?
Jeremy wrote five of the six songs on our EP. I can tell you about one track in particular, “Never Tear Us Apart”. It’s was co-written by Jeremy and I. It’s what really got me excited about moving to Minneapolis.
Basically, I had the music for the song recorded. I did it on my G5 through an Mbox. I had some ideas of where to go with the lyrics and melody, but was basically stuck. I saw Jeremy on Ichat and sent the mp3 over. He pretty much rocked it up in one night on his Mbox and sent it back with lyrics and melodies. I was floored.
Any gigs coming up?
We actually have a few local shows coming up. First is this Friday, February 22 at The Fineline. It’s Down and Above’s CD release show. We are really excited to be playing with them and Dropping Daylight and Seconds Before. We are also back at the 7th Street Entry on March 21st with All The Way Rider.
What else is new?
Well, we are continuing to write and record. There are also talks of us doing a UK tour in May with Jonah Matranga.
