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Ladies and Gentlemen, the Most Secret Method....(crowd roar).
Out
of place as it may sound, I have always despised the laziness rock music
represents. Aside from excuses of the unemployed in the name of the art,
it seems that collaborations of large numbers of musicians (4 or more)
allow a little room for error and meandering to keep the quintet, sextet
(etc.) a unit during more complex portions of their work. The trio on
the other hand leaves no room for error as each instrument (you name it,
drums, horns, strings) and each player stands on stage (and in the studio)
naked. Their instrument and vocal output the only clothing within arms
reach.
Recently
celebrating a three-year anniversary (well, it came up in conversation
rather than being the catalyst for friends to get together around the
backyard barbecue for a huge anniversary bash), the threesome have challenged
themselves and won. Living through five grand tours in 36 months, the
band has just taken up a short hiatus following a recent tour of Europe.
A tour so wonderfully exasperating, so utterly exhausting, singer/guitarist
Marc Nelson decided to stay in France and wander around in search of meaning
in the absence of hectic tour living. "Marc hasn't had a vacation
in 6 years, and just wanted to relax for along time after our tour. I,
on the other hand, walked around DC. I couldn't wait to get home because
Europe was really stressful. I came back stressed and ended walking. Before
I knew it, I had walked the entire city of DC just saying "hi"
to everyone, Ryan intimates. Ryan Nelson's story is one of complexity and austere ease. He is a man of renaissance passions displayed in both the art that graces comics, posters, t-shirts and the Most Secret Method's every move, but also the stripped bare drum style he employs to throb-throb our spines. Across their three releases; "Blue"/"Perfect Plan" 7", split 10" with the Dusters, and their debut album Get Lovely, Ryan pilots a snare & bass drum kit propelling the unique sound juggernaut that is TMSM. Time has certainly been patient with the members of Most Secret Method. Before Get Lovely reached the critical acclaim from local and national press last year, stories of their upbringing were being written. During Marc's stint with (now semi-legendary) Fine Day, he attended college allowing the band to only tour once. That tour is now a legendary string of short stories between Marc, Ryan and Johanna. While acting as roadie for Fine Day, Marc joined forces with other roadies (Juan and Fred from Hoover) to form a fictitious band that went on to never practice, write a song, or open for Fine Day. Johanna and Marc crossed paths on this much-remembered tour. At the time of their meeting Johanna was playing for Lincoln (of the widely-owned Hoover/Lincoln split 7" fame). Marc would eventually finish school, move to Chicago to work at Southern, then on to Seattle, only to return to DC. Keeping their brotherly kinship alive with fax wars while Marc simultaneously worked at Southern and Ryan working at Southern-distributed, Dischord. Upon his return to Washington, DC (and to being known in Ryan's town, as "Ryan's Brother"), Marc and Johanna started writing songs as a duo, occasionally auditioning a drummer. Having stayed in DC the duration of Marc's absence, Ryan was watching his band Jury Rig come to an end. Ryan recalls, "It was funny when Marc asked me to play with them cuz they had all these songs written and they wanted to hear the songs with drums. One day I showed up to help out with just a kick, snare and hi-hat and we went through their songs. That was the end of it. When Jury Rig broke up I took a break and two days later I called Marc. It took me two days to recuperate from the end of one band before I missed it." After jamming together for a year, the duo of Marc and Johanna had yet to play: All the while Marc and Ryan had been making excuses for not joining forces, always wanting to play music together. A union that was broken since the early days of the brothers playing Judas Priest covers together under their parents roof. In speaking with Ryan, it became apparent that his brother was a large influence on his life and his approach to making music. Ryan reflected, "The first punk band I heard of was Minor Threat because Night Flight on USA played them, I wasn't into it then, cuz it was so intimidating. In 7th grade I started skating and listening to the first Maximum Rock-n-Roll compilation, we were cracking up listening to it since we were into playing classic rock stuff. Marc picked up his guitar and figured out Exploited songs while we cracked up laughing. It was really raw. I was in love with the really raw energy and Marc was still listening to stuff like Van Halen. When I got out of thrash punk and started listening to 7 Seconds and Minor Threat (8th grade), Marc drove me to see 7 Seconds. After the show we got the chance to walk up to Kevin Seconds and say "you are so great" and he replied "so are you" and it meant everything to me. The fact they were so approachable it changed everything. Marc wasn't into it that much at first but we share all the same ideals. Music doesn't have to be great, it just has to affect you." And you wonder why Marc stayed behind in France? "When we started the band we decided one person should do the booking so it wasn't so confusing, we all decided Marc was the most organized so he had the duty, he was all over it. He gets to pull his hair out the most, talking to people on the phone. He's out there by himself," Ryan admits. How does one afford to take their small punk rock outfit to Europe? "Slowdime paid for half, and we paid for half of the airline tickets. With the money we made from the tour we paid Slowdime back, but still owe Marc money. The US tours we finance ourselves, the money we make pays the phone bill that Marc uses to book the tour and then we pay the band back, its not like we are making the money that allows us to say hey let's buy pizza, there's always something crucial to spend the money on, Ryan intimated." In addition to piloting a stripped-down drumkit, Ryan has also been responsible for The Most Secret Method's graphic look. Ryan admits his art is in demand, "I am one of those guys that has a hard time saying no. I work my ass off for two days before a band leaves on tour cuz they said "dude we need a t-shirt." I recently did a t-shirt and a one-page comic, today I am supposed to do Juno's poster before they leave on tour. As far as my own comics, I have tons of ideas but something always comes up that needs to be done right away, I gotta learn to say no." The Most Secret Method isn't lazy on stage, nor behind the scenes. In addition to booking their own tours, touring, writing, graphics and dealing with finances, they managed to test the waters of record production in self-releasing their debut single. According to Ryan, "It was something we always wanted to do. Although I was working at Dischord for a while, we didn't want to use the Dischord name, not borrow money from Ian etc., so we put it out ourselves, but Dischord did help distribute them. We were always saying we could record something on 4-track and make it sound good. We recorded it ourselves on our 4-track cassette in the practice space, saved gobs of money recording it ourselves, and I listened to the single recently, and still like it." On top of that, the single sold out quickly. Not a bad effort at all. While
a distant concern, touring again is on the horizon. The Most Secret Method
loves to play live, they love to tour. According to Ryan, "We end
up making lots of friends on tour. I always sympathize with Marc though,
mostly cuz he's my brother and I care for him, but he takes on so much
work that we can help out with, but he just takes it on. It's amazing
to be in a band with him, he's one of those guitarists that knows intuitively
how to let a song breathe, and Johanna is the THE most amazing bass player
I have ever played with." |
Enter
the Most Secret Method, a trio. Comprised of DC-bred brothers Marc and
Ryan Nelson, and West Virginian Johanna Claasen, this collection of minds
and spirit further evidence the trio as the root of rock. The musical
equivalent to mathematica's prime number. Ironically, each member of The
Most Secret Method were born near the other, spent years apart musically,
and have once again gathered together to realize the union further establishing
truth in "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts."