“A record that couldn’t have happened any other way”: Joey Ryan & The Inks on the Making of Young Afternoon
Kelsey Simpkins
It’s a name that’s been floating around Minneapolis for almost a decade. Joey Ryan & The Inks, comprised of five long-time friends – Joey Ryan, Matt Mitchell, Chris Mitchell, Ryan Mach, and Tim Dickson – have been making music and playing gigs around Minnesota for longer than I’ve lived here. This week, they release their fourth studio album, Young Afternoon, and will perform it at Turf Club on Saturday, May 7th.
Several new additions to their families, along with a new sense of maturity and exploration, have brought Joey Ryan & The Inks their best material yet. While they may hark back to the Beach Boys’ sounds of the 60’s and some psychedelic influences of the 70’s, these men mark a modern age of sound. Based in Minneapolis, they also hone a unique combination of genres into one: including pop, rock, folk, and country. Young Afternoon has something for everyone, and especially for those who have been following their ambitious path for the past 8+ years. Whether you’re a long-time fan, or a new ear to their music, Joey Ryan & The Inks doesn’t disappoint this time around.
To learn more about how Young Afternoon came to be, I asked Joey Ryan a few questions about its making, what he makes of a consistent band experience, and being a musician this great city we call Minneapolis.
KS: Can you give me a little background on how the band came together?
JR: We’d all been kicking around in previous projects (The Exchange, The Alarmists, Flin Flon Bombers, Consolation Champ, Invisible 2 Women, etc.) and had come to know one another through shows and mutual friends. I found myself with a collection of songs in late 2008 and had been playing solo shows, but really wanted to get a band together since the songs were written with a full-band arrangement in mind. I first got Matt Mitchell (Bass) on board as we played in ‘The Exchange’ together. Shortly after, Chris Mitchell (Guitar/Matt’s brother) and Ryan Mach (Drummer) joined the group. An old high school pal and musical mentor, Paul Flowers, was our original keyboard player, but he left the group after our first record. We recruited Tim Dickson (Keys & Vocals) to fill that spot and we’ve had the same lineup ever since.
We’re all long-time friends and have a great deal of respect for each other musically and as people. We’re able to create together without ego and have a blast while doing it. We all still play in other bands too and maybe it’s helped to have multiple outlets.
KS: There’s a fantastic myriad of pop-related genres that you touch on to create the songs for this album. What are some musical influences specific to this record?
JR: A lot of what we do is rooted in 60’s pop – but we pushed further on this record by experimenting w/ different sounds. Electronic, Synthpop, Melotron etc… We didn’t set out to emulate anything in particular with this record – we never really do, but i think it has more textures and reaches levels we haven’t before.
KS: What have been some unique challenges this time around, in writing and recording the record?
JR: We started the initial tracking stage at Tim’s cabin – we tracked live and tried to get as many of the bones as possible in place. The extended weekend was a mixture of grinding out takes, pontoon breaks and Manhattan cocktail hours. After a few days, we had most of the basic framework in place for a lot of the songs that ended up on the record. We lost a handful of the bass and drum tracks, which was one challenge, but eventually got the basic skeletons back in place. We had quite a few overdubbing sessions after that, with each of us adding some new layers. I spent a lot of time in my basement studio adding backup vocals, piano parts, guitar lines and a lot of the other bells and whistles. Mach played a huge part in the production of this record – he’s always been our go-to from an engineering and mixing standpoint and helped to keep pushing in the direction of new sonic territory.
Right around this time, life started happening too: Matt had a beautiful baby daughter, Chris and his wife found out they were expecting a child and then soon after I was in the same boat. Mach and I kept moving on pieces as time permitted – like bringing in folks to play strings and horns – and the guys wrapped up parts as needed. This period of life certainly provided challenges from a scheduling perspective – it was really hard to find or make time, and especially to get all of us together – but it also allowed the recordings some time to breathe. In that sense, it was more of a piecemeal approach to recording than we were used to, but it gave us some space to re-evaluate things and re-envision songs, parts etc. Here we are three years and three new babies later with a record that couldn’t have happened any other way.
