WERS 88.9 fm - Artist Interview: Spoon

March 1^st, 2010

WERS recently spoke with the drummer of Spoon, Jim Eno, about the band's new album Transference,  WERS' album of the month for February. Spoon's seventh studio album reached number four on Billboard's Top 200, marking a new achievement for this talented, long-standing band.

The songs were written by singer Britt Daniels, and were recorded in his home, maintaining a raw sound that has always been characteristic of Spoon. Drummer, Jim Eno produced all of the tracks with Daniels.

The band has been creating music since the 90's and is still going strong in 2010, reaching new audiences every day. The fans and the music may have changed over the years, but Transference exhibits Spoon's ability to craft songs with an immaculate care.

WERS: I want to congratulate you on your album being released at number four on the Billboard Top 200, is that a career high?

Jim Eno: Yeah, the last record was number ten so we are happy to have a top five record. It was a very pleasant surprise.

WERS: For an act who spent years touring without receiving a whole lot of recognition how does it feel for Transference to have debuted at number four?

Eno: It feels great. From our perspective things have sort of been gradually getting a little better with each record, so you know, it doesn't feel like a huge difference, but it's definitely really nice to have people listening and appreciating your music as things go along.

WERS: Why do you think you guys were relatively off the radar during the 90's while you toured and made albums, but have gotten big over the past couple of years? What do you think is the difference?

Eno: Huh…I dunno. Maybe people just get us more now. Definitely in the 90's we had some label issues and some other things so it was a little hard to get traction and everything, and I think when Girls Can Tell came out we started doing things a little bit differently with respect to touring and we got on a label, Merge Records, which is a great label and we have been with them since 2000 so they've been doing a great job.

WERS: You mentioned you feel like 'maybe people just get us now' do you think it's fair to say Spoon might have been a bit ahead of their time?

Eno: [Laughs] Uhh let's see, I don't know. Our sound definitely did change a bit around the Girls Can Tell time, around 2000. Britt started writing songs sort of based on piano and or at least adding keyboards and stuff like that. We were listening more to Motown and Soul, and I think you can sort of hear that change around 2001. So I don't think we were ahead of our time, because our songs have changed sonically and also in the way of what songs Britt was writing.

WERS: As things have continued on the up and up have you noticed the crowds changing or do you think that a Spoon fan in 2010 is the same type of Spoon fan in 1998?

Eno: Oh no, there were very few spoon fans in 1998 probably like, maybe, a 100 of them or so. There are definitely a lot more [now], which is great. It is sort of widening up a little bit, I guess, when it comes to what a Spoon fan is as we start getting moderate radio play and things like that. It definitely seems that the crowd is not all little Indie rock kids that have discovered us via word of mouth or some blog some where, so we're starting to get more… People that listen to the radio I guess.

WERS: Do you feel like there is a stereotypical Spoon fan or are your listeners hard to categorize?

Eno: I think it's really hard to categorize, because you have the people that have been listening to us since 1996, and then you have some people that started listening to us from 2001 on, and then you have people who've heard us on the radio, and others that may have seen something on [Fox's] The OC or something like that, so with the way music licensing and everything is going now we are getting fans from a lot of different areas. It's great.

WERS: What would you want our listeners to know about Spoon before they went out to buy a CD or get a concert ticket?

Eno: I think one of the big things is that we work incredibly hard on our records to make them and every song as good as it can be, and I think that shows in the quality of our records. Then when it comes to the live shows we try to capture what we can, but we also try to make it an exciting live show. While they are two separate things I think they are both very exciting.

WERS: I know that Transference is still a very new release but what is next for Spoon?

Eno: Oh we have a lot of touring. I leave on Friday to go to Europe and then March and April are going to be the US tour. I think we play Boston…

WERS: That's our market.

Eno: Yeah, around the end of March we play, I forget where, but that, and then we go to Australia right after that, and then Spain right after that, and then I think we're taking some time off in June and then see what happens from there.

WERS: So there's no rest for the wicked?

Eno: Yeah, a lot of touring.

WERS: Is there anything else you would like to tell our listeners that I haven't provided you with the opportunity to discuss?

Eno: Oh boy, I dunno. I'm from Rhode Island.

WERS: Right on.

Eno: So if you are passing through Warwick give a little honk for me.

WERS: Jim Eno, local hero.

Eno: Yeah [laughs].

—Words by Teresa Garigen