Brendan Smith

Daily Egyptian

David Allen: what’s new with Nighty Night?

David Allen has sculpted his name in Carbondale’s music scene, namely as bassist for the local low-fi, fan favorite  Nighty Night.

Since its full formation in fall 2008, the band has traveled across the country, and members have in recent months spread out across the world. Allen talked candidly with the Daily Egyptian about Nighty Night’s album release, the group’s hiatus and his future musical endeavors.

Daily Egyptian: It’s been a while since fans have heard from Nighty Night. What has the band been up to?

David Allen: All kinds of things have happened! We went on hiatus last November, because Chris (Klarer, guitar/vocals) got a job that took him to Antarctica for six months. While he was gone, Mary (Stemperm, vocals) got a job teaching in South Korea, where she’ll be until March 2013. Chris is back now but is living in Oregon, Zach (Huskey, guitar/vocals) is in school at SIU and I have a studio where I record a lot of other bands and play in a few new bands with Marcus (Mader, drums).

DE: This is Nighty Night’s first full length album release. What was the process of making this record?

DA: We have really been working on it for the past few years. It has some early, unreleased recordings we made in 2010 at our homes. In the spring of 2011 we rented a cabin and recorded four songs on all analog equipment, using a tape machine and a lot of fx pedals. Then we did a tour over the summer of 2011 and at the end of it we spent a few days at a really cool analog studio in Chicago, where we recorded the final four songs. It was a long process of experimentation. There is a very specific sound we were trying to achieve, and we had to develop some unorthodox ways of recording to capture it. We did all of the recordings ourselves and everyone was really involved in the production. With five people and not a lot of money that takes a lot of time.

DE: Why is the album being released now?

DA: Because it is just now finally finished! Chris left pretty abruptly, so it took me a while after he left to finish mixing all of the recordings. We were still even working on it when Mary left for Korea. One song on the record, Gertrude, has vocals that Mary recorded in Korea and emailed to me. It took a long time to get the record pressed. It was sent for mastering in Chicago to Madison to have the lacquer cut. Then it went to Nashville, where the vinyl was pressed, and the covers were printed in New York. I wish we could have finished and released while we were still playing shows, but it just couldn’t happen. Having a 12″ record was always a dream of ours, and we’re really excited to finally have it coming out. I feel like it really captures what we were as a band, and it will be awesome to have such a physical document of that for years to come.

DE: Are you working on any new material together?

DA: Nope, we haven’t all been in the same place since November of last year. We’re planning a big party when we are all together again in March!

DE: When can fans expect to hear new music from Nighty Night?

DA: I’m not sure if we will ever play in that lineup or under that name again. I think we accomplished what we wanted to, especially with this record out.

DE: Are you working on anything independently or with other bands?

DA: Yes, Marcus and I play together in a new band called The Jewels. Chris has a new project called Little Egypt, which I play drums for sometimes. Mary and I have talked a lot about playing together when she comes back from Korea, and I’m sure Zach is writing lots of songs but he hasn’t shown anyone yet! He’s definitely one of the best songwriters I know, but he is secretive about it.

DE: What can we expect from the listening party?

DA: We will have the record available on Vinyl LP and CD, and we will Skype with Mary from Korea! Zach, Marcus and I will be DJing, mostly playing records that were really influential to Nighty Night. We’re also going to project a bunch of unseen crazy video we took on our first tour, which was of the West Coast in 2009. Marcus and I’s new band, The Jewels, will play a short set, and a really awesome local band called Wei Zhonlge will also play. They used to play with Nighty Night a lot, so it should feel like the closest thing to a show we could get! It will be a party.

DE: What do you have lined up for the rest of the year?

DA: Well, the release of this record has been a lot of work and I’ll be so glad for it to be over and I can relax! Haha. The Jewels are playing a lot of shows, and we’re about to begin recording our second record. Chris will be back in December, and I think we are going to start recording for his project right away, so those two things should  easily carry us into 2013.

Brendan Smith can be reached at [email protected] or 536-3311 ext. 248.