Linear Downfall hit the road tomorrow for an April/ May tour winding from Atlanta through Tennessee, Chicago, Kansas City and Denver to Seattle, Portland, and California; then back to Texas, Oklahoma and finally New Orleans and Birmingham. These shows – all fully detailed at lineardownfall.com – are just the latest in what is already shaping up to be the band’s busiest and most ambitious year yet!
Bassist/ vocalist Charlee Cook, guitarist/ vocalist Chance Cook and guitarist Dom Marcoaldi fill in the details below on a new album they just finished, its companion film, another album they’re already planning, recording the Electric Würms debut with Steven Drozd and Wayne Coyne, meeting Jonny Greenwood, Beatles covers and more.
Sufferland
Charlee: We are really happy to say that we have finished recording our fourth album called, Sufferland. We do not have a release date yet, but it’s coming! It’s pretty different [than our previous albums] I think.
Chance: The first half is more electronic, app-based glitchy, mechanical. The second half is acoustic drums, analog synths. The first half is more of a modern take on electronic music [compared to the second half], and the second half is a more old school take on electronic music. BBC Radiophonic music workshop, Silver Apples, White Noise, etc…
Also this was our first record with Dom, which was a real treat to have another creative mind in the room.
Dom: There are some songs where it was all four of us writing together and others where someone would make a song and we would add on from there.
Chance: We also plan to do a film along with the record.
Dom: We definitely want to have the album and the film be one big package so I guess we will be working on that all summer and maybe do another tour.
Charlee: The film will go along with the album! A visual interpretation I guess. What we see when we listen.
Dom: We have some ideas for what we are going to do [with the film] but can’t really say how it’s really going to be until we start doing it. But it’s pretty much a visual representation of what we were trying to do with the album [to it].
Chance: There will be actors. David Lynch’s Eraserhead was an inspiration.
Dom: Fellini is a big inspiration too.
Charlee: We have some awesome people helping with the film! Tyler Blankenship and Brandon Greer! They are amazing…very like minded to us.
Dom: A local genius artists named Seth Prestwood will probably help us out at some point too.
2014 Spring Tour
Charlee: We are excited for all of the shows on tour!
Dom: On this tour we are going to play a couple of songs from the new album.
Chance: Songs off the new album we’ll be playing on tour: “Violence,” “No Traces,” “The Question,” “Finger Diet.”
Charlee: The new stuff is so fun to play! I am so ready to see how they go over on tour!
Dom: [The setlist will be] a mixed bag of stuff from Fragmental Hippocampus and Sufferland plus some songs that haven’t been released yet.
Charlee: We always like playing “Wasp song” [written on a Wasp synth gifted from Sean Lennon to The Flaming Lips]. That was one of the three songs we recorded at Pink Floor [Studios] on our first ever visit [to record with Wayne Coyne], but [it’s never been] released.
Charlee: We will be playing a couple of the new songs at our up-coming shows this week!
Dom: I guess Wednesday will be the first time [songs from Sufferland] are played in public. We are also giving away a couple of album teasers at our merch table.
Seasonal Depression
Charlee: We can also say we have another album in the works, but that’s an on-going thing that will be completed over time. It’s what we call the “locations album.” I think the title will be Seasonal Depression. It will be a double vinyl (four sides): one side for spring, summer, fall, winter…
Chance: That’s next year Charlee!! Ha… we have got the summer portion done though.
Meeting Jonny Greenwood at Big Ears Festival
Chance: [Jonny] was really nice and very humble. Big Ears is one of the coolest festivals! Body/Head was amazing!! Keiji Haino is a god. Jonny Greenwood’s string arrangements were perfect!!
Chance: Knoxville seems to have a pretty open minded scene…a great place to play!
The First Electric Würms Sessions
Charlee: We have also been working on the Electric Würms stuff [six songs for a debut EP/ LP with Steven Drozd and Wayne Coyne] which is now complete.
Chance: The four of us [in Linear Downfall] and Steven jammed in Pink Floor for two or three days, and played music chairs. It was a lot of fun watching Steven play drums! Wayne kinda came in later and added stuff, and edited and produced.
Dom: Steven drums on some finished tracks. Will [Hicks] does too.
Chance: [There’s] about 30 minutes or so [of material].
Finishing Electric Würms Sessions at Tarbox
… and Starting Sgt. Pepper’s Covers
Charlee: It was amazing! Dave Fridmann is the nicest person!!
Dom: It was incredible. Dave is the nicest guy on earth. The location is beautiful too.
When we got there everything [for Electric Würms] was pretty much done. [Dave] and Wayne and Michael [Ivins] worked on some mixing.
Charlee: We started working on a Beatles cover there too.
The Future Heart: “[Being for the Benefit of ] Mr Kite”..right?
Dom: Yup.
Charlee: We are also doing a version of “Fixing a Hole.”
The Future Heart: Will those two songs just be Linear Downfall recordings, or will other bands be on them as well?
Dom: Who knows!
[I’m] not really sure what [Wayne Coyne] has in mind.
The Future Heart 
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