Playback Field Recordings: Chris Archibald of Illinois
For the latest installment in our Playback Field Recording video series, a project that seeks out music in its natural habitat, Playback Editor-in-Chief Erik Philbrook and Deputy Editor Lavinia Jones Wright sat down with Illinois frontman and songwriter Chris Archibald at the 2007 CMJ New Music Marathon in New York City.
Chris Archibald's roots-pop group Illinois have earned a devoted fan base through three years of energetic live shows and their unique sonic mixture of old American banjo folk and hip synthy effects. The first incarnation of the band was called Men With Guns, and included current Illinois members, and childhood friends of Archibald's, bassist Martin Hoeger and JP Kruyper playing in a stripped-down rock style. While the songs the group performs and records have always been written by Archibald, he credits their current urban flavor to the addition of guitarist/keyboardist Andrew Lee.
Like Illinois' emerging band peers, Illinois hoped to parlay their popular live show into a record deal. They held off recording or releasing a full-length record for years while they talked with labels and publishers. The band signed to the Indie-catchall label Ace Fu, put out an EP titled
What the Hell Do I Know? in the spring of 2007 to satiate their hungry fans, and have been recording their debut full-length since. With the release finally set for early Spring 2008, Archibald is ready to relax and talk about what it took to get the band here.
Philbrook and Wright met Chris at the Puck Building, the hub of CMJ operations, where he talked about his songwriting and his relationship with his bandmates, and performed three tunes exclusively for ASCAP.
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