The Lonelyhearts are a shoegaze/folk rock band from San Francisco, not to be confused with a group from Nashville of similar name. They recently released their latest album Disaster Footage at Night on Three Ring Records and it is a must-listen-to record. They sound like some Tom Petty/ Velvet Underground/ Calexico/ They Might Be Giants/ Neil Young mash-up and you really need to listen to it. We got a chance to talk with both of the minds behind the band, Andre Perry and John Lindenbaum, about that record you must-listen-to, how they recorded an album together living in separate states and other things people generally talk about in interviews. Did I mention that you must listen to it?

How did the two of you get together?
Andre: John and I were both living in San Francisco in the early 2000s. We were in bands that played a lot of shows together. My band was the Kuffs and his was Rust Belt Music. I was doing a space rock thing and he was doing this really awesome mix of alt. country and classic rock with really weird arrangements and effects. Anyway, I loved his band so we ended up playing shows and becoming friends. John and I had gone to college together back in Jersey but we never really met. We had all of these friends in common who we’d get really drunk with but somehow we never crossed paths. But, our bands became friends in San Francisco. My band broke up after awhile and that was around the time that John and I had been talking about doing a little side-project. I had already been recording solo songs as the Lonelyhearts so we took that name and put it on our project. The timing of these things is funny: bands breaking up and other ones forming. It’s not much different from relationships with girls or boys. Anyway, I remember the Kuffs had just returned from a US Tour and our homecoming San Francisco show was with Bishop Allen. After the show the guys in Bishop Allen and all our friends came back to my apartment and we were playing all of these songs in the living room on little guitars and stuff. John was there and we were playing songs and saying, “Hey, these should be the songs for our new band.” I think we were both burned out a bit from these four-man bands and all of the diplomacy and compromise that goes on. We were like, “With two of us, everything can be a lot easier.” It took us some time to actually shed the other members. Gavin Haag (of the Blacks) played drums with us for a bit and we had a bassist (Pete of Moped), but after a few months – this would be early 2004 – we were able to be just me and John. I’d take the BART over to Berkeley where he had moved to and we’d play after I got off work. Sometimes he’d come to my place in San Francisco but mostly we’d get together in Berkeley. We toured that summer in 2004 because we had an EP out on DIY or Else… Records. After that tour we decided we’d take the band really seriously. So, the Lonelyhearts became our thing. Two guys: a guitar, a keyboard, and a lot of singing.

John: When we started, we each brought in a few songs that we had played solo or with previous bands, but after a while, we started writing almost all the songs together. Andre actually played keyboards for the final few Rust Belt Music concerts, and the Lonelyhearts overlapped with RBM for about half a year… it all sorta blurs together, but I do remember Andre making me play a song on an acoustic guitar at that post-tour apartment party, and I remember a very loud recording of Jack White’s guitar bleeding into the room from outside. Our first practices were so easy, since we lived a few blocks apart. Now we both live a few minutes from Interstate 80, but several days apart.

Since one of you lives in San Francisco and the other in Iowa, what is the recording process like when trying out new songs?
Andre: The process is fucking slow. If we lived in the same place there would be twice as many Lonelyhearts albums in the world right now. But we don’t get sad about it. I think we’re just happy that we’ve been able to do what we can, given the distance. And the label has been really cool about it. I had to move to Iowa City, I had to get out of San Francisco so I could focus on my writing and other projects.

Anyway, the process: we send each other little demos over the internet. The songs that start with me will usually have nonsense lyrics. There might be one line in there that sticks but I’ll ask John to learn the song and think up lyrics. So he’ll sit with it for awhile and when I see him again he’ll know the song, have good lyrics, and a new bridge. When we get together we always come up with new material on the spot. And then John, every year, despite his crazy schedule will always knock out at least one song that is just genius that we don’t have to mess around with too much. On the last album it was “Overpass.” I heard it and was like, “Let’s not fuck with it. It sounds great.” I just added those keyboard parts, a really minimal backing vocal and we were done.

