After self-releasing three EPs – a total of twelve songs – during 2012, William Beckett also released The Pioneer Sessions, an acoustic collection of those tracks, before announcing his new record deal with Equal Vision. Beckett went into the studio for his first full-length solo album, Genuine and Counterfeit, during early 2013 and the record was released on August 20.
During the past two years of touring as a solo artist, Beckett has introduced his “band in a box” as an element of his stage show. Using his Macbook, Beckett is able to amplify his own pre-recorded synth and drum tracks, while singing and playing the lead parts on guitar live, creating a fuller, less acoustic sound for his new songs.
Hypable: In terms of creating your first new music post-TAI, the ’80s pop thing on the three EPs – that period of writing was very synthy, in a way that’s kind of experimental for you, not the style of music you’ve released before. And then the full-length album was more full band. Was that sound digitally generated or real in the studio?
WB: It’s all real. It’s real ’80s synths, we had a Juno in the studio, which is essentially in all John Hughes movies, that’s the synth that they use a lot of. It’s the same on the record, there’s actually a lot of synth on the record and piano on the record as well. But obviously there’s more guitars and layering and soundscapes. It’s just larger sounding.
William Beckett in the studio for Genuine and Counterfeit. Photo credit: Jack Edinger
Hypable: Is that the reason that you’re using the “band in a box” idea for your performances? You’ve obviously got a knack for making acoustic versions of your songs, and you even released The Pioneer Sessions, acoustic recordings of those three synth-heavy 2012 EPs. What made you want to use that technology as opposed to just getting up with your guitar and playing folky acoustic versions?
WB: Because I think the folky thing is boring. That was the one thing I didn’t want to do, be another singer songwriter with a guitar and stool. It’s just boring to me. So I wanted to do something different, and it’s been working so far, it’s been fun to do it this way. And it’s just more exciting – I can play before The Maine, [if it was folky] the sound would go from like “here” to “HERE,” and that kind of dwarfs me in a lot of ways, so I have to compete, you know? It was perfect on Warped Tour this summer too, because of all the festival grounds, the noise – I was the only guy on my stage that used a band in a box.
Hypable: Were you on an acoustic stage or one of the main stages?
WB: It was the Acoustic Basement stage, which was a big success.
Hypable: So you would have had the biggest sound for that kind of space… Do you have active plans to tour with a full live band?
WB: I do, yeah. Next year I want to bring a band out and do this album with a full band. So I can run around a little more.
Hypable: What will be the difference touring as William Beckett and his backing band as opposed to The Academy Is…, as far as what you would want from a stage show, group dynamics, that sort of thing?
WB: I think it depends on who I choose for the band. I think from a performance standpoint, from my end you’d probably see a lot of the familiar energy, cause these songs are really energetic. But they’re also more dynamic. Not to like, bash anything I did before – they’re just more dynamic now. So I think you’d see a pretty broad spectrum of energy level and emotion.
Hypable: Would you want to stay with the guitar?
WB: Probably not. I mean I would only play acoustic on songs that have acoustic on them. Cause not all of them do – a handful.
William Beckett performing on Warped Tour 2013. Photo credit: Chris Martin
Hypable: You made a joke on stage about you have your “band in a box” because you don’t like to be disobeyed. How controlling are you to work with? If you were taking out a band, obviously it would be under your name and your control. Will you be comfortable taking that much control over a band?
W: Nah, I was joking – I don’t treat people like that, like “you work for me” sort of thing. Never. We’d just be like friends – positive vibes. We all love music, we all love performance, we take our art seriously, but yet we have fun. Like all the good things of a band and none of the BS.
Hypable: Finally – it’s abundantly clear that you understand the importance of being a fan, on more than just a surface level – through your relationships with your own fans, and your own interests. Are you obsessive about anything, the kind of fannish-ness that, if you started talking to a “normal person” about it, they’d be like “whoa, way too intense”?
WB: Game of Thrones – the books too – is probably the number one, and Boardwalk Empire. I love good television. But I know that Doctor Who is a giant thing, and that’s a show I haven’t been able to get into, period. I’ve tried, but I just can’t. I know a lot of my fandom will be bummed by that. Sorry guys, I just don’t get it. I think I’m just sore that they didn’t choose me to be the next Doctor.
Hypable: Oh well, we can always live in hope!
Hand of the King? Or the Fourteenth Doctor? Photo credit: Hypable
William Beckett headlines the Reggie’s Rock Club Fourth Annual Acoustic Holiday Show in Chicago this Saturday, where he will be performing with a full band. Tickets are still available. Beckett’s dance card for 2014 is also filling up – he tours Japan in February, collaborating with co-headliners Artist vs Poet to play a full band set, and immediately after that, he’ll depart on a six week American tour with We Are The In Crowd. Tickets for the American tour are on sale now.
Genuine and Counterfeit is available in all good record stores as well as on iTunes. You can watch a making-of video for the lead single, “Benny and Joon,” below.
Header photo credit: Chris Martin
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