Earlier this month, we got a chance to talk to Steve Schiltz, guitarist and singer of indie rock powerhouse, Longwave, and now, the mastermind behind Hurricane Bells, his new solo project. A perfect gentleman, humorous and a pleasure to talk to, Steve answered all of our questions with poignant, thoughtful answers, showing glimmers of his burning intelligence and explosive creativity through the slats of conversation. Steve is a wonderful musician, and also the type of guy you’d like to buy a beer, and have a real conversation with. Read on for the full interview which focuses on his spot on the Twilight soundtrack, switching from a high-powered rock band to a project with a much more folky feel, and what lies in store for the coming months.

Inyourspeakers: First and foremost, how was putting together a piece for the New Moon soundtrack? How’d they find you, and how do you feel about your music being broadcast to this large of an audience?

Steve Schiltz: It’s great. It happened because I have a music publisher, whose job it is to, exploit the songs that I write. Try To get them to make money for me and for them. I’ve been with them for years, and they’ve gotten a couple of Longwave songs into movies, there was a Longwave song in that Adam Sandler movie, I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry, a few things like that. But, you know, this was something, different. I had actually forgotten that they asked me for some songs at the beginning of the Summer.

In September I got a phone call saying that they were gonna use one of my songs in a movie, and I said, “That’s great, which song and what movie?” They said “Monsters,” and they didn’t tell me what movie. I made a couple edits for them, like they wanted the intro longer, and then it wasn’t right yet. So finally they said, “look, we’re gonna send you a clip from the movie, and we want you to take a look at the clip of the scene your song’s gonna be in and make an edit based on that, and it’s the Twilight movie.” I said “oh cool Twilight, I’ve heard of that.” But I didn’t know it was a Blockbuster or anything - I’d just heard of it.

And so I made the edits, and over the next couple days I told my friends, the tack would be featured in thisTwilight movie, and they were blown away: “the Twilight movie? Like, the Twilight, Twilight movie?”.

When the movie came out, I took my parents to see it in the huge multiplex in my hometown, upstate. It was great to see the looks on their faces when the song came on.

IYS: That’s quite a tale; it must be really exciting! Would you ever have expected “Monsters” to be the song that got picked up, the b-side, the one that didn’t quite make the album?

SS: Well it’s funny cause in retrospect, I think the track fits really well. If I had tried to write something for the movie, specifically, I don’t think I would have come up with something as appropriate. Also, they wanted something that wasn’t on any other record, so, it was just my good luck.

IYS: Well that was really lucky then! I, personally just have to say, I love “Monsters.” Love that guitar solo! It really moves back towards that Longwave sound you departed from on the rest of the Hurricane Bells record. Was that a purposeful thing, or did it just happen to turn out like that?

SS: Well, I mean, I’m the guy in Longwave. It’s kind of, what I sound like. But, I just thought the sound was right for the song. That’s how it always is: you have these songs, and you just try to do best by them; you try to make them come to life, in the best way they can. For “Monsters,” it seemed like it was good to have that big, fuzzy guitar, that over-the-top kksssshhhh kind of noise.

I always liked that song too, and I thought it’d be really sad if no one ever heard it.

IYS: Well, a lot of people are definitely hearing it now! I heard that New Moon was one of the top selling movies ever in America.

SS: Yeah it’s ridiculous. I can’t even get my head around it. People in China are going to the movies and hearing it. I can’t even really comprehend what that means.

IYS: I heard you actually had not read the books when they contacted you about New Moon, have you read it now, or are you abstaining?

SS: Oh yeah, I’ve read all four of them now, and I’ve seen both the movies. Obviously I saw the second one. I’ve seen it twice. I’m up on it now.I figured I’d have to be, as I’d start doing interviews where the people would know so much more about the series than I would, so I had to really get my act together.

IYS: How’d you respond to them? Did you like them?

SS: Yeah I did. Of course, it’s changed, by the fact that I knew the song was gonna be in the movie, and I had to get through them quickly. That said, I did find myself wanting to read them, wanting to pick them up, wanting to know what happened next.

The movies came later. I saw the first movie, right before the new one came out. It was different; I mean when you read a book you have this vision in your mind of what people look like and all that, and I thought “oh, so that’s what they look like.”

For some reason the series just seems to work, it seems to resonate with people.

IYS: That’s really good to hear, I mean you might be a little remiss if you didn’t.

SS: To be honest, the soundtrack is very good. I really enjoy it, I loved all the songs on it (the Band of Skulls song was one of my favorites). It’s like when you were a kid, the great movie soundtracks, like the Pretty in Pink soundtrack, all the music in Ferris Bueller or something. This is a bit like that, for the new generation,

IYS: Yeah, you know you hear a lot of people talking about Twilight, teenage girls and such, but you know, as you said, it truly does have a great soundtrack. There are bands from all walks of life playing on there! It’s kinda like a return to the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. I’m glad that you feel the same. Now, if that’s alright, I’m gonna move away with New Moon for a bit, and move into Hurricane Bells

So what sparked your interest in a solo project after so many years almost exclusively with Longwave. What made you want to try something on your own?

SS: Well it started a couple years ago when I didn’t know if Longwave was gonna make another record. I started writing songs and making demos until, at some point, Longwave decided to make another record. So I put everything on hold, and I plucked a couple songs, one called “Satellites,” one called “Sirens of the Deep Sea,” and I gave them to Longwave.

About a year ago, I decided that the time was right to get those songs finished, and that they weren’t gonna be Longwave songs. I actually ended up trying to mix the material with someone else, which didn’t work out, so I ended up working on it completely myself. It was a real learning experience for me; by the time it was done I was exhausted and never wanted to do it again, in a way. On the other hand, I was really happy with what happened. I was able to record everything myself, and I figured that it would be a cool little project for me to finish off.

I didn’t expect too many people to hear I; it was something I needed to do for myself. To get these songs, out of my head, and out in to the world. It wasn’t necessarily a move away from Longwave. I just wanted to bring this other voice to life.

IYS: Well it worked really well, quite obviously. You kinda stay in a folksy place, but Tonight Is The Ghost really delves into all areas. This Year is a little on the melancholy side and Freezing Rain has a more Americana-esque sound to it. Did all the songs come on their own from different time periods, or did you want to have an album that touched on everything?

SS: It just turned out like that. With both the last Longwave record and the Hurricane Bells record there were songs left over. I was able to choose the ones that fit together best. I liked the musical difference on the record because I wanted to present a good pallet of sounds that fit together well

IYS: Its really impressive to me that you can just switch genres, and just sashay between types of music like that.

SS: Yeah, it’s only afterwards that I thought about it though. It’s nice that you noticed that because to me it’s all the same.

IYS: You mentioned throughout the course of the interview that all these songs were written at different time, some during Longwave’s last record, some more recently. Do you think that a song’s birthday, that is to say, when it was written, effected how it turned out in the end?

SS: No. I would really just write them, and it was only later when would start thinking about placement. For instance, “Satellites” worked better with that big guitar treatment, so it went towards Longwave. With “This Year,” I didn’t really want that treatment, so it ended up in this other pile.

IYS: So, you did everything on the album yourself, including producing. After working with industry greats such as Dave Friddman and John Leckie, how was doing all the recording and mixing yourself?

SS: I learned a lot from Peter Tatis. Peter made the last Longwave record, and he’s worked with Interpol and The National. To be honest, there’s a lot of aesthetic and artful I learned from Dave and John Leckie, but Peter showed me a lot of specific things about approachable music software. He gave me the keys to the kingdom in a way.

It definitely helped to have worked with all those guys, and to have them for reference. If I ever had a question, I could ask. There were times when I called Peter Tatis or his assistant, Greg, pulling my hair out like “what the hell happened, my computer just crashed, I don’t know what’s going on!” And they would talk me through it, and help me finish what I was trying to do. I was very fortunate for that.

