5 Questions with
Fargo

Opening for Unknown Mortal Orchestra tonight at The Frequency will be Fargo, from Geneva, IL. They’re well matched for the headliners with nice melodic angles poking through tight production. A well-oiled group that you should definitely not miss. We kicked some questions to guitarist/synth player Robert Donile.

Since forming, the band has played quite a few shows in the Chicago area. How were you able to get your name out there and get people to come out for shows?
“We started playing shows together during our senior year of high school and we had a lot of friends who were extremely supportive of what we were doing. That helped jumpstart things and we are all very grateful for that.”

How does the band go about writing its songs? Is it a collaborative process? And how does the writing process change when everyone is away at school?
“There’s no real set process for us when it comes to song writing. A lot of the time, Ryan [Thomas] will show up with some sort of groundwork for a song and we’ll sort of feel it out and build upon that. Other times it’s more collaborative. Sometimes we just stumble upon something that we like while we’re messing around in the practice room. It really varies from song to song. When we’re all away at school it becomes a bit less collaborative obviously, but once we play the songs together I like to think each person adds their own creative flare to it.” 

Since all of your songs to date have been self-recorded, do you plan on getting into a studio at some point?
“Yeah, I mean, that’s definitely a goal of ours for the very near future. Personally, I love the freedom of self-recording — I like being able to take my time with the whole process, and when you’re paying by the hour to record at the studio you definitely hear the clock ticking. Realistically, though, with limited recording knowledge and equipment there is really only so far we can go with the basement recordings.”

You guys are all youngsters and you can try to do, more or less, whatever you want. What are the band’s aspirations? Do you hope to do it full-time if you can?
““I think that I can speak for everybody in the band in that making music as a full-time profession would be a dream come true. Brandon studies music in college so he’s very serious about pursuing music in some fashion. I know for me personally, I have this sort of romantic vision in the back of my mind of myself being in a band full-time and I think David does, too. And if you talk to Ryan for five minutes you’ll know he’s serious about it.”

The band’s sound varies pretty significantly from song to song, but it sounds a bit psychedelic and a bit new-wavey to me. What sort of music have you guys drawn from in creating your sound?
“We come from different musical backgrounds and we’re fortunate since everyone brings different things to the table.

“Brandon [Cantwell], for example, comes from a theoretical, jazz-oriented background. I think you definitely hear a fluidity in his playing that had to have come from listening to so much jazz.

“Ryan listens to all sorts of things but I think he definitely draws from more rhythmic music like Talking Heads, Animal Collective, or whatever electronic stuff he’s into at the time.

“David [Del Giudice] comes from a harder rock, punk-ish kind of background so he brings a whole lot of energy in his drumming.

“And I myself am usually drawn to more melodious, harmonic types of sounds — classical music, the Beatles, Grizzly Bear, Paul Simon, and such. I think our songs that end up sounding the best are the ones that don’t necessarily wear their influences on their sleeve. Often times, funnily enough, those are the ones that come quickest.”