As you may have noticed, I usually post interviews on Mondays, but Bottlecap Mountain‘s latest album, Electric Love Spree, comes out today, so you’re getting a special Tuesday edition of Abominations to celebrate! The first time I heard the lead single, “I’ve Got Loving for You,” I was immediately struck by its summertime vibe. The song is an instant classic, and the rest of the album follows suit. The band describes the album as “a party record for our times, and as such is marked by both consistency and deviations. Earthy, organic, gestural pop songs intermingled with revealing epics of personal poetry.” To find out more, I dropped a line to lead singer Stuart Gersmann…

Congratulations on the new album, Electric Love Spree! I’m intrigued by the cover image—a hand holding a photograph in front of a sheet of canvas. But I’m having trouble making out the photo. What are we seeing?

Thanks! So, like all of our covers it’s a collaboration of ideas between me and Chris but I’ll let him take this one, Chris?

“The photograph is an old-timey peel-apart Polaroid, taken on the corner of Manhattan Ave and Colyer Street, in Brooklyn, in maybe 2002. It’s the top edge of some buildings, a contrail, and the blue sky. I love the colors on this picture, and the way the emulsion is a little wonky on the upper left corner.

Real talk: we chose that picture because we think it looks cool. But it also all works thematically – a Polaroid is such a singular, precious thing! THAT piece of paper was on THAT corner being exposed to THAT scene. This is a very human, organic album (even the stuff that is more electronic than we usually are) from a human, organic band, and something about a hand presenting a hard-to-interpret picture from an obsolete type of Polaroid resonated nicely for us with that.

But yeah, bottom line: we thought it was cool”

Good call–definitely cool! I’ve described the lead single, “I’ve Got Loving for You,” to friends as the sound of summer and the kind of song that sounds like an old favorite the first time you listen to it. Were you going for a particular sound with that one?

Going for exactly THAT! 

Summer single all the way!

We totally leaned into that 70’s power pop thing. Bubblegum with attitude. Sweet, Badfinger, The Bay City Rollers…but also That Thing You Do was a total influence. 

Your press kit says that Bottlecap Mountain crafts its own strain of rock and roll that both relishes convention and upsets expectations. How do you strike that balance? And have you ever had to apologize to any expectations for upsetting them—maybe by pushing things a little too far? 

I think we strike a balance by just being true to ourselves, honest. I hesitate to use the phrase “Fusion” but I think we sorta take all the things we like and mix ’em together but with a cohesion and an overall aesthetic that is very us. And we usually get out before we have to apologize, haha. 

You tour quite a bit. Do your songs tend to evolve while you’re on the road, or do you go into a tour with a fully-formed set list?

Usually things evolve, I have a hard time playing the same set more than a couple shows. There are certainly songs that we play more or less like the record but a lot of stuff we’ll push and see how close we can come to falling on our faces. 

Douglas Enrique Peña recently joined the band. How did that come about, and how does that addition change the chemistry of the band?

So Doug was actually in the band very early on but as the bass player! He’s a good friend to all of us and just an all-around great musician and person! He knows when to lean in and when to lay out and just comes up with the coolest shit. 

And you’ve already returned to the studio to record a follow-up. How’s that going? Any thoughts on when we can hear the results? 

Haha, yeah. I’m crazy, I can’t help it. I wrote a bunch of tunes in the last month or so and just wanted to get ’em down while they were still nice and fresh. They sound great already but it’ll probably be a while before they come out. No rush, this hasn’t even dropped yet, haha. 

I’m a little curious about the economics of releasing vinyl records. I’m a proud owner of your pressing of Fib Factory, but I see you haven’t released subsequent albums in record format. Was there something about that album that called out for vinyl, or are did other considerations go into that decision? What’s your advice to musicians who are considering that option?

First of all, thanks for owning it, we’re proud of that one and it just sounds good on wax! Basically we’d love to put them all out on vinyl but it’s expensive and the turnaround isn’t always quick enough for me. But we recorded and mixed Fib all to tape so it just called for vinyl and I think there was a deal going on or something, or maybe Chris just paid for it, I don’t remember. But I’d say if you can do it, do it! Spend the money, at least once. But I would recommend only doing it if your record sounds really good, especially if it’s got an analog vibe. 

Of course, your catalog is also available on CD. Do you find people are coming back around to that format?

I’m not sure, we’ll usually at least do a short-run (100 CDs). Keep a few for promo and the rest for the CD fans. I’d say it’s a plus because you get something physical with all the artwork and liner notes and such. 

Last time we talked, I asked about your interest in William Henry Harrison. At the time, you said it was too soon to talk about it, and I get that. I really do. But I feel like the public wants to know. Yes, it’s a sensitive topic, but do you think you’ll ever be ready to discuss it? 

I appreciate your sensitivity here. Look, obviously there’s a lot of controversy over WHH, and I get that, but the guy managed to hold the presidency for 31 days! That’s like thousands of days LESS than any other president! Plus that big paper ball was kinda dope. 

Fair enough–and they did keep the ball rolling. Speaking of which, do you have any plans for touring this summer?

We’re thinking about it, we’d LOVE to get up to your neck of the woods but we’ll most likely do a little Texas tour or something, still working it out. 

Thanks for taking the time to talk to me!

Thank you Marc, always a pleasure! Cheers!