Jennicakes' Interview with Dan of Solyoni!

Jennicakes' Interview with Dan Lurie of Solyoni and Velvet Falllopian Tube

They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, and I'm sure the same is true with CDs, but as soon as I saw the cover art for Solyoni's The Princess Market, I knew I wanted to listen to it, and I knew I wanted to talk to at least one of the guys behind both the album art and the music.

Thankfully, Dan Lurie was not only interested in talking about his band, Solyoni, and Velvet Fallopian Tube Records, he was nice enough to download AIM so he could do so. Yay, Dan! Let's all repay this kindness by buying lots of Solyoni CDs! They are currently even on sale!

Hi Dan! Let me know when you are ready to talk to The Sampler!

I'm ready. Nice timing.

Haha, I'm prompt. Ok, so, we haven't had a musical contribution in a pretty long time! How did you hear about The Sampler?

My girlfriend actually contributed recently. She sent in some stuff from her crafty enterprise Antelope Baby Industries, and she suggested I send in some CDs. It seemed like a great way to spread the music to folks who might be interested in our sounds.

Her stuff is awesome! I wrote a Samplergram about it. Now I am interviewing you. You guys are a Sampler celebrity couple, I guess!

Yes. A Sampler super couple.

I liked how LostAtSea.net said "This is Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol through electric guitars." Are you guys actually influenced by pop art at all?

I'd say we're more influenced by pop culture and just the general every day goings ons. We tend to grab hold of little phrases that keep popping up, or personal experiences we find slightly amusing, and then we form songs around those things.

I noticed that in your lyrics - they have this way of presenting everyday things in a way that makes them seem really large. But at the same time, still familiar. You mention Honey Brown in both a song and your liner notes. Is it because it's the most slightly amusing beer?

Yeah. actually my friend Brian, who lived in the dorm room next to me freshman year in college, always drank Honey Brown in his room and watched Steelers games, so that memory popped in my head and I referenced it in the song.

Oh man, the Steelers too? I think I want to be friends with Brian.

Sorry. He's getting married in Vegas in October.

It's ok, I already found a Steeler fan to marry. But it sounds like he knows how to party!

But yeah, we definitely get a little abstract with our lyrics. We like to mask things a bit so it's not too straightforward, even though we're trying to tell stories.

Since I'm only getting a chance to talk to you, can you tell me a little bit about the other members of Solyoni?

Ok, well I share songwriting duties with Dominic Aulisio. He's kind of the poet of the group. We met in college at Ohio University and have pretty much been a creative duo ever since. Most of the other members also went to Ohio University, and I met up with them when they all moved to Seattle in the early 2000s. It turned out they were all talented musicians, so we started messing around trying to flesh out some of this Solyoni material.

Aaron Semer, who produces all the albums has been a great help to us with his creativity, and his ability to both play and record. He also fronts a band in Seattle called The Plains. Jon Kilian plays drums on the album, and Chris Pierson plays bass. All those guys went to Ohio University and we're all real good friends. The other guitarists are Jose Sandoval and my brother Robert (who I've known since birth).

So, contrary to to the cover art, you are not actually old guys in ties?

Yeah. We're not the old guys. I actually stole those likenesses from a 1970s brochure for the Seattle Lighting sales staff. I worked at Seattle Lighting for a year, and that pamphlet was on the bulletin board, so I snagged it and plastered those faces on our cover art and t-shirts.

It's really amazing. Do you make other stuff besides album art?

Most of my design efforts have been music-related the past handful of years. Just a lot of album covers, posters, and websites, actually for all the bands in our collective. Each of the band members have their own projects as well, so I try to help them out with design stuff in exchange for their efforts in Solyoni.

Is your collective Velvet Fallopian Tube?

I suppose it is. Velvet Fallopian Tube is a big umbrella, or tube if you will, that contains all the projects, at least all the projects that Dominic and I have worked on over the years. And recently we also started helping our friends with their releases as well. For instance we put out an album by Chris and Jon's band, Calmer Than You Are. So yeah, there's a lot of stuff going on under that moniker.

We're also working on some exciting stuff with my brother right now.

Yeah? Is it a secret, or can you give us a spoiler?

Well, the one project actually is a secret. It's a cover album that involves a band we fell in love with when we were younger. I can't give too much away right now. But it's going to be at least a 3-disc effort, and we're recording it on dueling TASCAM 8 track recorders. Sending tapes back and forth between Arizona and Portland.

I wish I could say more, but I'm sworn to secrecy. You'll definitely get copies when it's done, whenever that will be!

Yay! We can't wait!

I can't wait either. Apparently my bro has already finished 6 songs, but I haven't heard a lick.

I hope you like them when you hear them!

Thanks so much for talking to us about your handcrafted music!

No problem. I'm glad you're enjoying the tunes. And I hope the Sampler subscribers enjoy them as well!

I'm sure they will!

Remember folks: We made this music for you, yes, you.

Thanks again, Dan!

OK. Thanks, Jennicakes!