While most bands treasure their computers as a tool for album production, one band comprised of two gentlemen prefers taking the making of its music old school.
The Two Man Gentlemen Band is scheduled to take the stage 8 p.m. Tuesday at Woodlands Tavern. The band plans to perform songs from its new album “Two At a Time,” which released March 20.
The Americana-swing duo’s seventh album, “Two at a Time” was funded by a campaign that the band started on fundraising website kickstarter.com, which allowed fans to donate to the group’s cause. Once the group had met and exceeded its $14,000 goal by raising $17,314, it used the proceeds to produce the album, including its graphics.
“We decided to go whole-hog all analog on ‘Two at a Time’ – including all analog packaging – because we found that all of our favorite records were made before the computer era and we wanted to make a record that we would want to listen to,” said songwriter and guitarist Andy Bean.
The Gentlemen has been touring and making albums full time for about five years, Bean said, and before that, Bean and string bassist Fuller Condon were street performers in New York City.
The process of going fully analog, or not using computers, required the group to exclusively use 1940s and 1950s microphones and record to monophonic analog tapes, which as opposed to stereo tapes have only one audio stream for each ear instead of different streams for each ear. This medium gives the record more of a live feeling, which Bean said the band likes. He also said it chose to use this process because of its influences from music artists Slim & Slam and Milton Brown.
“We like to play live on our records, just the two of us, like we do on stage every night,” Bean said. “So the recording medium doesn’t make too much of a difference. It’s the same process to play live to tape as it is to play into a computer. It just takes longer to rewind if you wanna redo a song.”
Katie Brotherton, a second-year in exploration, said she thinks recording this way maintains the purity of a song.
“I think it’s cool that they make their music without digital editing, so it is a more pure product,” Brotherton said.
Ashley Ritter, a fourth-year in human development and family science, is a bartender at Applebee’s and said the relaxed style of The Gentlemen’s music would be good in a bar setting such as Woodlands Tavern. “Growing up, I listened to classic country and bluegrass, so I really enjoy the older style of music paired with current topics,” Ritter said. “I really like their relaxed style and think they would be a great group to go watch and have a few drinks.”
Tickets for Tuesday’s show are $8 and are available on Woodlands’ website or at the venue, which is located at 1200 W. 3rd Ave.
