by Kayla Falgoust

Music Editor

TW: How did the band form? Tell the story.

JOSHUA NEE: This is actually the second incarnation of the band. The first existed two years ago. It was a trio with Jesse playing guitar, me playing bass, and Jiles Gebhauer playing drums. We did a couple house shows, but Jesse ended up moving to Arcata, California, so that pretty much ended that. He came back about a year later – coincidentally exactly around the time Rory’s previous band, The Planning Fallacy, broke up. Rory and I were friends, and he told me he had several songs written and wanted to toy around with them. In December of 2007, Jesse, Rory, and I got together for the first time and hashed out a handful of songs. We all loved them and were really excited by what we had. Mitch joined a month later, and in February of ‘08, we played our first shows.

TW: What is “Man Plus Building� exactly? How did that name come about?

JOSHUA NEE: Around the time we were writing and arranging all these songs, Jesse was really getting into some stuff by a director named Matthew Barney, specifically a series of films called the Cremaster Cycle. Man Plus Building is a somewhat dubious reference to that series of films, though I don’t think Jesse has ever really explained the full meaning behind it. The mystery remains…

TW: Your music certainly incorporates a variety of elements from all kinds of musical backgrounds. What genre of music do you consider Man Plus Building?

JOSHUA NEE: I think for all intents and purposes, we’re post-rock, even though that’s such a tired term. Jesse came up with “compositional-rock” a while back, and I think that works pretty well.

TW: Your songs do not include lyrics. Was that a decision that was made as a band? Has that become kind of a signature for the band’s musical style or would you consider adding lyrics?

JOSHUA NEE: Honestly, we aren’t even remotely adequate singers, so why try to force it? We feel we play our instruments much better than we sing, so we stick with that. We feel we’re doing our listeners a favor…

JESSE KEES: The day our songs are better with lyrics, so be it.

TW: What was it like making your first album, …Because My Name is Lion? How long did it take? Who wrote the songs? Where/how was it recorded?

JOSHUA NEE: The first record was made pretty quickly. Rory and Jesse already had most of the songs written, so we got the songs down quickly. The actual recording process was quick as well. We recorded with our close friend Fred Weaver at his studio, Apocalypse the Apocalypse. We holed up there for 3 days and knocked out the 9 songs that ended up on the record. I think the longest part of the whole thing was working with graphic designer Hunter Territo on the album art. His mind works in such a wonderful way that he kept coming up with amazing ideas and it took a minute to put it all together. We got exactly what we wanted out of it, though.

TW: What should listeners expect with this second album? Will it complement the first or be more of a departure in a new direction? Any lyrics?

JOSHUA NEE: I think it’s a more focused record. We’ve sort of honed the way we play and write music over the last 8 months and I think that will show in the new songs. So far, still no singing…

TW: What should we expect with these upcoming splits with Thou and Wilderness Pangs?

MITCH WELLS: Well we’d like to write stuff to make each split feel like a full record but that will be hard with these bands who don’t really share any musical similarities with us. I think we’ll just write what we write and if something seems like it would fit we’ll just use that.

TW: So many of your members are in other bands. Would you call Man Plus Building a side project for you guys?

MITCH WELLS: MPB doesn’t really feel like a side project because we each devote so much time to it. Everyone but Rory is in another band and although that does throw some complications into practice or other shows sometimes we still find a way to work around it.

JESSE KEES: Being in this band is like dating three other people. If they can date other people, so can I. If you call that a side project, then it makes it sound like I’m cheating on my girlfriend. I don’t believe in girlfriends anyway. Especially metaphorically.

TW: How has being in other bands influenced the music that you guys are making together now as Man Plus Building?

MITCH WELLS: I don’t think being in other bands really changes anything we do in MPB. The other bands that we are in are so incredibly different from this band it would be hard to take influence from them. The two things that we do all have in common as far as inspiration are Brandon Dixon and Bryan Funck. Their names come up in every practice and it really helps us focus. Thinking about incredible musicians like themselves being in Baton Rouge and New Orleans is just amazing.

JOSHUA NEE: I’d like to add Jacques Boudreaux and John Kolich to that list as well.

TW: How do you manage to devote time to Man Plus Building stuff (practice, recording gigs, etc.) when there are other bands to be played in?

JOSHUA NEE: I suppose it just comes down to the fact that we enjoy playing with each other, so scheduling rehearsals and that kind of thing isn’t a chore, it’s more like a hangout where we actually get stuff done. Scheduling around our jobs is another story…

TW: What shows have you played in the past? Were they mostly in Baton Rouge? What has been (or is scheduled to be) your biggest show thus far?

JOSHUA NEE: Recently, we’ve been playing in New Orleans and Lafayette more frequently, which has been going well. Our home is at the Spanish Moon. Aaron Scruggs and the rest of the Moon faculty have been like family to us, so we play there. We’re also very fond of the house show circuit in town, which has been so crucial for us. I’d have to say our biggest show so far was our CD release show at the Spanish Moon in April. It was the first time we headlined there and the turnout was amazing. We really couldn’t believe it. It’s been pretty good ever since.

TW: How has Baton Rouge received your music? What’s the response been like?

MITCH WELLS: So far Baton Rouge has been really great to us. Most of our friends make it to most of our shows and we love that more than anything else. It is always nice, however, to see some new faces in the crowd and lately it seems that the unfamiliar faces keep growing. Well not actually growing but multiplying. Like that episode of Smallville in Season 2, with JTT. He could double himself and he was dating Lana and Chloe and Clark got really jealous. Oh Clark…

TW: How did you get to open for acts like British Sea Power and Girl Talk?

JOSHUA NEE: That came down to our relationship with the Spanish Moon and Aaron. British Sea Power’s support dropped off the bill pretty short notice, so we got the call. As for Girl Talk, it is my understanding that Girl Talk requested a good instrumental band to open for him and we got the call. Aaron has helped us out immensely in that respect.

TW: What are some upcoming shows or events for Man Plus Building?

JOSHUA NEE: Our next show at home is at the Spanish Moon this coming Friday, October 3. We’ve got our friends from New Orleans, Smiley With A Knife, joining us. Beyond that, we’ve got some house show dates with great bands like Ghastly City Sleep and Smiley With A Knife’s CD release show in New Orleans at the Howlin’ Wolf in November. We’re also working on a MPB/Brass Bed show at the Moon in November.

TW: What makes your band different from the many other bands that emerge onto the Baton Rouge music scene nowadays?

JOSHUA NEE: I don’t think we’re reinventing the wheel or anything, but I think we’re good at what we do musically and we’ve got a good work ethic. There are so many amazingly talented bands out there that think shows are just going to fall in their lap, and it doesn’t work that way. We knew when we started that it’s more than just sending Myspace messages to bands asking to open for them. It’s pretty clear that that hard work is starting to pay off.

JESSE KEES: Rory, he’s weird.

TW: Finally, what would you tell our readers to get them to come out to the show at the Spanish Moon in October?

JOSHUA NEE: Party Pix will be there! Nah, just kidding. We’ve got some new songs we’re rolling out, we’ve still got copies of our record left, we got new stickers (they’re fancy), and the magic that is Ben Hill’s amazing animated visuals will be making us look real good, y’all.

JESSE KEES: The Spanish Moon got vegan drinks, yo.