Todd Fink loves a good tilt-a-wheel. He also loves minimalistic techno dance parties, Omaha and his shiny new Moog Voyager.
Obviously his job throwing killer shows across the country as The Faint’s vocalist and keyboard king isn’t too bad either.
Now on tour to promote the deluxe edition remastered release of their 2001 album Danse Macabre, The Faint has also decided to release the first new material that they have put out in four years on a four-song EP which is currently only available on vinyl at one of their 24 shows.
Known for genre defining albums that encompass a mix of electro dance rock, The Faint’s hypnotizing keyboard tantrums melt into lyrics that explore a future of mass consumption, twisted sexuality and corporate monotony.
Why did you choose to do Danse Macabre as a deluxe edition?
I think it’s the record that a lot of people recognize. The timing was right when that one came out and we did a lot of touring behind it, so for one reason or another more people know those songs and a lot of those songs are the songs that we play when we play live. This is the first time we are playing the whole album live, from start to finish. It’s just a celebration of the deluxe version coming out.
That album’s like 35 minutes long, right? What else can people expect to hear at the show?
Yeah. We just recorded a four-song EP just right before the tour, so we are going to be playing some songs from that, and we are going to be playing songs from Blank-Wave Arcade and Wet From Birth and Fasciinatiion. This is a longer set than we usually play.
How do you feel your new material has progressed?
They are kind of like pre-versions of songs that are still in development, but we chose to record it and put it on vinyl and bring it on tour. Since we put out the last record we took a lot of time off and did a lot of electronic music, DJed more parties than we normally would, and I think that comes through in the new stuff. But also it doesn’t really sound just more electronic, to me it sounds more rock. I don’t know how it can be more electronic and more rock, so I’m probably wrong in one way or another, but that’s how I hear it.
Any additions sound-wise in this new stuff?
Yeah I got a new Moog Voyager, all white, classic, analog setup which I’m really excited about, and which I’m playing on stage. Beautiful instrument.
Sweet. So are you guys back with Saddle Creek now?
Well they put out that record in the first place, so it makes sense for them to repress that record as well. We haven’t really thought much about record labels; This new music that we just recorded we didn’t even use a label, we just sent it off to the vinyl pressing plant the second we finished it, so it’s going to be white no distribution, no nothin’, you can only get at the merch table.
What’s going on with blank.wav records? Planning on doing any future album releases through it?
Not really. We put out Fasciinatiion on that label which is not really a record label, it’s just like were just putting it out ourselves because we didn’t really feel like we needed a record label. We could do that again I guess with this new 12 inch EP, we could write blank.wav records on it.
Yeah man, just grab a Sharpie, and you’re good to go. So I know you guys put on a lot of killer dance parties. Do you have a lot of dance parties yourselves, and what is your ideal music to dance party to?
Yeah we have a lot of dance parties in Omaha. We’ve got one party called Depressed Buttons and one party called Goo.
Sounds messy.
Yeah, it’s just kind of freaky, dress up, go crazy. Depressed Buttons is a little more techno-y, and Goo is more anything goes, electro-gimmicky stuff.
Cool. What’s your favorite thing to dance to in your underwear?
I like super arty minimal beat techno. But I know that’s not super popular with the rest of the world, especially the U.S., so usually I kind of split the difference when I DJ. I like to dance to some of the bands that are touring with us actually. We’ve got Icky Blossoms, they’re from Omaha as well, and they’re great.
You guys plan some pretty crazy shows. Anything in particular planned for this tour?
We do! We got a stage look. We are turning it out of the first time tonight (playing at Ogden Theatre in Denver), we’ll see how it goes. You’ll have to come out and come see.
For freakin’ sure. What have you guys been doing for the past four years?
I’ve lived in a couple different cities. L.A. and Athens, Georgia, and now I’m back in Omaha.
That’s where the whole band is based now?
We got a studio there and share the space with a band of bands. It’s a good place. Omaha is getting way better all the time, it’s crazy.
What’s your favorite ride at a fair? (Come on, what else do people in Nebraska do?)
(Without missing a beat) Tilt-a-whirl.
That’s pretty intense.
Yeah I got the stomach for that. I like the one that’s indoor with the lasers and loud music. It gets really dark in there. It is called the black hole actually, it’s an indoor tilt-a-whirl. If it were still there we would shoot a video there, it would be a sickening video. You’d throw up just from watching it.
Watch your shoes, kids. And check out the double-disk edition of Danse Macabre, which includes all remastered songs, bonus material and a fancy DVD.
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