Cincinnati brothers from the National revive 'supergroup' band
The Devendorf brothers have returned – though not with the National – to let the world know they still rip.
Bassist Scott and drummer Bryan Devendorf have reformed LNZNDRF, a side project with Benjamin Lanz and Aaron Arntz from the band Beirut. Lanz is also a touring member of the National, the rock band formed more than 20 years ago in New York by five Cincinnatians, including the Devendorfs.
LNZNDRF recently released the album “II” along with a pair of music videos. The video for the song “You Still Rip” is a mashup of LNZNDRF performances and footage of what appears to be a 1980s hair-metal band, given the stage moves, the spandex and the hair.
Scott Devendorf discussed the return of LNZNDRF during a phone call from his home in New York. He also talked about his recent work with Taylor Swift, as well as what’s in store for his day job, playing in the National.
Question: Because Wikipedia entries can’t be trusted, I need to ask if LNZNDRF is an indie-rock supergroup, as it says in the first sentence of the page?
Answer: I guess the reason it might say that is because everyone’s in these other bands. We don’t consider ourselves a supergroup. We should probably edit our Wikipedia entry. I think of supergroups like ... Coverdale Page.
Q: It also says in the first sentence that LNZNDRF is based in Cincinnati. True?
A: That is partially true. My brother is based in Cincinnati, and we have recorded in Cincinnati. We recorded our first album in Cincinnati, in a church-studio, the Monastery in Walnut Hills.
Q: The session for the new album is described in the press release as improvised. Did you guys go into it with any ideas of what it should sound like, or was all of the music made on the spot?
A: It was mostly made on the spot. (The National) had finished the last tour that ended in Houston in 2019, which turned out to be our last U.S. tour for quite some time. We stayed on and drove to Austin, Texas, and Aaron flew down. I think everyone’s always thinking about music, but we didn’t come in with any predetermined plan, which is our M.O. with this band. All the pieces are improvised, and then Ben worked on it for the next six months or so. And then three of us got together and did some mixing in (the National’s) Aaron Dessner’s studio, where the National records sometimes.
Q: The press release also says the album was recorded in 2019 and arranged in 2020. How do you arrange compositions that have already been recorded?
A: This is Ben’s forte. He’s a good producer and engineer. What we would do in the studio is record an idea and develop pieces of it on the fly. The thrust of the songs are all kind of developed in the studio, and we basically edit them down from very long things.
Q: I hear the band Can in the instrumental passages of “II” and 1980s new wave when Ben is singing.
A: We love Can, and we also love ‘80s new wave. We all play in other bands. We play in different projects. I think with this one, it is truly sort of a love affair with those things that we don’t necessarily explore in other projects. It’s the one band that was formed around the idea of liking improvisatory music and German kosmische stuff. It’s not necessarily intended to be an homage, per se. We just like the spirit and aspects of that music. And we’re always sending each other a Depeche Mode song or whatever, some other new wave act from the ‘80s, so that’s baked into it, whether we like it or not.
Q: What am I looking at in the video for “You Still Rip?” What band is that interspersed with shots of your band?
A: That is a good question, speaking of the ‘80s. It’s some hair-metal band. Ben made that video and kind of surprised us with it. He’s like, “check it out.” And I was like, “I love it.” I think it’s really funny and heartwarming in a strange way. But I don’t know what band it is. I think it’s, like ... I don’t know. We’ll see who sues us, I guess.
Q: In the video for “Brace Yourself,” you’re wearing a blue bandana around your neck. Is that a fashion accessory or is it PPE and a nod to the times in which the video was created?
A: It was definitely PPE. I’ve since double-masked up or used surgical stuff.
Q: It looks like you guys were each in your own isolated spot for that video. Where have you been isolating?
A: I live in Long Island. Aaron’s in Brooklyn. Ben is in Paris, and Bryan is in Cincinnati.
Q: One bit of work you got during the pandemic was on Taylor Swift’s “Evermore.” What does playing on that album mean to you? Was it just another session, or did it feel like something more significant?
A: Let’s see. I guess knowing what it was for, it was like, “oh, this is a thing.” More significant than just another session, I guess, but also not too different from the way we work normally. Working with Aaron Dessner (co-producer of “Evermore”) in that way, it felt the same. The location of where we normally worked was the same. Different but the same.
Q: When you guys started the National, I wonder if you envisioned that one day you’d be running sessions for one of the world’s biggest pop stars. It’s an interesting career trajectory.
A: It is. We’ve always played music as friends and brothers. The band was a serious consideration from the beginning but it wasn’t something we thought would succeed. Anything that’s come our way through that has been a welcomed surprise and definitely we feel really lucky that we’ve been able to do anything for that matter, but I think I couldn’t have predicted even last year that I’d play on a Taylor Swift record, or if you told me 20 years ago that we’d be doing a band as our jobs.
Q: Does LNZNDRF play live, and if so, do you have any touring plans for when you’re able?
A: Yeah, we definitely want to. I don’t know when and how. Interesting time to make music. We really enjoy playing live, and I think more of the improvisatory stuff comes out with the live performance, even though the songs are there, we kind of stretch them out a bit. I would like to do it again. Probably not this year.
Q: Is the National holding dates in 2021 for live shows, or is it looking more like 2022?
A: We are in discussions right now. I don’t know. I think everyone has the same question to a certain degree. When are there going to be safe venues to do music in? We don’t really know the answer yet. Yeah, we’d love to – both bands would love to do things as soon as possible, but obviously we’re not going to do anything unsafe for anyone. We’re trying to figure it out, as is every other musician on the planet.
Q: What about other National plans? Are you guys writing or recording?
A: We’re kind of always writing. We’re trying to make more of a plan to do something together, but we’re all in different places and would need to travel and quarantine, so that’s complicated. But we are thinking of it actively and hoping we can get together here to record. I don’t know what that means for the timeline of 2021, but it would be awesome to make a new record. It’s been a minute, and it has been an especially long year for everybody.