Akron/Family

Love Is Simple is the second full length release from Young God recording artists Akron/Family, their fourth overall including one mini-album and one CD split with Angels of Light. The album was produced by Andrew Weiss (Ween, Rollins Band, Gone), recorded at his Zion House O’Flesh studio in West Central New Jersey. Love Is Simple is being released on Young God September 10.

While on tour in 2006 they accidentally ran into Weiss at a show in Portland, Maine. Andrew loved them, and introduced himself a few weeks later after a show in Asbury Park. Afterwards, the group took a few months off to relax, write songs, and in some cases, move out of New York City with three of them reconvening in August to lay down basic tracks for a new Angels of Light record. It was during these sessions that all concerned decided to tap Weiss to produce their next album. Akron/Family went into seclusion in Western Pennsylvania in a parents’garage September ’06 to write. Despite having been apart for months, things went well and fast and they generated almost two albums worth of songs. They played October dates to hone these new songs live, including an appearance at the Montreal Pop Festival.

Akron/Family were soon enscounced at Weiss’ Zion House o' Flesh, located within the lovely Sourland mountain region near scenic Hopewell, NJ for two weeks in November. After tracking was completed, Andrew and the group fine-tuned mixes and other post-production touches intermittently over the next few months, as the band performed out on the West Coast in December, and then the Midwest and East Coast in February and March. They entitled the final results Love is Simple. Further mixing was done in March with Bryce Gogin at Trout Studios, and friend Ethan Donaldson at Excello studios. The last four dates of the tour where they’d initially met Weiss were filmed for DVD that will be included in initial quantities of Love Is Simple.

This record comes the closest to bridging the gap between the "gangs all here!" chaos, rock action, tribal bongo-banging and sentimental sing-alongs of their live shows and the necessarily more cerebral, or at least worked-over and layered process of recording in the studio where they excel being patient and obsessive techno nerds as well as rampaging apes on demand. There’re some beautiful songs and gorgeous harmony singing as well as some wild and weird jams, all in the service of their chosen Deity: Nothingness, or LOVE, or whatever it is they’re on about.

The initial conception of Akron/Family took place Fall 2002 when Seth Olinsky and Miles Seaton met while working graveyard shifts at the same coffee shop in Manhattan and started recording together. A lot of great songs came from a series of late night recording sessions…and one pissed off roommate!

Eventually this pair recruited Dana, a gifted young drummer Seth grew up with in Western Pennsylvania and all three moved into an unfinished loft space in Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighhorhood. They began rehearsing as a power trio at various low-rent rehearsal studios while continuing to make subdued recordings at home. Their first live show was a house party at Oberlin College where the Seth was potentially was going to enroll and get his degree. At their fourth live performance, another old friend, Ryan Vanderhoof, was their opening act. After staying up all night together staring into waterfalls, he accepted their offer to give up his teaching post, become their fourth member and move to New York City that Summer of 2003; and Oberlin was out one tuition that Fall. The Akron/Family had been born: Miles Seaton, Seth Olinksy (the founding pair) Dana Janssen and Ryan Vanderhoof – they all sing lead and backing vocals.

While paying the bills working at vegan restaurants or as barristas, the band devoted all their free time that Fall and the ensuing Winter completing two home recorded collections, Eskimo then Franny and the Portal to the Fractal Universe of Positive Vibrations. Both were submitted to Young God Records whose owner Michael Gira liked them well enough to ask for more. Material from these two sets would eventually provide about half the repertoire of their eponymous Young God debut.

Meanwhile, they slowly began building a local following with periodic shows wherever they could in Brooklyn and the Lower East Side. In the Winter of ’04, they began a weekly residency at a surprisingly wonderful and beautiful little place in Williamsburg called Pete’s Candy Store, where Gira finally came to see them play, and was convinced to sign them to his label and produce their first album.

They spent the Spring and Summer of ’04 working with Michael who convinced them to tap their older home recorded material as well the newer jam-based numbers they’d worked up playing live. In the midst of all this Gira invited them to collaborate with him on his next Angels of Light recording, providing the bulk of the instrumental support and backing vocals. Immediately after mastering Akron/Family they and Gira went back into the studio with no rehearsal whatsoever to record The Angels of Light Sing (Other People).

Biding their time till the release of both albums, Akron/Family went back into their familiar routine of waitering, steaming milk, rehearsal and local live performances. Seth recorded the material for the 3 CD Best Of Seth (released 2007).

Both Akron/Family and Angels of Light albums were released in the Spring of 2005 garnering favorable press from a staggering number of outlets like the New York Times, Harp, Time Out!, Magnet, Pitchfork, The Fader, Devil In The Woods, Alternative Press and many others. Soon thereafter, the Akron crew undertook a triumphal six week tour of North America, opening shows under their own name, then backing Gira for the Angels of Light sets. As a result of this extensive road work they developed a much more dynamic and energetic performance style that often surprised, occasionally annoyed and sometimes frightened people who only knew their studio output. Michael felt their music was growing at such a frantic pace that he took them back into the studio right after their European dates together to record a split release – half Akron/Family (comprising more of their band jams) and half with them as Angels of Light supporting Gira.

