From Ethereal to Organic
By Josh Bashara

The Faint know how to make people dance. Since their breakout album in 2001, Danse Macabre, they’ve been attracting kids to concerts like moths to a flame. Everyone from emo-hipsters to eyeliner-caked goths have made it a point to throw The Faint’s unique brand of electro-pop-meets-indie in regular rotation in their CD players, not to mention packing clubs shoulder-to-shoulder.

Originally from Omaha, Neb., The Faint started playing small gigs in 1994 alongside other Omaha artists like Conor Oberst and Cursive. After initially releasing the short-lived Media and Blank Wave Arcade albums on Saddle Creek Records—although successful albums in their own right at the local level—The Faint decided to get a little extraordinary and combine classic 1980s-goth-synth sounds with very unique, modern elements.

Some people say it sounds like Marilyn Manson. Others call it a throwback to Duran Duran and Depeche Mode. Whatever the case, The Faint offered substance and style, and it was eaten up like bloody flesh in a shark pool.

In September, The Faint released their long-awaited follow-up to Danse Macabre. While still keeping their original sound intact, their new record, Wet From Birth, proves to be an evolution of sorts.

“I think it’s more diverse,” frontman Todd Baechle says. “The songs are a little more melodic and less cold, for the most part. There’s a more natural sound; it’s not as electronic as the first album.

“We used a real drum set this time around,” he says, as if it’s taboo. “We’ve even got an acoustic guitar in there—a lot of strings and that sort of stuff.”

Produced by Mike Mogis (of Bright Eyes), Wet From Birth’s album name comes from a few different unique aspects of life. “An interesting event was that Mike Mogis and his girlfriend, Jessica, had a baby during the middle of our recording,” Baechle says. “It was really cool to be that close to something like that—the making of a real person and all. [The baby] became sort of—well, I wouldn’t say mascot, but maybe theme music.

“I think we might have even thrown some samples of [the mom] crying on [the album],” he says, laughing. The official story behind the album name—as explained by Baechle on his Web site—is as follows: “The title actually comes from the song ‘Birth’ that I wrote about myself being born. ‘Wet from birth’ is also a play on the phrase ‘wet behind the ears,’ which is usually said of people who are naive or immature. We thought that this seemed to fit an album of genre-jumping and tongue-in-cheek lyrics.”

When asked why he and the band moved away from the whole synth-rock style on the new album, Baechle admits the band’s electronic influence spawned out of necessity rather than influence.

“That’s a weird thing, actually,” he says, “because I don’t think that we’re really as into keyboards as much as we just started our band and used keyboards to make interesting sound effects. When we did Blank Wave Arcade in 1998, I think we wanted to get away from the ‘all-guitar, indie rock’ feel. Eventually, we found that we could create a much wider range of music with keyboards instead of just guitars.”

And so it stands to reason that The Faint wouldn’t be pigeonholed as an electronic band on the new album; they are going to keep moving from style to style—whatever it takes to make the kind of music they want to make.

Perhaps the party most responsible for allowing The Faint to keep its artistic integrity is Saddle Creek, the band’s independent record label. “We’re happy with Saddle Creek and they do a really good job,” Baechle says. “They do everything the way we want it done. There’s no weird pressure to do things that we don’t want to do; it’s a really supportive environment.”

Despite Baechle’s loving relationship with Saddle Creek, he admits that the indie route is not without its faults. “The downside is that you’re not very rich,” he says, laughing. “But you have control over what happens with your band—how it’s advertised and marketed. You can pick out all the people who work for your band.

“It’s all a loan with the big record companies anyway,” he continues. “They’ll give you a bunch of money, but then they’ll do whatever it takes to sell the records until you’ve paid off your debt. Then you get a little percentage after that. With Saddle Creek, we split our profits. It helps the band and the label to get by on a lower level. I think it’s just whatever the band is comfortable with. We’re just lucky to have been a part of Saddle Creek [since the early days].”

And what advice does Baechle have for aspiring bands hoping to “make it” someday?

“Wow, I’m in a position to give advice now, huh?” he says with a smirk in his voice. “Buy nicer equipment than you think you need so you won’t need to replace it as fast. It’s cheaper [in the long run].

“I think that it’s important to have a complete sense of what you’re trying to get across live,” he adds. “Sometimes bands are so anxious to play live shows that their songs get rushed in the beginning. As our band has spent more time together, we spend more time on the details—making sure all the parts line up, no competing bass frequencies, confusing treble—that kind of stuff. They’re things that I never would have thought of when I was starting out. You should always feel like you could do it better.”