Interviewer: John Fancher
Interviewees: UBYK
It’s easy to picture Samantha Tobey and Roman Bleum sitting around a small LA fire pit, guitars in hand, stoking the sound of their latest musical venture, UBYK.
Sharing an almost “dorky love for Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett,” the pair established the foundation to their relationship by “listening to a lot of reggae, dancing and staying up all night.” With these common interests, it was inevitable the two music makers would travel together documenting their observance of the cycle.
They’ve just released “Matryoshka,” a five-song EP of voices, guitars and subtle studio goodness. Recently, they took some time to answer a few questions about their life. Unfortunately, the interview didn’t go down at the place with those $13 shakes…what’s really blended into those?
Congratulations on a fine recording. Thank you again for sending me a copy. How long did the two of you spend writing and fine tuning the Matryoshka ep?
Roman: Two of the songs, Work & Just Fine, were written and originally recorded as demos about a year ago, but were remixed for this EP. The other three, Matryoshka, Delicate Swarm, & Merry Go Round were written and arranged in a period of about 2 months prior to our recording session with Alex Newport in late October 2007.
Do you both share the lyric and music writing duties?
R: Yes, we do, and we switch off on the duties as well, whereas sometimes it's my lyrics and Samanthas melodies, or vice versa. Our roles are flexible...whoever has the inspiration rolls with it.
S: Originally, I was just doing backups, but for the three new songs, I really started co-writing and it turned into more of a collaboration.
I especially like the how your voices blend, sort of the 'you take the high road, I'll take the low…' I hear shades of Evan Dando and Juliana Hatfield. How did you two meet and come to recording together?
Samantha: We met through a mutual friend a couple of years ago, and started hanging out all the time. We were listening to a lot of reggae, dancing, and staying up all night. We realized we had A LOT in common especially in our musical tastes but we didn't really bother jamming for a while. Hanging out eventually turned into collaborating musically and we started gearing towards combined recording efforts....that turned to demos, that turned to touring....to more recording....to where we are now...releasing our first professionally recorded EP for Ubyk.
R: Our Ubyk demo was the first time I really sang on anything so I was nervous to put it out there, but we got a good initial response... so when the opportunity came up to work with Alex Newport, we had to take it!
The message of the disc seems positive with lines like "Hold on tight," "You're not alone," "Everything is fine," "It's alright," "Together forever and after." Do you find it's your natural writing styles to channel the peace and beauty within the chaos?
R: It's funny that you say that, because we just got a review from an online magazine in which he called our EP "20 minutes of understated miserabilism" so it's good that you have that perspective too!
S: I think there is always an underlying hope and positivity that does come through our music because at the core, we are optimistic. But I also think a lot of the times, we go for a more sarcastic approach. Some of our favorite bands, like the Kinks and the Beatles have messages of hope, but there's a sarcastic tone. We are giving our personal commentary on society and the world we live in....but we throw in subtle jabs.
You fly your sonic Pink Floyd flag high, From Syd Barrett acid pop to the studio layer work. They were into their artwork that accompanied albums. Is this something you both work on as hard as the music?
S: I think something that naturally brought us together as musicians and as people was our almost dorky love for Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett.
R: Like when you sang me the entire solo in Dogs one of the first times we talked on the phone! It was amazing....... I love that solo!!!
S: Anyways, yeah art in general is really important to us....we love taking photos and doing art in our own different ways. Once we decided on the album name for Matryoshka, we spent a lot of time "demoing" out the artwork at home just like we do with our music. When we solidified an idea, we brought our photographer friend Jamie Urman in to take the album shot. We are really happy with how it turned out.
You mentioned you were working on a video for one of the songs. Which song was that and what is the concept?
R: The video is for the song Matryoshka which is the first song on the EP. The idea sort of naturally evolved from the photo shoot we did for the album cover. We enjoyed working with the dolls so much, that we decided to make a video using them as the main characters. Jamie came up with the idea of a Nesting Doll (a matryoshka) having all it's inner dolls separate.....and then follow them around Los Angeles as they try to reconnect. It's been fun cause we are learning to do stop motion on the fly. It is quite tedious, but the end result of watching the dolls move in their own world is rewarding!
