Black Map may be a new band on the hard rock scene, but its members aren’t lacking in experience

Music fans don’t realize the immense amount of preparation it takes to successfully launch a new band. Schedules have to be arranged, songs need to be constructed and, most importantly, the members need to get along and work together. The countless, sweaty and long rehearsals held regardless of bad weather alongside the immense pressure each member puts upon his/her self can be daunting.

Although point of origin shouldn’t be an issue, hard rock band Black Map, which features drummer Chris Robyn (Far), guitarist Mark Engles (Dredg) and bassist/vocalist Ben Flanagan (Trophy Fire), have got all three potential problems working in their favor. Once more, they’ve garnered a strong buzz overseas by getting in front of people well before the release of their first full-length album.

The band hit it off immediately after playing together for the first time and were recording within a month, eventually touring behind the end product, the magnificent Driver EP. And while the band hasn’t really embarked on a proper tour to promote their new album—…And We Explode on Minus Head Records—let’s just say it’s in the works.

Fans of Sparta, Dredg, Far and the like will appreciate the new album for the ebbs and flows of the songs all the way through to the ambient outro “And We Explode Part 2.” “Code,” the opening track, kicks off the album after a nice atmospheric swell and showcases the band’s attention to both staccato rhythms and its open-ended chorus. “Chinaski” also finds the band expanding into emo-rock territory with great effect and rivals any of the members’ work with their previous bands. Also of worthy mention is “Head to the Hills,” which finds Flanagan and Robyn locking in perfectly amongst Engles’ handy fretwork.

Submerge caught up with Flanagan in San Francisco as he was preparing for two shows at Bottom of the Hill and Sacramento’s Blue Lamp, the latter of which would be canceled.

Has Black Map played out much thus far?
We’ve only played about 45 shows at this point and eight local shows. We also did a two-week tour with Chevelle in the states on the West Coast in July 2014.

You previously played in a band called The Actual. What was your experience like being signed to Scott Weiland’s Softdrive Records?
I joined the band after they already existed. There was a lot of pressure from Scott and others to add a second guitarist/singer. Before I even played a note, I was in their music video. Scott is one of the most talented performers and is quite esoteric. We also were fortunate enough to do a couple weeks touring with Velvet Revolver.

You also played with another well-known band, Dredg. Do you have plans to go out as a backing vocalist/guitarist?
Dredg is very much a band and, yes, they’re still active. They recently toured in Europe without me. Me playing with them is just a matter of scheduling and need and depends on the material they’re playing since they have done album anniversary shows.

Your last record with The Trophy Fire was released in 2013. What’s happening with that band?
The band is dormant but not dead. The guys are close friends and we don’t have anybody yelling over our shoulder to keep busy. Right now I’m concentrating on Black Map and promoting this record.

Where do your bass lines come from?
I pretty much write all my bass lines. The skeletons of the songs come from either Mark or myself. Of course, when it comes to the songs I wrote, I write everything.

“And We Explode Part 2” has an early M83 vibe. Are you into electronic music?
I love ambient electronic music, Depeche Mode and ethereal Brit-pop. We recorded this over much time and decided that we would end the album and cleanse the listener’s musical palate.

What was it like working with Aaron Hellam and his Hellam Sound studio?
Aaron is a really great friend and we have great history with him. He knows how to talk to us but he is definitely helpful with adding little extras and 90 percent of the time he’s right when giving input. It’s cool, though, because his studio is in a building connected to our rehearsal space. It’s called Jack London rehearsals.

Where did you end up meeting Chris Robyn [drummer of Far] and how did this collaboration with Mark Engles come about?
It’s pretty random. Dear Kerosene was my previous band. We needed a lawyer to do a trademark on our band name and Eddie Meehan from ground(ctrl) recommended our music. There’s a song we had called “Trust” that he liked and we developed a mutual admiration for each other’s music.

How are you going to promote the new record in 2015? Touring?
Definitely. We’re in the midst of booking more shows in the West Coast and then hope to head back to Europe early in the year. At present, we don’t have a booking agent but we are looking hard for one now for national and international tours.

Any festival plans for 2015? SXSW?
It’s definitely possible that we will play. We got asked last year to play two parties, but it wasn’t worth it financially.

How was the tour of the United Kingdom?
It couldn’t have been better. The Driver EP came out long before the European tour. We purposely had the four-song EP so we could have something to sell. We also have vinyl coming out soon.

Any Bay Area bands that you’re currently into?
My two favorite bands are called Picture Atlantic [Brit-pop trio] and Eyes on the Shore, who play earthy rock ‘n’ roll.

