“I don’t know how else to say it -- we were good kids.”
- Joy Cyr
Let’s get a few basics out of the way:
The members of Quiet People have control issues. This is their first interview. They fluctuate between enthusiastic and reserved, and they all know their scales. They recognize the “business” in Music Business by crunching numbers with spreadsheets to make sure they’re not losing money on their endeavors. They also start and finish each other’s sentences. During the course of our meeting, they jump at the chance to respond to questions, but several times it’s on behalf of one another rather than themselves. They are a family, and share a collective conscience about their work. It’s a little like interviewing a musical prodigy with three heads.
What was the first instrument you picked up?
LUKE: Piano
(now he’s primarily the drummer, with a side of synth)
JOHN: Drums
(he’s the guitarist)
JOY: I would try ‘scream-singing’ when they were playing music together.
(bass and vocals)
One of the ways you identify yourself is your process: “We compose, perform, record, burn, print, and package all of our music.” ... Is there an element of control you need to do your art?
JOY (points to John): This one here, for sure...
JOHN: It’s quality control... If I’m going to sell something, I want it to be the best I can make it. If the corner is ripped on an insert, or a staple is off-center I’ll throw the whole thing away. The same thing applies to our music -- I mean, if we’re going to charge people money, then it’s got to be the best we can make it.
JOY: He probably wouldn't be that way, except that he studied recording and sound engineering. Back in high school he studied videography and editing too. For me it’s about the music, and whenever I do design work I want it to be more purposeful; I want to connect it to the meaning I think is behind the music, whether it’s lyrics or the time period when it was written.
LUKE (nodding to Joy): She’s kind of like the editor. Sometimes John and I will come up with a design, and then she’ll come in and cut things out...
JOHN (with a grin): It must satisfy The Joy. If she says no to something, we have to take that into account, that’s contributing... she’s a member of the group and we have to consider her opinion equally.
JOY: Everyone’s an editor and everyone’s a creator, I mean, if you break it up, John mostly does the engineering - the computer stuff, I’m more strictly creative; drawings, chord progressions, and Luke is like... music theory buff and rhythms and restructuring songs so they’re more complex.
The brothers used to be afraid of clichés. They even downplayed the fact that they were siblings because they were not The Partridge Family or anything you might recognize from The Disney Channel. Musically, there’s a subtle, steady push-back against being categorized, even as they navigate the predictable minefield of indie pop. If a song sounds too much like something they’ve heard before, they scrap it.
So when did you get interested in forming a band together?
JOHN: I had been for years. Luke was younger and at the time he was only listening to classical; none of the stuff I was listening to. Joy and I shared very similar tastes in music, but in my first year of college we were separated. When I graduated Joy and Luke were still in high school, so they formed a really strong bond, which eventually led to them doing a talent show together.
JOY: Luke pretty much came to my rescue because I really wanted to play a song I had written, but it wasn’t very good. He offered to help with it, even though he was terrified right up to the day we were going to perform it, saying “this was a bad idea, we shouldn’t do this”...
LUKE (shrugs): In high school, being seen with your older sister was “not cool”, so I was really embarrassed, but she was saying stuff like “you don’t understand -- people are going to think you’re awesome!”... We performed the song “Quiet People” as a duet on piano and synthesizer for a talent show. I think the three of us avoided playing together for awhile because we thought wouldn’t be able to get along...
You were worried about sibling dynamics?
JOHN: On our first album, we fought like crazy. We’d steal each other’s lines and play them on our own instrument, like turn a guitar part into a bass line, or a vocal riff that used to be on guitar. I don’t think we were ever hateful towards each other, but I know I used to get impatient. I’d freak out if Luke didn’t play something “correctly” and we’d have to start over again from the beginning.
LUKE: We just found an old tape cassette -- I must have been 8 or 9, John was 14 -- we were playing music and he would just count it off over and over again and say things like “No, you’re doing it wrong -- you’re going too slow!”
JOY (laughing): it goes on for like 15 minutes!
They agree, though, that arguing eliminates most of the half-baked ideas. If it’s worth defending, or campaigning to convert the undecided, it only makes the finished product better. Some of the songs have, through conflict, undergone a complete transformation. Luke and John usually start with equipment as their muse, but Joy starts with a notebook, and poetry.
JOY: ... it can start if I’m really sad or really angry. I used to just sit down at a piano and just ‘go’, but then I’d usually end up forgetting. I’ll read the words back and some of them just... turn into a melody line or have certain values to them. I’ll listen to the pentameter and it evolves from there -- I’ll get rhythms or chord changes and “shells” of songs. The chorus could just have a bass line, the verse a guitar part. From there, you know, fill it in, change the melody line, find a cool effect, etc.
So when you’ve presented your brothers with a piece you’ve written this way, how many times have they ‘dashed your toy doll to the ground’ by way of a tempo change or manic guitar riffs?
JOY: All the time.
JOHN (laughing): Probably every single song.
