They say an ice storm is expected for Ohio today, which means possibly a lower voter turnout than usual for the critical presidential primary there. But it’s unlikely that even bad weather will keep three Buckeye Staters from the polls: Adam Elliott, Beth Murphy and Jared Phillips, collectively known as Columbus’ finest purveyors of fuzzed out lo-fi noise pop, Times New Viking.
Esteemed MTV News producer Christopher Smith and I caught up with TNV Saturday night in Brooklyn, where they were playing a random book release party, the final stop in an east coast tour, followed by a break that was scheduled specifically around the primary. "You can’t vote absentee in the primary, so it was important to us to be there," said Beth Murphy, TNV keyboardist, adding that "we know Ohio is an important state, plus I think a lot of people still blame Ohio for the last election," referring to 2004.
While the band did not say how they were voting, it’s a safe bet it will be in the Democratic primary. Said guitarist Jared Phillips, "Just listen to our music, the whole noise, lo-fi thing, that’s a political statement in itself isn’t it? It’s pretty obvious we’re not Republicans."
Soon enough, Times New Viking will be packing their bags and heading to another key primary state – Texas, where Adam says they are slated to play six gigs in four days at next week's SXSW festival, "Not that I’m saying that’s a lot. Our friend’s band is playing like 13 shows."
And still drawing praise for their recently released third album (and first for Matador) Rip It Up – the fast working TNV, who say they usually record a song after only playing it 'two or three' times, are often working on new music. In fact, an impromptu overnight session during their weekend in New York may have produced several new songs.
Tags John Norris, Times-New-Viking