By Austin Kaus
Casey Crawford and Alicia Bower are many things. They’re a creative couple. They share a house that’s covered in music posters. They’re polite Midwestern people that offer you homemade hummus when you go to their house. They’re thinking about getting a dog. But when they take the stage, they become The Love Technicians, an eclectic electronic indie combo that with a solid dance sound and hooks that will stick with you like garlic after a delicious pizza. To prepare for the July 25th release of their first full-length album “Crystal Math,” the South Dakota natives sat down for questions on the challenges of writing music as a couple, influences, and what’s next for The Love Technicians.
AK: Tell me about “Crystal Math.”
LT: We’re a two piece electronic pop band and “Crystal Math” is a collection of songs we’ve been working on for a few years now. We always wanted to release an album and we always wanted to name it “Crystal Math.” To us, the title invokes a kind of sugary, electronic pop imagery, which is what we’re going for with the band’s sound – you’ve got the math in all the preprogramming of the synth instruments, and the crystal is hopefully the sugary part – and it’s also sort of play on words, which we’ve always loved.
AK: How is it different from crystal meth?
LT: Hopefully, like crystal meth, it’ll be wildly popular in the Midwest but cheaper. “Crystal Math” is only $5. No one will die from this.
AK: What led to this full-length release?
LT: We have been working on writing songs for the last few years and the sounds have evolved into more of a collaboration than past efforts. It was really 50/50 on these songs. We’ve lived in Omaha for 7 years and now we are moving away, so we wanted to document where we were at musically during this time before moving onto the next thing. We’ve gone from busking on the street in Sioux City to playing the bigger clubs in Omaha. It’s 8 songs (the only 8 songs we have), but we love them all and worked very hard on them. So, we wanted to share them in a more tangible format than just the live show and we wanted to document our progression as musicians.
AK: Are you releasing it independently?
LT: Yes. Our friend John Klemmensen – who plays in John Klemmensen and the Party – offered to record the songs. He is a full-time musician and a staple of the Omaha music scene. He was really one of our first fans and championed the band. We couldn’t think of anyone we would rather have record us.
AK: How do you think the finished album compares with your original concept?
LT: We really just wanted a snapshot of how the sound had evolved to this point. We believe that each song we have written is better than the previous one because we are really learning as we go. With each song, we learn more about our talents and abilities, how they can complement one another, and about the song-writing process in general. Our naivety as musicians has been something we’ve embraced and it’s also allowed us to have an anything goes approach to our ideas. In this sense, the music isn’t incredibly technically, but there’s a beauty in the simplicity of it. We wanted to see if we could write hooks, or something maybe someone would call hooks. There is a lot of music (especially in this town) that is technically brilliant, but it’s not that catchy.
We love Madonna almost as much as we love bands like Pavement, and there’s a good amount of both in what we’re trying to do.
We also wanted every song to have an individualized quality, kind of like a Yo La Tengo record, where each one is so different and good, but the record is also cohesive. Also, we finally had written enough material to make an album, and we are just getting ready to move to another phase of our lives, so it seemed like a good time to put it out – kind of as an end cap to what we accomplished during our Omaha musical venture. In that sense, I think the result really matches onto the goal – we didn’t want a really polished product. We wanted an accurate representation of what we’ve been doing the last couple years, and John helped us to remain true to the goals of the project.
AK: How did the band come together?
We were in a band at USD called The Larrys – we played one gig at Chalky’s before disbanding – and, interestingly, The Larrys line-up is almost identical to the live Love Technicians line-up. (Live drummer) Brad Menage and Alicia Bower met up first and started the Larrys with Matt Rhodes. Casey joined the project a little later. Then, we started going out, and the band broke up. After graduating from college, Brad, Casey, and Alicia were all living in Omaha, and we needed a live drummer, so it just organically came back together. Neither one of us has had much experience working with drummers, so we figured Brad would have the patience to work with us.
AK: What’s your history with South Dakota?
LT: Casey is from Gettysburg. He has a real love/hate relationship with South Dakota. Alicia grew up in South Sioux City, Nebraska. We both went to USD during the early 2000s. We moved to Omaha a few years after graduating. Alicia loves visiting South Dakota for vacations.
Occasionally, Casey will come back to visit his parents and dig for record albums in the basements of antique stores.
AK: What are the challenges of being a couple in a band together? Advantages? Disadvantages?
The advantages and disadvantages of being in a band with your significant other are really two sides of the same coin. You are pretty comfortable and honest with one another about whether the song is heading in a good direction or whether a part needs work. You are also readily available to work on things together. You’re also so familiar with each other, knowing the strengths and weaknesses and how each other works. However, sometimes the familiarity can be implosive – it’s easy to take criticism too personally. Also, sometimes the similar perspectives can hinder idea generation and the progression of songs, so we sometimes have to walk away from songs for a while to gain a new perspective or new insight. The best thing about it though is it’s something you love doing and you get to do it together. I think you can hear how much fun we are having when you listen to the songs.
AK: Who are your influences?
LT: Yo La Tengo, Jesus and Mary Chain, Joy Division, New Order, the Cure, Radiohead, Arcade Fire, My Bloody Valentine … We usually start out writing a song that we think sounds like these bands and then by the time it’s finished, it’s more of a Love Techs song than anything else.
“Vacilando” by The Love Technicians
AK: What do you do when you’re not making music?
LT: Casey is attempting to become a standup comedian. He is moving to Austin, Texas, to do this. We’ll see how that goes.
Alicia is getting her PhD in Developmental Psychology. She has just one year left and is hoping to teach college. We also know a dude’s HBOGO password, so that eats up a lot of our time.
AB: Alicia, what’s the best thing you’ve done lately?
CC: I just joined two other bands, an all girl punk band called The Babraham Lincolns, and a Lincoln, Nebraska, dance/funk supergroup called Life is Cool. I’m also working on my dissertation and getting ready to graduate.
AK: Casey, what’s the best joke you’ve written lately?
CC: The other day I fell asleep while masturbating. ALMOST DROVE INTO THE DITCH!
The Love Technicians will throw their album release party on Friday, July 25th, at Barley Street Tavern in Omaha, Neb. For more on where to get their music, click here.
