8A - Wednesday, October 19, 2011

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

8A - ednesay, Otobe 19, 011.Te.MiciganDaily- micigand1lycm11M11r

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Local bands take a
bite of the Big Apple

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hrome Sparks and a now-four-piece folk-rock group Lake's music feels intimate and
that will kick off the first of three personal, but never insular.
sun Lake to play at shows for the Marathon tomor- "When I think 'Gun Lake' I
row. Fain grew up in Gaylord think of these songs which are
MJ fest this week and graduated from the School very much me, but it's starting to
of Music, Theatre & Dance in '09, change a little bit," he said. "It's
By JOE DIMUZIO where he studied PerformingArts becoming a band, and I've always
Daily Arts Writer Technology. He works as an ani- wanted it to be that."
mator for the local Hook Studios After releasing Balfour, the
The distance between Ann when he's not writing, rehearsing group's first album in March, the
rbor and New York City is just and playing music that's moved band has been featured on vari-
rer 500 miles. For Mark Fain out of the dorm room and onto the ous blogs, invited to host a soon-
id Jeremy Malvin, two of Ann stage. to-be-released Daytrotter session
rbor's up-and-coming musi- Over coffee at Fleetwood and, with the help of local collec-
ans, the distance is little more Diner, Fain discussed Gun Lake, tive Bigger Brush Media, invited
an a number. the future and some of his musical to perform at CMJ. Fain said he
Fain and Malvin are in the heroes with less-than-desirable wasmanagingto stayrealistic and
iddle of the College Music Jour- fates. excited all at once.
l Music Marathon in New York "Elliott Smith and Nirvana are "Daytrotter's an honor. CMJ's
ity, which kicked off yesterday. two big ones," he said. "But I don't an honor," he said. "These lit-
troduced in1980, the Marathon want to end up stabbing myself. tle tokens, you know, of people
mains a bastion of whatever can or, uh, like Nirvana ..." noticing us, of acknowledgment,
ill be called the "independent" Gun Lake began as songs Fain they're very encouraging, but
usic world. Centered at New wrote when a serious relationship you can't expect it'll lead to some
>rk University, CMJ hosts hun- (and his undergraduate career) big break. ... You just gotta keep
-eds of bands worldwide, debuts came to an end. working. I think as long as we
ms and attracts attention for "I made Gun Lake to stay keep our wheels turning, good
scene that, in many ways, now afloat," he said, recounting his stuff will happen."
sly exists online. For Fain of time playing with members of For Jeremy Malvin, also
un Lake and Malvin of Chrome Lightning Love, experiment- known as Chrome Sparks, the
>arks (and a slew of other Ann ing in the Duderstadt and chip- road leading up to and after CMJ
rbor musicians), it's an oppor- ping away at year-old songs with makes good on the "marathon"
mnity for some much-deserved, Lake's third lineup. part of things. Prepping for a
free-dimensional exposure. Lush without padding and tour with Ann Arbor's Subvader
sin rlathe le of Gun L ith rit, G a hwi - erlin,
Pitts rgh, CM with
more than 10Ss a scheduled
- had Malvin seeming anxious
when he spoke on the roof of his
~IState Street loft last week. Get-
ting ready for a second rehearsal
with the new, live-incarnation
of Chrome Sparks, he seemed
thrilled, too.
Mavin's a third-year per-
cussion major in the School of
Music, Theatre & Dance, a Pitts-
burgh native and the sole pro-
/ ductive force behind Chrome
Sparks. With the seven-track My
<3, released in July, he's com-
bined conservatory education
with dance music into something
kinetic, complex and unabash-
edly pop.
Malvin's been recording, in all
capacities, for years.
CRM ARS "I used to use two boomboxes,
Crrently in New York, Chrome Sparks released the seven-track' My <3' in iJuly. maybe in fifth grade or middle
school and record guitar onto one
of them and then play that back
while playingsomething else into
another boombox, and that was
kind of my way of doing a poor
JTsiman's multi-track. I wish I knew
where those tapes were," he said,
comparing it to his current lap-
olo Greene op-centric process. "It's really
b beat-oriented. I can't empha-
size how much my classes in the
mscschool have transferred
A over to the music that I make in
my bedroom. It's really helped -
beyond what I thought it could."
But Malvin's samples don't
come from old boogie tunes or
Game Boy Color games - they're
recorded live.
"Oftentimes the samples - I
take them from other projects
I was working on, whether it's
something I did with friends, or
recording the University's per-
cussion ensemble andethen taking
some woodblock hits," he said. "I
recorded three percussion stu-
dents playing bat drums, which
is really awesome sounding, and
rare.
And when it comes to the
uncommon opportunity of being
featured at CMJ, Malvin, like
Fain, is more than happy to travel

Wednesday, November 2 a ewhundreedb
j "I'm really excited to be a
part of it and to be more on-the-
radar," he said. "I'm looking for-
Michigan Theater . 603 E. Liberty ward to playingthese shows, but
Tickets: Michigan Union Ticket Office also to meeting the people, the
artists and just to connect with
734-763-TKTS+ 1icketmaster.com+" TheArk.org this whole world that exists, for
me, onthe Internet right now."

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