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Music: Those Transatlantics
Christy Breithaupt | for NOISE
For two frigid days in late December, the members of the band Those Transatlantics stood outside in the freezing cold for hours. They tried not to shiver and shake as they pretended to play their instruments. Sound like torture? Well, according to keyboardist Chris Hatfield, it was actually fun. The band, which plays the Temple Club this week, just shot a video, compliments of the auto company Scion. Scion ran a contest in which the company chose 10 bands and paired them up with 10 student filmmakers. Those Transatlantics was lucky enough to be the band chosen from its region. "We just had a lot of fun," said Hatfield, who lives in Mount Pleasant with his band mates. "(Scion) are touring the videos around the country - we're all pretty excited about that." Once the videos are completed they will be screened in local venues and voted on by audiences. In the end, one filmmaker/band team will be victorious. The filmmaker will win a cash prize. "The band gets the prestige," said Hatfield, 24. "That's going to be really weird seeing it on a movie screen. They shot it all in hi-def, so that's really cool." Those Transatlantics came together in 2003 influenced by the likes of the Beach Boys, the Beatles, Wilco and the New Pornographers. The band's sound is sweet without being saccharine, bolstered by the delicate harmonies of vocalists Hatfield, Kathleen Bracken and Michael Spence and the skills of bassist Brian Siers and drummer Trevor Waldron. The band is pop, but with a down-home vibe. There's nothing pretentious or presumptuous about the band's sound. In late 2003, the band put out its first EP followed by another in 2004. Helped by the band's label, Detroit-based Suburban Sprawl Music, Those Transatlantics have been slowly putting their first full-length album together over the last year. "It was fun. It was a lot of work," Hatfield said. "We recorded it in pieces until we were finally finished." The band has also done its fair-share of touring locally and on the East and Southern coasts. But, touring is no simple task for Those Transatlantics - a few of the members are still in school and the others have full-time jobs. Hatfield, for example, works in the family-owned funeral home business. "It's definitely an interesting job - you tend to think about things like grief or what your funeral will be like," he said. Other members of the band are busy working on their doctoral degrees, planning for a future that will hopefully include music. "We're not foolish about it," Hatfield said. "We were never in a band to get big. We just like making music together. I'm sure that sounds really cliché and everybody's said it, but it's true." Regardless of the band's tight schedule, it has still managed to garner dedicated fans through local shows. "There's at least 20 to 30 people that I've seen at shows before, kids that will drive three hours to see us," Hatfield says. "It's really nice to see others excited about us." The band's new album, Knocked Out, should hit record stores or be available on Amazon.com in the spring. The band also plans to stream it for free on its Web site (www.thosetransatlantics.com). "We think it's really important to use the Web site to expose ourselves," Hatfield said, adding with a giggle, "Not in that way. There's just no reason not to take advantage of it. With radio being owned by so many big businesses it's foolish to think we'll get played." Being unfettered by lofty ideas of financial gain gives the band the ability to just play music for the simple joy of it. Not that they'd be upset if they got famous. "We're really laid back. We don't take ourselves too seriously," Hatfield said. "We just want everyone to have fun." |