The Static Age overcomes separation anxiety for BK debut

By Meredith Deliso

While one half of The Static Age lives in Brooklyn and the other Vermont, the separation hasn’t prevented the band from making music; if anything, it’s prevented them from performing here.

On June 18, that’s lifted as the post punk band plays its first local show with a gig at Greenpoint bar Matchless.

On their road to Brooklyn, The Static Age began in Burlington, Vermont, with band founders Andrew Paley and Adam Meilleur growing up in that city’s punk scene.

“There’s a pretty vibrant punk scene in Burlington, Vermont,” says Paley, the lead singer of The Static Age. “I’ve been in every possible loud noisy band iteration under the sun.”

Never settling down in a place no more than six months while on tour with bands like Tiger Army, Street Dogs, and Theo and the Skyscrapers, last summer, Paley set up camp in Fort Greene and doesn’t have any plans on moving just yet.

“When it came time to settle down for a little bit, I decided I wanted to move back to New York,” says Paley. “One of the things I really like about Fort Greene is the space. I’ve been able to build a studio over the past year in my apartment.”

This setup has allowed the musician to do his own recording here and then send Meilleur demos, getting together every month or so to rehearse with the rest of the band, drummer Dave Joyal, another Vermonter and the current drummer for the post-hardcore band Silent Drive.

“Whether you’re demoing them five miles down the road or 3,000 miles, it doesn’t really matter. The process is the same from the beginning,” says Paley. “Though it can be a pain in the ass, we make it work.”

Indeed, after taking some time to work on side projects and writing, the band is currently at work on its fourth album, tentatively titled “I/O” (as in “Input/Output”), scheduled to come out in September in conjunction with a three-week tour in Europe.

With albums previously out on Primary, Tarantulas, and Reignition Records, the band decided to undertake their latest effort themselves.

“This time around, because we’ve been recording the way we have been, we’re doing it all ourselves,” says Paley. “We found out there are good sides and bad sides to that, but for me at least, the good outweighs the bad. It’s fun to have an unlimited amount of time and to make mistakes and learn how to fix them.”

The result so far has leaned towards a fuller sound, with the band leaning towards recordings of the full live band, with not as many studio-constructed as before.

“We were able to pull from some other places that we weren’t able to before,” says Paley. “Previous recordings were not a live band situation. I think this takes that and runs with it more.”

After taking a break from live gigs as of late, The Static Age will break out these new songs in Brooklyn at the Matchless gig. Also on the bill are familiar local acts The Royal Chains, Ivana XL, and Systems, friends that the band reached out to in joining them on the bill.

“I’ve always been amazed as I get to know more people around here by the subcircles of bands,” says Paley. “I kind of love Brooklyn for that.”

The Static Age play Matchless (557 Manhattan Ave.) on June 18 at 8 p.m. For more information, call 718-383-5333.