What bands would you like to support or open for next year?
That’s a loaded question. There are so many bands we’d love to share the stage with. Obviously, Queens of the Stone Age, Baroness, Failure and Deftones are high on the list. There are many others that I can’t think of but there are definitely many more. We’ve talked to Abe Cunningham from Deftones and have our fingers crossed that they’ll have a slot on one of their tours.

San Francisco is expensive. How can you afford it and still tour?
I am a bartender at a place called Leopold’s in San Francisco. It’s Austrian and German fare. Minus Head paid for a lot of things like transportation costs and have been awesome thus far.

What can fans expect from your upcoming show other than, obviously, songs from the new record?
We’re going to play the record in its entirety since we haven’t played “Stranger” and “And We Explode Part 2” in Sacramento yet. We’ll also try to do a cover song or two to break things up.

Have you been getting good feedback from social media?
Yes. I think we all are responsible for that. All of the band members outside of Black Map support us and you will find information about us on their Facebook pages and websites as well. There’s no reason it all can’t be shared since we all have the common goal to be seen and heard by as many as possible.

Where is your biggest fan base outside of the Northwest and California?
I think in all the markets we’ve played with Chevelle have helped us gain some new fans. We still haven’t played the East Coast or Midwest yet but hope to play all over this year.

Any plans to return and play Sacramento proper in 2015?
Since we had to cancel our show for personal reasons, I’m going to rebook this early in the year.

Have you heard any rumblings from the other members of Dredg or the other guys’ bands about Black Map?
They all seem to like the band, and I’ve heard nothing but positive feedback.

Any extra songs in the can for the next record even though yours was just released in late October?
We’re just starting the process of writing. We’re not a band that wants to put out something every two years. We plan to write well throughout 2015.

Do you feel like Black Map is getting more response than any of your projects?
Yeah, definitely. My previous band, The Actual, had some pretty big legs under it since we were signed to an imprint through the majors. It’s just nice to see the reaction, and we’ve all put in a lot of time in this industry.

To order …And We Explode and to keep up on their calendar, go to Blackmapmusic.com

Sacramento’s Far Comes Home

By Mark Lore | Photos by Jeff Gros

They say you always want to go out on top. If that’s the case, then Sacramento’s Far did everything right. In the mid-’90s Sacramento was on the radar as bands like Cake and Deftones were signing to majors (remember those days?), while post-hardcore was bubbling underneath the city’s surface.

Far soon followed. After a pair of indie releases (1992’s Listening Game and Quick in ’94), the band signed with Epic/Immortal and released Tin Cans With Strings to You in 1996, in the process amassing a dedicated following. Hell, you know the story. Far released its best record in 1998—Water & Solutions—an album that harnessed punk, post-hardcore and even pop (?!) into 41 flawless minutes”¦then called it quits.

“I’m happy we stopped after Water”¦,” says vocalist/guitarist Jonah Matranga. “It was a good balance of all of our personalities.”

Those personalities have fueled various projects over the years—Matranga with his own project, Onelinedrawing, and bands like New End Original and Gratitude. Guitarist Shaun Lopez fronted The Revolution Smile. Drummer Chris Robyn and bassist John Gutenberger went on to form the more pop-oriented Milwaukee, while Gutenberger later formed Two Sheds with his wife, Caitlin.

But it always comes back to Water & Solutions—an album that a decade’s-worth of bands would nefariously hold close to their pained little hearts. In fact, Far might be one of the few bands that actually gained popularity after it broke up.

While it was surprising to hear that in November Far, after a decade apart, was planning on playing a few shows in the U.K., it’s been no surprise that the band’s recent reformation has been met with such unadulterated glee. But the members of Far have kept it loose and stress-free—they re-emerged under the moniker Hot Little Pony, recorded a cover of Ginuwine’s 1996 hit “Pony” (yes, Ginuwine), and are now gearing up for their homecoming show at the Empire on Jan. 15.

Submerge caught up with Matranga and Lopez, who filled us in on the not-so-elaborate Hot Little Pony marketing scheme, what the future holds, and why they don’t want to be blamed for Fall Out Boy.

The music climate has changed quite a bit in the last 10 years. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
Shaun Lopez: It’s good for us, because we’re in a unique position in being able to go out on tour and be self-sufficient, and be able to make a little money on top of that. I feel for new bands starting up right now because it is tough out there. Record deals being offered to young new bands are not so great; they’re almost better off doing it on their own. For us it’s been OK. Luckily we’re in a position that we do have fans that are pretty dedicated—it’s something we’re very thankful for and very surprised.

