Cloud Nothings’ Dylan Baldi is a good example of how the internet has made this ‘getting big’ thing a lot easier and a lot quicker. In 2009, he was releasing a limited run of 100 CDs for friends, family and the lucky few who found out about it in time. 2010? Re-issuing it, getting hype everywhere on the internet for its skatery, joys-of-youth twist on a Wavves-y lo-fi sound. In 2011, he’s about to release his self-titled debut album on Wichita, featuring some cleaner, but still stunning, power pop. And he still can’t drink in America.
So what kind of stuff were you listening to when you were making the album?
I was listening to a lot of late 80s, early 90s skater punk kind of stuff. That’s probably what informed the sound of the album. Stuff like The Adicts, The Germs, stuff like that.
What draws you to shorter songs?
I just kinda like, definitely, playing songs that are faster, quicker. You play everything really fast. It’s a lot more fun than drawing out anything too much. I’m just drawn to things with a lot of energy, things that are upbeat, maybe more punkish in origin.
Do you think you’re part of a lo-fi scene?
Yeah, a lot of the music I like is produced with a more lo-fi set-up, and all of my favourite records have a really gritty, raw sound. So that’s something that definitely appeals to me.
People are talking about the new album as if it was a conscious decision to go for a cleaner sound, but is it just that you had access to a studio for the first time?
Yeah, definitely. Turning On would have sounded like that if I had what I had when I was recording the debut. And even then I tried to keep it not super studio-produced sounding. I wanted to keep some elements more lo-fi and more distorted-sounding.
Have you stopped recording at home then?
I haven’t stopped recording at home, but I’m probably gonna stop releasing what I record at home.
So the ‘prodigious output’ thing will slow down?
Probably, just because it costs money to record in a studio. And that not something that we, uh… have a lot of.
How did you find your first tour outside America with Les Savy Fav?
It was a little different. I actually think I liked it more. In America you don’t really get too many people talking to you after a show or anything. Everyone was really friendly to us, as far as just people who were there to watch the show, after we played. And also, everyone takes care of you a lot better, in the venues and stuff. You definitely don’t get fed at every venue over here. I liked it a lot.
Did you get any weird comparisons from people?
Yeah, some kid thought that we really sounded like The Police. I just said “oh cool.” Like, I don’t agree with that, and I don’t think anyone else ever would, but okay. That was in Philadelphia, I think.
You’ve talked about making the self-titled “with an audience in mind” – can you explain that a little more?
Just knowing that someone was going to hear this. You know, when I made Turning On, it was gonna be a limited, 100 CD run of it and no-one was going to hear it outside those hundred people. I just thought, oh, it’s not a big deal, I’m just gonna make something that sounds cool to me. And then I realised that with this album, there’s gonna be people who want to hear this, actually. I was making it almost thinking of what someone else would think of it? Originally that’s how I started out making it, but that turned out to be sort of a dead end, because I would just second guess everything. So eventually I just went back to not thinking about the audience.
Have you had much feedback from the album yet?
Yeah, there’s been a couple of reviews, and all my friends seem to like it. But they’re my friends, so…
Anything negative?
A website somehow got a copy of Turning On, and all their other views were like Metallica and Megadeth and stuff. They gave it 1/10. That was a good review. I liked that. But occasionally there’ll be some other stuff. That’s okay with me.
Do you do anything other than music for money?
Not right now. Everybody else in the band does, but not me.
Are you ever gonna move out of Cleveland?
I don’t know. Maybe. But right now, it’s kind of a comfortable, cheap place to live, so it’s working for me.
What are the main things you write lyrics about?
I guess a lot of things just sort of come from being my age or whatever. The way I see a lot of things. All the songs tend be about people or something. Just people I know, I tend to write about, or from the perspective of. My favourite lyricists are probably people I don’t write like at all. Like, David Berman from Silver Jews. And, like, the guy in the National writes really good lyrics. But I don’t.
How important do you think the internet was in breaking you?
Yeah, we wouldn’t be anywhere near where are, or at least not so quickly. It definitely helped with getting the band out there, letting everyone hear it. Instead of building a local following, it was like building a national following slowly, the same way you’d build a national following. So yeah I don’t think we’d be anywhere outside Cleveland right now without the internet.
Words by Karl McDonald
