Band Spotlight: A Great Big Pile of Leaves

A Great Big Pile of Leaves is an three-piece indie rock band from Brooklyn who have been quietly making a name for themselves. After releasing 2 EPs (both of which have been downloaded over 6,000 times) the band put out their full length Have You Seen My Prefontal Cortex? to rave reviews. Now the band is set to reach a bigger audience when they tour with Say Anything, Motion City Soundtrack and Saves The Day this fall. I had the chance to speak with drummer Tyler Soucy, bassist Tucker Yaro and guitarist/vocalist Pete Weiland about the band's formation, latest album and upcoming tour.

1) How did the band form?

Tyler: Pete and I met through mutual friends a few years back.  He joined the band I was in at that time for our last tour, and when we got back home he and I decided to start writing and recording some of our own material. The first song we wrote and recorded together was "Mystery of the Brain" and we were pretty excited about what was going on, so we kept with it, and the band slowly evolved into what it is today. Tucker joined in a few months after we released the 2nd EP and we started playing shows and writing for the full length.

Pete:  Yeah I think we met at recreational soccer practice.  From there we developed some decent work dynamics and decided to continue the success of the "blue" team to another venue, that being the band.

2) Who came up with the band's name?

Tyler: I'll give Pete all of the credit there.  It was one of the first names he had suggested, and I fought it for a while, and then after the 100th terrible suggestion, we came back to it. I'm pretty much in love with the idea of the name today. 

3) What are the some of the band's influences?

Tyler: We have a pretty eclectic taste in music. As of right now though, I've only been listening to Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin and Piebald.

Tucker: I enjoy a really broad range of music, so when I sit down to compose bass parts and ideas bubble up to the surface it's hard to tell from where they came. A lot of my decisions are informed by my favorite music which ranges from Michael Jackson to Sufjan Stevens to Good Old War. For this album I also really studied the bass lines that Pete wrote on the two EPs. Sometimes I would play something and think to myself, that was a Pete thing to do. Other ideas I'm grabbing from somewhere else. 

Pete:  Andrew Bird is influencing me at this very moment.  Also, last night we did a photo shoot and I ollied over Tyler and Tucker and fell on my face.  That was pretty influential.

4) Describe the band's live show.

Tyler: We've only played about 10 shows to date, but we're pretty obsessive about sounding great live.  Our practice to show ratio is probably about 20 to 1. We're definitely getting into the swing of things though, we rehearse as much as possible and when we get on stage we just like to have a good time and I think that translates to the crowd pretty well.

Tucker: I can tell you from the stage that it's always really fun.

Pete:  Oh yeah we have a great time. 

5) What was the recording process for the new album?

Tyler: Going into this record all we really knew is that we wanted it to be great, which I guess is a pretty obvious statement. We took away any time constraints, which helped us make the record we really wanted to make.  We focused on getting the sounds and the takes that we wanted.  Each of us took turns engineering the record, and we produced, mixed and mastered it on our own. This is the process we've taken since the beginning, and we tend to write the meat of the songs as we record them, which I think is a rather large advantage since we were able to try anything that was in our heads.

Pete:  Recording the album was such a great time, and definitely one of my favorite parts of this whole process.  We would go out to breakfast, play mini golf in the kitchen, drink coffee (Tucker and myself, Tyler's only into energy drinks), eat burritos and/or sushi, drink more coffee (for some reason drinking coffee makes you think you're being productive), find more ways to procrastinate, then finally reach the late hours of the night and begin to record.  We have a laid back, more natural way of doing this, and I think it has been advantageous for us.  I think the best end result comes from truly enjoying the process of something, and that's something we've been able to do.  Everyone brings something great and different to the table also.  We work together and have a great time.

6) What's the meaning behind the album's name?

Tyler: Pete likes really long titles.

Pete:  I feel like growing up, I was missing that part of my brain (the prefrontal cortex).

7) How does this new release compare to the band's previous material?

Tyler: It's the first record we did with Tucker, and I think our songwriting and recording abilities improved from the prior releases.

Tucker: I think HYSMPC is a lot more streamlined in terms of songwriting. It was awesome to sit with the record for a long time and try wacky ideas. One wacky idea that we still need to try is adding a whole brass band to Aligator bop. 

8) What are some local bands that you're into right now?

Tyler: I've been into the band Bear Hands for a little while now, they're from Brooklyn.

Tucker: I really enjoy The Pimps of Joytime and Veveritse. 

Pete:  I'm into silly bands.  Right now I'm rocking the green rhino, or maybe it's a bear.

9) How did the band wind up on the Motion City Soundtrack/Say Anything tour?

Tyler: Jesse from Motion City is a good friend of mine, and he was really into the record. Things lined up and we got on the tour. It worked out pretty well to say the least.

Tucker: I have no idea, I'm so grateful that it worked out. It was something that we were all dreaming about just a few months ago. It's kinda like Rookie of the Year. Pete broke his leg trying to jump over an El Camino on a skateboard and when his leg healed he was really good at singing and playing guitar...or something like that.   

Pete:  I still think someone's playing a joke on us.

10) Are there any bands that you'd like to tour with in the future?

Tyler: All of them.  We're planning on being pretty busy next year, but we would love to be able to go out with bands like Minus the Bear, Someone Still Love You Boris Yeltsin, Fun, Person L, Band of Horses...etc.  I'm sure this list could go on for far longer than anyone would care to see. 

Pete:  Yes, so many that it's hard to narrow them down.  Maybe Lady Gaga or something.  Someone fresh and flashy.

11) What's next for the band after the tour?

Tyler:  We have some other stuff in the works for December, but hopefully a lot of touring in 2011 and then tracking a new record that winter. 

Pete:  Write all the time, travel and play lots of shows, watch "The Office" over and over, listen to AC/DC, and have a great time.  Maybe a little hard work as well.

Catch A Great Big Pile of Leaves on tour with Say Anything, Motion City Soundtrack and Saves The Day this fall!

November 5th- Starland Ballroom (Buy tickets)

November 9th- Best Buy Theatre (formerly Nokia Theatre) (Buy tickets)

Comments

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they sound promising. going to check them out more later.