Q + A: Erin Enders of Maps & Atlases

In 2006, the Chicago based rock group Maps & Atlases self-released their first EP “Tree, Swallows, Houses” and since then their unique, experimental sound has garnered quite a following. After being signed by Barsuk Records in June, they released their first full length studio album entitled “Perch Patchwork.” They’ve been touring the US behind the album, and recently stopped by Northeastern University to play a free show hosted by Tastemakers, NU’s independent music magazine.

On Saturday, October 2nd, Maps & Atlases played with Good Old War and Gypsyblood at the Northeastern Centennial Common. Although it wasn’t scheduled into their tour, the band found time before they headed off to Europe to play for an excited college crowd. The Quad was lucky enough to speak with guitarist Erin Elders before the show.

Quad: Hey Erin, thanks so much for talking with us!
Erin Elders: Thanks for spending some time with me.

Of course. So you have a show later today at Northeastern; how did you get connected with Tastemakers?
Um, I’m not sure, it’s a little hazy [laughs]. I met a couple of the people there the last time we played in Boston, at the Middle East, but I think that they had come to see us a few times before and they just kinda asked us to do the show. We love Boston so we were like, ‘Of course! We’d love to.’

That’s awesome, because I noticed that it wasn’t on your tour dates, so that’s cool that it could fit in.
Yeah totally. We leave for a UK/Europe tour soon, we’re flying out on Tuesday, so we were just really happy that we could squeeze it in a trip to Boston real quick.

And where are you going in your European tour?
We’re doing a bunch of dates in the UK, like right when we get in, and then I think we’re doing Paris, four dates in Germany, and then Amsterdam and then we go to Dublin and kind of end there. There’s a bunch of dates in between, but I’m like the worst one out of our band to know what’s going on [laughs].

Have you ever toured in Europe before?
We did a pretty extensive UK tour a couple years ago with out friends from there called Foals who just asked us to come out and play some shows. And then because of that we were able to book some shows easier. We played Pairs and Belgium and Luxembourg but that was the extent of the European places.

Where are you most excited to go now?
I’m actually really excited to go to Ireland. I guess because we went to the UK before and we really only got to go to London, Brighton and a couple other places.

That’s exciting. And how’s your tour been so far for the US?
It’s been great. It was pretty extensive over the summer, like we did almost the whole US, it was a good five and a half week tour. And then we’ve sort of been home for September but we’ve ended up doing either a festival or a college show each week.
So now, you know, it’s like our vacation time is done and we’ve got to get back to work.

So you guys have been labeled as ‘math rock’ before. What exactly is that, or how would you classify yourselves?
I guess that’s an interesting one, because that’s definitely a label that we’ve gotten a lot. And I guess it sort of makes sense, you know math rock is sort of a style of music that’s a little more angular, a little more complex, like a lot of time’s it’s rock music that has a lot of time signature changes or the musicianship is sort of complex. But I guess we’ve never really thought of ourselves as a math rock band. We sort of try to write pop-ier songs that people can kind of just have fun listening to, and I think, you know, that are also a little challenging, but if someone’s really into math rock and finds out about our band because of that then we’re fine with that.

Yeah I don’t think that’s the first term that would come into my head.
Well I’m glad then [laughs].

But you definitely have a unique sound. How did that develop? It’s pretty unusual so what influences did you have to get there?
Well when we first started playing together, we all grew up playing music for most of our lives and I think when we all got together it was kind of like: stick four guys in a room and play. So our first EP, “Tree, Swallows, Houses,” was just all us getting in a room and jamming and experimenting. So our earlier stuff was really high energy I think. Everyone just freaking out, playing at the same time– and then from there we were like okay, let’s try to frame this in an actual song that people can listen to [laughs]. And so with “You and Me and the Mountain” and then “Perch Patchwork” being a continuation, it was just us trying to start with an almost complete song idea and then taking it apart and putting it back together, and then layering.

And “Perch Patchwork” is your first full-length album on a label, so how was the process of recording that? Was it any different from your self released EPs?
Yeah, the process was pretty different for us. With the EPs it was kind of like a documentation of where the songs were in a live setting. We’d write the songs and then go and play them live for a while and then say okay, we feel really good about these, let’s go and record. And then it’d be really high energy; we recorded pretty quickly. And then for “Perch Patchwork” we had the skeletons of the songs and then we just decided to go into the recording process and figure everything out while we were doing it, so it took a lot longer but it also allowed us to do a lot of things that we hadn’t gotten to do previously. It was the first time we had gotten to experiment with different instrumentation, and you know there’s cellos, violins, and a bunch of horns on the record.

