The Portland-based band Wet Fruit has released their self-titled debut on Seattle’s Halfshell Records this month. Formed by drummer Papi Fimbres and guitarist Charles Salas-Humara after their previous band Sun Angle went on hiatus, the improvisational duo quickly sought roots by adding guitarist/vocalist Elaina Tardif and bassist/vocalist Rebecca Rasmussen.
On their debut effort, the group combines their post-punk leanings with touches of psych and shoegaze making for propulsive and hypnotic music. Coupled with soaring vocal harmonies, this is one of those hard to classify gems you might stumble upon at your favorite record store. Not quite sure what you have in your hands, you go home to find your gamble has paid off in sonic gold.
Wet Fruit recently took time to discuss how the band came together, as well as the release of their new cassette. Band members took turns answering questions via email correspondence and what follows is a transcript of our conversation…
LETV: Congratulations on the upcoming release of your self-titled debut album. Before we delve into the record and how it came together, what can you tell us about the formation of Wet Fruit? You folks all seem to be involved in a multitude of projects, so I’m curious how this particular group met and began playing together…
PF: Good question and thank you! So, Charlie Salas-Humara and I wanted to start a new band after our previous band, Sun Angle, went on hiatus; and it was originally a two-piece (guitars & drums & weird noises) that was all completely improvisational music, on the spot. After our initial debut show, homies were really into it and we wanted to have a focal point on the music and not be so chaotic, so we added Elaina Tardif on guitar and vocals and started writing songs (some of them are on this album of the original two-piece incarnation). They were sounding pretty fucking killer but we quickly realized we needed a bassist. In comes Rebecca Rasmussen and with her, her amazingly beautiful vocals and a plethora of new song ideas. Now everyone sings, except for me, of course.
LETV: Let’s talk about songwriting. The band has a very inventive style that seems capable of changing on a dime from harmonized melodies to freaked-out meltdown, and the band mentions “controlled chaos” as a compositional device. From a songwriting perspective, how do you juggle these various urges? Is there a song on the album you might take us through to describe this process? Additionally, where does the writing of lyrics fit in?
RR: This album was written with some songs partially formed from Charlie and Papi’s first version of Wet Fruit. After bringing Elaina in and eventually myself on bass, we continued throwing everything out there and captured the parts that worked. Kind of a free jazz, all-over-the-place approach, then arrange and hone later.
A lot of this album we worked out in the live setting. We ended up playing several shows where we didn’t even have finalized lyrics/melodies for most of the songs. That element finally came into place in the studio with various people writing lyrics or even parts of lyrics for ourselves and for each other.
I’d say the doubleheader “Wasted Future” into “Relaxed Trucker” is a good example of “changing on a dime.” Again, it’s a combination of something that had elements that were fully formed but we added parts that were worked out live and also in the studio almost by accident–or one could say by feel. A kind of smooshing of opposing forces and seeing if we could meld that into something wonderful. The freak out meltdowns… well, we’ll just say we all have a part of that in us and it just comes out inevitably.
LETV: What was it like recording Wet Fruit? There’s an intricacy to the sound as far as the interplay between guitars, vocals, etc., as well as shifts in dynamics that I would imagine present some sonic challenges. Who recorded the album and where? How involved in production was the band?
CS-H: We recorded with Johann Wagner at Pinewave studios out in the woods and did it all live except for vocals and some keys. We worked hard getting the call and response guitars and bass parts tight before we showed up and let Johann add whatever he thought effects-wise. The vocal interplay between Elaina and Rebecca was experimented with and perfected in the studio.
LETV: How did the band hook up with Halfshell Records? Was it important to establish a relationship with a label, and if so, why?
PF: I initially played a show with Daniel from Halfshell with my other band Máscaras, in Seattle (where the label is based out of) at Barboza; and we had such a killer, stoned out of my mind night and remember thinking to myself, “this dude rules, gotta remember him.” Fast forward to a year or so down the life road, I saw some local homies release a tape in Portland via Halfshell Records, and I was like, “Who is this label?! They have so many of our homies on that label!” I emailed them and Daniel was on the other end of the line, being like “Dude!” So, here we are now and it’s been such an easy breezy blast working with Halfshell.
LETV: While the internet and social media have changed so much about how a band can reach an audience these days, in many ways, it’s not much different from punk’s DIY approach. Do you find that tools like social media and platforms like Bandcamp, Spotify, etc.make it easier to reach an audience? Are they creatively and emotionally satisfying to use?
ET: We waited quite a while before making any kind of official Wet Fruit profile, and then stuck to Instagram exclusively for about a year. Still avoiding making a Facebook page for now (we’ll see how long that lasts). Social media is potentially a great tool for DIY efforts, but it’s so easy to get lost in the digital maze, or feel obligated to generate meaningless content in an attempt to stay “relevant.”
That said, it’s currently the most convenient way to reach our audience and connect with other bands/bookers. Spotify seems rather sinister in terms of how musicians end up getting paid next to nothing, but it’s honestly my go-to for discovering new music and making playlists that are easy to share with friends. I’m the baby of the band and never knew the days of mailing tapes to venues in other cities, booking nation wide tours with a phone book and a prayer.
From what I can tell, the internet has made promotion much faster and cheaper, but simultaneously more competitive. Creatively, it’s pretty limiting as you have to work within a universal framework that presents its own challenges. But that was true about radio! It’s been 113 years since the first song was broadcast over the airwaves. Who knows, maybe Instagram will be viewed 100 years from now as one last big party before the singularity hit;)
LETV: Portland currently seems to have a very vibrant music and arts scene. I would suspect, though, that the city will face many of the challenges that Seattle has faced over the last twenty years as it grows. Here, the influx of corporations has made the city unaffordable for musicians and artists. Unfortunately, that takes a toll on a creative scene. Where is Portland in this process? Does it feel like the city is on a creative upswing currently, or is that just easy to project in a “grass is always greener…” sort of way?
ET & RR: Portland has definitely drawn creatives because of its affordability in the past. We’ve seen a lot of people either move to LA or NYC to pursue what seems to be the next level of success because while Portland is vibrant it is also easy to get comfortable and complacent. Also, we have seen a large number of people just leave. Yes, because of rising prices, but also because the grit that used to exist (ie. house shows and smaller punk venues, generator shows under the freeway, etc…) have been next to wiped out.
However, people are still here fighting the good fight! The American Legion (Post 134), the Waypost, and Blackwater, amongst others, are pushing for all-ages shows despite the city regulations making it difficult for places to host all-ages shows. Record stores like Specks and vintage stores like Zero Wave have several shows a month. Seems like every few weeks a venue closes or a bar decides to stop booking shows, but new spots are popping up.
People are trying to make sure it doesn’t disappear. There’s a good amount of mid-sized venues that are pretty well established, but it’s the smaller ones that are needed to sustain a more experimental scene and make space for new artists. Is the grass greener? It’s all relative.
LETV: What’s next for the band after the release of your debut. Do you guys have a tour or local shows planned? How about a music video?
Wet Fruit: We’ve got a music video ready to share and we’re already working on a new album! Winter will be dedicated to that endeavor, as well as curating a few special shows in Portland and around the Northwest. In spring, we will be playing Tree Fort and want to fit some more tour dates around that…
