Michael Lee of Mal de Mer. Photo by Laura Musselman.
A couple weeks ago on a Monday night, I was sitting in a booth at the Lava Lounge in Belltown with three of the four members of Seattle indie rock outfit Mal de Mer, discussing their current work and upcoming show at the Sunset Tavern in Ballard (Tues., March 9, with The Shackles and Beaches; $6 at the door, 21+). Trying to make up for her absence, the conversation frequently turned to keyboardist and backing vocalist Kim Kelly, the former singer and guitarist for the now-disbanded punk band The Amazombies.
"When we talked about doing this a little more seriously," said Michael Lee, Mal de Mer's guitarist and lead singer, "we knew that she could play piano, keys, but at first she told me she didn't want to do that because she thought she looked stupid."
"You couldn't just get her a keytar?" I asked, smirking (we had already put down a few beers).
"That was joked about," Lee responded, straight-faced.
From across the table, drummer Eric Wennberg piped up: "They're expensive, actually."
"They are pretty expensive," agreed bassist Jimmy Curran.
"It's like twelve-hundred dollars for a nice Roland keytar..." continued Wennberg, while Curran added: "Though I think I might know where to get one..."
"Really?" Wennberg asked, before Lee, finally drawn into the downward spiral of jokingly bad ideas, suggested with a wry grin: "We could call her 'Keytara.'"
Mal de Mer may be fresh to the scene, but the band comes with a healthy pedigree in Seattle music. Besides Kim Kelly and The Amazombies, Curran was the bassist for The Divorce, Wennberg still plays drums for Slender Means, and Lee started his musical career as a teenage grungester from Tacoma with Subminute: Radio, before playing guitar in a string of Seattle bands.
The band members all got to know one another over the years through the Crocodile Cafe. "Jimmy and I both worked there," Lee explained, "and Eric was always there, Slender Means played there all the time. And The Divorce played there all the time, all our bands played there."
Lee spent several years writing music and not playing live, before the itch to start performing again pushed him to talk to friends about forming a band. Now, he and Curran split songwriting duties, and the three members I talked to seemed genuinely driven by the opportunity to work on music that's pushing them in new directions.
In tone and style, Mal de Mer represents a huge shift from the various musicians' previous, primarily punk, bands. Described as "dirty blues" by Lee, Mal de Mer's music is melodic and vocal harmony-heavy, The Cold War Kids cross-bred with White Stripes-style garage rock, ranging from riff-heavy rockers to earnest ballads.
"Slender Means is very formulaic, and specific about not over-playing," Wennberg said of his work as a drummer. "They're very composed. I find this band gives me more freedom to play more of what I feel at the time. Every time I do a drum-fill live, I can do it different."
Musically, one of the band's greatest strengths is the vocals. Lee is serving as lead singer for the first time in his career, but his voice--urgent and pained--is tailor-made for the "rock 'n' roll gospel" the band's aiming for, with Curran and Kelly supporting. On songs like "Unwound," a weepy rocker, the three-part harmony adds an entirely new dimension to the song.
Kim Kelly of Mal de Mer. Photo by Laura Musselman.
"I'd consider Kim to be in a lot of ways a secret weapon for us," Lee told me of the band's vocal success.
Curran wholeheartedly agreed. "The first thing we had her sing--I remember, because I went to a party at her house--and the first thing we had her sing was 'Who's Loving You?' She did back-ups," he said. "We had her come in and do that, and she did it beautifully, and I remember after that practice, she left before Michael and I did, and us talking about it and Michael just being like, 'We need her to sing all the time.'"
Aside from the slower and more emotional tunes like "Unwound," Mal de Mer specializes in foot-stomping rock. "Make Daddy Proud" opens with pounding beat and staccato playing behind the three-part vocal harmony. On "Dolled Up," Lee opens up the song with a simple guitar-and-drum intro, before the burly keyboards and bass enter and Wennberg kicks up his drum beat.
In concert, the band's experience as live musicians shows--while the recordings make use of overdubs and other studio tricks, Lee fills out the live experience with a roaring guitar and the occasional shredded solo. But somewhat amazingly, the vocal harmonies carry even in the din of a club. The band's previous shows have been packed, both with recent converts and fans culled over the years of relentless touring with the members' other projects. The enthusiastic response has pushed the band to quickly go from "dinking around," as Lee described the project's origins, to a tight, professional outfit.
"For me, personally, this is the only thing that keeps me sane," Curran explained of why he's playing again, after years with The Divorce. "All of us have obviously done being in a band full-time before. And this is becoming more and more full-time, but since it hasn't been so far, this is the only that's been keeping me grounded."
Most Recent Comments