Neighbors
Neighbors forever; photograph courtesy of the band.
Over the years we have chronicled the events and adventures of José Díaz Rohena and the band Neighbors spanning the coasts from Philly to their current home-base in Seattle. Through the tests, trials, and struggles from life and it’s host of side effects; Neighbors are looking to follow-up 2014’s Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? with the forthcoming album Very Rare Expensive Jewelry available now from Malaka Records & cassette via Help Yourself Records, and we give you the world premiere of “Angel O”. From the various past releases on imprints Lost Sound Tapes, Beating A Dead Horse, lineup change-ups, therapy sessions, cathartic life coping mechanisms, and so on; José, Claire, Nathan, & Evan continue on their good-neighborly journey with one foot tapping a toe to the streets with the other placed firmly on a magic new age yoga mat.
But don’t expect any kind of transcendental meditation or allegorical/spiritual mantras; “Angel O” is Neighbors firing on all pistons. Even though José & the gang have gone through the wringer and rollercoasters that ambitious DIY acts often experience (tour issues, breakups, squabbles, general iritation, annoyances, etc), Neighbors emerge with humor intact and a fuller, richer, & more intricate sound. Perceptions, observational questions, and dialogues exhibited by José’s frenetic delivery maintains all the awkwardness, the mixed emotions, and apprehensiveness of what sounds like one side of an argument heard over the most mighty arrangement from Neighbors by far. As Rohena keeps the frustration infused with balance of the funny and the absurd, Neighbors execute audio illustrations of various scales, wild rhythms, and tempo movement adjustments that all ends abruptly with José’s audibly heard weeping. Catch up with Neighbors and read all about what’s new with the Northwest crew in our following candid interview session with José Díaz Rohena.
Give us details on what Neighbors have been up to from Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? to Very Rare Expensive Jewelry.
We toured the US. Our bassist, Jacob, left the band. Our bassist, Claire, joined the band. I got sober and tried to save the relationship I sang about in Will You Please. This did not work; does it ever? I started going to therapy and taking actual medicine for my depression, as opposed to alcohol. Claire and I started dating. We tried to keep it a secret. This did not work; does it ever?
After Will You Please came out, we went all over to see the sad white boy rock bands of America. Kidding! Kind of. We did another U.S. tour. We played the Kenyon Deb Ball with Sports. The blouse I wore (Claire found it at Goodwill) is the cover of the new record. We played a show in Claire’s parents backyard and almost slept in the common area of a Bard dorm. We dumped the cursed hacky sack that Nathan had been holding on to. He was attached to it because we had it during our first big tour,which was kind of a bust, but he let us chuck it out the window after Claire and I realized that we had left our pillows in that vom smelling motel room in Saugerties, NY. I rolled my ankle playing “2 Bounce” in Knoxville so I got out of load in/out for a while. We all got annoyed at each other in different ways at different times. We suffered through an opening band’s hour plus set in Oakland. We had our SF show ruined by the World Series and my shitty attitude.
We came back and kind of disappeared to develop and record the material for VREJ. We were all a little burned out after tour. Nathan, our drummer, got married so we had to get a covers set together for the reception. Claire, our bassist, started film school and filmed a game show in front of a live studio audience in our living room. Evan graduated college but no one believes that he did.
House parties, waking up the Neighbors; photo courtesy of the band.
Describe what making the new album Very Rare Expensive Jewelry was like for you and the band.
Making this one was special because we went up to the Unknown in Anacortes to record with Nich Wilbur. We spent a week tracking everything to 2″ tape, which is something that I’ve always wanted to do. Of course, we recorded far more than we needed to, 20-ish songs; we kept eight, and by day three I was having stress headaches from trying to get it all done. Nich, however did a great job of maintaining the vibe.
What sorts of expensive and rare jewels and gems informed this album?
We are not at liberty to say.
What was it like working on the recent Posse and Chastity Belt records?
Mixing Posse’s record was the first time I thought, damn, I’m good at this. I mixed “Shut Up” alone on Thanksgiving after making stuffing and crying to This American Life. I had just gotten dumped so I think I was in a great mental space to work on that track.
We went up to the Unknown to track the Chastity Belt record. It was dreamy. The control room had a view of the trees in the park across the street. I remember gazing out at the trees with the sun setting, hearing the band run down “On The Floor”.
What are some of your favorite new Seattle sounds as of late?
Dozer, Heavy Petting, Great Spiders.
What’s next in the works for Neighbors?
We have this tour, which we are treating as Nathan’s bachelor party. We’re going to SxSW and Treefort, so that’s exciting. Then, who knows? We plan on recording again in early August and maybe doing another U.S. run in late October.
Neighbors’ new album Very Rare Expensive Jewelry is available now on vinyl via Malaka Records & cassette via Help Yourself Records.
