by John Wenz
The Answer Team bassist Dustin Treinen used to be obsessive about having a physical copy of every album he liked.
So he understands people who prefer to have a copy in hand.
"I was pretty adamant about purchasing everything that I liked up until about two years ago," Treinen says in a phone interview. "I really wanted to have the artwork and all that stuff. Eventually, I realized I was limiting myself to what I was listening to by what I could afford to listen to."
With that in mind, Treinen and his Answer Team bandmates — guitarists Thomas McCauley and Jason Bejot and drummer Brandon Bone — have taken a two-tier approach to their debut full-length, O Sad and Future Human. First, they released the album far and wide digitally, debuting it on Aug. 2 on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and Rhapsody. That same day, the physical copies — a 300 print run — was made available for order, with an Aug. 5 listening party becoming its unofficial unveiling.
That night, they previewed a video for "Where's the Sun," shot by Love Drunk Studio (below).
After the digital release, they found another way the online world could benefit them. A post-rock fan page on Facebook shared a European fan's rip of the album, generating national and international exposure and positive feedback.
"It’s pretty cool — someone who’s on the other side of the planet who has thousands of followers put our stuff out for people to hear," Treinen says.
Post-rock has always been a genre defined by its existence just outside the periphery of the mainsteam — complex instrumental numbers have led to success for some as soundtrack music (as was the case of Explosions in the Sky for the Friday Night Lights movie soundtrack), while others like Mogwai and Godspeed You! Black Emperor have generated dedicated underground followings.
The music is almost symphonic in nature, despite (often) traditional rock instrumentation. While local groups like Fromanhole and Mr. 1986 have explored the moody genre, The Answer Team have been largely going it alone of late — putting them on interesting and diverse local bills with Noahs Ark was a Spaceship, Ladyfinger and Back When, to name a few.
This process has made sense for Treinen. Though he grew up playing metal-style bass, the genre has always enraptured him, and he found himself wanting to play in a band himself. The Answer Team offered a natural home for him.
Treinen credits Bejot for largely shaping the band's sound.
"His guitar style lends more towards creating an atmosphere than writing a lot of riffs." Treinen says.
And they've found that the genre has allowed a lot of freedom traditional lyrical rock hasn't always allowed.
"With instrumental and post-rock, people can let the song be whatever they want it to be," Treinen says. "I think even all of us interpret what we’re doing differently and it just naturally kind of works itself out — we write parts that compliment the others."
The band has already sold out one-third of their CD print, with an official CD release show at the Slowdown Friday. It seems The Answer Team's time has come.
"We haven’t toured a lot outside of the Midwest, but with our kind of music — there’s a cult following for post-rock music," Treinen says.
Catch the band Friday, Aug. 19 at the Slowdown in Omaha with Back When and New Lungs. The 9 p.m. show costs $7. Or see them Sunday, Aug. 21 at Duffy's Tavern in Lincoln with Irkutsk, Gates and Dirty Talker. The 9 p.m. show costs $5.
* Photos by Ben Semisch
John Wenz is still a Hear Nebraska contributor. Except he's now a Nebraska ex-pat in Philadelphia. But despite his No Coast Traitor status, you can still reach him at johnwenz@hearnebraska.org. If you can forgive him, that is.