Band of the Week: Static in Verona

The dynamic of band has to be challenging at times. True when everything is clicking and each member is contributing their unique perspective and style it can be incredible, but sometimes a musician needs a unique outlet to keep their contribution to the band fresh and engaged. Hence the abundance of solo and side projects, but it seems to be a vital part of the creative process.

Chicago's Rob Merz is a member of the band Ash Avenue, but we on his own writes and records under the name Static in Verona. This past January he released his debut album, Be Quiet As You Leave, and he recently released a free ep called Life-Sized Replica. He sound is gentle pop with electronica undertones, and it really goes down smooth on a warm summer night.

Recently, Rob was kind enough to answer a few of my questions.

Orange Alert (OA): Let's start at the beginning, where did the name Static in Verona comes from?
Rob Merz (RM): Since I am a solo act, people often wonder why I didn’t just go by my name.
Other than finding something catchier than Rob Merz, anyone that has ever started a band knows picking the name is one of the hardest parts. It was just nice to be able to pick a name that I didn’t have to have three or four other band member agree on.

For the name, I was looking for a mixture of something pretty with something more dark. I always liked the sound of Verona, it brought images of Romeo and Juliet and beautiful Italy but couldn’t quite figure out how to incorporate it. Then on a trip from Chicago to Northern Minnesota my iPod cut out in the middle of Wisconsin, ironically 5 miles from Verona,
Wisconsin and all I had was static. I put two and two together and got Static in Verona.

OA: What would make a song a Static in Verona song and not an Ash Avenue song?
RM: Ash Avenue songs are a bit more mainstream, more like what you’d hear on top 40 radio. John Alletto is actually the lead singer for Ash Avenue, and he has more of a classically trained voice than me so he can have more liberties with the melody. My voice may not be as strong so I tend to use more harmonies to fill space. I also try and be a bit more experimental with Static since I don’t currently play those songs live. I can add samples, unconventional instruments and elements that I don’t need to worry about recreating on stage.

I don’t really have any differences in writing songs for either, they mostly get changed in the execution.

OA: Life-Size Replica is your new ep, and you are giving it away for free.
How did you decide to give it away and what has the response been like?
RM: This whole project started after I found out my wife was pregnant with our first child last August. I had been toying around with a bunch of ideas, but hadn’t really been recording much lately. So I decided that I needed to get as much done as I could before the baby came and I had to limit the volume on the guitar amps (I am not a fan of the sound of Pods and other digital guitar processors). After three months I had already written and recorded 10 songs and I was very happy with the quality of the songs and recording, so I wanted to figure a way to get them heard by more than just my friends and Ash Avenue bandmates. I decided to put the music online for free to see if anyone was interested. Within two weeks, several hundred people had downloaded it (with help from a couple positive online reviews). So then I decided, what the heck, put it up on iTunes and see what happens.

After all that was said and done, I still had 4 months left until the baby was born. I figured I would just keep writing and recording as long as I could (not that I couldn’t after the baby was born but, to be honest, I didn’t really know what to expect). So I kept on going and Life-Size Replica are these final four songs, the final song being about the future baby (Life-Sized Replica).

I chose to release it for free on StaticInVerona.com as a promotion for Be Quiet As You Leave. I thought maybe if people would get into this, they would stumble along my other one. But more importantly, I just want to get my music out there. Whether I make money on it or not. Is it nice to get 67 cents for an iTunes download? Sure. But to be honest, having someone I’ve never met, in a completely different state or even country, contact me and say that they like my music is almost worth the same to me.

The response has actually been amazing. I am very happy that most people seem to understand the style I am trying to create ... classic pop songs with a twist. I have always been a huge fan of Radiohead and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot era Wilco, and even more recently Bon Iver and Animal Collective. But to the average Joe listener, some of this music isn’t quite as accessible. Which is a shame because it is beautiful. I wanted to use the experimental elements that I love in these kind of bands and add them to more conventional pop songs.

OA: What is the biggest challenge of self-releasing your music?
RM: I’m sure any artist that self releases their music would say pretty much the same thing ... The hardest thing is getting you music heard and your name out there. Luckily there are so many different mediums now with the internet that its not as hard as it used to be, but its almost so easy that there is an over-saturation of bands its hard to sift through it. Every time I send out a promo, I imagine there are hundreds of artists, just like me, sending their music to the same people just hoping to get a review or a mention.

OA: What are your thoughts on Chicago music right now?
RM: Chicago music is very diverse right now. Unfortunately we keep loosing venues. I feel like we only have a handful of small to mid sized places that don’t just want cover bands. But to be honest, since I hit my 30’s a few years ago, I don’t seem to get out to see music much other then we I’m playing.

OA: What's next for Rob Merz and Static in Verona?
RM: This will be an interesting year for me. I have talked it over with my band mates in Ash Avenue and I am really getting burned out of playing live. As of now, this is going to be my last year in Ash Avenue. Those guys are some of my best friends. I have been playing music with the guitarist Jim Brennan and bassist Chad Noyes since I was 18 years old, but I have always been more of a studio musician. I got my first Porta-studio when I turned 16 and since then I have been hooked on the process. I will try and write music for the band as they proceed, the only difference will be that I will be just a fan now.

Right now, I have a tentative plan to try and get a new Static In Verona album out by the end of the year. What sound that is, I haven’t quite figured out yet. I would like the dive even deeper into experimentation. I am thinking about trying to work more with combining acoustic and electronic styles. We’ll see. I have scrapped many ideas in the past.

Bonus Questions:
OA: If you could sit down to coffee with anyone (alive or dead) who would it be?
RM: I’ll pick one alive and one dead.

Alive: Producer Nigel Godrich. One of the best producers ever. Made some of my favorite albums ever: Beck’s Sea Change and Radiohead’s Kid A.

Dead: Artist Rene Magritte. I was a fine art major in college and his work inspired me. Still does.

OA: What was the last great you have read?
RM: I read a lot of thrillers like Koontz that are more entertaining than good. Probably the last great books I read were Here, There and Everywhere by Geoff Emerrick. He engineered all the Beatles later albums. The first chapter alone is worth the price where he talks about almost getting fired for plugging a microphone into Leslie speaker to get John Lennon’s vocals on Tomorrow Never Knows. Also I really liked Devil in the White City. Its was a great book, but I especially loved reading about things that practically happened in my backyard over 100 years ago.

For more information on Static in Verona please visit his website.