Quantity & Quality The Cityzen Q&A with Cardia's Ian Love by Darren Paltrowitz Being a music writer has many perks to it – the “free goods” generally being the best of all. When you’ve been on the circuit for a few years, you find yourself automatically added to the mailing list of more publicists than you’d like to be on.

You receive more press kits than you have time to check out, which doesn’t sound like a problem, but is when you’re receiving so much New Age music. All because one publicity firm has decided to send you everything that they work. But sometimes an unsolicited package comes through and it turns out to be everything that you wanted – for me in mid-2003, that was Cardia.

At the time the band featured former members of Rival Schools, The Verve Pipe, Shudder To Think, and 2 Skinnee J’s. Cardia was an all-star band of sorts, having toured with Thursday and a whole lot of other “it” bands in its infant months. In fact, Thursday guitarist Steve Padulla directed a music video for Cardia. The songs were poppy yet credible. They were loud but also lush, futuristic but classic. Sure, the self-titled album had a few clunkers, but songs like “Your Eyes” and “Stars” were unbelievable. Yet aside from a cross-country tour with Year Of The Rabbit, some U.K. dates, and a distribution deal in Japan, nothing was really happening for the band.

In late 2003 frontman Ian Love sent me a dozen or so demos– they were great. Letting some time slip by, I received another dozen or so demos in mid-2004 – they were excellent. In fact, the first song, “One By One,” received a few dozen spins on WLIR. Yet these songs remain unreleased - an absolute crime this writer cannot understand.

In the time since, Ian has written and recorded his first solo album to be released by Limekiln Records on February 21st. Not the hooky space-rock that fans of Cardia would have expected, but instead an introspective, experimental, and personal collection of songs.

Talking about the past, present, and future, Ian partook in some Q&A for Cityzen.

Cityzen: What was it that made you want to become a musician?

Ian Love: When I was a kid, my dad managed bands and when I would go visit him, I
would end up spending most of the time at clubs or rehearsals or studios. I was totally fascinated by the guitar and wanted to play, so one of the guys in one of the bands used to let me play his guitar...That’s all I really wanted to do after that.

CZ: What do you wish more people knew about Ian Love?

IL: Hmm, I guess with this new record and the bio I wrote for it was new for me. Writing about my years of drug addiction, and getting through it and having the life I have today. I think it's really cool I'm a good dad, so that’s good to know.

CZ: You became a father earlier this year.  Has that played a role in your songwriting? IL: Well, I definitely have to play a little softer in the house, so I've been playing a lot of acoustic guitar. I came up with some pretty sweet kid songs, too! You know, a duck goes “quack,” a cow goes “moo,” etc. My favorite one is "I'll Only Eat Organic" -- it's a hit with my daughter. CZ: How would you describe your new self-titled solo album to fans of your previous bands?

IL: A cross between Eddie Murphy and Chaka Khan…I don’t know. It's simple, sparse acoustic-driven songs with ambient rhythms and textures over it. Sounds good to me.

CZ: As the primary songwriter and producer for Cardia, were you all along looking to make a solo album?  Or was that an idea that came out of idle time?

IL: Definitely idle time. I had some of these songs written and they didn't have any drums or bass and they didn't fit the "Cardia sound," so I recorded some of them and really liked the way they came out and decided I wanted to make a record like that. The "solo thing" just sort of came around not having a band for it, as well as just making the record myself. I wasn't planning it, but it was a lot easier for some reason to put out this solo record than a Cardia record for whatever reason.

CZ: How did you discover that your vocal range is so wide?

IL: I have a large supply of helium that I carry around with me. I never really planned to be a singer so I just sort of experimented with what I can and can’t do, and I realized my range was pretty good, so that’s sort of how it came about.

CZ: Your former band-mates in Rival Schools have moved on to Nightmare Of You (Sammy Siegler), Walking Concert (Walter Schriefels), and Institute (Cache Tollman); Cache being the only band-mate playing music that sounds like Rival Schools.  Why do you think it is that so many former players from the hardcore circuit have moved along to retro-themed music?

IL: That’s a good question -- I don’t really know. Too much stage-diving and mosh pits at a early age?

CZ: What led you from moving away from the hardcore scene? IL: I think for me, the hardcore scene was more about the actual "scene." I hated school and dropped out, home life wasn't that great I couldn't identify with anyone; hardcore shows were a place to feel connected to people in some way. Eventually, as I found more music, my tastes just grew more. But I still love putting on a Bad Brains or Cro-Mags record once in a while.

CZ: Word has it that you wrote rhymes for Boogie Down Productions as a teenager.  What was it like being in the midst of New York hip-hop in its creative prime?

IL: It was actually for this guy, Sha Liv, who was part of the whole Boogie Down Productions thing. He made a record for TVT – I’m not even sure if it came out, actually. It was fun, though. I had some friends that were real hip-hop producers and they told me all I needed was a sampler and I could make some beats and make a bunch of money. It was cool because I would loop some break-beats, sample something, and play a bunch of stuff on top of it. Somehow I ended up making a record for Sha Liv and doing stuff with Lordzs Of Brooklyn and this guy Ill Bill as well a bunch more people. I was maybe 15 or 16, so it was pretty wild hanging out with all these guys. I would have like 10 crazy rap dudes in my mom’s apartment downtown, all cramped in my little room with a 8-track passing around a mic. It was the beginning of that whole rap / tattooed-hardcore guy crossover thing. It was pretty cool, though.

CZ: I've heard that you worked alongside Jeff Buckley as a bartender -- any truth to that rumor?

IL: I bartended at The Knitting Factory with his girlfriend, so he would be in a lot. And I was in rehab with a good friend of his. Besides seeing him play a dozen times or so, that’s about it.

CZ: Cardia's 1st album came out in 2003 with a lot of immediate hype -- airplay in the U.K. and on WLIR, tour dates with Saves The Day and Year Of The Rabbit, etc. Cardia has recorded and mixed dozens of songs since then, but no album or EP has seen the light of day.  Any plans to change that?

IL: I would love to, but nobody wants to put anything out. What happens is some label would come along and be interested for a few months, then that would fall through.  Then our manager would say “Well, this person seems interested,” so we would wait again, and this would just keep happening. Now it's years later and still nothing is out so it's really frustrating. I write all these songs record them all and still nothing is out. That’s why I’m really happy someone is putting out this solo record.

CZ: What's going on for you as a producer and recording engineer?  Any new projects to speak of?

IL: Not too much. I recorded some stuff for Walter…I think I’m mixing the Gorilla Biscuits CBGB show that just happened. Besides that, stuff just always comes up.

CZ: As a life-long New Yorker, do you think the New York music scene is as cool as most critics make it out to be?

IL: I really don’t know. I’m not a super-fan of the whole 80's sound resurgence thing. It just seems all a bit contrived and forced to me. There is some good stuff out there though, I guess. CZ: Are there any local artists that you feel readers of Cityzen ought to know about? IL: Not that I can think of. The woman who did the artwork for my record is amazing. It's not music, though -- her stuff is at www.ericaharris.org. CZ: Finally, Ian, any last words for the kids? IL: A dog goes “ruff.”