Photo: Gabrielle Petraglia

For the record, Gab and I are not softees.  Commercials featuring cute, three-legged puppies that need homes?  Gut-wrenching human interest stories with tragic endings?  The season finale of “Grey’s Anatomy”?  Yeah, we’re human, but I think I speak for the both of us when I say that we’re pretty tough cookies and that we aren’t prone to overtly emotional reactions when we’re really, really moved by something… that is, until we both welled up when Christopher Pappas of The Everyday Visuals sang his heart out during the finale of the band’s intimate acoustic set at TT the Bear’s Place a couple of weeks ago.  Accompanied only by the high-pitched reverberations of a half-full glass of water, on the rim of which drummer Joe Seider was drawing circles with his finger, Chris moved us to the point of big, wet, embarrassing tears with the simple beauty of “Her Breathing is Music.”  It was one of those rare moments in Boston when you realize you’re at the right place at the right time in this incredible city, and that moment, around 11:30pm on a Tuesday night, Gab, Jessie and I were just as enthralled as every other member of that hushed crowd at TT’s and we felt like we were a part of something much bigger than ourselves.

This is especially interesting to note, seeing that our conversation with Boston’s latest indie wonderband was chock full o’ dirty jokes and multiple instances of guffawing that lasted well over two minutes throughout the hour-long interview.  Chris, Joe, Eli and Kyle joined us at the Middle East for beers [well, waters, for them] and they were pretty candid about crazy things that have happened to them on the road this year, how their songwriting tends to flow and why exactly they love playing in The Everyday Visuals.  The Everyday Visuals will be playing the third annual 8/08 Show Upstairs at the Middle East on August 8th, along with The Shills, The New Collisions, The Motion Sick and Hymns, so clear your social calendar as this promises to be a night of local band love that’ll remind you why Boston is flourishing as an indie spot of musical greatness.  And hey, who knows?  Maybe Chris and Joe will break out the glass harmonica again and you’ll wind up as sappy and moved as Gab, Jessie and I were.

-Hilary Hughes

Photo: Gabrielle Petraglia

Can we get everybody’s name and where y’all are from on the record?

Christopher: Christopher, and I’m from New Hampshire.

Eli: Eli, and I’m from Wisconsin.

Joe: And I’m Joe, and I’m from New Hampshire, too!

Kyle: I’m Kyle, and I’m from New Hampshire.

In your own words, can you tell us your back-story?  How did you all meet and come to make music together?

C: Kyle, Joe and I formed the band up in New Hampshire, more or less. We made a record called Media Crush and it started to get some play and pick up some press in Boston, so we moved here and then we met Eli and he joined the band, and we made Things Will Look Up, and now we’ve released our third record under the name The Everyday Visuals, and it’s a self-titled record.  That’s kind of here we are, now: Started off in New Hampshire, came here, met him, we’ve gained and lost a couple of members, like bassists, mostly, along the way, but that’s the long and short of it.

What brought you to Boston from Wisconsin, Eli?

E: They wanted to follow me.  I was already here.  I’m that cool.  Oh, but school brought me here, I went to Emerson.

What parts of Boston were you living in when you first got here?

C: I was in Allston.

E: Slummahville

C: Hey, at least you were in Somerville…

So, you’ve been touring pretty extensively since the release of the album in March, huh?

C: Yeah, it’s definitely been a priority, well, it’s always a priority for us because we consider ourselves to be first and foremost a live band-

E: -in that we are living.  HUMAN BEINGS.

…That’s interesting.

C: Yeah.  So, you know, being an “alive” band, that is not deceased, we enjoy making records but we really enjoy playing and touring.  I actually don’t like recording, I prefer playing live, so that was a priority and we just booked ourselves across the country and stuff like that.  We had an agent, but we let him go and did the booking ourselves. We’re kind of a DIY band.

What were some of your favorite spots on tour?

C: Playing Chicago was amazing, that was our first time playing there.  All the shows had at least one element of them that was good, so we were really lucky this time around.

Any crazy stories from the tour bus, so to speak? Give us a story.

C: So, when we were in Chicago, driving, and it was 2am after the show.  We’re stopped at a light and going around this corner, and this dude was like, face down on the curb and totally passed out.  Actually, we didn’t even think the dude was passed out, we thought he was DEAD.

K: Well he wasn’t really.

