They write hook-filled, Bowie-esque pop, favor titles like
“Sir Prize” and “Submarine #3,” and —
in the tradition of baroque rockers such as Left Banke and ELO
— adorn their tunes with jagged swirls of violin and cello.
They're the Starlight Mints, a five-piece throwback from Norman,
Oklahoma, who've managed to defy all odds with their critically
acclaimed debut album The Dream That Stuff Was Made
Of.
Formed by multi-instrumentalist Andy Nunez and guitarist and
songwriter Allan Vest (with Nunez's keyboard-playing wife Marian,
bassist Javier Gonzales, and guitarist Matt Goad, who's since been
replaced by Charlie Land), the Mints weathered several lean years
and numerous unfulfilled label promises before indie outfit SeeThru
Broadcasting picked up the two-year-old Stuff. It's given
the band a second lease on life — and guitarist Nunez a new
job on the road.
“I'd played some drums around the house,” says
Nunez, “so when things came to a halt after we made the
record, I just went off and started playing drums in this country
band for fun. By the time [the signing with] SeeThru happened and
we started getting the band back together, our drummer left, and so
I just decided I'd try it and see what happened. Plus the fact that
Allan and I are always telling drummers what to do — this
way, we'd take care of that problem.”
When the Mints finally embarked on their first organized tour
last year, it was without their string players, who'd left the
group because of family, school, and other commitments. Though
downsizing helped keep the travel budget in check, some
technological tweaking was required in order to keep the sound of
Stuff intact. But, as Nunez points out, it's all strictly
organic … well, sort of.
“We sample ourselves,” says Nunez. “We have a
couple of samplers onstage with us [for playback], and we use a lot
of the sounds from the actual record and just trigger them in at
the appropriate spots.” Triggering is done manually from
onstage or with a sequencer, depending on the song. Nunez has mixed
feelings about the live use of sequences. “It's cool for a
couple of songs to get the parts covered,” he says,
“but you're locked into the sequencer and it can be kind of a
drag. Plus singing with headphones on drives me nuts.”
Even if it's made the live experience more challenging, the
Mints have no qualms about deviating from the standard pop format.
“That was really Allan's vision; he gets the credit for
that,” admits Nunez. “When we first started playing
together, I was the one who kept saying, ‘How are we possibly
going to play with strings live?'” Over time, however, Nunez
has grown accustomed to the idea. “I went from being really
against it to really liking it — especially now that we have
a setup that works for us.”
Although Vest, by his own admission, would rather be
“writing songs at home than out playing a show,” Nunez
managed to convince his partner that road work can in fact promote
the creative process. “Allan is definitely more addicted to
the writing and the studio,” observes Nunez. “I am as
well, but I also love traveling around and playing live. I love to
just get a song to a certain level, then start playing it live
every night and watch it develop. Of course, that can be a very
dangerous way to go about it. But sometimes by just going out and
airing it onstage that way, you can at least get the core of the
song together so that when it's time to record, it may come a
little easier.”
David Simons is a New England-based music
journalist.
ESSENTIAL FACTS
Starlight Mints
Home base: Norman, Oklahoma
Recordings: The Dream That Stuff Was Made Of (SeeThru
Broadcasting, 2000)
Web site:
www.seethrubroadcasting.com