Yeah I noticed that, I really like that.
Thanks! It was just like, whatever happens I really want some clarinets on this record. It allowed us to have our high school band geek just come out a little bit.

Is that something you want to continue on records in the future?
Yeah, I think it’s definitely something that was really just a springing forth, you know, we could write guitar parts and then have them be played by something totally different. It spans your sonic capabilities when you’re making a record. And hopefully we’ll come up with something new for the new record.

So are there any plans for a new record soon? Because you’re touring for this one pretty extensively.
Yeah, I think we’re pretty much touring the rest of the year. I’m assuming we’re going to be pretty much touring for the next two years, but I think we have most of the winter of and we’re from Chicago so it’ll be pretty brutal. I’m sure we’ll hole up somewhere and try to write some new songs. Maybe an EP in the spring.

Do you enjoy touring, like do you have fun on the road or does it just get pretty tiring?
Both [laughs]. The answer’s yes. I think touring is definitely fun and what’s exciting about it is that each tour is a totally different experience. It’s a whole different set of bands on the tour and the shows are at different places. It’s sort of like having a different family each tour.

So what’s the best part of your job basically, whether touring or recording?
Really the exciting thing is getting to make records and really the creative process, to have a lifestyle where you sort of make this living, sort of, making music. And touring is a part of it. Obviously performing is really exciting. Sometimes touring can be pretty grueling, but its worth it when the shows really good and people really connect to the music you make. That’s the really exciting part.

Have you noticed a big change in the crowd since you’ve released a full length, studio album?
Yeah, it’s been really exciting to see the audience expand a bit, you know, not be primarily made up of music dudes [laughs], someone who’s not like a total guitar nerd. It’s like ‘oh, people are at the shows, this is great.’

I actually saw you open up for Frightened Rabbit at the paradise in Boston. That was so good, and my friends and I especially enjoyed your bassist’s dance moves.
Oh yeah, thanks so much. And yeah Shiraz [Dada] has really stepped it up a notch last year.

It was very entertaining. So you all met in college, right?
Yeah, well Chris [Hainey] and I actually went to high school together and then both migrated to Chicago to go to school and then that’s where we met Dave [Davison] and Shiraz.

Did you and Chris have any early projects together before college?
I mean, we had the typical high school terrible band, none which really did anything, just kind of messing around. But yeah we played music together before and then actually both of us were studying film so I wasn’t making music at all and he wasn’t really either, and then one day we decided to start writing songs, you know, and then this happened [laughs].

That’s awesome. Is there any interesting story behind the name Maps and Atlases?
I don’t know if its really interesting. There used to be this old advertisement painted on the side of this old building in Chicago, this sort of publishing company where the ad said something like ‘the city’s biggest publisher of maps and atlases,’ something where ‘maps and atlases’ was in a really big font. And with the way we were writing songs it just felt very fitting, so we kind of stole it.

Do you have any interesting rituals or anything you do backstage, before you perform?
I mean, besides the usual holding hands and singing all together [laughs], no not really. I think everyone kind of goes and does their own thing and then we all someone make it on stage. I won’t see Dave for like hours and then all of a sudden I’m like ‘well I hope he’s somewhere close because we’re supposed to play in 5 minutes.’ And somehow miraculously every time, there he is.

Are you all living in Chicago now?
Yeah, we all pretty much live in the Logan Square area, so we’re all pretty close. We can’t get too far from each other, I mean I don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t walk over to Dave’s house everyday.

One last question: would you say that you had a favorite album of all time?
This is a tough one, I feel like it sort of changes every year or so, I’m like no this is it, this is the one. I mean I’ve always been a really big fan of Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks,” that’s a record that for most of my life I’ve gone back to, it’s definitely one of them. I’ve also really into The Byrds’s “Sweetheart of the Rodeo.” I think it’s easier to do a top five or something but I’d say between those to its a pretty good top pick for me.

Alright, thanks so much for talking with us. Good luck with the rest of your tour!
Yeah thanks!