Q&A: (Trespasser William)

When most people think of bands born out of the Orange County music scene, groups like Sugar Ray and No Doubt usually come to mind.

However, the dark, ethereal music of the quartet Trespasser William is something quite different from the heavily influenced Ska, punk and reggae atmosphere popular in this region of Southern California.

When hearing the music of Trespasser William - Ross Simonini on bass/keyboards, Anna-Lynne Williams as the singer/ songwriter/guitarist, Matt Brown on guitar/keyboards and Jamie Williams on drums - one can't help but draw comparisons to artists like Lisa Germano, the Cocteau Twins, Mazzy Star and Coldplay.

Formed in 1997, the group recorded its debut, "Anchor," in 1999 and its most recent work "Different Stars" in 2002-03 by entirely independent means. Since then, Trespasser William has performed on subscriber-supported radio station KCRW and earned notable praise in music magazines such as NME, slowly but surely acquiring a fan base both here in the states and overseas, particularly England with the use of the Internet and without the assistance of a lucrative record deal.

The Beach Reporter recently sat down with two of Trespasser William's members, Brown and Anna-Lynne Williams, and talked about being a band on the independent music scene along with what it hopes to accomplish in the future.

The Beach Reporter: U2's 'Love is Blindness' is a great tune and, in fact, jazz singer Cassandra Wilson does a fantastic cover of it on one of her albums. What about it did you like, enough to cover it on the album?

Williams: Matt and I both held "Achtung Baby" in the top five albums of all time when we first started playing together, and sometimes played "Love is Blindness" as well as several other U2 covers live when we used to play at coffee shops on weekends. Several years later, when we were asked to do a U2 tribute album, that was one of the songs that leapt to mind, especially as it's dark and slow like our material. The intention was never to put it on the album, but as our album unfolded, there were lots of acoustic and minimal arrangements, so putting that one on really showcased all of the band members' talents.

It seems like in many of the tunes, especially with the song 'Different Stars,' the lyrics contain that kind of mysterious beauty of the night vibe. Were many of these songs written at night?

Williams: I don't have lights on very often wherever I am. Most of the songs were probably written in the evening, and almost all in my bedroom. It's funny that you worded it as you did as I noticed a lot of songs I'm writing for the next album actually have the word "night" in the title. I think I am only driven to write when I feel inspired but also a little emotionally exhausted, like you surrender to the emotion you're feeling and then you write about it after you've already lost the struggle. So that does imply an evening mood. It's definitely not "Morning has Broken" by Cat Stevens (though I love him). It's not that "I just woke up and I feel great" music.

Are the members of the band from Southern California? The tone and mood of this music isn't the stereotypical Southern California music.

Williams: Yeah, none of my friends' bands in high school played anything like what we were doing now. I didn't go to many shows in O.C. so I wasn't really influenced by the music down there. My dad and brother's primarily British record collections were in heavy rotation in my house - Elton John and the Beatles, and then Cat Stevens, Pink Floyd and lots of Neil Finn/ Crowded House. I never knew that what I liked was a bit outside of what was popular (plus I liked U2 which is what everyone in my high school liked) since all the people I hung out with were Cure, the Smiths and Cocteau Twins fans. I still get surprised when I meet people who don't know any of my favorite bands; I didn't realize how lucky I was to get exposed to stuff outside the fringe.

How did all of you guys/gals meet each other?
Brown: I was originally looking for a singer for some very awful, keyboard-based music I had composed that was in the spirit of the Cure and Depeche Mode. This was 1997. I was looking to start a band, but couldn't find anyone musically compatible and I knew I couldn't sing. So I did all the music electronically, put this little demo together and showed it to different singers, to no avail. Then, an ex-girlfriend of mine introduced me to Anna-Lynne. She liked the tape (or said she did) and agreed to rehearse. None of those little compositions ended up working but we wrote a song together on our first rehearsal and that is what started the band, really. We juggled rhythm sections for years until 1999-2000 when we finally got frustrated with rotating band members and found Jaime on a recommendation from a fellow musician. Trinidad (who plays on the record) followed shortly, and that lineup really helped us define each member and "Different Stars." The usual "creative differences" and career goals led us to split with Trinidad. Ross has just joined the band replacing Trinidad. We're really excited to have him and look forward to what he'll have to offer.

In terms of the songwriting process, how is the group developing the compositions?

Williams: In general, I bring a "finished" song with all of the chords, melodies and lyrics. It feels done in my bedroom, but when I play it for people or for the band, there always seems to be something missing. The boys all work on their parts and by the time their parts are cemented, the original version I brought doesn't sound finished by itself at all. Sometimes after a while, I'll play an old song by myself and it's like a completely different song - it has a different vulnerability, and a completely different kind of prettiness and importance. I'm incapable of the ethereal, dreamy songscapes on my own.

