Music

Tennis "not lo-fi by choice"

by Ciaran Thompson

Fairy tale stories typically involve folkloric characters, magic, enchantment, and a far-fetched sequence of events, not something generally associated with independent rock bands, however Denver husband and wife duo Tennis’ story is one that is so close to this that it almost screams ‘make a movie out of me.’

Guitarist Patrick Riley recently spoke with AUX before the band’s sold-out show at the Drake Hotel in Toronto and explained what the past months have been like for him and his wife Alaina Moore (vocals, keys). Currently they’re touring in anticipation of their debut LP Cape Dory, due out January 18, and couldn’t be more surprised with all the attention they’ve been getting on the strength of tracks like “Take Me Somewhere” and “Marathon.”

“It couldn’t have worked out better. It’s honestly too fairy tale,” Riley said referencing the band’s formation story, which involves the duo selling everything they owned (instruments included) and embarking on an eight-month sailing trip down the Atlantic coast. “We ran out of money,” he explained. “Went back to our hometown, made one phone call and I had my old job back. I was able to get all our stuff back pretty quickly because I was making more money than I had ever made in my life.”

Prior to docking their boat, suitably named the ‘Cape Dory,’ Riley and Moore had decided to document their journey at sea through songs. Once they had returned and purchased some new instruments on top of the few they had previously sold, they immediately set to work on recording.

“When we first wrote those songs they were literally for personal sentiment,” he said. “We couldn’t stop thinking about everything we had experienced so music was a way to channel those feelings or emotions, nostalgia, whatever you want to call it.

“We recorded all those songs on a four-track and they were pretty crappy in my mind. They’re lo-fi not by choice, they’re lo-fi because we had a hundred dollars worth of recording equipment. Prior to that we went without internet for two years so we were pretty disconnected from music in general and I think that was when everything changed. We had no idea lo-fi music was making a huge comeback.”

It’s no secret the band evoke a mix of classic lo-fi noise rock and surf, however Riley explains that the band’s influences lie elsewhere. “We like just classic rock in general,” he said. “Anything past simple instrumentation and simple melodies; we’re just not too interested in that. Alaina is most influenced by musicals because she grew up in a really restricted lifestyle in general. Her parents are pretty religious and wouldn’t let her listen to rock and roll or anything.”

“My parents had a pretty good taste in music,” he continued. “My dad supported himself in college by playing in a band. Gentle Giant out of the ’70s, I really liked that band. Structurally speaking, I think that was a really influential band in my life. It wasn’t prog rock, but it was carefully articulated rock. Very precise, like mathematical almost.”

With regards to their name, apparently it relates to a stab by Moore at Riley for playing Tennis in college and how it’s seen as a elitist, rich man’s sport. Riley worked as a Tennis pro for five years, but didn’t get a chance to play Varsity with the University of Colorado.

“Our football coach needed to be fired and he was under contract so they needed to pay off I think it was seven years payroll. In order to find the money to fire this coach because he was terrible, they canceled men’s tennis, lacrosse. I’m still really made about that, but it’s probably good I didn’t continue to play because I took it too seriously.”

Starting next year Tennis will be touring overseas and then returning to North America for gigs along the west coast including one Canadian date in Vancouver on January 31 at Media Club.