Seriously not serious

Broncho’s Ryan Lindsey on the new record, touring, ambiguity of “Fantasy Boys”

Earlier this summer, Tulsa-based Broncho released Double Vanity, its third LP, which marked a noticeable shift for the band into slower, darker territory after the infectious garage pop of its first two records. After an early summer tour with Cage the Elephant, the band is preparing to hit the road with indie rock elders Guided By Voices, starting with a show at Cain’s Ballroom on August 13, followed by a European headlining tour in the winter. I spoke with frontman Ryan Lindsey about the band’s evolution, touring, and finding humor in unlikely places. 

THE TULSA VOICE: So the new album, Double Vanity, came out at the beginning of the summer and everyone’s making a big deal out of the sort of change in direction or pace, and I was curious how that’s been received so far, how the album’s going over and how the songs are going over live, specifically. 

RYAN LINDSEY: There’s two groups of people—there’s people that like the record and there’s people who were really confused by the record until they saw us play those songs, and saw that there’s an energy to them that corresponds to the energy of past records and past shows. I think even on our last records, they were more upbeat so they made sense live. It was easier to transition to live shows. But I still run into people who were like, “I don’t get your records, but I get your live show.” So it doesn’t really surprise me that—cause we think, when we record a record, we don’t really think about anything but that record, and when we play live, we think, “How do we play live?” So it really is two different things, which is probably bad business, but that’s not the type of businessmen we are. 

TTV: Was there a moment when you realized you were recording a slower record, and did you pause and wonder how it was going to be received?

RL: No, ‘cause it just made so much sense to me. I didn’t think about it. I kind of had an idea, but I didn’t know fully how we were gonna pull that off or how it was gonna make sense until we started the production part of it. Even though I write almost every song way slow, these songs in particular I just knew wouldn’t make sense sped up.

TTV: Were you torn on any song, tempo-wise, that you felt worked well both fast and slow?

RL: No, the nice thing is it was really obvious. The question was more like, how slow can we get away with? You know? There’s times where I hear the record and I think it’s so slow, and there’s times when I hear the record and wish it was slower. I’m day to day on tempos, but I like the world it ultimately sat in. I don’t want it faster. 

TTV: These three records seem to have an organic evolution that, in a way, parallels the evolution of punk rock through the ‘70s and ‘80s. ‘Cause you’ve got the first record, which is, classic, rowdy, garage punk, and then the second record evolves into almost a post-punk thing, where you get more into the Manchester sound or whatever, on certain songs, at least, and then this record feels fully immersed in the sort of shoegaze aesthetic— 

RL: I agree. It’s kind of the express train through the late ‘70s into the early ‘90s through the three records. We just tried to do that all within, like, five years. [Our first record was] a real shit record, you know. I always knew our first record was gonna be the record where we could just be a mess. And I knew we would go from there and start actually writing … to do something else, but that’s as much planning as—not even sure that’s planning, I just had an idea that it was gonna change from there. 

TTV: Are you guys working on your next record right now, or are you still sort of fully immersed in this one? 

RL: I’m still pretty immersed in this one, but I try to let songs happen, and there have been a few ideas that have been popping up, but I don’t really have a plan or anything. I would love to keep just making records once every year and a half, you know, tour, go record, go back out, tour. As long as we’ve got songs that I like, then that’s what I’ll do. 

TTV: What has the evolution of touring been like over the last several records? Are you starting to feel more comfortable on the road, or did you ever feel uncomfortable? 

RL: Nah. I always feel really comfortable. But there are tricks you learn the more you tour that make things easier as you go on. You kind of figure out what things work best with your body, you know. I know how I can stretch out my night and have the best day tomorrow. And then, playing shows every night, you learn so much. I remember the last record felt weird to play live, and now the songs feel so good, so it made me not even worry about the new record. Now I love playing the new songs; they make sense. We’ve figured out a nice flow, and how they fit in with the old stuff—it feels like a rounded out show now, as opposed to just three different personalities. Now it’s more like a time-lapse than three different people. My mom always had the picture frames of kindergarten through senior year. Senior year’s the big picture in the middle, you know, so we’re on third grade. Or, I guess second grade? Kindergarten, first, second. I like where we’re at. 

TTV: The tone and the lyrics of the new record feel more reflective and maybe a little melancholy and more concerned with interpersonal relationships, yet it seems like your live show has evolved in the opposite way, where you’re much more playful on stage now. Do you think about that dichotomy at all? 

RL: I think, live, I just wanted to throw a little bit more of a party, be a little bit more of a preacher. 

TTV: What about the album evolving into something a little bit more serious and somber?

RL: I don’t even think that everything was that serious, ‘til a conversation like this, and I think about the lyrics, and I’m like, Oh yeah, I guess [the songs] do seem that way. But I always thought that they were coming from that humorous take on real life. But they are serious. Lots of times that’s funny to me. You know, when things get real. Some of the best comedies are the ones that are really dry and real and it’s the tone that makes you crack up. 

TTV: What’s the funniest song on the new record to you? 

RL: I thought “Fantasy Boys” was pretty funny. 

TTV: It is. I’ve read at least one story where the writer was reading into that song as a sort of nod to sexual fluidity. But from what I’ve heard, it’s a nod to a fantasy basketball league?

RL: I mean, my official statement? Fantasy basketball is not as sexy as it being about a pansexual relationship. So I like that it can be that ambiguous. And I guess I like that if I’m talking about fantasy sports that it can be taken as though I’m talking about a homosexual relationship or a sexual relationship—and really all I’m talking about is making a couple trades and seeing who’s on the board, you know? Seeing who’s left on the board, like, “Hey, I’m just talking about who’s available, and you’re asking me if I’m fucking him or her or if they’re fucking?” That’s the beauty of it. 

TTV: How was that song written? 

RL: “Fantasy Boys” was the first song I really wrote for this record—“Highly Unintentional” and “Jenny Loves Jenae” were holdovers from the last record. And that was the central direction of the album for me. It’s the first one we started recording. 

TTV: The video for that song, for me, just sums up the whole record. It’s kind of hilarious but at the same time you can read it and appreciate it with a straight face. A lot of your songs are like that. 

RL: We’re really serious about them not being too serious. I think that’s the whole record for us. I’m glad you saw that in both the record and the video. Because that’s the way I want to make anything. It’s the way the first two records were made. I’m not afraid to make a point, even make a real serious point, but it’s a balancing act. And I think it’s the best way to take someone seriously, too. If someone is focusing way too much on one thing then you’re not going to trust that side of them. It’s like, well, of course, you’re looking for this. You’re looking for this emotion, you’re looking for this to happen or to not happen. So keeping things balanced—the right amount of tension or humor, or even anger—always comes out the most natural to me. I think that’s the way I try to do anything that has to do with the art world—taking it seriously enough for it to matter to me emotionally, because that’s the way I’ll stay invested, but also realizing it’s not the only thing in the world.

Guided by Voices w/ Broncho
Sat., August 13, Doors at 7 p.m. | Cain’s Ballroom | cainsballroom.com

For more from Joshua, read his article on Nico Albert, executive chef at MixCo.