With a sound floating comfortably somewhere between new wave and power pop, Vancouver-born Autogramm is a nonconformist when it comes to its musical influences and worldly fascinations. They’ve gotten this reputation through creative stage names, calling multiple cities (Vancouver, British Columbia, Seattle, and Chicago) home, and extensive experiences performing around the globe.
The group also has a close connection to the art, punk, and skateboarding communities in the places they’ve lived and traveled. They’ve played throughout Canada, Mexico, the U.S, the UK, and Europe.
Let’s introduce the band’s ranks: Jiffy Marx (Brooklyn’s Hard Drugs, Vancouver’s Night Court, and Blood Meridian) provides vocals, synths and guitars; CC Voltage (Berlin’s Dysnea Boys, London’s Loyalties, and Vancouver’s Black Halos and Spitfires) provides vocals, bass and guitars; Lars Von Seattle (Bread & Butter and The Catheters) provides guitars and vocals; The Silo (Vancouver’s Black Mountain, Lightning Dust, Destroyer and Chicago’s Spun Out) contributes vocals, drums, synths and guitars.
“In some ways our disparate collection of people and ideas makes us an outlier in all scenes — and I think that’s rad,” says The Silo. “We get to be exposed to different ideas all the time. If we can bring some disparate ideas together, and hopefully bring people together too, then we will have achieved something. You gotta look outside of your tiny island if you want to be inspired.”
They combined many of those disparate ideas into their latest album Music That Humans Can Play, which came out last month. The album, their first in over two years, was recorded at two studios in Vancouver during the heatwave of August 2022 in-between visits to the beach, barbecues, and a new baby for C.C. Voltage. They drew on influences such as The Cars, The Go-Go’s, Gary Numan, 20/20, and Devo, combining them and adding their own unique spin on things.
Prior to the band setting out to play shows in Vancouver, Washington, and Oregon later this month, Scummy Water Tower caught up with band members to discuss their sound, origin and why they liked the album’s title.
What’s the story behind the band’s name? Why do you think it’s fitting for the band’s music?
C.C. Voltage: It’s the German word for autograph, and since the band was kind of a result of us all being residents in Berlin at various times, a German word seemed like a good fit.
How did the band form? What brought everyone together? How has being from different cities most impacted the band’s music and approach to music?
The Silo: We formed when the three of us lived in Vancouver. C.C. had just moved back there from Berlin and Jiffy and I were already working on some music. C.C. also had a batch of music, so we just got together and formed a band based on these songs we all had kicking around. In 2020, I moved to Chicago and that’s when we started working more remotely. When we started to work on Music That Humans Can Play, we were talking about what we need to keep going as a live band and we all agreed, we need another person! That’s when Lars Von Seattle came into the picture, and when we truly became a multi city international band of mystery!
It’s been a challenge, but I don’t think it’s totally different from the way we worked before, sending demos back and forth! Music is like this for a lot of people, it seems, no matter if you live with the people you work with or not. The main thing is that we have to make sure to communicate well and of course we made lots of time to be in the same place to record the album!
Everyone has experience playing in other bands. How did that help with creating this band?
Jiffy Marx: We had all learned and were united by the same life hack where, at certain bars around the world, if you play 30-45 minutes of music, they will give you free drinks.
Lars Von Seattle: …and if you’re lucky, you might even get paid.
How would you describe the band’s sound? What makes it stand out from other new wave-type bands?
The Silo: I do think we end up sounding a bit different because we are a slightly inscrutable mix of sub genres of punk that not a lot of other bands synthesize. Most new wave or post punk bands I hear are very serious sounding, more goth-oriented (and I like that too!) but we have this light, slightly ridiculous quality that’s more informed by power pop and pop punk.
What are the band’s biggest musical influences?
Jiffy Marx: Airport bar margaritas and motels with pools. Oh wait ‘musical’ influence? Jimmy Buffet (R.I.P.)
Each of the band’s members have creative stage names. Can you tell me a little bit about why the band wanted to go that route and the backstories of the names?
C.C. Voltage: My name goes way back to when I was an electrician. C.C. being my real initials and voltage coming from the job I had working with electricity.
Jiffy Marx: Mine is a play on Jiffy Marker, which is a brand of Canadian permanent marker as well as the name of my pop-y skate punk band.
The Silo: I acquired my name back when I was playing in a band called Jerk With A Bomb, around the year 2000 —- I can’t totally remember why that became my name but it could have had something to do with the fact that I stood up while drumming…
Lars Von Seattle: I guess mine is like a goofy Misfits piss take? I think C.C. came up with it. A modicum of anonymity is kind of a modern luxury in an era of data mining and social media, so the stage names also allow for that alter ego to exist.
The new album is called Music That Humans Can Play. Why did you pick that title and how is it reflective of the album’s theme/the band’s goals for this album?
Lars Von Seattle: [Producer Joshua Wells] said that after we’d been playing a particularly choppy, robotic, goofy, very non-human sounding song that didn’t end up on the record. Like, “let’s try some music that humans can play?” I think the title is reflective of the band’s humorous but ultimately positive and inclusive message and feel.
The band recorded the album in Vancouver during a heatwave. What was that experience like? How did it impact the songs?
Lars Von Seattle: We were barbecuing, going to the beach, and having fun together hanging out in the heat, so hopefully that camaraderie and summer feel is there in the songs. Vancouver is a very nice place to be in the summer.
The Silo: I think it made it all looser and sweatier and I loved it because I’m perpetually cold!
What was your inspiration for the band’s song “WannaBe”? Why is that song’s theme important?
The Silo: I wrote the lyrics to this song while I was having abstract thoughts about the nature of love. I was thinking about the person I am in love with and how I would feel the same about them no matter what their physical presence was. I was also thinking about our society’s various dumb hang ups with regard to gender and body issues and wanted to say that we can be what we want to and accept those physical things as positive expression and love and celebrate people’s uniqueness; I wanted to offer my support for people to be who and what they want to be.
One of the songs is called “Plastic Punx.” What exactly is a plastic punx? What’s their ethos?
Jiffy Marx: Basically being in it for the fun of it as opposed to trying to be cool or popular. Like the song says “plastic Punx don’t give a %$#@;).”
What are you most looking forward to in the year ahead?
C.C. Voltage: We’ll be in Europe for the latter part of March. We’re really looking forward to that, and of course just being able to get out and play live again.
Joshua is co-founder of Scummy Water Tower. He’s freelanced for a variety of newspapers, magazines, and websites, including: Rolling Stone, The Boston Globe, Chicago Sun-Times, Guitar World, MTV News, Grammy.com, Chicago Magazine, Milwaukee Magazine, MKE Lifestyle, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, A.V. Club, SPIN, Alternative Press, Under the Radar, Paste, PopMatters, American Songwriter, and Relix. You can email him at josh@scummywatertower.com.
