As someone who has a deep appreciation for melodies that capture a sense of controlled turbulence, I’ve been fortunate over the past few months. An array of Power Pop albums have been released, carrying a sound that pays homage to the likes of Guided by Voices, The Replacements, and Bob Mould. “You, Me & The Make Three” belongs to this category, and Jerry Lardieri shares the unique journey behind the album and the band in this exclusive interview.

Comprising members from The Brixton Riot and The Anderson Council, The Make Three is a collective that brings together distinct musical forces.

How did this record come together?

Most of the initial songs for this record started coming together during the pandemic. When I was stuck at home for a year, I would spend every morning working out demos for songs before I started work for the day, with the goal of completing a set of songs to pitch to the other guys in The Brixton Riot for our next record. I got through about 40 songs, and after I pulled out the ones that would fit The Brixton Riot the best, I still had a ton to choose from. That was the initial spark that led to The Make Three. Pete and Chris were obvious choices because we had played together many times when The Brixton Riot and The Anderson Council would share bills. The three of us had also done several sessions as an unnamed trio, covering bands like The Replacements, The Cure, XTC, The Lemonheads, etc.

When it finally came time to make the record, we had a hard time getting our schedules to line up. As a result, Chris and I set up a makeshift recording studio at his beach house on the Jersey shore the week after Christmas. We recorded all of the songs for the record over two or three days at most. Once that was finished, I sent the tracks to Pete, and he added bass and vocal parts from his house, while I added guitars and vocals from mine.

None of this is an “ideal” way to make a record, but we were all committed to getting this done and making it work any way that we could. There were tons of plans that went by the wayside due to scheduling, money, and time constraints, but in the end, it turned out well. To be honest, I ended up being pleasantly surprised by how cohesive the whole thing sounded. I think that was directly the result of us knowing each other for so many years and having played together so many times before. Hopefully, next time we will be able to use a more orthodox recording approach.

What was the moment you knew you were on to something?

The first time I heard one of our completed songs recorded and mixed, I felt like we were on to something. Interestingly, that song did not make it to the record, but it will probably come out sometime in the future.

When did you decide to start asking for opinions on the new songs?

I started sending things to Pete in very basic forms – sometimes a GarageBand demo, but usually just a voice memo. He is one of the songwriters I respect the most, so I really value his input. Beyond that, we tried to keep things within the band. This was actually the first time where I specifically tried not to share songs with people outside of the band. It’s not that I don’t like their opinions – I actually really do enjoy getting input on songs before they are done – but I did not want to “spoil it” for my friends and for people who have always been supportive of the music I’ve been involved in. I really wanted them to experience the record on the day it came out instead of hearing the songs for the 50th time.

The meaning of success has changed over the years. What would success look like for the new record?

That’s a good question. I always try to live by the Steve Albini concept of art versus commerce, where you don’t attach business goals to artistic projects. At the end of the day, you’re still producing a product, and you want that product to perform well, no matter what form it takes – live shows, records, CDs, whatever. That said, at this point in my life, I think success is noted by being able to grow your audience with each subsequent record. There are different career goals that I have, places that I want to play, studios that I want to record at, people that I want to work with. Being able to check those items off my list would certainly feel like success. But really, anytime a new person messages me or approaches me or buys our record or shares one of our songs and identifies with something that we’ve made, that feels like success to me.

Is the best song you ever wrote on this one?

I sure hope not! I think everybody’s always looking to improve with each attempt, so hopefully that bar keeps getting raised with every record.

As an artist, you choose to show your emotions to the world. Is it always comfortable to do so?

It can definitely be difficult. There are a lot of songs on this record that deal with emotional or personal subjects, but they aren’t autobiographical. The last two years presented a lot of challenges to almost everyone I know, including my friends and family. People we love pass away, and relationships fracture, but our lives continue moving forward. I think this record touches on a lot of those concepts and trying to pick up those pieces and move on. I think it’s the first time I’ve written songs that people could connect with on such a personal level because they’re about things that may have happened in their own lives. They are not overly complex lyrically and they deal with things everyone can relate to.