IYS: So, how does the solo thing compare to playing with Longwave? Is it something you’d do again? That is to say, is the grass really greener on the other side?

SS: Right now, Hurricane Bells is where my head is at. I don’t know if it’s cause of the Twilight thing or because things are happening for this project, but at this point I prefer Hurricane Bells over Longwave. That said, my mood can change and I love playing with Longwave, but it’s nice to have something new every once in a while.

IYS: Shaking up the scene, understandable. So, how have longtime Longwave fans responded to this switch in genre?

SS: Well, if they don’t like it, they haven’t said it to my face yet. So far, so good, everyone seems to like it.

IYS: So is there another record in Hurricane Bells future soon or will you be doing something with Longwave?

SS: I will probably put out another Hurricane Bells record again before working with Longwave. There are a couple reasons for this, one being that our guitar player, Shannon, just had a baby, and isn’t able devote the time needed to make a record go out touring for weeks on end. I’m not interested in making another Longwave record without Shannon, so we’ll have to wait a bit.

There is also the fact that I’m enjoying myself right now. I like making Hurricane Bells records.

IYS: Now, I’ve read the explanation of what hurricane bells are, in the literal sense, but what made you choose them as a moniker?

SS: I just thought it was a beautiful image, these huge bells by the sea that would warn people of an oncoming storm. The record itself has a bit of storminess to it as well, lyrically, and instrumentally, I thought it had a bit of the mood.

IYS: Where did you hear about these Hurricane Bells? Did you hear about them on Google or something?

SS: Oh yeah, I was just googling things, it was crazy. At first I was gonna call the project “Steve Schiltz,” but I ended up deciding that I wanted it to have its own name. So I took some time to come up with a bunch of names, then I’d Google them to see if anyone else had the name already. Hurricane Bells was the one that stuck.

IYS: Well now no one can search Hurricane Bells without finding you. At least you have a name people will find information about easily, as opposed to bands like, Girls, who are not exactly search engine friendly.

SS: Yeah, it’s true, it’s true. I hate when I look for something, like a band, and I have wade through a bunch of different sites to find one that is even a bit relevant.

IYS: So, as you said before, the style of this album is much different than anything you’d done before. The guitar work, in particular, is totally different than that of Longwave. What did you think of the stylistic change?

SS: I like the switch a lot. I use old guitars and amps, and you can really hear it on the Huricane Bells record. In Longwave, I had to fight to get my guitar through a huge sounding band. With Hurricane Bells, I was able to add much more subtlety to the guitar sound, which was really nice.

IYS: I certainly noticed the intricacy of your guitar work on the album, especially on “Freezing Rain.”

SS: [Laughs] That’s funny, the guitar I used for that track is called a lap steel guitar; you play it across your lap with a little metal bar. I can’t play the damn thing to save my life, but I bought it specifically for “Freezing Rain” and the end of “This Year.” I looked online for lessons for how to play the thing, and how to tune it (because it’s not tuned like a regular guitar). I just spent a week maybe, maybe a little more, practicing until I decided to try tried to recording something. The process took me forever, but when I got it I was psyched.

IYS: Do you think it’s a type of instrument you’d pick up again in your next Hurricane Bells record, or is it a one-time thing?

SS: No, I actually used it in some new songs that are gonna be B-sides for the Japan release. It’s just nice to have options, like colors in your palette.

IYS: For the Hurricane Bells record, you worked with Vagrant Records. How do you like working with a larger label?

SS: Well the Vagrant thing is still really new, so I can’t really say about how things will turn out, but so far, so good. The best thing about Vagrant, is that the people who run it have ideas; they plan things out for bands. So, I get really excited because I haven’t really had that experience since the early days with RCA and Longwave. Usually, on a small label, the band is the party that plans everything out. It’s just a different dynamic.

But to be honest, it doesn’t really matter as long as people at the label are excited about the music.