That summer, Akron/Family did their first headlining tour with Sir Richard Bishop of Sun City Girls opening performing to disappointingly small audiences. Undeterred they returned to the road for a further five weeks Canada’s Great Lake Swimmers opening – again to tiny crowds. One bright note came on their return to New York in October where they played a Hurricane Katrina benefit at the Bowery Ballroom. The next morning the Akron lads boarded a flight for Moscow beginning a two week Eastern European tour opening for Angels of Light. At the end of those shows they continued performing throughout Europe for another five weeks on their own, supporting the release of their split CD with Angels of Light. Akron/Family got back to Brooklyn just before Thanksgiving, tired and road weary, and went back to flavoring coffee or doling out tofu burger for a week before finishing the year with a 10 show tour of the northeast. It was in this fever of confused exhaustion that the marathon 2 1/2 hour set habit was born.

One month later, they hit the road again playing January through February ’06, with the opening date in Montreal. After their show there, Mauro of Godspeed you Black Emperor who’d booked that show suggested that they hook up with free jazz legend, drummer Hamid Drake. They’d met Drake scarcely a month before, and Mauro’s suggestion was the final straw in prompting them to seek him out and make plans for a joint recording effort. As if all this weren’t enough, in the midst of a supposed two week breather in Seattle, they were unexpectedly approached by idiosyncratic producer Hal Wilner (Marianne Faithfull, Lucinda Williams) about contributing to Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys – a collection executive produced by Johnny Depp (in conjunction with his Pirates of the Caribbean films). Akron/Family spent the next few days in the company of guitarist Bill Frisell, storyteller Baby Gramps – who they would consequently accompany on an appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman -- Robin Holcomb, Wayne Horovitz, and genius violinist Eyvind Kang. Soon after, they found themselves driving through the Canadian Rockies in their unheated van (attempts to warm things up a propane heater failed spectacularly) with another 3 weeks of shows ahead.

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While on the road, Akron/Family worked furiously on material for their collaboration with Hamid at a string of cheap hotels, into wee hours, night after night. Finally (and despite Miles flying home to be treated for bronchitis), the whole group reached Chicago, driving straight from a show in Iowa, slept in their van outside of Blu Hawaii studio. They began recording with Drake the next morning for what would eventually released as the Meek Warrior mini album. Later that same day in daze of sleep deprivation they headed off to Milawaukee, then realized their show was in Champagne Illinois! They made the gig, headed back to Chicago immediately after the show and finished the session with Hamid, only to speed off to Canada for more shows. In Toronto they met up with members of Do Make Say Think and Broken Social Scene who contributed additional touches to the Chicago recordings, returning the favor Akron/Family had done previously adding vocals to their record.

It was during a subsequent East Coast run that Akron/Family crossed paths with Andrew Weiss. More European dates followed including an appearance at the prestigious “Primavera” festival in Barcelona.

When the final mixes of Love Is Simple were turned in Akron/Family went back on the road yet again in June of ’07, performing two nights at the “Suoni Il Popolo” festival in Montreal, with friends Hamid Drake and the Lexie Mountain Boys, and touring Europe in July joined onstage by guitarist Keith Wood (Hush Arbors, contributing member to Six Organs of Admittance and Sunburned Hand of the Man). At Roskilde, Denmark, Akron/Family met up with 17 piece Ghanian Drum and Dance outfit who spontaneously joined them for half their set. Plans are now afoot for the Akrons to tour Africa in ’08 in collaboration with this troupe.

This fall, Akron/Family will be embarking on a tour of this great America collaborating with one of the mightiest of all electro-acoustic drone poets Greg Davis, and a trio of fine (large, hairy, genius!) specimens of manhood from North Carolina called Megafaun. Hope to see you there!

AKRON/FAMILY Fall 2007 Tour:
Thu, Sep 6, 2007
Magic Stick, Detroit, Mi

Fri, Sep 7, 2007
Logan Square Auditorium, Chicago, IL

Sat, Sep 8, 2007
Creepy Crawl, St Louis, MO

Mon, Sep 10, 2007
New College of Florida, Sarasota, FL

Tue, Sep 11, 2007
Back Booth, Orlando, FL

Wed, Sep 12, 2007
Downunder Club @ FSU, Tallahassee, FL

Thu, Sep 13, 2007
BottleTree, Birmingham, AL

Fri, Sep 14, 2007
Bijou Theater, Knoxville, TN

Sat, Sep 15, 2007
40 Watt Club, Athens, GA

Mon, Sep 17, 2007
Pour Haus, Raleigh, NC

Tue, Sep 18, 2007
Rock & Roll Hotel, Washington, DC

Wed, Sep 19, 2007
First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia, PA

Fri, Sep 21, 2007
Wexner Center for Arts at OSU, Columbus, OH

Sat, Sep 22, 2007
LOLA Festival, London, ON

Sun, Sep 23, 2007
Lee’s Palace, Toronto, ON

Tue, Sep 25, 2007
Vinyl, Guelph, ON

Wed, Sep 26, 2007
Barrymore’s Music Hall, Ottawa, ON

Thu, Sep 27, 2007
Club Metronome, Burlington, VT

Fri, Sep 28, 2007
Harper’s Ferry, Boston, MA

Sun, Sep 30, 2007
Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY

Wed Oct 10, 2007
Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA

Thu Oct 11, 2007
Independent, San Francisco, CA

Fri Oct 12, 2007
The Troubadour, Hollywood, CA

Sat Oct 13, 2007
The Henry Miller Library, Big Sur, CA

Sun Oct 14, 2007
Crepe Place, Santa Cruz, CA

Thu Oct 18, 2007
Richards on Richards, Vancouver, BC

Fri Oct 19, 2007
Crocodile Cafe, Seattle, WA

Sat Oct 20, 2007
Doug Fir Lounge, Portland, OR

*For further details, please contact Howard.