Autolux Read our review of Future Perfect.

Autolux was just wrapping up an arduous tour with the Secret Machines, which had them driving back and forth across the country twice in the middle of a terrible winter. I was able to pry drummer Carla Azar away from some toy shopping in Manhattan for a quick phone chat about Autolux's hopefully perfect future. She enlightened me on working with T-Bone, band members' eating habits and the black hole that is Autolux.

Splendid: You're in New York, right? Tonight is the last night of your tour?

Carla Azar: Tonight's the last night.

Splendid: Then back to LA?

Carla Azar: Tomorrow we leave.

Splendid: I noticed that you guys have done the formidable great circle, all the way across the states and back again.

Carla Azar: Yeah, we started in Boston and so by the time we get back we'll have been across twice.

Splendid: In winter, no less?

Carla Azar: I know. I know.

Splendid: You must have some road stories from all the driving.

Carla Azar: No, everything's been really good.

Splendid: So, on to the music. How have things been going with Future Perfect?

Carla Azar: I have no idea. I know when we play, we're selling a lot of music at the shows, thirty or forty records at every show.

Splendid: You've gotten some really good reviews. Almost everything I've seen has been really good to excellent.

Carla Azar: That's really nice.

Splendid: On this last tour, were there any shows that stood out for you?

Carla Azar: There have been a few, Santa Ana was a really great show in California. There have been a few. Boston. We hadn't played in a week so it was interesting.

Splendid: Are you getting good crowds?

Carla Azar: Yeah, every club has been pretty much at capacity from the minute we go on, so it's been incredible for us.

Splendid: Are you guys headlining or splitting the bill with The Secret Machines?

Carla Azar: The Secret Machines are headlining and a lot of the fans are their fans, so we're playing to their fans and gaining new fans. It's been really great.

Splendid: You've had some pretty nice opening slots. I know you opened for the White Stripes.

Carla Azar: Yeah, that was good too.

Splendid: And you're playing with The Shins?

Carla Azar: No, Ambulance Limited, then The Raveonettes. We played with The Shins last year.

Splendid: Okay, that's right. But you must be getting tons of exposure. Those are all pretty popular bands.

Carla Azar: Well, we feel really lucky to play every night in front of a bunch of people and turn people on to our music.

Splendid: Now, you are on DMZ, and I think you were the first band they signed, right?

Carla Azar: Yes, we were.

Splendid: You worked with T-Bone Burnett, right? And he seems to be more well known for the Coen Brothers' bluegrass, and his own stuff is more southern bluesy?

Carla Azar: T-Bone is a lot more eclectic, eccentric than most people think -- obviously, because he happens to like us. I think people would be surprised if they knew what he was about and what he was made of. It was great working with him.

Splendid: It seems like you guys have or had a pretty well defined sound. You're not all over the place.

Carla Azar: Well, the good thing about T-Bone is that he's not the type of producer to give someone a sound. He more or less brings out the best performances and goes for the more magical takes. The first thing he said to us was that we didn't need a producer. He thought that we pretty much had everything together, arrangements and everything and it just worked out. It was like we just wanted to have someone oversee what we were doing.

Splendid: That's not a bad person to have.

Carla Azar: His way of producing is that he stays out of the way and somehow is very present at the same time. It makes you feel always confident, like you're doing the right thing. He's an amazing person.

Splendid: If you listened to the album and didn't know he was the producer, I don't think you could guess in a million years. It's clearly your album, artistically.

Carla Azar: True, but there are some incredible sounds on the record that he and his engineer got. On the drums. Mostly the cleaner stuff that his engineer brought to the table.

Splendid: I really think that one of the album's huge strengths is the way that you guys put the drums in the arrangements, which really opens it up for the others to get a really expansive sound.

Carla Azar: Thanks!

Splendid: Was that a conscious decision in the recording process, or more...

Carla Azar: No, I don't think we really think about that. All three of us are usually on the same page. We're always going in the same direction. We might have some disagreements here and there about specific things, but in the end we're always going for the same thing. It's sort of unspoken. We know when something is mixed right, or the parts are not all together. We don't always know how to achieve that goal. But when we do we know that it's right, we know it all at the same time, and we stop. Those parts are worked out. I feel like the thing that we're trying to achieve is never really achieved 100 percent. We're always reaching really far and our standards are really high. We're usually never really satisfied, and if we are it only lasts for five minutes. After it's done we're always looking somewhere else beyond that.

Splendid: Jumping back to the DMZ connection. I read that DMZ has Bono and Tom Waits and Elvis Costello on the board of directors. Have you had any interactions with them?

Carla Azar: No. I think they are just friends of T-Bone's and they were supportive of the label.

Splendid: Okay, that's what I figured, but I thought I would ask. On your website, you have this electronic press kit (EPK). I was looking at the interview section and...

Carla Azar: (laughs) You were?

Splendid: Well, I noticed that it was a lot like something Modest Mouse had on their website that was also sort of tongue in cheek. I was wondering if you guys had seen that.

Carla Azar: Who?

Splendid: Modest Mouse.

Carla Azar: No. I've never seen any of that stuff. No, they wanted to make an EPK for us and we're very controlling so we made it ourselves. We filmed it ourselves, then edited it and made the whole thing and turned it in. I think those things are sort of ridiculous. Anything that we think is kind of ridiculous, we're gonna make fun of.

Splendid: Yeah, well, that definitely comes across. That's why I remarked on the other one, because it has a very similar, "These things are a joke so let's have fun with it" vibe.

Carla Azar: Also, our publicist said... I asked what the purpose was for it. She said, "We'll we give them out to various people to keep their attention. If we keep their attention for two minutes that's good." So we just tried to do something that would keep our attention -- something that would get the feeling of the band across without taking ourselves too seriously, which we don't. Only when we are playing.

Splendid: Well, then, you don't have to pay someone else to do it, too.

Carla Azar: Right.

Splendid: Changing tacks here a bit... What are you guys listening to as you drive around the country?

Carla Azar: A lot of the driving time has been silence. (laughs) Just because we've been so bombarded with hearing music all night. After we play we have to endure more music and it's really loud. Stina Nordenstam -- this record People Are Strange. It's a record of covers by this Swedish artist. We've been listening to the Kinks. Ah what else?

Splendid: The Kinks? Did you say the Kinks?

Carla Azar: Yeah. (laughs) I'm just mentioning things I heard in the car. Stina Nordenstam is definitely one that's come up a lot and I can't think of anything at this moment. Not any particular record, just certain songs. Things like that.

Splendid: If you could go back and sort of do one thing over in Autolux, what would it be?

Carla Azar: Do over?

Splendid: Yeah, something you would do differently in the history of the band. Or you can think of it as maybe what would you tell someone who was starting out -- what advice would you give them.

Carla Azar: You know, I don't know if I would do anything differently. We're sort of always looking ahead. We don't really look back at all. We never really do. We're always looking forward to what we can do next. But from the beginning, we did everything we wanted to do. The one thing we might have done differently, I wish -- I don't think it was up to us -- we would have started touring earlier outside of LA. But we didn't have the money to do that. The amount of equipment we use, we can't just throw it in the back of a car and drive. We have too many things. Other than that, I think that there isn't anything I would change on a drastic level. We'd have bought Eugene (Goreshter) some napkins. His eating habits -- ugh, he gets food all over his face. It makes me sick to my stomach. (Laughs) I bought him a lifetime supply of napkins as soon as we were signed.

Splendid: A case of napkins? (Laughs) I can imagine that's got to be one of the hardest things with your touring schedule?

Carla Azar: Yeah, we're very close, though. We get along pretty good.

Splendid: Okay, then what is the best thing about being Autolux right now?

Carla Azar: The best thing about it? I can't answer that. I think people around us can answer that better. Being in Autolux is like being in the epicenter of a dark, dark, hole. (Laughs) You don't know you're in it, you don't know what's happening in it. Things happen around you. You're unaware of your own existence within the band. I don't know that's a tough question for me to answer.

Splendid: Yeah, it's..

Carla Azar: It's like we're in a dark hole and we see light out there and we're always looking out there trying to get out there. (Laughs) We're always aiming for that. I don't know what the best thing about being in Autolux is...

Splendid: Sounds a bit like a near death experience.

Carla Azar: Well, getting to play with Greg and Eugene is the best thing about being in the band, because they are two of my absolutely favorite musicians. So...

Splendid: So you have some more touring coming up, do you have any plans to do more recording?

Carla Azar: I think we're going to be writing off and on. We'd like to put out something even before the next record, something like the five song EP.

Splendid: How do you go about writing songs?

Carla Azar: There's really no one way. Most of the time we play music and we -- not to use the word jam, but I guess I have to -- and if something that we all like happens, then we start working on that, trying to turn it into songs. Then someone will have a melody idea and usually we'll take it from there.

Splendid: Well, I don't have any more questions. Enjoy your well deserved rest. Thanks for taking the time to talk.

Carla Azar: You're welcome. It was nice talking to you.

-- Sean Sullivan