Maps & Atlases Interview

Releasing 4 Eps in 3 years, touring all around the world and being lauded for their technical
ability in Guitar Player magazine (2006) is no small feat. But then again Chicago Math Rock
collective Maps and Atlases are not a band content with small victories. Having just begun
the tour of their first Long-Play effort “Perch Patchwork”, I was able to catch up with
Guitarist Erin Elders to talk touring, thrash and Talking Heads. Unable to find the most
glorious of venues for an interview (The lights had blown in the tour bus we were sitting in),
I and Erin chatted about the tour thus far and the writing of “Perch Patchwork”. He said of
the critical reception of the album thus far: “Pretty good I think. I don’t always pay attention
but I think the reception over here’s been really welcoming.” As one would expect of a band
so self demanding on their technical abilities, Maps and Atlases are also a band heavily
demanding on their own tour schedules:“We’ve only done two shows here so far but we’ve
always been a band who loves to play-out and do that as much as possible”. Asking them of
the difference in writing styles between this album and the preceding Eps, Erin was quick to
express how the priority of the band to have songs “live ready” first had shifted in relation to
their most recent effort. “For the Eps we would write some songs and play them live until we
were ready. However for the album we had some rough ideas which we banged together and
recorded in the studio”.

This is not Maps and atlases first trip across the Atlantic, having supported contemporaries
Foals on a tour a couple of years back. “We rate Foals quite highly. Having toured with them
a couple of years ago they’ve become dear friends of ours.” Erin and I discussed further the
popularity of foals and the genuine increase in popularity of the math rock genre in more
mainstream music circles. “I feel that experimentation such as with bands like Foals has
found its way into contemporary music. Their most recent album was a lot less technical but I
would still rate it highly”

Forming at a college in Chicago in 2004 I asked Erin what had inspired him and the other 3
of his band mates to form Maps and Atlases. “None of us were studying or that involved with
music at the time. Both Chris (Drums) and I were studying film making, Dave
(Vocals/Guitar) was a cultural Studies major. There has always been a really great music
community in Chicago, I remember at the time going to a lot of shows and growing more
involved in gigs. ” Erin and I chatted further regarding inspirations toward forming a touring
band and he recalled experiences of punk rock gigs in Chicago. “There used to be this great
punk rock venue in Chicago called the Fire Side Bowl, when I first started going I was
thinking “Oh my god this is music, this is amazing, this is 300 sweaty kids jumping around.”
” In relation to bands in particular that may have inspired him, Erin Mentioned a local band at
the time called “Ghosts” whose Cap’n’Jazzesque guitar work had got him coming back to the
Fire Side Bowl, time and time again. “This band called Ghosts in particular who had these
two guitar players with great “weaving” lead parts”

Aware that the band had mentioned a couple of seminal math-rock bands in past interviews
such as Hella and Don Caballero I asked Erin how the nature of the bands’ influences had
changed since its inception. “When we first started out we were being exposed to a lot of that
stuff, definitely finding out about bands like Don Caballero and similar bands early on but
when you’re a touring band you listen to so much music on the road that it’s difficult to place
what becomes a lasting influence. I think our biggest influences have always been things like
Talking Heads or David Bowie”. He was surprised when I mentioned that David Byrne had
been born in Dumbarton, not all that far from where we conducted the interview.

In addition to Maps and Atlases, Erin Dave and Chris are involved in a number of side
projects such as Cast Spells (Singer Dave Davison’s Solo outlet), a thrash metal outfit called
Skullzone and art rock collective Hey!Tonal. “CastSpells is really kind of like the only
serious one out of all of our little side projects. Dave (Vocals/Guitar) has some other songs
that he likes to do from time to time. We’re all pretty involved in each other’s projects like
I’m recording some songs at the moment as well, and everyone’s playing on them. But Maps
and Atlases is main focus because we’re pretty busy with this most of the time.

As a closing question I asked Erin to plug any band he felt was not receiving the recognition
it deserved and needed the attention of our readers. “There’s this new band in Chicago that
I’m really excited about the moment called Gypsy Blood. They have a really cool vibe, a bit
like Echo and the Bunnymen. We just played with them in Boston and we all think they’re
absolutely fantastic.”

Maps and Atlases’ debut album “Perch Patchwork” was just released on Barsuk Records with
a long tour in support including the UK, The Netherlands and Ireland.