You can pick 3 co-writers to write new songs with. Who? … and Why?

I would have to say first and foremost would be Elvis Costello. He’s just a master songwriter with no equal. Ted Leo is another songwriter I love. I remember when I first heard “The Tyranny of Distance” and “Hearts Of Oak” – those records completely blew my mind. Picking a third one is tough – I want to say Paul Westerberg, I want to say Bob Mould, I want to say Robert Pollard, but I am going to go with a dark horse – Tim Midyett of Silkworm. I came to Silkworm and Bottomless Pit records quite late, but they made me rethink everything I was playing and listening to. The strange thing is that even though Silkworm is a huge influence on my songwriting, I don’t think it’s very obvious in my songs. No one else has ever made that connection, but there’s something about those records that just hits me right. The best songwriters and records make me want to write songs and play shows. That’s what the Silkworm and Bottomless Pit records did when I first heard them.

What’s the gig you will always remember? And why?

The Make Three is still very new, so we’ve only played six or seven shows. I guess I’ll always remember the first show; that was at John and Peter‘s, and it was cool getting to play in such a famous room for our first gig. The gig I will always remember was The Brixton Riot opening for Dramarama on the Belmar boardwalk. Hundreds of people lined the beach to see Dramarama, and we were able to play to the kind of audience that they probably see every night. Such a great experience. And then we got to watch them play their hits right on the boardwalk. By the time they got to “Anything, Anything”, everybody was crowded around their equipment and singing together. One of the best nights of my life.

How do you decide when a song is finished and ready to be recorded?

I’m not sure there’s a single formula for that. There are songs that we have recorded and re-recorded and re-recorded again, changing them in both large and small ways. So obviously, in those cases, the songs were not ready to be recorded, but we didn’t realize until they were already done. Then there are songs – like “Local Scene” – where we never played it together until we were in the studio, and we were able to nail it in three takes. If you had asked me beforehand if that song was ready to be recorded, I would have said no, but there’s a reckless energy to the version on the record where it seems like it could fall apart at any moment. Sometimes that gets lost when the songs are recorded over and over again.

How do you balance experimentation with commercial appeal in your music?

I don’t think we’re all that experimental, but we like to throw in some quirks here and there. For example, on “Against The Tide”, there’s a section that appears after the first chorus that doesn’t appear anywhere else in the song. It’s basically in place of the chorus, so what would you call that? A second chorus? A bridge? Basically, it was a mistake that I made on the demo that I was recording and writing at the same time. When it came time to record the song, we kept it in there. It doesn’t make much sense, but somehow it works. I don’t really think about commercial appeal all that much when it comes to writing songs, which probably sounds kind of funny because the songs on this record are quite poppy. That’s another strange thing – if you had asked me six months ago if we were making a power pop record, I would’ve said no. But there’s no doubt that’s exactly what we did.

Lyrics are often taken for granted. What is the line of text or are the lines of text that you hope listeners will remember? And why?

Of all the components of writing songs, lyrics are the most difficult for me. I don’t think there are any turns of phrase on the record that have that clever Elvis Costello wordplay thing going on, but hopefully, there are no clunkers either. I know you’re referring to something listeners will remember for being great, but there’s the other side of that coin – you always hope there’s nothing so awful that sticks out to listeners every time the song plays.

When was the last time you thought ‘I just wrote a hit!’?

Well, I’m not sure I ever feel that way. When I think of hits, I think of the songs on the radio, and I don’t think traditional radio plays the kind of music that we play. There are definitely moments where I feel like something just clicks the right way. I know when I wrote “Emily Strange”, I immediately sent it to Pete – mostly because I thought I had ripped it off from him and couldn’t figure out which song I lifted it from. People seem to be gravitating towards that one, so I guess that’s as close as you can call one of our songs “a hit”.

Cassettes are back. Which five songs would make your first mixtape?

• Bottomless Pit – “Repossession”
• Momma – “Speeding ‘72”
• Shrag – “Rabbit Kids”
• The Anderson Council – “We’re Like The Sun”
• Air Miami – “Dolphin Expressway”

Playing music in front of a crowd. What’s all the fun about?

