Interview Icarus Himself is looking for some feedback

It’s been a while since Madison's Icarus Himself could be considered a side project of National Beekeepers Society’s Nick Whetro, largely because Beekeepers officially called it quits in early September (and unofficially, much earlier than that). It’s also hard to label Icarus Himself a side project because of the results Whetro, Karl Christenson, and Brad Kolberg were getting from focusing on it, most recently with the excellent Mexico EP. So it’s a little confusing that after crafting such a carefully considered and consequently rewarding album, Whetro would just start throwing demos (with confusing names) out into the world, as he did recently through the band’s MySpace page. But he explained it well, while discussing the band’s changing sound, upcoming tour, and propensity for facial hair and weapons before tonight's show at Cactus Club opening for Breathe Owl Breathe.

The A.V. Club: Why release demos?

Nick Whetro: I don’t know. I guess, I like to get feedback. These aren’t necessarily going to be on a record in the future. Sometimes we do multiple versions of songs. I’m not going to say they won’t be on a record, but most likely the band will be more involved. It will be recorded as a band. Because the demos are all just me. I’ve had some friends come over and record clarinet and cello but, other than that, it’s pretty much just me.

AVC: Is that the normal recording process?

NW: We kind of mixed it up for songs like “Digging Holes.” I recorded the organ and the guitar parts, and then the guys put all their stuff on top of that. But the last song on the [Mexico] EP “Seen It Coming (Mexico),” that was recorded live in the studio, just all of us playing in the studio. I think, for our next record, we’re going to do it all live in the studio.

But yeah, I had a couple of demos out before we actually released the real thing.

AVC: Strictly to get feedback?

NW: Yeah, feedback, but now I feel like we going in a different direction and our next recordings aren’t necessarily going to be like the Mexico EP. We’re relying less on samples and going for more of a live-band feel.

AVC: The demos have a much different feel. “Funfzehn” almost sounds tropical.

NW: Yeah, I just wanted to have fun and do a spaghetti-western, ’60s, Planet Of The Apes-type feel. [“Funfzehn”] was just a fun song for me to record, and there’s really no point to it. It’s kind of like a song for a soundtrack.

AVC: So it’s just you chanting near the end?

NW: Yeah, I overdubbed myself four times.

AVC: What about the other demo? I’m not even sure how to pronounce it.

NW: Wannanowannanana.

AVC: Sounds like something Jabba The Hutt would say.

NW: Yeah, that’s not going to be the title of that song. I just put down the first thing that came to mind. That probably will be released on a record. But we’re probably going to do a different version, more live-band. Right now it’s just a lot of synthesizer.

AVC: Does this mean a new album is coming out soon?

NW: We really don’t have anything concrete right now, as far as any dates. We had talked about putting out a full-length, and we’re still in talks, so it might be summer or fall of 2011 before it comes out. But nothing in the next six months.

AVC: Are you playing either of these songs live?

NW: I am solo, yeah. I’m doing a solo show in December, and I’m going to try to do the “Wannanowannanana” song live. “Funfzehn” is impossible to do live. I tried it with just my sampler, and there are too many samples. I can’t do it.

AVC: Are you planning on moving away from the sampler?

NW: We’re not completely abandoning the sampler. We’re just going to use it a lot less on the songs. We’re not going to rely on loops as much as we had for the EP. I also have five or six more songs that we’ve been playing live at shows for the past four or five months. We also have a couple more ideas for songs. I think, out of all those songs, maybe one is going to have sampler in it.

AVC: Are you hitting any familiar spots on your upcoming East Coast tour?

NW: We’ve actually never played anywhere on the East Coast as a band. I’ve played solo in D.C. and Chapel Hill but, other than that, this is all new territory for us. We usually stay in the Midwest and the plains states, you know, Omaha, Kansas City, and Tulsa, and Minneapolis. We’re excited. This is different for us.

AVC: Hopefully that means a new promo shot is on the way. I think we’ve run the same one for a while now.

NW: We’re so lazy about doing photos. We’ve actually scheduled to do photos, and then something comes up where one of us can’t be at the photo shoot, so then it never happens.

AVC: You’ll need a new one now that you are adhering to No Shave November.

NW: I think Karl [Christenson] signed us onto that event, either Karl or Brad [Kolberg]. But we all are actually growing facial hair right now. Karl had a beard the last time I saw him because, who’s that Olympics gymnastic coach from the ’90s with the big mustache?

AVC: All I can think of is Mark Spitz.

NW: I can’t think of his name now, but that’s who he went as for Halloween. Béla Károlyi! That’s who he was.

AVC: Is that a real gun in the photo?

NW: Yeah it is; it’s Karl’s gun. He’s never shot it though. It’s funny; apparently, when he was in college he was very anti-gun. Then, for some reason, at one point like a year or two ago, he bought that gun and a hatchet, which, I can’t believe this, but [at] one of our Beekeepers shows about a year and half ago, he brought the hatchet into the High Noon Saloon. I can’t believe they let him come in with the hatchet. He set it up onstage and put it on his amp, and then after the show he let everyone sign the handle of his hatchet. It was a pretty big one, you know, for chopping wood. I think he was bored and just really wanted to buy some weapons.

AVC: National Beekeepers Society has been officially done for almost two months now. Was that a breakup or an amicable parting of ways?

NW: I think it was more of an amicable parting of ways. Chris is playing in El Valiente now. Brad, the drummer, is in law school, so he’s really busy with that. And then I wanted to focus mainly on Icarus Himself, and I wasn’t really writing any more songs for the Beekeepers. We hadn’t played for six months before that last show, and we hadn’t practiced in that time either. So, without it being said, we pretty much were done.