Interview: Zak and Jamie of Smalltalk. Too Late to Promote the Show, But There's a Video...

Smalltalk played Asbury Park Yacht Club this past Saturday. But you probably knew that already.

Why So Serious?

Smalltalk played a show at Asbury Park Yacht Club this past Saturday. They had a really good turnout following the Social Distortion show. That was no thanks to me as, through some email SNAFU, I didn't get their answers to my interview questions until after the show had already happened. Something about the generally spammy nature of emails I get from Zak Kaplan or something. I don't know.

Anyway, here are the -- as always -- very serious answers to all of my questions from guitarist / lead vocalist Zak Kaplan and drummer Jamie Goldfarb. I left in the stuff about the "upcoming" show at APYC just for the hell of it. Read on to find out about the band's love for geocaching, their un-embracing of the Internet, and father-to-be Zak Kaplan's future plans.

I also included a video from the APYC show, so you can see how it all went. It's a live performance of "June / July" which appears both on the band's latest release, Smalltalk IV, and the Little Dickman Records Summer Bummer compilation. Pics are here.

Head over to smalltalkplus.bandcamp.com where you can purchase the band's latest EP on black with white haze vinyl. The center label even features a nice photo from a local, amateur photographer.

You’re getting ready to release your fourth 3-song EP. How do you feel your songs or your sound have evolved from EP I to EP IV?

Zak: We’ve been this amazing the entire time.

Jamie: And when you’re designed this perfectly, you don’t evolve.

You’ve kept everything pretty much in-house up to this point – from recording with your guitarist, Pete Steinkopf, to screening your own record sleeves.  Did the process get any easier for you from the first EP to the fourth? Are you just able to crank these out like some kind of modern rock machine at this point?

Jamie: Second verse same as the first.

Zak: It’s been the same, release to release, the exact same. If nothing else, we are consistent.

Speaking of machines: It was pretty amazing to see Pete up there with you guys at 1 AM for a H4TH after-party in December right after he’d finished a full Bouncing Souls set. Is Pete a machine?

Zak: Was he even there? I hadn’t noticed.

Pete is, obviously, still very active with The Bouncing Souls whose sound differs quite a bit from yours. Have you found that those fans have come along for the ride? Are you playing to an entirely different set of people? Can you even tell?

Jamie: No, and honestly, I’m just glad people want to check us out.

Zak: It probably works against us. Everyone knows that “members of” bands are total rubbish. We use our associations to our advantage when we can, but for every punky kid who comes to see Smalltalk because it has a Bouncing Soul in it, there are two cooler-than-you hipsters who would never give us the time of day for the exact same reason. Jamie and I wouldn’t be caught dead at a Smalltalk show if we weren’t in the band.

There will soon be a dozen Smalltalk tracks out in the world, enough for a full-length release. Any plans to package them up into an album or some type of compilation?

Zak: What we do is secret.

Jamie: Cassette tapes of every EP will be hidden around New Jersey; like a scavenger hunt, when you find one you get a clue to where the next tape is.

Zak: We’re big in the geocaching scene.

You said something in one of our earlier interviews about originally tossing around the idea of being a video-only band. There are three videos out there now. Any plans for any more?

Zak: We’re going to try to make one later this week. The video side of things has been a bit more of a struggle for us. I don’t think any of us really like doing them. It’s awkward and weird. Turns out it’s just not really our thing. But we will keep making them nonetheless.

Any plans to take Smalltalk on the road or are you just going to rely on 21st century communication to spread the word for now?

Jamie: We’ll be around. There are five of us; one with three kids; one has a dog; one has a cat; and there is another baby on the way. But there will be shows in other cities and states. We just don’t know when.

You’re playing close to home at APYC this last Saturday. It’s a special spot for you, the place where you made your official debut as a band. People will be were able to pick up all the EPs there? Say hi? Pose for uncomfortably staged meet and greet photos with you?

Zak: Please don’t.

Jamie: We will have [had] the the fourth EP and a few of the third EP on vinyl, and some Vinyl Heart, which is a compilation we did with some local bands last Valentine’s Day. Everything is digital, so you can go to smalltalkplus.bandcamp.com for that stuff.

Zak: Actually, I removed all the digital content from there the other week. So pick up the vinyl or watch our music videos. We’re taking it back to the 80s for the time being.

Jamie: Saturday, come drink [everyone drank] wine and feel [felt] fine.



Anything on the calendar after that?

Jamie: Babies man.

Zak: I’m going to start a website called UnCoolDadMusic.com and go to shows even less than I do now. It’s going to feature dirty diaper photography along with interviews with me so I can brag to great lengths about how my child is better than yours.

Thanks for answering my questions.

Zak: Thanks for asking them.