There are good nights and bad nights, but when you’re lucky enough to have bandmates as talented as I do in both The Make Three and The Brixton Riot, and you also like them as people, it’s hard not to have a good time, even when there isn’t much of a crowd. There’s something very special about the connection between the band and the audience at a great show. It doesn’t always happen, but sometimes I like to look around and see who’s nodding their head or tapping their foot or just getting lost in the whole experience.

You can’t control the way people ‘hear’ your music. But if you could make them aware of certain aspects that you think set your songs apart, what would they be?

I try not to get in the way of how people hear our songs. If someone likes our music because it reminds them of something they like, that’s fine – I don’t have to agree with them, and I don’t have to necessarily like the artist they’re referencing. I’m just happy to have somebody enjoy anything I’ve done. I think as an artist, that’s all you can do – put things out in the world and let people decide for themselves what they mean to them.

Suppose you were to introduce your music to new listeners through three songs. Which songs would those be and why?

Sticking with just the new album, I’d probably go with “Black Cloud”, “Parts Unknown”, and “Sweet Carolina Blue”. I think those three songs distill three sides of what the band is about. “Black Cloud” is very obviously rooted in the Dinosaur Jr. sound. I’m such a huge fan of J Mascis and Dinosaur Jr., and I really wanted a few moments on the record with that big crazy guitar sound. One of my friends told me that the “chugga chugga” parts in “Black Cloud” remind him of Iron Maiden, which is pretty funny but also makes a lot of sense. For “Parts Unknown”, I was trying to go for more of a Chris Bell-style song, but I think it might’ve been lost in translation. That one ended up being a little more shoegaze-y and distorted, like something from “Bandwagonesque”. “Sweet Carolina Blue” is very much a Bob Mould/Sugar-style song. I found the original demo the other day when I didn’t have any words, and I named it “Mould Song”. Hopefully, these influences are more subtle to the listener than they are to me.

If you could tour the world with two other bands, who would you ask, and why?

The Brixton Riot and The Anderson Council. What could be more fun than touring the world with your buddies?

What compliment you once received will you never forget?

J Robbins once told us that we had “more hooks than a tacklebox.” Any compliment from J Robbins is one I won’t forget.

Those magical moments when you’re working in the studio. Which moment was the most magical?

Those moments definitely happen, but it’s almost comical how much of recording is just monotonous tasks: tons of takes, troubleshooting, winding and unwinding cables, adjusting knobs, etc. You are definitely shielded from a lot of these things when you get to work with an engineer, but lately, most of my recording experiences are DIY. For me, the most magical moment is when the record is done. I am a terrible finisher of projects. There were a lot of times where I didn’t think this thing was going to happen, and I’m just really glad that it did.

What place do you occupy in the music industry?

Auditory janitor.

If you could pick three singers to sing harmony vocals on your next record, who would you ask?

I’m blessed to have Peter Horvath in this band. He could sing the phonebook and make it sound great. I saw First Aid Kit perform live this summer, and the Söderberg harmonies are just gorgeous.

The record is done, the music is out. Is the best fun done now or is it just beginning?

That’s a really good question. It should really be the beginning, but I think the way that we all consume music has changed our personal relationships with records. When I was younger, I would buy a record, and that would be the only new record I’d have for at least a month, maybe more. You got to know them intimately and played them over and over again until they were memorized. Now I feel like there’s pressure to already move on to the next thing. But that’s also fun too, starting to talk about what comes next.

What’s up for the next couple of months?

We’ve got some shows coming up with more on the way, maybe a video, but we’ll see. I’d much rather work on music than a video. Both The Make Three and The Brixton Riot have ’90s covers on an upcoming Mint 400 Records compilation album, so I’m excited for that to come out. I’d love to do some live sessions for the record; I like watching things like the KEXP sessions on YouTube. There’s also a set of songs that we recorded when we made the record that haven’t been finished, so that might come out as an EP a little further down the line.

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