NAKATOMI PLAZA :: NOT UNTIL THEY’RE GOOD AND READY

Story By Kevin Stewart-Panko and Photos by Mike Curry

It’s had nothing to do with personal conflicts. It’s had nothing to do with musical or creative differences. And it’s had nothing to do with the psychological trauma that accompanies seeing a naked dude “pulling his goalie” on a highway overpass while on tour in Tennessee. Nope, the reasons Brooklyn’s Nakatomi Plaza has had such a terrible time keeping a steady lineup since forming eight years ago revolve around the root-of-all-evil, as guitarist/vocalist Oscar Rodriguez explains.

“At the level we’re at, between van payments, gas, not working while on tour, and paying rent in New York, it actually costs money to tour. None of the lineup changes have been personal; it’s all, practical, ‘I-can’t-afford-to-do-this’ stuff.”

Now pared down to a three-piece, Rodriguez, bassist Al Fair, and new drummer Lou Maiolica have set themselves up to be able to spend the lion’s share of 2007 on the road, bringing the melody and abrasion of their streamlined post-punk to any place that’ll have ‘em. And considering they slaved over their new album, Unsettled, for three years and six mastering sessions, you better believe these dudes are happy with their latest.

“Everyone in the band is a perfectionist; I think we take it a little further than we should,” laughs Rodrguez. “It was just a matter of trying to get the best sounding record. After a certain point, it was like, ‘What’s another two months to get it mastered again?’”

Was there ever any talk of scrapping Unsettled? “No,” says Rodriguez, “we wrote these songs over two years, trimming off fat, like unnecessary time changes, to make sure everything was about the song, not about cool parts. We were totally psyched on the material. Then, when we recorded, [producer] J. Robbins was psyched on the material, so we would get more psyched. When Lou joined the band, he was psyched on the songs, so we would get psyched again. Despite the delays, there was never any drag about the music.”

 For more info, go to: nakatomiplaza.com