Some artists talk about their biggest ambition. Some would like to be remembered for their emotion, some for technique and some for their compositions. What do you feel is Trespasser William's biggest ambition?

Williams: I want to be able to make music for all of my life; and as I mature, certain levels of self-improvement and success feel necessary to consider myself as moving forward. I think the most important thing to me is the song, though that includes the power of the song itself (like even if someone else covers it is still special), and also the band's arrangement, performance and attachment to it. Technique doesn't concern me much. I know the emotion is there, I hope people can see it. Sometimes being a quiet band makes me question whether people are getting it, since we're not shoving it down their throats.

Brown: I'd like to be remembered for the emotion expressed in the music. I've always had an intense emotional connection to the music and that "mood" or "atmosphere" created is one of the things that makes us really unique, I think.

How would you describe being in a band recording independently in a time when so much music is accessible to the public now more than ever?

Williams: I hope that because we're not pop at all that we won't be as affected as some other bands by what's going on in the industry. People who listen to indie music have a very different mentality. I think an indie fan would be perfectly happy spending $30 on a great import CD where that would never happen for some pop album. Yes, the Internet has probably found us half of our fans, so it would seem unfair to get upset about file sharing, etc., though I myself don't download music off the Internet.

Brown: Really, the Internet has been amazing to us. I think that the nature of the industry right now allows bypassing many of the traditional roadblocks and getting our music to many more people than before. We probably have as many nonlocal fans as some bands that used to tour back in the day without having done any serious touring yet. I think it also allows us to make the kind of music we want without compromising for some label.

'Different Stars' breathes with a lot of space in between sounds - the eerie guitars - in a rather simple musical context. Does it pose a challenge to be original, different and poignant in a context where the musical resources in a technical sense are not as vast as, say, someone who's playing jazz?

Brown: It's not a challenge for me. I've never had any ambition to be a technical player. For me, my strength lies in creating a mood and finding a part that complements the song and the emotion of that song. For Anna-Lynne's songs, my first reaction is lyrical, melodic lines and mellow ambient sounds: the one thing I'm good at. It would be a challenge for me to make a good "technical" record, because that's just not my style. I think a lot of people's music doesn't have enough space, so we're almost lucky to naturally be so soft-spoken, subtle and laid-back. Since there aren't many people doing that at all in any sort of rock genre, we probably immediately separate ourselves from the crowd that way. I just hope we aren't too gentle or subtle to be something that people want to hear on the radio. That's my only concern - we wouldn't be considered somewhere in the rock family, because that's where I think we belong.

For me, each song creates a visual scene specific to its tone and lyrics, songs that could easily find their way into a movie soundtrack. Have you guys ever thought about doing something like this?

Williams: I can't imagine anything more satisfying than scoring a great movie, or having a gorgeous video. As I am inept at all things visual, it would be beautiful to have someone do that, bringing another art form into the mix. Music can do so much, but so can beautiful images.

The question I hate to ask, but curiosity has gotten the best of me. What do you feel are your musical influences as a collective whole and individually?

Williams: Strangely, I feel I've been inspired by the music I love, but not influenced. My favorites right now are Radiohead and Lisa Germano. I own more than 1,300 albums so no one artist has had too much of an influence, I hope. My likes have changed a lot over the last few years. I used to listen to male solo artists a lot, and now I listen mostly to full bands that groove a bit more or are quite a bit darker. But I feel like I've found my own voice over the last few years. Maybe I won't think so years from now, but I do now. A little bit of Aimee Mann or Mazzy Star here and there on our last album, but I really wasn't listening to them at the time, I was just familiar with their music like I am with everyone else's. I make discs of my favorite songs by other artists, and our music doesn't sound like any of them (Idaho, Kent, Nicolai Dunger, Elbow). Of course, we do sound like some bands to an extent, but then people will say we're like the Cowboy Junkies and I don't know any of their songs. Collectively, we all like Coldplay, Mogwai, Sigur Ros and lots of young European bands that play emotional but sonically powerful music.

Brown: Collectively, we all have very different music influences, but have many things in common. Bands all of us love include Coldplay, Red House Painters, Radiohead, Mogwai and Elbow. For me, my biggest early influences were the Cure, Depeche Mode and the Smiths. More recently Doves, Azure Ray, Broken Social Scene, Death Cab for Cutie, Mazzy Star, Sigur Ros and Bjork are bigger influences.