Tinted Windows Keep It Simple

by: Paul Myers

Courtesy of TintedWindowsMusic.com When Tinted Windows, the new “power-pop supergroup” comprised of Adam Schlesinger, James Iha, Bun E. Carlos, and Taylor Hanson, officially “leaked” their song “Kind of a Girl” to the internet in February, the response was polarizing. Naturally, power-pop aficionados (such as myself) got it right away. After all, what’s not to love? Schlesinger hails from Ivy and the Fountains of Wayne, Iha wailed in Smashing Pumpkins, and Carlos has provided the thunderous Midwestern backbeat for Cheap Trick’s entire career. On the other hand, it appeared that, among the rock snob crowd, the main sticking point was Mr. Hanson, whom many only remembered as the longhaired, pretty boy singing lead on “MMMbop” on MTV over 12 years ago. Judging by some of the snarky comments posted on the Rolling Stone website, there were plenty of haters out there.

Speaking over the phone shortly after the band’s live debut at Austin’s SXSW, however, Schlesinger is frankly baffled by the thought of any enmity toward the talented Mr. Hanson.

“I guess people that haven’t heard him for a long time are gonna be surprised,” says Schlesinger, “but most people I talk to automatically assume he’s awesome. I don’t think anybody ever really questioned that he was talented. Even when he was younger, it was kind of obvious to everyone that he was an incredibly gifted singer and a great musician. Conceptually, maybe for some people, it may seem strange to have somebody from the Pumpkins and somebody from Hanson playing together because, in the mid-’90s, that just seemed like two different universes. In reality, it’s not. Now, it’s just a bunch of guys that have some overlapping tastes in music that wanted to do something together.”

Tinted Windows are proud progenitors of perfect power pop, with no apologies.

“We wanted this to be a really blaring power-pop record,” declares Schlesinger, “but the ‘power’ part of it is really important for us, you know? There’s actually a lot of stuff on the radio now—All-American Rejects or even Fall Out Boy—that, by some definition, you could call power pop. Green Day even have kind of a power-pop attitude, dressed up more punk rock, and whoever writes Kelly Clarkson’s hits obviously listened to a lot of power pop. So in a weird way, power pop is kind of having a moment.”

Schlesinger remembers the moment he met Hanson in 1996 via Steve Greenberg, Hanson’s then-A&R man at Mercury Records, who now heads Tinted Windows’ label, S-Curve. The two kicked around some unfinished musical ideas, made friends, and split, vowing to keep in touch. Talk of Tinted Windows didn’t really get going in earnest until Schlesinger accepted an invitation to participate in Hanson’s annual songwriter’s retreat, Fool’s Banquet, in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

“A bunch of different writers,” says Schlesinger, “come and hang out for a week and work with each other. I thought that would be a good time for Taylor and I to maybe try and come up with a song. We wrote one of these songs, ‘Take Me Back’, started talking about doing this project, then dispersed. We wrote the rest later.”

Back in New York, Schlesinger enlisted guitarist Iha, his friend and frequent collaborator.

“James,” observes Schlesinger, “is a little bit like me in that he likes a lot of different kinds of music, not just power pop. He’s a guitar player, so obviously he likes guitar records, but his record collection is really diverse as well. But he’s also done electronic remixes for bands, and I’ve heard him work on really quiet, folky stuff. I think in this context he just really liked the idea of Tinted Windows; it just seemed like an idea that was really gonna work as soon as we talked about it.”

The genius move of adding Bun E. Carlos to the rhythm section may have seemed obvious in hindsight but, according to Schlesinger, it was only after a period of trial and error, including some “embryonic sketching” with actor (and former Phantom Planet drummer) Jason Schwartzman that the band finally summoned the nerve to ask Carlos himself.

“Early on,” admits Schlesinger, “Jason put down some drum tracks, but soon went back to his life as a movie star, which I kind of understand! [Laughs] Then, we were trying to think of people who could cop a Bun E. Carlos style. At some point, we thought we should actually see if Bun E. was into it himself.”

Carlos, as it turned out, was ready, willing, and entirely able to answer the call.

“They write great songs,” enthuses Carlos over the phone from his Illinois home, “so when I got the call, I just said, ‘Send me the tunes!’ Then, when I got them, it was like ‘Yeah, I’m in. No problem!’”

Carlos ended up overdubbing all of his drum tracks quite late in the recording process.

“I went in last June and tracked it,” says Carlos. “We did, like, 13 tracks. It was kind of like a Benjamin Button thing, like a band in reverse. We made the record, then we got the record deal and booked a few dates, like the SXSW thing. The songs are all real good pop/rock songs, so it’s a gas to finally get together and play them as a band.”

“The truth of it is,” declares Schlesinger, “when you think of power-pop drumming, Bun E. Carlos is the first guy that comes to mind. It’s been just amazing playing these live shows with him because he just hits so incredibly hard and just gives the band this automatic energy. And speaking as a bass player, it’s just so much fun to play with him because it’s just so driving from beginning to end.”

According to Schlesinger, all the songs on Tinted Windows adhere to the KISS rule: Keep It Simple, Stupid.

“We talked about that a lot,” says Schlesinger, “just two guitars, bass, and drums, and no keyboards at all. That last part was kind of a big decision, because Taylor and I are both keyboard players, so our instinct is to take out a keyboard and start adding stuff, or to have one piano song or whatever. But we just decided that we really wanted it to be a guitar record with kind of strict boundaries. We wanted it to sound exciting, loud, and upbeat, like a rock band should!”

Listen:Various Tracks [at myspace.com]

Tags:Tinted Windows, Hanson, Fountains of Wayne, Smashing Pumpkins, Cheap Trick