John: For the last record, we tracked most of our parts at my house in El Cerrito, made a few additional tracks in a garage in Lincoln, CA, then live bass and drum parts were recorded in San Francisco and Modesto. We generally take our songs on tour so we know them in and out and can record them quickly.

Where do you draw the inspiration for your music?
Andre: I just play music a lot and try to see what comes out. It’s like writing. You just have to do it all of the time. Some stuff will suck and other stuff will be good. It’s just knowing which is which. I also see bands all of the time. I book bands at a venue in town and I’m also a music journalist. So I’m always listening and considering ideas that other bands come up with. So there’s a bit of borrowing and being influenced by all of the awesome bands out there in the world. Though, I don’t know if we quite sound like our favorite bands. I don’t know if we could, even if we tried.

John: Events that have happened to us, or someone we know, or someone we can imagine. Unlike my taller and hipper bandmate, I take more of a Lil’ Wayne approach: avoiding hot music as much as possible. I let Andre keep track of today’s new sounds.

Can you take us through the steps of recording songs for Daytrotter?
Andre: Yeah, it was real simple. We showed up and Pat Stolley (the engineer) said, “I have to record Suzie Johannes in two hours and the Dodos right after that.” There was this implied thing in his voice that said, “For the sake of my sanity, please hurry up.” So we did it fast! Which is fine, because Pat is one of the greatest guys around and the rest of the Daytrotter guys – Sean is the guy who runs it with this other guy Phil who is probably the nicest man in the world – all of those guys are delightful. The session was quick, in and out, and that’s because they know how to run that place. They set up the mics, get the levels, make you comfortable, so all you have to do is play your songs. It’s a lot more fun than recording an album. Stolley doesn’t work at Daytrotter anymore – he left to open his own studio so he could focus more on album length projects – but the new guy is awesome too. Daytrotter’s just a solid operation. Lonelyhearts is planning to cut our new record with Pat Stolley out in Davenport, Iowa. I don’t think I’ve told him yet but I’ll make him do it. Anyway the Daytrotter session we did was during one of our 2008 tours. We passed through Rock Island, IL (where the studio is) and cut those four songs rather quickly. Then we stuck around to watch Suzie’s session. She’s our friend from Lawrence and we were on tour with her. The session she did that day was just scary. She’s probably one of the best out there. She’s like the next logical step after Cat Power. We ended up playing a show later that night with Suzie and the Dodos. It was swell.

John: The calzones downstairs are quite good.

Do you know there’s a band called The Lonely Hearts that are vaguely similar in Tennessee?
Andre: Yes, I do know about them. They’re part of the Contemporary Christian rock scene. I have nothing against them though I think we’re better. I guess I’m kind of biased.

John: For the record, our band name is based on a Nathaniel West novel, not the Beatles, the Bee Gees, or the John Travolta film. We do like Tennessee, though.

You have a song on a compilation called At The Crossroads: A Benefit For Homeless Youth. Can you tell people about that?
Andre: Our label put out a comp to help out this great youth center in the Bay Area. It was a no-brainer. Those people do good, hard work. We had just cut our first version of “Overpass” so we handed it right over to our label (Three Ring Records). It was the first thing we did for them.

Any chance of a tour anytime soon?
Andre: Well, it all depends how you define “soon.” John’s moving to Colorado this summer, then he’s getting married. My other band just finished a new record so we’ll be on the road while John is moving. Hopefully, Lonelyhearts will get together in late summer so we can work out this growing list of new songs. We’ll probably tour in the fall and then tour once more before heading into the studio for a few days. It depends, to some degree, which jobs we’re working and how much money we can save and so forth. Touring isn’t much of a revenue generating activity for us so we really have to plan it well. We’re cool with losing money but we just need to make sure tour intersects with a time when we can actually lose the money.

Anything else that people need to know that I haven’t asked?
Andre: Just check us out and see if you like it. If you don’t like it, I have a list of other bands that you might prefer. I just saw Efterklang: they are so awesome. And These Are Powers… so good.

And finally, what’s the meaning of life?
John: My dog.

For more information about The Lonelyhearts, visit their website www.thelonelyhearts.net