An Artist's Profile: The Republic

By Josh Hornbeck

The following interview was first published on The Writer’s Block Blog in 2005.
“It’s hard to find a place to practice,” Chris tells me as the band sets up for rehearsal at Bethany Community Church. “The fact that I work here helps so we can have a free place to rehearse.”

Chris Gough, drummer, is one quarter of the local indie-rock band The Republic. He’s joined by his brother Jeff on lead and rhythm guitar, Adam Finch on guitar and vocals, and Dave Myron on the bass guitar. “Do we want to make up a set list for him, or should we just improvise something?” Jeff asks. They all shrug (the verdict seems to fall in favor of improvisation) and immediately launch into a four song set for my benefit, playing their own brand of emotionally honest and accessible rock and roll.

When I sit down with them to discuss the band and their first EP, “So They Ran,” the members of The Republic are all very articulate about their music and their passions, slipping easily into a good-natured harassment of one another. It’s an easy rapport that comes from a group of friends creating art together.

“I was always into music – singing and memorizing songs,” Adam confesses. “My parents really encouraged me. And when I started trying to write my own songs, I began to learn to play the guitar.”

Jeff admits that music runs in his family. “The guitar was always a part of my family. It was a little like John Denver. We’ve got the acoustic guitars out and everybody’s playing and singing.” He laughs a little. “And Chris was a music minor in college and was able to play anything – drums, mandolin, guitar.”

“I played the standup bass in fourth grade,” Dave begins. “I started playing in jazz bands and then Chris and I started a band together in high school and played for a while until the drummer left to join another band.”

“After I learned guitar, I met Jeff and just kept going, kept writing and playing music,” Adam continues.

“When I got to college, there were so many good guitarists that it really pushed me to get better.” Jeff reflects on this for a moment, then continues. “Really, I’m doing all this out of envy.” There’s more laughter from the group. “When Adam and I met, we wrote forty or fifty songs together – I think only two of them exist today. But it was a great environment to experiment in. We were sheltered and got to develop our skills.”

Adam nods his ascent as Jeff continues. “But we wanted to do more with our music than just hang out in our apartment, so we started playing at open mics. But the vibe at an open mic is kind of a bummer, and we wanted to be performing for people, so we decided to start a band.”

Dave jumps in. “The band Chris and I were in had just broken up–”

“And because Chris is my brother-” Jeff interjects.

“-we joined up with Adam and Jeff.”

Jeff follows up on the band’s development. “Adam and I had developed a musical chemistry together and Chris and Dave had developed their chemistry, so a lot of our process as a band has been trying to marry both sets of chemistry. And now our writing process is really changing.”

The guys talk a bit more about how much time it’s taken for them to really become tight when they play together and start to talk about the writing process.

“Mostly it’s Adam and Jeff writing the songs,” Chris says.

“Yeah,” Jeff agrees. “The songs are written individually, but then they’re brought to the group and we make them our own. They become improvised collaborations.

“Chris and I have a particular, unstructured method of working,” Dave explains. “Adam and Jeff bring a lot of structure to the writing process to balance it out.”

Adam adds, “We’re really starting to think about where we want to go as a band and it’s exciting as we’re starting to write new songs together through more collaboration.”

Both Adam and Jeff have very different methods of songwriting.

“When I’m writing,” Adam begins, “I start with the music and I’ll just play that over and over and start singing over it. I have to wait for the lyrics to come. I can’t really pick a subject and just start writing about it, though I’d like to be able to do that eventually. But for now the songs just come to me in a moment.”

Jeff shakes his head. “I start with a couple of chords, but then I have to pick a topic. I can’t just start singing until I have a topic. Then I’ll improvise lyrics around that subject and find a melody and eventually I’ll get it out. But it takes me a lot longer than Adam to write a song.”

“All my favorite songs are the ones that Jeff wrote,” Adam admits.

Jeff returns the compliment. “I love Adam’s melodies.”

“Uh-oh,” Dave warns. “I can see there this is heading.”

Their music walks a fine line between the emotional honesty of other indie-rock bands and the accessibility of modern pop rock. The music is textured and layered – there are surprising rhythms underneath everything and beautiful dissonance in the melodies. The lyrics capture a wistful melancholy, yet always remain hopeful. For a small band, their sound is clean and professional, without crossing over into the processed mainstream of MTV rock and roll. It’s a remarkable artistic feat for a band that practices twice a week and juggles a potential music career with families and day jobs.

