INTERVIEW: Magic Man sows crops, reaps music career
Magic Man, courtesy.
There must be something artistically inspirational in the water of rural France. Lifelong friends Sam Vanderhoop Lee and Alex Caplow spent a summer working on farms in exchange for room and board. In their spare time, the guitarist/keyboardist (Lee) and vocalist (Caplow) worked on songwriting in the nation’s idyllic countryside, and reached their “a-ha moment” of creativity that propelled them toward their professional goals.
Magic Man, Great Good Fine OK, Vinyl Theatre, DJ Safe Sex
7 p.m., March 26
Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View
Tickets: $18.
“For starters, as you can imagine, it’s really beautiful; the French countryside in the middle of summer,” says Lee, now one-fifth of Boston synth-pop band Magic Man, which headlines Slim’s Thursday.
The duo laid the groundwork for Magic Man in 2009 after their freshman year in college. During the day they worked. And in their free time, they wrote lo-fi tunes with the assistance of a laptop.
“The weather was incredibly nice (and) it’s also pretty secluded,” Lee recalls. “Not a lot to do, so when we had time from working on the farms, we spent the time working on new songs. We were feeling kind of inspired.”
Magic Man performs at the Independent in San Francisco on Nov. 20, 2014.
Even the name of their band came from the experience. When Lee and Caplow turned up at one farm expecting to perform the typical vegetable-picking and handling work, they instead found a travelling circus setting up for a festival the very next day. They helped pitch tents and set up stages instead.
“We didn’t know anybody there, and there was this kid who called himself the Magic Man,” Lee says, describing a card trick magician. “He showed us around and introduced us to different people. He was one of the first people we played our music to as well.”
Q&A: Magic Man’s Sam Lee on Shakespeare, back-up plans and burritos
When the band started as a duo (alongside vocalist Alex Caplow), you performed as The Hamlets. Does that make you Shakespeare fans?
I think Alex and I were in the same English class in high school when we were playing folksy songs at coffee shops and stuff. And that’s when we went by The Hamlets. That was an earlier incarnation of our musical partnership. It didn’t sound anything like Magic Man. That was one of the first bands we were in together. I wish I could say that there was a deep literary meaning referencing a specific moment and a specific Shakespeare play, but no.
What’s the most interesting name you’ve ever gone by?
That would be the first band we were ever in together, called Yello Sno – with no Ws. It was a pretty mediocre garage rock band. We just kind of noodled around and never really bothered to learn any full songs.
What were your back-up plans, if you couldn’t get a music career off the ground, when you were in college?
I was studying graphic design. Alex was doing child psychology. So I would be a graphic designer somewhere, and Alex would be working with kids. (Keyboardist) Justine (Bowe) was an American studies major. Our bass player, Gabe (Goodman), was actually still in college. He was also an American studies major. Our drummer, Joey (Sulkowski), went to Berklee, the music school, so if he wasn’t in this band, I’m sure he’d be in another.
Do you get a lot of Passion Pit comparisons, being from Boston?
Yeah, definitely. We got to work with Alex Aldi, who produced and engineered all the Passion Pit records, so it certainly happens, but we’re honored. They’re certainly a band we look up to a lot.
What’s your favorite things to do while on the road? Do you have any hobbies?
We are big burrito fans. So we’re always trying to pick out the best burrito or chicken wings spots. We’ve got a couple of coffee drinkers in the band… who are always trying to find the best local coffee. We’ll also go to a movie together, or go bowling.
When the duo returned home, they began playing those new songs at all forms of DIY shows in basements, frat houses and warehouses that Lee says is a staple of the New England music scene. The following year they self-released a debut album – though “debut” may not be the correct term, since the two have played in numerous bands together since high school, including a “pretty mediocre garage rock band” and a folk-rock duo.
Wanting to make their live shows more exciting and rely less on the back-up musician, the laptop, the duo began incorporating live drums, guitar and bass in 2013. That year, they landed school friends Gabe Goodman (bass), Justine Bowe (keyboards) and Joey Sulkowski (drums).
“It added a whole new element to the shows; gave them more of a rock feel, brought a lot more intensity and energy,” Lee says. “So we started thinking about songwriting with that sound in mind.”
Their infused sound, made richer with catchy choruses and guitar hooks that drew comparisons to fellow Bostonians Passion Pit; and introspective, longing lyrics in radio-ready songs like “Paris,” and “Waves” garnered attention from Columbia Records. The label helped the band create a metaphorical path to follow to accomplish something Lee and Caplow always wanted, but couldn’t quite do so by themselves. Before The Waves, produced by frequent Passion Pit collaborator Alex Aldi, was released in summer 2014. Since then the quintet has lived life on the road.
“I think we always knew we wanted to do music as much as possible, even if we had other jobs after college,” Lee says.
Although Caplow, Lee and friends now play actual stages with professional production instead of a sweaty house party living room, they still bring the New England house DIY aesthetic and intensity to their shows.
“We learned from playing shows in that environment,” Lee says. “What people respond to most is energy and intensity, rather than a really slick production.”
Follow editor Roman Gokhman at Twitter.com/RomiTheWriter.