RANDY RANDALL OF NO AGE
From the very beginning to the very end, it is so often a sense of ‘feeling’ that drives artists in their pursuits. Harnessing that indescribable, guttural and uncontrollable force that swirls within. It is having just enough grip on the reins of the musical beast they ride for long enough that allows them to corral that unfettered and expressive energy for a fleeting moment towards the direction of containment. Controlling and steering that sense to a place of enshrinement where that expression of pure feeling is captured in a record.
Los Angeles indie / noise duo No Age manage that raw sensation beautifully and their sixth studio album People Helping People embodies that spirit more than ever as guitarist Randy Randall explains. “Neither one of us is a very good musician, we are both self-taught and play with more “feeling” than technique. We really try to write and play stuff that feels right for us at the moment. We will sit down together and each start making sounds, usually on guitar and drums but also with samples and multiple guitar effects pedals running at the same time.” The honest assessment by Randall demonstrates how the dynamic of a musical duo can be both an asset and a limitation.
The pairing with cohort Dean Allen Spunt over seventeen years has yielded some amazing records and having fewer band members has for No Age been a strength. “We have always embraced the limitations that working as a two-piece affords you. There is a lot of stuff we don’t worry about because we can’t pull it off. We have been inspired by so many different genres of music over the years that everything swims in this big stew of inspiration and we know each other’s style and tastes that we can each pull something up that will cause the other person to bounce off of it with a new idea. We try to inspire each other with ideas. On a more nuts and bolts level, I like to make a ton of sounds and music and Dean is a really good curator and editor. He will strip away a lot of layers and ideas that I dump on him and focus in on what he is inspired by.”
The intuitive understanding Randall and Spunt have of one another, and their respective interests and talents have been symbiotically honed over the years. Their creative intimacy translates so effortlessly into each of their records and People Helping People is no exception. “We wanted to be a little more loose with song structures and sound. We did a lot of experimentation with loops, samples, and running drums through effects live. We played around a lot in the beginning of the recording process, just sort of documenting all the ideas we were playing with. This added top to a lot of material that we could later come back to and pull from to arrange into song forms. We would just jam for portions of time and then I would circle back and pull-out small fragments of sounds or samples that I would then build songs out of, like a ten-second drum clip that could be looped and then I could write a guitar part over it and then Dean would go back and play another drum part over it or layer a sample and then sing over everything. We just felt free to mess around with everything. Nothing was off the table.” It was this method and intuitive trust of one another that aided each of them to push their sonic boundaries. However, this was by no means a novice approach especially considering how the record was produced.
People Helping People was self-recorded, a first for the pair but an endeavour that came not from necessity but from experience and willingness to tackle a new challenge as Randall explains. “I think we were confident enough in our approach to being in the studio to go it alone. We have always been super keyed into what was going on in the studio and always paying attention. Over time I built up a fairly decent recording setup and kept adding to it with every record. I would buy new microphones or a piece of outboard gear. By the time we started recording this record we looked at each other and felt like it was finally time that we could get the sounds we wanted in our own recordings. We were able to translate what was in our head to come out of the speakers. It was super exciting.” The cumulation of studio experience, technical equipment and self-belief is evident throughout the record and in particular with how People Helping People is bookend by instrumental noise tracks.
Generally, in what would be considered a bold move and non-orthodox approach, the record opens with ‘You’re Cooked’ and concludes with ‘Andy Helping Andy’. Both moments of pure noise excursion but each a statement of certainty and purpose. “I think we wanted to be upfront with our intentions to make a different record. We didn’t want to hide the instrumental songs at the back of the record. We wanted to be upfront with the weird stuff just so anyone putting on the record for the first time would get the vibe of what kind of record this was, more noise than pop songs.” Producing a record in this way is fitting for an outfit who is comfortable in their approach and understanding of their listeners. Those familiar with No Age have always embraced their blend of sheer noise and indie sensibilities. Something that is cemented not just in the auditory but also in the visual.
