by: JENNIFER CHANCELLOR World Scene Writer
9/21/2007
Tranny’s new disc was inspired by frigid, sleeting weather
It all started last December, when Tranny frontman Jon Malone woke to the incessant patter of sleet against his bedroom window.
That aching cold, that old feeling of weary knowledge, got into his bones.
“Ideas just started popping into my head, and I sat up,” he said.
He had temporarily abandoned work on a 15-track album the band had been working on.
“I called the band and I said, ‘Nope. I have a better idea.’ ” That idea became the seventrack tale of life and love, “… In Winter.”
Written in about two days, it took the better part of a year to finish, Malone said over a honey-colored pint of Stella on a recent visit to McNellie’s Public House.
The band, a 2007 Spot Music Award nominee, will celebrate the CD at a release party on Friday at Exit 6C in downtown Tulsa, he said.
That splintered genesis of poppy, rock riffs and song pieces came together to form a pleasingly cohesive sound.
“It was like a vision … Almost everything on this album ended up sounding exactly like it did in my head,” he said, then laughed. “Cabin fever can do a lot if you let it.”
But even before he could record those songs, he had the formidable task of convincing the band to put aside those 15 other songs.
“I made the whole band go out to a photo shoot,” said Malone, and laughed again. “I made them stand out there and I said, ‘Listen.’
“It was so cold and horrible and gray. I said, ‘This is the vibe,’ ” he said. “They kind of looked at me like I was crazy.”
But it worked.
And don’t be mistaken — there are moments of incredible warmth throughout the album, like slipping your hands into woolen gloves after forming a snowball — or walking into a hearth-warmed room.
“Track-wise, it’s in that weird danger spot between EP and full-length album,” he said.
“… In Winter” is just long and enchanting enough that once it ends, it feels as if you’ve woken with a start from a dream worth remembering.
Sneak a peek online: www.tulsaworld.com/tranny
Associate Images: The pre-ops: Craig Keener, Jon Malone and J Blakey. |
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