JOY: Yes. That’s why our first CD was so difficult. I had these very personal songs that were really important to me, written 5 years earlier, and I was like: “don’t screw them up”.
You included so many production elements on your 2010 album “Symptoms of a Steady Mind”... what was the experience like?
JOHN: I slaved over our first album for 8 months. It was really chopped up, partly because we took turns playing all the instruments, and partly because of the software I was working with.
LUKE: It was a variety show.
JOY: Yeah, I didn't see those songs as all being part of an album - it was more like six individual pieces.
They all agree that their current album ‘Childproof’ is the album they could play live without a lot of role-switching or pre-recorded trickery. They describe it as more cohesive, and more representative of the direction they want to go. There are fewer acrobatics, and it feels like the trio gave themselves permission to let a song ‘breathe’. The variety show has evolved into storytelling.
Is it important for you to have a physical product?
JOY: I think digital is good, but I’d rather have smaller circulation and be able to present something. Being available online all over the world isn’t as special.
LUKE: Yeah, having something physical is better. Years ago, it was a bigger deal to get your music onto iTunes or something like that.
JOHN: It almost the reverse now -- it’s too easy to get your music online. If you don’t have a hard copy it’s like you’re not as legit.
How do view recordings vs. performances?
JOHN: We feel more exposed onstage, but when we’re recording we’re much more relaxed...
JOY (gives a steady look in John’s direction): - Wrong!
JOHN (negotiating): ... well, vocals we get much more freaked out over. Recording takes forever.
JOY: -- but you guys are pretty comfortable with that process.
LUKE: For me (live) is much more fun. I used to do a lot of classical piano performances, you know, very intricate, rigidly structured... but playing in a rock band environment, you can improvise on the spot. You can even turn a wrong note into something intentional...
Luke seems aware of his brother getting a little uncomfortable at the subject of ‘wrong notes’ and continues:
... some people say we have some sort of telekinesis. When something goes wrong during a set we’ll sort of... look at each other.
JOY (with a closed smile): ... we all know each others’ parts, too.
JOHN: We all know our equipment so well, I get really freaked out when something doesn’t go right on stage. Everything has to be set up the way I want it set up.
So John, are you also the roadie of the group?
JOHN: Yeah, I maintain all the gear. I can diagnose problems pretty quickly.
Do you explore and expand upon your songs when you’re on stage? When you play live shows, are you aiming for creation, or re-creation?
JOY: John wants it to sound exactly like it does on the CD...
LUKE: ... but there are too many production elements
JOY: ... if you have a product you’re selling, you should be able to replicate it live; have (the musicianship) be at least as good as your recordings, however they were made.
JOHN: The stuff from our first album is pretty difficult to play live, so I can’t do much on stage besides concentrate on the song.
Bonus trivia: John says he 'has to' play barefoot to properly turn all the knobs on his guitar pedals. Meanwhile, Luke’s set-up is such that there’s a Roland GAIA synthesizer perched just above the drum heads... he serves double-duty in most performances.
Luke, do you play keyboards like a drummer, or play rhythms like a keyboardist?
LUKE: I would say I drum like a keyboard player. I studied piano, and always thought of drums as secondary. Because you can play a lot of simultaneous parts on piano, I compartmentalize a lot of different drum-beats -- I think of complexity.
JOHN: We were all in marching band, so we all have a drummer’s background. I’m especially proud of our drum heads, they’re pretty consistent (in where they’re struck)... the snare in particular. I’d actually feel 10 times more comfortable on a drum set than than on guitar -- the only reason I started playing guitar is because I got tired of playing drums by myself. I actually learned how to play (guitar) through YouTube videos.
LUKE: I played quads for 2 years, and in addition to all the drums being small, you’re walking the whole time. There’s a little tiny drum in the middle that counts off the entire band, and that’s only 6 inches in diameter... if you miss it everyone knows.
JOY: ... and you’re not supposed to look down...
LUKE: ... and even if your hands are bleeding, you have to just keep going.
The Cyr family grew up in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. Joy calls it "halfway between the middle of nowhere and a tourist town" -- The glossy, fantastical community of Seaside (where the movie “The Truman Show" was filmed) was only about 10 minutes away, but they lived in a trailer on a church campus. Dad was a traveling preacher off and on for a few years.
What did you listen to growing up?
LUKE: 90‘s Christian power rock!
JOY (laughing): Sort of. Since we grew up in a religious household, there were a lot of hymns, but also high energy stuff from Carmen (who happens to hold the world record for the largest solo Christian Concerts in history). There was sing-along stuff like Mary Poppins and Fiddler on the Roof...
JOHN: ... and a Batman & Robin LP from the late 60‘s.. but we started listening to some stupid ‘house’ remixes of things and make these random CDs for ourselves...
Joy starts humming a melody line, and Luke pounces on it...
LUKE: “The Hamster Dance”!
JOY: ... and “Space Jam”!
