In just three years, The 4onthefloor have completed a handful of national tours, sharing the stage with Willie Nelson and Trampled by Turtles, and released three albums with a fourth on the way. Listening to tracks like “Bricklayer,” and their raucous cover of David Bazan’s “Wolves at the Door,” it takes a serious soul not to turn it up, stomp along and start drinking at noon. The 4onthefloor play that kind of music. Singer/guitarist Gabriel Douglas took some time to chat with Performer about the band’s gear of choice, recording process and inspirations, putting any question of The 4onthefloor’s raw talent as musicians effortlessly to rest.
What’s your favorite piece of gear? The obvious answer is a kick drum, but is there anything you can’t live without in the studio?
Tube amps - warm, growling, tube amps. BD2 [Bass Drum 2 – guitarist James Gould] introduced the brilliance and snarl of a tube amp when I was still using a solid-state amp early in college. Nothing can get in the way of some boots stomping, but watching those tubes light up and letting them do some of the communicating is something I cherish every day.
Speaking of recording, your debut LP was packed with tracks in its double vinyl format. Where did you record?
Four sides for the debut LP! It was recorded at Creation Audio in Minneapolis. It’s a great space with a large, live A room. So we can all plug in, stomp away, and play simultaneously. It’s next to a great spot called the Bad Waitress down on Nicollet Avenue, so you can sneak away for a quick bite and drink, and scribble and scratch out lyrics with some great food. Miles Hanson mastered the album. He has been instrumental in getting our sound out to the masses.
Was this your first time in the studio as a band?
Four members, four kick drums, four sides to their debut LP, 4x4. It would be all too easy to write off The 4onthefloor as another indie rock gimmick. That is, until you see them live. Hailing from Minneapolis, the Americana quartet plays with such fervor that, on paper, it’s nearly impossible to capture the swagger of bassist Chris Holm and drummer Mark Larson’s rhythm section, the sticky guitar riffs of James Gould and the grizzly baritone vocals of magnetic front man Gabriel Douglas.
We have all been in previous bands, but when recording 4x4, it was the first time all four of us had been in a studio together. The experience was a blast. It was all done rather quickly, and we had a great time in the studio with Miles.
Onto songwriting. How challenging is it, on a scale of 1 to 10, to write all of your tracks in 4/4 time? What inspired that decision?
With 1 being the easiest, it’s probably a 4. It’s not too difficult, but sometimes you’ll find some rhythms that just don’t deliver themselves with The 4onthefloor feel. The decision to write in 4/4 time was made as the band was coming into fruition. A good deal of the songs that were fleshed out in our early jam sessions were very raw, very organic. I’d stomp out the beat to BD2 [James] AUGUST 2012 PERFORMER MAGAZINE 23