Brass ring: Rock veterans make beautiful bursts of noise together
Chemistry — in the music world, you have it or you don’t. Kelley Deal and Mike Montgomery do and, working as R. Ring, the rock veterans have catalyzed a series of brilliant little reactions — glorious bursts of noise that ring much longer than their running time.
Working together for no more than four years, R. Ring has hit more home runs than many bands do in twice the at-bats. Some of that success can be chalked up to its members’ levels of experience — having staffed and led several bands, Deal is best known for working with her twin sister, longtime Pixies bassist Kim, in The Breeders. Montgomery has spent nearly 20 years with Cincinnati outfit Ampline.
To date, the group has focused its energy on creating fresh breaths of musical air, spurts and singles that typically last less than three minutes but are self-contained and sound self-actualized. R. Ring can deliver roaring guitar rock, poised punk with a pop aftertaste and lovely, lilting folk music. Deal and Montgomery clearly aren’t short on ideas and manage to thoughtfully tie notions and fragments together with little time to spare.
This summer, the band will split a release with Detroit rockers Protomartyr and share a 7” with Kentucky act Quailbones. A limited edition of that album is available early on a tour that brings them to Café Berlin Monday. Montgomery exchanged emails with the Tribune, discussing what appeals to him about working with Deal and the value R. Ring places on each show.
Tribune: Both of you are very experienced musically. I would think that you’ve come to a point where, perhaps, you’ve realized things you appreciate about potential musical partners and ruled out things you’re not interested in dealing with. At this point in your career, what are you generally looking for in a collaborator? What excited you about working with the other? Is there something the other has brought out in you musically that you haven’t really been able to access in any other project?
Montgomery: I think my music’s always been more rigid and Catholic, while Kelley’s tends to wander and drift throughout a spiritual wilderness. There’s tremendous fun in finding common ground. I had never sung or played with a woman before, so it’s a pleasure to sing harmonies and craft songs where the focus is more on vocal sounds and phrasing. I love playing with Ampline, but it’s heavier and loud and guitar-y and singing is sort of an afterthought. … Kelley has taught me to trust my instincts.
Tribune: You’ve also picked some cool dance partners to split releases with. What about these bands has captured your attention and made them feel like allies?
Montgomery: Sometimes when you meet people you just strike it off. That’s what happened with both Quailbones and Protomartyr. We met them on tours, liked each other’s music and just stayed in touch. People make a lot of promises to each other in situations like that. ... We just all kept at each other, which I’m super glad for.
Tribune: The blueprint thus far seems to be releasing your music a little bit at a time. We’re obviously in a pretty interesting time as far as delivery platforms. Has this path been one of necessity, or do you think it has helped build the band’s identity in some way?
Montgomery: It’s not out of necessity. We have songs. I own a recording studio. … I don’t know what it is. … I think we both got into this thing as a gentle, no-pressure side project, so just doing little things here and there kept it really breezy. … But I can say to you (and Kelley) ‘I’m ready to make a proper record!’
Tribune: One of things I like most about what I’ve heard so far is that the songs are relatively short, but they feel fully realized. As if anything more or less would have thrown the balance off completely. How have you tuned your ears to one another in the songwriting process? What sort of balance have you struck between the intentional — as far as conversations about which ideas to follow and flesh out — and the instinctual, just playing what comes?
Montgomery: I think we’re learning with every song to trust each other more and more. I’ll rifle through 50 structure possibilities of an arrangement in my brain, think it’s solid and Kelley will make a minor tweak I never would have thought of. You have to learn to compromise on ‘ownership’ of ideas and allow each other some room to breathe within the songs. She’s got great instincts and a serpent’s tongue for sniffing out the off-kilter melodies floating in the air about me.
Tribune: Do you feel like you’ve really settled into a live feel yet? Knowing that you’ve commissioned artwork specifically for this tour, it seems like you really prize the singularity of the moment the listener experiences live. What is your philosophy at this point for how closely aligned the live and studio experiences should be?
Montgomery: We do really want each show to be fun and special. Neither of us is overly concerned with accurately reproducing studio recordings live. If it’s just the two of us, we can’t play any extra s--t live that we may have overdubbed on a track to keep a record listener’s ears perked … but we’ll get to the core of the song and milk it for everything we can! Plus I think rooms and people influence how you play and behave.