Seriously, that alarm clock in "Work" scared me. Then it travels from ear to ear…a true burner experience. Do you two enjoy tinkering in the studio and creating little extras for the headphone crowd?
S: We do enjoy the burner experience and toys and tinkering very much ;-) but it's not just for the headphone crowd. I think we just like the eeriness. People say it reminds them of Willie Wonka....and I think it just comes from liking bands that are really experimental and wanting to push the envelope.
R: But I have to hand the ear to ear thing for the alarm clock to Alex Newport. We had that Alarm in our original demo, but I didn't even hear the panning on it till we got back from New York and I listened to it with headphones. He also does some really cool subtle panning on the whispering "Work, work, work" part...
S: Yeah, Alex is an amazing producer and it was great to work with him ....he is great at getting a good sound and has cool ideas and cool mixing ideas too.
In your live sets, do you both kick it out during "Just Fine" on the part near the end when the listener is brought back to "this world"? It sounds like you both could break into some serious strumming.
S: Yeah we kick it out Yo! I do a little solo that makes me feel really cool!
Are there plans to tour the new music this summer?
S: Sure, I'd like to go to Alaska, live with the Eskimos, and kill myself.
R: Samantha? She's just kidding.
S: I'm kidding. We would like to tour this summer. Where should we go? If anybody has any ideas, feel free to contact us...maybe we'll pay you a visit.
I see the two of you also formed the SqueeGees, a kid-friendly musical outfit that shares an enviro-friendly message. Frank Zappa said you need a costume for any occasion, basically saying you need to have the ability to seamlessly drift through different circles. Do you find working in different musical circles keeps your creative eye clear?
S: Wow, you really did your homework! Playing in the SqueeGees is so fun and psychedelic. Kids are the best audience ever and connecting with them is amazing.
R: It is a blast, and It allows us to explore different sides of our musicality and personalities. It keeps us busy in the daytime and it also helps us remember that music is supposed to be fun! Writing Childrens music has no boundaries...the wackier the better...so it takes the pressure off the songwriting. We don't have to be cool...we just have to have fun.
S: There's always some crossover too. We learn to do something in one project and end up incorporating it into the next.
That seems like a good business plan. Entertain the children in the day and rock their parents in the evening. Do you ever see having to make and "either, or" decision on the different directions?
S: It depends on the day and the mood you catch us in. Sometimes everything is perfect and were happy and well-balanced, and sometimes we drop some plates!
R: Like you said, one is during the day, and the other is at night so there is room for both. We always write music that we feel.... so if we are feeling happy, it'll be a SqueeGees song, if we are sad, we will write Ubyk songs! Believe it or not, we also work together on a third band, Samantha's solo project, which i have to say is pretty amazing. As far as I'm concerned, she has the purest voice in LA. I play bass in her band which is fun cause I get to play an instrument that I enjoy but don't often get to use...and she sings and plays guitar! Yeah...we are busy!
You're based in the LA area. So much to choose from… What is a typical day for Roman and Samantha?
S: I'm an LA native three generations deep so I know the city pretty well! We usually start our days off by splitting the $13 Holy Cacao shake from Planet Earth Cafe in Hermosa beach!
R: And it's worth every penny!
S: That gives us the proper boost we need to start the day (and sometimes I don't eat till 6pm). We then usually attend to some Ubyk/SqueeGees business.....you know booking, contracts, marketing, recording, band practice, loading & unloading gear, playing a squeegees show, business stuff....etc. etc.
R: At some point, we do some exercise....I ride my beachcruiser along the beach, Samantha bellydances...and at night we are either watching movies, writing songs, playing gigs, doing Arts & Crafts, or hanging out with friends! No complaints!
Again, thank you for sharing your music and keep it leisurely.
-John Fancher 04/30/08
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