Whether it is the honest simplicity of Weirdo Rippers, the font and colour scheme of Nouns or the crumbled Everything In Between, cover art has always been an iconic part of No Age’s work. How the band view the contribution of album artwork and the statement it makes towards their signature sound is summed up by Randall. “We always wanted to design something visually that would stand out and help people remember the record. Each record has been a unique experience designing it. It usually happens after the record is done and we will work with a designer to listen to the record and come up with some ideas or feelings based on the music. The design might have nothing to do with the music in the end but it always starts there and then goes on a journey.” And the journey that Randall speaks of is highlighted by how he views each of the records he and Spunt have produced and how they have encapsulated periods of their personal and artistic lives. “They feel like little time capsules. Like we pored everything we had in us at that moment into making each record. I can remember who I was when I made those records. I also think a lot about the touring we were doing when those records came out. We were on tour all the time from 2006-20013. I remember playing a lot of those songs from the records for the first time live. It is a great feeling remembering the excitement and nerves of trying something new and taking a risk.”
Straddling that line of risk and reward, control and chaos has so often been at the core of No Age’s approach to music and is a thread that ties their recorded history and interpersonal history together. Forever entwined the pair have performed countless shows, relentlessly touring, travelling and living together. Embedded in their lives are the memories of touring along with countless highlights that standout and make them extremely memorable as Randall recalls. “Different ones stand out in your mind for different reasons. There are the ones where you stare out at a sea of hair in a giant festival setting. There are the ones where it was only three or four people in the audience and we just messed around and had a conversation with them in-between playing some songs. Playing in Tromso Norway was a trip, that was the furthest north we ever played as well as Dunedin New Zealand, that was the furthest south. They just kind of stand out as crazy places on the globe. I feel very grateful and humbled by the lifetime’s worth of travel and touring experiences I was lucky enough to have crammed into a few years. We were too young and jet-lagged to really appreciate it at the time, but now looking back there were some magical times.” What also remains a constant memory and inspiration for Randall is that of what his peers have said or done over the years which resonated with him and in turn altered the way he has approached his craft as he goes on to explain. “I keep coming back to Mike Watt. He speaks in his own dialect and has such a long career that almost anything his says sounds like sage wisdom. I feel like Watt’s approach to music has had a huge impact on me and the band. The journeyman approach to making music like you are working on a boat. Everyone has a job to do, and you have to keep ploughing ahead. Mike Watt’s life is his art and that has inspired me several times in my life. When I was a teenager, I was blown away by his passion and commitment to playing music. When I got in my twenties I was inspired by his humility and quality of work. Now in my forties I am inspired by his longevity and steadfast commitment to touring and performing. I think D Boone said it: “Punk is whatever you make it to be.”
Longevity and success are elusive things which can be hard to attain and even harder to sustain but like his idle, Randall (and Spunt) have held onto their core beliefs, whilst growing and changing with the times and throughout life. Something so humbly stated by Randall in reference to the current indie / noise scene and how it has tracked over the years relative to his own records and contribution to the scene. “It is hard for me to comment on any kind of scene at the moment. I have been a very selfish hermit. I have two kids three years old and eight years old and they wear me out. I find it harder and harder to rally to go out to as many shows as I used to. I have fallen out of step with what is going on.” That however has not stopped that true ‘feeling’, that essence, and constant upwelling from the innermost creative depths that has provided such a steady stream of fascination and inspiration as Randall articulates so perfectly. “We will text each other with songs and bands that we recently discovered or re-discovered. The biggest motivating factor for us with each record is creating something that sounds original but still familiar. We try to see how far we can stretch a sound or feeling and stretch it till it almost breaks or becomes boring. Then we will edit and take the parts that still excited us after weeks of listening and throw away everything else.” That endless creative pursuit and experimentation is the embodiment of the ‘feeling’ that kickstarted the career of No Age and is the feeling that remains so strongly in their lives today.
Their latest record People Helping People is another trophy in the cabinet to stand back and admire when considering the fullness and diversity the pair create in their music. A confident and bold record that stands as proud as any of their previous releases but one that contains the added element of having gone it alone. Capable, brave and evolving, the work of No Age continues to build a legacy that is far down the road but far from over.