JOHN: That was a great song! Meanwhile, we got to know about some of the older established artists from watching infomercials late at night -- Golden Hits of the 80’s and 90’s - stuff like that.
But I believe they’d only play the 5 most recognizable seconds of each song(?)
LUKE: -- right, so we never knew the whole thing - we just heard the chorus!
JOY: It was weird, though; at the same time I was listening to Radiohead, Beatles, Mamas and the Papas, Modest Mouse and Pedro The Lion --
JOHN: That’s probably the first CD I ever bought. I studied their music.
JOY (continuing): ... they’re probably my favorite band. They win; hands down.
LUKE: That’s really how we learned to play together -- we did covers of other people’s songs, but the first Quiet People song we all played together was “Drugs and Alcohol” (from Symptoms of a Steady Mind). That song kind of served as a template for the new album, with me primarily on drums.
Who were some other influences? Comparisons?
They toss names out like emptying the contents of a backpack on the floor... Mewithoutyou, Beachouse, Peter Bjorn & John, Eisley, Headphones, Deerhoof, St. Vincent... Luke includes some classical like Schoenburg and Ligeti. Furthermore, Joy says she learned how to play the bass by listening to a different Interpol song every day.
What movie would you do the soundtrack for?
LUKE: Some kind of action film, like Inception.
JOY: I really liked Elliot Smith’s soundtrack for Good Will Hunting, and I would want to do something like that. Or Proof with Gwyneth Paltrow.
JOHN: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. I would have a lot of fun writing that score -- I would use a lot of synthesizers.
What are your guilty pleasures?
JOHN: For me it’s playing video games with high-end graphics. It relaxes me the way I imagine smoking does for other people.
JOY: There a lot of things; obscure foreign films, all 9 seasons of X-Files, going places without anyone knowing where... I’ll dance in my room sometimes -- I took ballet, modern and hip-hop, mixed in with mime classes. I think the guilty pleasure that John and Luke would say for me is coffee. It’s my rebellion of sorts, since my dad is against caffeine. None of us smoke or drink.
LUKE: I like to make banana ice cream.
If you were a corporation, what would your Mission Statement be?
JOHN: To Share My Music as Others Have shared with me.
He lets that sink in for a moment and continues:
... the main reason I’m interested in sharing this music is because someone shared it with me. At a show I’d rather play for the 10 people I don’t know instead of a roomful of people that’ve heard us before. Hopefully we’ll do a good job.
LUKE: Writing Sounds That Come Into My Head For You.
JOY: Writing My Life For You. Quiet People is more therapeutic than anything. When I was younger I had a lot of surgery on my jaw. I had braces for 10 years, and speech therapy for 4 years. I’d get angry or frustrated because it was difficult - often times painful - to physically talk, so I would write it into a song just to get it out. It was never intended to leave the room, but as I got older though, I knew other people were going to hear what I had to say because I’m in a band now.
So who is the “Bruised Ear Boy” (from the album Childproof)?
JOY: John.
JOHN (surprised): What? I didn’t know that...
LUKE: Mind blown...
JOY: John and I started this journey together. When you’re in a family band you can hit on all sorts of touchy subjects.
How did Quiet People become your band name?
JOY: It’s based on a verse from the song by the same name. We were writing down different band names, though. “Parameter” was one, but we were going to say it differently, like “Perry-meters” or something?
LUKE: I don’t think we wanted to do ‘Quiet People’, just because it’s kind of like... a trigger word.
JOY (giving her brother a gentle smile): Luke didn’t want to use it because he is a quiet person...
LUKE (pushing back): But you guys are too...
JOHN: I know I went through a ‘quiet’ phase early in high school, but I always thought (with a band name) - why should we call attention to the fact that we’re quiet? We had a particular friend who’d always ask us “why are you so quiet / why don’t you ever say anything”. First of all, we’re in school, we’re not really supposed to be talking...
JOY: It was such an awkward situation, and unfortunately I don’t know how else to say it -- we were good kids. We respected teachers, but not for the purpose of getting a good grade. It wasn’t an act. We were there for math and science and marching band.
It sounds like you were being picked on for being ‘steady’ -- non-conformist, yet non-confrontational.
JOHN: Yeah. Acceptance wasn’t something we were overly concerned about. We just wanted to exist.
It was a brave move then, to brand yourself with the very thing your were getting hassled about... like being “found out” was one of the things that made you squirm?
LUKE (squirming): Yes.
JOHN: I think what we’re trying to show is that there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s not like we’re going to be stand-offish if you get to know us.
JOY: I think it’s the difference between quiet and shy. In school it seemed like you had to bring your whole private life to show off to everyone. We never felt it was necessary. Some people aren’t super out-going, but they still have stuff they do in their own time. People can see the other side of us when they come to our show -- they get to see what we’ve been doing in our living room all this time.
Quiet People’s latest album Childproof, is available through Bandcamp and elsewhere:
