Everyone is drawn to an anthem. Sometimes just knowing that a singed fingertip caused by prolonged lighter flailing was worth the three-and-a-half minutes of nostalgia with millions of concert-goers in an arena is enough to change the world. The Republic, a Britpop inspired four piece, has maintained a contagious bout of hope amidst a lifetime of Seattle gloom. Singer/guitarist Adam Finch, guitarist Jeff Gough, bassist Dave Myron and drummer Chris Gough are a hodgepodge of creative styles that aspire to make rock n' roll inspiring again with their latest record, "So They Ran." I catch up with Jeff Gough to discuss his influences, writing process and his fear of Big Bird.
What mental image would you like your listeners to conjure when listening to The Republic?
I want them to think of anthems, or things that they would be proud to sing or be a part of. 'Hope' is really big-at least that's what I think when I hear the more recent stuff we're writing, which is quite a bit different from the older stuff. I think hope is kind of what we try and aspire to offer, and so that image comes in terms of people singing something that they can believe in and what is actually good for them, as opposed to destructive lyrics. It's tough, because if you are too exclusively positive, if you try to force that, then it comes across cheesy. You can't be like, "Hey everyone! Let's all go and be happy!" We don't want to end up on Sesame Street...
So, hopefulness as optimism-just not overbearing.
Other bands, like U2 and Coldplay, have these anthems that people want to sing along with. It's great. I was at a U2 concert at the Key Arena in Seattle, and everyone was just singing along with everything they [the bands] had. I think Bono has a way of just making positive messages profound. It was just awesome to look around the arena and see all these people singing along to something that was actually healthy-that promoted a sense of unity and respect for each other.
Artists like Chris Martin and Bono are politically motivated, is that a path you see The Republic on? Do you have a political ideology in common?
It's not something that we're intentionally not going to do, but it isn't necessarily something we are going to do. We're not going to go out and find something in politics that pisses us off. Those [Bono and Chris Martin] are two of the people I respect most in music, especially Bono, and I think that he is much older and wiser than me. I think it would definitely come across as arrogant for a young band like us to say "Hey, we've got politics figured out and this is the way it should be." It's not our place to be at this point in the game to do that, but Bono has earned that right. It's got to have a natural flow; we've got to earn it.
You've had tremendous local support, especially with KEXP. How has the rise in popularity of internet radio made an impact on underground bands such as The Republic?
It actually does a lot. Out bass player, Dave, has a band account on My Space and people will come to shows that have only heard of us through My Space or KEXP-so it definitely creates interest where people are willing to take that next step to sign up for the mailing list or check out the website. It's definitely a positive thing-a medium that would be unwise for us not to take advantage of.
When it comes to booking gigs, how does The Republic fight for artistic integrity in a market saturated in beer and cover songs?
We try to have a quality over quantity approach. Our goal right now is to be playing one big show a month, as opposed to all week playing. If you have one big show, then it is a cool event and the more people that are there, the more fun they have and the more chemistry for us. We try to make our music and our shows as appealing as a cover show. We're happy to have people sing along and get involved in the music-but we don't want to spread ourselves too thin by playing shows every single week.
You've talked about marrying the chemistry between two different groups of songwriters within the band, is the process getting any easier?
It has come full circle in some respects. Adam and I used to write a bunch of songs in college together. Then when we hooked up with Chris and Dave, we tried to collaborate from point A and it just didn't work. We realized that the old method worked really well-that we [Adam and Jeff] should be teaming up to write songs together, then Chris and Dave add a whole new thing and really do a lot of writing musically to the songs once the idea is there. The process keeps changing. Our overall goal as a band is to continue to discover what our best writing method is, to connect with people, to continue how to play big shows and combat things like cover bands-it's definitely a process of discovery.