Whose idea was it to start playing together again?
SL: It came close when we did the re-release of Water & Solutions [in 2004]. It never came to, and I think in all honesty it probably wasn’t the right time and it wasn’t for the right reasons. Chris [Robyn] and I had been talking about it off and on and then Jonah called me about a year ago and brought the idea of just showing up at a club and playing. I liked the idea of playing again, but I wanted to do it more professionally and go out on a tour.
Jonah Matranga: He always tries to be more professional than me; I’m always the guy that wants to go out and just bang it out. And he’s like, “No dude, gotta rehearse; make it good.” So we balance each other out that way.

There was this semi-elaborate scheme with the Hot Little Pony concept. Whose idea was that? And who decided to record a Ginuwine song?
JM: What looks complex from the outside is just us fucking around on the inside. We wanted to play a couple of shows, and I just really wanted to take the hype away from it because a) I don’t like it, and b) I wanted us to be as unstressed as possible. I think our friend Jeff jokingly thought of the name Hot Little Pony. And we just all laughed when he said it and thought, “Ah that would be really fucking funny.” “Pony” is a tune that we’d always play before shows back in the day. And it’s just a simple song, and so Shaun and Chris laid it down [in Los Angeles] and I came down and sang it. Shaun added his magic dust to it. I don’t know, it just came out; it was a fun, very quick thing.

Now you have your homecoming show in Sacramento. Is that going to be a gauge of whether this continues?
JM: I think it’s all a gauge. There’s nothing official on the books, but there’s a lot being talked about. I think we’re all just trying to take it as it comes. The first two Hot Little Pony shows were like, “OK, can we do this well?” Because it was really important to all of us to not go up there and suck. And then we did the L.A. shows and thought we pretty much ripped it. Then we thought, “OK, can we tour together? Can we not drive each other insane?” The whole “Pony” thing has definitely thrown it into a different gear. We’ve never had any sort of radio play like this so we’ll sort of look at that and see what that means, if anything.

Any shows beyond Sacramento?
JM: Just Sacto. We’re very excited about that. It’s a big enough show where I think it will be fun and exciting, but it still feels like home. We got some friends’ bands on there. I feel pretty sure that more shows will happen, but we have nothing on the books. And then we’re looking at trying to do a little recording together, see what happens with that. My particular take is just trying to do a couple of covers that suggest where we came from as a band. I’m very reticent to do original songs. I don’t want to do an original song just to have a new song, and have it not be as good as the old shit. Because all of our favorite old bands do that and it blows.

Water & Solutions has been touted as your masterpiece. Does that put more pressure on you to record?
SL: I realize that no matter what we do, people are always going to love that record. That’s going to be the record.
JM: Yeah, but some people, frankly, like Tin Cans“¦ more, which I don’t understand. That’s the thing with putting out records”¦I don’t get to control what other people think. But for me, there’s no pressure with people, there’s just pressure for me… I just want to know it kicks ass. We could put something out as good as Nevermind, and people will still be like, “Yeah, you know, I kinda like ‘Bury White.'” But I would just want to feel in myself that it came from an inspired place, and that I could go out with confidence and play it live and feel as strong as I do playing “Bury White” or “Mother Mary” or “Man Overboard.” Those songs, I just feel good playing them. And I don’t feel good playing them because I’m used to them; I feel good because they’re good, and they’re good 10 years later.

Far has influenced a style of music that is looked down on, although you sound nothing like those bands. Do you guys think about that?
JM: I’ve been asked that question a gazillion times in interviews, and my stock answer that sort of makes me laugh, that I totally believe is: I don’t blame Led Zeppelin for Whitesnake and I don’t want to be blamed for Fall Out Boy. We just came around trying to play rock ‘n’ roll that was less dressed up and more human, and mixing heavy shit and more anthemic shit we liked from big rock with this sort of humble, straight in-your-face element of punk. A lot of bands at the time were doing that. And as it happened, when that sort of caught on, there were a lot of bands that traded in their leopard jeans and whatever else the fuck for horn rims and tight pants. They took all the cheap parts and tried to make money off of it, and forgot the important part, which was the humanness of it.

You’ve all changed as people in the last 10 years. How is Far different today than it was in ’98?
JM: The funny thing is that we’ve all changed as people, but the personality balance still to me is working out relatively similarly. I think Shaun and I are better at recognizing that we’re different people, and talking it through, which rules.
SL: Yeah, the communication is much better. In the past a lot of the problem was that when shit would piss people off, they wouldn’t say anything.
JM: It feels good now to come in with a little more time to breathe. And I do think we’ve all, through our individual experiences, learned a little about how important it is to clear the air before shit gets crazy.

Being in a band is like being in a relationship “¦
JM: I liken it to a relationship where the sex is really good, but everything else is weird [laughs]. To me that’s the closest analogy I could come up with without sounding creepy.