Titus Andronicus
Five men walk upon the dimly lit stage at Toronto’s Horseshoe Tavern. All moving with a sense of purpose, they pick up their instruments. While they fiddle with their guitars and check their tuning, the audience impatiently waits for the music. The feedback from the amplifiers and the testing of the bass drum signal that they are almost ready, and with that the bearded front man looks back on the other members. The members nod their heads to the silent timing. One, two, three, four. What follows is 40 minutes of nihilistic, philosophical indie rock which leaves the audience slightly deaf but wanting more. Many in the crowd wonder who is this band, with their references to Albert Camus, the New Testament, and Seinfeld. The five young men hailing from Glen Rock, New Jersey, are Titus Andronicus, named after William Shakespeare’s not-so-famous play, and they can put on one hell of a show.
Standing on stage, Patrick Stickles, Ian O’Neil, Andrew Cedermark, Eric Harm and Ian Graetzer look fresh out of college. The members, while looking passive before beginning their set, change once the first chord is struck. The main vocalist Stickles, who also plays guitar, harmonica and keyboards, frantically moves across the stage, switching instruments quickly while never losing a beat. He is joined with O’Neil and Cedermark, both of which play guitar and provide backing vocals. With Graetzer on bass and Harm on drums, the five leave the audience with a ringing in their ears which will not go away for some time. However, once the distorted guitars start, even they are dwarfed by Stickles’ frantic, exasperated screams which sound like a louder, angrier version of Conor Oberst. The band plays almost nonstop, pausing only to pick up their bottles of Labatt Blue and Budweiser off of the ground. They do love their beer.
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Currently signed to XL Records, Titus Andronicus formed in 2005. Stickles, the primary songwriter, wrote most of the songs off of the first full length record on 2008′s An Airing of Grievances while he was still in high school. It is an understatement that Stickles is a great lyricist, as the album received great reviews from publications such as Pitchfork and Rolling Stone Magazine.
Stickles met the first members of the band from his hometown and surrounding areas. However, Titus Andronicus is like a constantly evolving organism. Having gone through many different members, only two of the members from their record still remain on the band, creator Stickles and bassist Graetzer. When asked about the constantly changing line-up, Stickles said that due to college, many members are lost as they cannot tour, so new members are continuously replacing those who cannot play.
On tracks from their CD, such as self-titled track Titus Andronicus, Stickles’ lyrics show his apathetic and nihilistic attitude towards the world. You cannot help but feel for him when he describes what appears to be his, and most other peoples, worst nightmare, saying “They’ll be no more cigarettes/ no more having sex/ no more drinking till you fall on the floor”, and then proceeds to finish up the song by chanting the words “Your life is over.”
Throughout the CD, it is clear that the songs are a product of Stickles’ constrained and shallow environment. “In America, we judge people on their possessions,” he tells the audience during his set, “so go and buy our merchandise.” While he was joking, his dissent for society’s norms and values are clear in his lyrics, and his songs are a direct challenge to this system of beliefs. “I’ve found that once you kind of get to understand the meaninglessness of the universe, if you will, it gives you a greater freedom to impose meaning on your universe,” he said in a recent interview with Eye Weekly. Is he blunt in his explanation? Absolutely, but after listening to An Airing of Grievances, what else would you expect?
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I had been trying to get an interview with the band all week. An email to their publicists produced no results so I had given up hope of talking with the band. Sitting at the bar after their set, I noticed a brown haired, heavily bearded man smoking outside on the patio. It was the same beard which vented its frustrations and existential views on the audience only minutes before. I knew I had to talk to him; it was too good of a chance to pass up. Ditching the friends I came with, I went outside. “Great set tonight. I was wondering if I could get a quick interview.” He looked at me, and did not respond right away. So I used my back-up plan, “I’ll buy you a drink.”
Twenty minutes later, Stickles, O’Neil and Cedermark are beside me smoking cigarettes and drinking bottles of Labatt 50 beer. I had never interviewed a band before, but I was surprisingly not nervous. Maybe it was their friendliness, or maybe it was the five beers I just drank, but it was as if I was talking to regular people, not three musicians from New Jersey.
I soon learned that Titus Andronicus are regular people. The talk ranged from random thoughts, debates about writing and technology, and the packaging on Canadian cigarettes.
Sitting outside, Stickles, in a black hooded jacket and rolling a cigarette, said that this is their first time in Canada. He spoke of the recent touring the band had just finished, which included time in Europe. They visited the U.K, France, the Netherlands, and “spent a wild week in Germany.” Cedermark explained that with touring, there are ups and downs. Some days are good, some are bad. Surprisingly, he said that the worst part was “not being able to recycle…and using too much gasoline.” However, Stickles countered by saying that being on tour is great. In his mind, he is doing what he loves, so there is nothing to complain about. “Everything about it is good. The whole deal is great.” It is clear in his answer that Stickles is passionate about music, and loves being able to make a living writing and performing.
While all the members are touring almost full-time, they do have other careers. Cedermark is a substitute teacher and O’Neil is a freelance graphic designer. However, they admit that they have not worked at those jobs in quite a while, as when they are able to get a brief respite from touring, they try to catch up on the relationships which they have been putting off.
After talking for about a half-hour, shots of whiskey are drunk, beers are finished, and the line between journalist and subject begin to get blurred. The band begins to ask me questions. It starts off with basic ones, about where I go to school, what I like to do, what living in Toronto is like. However, they begin to ask me to settle disputes for them. Cedermark tells me that he would like me to settle an ongoing debate between the group. He then goes into an explanation of the fall of the newspaper, and wonders what my thoughts are. Stickles, rolling another cigarette, proclaims that “newspaper is dead, and the computer is the box they are going to bury it in.” However, they seem genuinely interested in my answer, and it is only when O’Neil tells Cedermark to stop asking me questions are we able to get back on track.
The time on the patio is cut short thanks to Bert and Ernie, two drunken homeless men who stumble up and began talking to the band. After borrowing cigarettes and beer from O’Neil, the two explained how they were brothers (despite the fact that one was black and one was white), and that they are the famed brothers Bert and Ernie from the television show Sesame Street. After hearing this, Stickles laughs and says “I don’t know if this guy’s got the eyebrows to be Bert.”
Ten minutes later they go inside and I tell them that I had to go, as I saw my two friends by the bar and felt bad for ditching them, especially because it was one of their birthdays. They wish me good luck and O’Neil grabs me and gives me a bear hug. I promise to come and see them when they return to Canada, which according to them may happen sometime this September.
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The members of Titus Andronicus know what they want in life. They want to be able to play music, drink good beer and whiskey, and have a good time. So far, they are achieving this and thriving. Whether they are reading existential literature, writing about how life is meaningless, or singing in front of hundreds of fans, Titus Andronicus are just trying to enjoy all that they have achieved.
For more Titus Andronicus,
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/titusandronicus
Website: http://www.titusandronicus.net/
By Danny Viola
