Clear The Signal

  IF READING THE same blogs and believing that collecting demo-quality MP3s of bands named after celebrities, athletes and early ’90s Nickelodeon shows makes you part of a community, then you probably want to ignore Air Waves. A Brooklyn project based around songwriter Nicole Schneit, Air Waves is a purveyor of songs sans fuss or style—two or three chords, a strong melody, a roomy recording and you’re good to go. Mimicking the simple individuality of classic Neil Young, late Velvet Underground or Transmissions From the Satellite Heart-era Flaming Lips, Schneit is the kind of songwriter that can craft catchy melodies in mere minutes and doesn’t need your lame scene to keep forging ahead.  

I sat down with Schneit for a midday coffee at Greenpoint’s Peter Pan Donut Shop to get the backstory on Air Waves and where she wants to take the project.

“I started writing music in college, and I was playing solo,” she explains. “Then, I did a band with Dan Deacon called Ferrari that was short-lived.There were a few bands that were short-lived.” She laughs thinking back. “About three years ago, I started Air Waves. It started as me and a drummer, but now it’s a three-piece and sometimes a four-piece.”

That’s the thing about Air Waves. Since the project is firmly rooted around Schneit’s songs, she can make it whatever it needs to be for the material to sparkle. A great example of using a three-piece setup to make a track pop is on “Knockout,” a recent online favorite that should be included on the band’s upcoming record for Underwater Peoples.The song’s simple galloping shuffle, vaguely countrified bass and chiming waves of guitar treble could easily score any number of campfire drinking sessions or a movie scene where some scorned lover sets her cheating boyfriend’s house on fire. For Schneit, the secret is capturing songs in their moment of inspiration.

“I make songs as they naturally occur,” she explains. “I’ve tried sitting down and coming up with more formulaic structures, but it doesn’t work for me. Most of the songs I write take about five minutes.That’s it. If I do it any other way, it doesn’t really work out… It’s just about working hard consistently. It’s been a slow process, but I feel like that might be the best way to do it. You see these bands that after a week they’re Best New Music on Pitchfork. I don’t know how that happens.”

Schneit clearly favors performing live over the studio, and strives to keep things as DIY as possible.This means, for now, Air Waves books its own shows and often lives a nomadic lifestyle that takes indie pop out of the bedroom and into the streets. Earlier this year, the band traveled all over Europe, playing gigs with Real Estate in France while locking down a Japanese distribution deal for its upcoming record. Schneit also did the whole SXSW thing, but (rightfully) pointed out that the festival is more about partying than discovering bands.

Schneit continues, “We’re still happy to be all DIY. We do everything. I don’t see us ever needing a tour manager or a driver. I see these bands with three people helping them and they lose money. I actually lost my job while I was in Germany. You know, ‘You’re taking too much time off…’ I feel like in Europe, you can live off music, but here, you have to be pretty successful. It’s hard to find a cheap apartment here. There’s no bad neighborhoods anymore.”

Air Waves just wants to make these songs in peace and pick up some new fans on the way. If the ragged “Only Love Can Break Your Heart,” weariness of “Gem” or Schneit’s refreshingly gruff voice on “Sweetness” are any indication of future material, Air Waves doesn’t fit into anything that’s going on right now. The simple strength of the band’s songs enables the work to pull through, though.

“I don’t mind the scenes, but from my experience, scenes are kind of alienating,” Schneit concludes. “They become like cliques.When you go to a show and everyone is dressed the same, it might alienate some new fans, you know?”

> AirWaves

April 16, Bruar Falls, 245 Grand St. (betw. Roebling St. & Driggs Ave.), Brooklyn, 347-529- 6610; 8, $8. Also April 19 at Cake Shop.