KS: What does continuing to be in the same band, for close to a decade, provide for you creatively as a musician, and simply as a person?
JR: Musically, there’s a comfort and a confidence that comes with playing together for this long. It’s easy to take for granted, but being surrounded by a bunch of talented musicians gives you the opportunity dream big when writing, arranging and recording – if anyone can pull it off, these guys can. I think each record has been more ambitious in that sense.
On a personal level, it’s given me four close friends and confidants. And a lifetime’s supply of inside jokes. Our lives has changed quite a bit since we started out and it’s been really cool to mark some of these milestones together – getting married, becoming parents, going bald. We’ve had to recalibrate as a band at a few points as a result of changing responsibilities (finally sold the van and trailer), but the friendships have really grown with the band, which has been incredible.
KS: It seems that Young Afternoon doesn’t hail back too strongly to any other time period, but sounds relevant and modern for today. It’s also not just a band regurgitating same formula over and over, to make another LP. So where do you look for inspiration to create new concepts and sounds from, when you want to refresh the sound and the feel in making music, as Joey Ryan & The Inks?
JR: Honestly, I think a lot of it just happens naturally. One cool thing about this record is that there are more contributions from other members with songwriting. There are a couple songs that were collaborations with Chris or Matt, plus Chris wrote one of the songs on this record, Strange Magnets, which is a first. There are a couple songs where it’s pretty much just Mach and I playing everything as well. We just had to take that approach for it to come together, so there were no egos and it resulted in the record getting exactly what it needed.
KS: In light of recent events, the Minneapolis music scene has been touted as a place for musicians to start, grow, develop, and stay for their careers. There certainly is a strong community here. I’m curious – what has it provided for you?
JR: This is a special place and a special music community – the quantity and quality of music across genres that comes out of Minneapolis is unreal, and maybe that reputation is actually part of what inspires so many great bands. BBGUN & Eric Mayson, who will be playing with us on the 7th, are a perfect representation of the wealth of artistic talent in Minneapolis – each of those guys is or has been a part of several awesome projects. As for other bands, I’m a big fan of: We are The Willows, Big Lake, Al Church, LOTT, Erick Koskinen, Haley Bonar, Sleep Study, Night Moves and Rogue Valley. The Dillinger Four has been one of my favorite bands since junior high.
The sense of community has been huge for us; we were really fortunate to play some of our first shows with bands who had already made a name for themselves. The fact that there are so many different places for local bands to play is another special thing and we’ve had a bunch of great shows at a lot of the venues around town. Especially have loved playing at the Triple Rock, The Cedar, The Varsity and The Turf Club. The Turf was kind of our home base for a while when we were starting out, so having this release at the Turf is a cool thing for us. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention 89.3 The Current too, as they have been so kind and supportive of our music since we started making records – that’s a unique thing and we’re grateful for their support.
KS: You’ve got the upcoming release show for Young Afternoon at the Turf Club Saturday, May 7th, and some other shows this summer coming up. Anything else in store for this continued year?
JR: We have a show at Icehouse lined up for the end of June to help celebrate The Counterfactuals album release (suggest checking them out). We’re also playing on August 4th at Lake Harriet Bandshell and then that following weekend we’ll be in Appleton, WI for the Mile of Music festival. We’ll continue to support the record locally and regionally. My sleep-deprived mind willing, I’ll start working on some new material soon – I have a handful of ideas, just need to find some time to develop them.
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Joey Ryan & The Inks celebrate the vinyl release of Young Afternoon at the Turf Club Saturday, May 7th with friends BBGUN and Eric Mayson (presented by 89.3 The Current). Tickets: $8 advance // $10 door
On sale: http://turfclub.net/show/2016-05-joey-ryan-the-inks/
The band is also premiering a video for the album’s first single titled “Winter Grey” shot with local videographer Caleb Genheimer. Watch video here: https://youtu.be/ipx2L_PzyMo
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Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/225107651199043/
http://joeyryanandtheinks.com/
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