Interview with Erik Czaja
Photos: Shelby Mongan
Your bio mentions that some of you met in New Jersey, how did you all end up in Chicago?
Well, I am from the East Coast. I grew up in Queens, NY and moved to Central New Jersey when I was ten years old. I spent the next decade in Jersey and went to Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. If you know a lot about basement show “scenes,” New Brunswick (Lifetime, Thursday, Screaming Females) use to/still has one of the best music scenes around. Before I graduated from Rutgers I was exploring my options and thought that going to graduate school in Chicago would be more fun than bumming around New Jersey. I visited Chicago and met Geoff Schott, of The Please & Thank You’s fame, at a show in Pilsen during this time and I offered him a show at my house in New Brunswick on their upcoming tour. Needless to say I met Marcus and Gooey on that tour and we hit it off. Delia and Marcus were actually at the show in Pilsen too… I just didn’t want to approach them and be that dude from the internet. I moved here and we jammed.
Chicago has a pretty great musical past. What are some of your favorite past and present bands from the area?
When I was younger,16, I was a huge Lawrence Arms fan and Alkaline Trio enthusiast. The Smoking Popes are also a classic Chicago act in my opinion. As far as bands these days, Droughts, The Island of Misfit Toys, Sweet Talk, The Please & Thank You’s, please forgive me friends, I can’t think of any others.
What are some benefits of being a band in Chicago that you wouldn’t find elsewhere?
Well, when I lived in Jersey and was in bands we never toured anywhere, and it was really easy to be in another state when you live in Central NJ. That does not answer your question, but something about coming here made me want to actually get something done. There are so many places to play out here. We have not really played many venues and I think the upcoming CSTVT, Grown Ups, Coping show is our first “real” Chicago venue show. We are so pumped! I still feel as though I didn’t answer this question very well… Oh well.
A couple of members in the band are vegans, what would you say is the best vegan dish served in the Chicago area?
Gooey and I are the only vegans and I think we could both easily agree the Chicago Diner can do no wrong, but Quesadilla on Western has burritos as big as your head…For real…Maybe bigger.
We’re you surprised by the amount of attention All I Could Find Was You received after it was posted on various music blogs? Totally! It’s funny to think about, because I never really expected it. Immediate “hype”, or whatever you wish to call it, is something I have never experienced nor will I ever again. I am grateful that so many individuals actually like what we are doing and support us. Thank you everyone!
Was having Count Your Lucky Stars release a 7” of All I Could Find Was You a result of the attention received from online media?
I think it was a mix of a lot of things. We all actually were friends with Keith prior to the band. I met Keith when Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate) played my basement in New Brunswick and I gave him a melted bag of Peanut M&M’s and a satellite image of NJ. I think it was repayment for my gifts. I also think we owe a lot of thanks to Joie De Vivre, I think they might have swayed the Keithster, that or Cathy loves us!
How has it been working with Count Your Lucky Stars on the 7” and do you plan on doing any other releases with them?
We are lucky to have Keith and Cathy as friends first and label owners second. Seriously, the sweetest people I know and they have done an amazing job of keeping us in the loop with the production of our record. Next week we are going to start (and hopefully end) tracking for our CYLS debut full-length. I see us working with Keith and Cathy for a good long while (if they don’t hate us soon).
What kind of themes are explored through the lyrics on All I Could Find Was You and will those themes cross over to the full-length?
Have you ever been so sad that you don’t want to come out of your room? Or so angry that you bang pots and pans around the house until your roommates wake up? …
Most of the lyrics on the EP are about living in New Brunswick and New Jersey, my ex-girlfriend, watching VHS tapes in Long Island, but mostly about living.
You must stay pretty busy with college, where do you find time to do Dowsing and does college ever conflict with touring or recording?
I am in graduate school and this semester has been tough for me, but I always find a way to get through it. Marcus and Delia both are still in their undergrad careers and I think Gooey might go back one day. We are all very busy with work and school, so it is a constant battle to figure out when we can play a show, practice, watch Felicity and play with cats. The last two are mostly hard for me, because I am allergic to cats and because Keri Russell is a babe.
When all is said and done with college, what kind of career fields do you hope to get involved in?
I am supposed to be a well rounded “Planner” by the time I graduate, so I guess I will be doing that, but I plan on staying in Chicago for at least another year or two and going where the world takes me. Delia wants to look at bones. Marcus will be designing Chiquita Banana labels or something cool like that. Gooey is going to be sailing the Caribbean and drinking a lot of soda.
Marcus, the drummer, also plays with The Please and The Thank Yous, are there any other bands that anyone is involved in or has been involved with?
Yes, The Please & Thank You’s are great! Gooey used to play in TPATY as well, but alas that part of his life has ended. Gooey and I just started a new band with my roommate Nick Schmidt, who was also in TPATY at one point with Gooey. So, I have only started bands with members of TPATY. The band is called Herzog and we just had our first mini “tewr” this past weekend. Nick got electrocuted and we only played one show! LOOK OUT WORLD!
What can be expected of the eventual full-length?
I have had the record written for about six months now and the past two months it took a lot of commitment from all of us to get together and flesh it out. Summer touring wore us down and work and school started to drain us. I think what we have is a solid ten song LP with some of the songs being longer, some of the songs being shorter! It’s not a mature record, but I think it will help end a chapter in my life that is thankfully over with. Dowsing has only begun.
