Maritime

Maritime

PEOPLE

by Tobias Carroll

It’s late at night in Austin, Texas. A four-piece from Wisconsin takes the stage. They’re called Maritime, and this is the SXSW showcase for Flameshovel, the Chicago-based label that released the band's second album, We, the Vehicles. The crowd gathers close to the stage. Some are old friends of the band, some are aficionados of Maritime’s members’ past projects, and some, one assumes, are there unaware of what came before. Once Maritime begins to play, though, those distinctions lose all meaning – everyone is watching terrific pop songs being played, weathered but nonetheless joyful, played with the same enthusiasm that founding members Davey von Bohlen and Dan Didier have brought to each band in which they’ve played together.

The Promise Ring is the better-known of those projects. Of their four full-lengths, at least one can safely be called seminal, and all four have held up well over the years. Von Bohlen and Didier’s other project, roughly contiguous with the Promise Ring, was called Vermont; they released two full-lengths on the ill-starred Athens label Kindercore, as well as splits with Ida and Centro-matic. After the Promise Ring’s breakup, von Bohlen and Didier joined with former Dismemberment Plan bassist Eric Axelson to form Maritime. Their debut EP, Adios, was released in 2003 and served as a precursor to their first full-length, Glass Floor. That album is a frustratingly uneven one: at its heights (“Adios,” “Someone Has to Die”), the group tapped into a bittersweet yet exuberant strain of pop music as good as anything they’d done before, but the album’s overall level of energy fluctuates, losing steam in quieter numbers that lack the charm of the catchier ones. We, the Vehicles finds the group’s energy consistent, their hooks memorable, and the songs tapping into the same emotional sweet spot that characterizes all of von Bohlen and Didier’s best work: uptempo yet wistful, enthusiastic but hesitant. Shortly after the album’s release, the Washington, DC-based Axelson left the band; enter Dan Hinz and Justin Klug.

“ I think that we are firmly in rock mode,” Didier says in response to a question about the number of upbeat songs on Vehicles compared to its predecessor. “Slower songs will come, but as things are turning out, I feel the next record will be a lot closer to We, the Vehicles than to Glass Floor.”

If Maritime is moving in a more consistently rock direction, might we see a revival of the more pastoral Vermont? “[Vermont’s Living Together] is the only record that I was a part of that I can listen to and not have negative feelings towards. What I mean by that is a lot of the other records have would haves, should haves, and could haves attached to them. Living Together is just this unassuming record that had no preconceived notions. But, as far as a revival…. Hmmm. Maybe? Personally, I would like to see one. Now that Maritime is getting a little more rock maybe I will feel the need to mellow out Vermont style.”

Didier elaborates his thoughts on the newer songs. “[S]o far I feel that the new songs are going to be different dynamically because of the four-layered filter they will go through. What I mean is Glass Floor was more or less just Davey and I. We, the Vehicles was more or less Davey, Eric, and I. So now we are adding yet another layer to the filtering process. Actually, two new layers with Eric gone and Justin and Dan in. These new songs like We, the Vehicles are starting in the rehearsal space and will end up going to ProTools later in the process.”

Klug may be best known as a member of Milwaukee’s Decibully; Dan Hinz, prior to Maritime, played in The Benjamins. Didier has high praise for both: “[E]ach brings a certain something to the songwriting table. Dan is an amazing guitar player and a wizard with his pedals. He is also stepping up to the plate to fill the keyboard role and backing vocal role that I've been looking for. Justin brings a great feel to the band. Where Eric was a more ‘ahead of the beat’ kind of guy, Justin lays back a little bit. That alone has directed the songwriting in a different direction. Their influence will certainly be felt on the next record.”

The band’s current lineup can be heard on a live session recorded for the website Daytrotter. As upbeat as We, the Vehicles is, this is even more so. The keyboard parts that lend that album a slightly digital feel are shifted to the sidelines, Didier’s drums pound steadily, and the guitars crackle. It’s emblematic of the group’s approach to songwriting from their current album on. “[T]he only real intention with We, the Vehicles was to write it as analogue as possible. Glass Floor was all ProTools from the writing to the recording and I felt it hurt the performances on the record. So, for the writing for We, the Vehicles I wanted to focus on writing the old fashioned way, by fleshing the songs out in our rehearsal space so the songs can feel more live and by limiting the amount of overdubs, like horns and strings, the songs can transfer easier to a live setting. Then when we recorded it using ProTools the performances ended up be a little less robotic.”

Co-producing We, the Vehicles was Kristian Riley, who had previously worked with von Bohlen and Didier on the Promise Ring’s Wood/Water. While the decision to work with Riley was not made at the outset – “it wasn't until later in the planning process where recording it at home with Kristian seemed like the best option for us,” Didier says – it does seem as though all of the factors involved in the making of Vehicles added up to a fine end result, an album that echoes the familiar while still kicking your ass. Days after Flameshovel’s showcase, Maritime took to another stage in Austin for an afternoon show. “Thank you for spending your hangover with us,” von Bohlen said cheekily before the band launched into another song. It was charming as hell, and the pace never flagged.

By the middle of 2006, most of the band’s members had become fathers. Yet Maritime currently maintains a restrained but comprehensive touring schedule. Parenthood “has affected the band in a very practical way,” Didier explains. “We have as many children amongst us as band members so touring has to be done very systematically. I can't throw caution to the wind and leave for eight weeks like I could when I didn't have a child, a wife, a mortgage payment, etc. Now we have to evaluate every move to make sure it can work for everyone. And by everyone I mean our children, wives, girlfriends, and fiancées.” As the latter months of the year found the group on the road with the likes of Bound Stems and Lucero, they made it work then, and one hopes that these four guys will continue to find ways to make it work for a long time to come.