Sound Off: The Summer Wardrobe

While bands like the Black Angels and Horse + Donkey dig Austin’s psych roots with dark, droning intent, the Summer Wardrobe ride the legacy of the 13th Floor Elevators with a sun-drenched, pop and country inflected psychedelia. It’s with good reason then, that local psych pioneer Roky Erickson tapped the Summer Wardrobe to back him last year, and members of quartet have since even played with him on his Austin City Limits taping last fall. They currently have a freshly released EP, Cajun Prairie Fire, which moves through moments that recall the Byrds and Pink Floyd cut with a power-pop sensibility. They have offered a preview of the EP below with “Baby Let’s Switch Graves,” and you can catch the Summer Wardrobe live this Friday, March 28th at the Hole in the Wall with Buttercup and Brent Palmer.

Profile: The Summer Wardrobe

Year Formed:

2003

Members/Instruments played:

Jon Sanchez - guitars/lead vocals; John Leon - pedal steel/vocals; George Duron - drums/vocals; Martin Hobratschk - bass/vocals.

Former Bands/Side Projects:

The Flying Saucers, Balloonatic, Black Irish, Fighting Brothers McCarthy, Sally Crewe and the Sudden Moves, the Naysays, Agnostic Front

Albums:

Sometimes Late and Night (2005);
The Summer Wardrobe (2006 Rainbow Quartz);
Cajun Prairie Fire (2008)

Influences:

Saint Fracis of Assisi, Pablo Picasso, Benazir Bhutto, Leon Trotsky, Hildegard of Bingen...and of course, Gene Clark. Big Star's in there too. Also: the Church, My Bloody Valentine, Mercury Rev, Pink Floyd, Rain Parade, the Feelies, Rush, Agustus Pablo. And did we mention Gene Clark?

Strangest comment or comparison ever made about your music:

"It's like Roger Waters grew up in a Louisiana swamp."

Favorite local bands:

Sally Crewe and the Sudden Moves, the Naysays, the Breathers, Magnet School, Buttercup ...

Favorite local venue:

Hole in the Wall/ Lovejoys

Upcoming shows scheduled:

28 March, Hole in the Wall; 26 April, Club Deville (w/Sidewinders)

Some of your favorite albums from the past year:

Wilco "Sky Blue Sky"; The New Pornographers, "Challengers"; The Shins, "Wincing the Night Away"; Spoon, "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga"

Ideal band (past or present) to open for on a national tour:

Roky Erickson

Austin Sound questions:
How did y'all get involved with playing with Roky Erickson, and what has that experience been like for y'all?

Roky invited us to open up for him in New York City at the Bowery Ballroom last April; in June, the band that backed him couldn't do another NYC gig, so we were asked to do that; we also played with Roky in San Francisco and LA during the fall -- the Halloween Night show in SF was nuts! All in all, it's been an honor and a pleasure to play with
a rock and roll legend like Roky Erickson.

What can you tell us about the new album y'all are working on?

It's an EP of five songs, most of them about death. We recorded it with Mark Addison at Aerie Studios earlier this year; Mark is an awesome producer and engineer. We're actually done with it and have copies for sale at our shows. Ask for one today!

Song Introduction:

"Baby Let's Switch Graves" is based on a real-life situation Jon had
recently regarding the disposition of his gravesite in Louisiana.

Sound Off:

We're just excited and happy to be able to play music in Austin and around the world; if you had told us a year ago that we'd have the chance to be the backing band for one of the pioneers of psychedelic rock, we would have thought you were on drugs! We're looking forward to getting this EP out and working on new material for a release later this year, playing more shows here and around the country, and spreading the gospel of the Summer Wardrobe.

Mp3 from Cajun Prairie Fire:
Baby, Let's Switch Graves

Websites:
www.thesummerwardrobe.com
Myspace