Although The Jet Age’s Eric Tischler (songwriter, guitarist, vocalist) is a proud father and husband (and dog owner… he was actually taking his pooch for a walk during our recent phone chat. “It seems like my house is the biggest hotspot for not getting reception [laughs]” he jokes with me.), he’s certainly still got plenty of revolution in him. The DC band’s latest album Destroy. Rebuild, which is out this Friday, August 28th, is not only a sociopolitical outcry to society as it has stood in recent years, but also represents a sonic rebuilding of the band itself.
Destroy. Rebuild follows 2014’s Jukebox Memoir, an album that, in their latest press release, Tischler admits had him writing songs in the style of some of his favorite acts, such as Stevie Wonder, Duran Duran, and The Small Faces, something which began as a simple writing exercise and was never intended to be released. However, that changed when Ride’s Mark Gardener and Swervedriver’s Adam Franklin, two major influences of The Jet Age, offered to add their vocals to the record (Yeah… that’d be pretty hard to turn down…)
In our recent chat Tischler tells me that the approach to Destroy. Rebuild was entirely different, although it does contain a few nods to some of his favorite bands: “With Jukebox Memoir, I got caught up trying to sound like all these bands that I liked, but Destroy. Rebuild is a pure shot of The Jet Age. I mean, although, the opening track (“Don’t Make a Sound”) is an homage to Nowhere by Ride. When they came along I was playing in a covers band and hated it and I heard them and was like, “It’s two guys who sing like girls, but rock like The Who!” The album does indeed embrace both aesthetics, kicking out groovy jams but groovy jams that ring more of the musings of subversive intellectuals than something that would make its way into an arena.
When I inquire about if there’s any touring The Jet Age’s near future, Tischler tells me that, while playing live and immersing himself in live music is something that he really enjoys, it’s something he generally refrains from unless it looks to be an exceptional experience, whether from the stage or the audience (They do have an August 29th date in Brighton, UK, as part of At The Edge of the Sea, where they’ll be joining legends like The Wedding Present and Cinerama, in addition to a hometown record release show on September 12th at Villain & Saint in Bethesda, MD.)
“We’d love to tour, but it’s a giant pain in the ass [laughs]. I mean, if there’s an unusual demand, I’d love to do it. It’s like, I never come back from tour and think, ‘This sucked!’ but it would really need to be something promising. The only shows I see are the shows I play and if I go see a really good show, it just makes me want to play, so it’s kind of bittersweet. I’m a record guy. I like to buy records and listen to them. I’m going to see Ride in September at the 9:30 Club and The Who in November at Verizon Center, which I’m excited for, but I’m judicious when it comes to going to live shows, and it’s hard to compete when you’re a new band and Ride come back and they’ve still got it and Swervedriver come back and the have a record that’s probably the best new record of the year.”