C: ….It’s good that you ruined the punch line of the story.  That’s fine. (Jessie is giggling.  A lot.) So, he WASN’T dead, but we got out of the car and I’m like, “Hey! Hey! Hey, buddy!” He wakes up, and I’m like, “Are you okay?!” And he’s like, “No.  I swallowed a lot of pills and I snorted heroin.  I need an ambulance.” … And I’m like, “Okay.”  So, I’m talking to him, just trying to keep him conscious and awake, so I’m like, “Hey, what’s your name?” and he says “Bill.” And I say, “Hey, what do you do for a living?” I’m asking him questions, and he’s like, “WHY DO YOU WANNA KNOW SO MUCH ABOUT ME?!” and I’m like, “Dude, I’m just trying to keep you awake.”  When the ambulance got there, they were like, “Is he with you?” And we were like “Nope!  See ya!” And then we drove away.

J: We were just amazed that we were the only ones who stopped to help the guy out!  Plenty of people went by on bikes and in cars and stuff, so we slowed down, and we were like, damn, we gotta do something.

K: It wasn’t an area we’d expect to see someone passed out on drugs in, either.  Weird.

Let’s talk creative process.  Can you take us through the writing process of The Everyday Visuals?  Do you always have the live performance in mind when you’re writing?

C: Yeah.

E: No, I think there are two different things: There’s the album and then the performance.

C: I write the songs, basically, sometimes they’ll be all mapped out and I’ll ask Eli to play a guitar part, and Joe to play a drum beat, and I’ll have an idea and want to get it out.  Sometimes, I’ll have the words and the chords and stuff like that and we’ll try different things and work out different arrangements.  It’ll be in different stages of completion.  It’s usually somewhere on that spectrum.

What brings you guys together as a band?  What’s unique about The Everyday Visuals?  I assume you’ve played with other people before, so what do you really love about The Everyday Visuals?

C: Not much, to be honest with you. (Laughs) I think it’s that we all have very similar goals in life.  We all have the same sort of passion to make this band, you know, work.  We’re very committed to the music that we make.  We’re very committed to our vision.  When we want to do something, and when we have this idea of a project we want to make or a record we want to work on, we’re all very passionate about it because we’re all passionate people, which is a blessing as much as it’s a curse.  Even though we all share the same goal, we all have different opinions on how to get there.  It’s like everyone really wants to get to this party, but I’m like, “No!  We should take 93!” and somebody else is like, “No! Let’s take the back roads!”  We all have the same vision in mind, and it’s surprising how natural it comes for us.  After a show we’ll all be like, “Aw, that part was awesome in the set!” and everyone will be like “Yeah, that part WAS awesome!”  It would be horrible to play with a drummer who’d be like, “I wish we could do more drum solos in the set!”

J: Something different about our band is the fact that everyone sings.  I think that’s important.  I think it definitely gives you a new dimension as far as connecting with the music.  Even Kyle sings.  Even the sound guy sings.

Are there are songs in The Everyday Visuals’ catalogue that you feel particularly connected to?

C: It depends on what format we’re playing in.  Like, we’re playing acoustic now,  but we’ve played electric before.  I’d say if we were playing electric “Her Breathing Is Music” is always a favorite.

J: Yeah!  “Her Breathing Is Music” goes way back, you know.

C: “I Can’t Stop You”, acoustic, even-

J: Yeah, both versions of that one.

C: The new version of “Florence Foster Jenkins”…. I don’t know. All the songs.  I guess that’s another thing that I view as an asset in the band, we love this idea of a song.  It’s also why I don’t really like recording; I feel like a song on the record is only a version of a song or a snapshot.  A record, to me, is like if someone were to take a picture of you right there and that was like, “This is that.”  There’s no other angles to view, that’s what it looks like, that’s it.  When someone opens you up and looks at you, people just accept that definition of you.  When the music is live, I feel like the story is so much greater than just a snapshot.  The song is always evolving and we’re always doing different versions and we’re always working with the crowd’s energy.  That’s what always gets us off, I think.  That, and porn. (Laughs)

E: You’ll see that tonight, too.  Porn on stage.  (Laughs)

C: I always counteract my wax philosophical-type things with a dirty joke.

A lot of the bands we talk to say that they love EPs for that reason in that it allows a band to break free from the expectations that come along with making a record.

E: Yeah!  They’re more spontaneous and in the moment.

J: That’s what’s beautiful about playing live, because you’re always connected and if there’s some part you’re not digging you can always play it a different way.

C: That’s why I think we shine, too; We can walk into a venue and be like, “We can’t all fit on that stage, man! Alright, let’s break it down.”

Are there any venues in Boston that you really love playing? We find that in a lot of cases the venues that bands love playing here aren’t necessarily the same ones that they love to see shows at.

J: Yeah!

K: This question varies depending on what format we’re playing in.  I love to play certain venues acoustically, but not rock shows, necessarily.

Well, what venues do you love for acoustic shows, seeing as that’s what we’re gonna see you do tonight?

K: The Lizard Lounge!

J: Yeah, definitely.  I love the Middle East, Upstairs and Downstairs.  We did an acoustic set at the Paradise Rock Club too, and that was surprisingly awesome.

C: I hate seeing a show there, though.  That pole!

(Everyone laughs.  We all nod knowingly.  That pole does suck, though we think that the ‘Dise on the whole is pretty great.)

E: Everyone sees the pole and everyone knows what you’re talking about.

Yeah, somehow we always wind up standing behind it.

J: One of my favorite shows we ever played in Boston was in the old Paradise Lounge.  Everyone came in and the air conditioner broke, and it was  in August and packed and it was well over 90 degrees.

Do you find that your audience and your fans in Boston differ from those in other cities?  Is there a quality in the Boston crowd that sets it apart?

J: Yeah, especially between here and New York.  When you come out to a show here, you come out to a show: You watch the opener, and then you see the second band, and then you watch the headliner.  When you go to New York, it’s showcase style: People file in for the first band and file out, and then the next band’s crowd comes in, and they file out.  I just don’t dig that at all, and that’s where Boston is cool.

C: There’s more shows!  TT’s just doesn’t book five random bands together; the show makes sense.  There’s really no venue I don’t like playing.

Who are some Boston bands that you love to bill with, or would love to bill with?

C: They’re from Providence, but The Low Anthem.  They’re so nice.  They’re really awesome.  Mean Creek, too.

J: Yeah, and Session Americana.

So for the future, you guys are going on tour and promoting the album.  Are you planning for the next album, too?

C: I’m definitely the type of person where I’m always writing, so I’ve already got at least an EP worth of new material due to the fact that I’m constantly writing. The next album is never too far in advance.   We’re going to rerelease The Everyday Visuals on vinyl, stuff like that.  I think that’s going to happen around our shows we have planned for October.

E: I feel like there are too few people who have heard this record before we can fully move on from it.  At least to me, anyway.

Who would you credit as being really influential artists who have helped shaped your sound and cultivate you as musicians?

C: I feel like current artists that we listen to are completely different from our influences.  Nirvana, Sonic Youth, the Breeders, those were the bands that made me want to play music.  That whole grunge movement, that was it for me.

J: I’m there.

E: Yeah, Radiohead, too.  And the Beach Boys.

C: Pink Floyd, the Doobie Brothers, Crosby, Stills and Nash for me.  My father’s a musician and he played in this acoustic trio, so they were doing Crosby Stills Nash and a bunch of 60s and 70s acoustic music.  That was a huge influence on me, too.

J: And Michael Jackson!

E: Not just because he died last week.

(Too soon?)

J: My brother and I used to choreograph dances to his stuff.  We used to set up the lights and everything and just rock out.  I had a red jacket with the zippers on it.  It was pretty sweet.

So what are y’all listening to now?

J: I’ve definitely been rocking to St. Vincent.  We saw her at South by Southwest.

K: We were quite enamored with her music and performance.

C: South by Southwest is like an indie rock theme park.

K: It’s completely outrageous and beyond anything you can imagine.  It’s like Narnia.

C: I’m really digging Sun Kill Moon, and the Dirty Projectors, and Camera Obscura.  I really dug that Fleet Foxes record when it came out.  I saw them here at the Middle East Upstairs, and I snuck in because a friend of mine was opening for them, and they were just electrifying.

K: I think we’re all very into Pedro the Lion.

Do you guys have any last thoughts on Boston being a hotbed of creativity, being a Boston band and all?

E: Boston has definitely thickened our skin.

C: I find that there’s a very small sort of indie rock scene in Boston that is, you know, starting to bloom, but I feel like when we first came here it was Americana folk and garage power pop.  Those were the two big things, and I think in a way those are still the two big tracks for indie music in Boston.  I think if you threw a dart at a listing of shows on a dartboard and went to where the dart landed, chances are it’d be a power pop/garage sort.  The whole Cambridge scene, with Lizard Lounge and Club Passim, that scene is full of a bunch of great players, but now, especially with Passion Pit blowing up and stuff like that, the indie scene has kind of been revitalized in my humble opinion.  From what I’ve seen, I feel like the indie scene is just starting to make a name for itself here.

On a personal note, we feel like this brings people into the shows and the clubs and makes the community richer.  It would be cool to liven the scene up a bit.  If we need a band like Passion Pit to amp people up, than we guess it works.

C: On the Boston vs. New York thing, there’s definitely a Brooklyn scene now, but back when we were making Media Crush, we almost moved to Portland, Maine, because there was a great community there for music and there were a few bands getting some exposure there.  We decided to come to Boston, and it was the same thing back then, but now I hope that Boston’s a little more on the rise.  This revolution will be taped on your mini tape recorder.