“We really strive to create songs that are unique,” Jeff says. “Songs where the lyrics aren’t necessarily expected.”

“We’re really intentional about creating songs that are different from each other,” Chris says. “We’re very intentional about not just creating pop music.”

“It all comes down to honesty,” Adam admits. “I try to be really honest with my lyrics. You can’t talk about something you haven’t experienced or don’t believe.”

Jeff laughs. “If our lyrics don’t sound all that different, it’s because we haven’t experienced a lot.”

“Adam cries a lot,” Dave adds.

“And Jeff hasn’t left King County,” Chris throws in.

Getting back on track, Jeff explains, “A lot of the musical texture in our style comes from our two distinct styles of collaboration.”

Chris nods in affirmation. “We’ve all known each other for a long time, which is good, but it can make things difficult from time to time. But one person will have a very strong idea for a song that will override everything, making each song different. That can be very difficult at times, but it’s good.” He thinks about this for a moment then adds, “When Dave and I played together, we never disagreed about anything, but we never got anything accomplished.”

“It’s all about maintaining that team mentality,” Dave asserts.

“Yeah,” Chris laughs. “Adam always wants team captains.”

“Dave’s always picked last,” Jeff adds.

“And Chris is always trying to get us jerseys,” Adam finishes.

Lately, The Republic has been getting great press and having their music played on KEXP (90.3 FM in Seattle), a local indie-rock station.

“So much of this is about legwork,” Jeff says. “There are a lot of great bands that just don’t get much press. It’s a business, even if it shouldn’t be all about the business. But if we want to positively affect the community with our music, than we have to be reaching more and more people. Radio helps us do that.”

“The radio exposure has been lucky for us,” Adam says. “We happened to get our demo to someone influential like John Richards [at KEXP] who really liked our music. Then people hear it on the radio and start requesting it on other stations.” He takes a deep breath. “It’s a long, slow process, but it’s necessary if we want to continue this.”

“There’s a really weird balance when you’re playing gigs,” Chris says. “The people who do bookings at the venues don’t really care how good you are, they just want to know if you’re going to bring people in the doors who will buy drinks. But the people coming to the show want a quality product. It’s about the business with one group of people. It’s about the art and the message with another group.”

As they continue to get exposure in the Seattle music scene, The Republic has had time to reflect on their philosophy and on the ways they would like to interact with the community.

“We definitely have a band philosophy,” Jeff says. “We took our name from Plato’s book, The Republic. It’s a book about justice and one way Plato defines justice is, ‘Every part of an organism performing its proper function.’ So as a band, what is our function in society? One thing we’ve all agreed on is that music should offer hope to the community.”

Chris continues. “It’s easier to take a song seriously if it’s a little melancholy. Taking a really joyful song seriously is hard.”

“We’re trying to discover what music affects people,” Jeff says. “It can’t just be poppy and happy and sunshiny. That doesn’t speak to a lot of people, it isn’t as meaningful. A band like U2 isn’t poppy or happy, but they’re hopeful and they’re making people better. It’s a serious, positive message.”

“We have to have that blending of hope and sadness,” Dave interjects.

“Hope, by definition, implies that you want something to change, that everything’s not one hundred percent where you want it to be. But there is definitely a fine line between that and being overly melancholy,” Chris warns.

“When people come away from our shows, we want to present them with hope and truth,” Jeff says. “Not that we think we’re the holders of truth, but what we do learn we want to be able to pass along.”

“We want to be able to engage our audiences in conversation,” Adam adds. “We want the experience to be enjoyable, and we want to be easy to approach as a band. The only way you can learn about life is to be in dialogue and conversation with other people. We want to share our experiences with others and have them share their experiences with us.”

Chris jumps in. “This is where being authentic is key. We want to be in dialogue with people and challenge and encourage them to say a true word to each other and have the grace to accept that – or to be corrected when you’re wrong and have the grace to accept that as well. It’s a hard thing, but it’s something we want to do through our music and our lives.”

(Posted 11/4/2009)