By Kyle Nutter
In the crowded music marketplace, it’s a challenge for a band to stand out. Bands are defined as sounding like other bands. Their definition is something that isn’t themselves. Table Talk, a band from Long Island, described their music to me on our conference call sounding like Motion City Soundtrack, Jimmy Eat World and Good Old War. This is true but mention of those bands makes me hear them not Table Talk. And that initial attitude was misleading because they have found their sound and it’s something else.
Despite the four members of Table Talk being in the music scene for years, the current formation began about a year ago. Two members, Rob Rizzacasa and John Argondizza, have known each other since kindergarten.
“We just started playing together,” said Rob.
Once split up in different bands, these musicians gravitated towards each other through camaraderie and similar influences.
“Since we jammed, we’ve been best friends,” said Ryan O’Rourke, who joined after leaving another band.
Before Table Talk was Table Talk, it was Last Great Hero, which consisted of Rob, John, Ryan and Sal Salamone. As they described their earlier group, I heard a garage punk band. That was a time of experimentation. And from that emerged sophistication in the form of Table Talk. Now it’s easier to listen to their music, and after hearing it gets stuck in your head. The subject matter is darker, not in a melancholy way but more serious. They talk about things that people care about.
“We used to just write songs, but now we write songs we want to hear,” John said.
Fans want to hear them too. After that transformation, Table Talk went on their biggest tour yet, spending weeks traveling the North East. It was their first real tour, and they had a good string of shows. That achievement is a testament that they’ve finally established themselves and know what they are.
It has been a great start for Table Talk, and now that they’ve found their footing there’s potential. For now, the band is going back to the studio and plan to release an album mid next year.
http://tabletalkli.bandcamp.com
The post Interview with Table Talk appeared first on Black on the Canvas -Indie Music and Culture Blog.