Second Story Man’s members collect show fliers the way some travelers collect postcards.
The band’s MySpace page has images of nearly 40 posters touting their shows with known bands like My Morning Jacket and Shipping News, and shows with lesser-known, long-gone bands like the Merediths. The oldest of these fliers is for the band’s first proper show, in August 1998: Five Times Fast, Skam Impaired, Flight Nineteen, Short Millie, Seaside Panel, Second Story Man and Christiansen.
Of these bands, only Second Story Man endures.
Second Story Man — remembered for its laid-back indie style and, these days, dueling male-female vocals — hadn’t stirred much over the past year. Now, the four-piece is just about ready to start making noise again, with a handful of shows scheduled this fall and a new record expected next spring.
“We like to work in spurts with recording,” said singer/guitarist Carrie Neumayer.
“It gives us a chance to think about things. We’ve been much more deliberate with this one. It takes a really long time to do anything. We think really carefully about the songs — we spend a lot of time revising and editing.”
The three years between 2006’s “Red Glows Brighter” and the forthcoming work would be downright timely for Second Story Man. “Red Glows Brighter” came four years after 2002’s “Pins and Needles.” Dozens of Louisville bands formed, recorded and disbanded in the time Second Story Man took between records, but time is a luxury to be enjoyed when you are one of Louisville’s longest-tenured.
But could this forthcoming album be the one that turns Second Story Man into a known quantity outside of Louisville city limits? Is that even something Second Story Man wants anymore?
The answers are yes, and yes.
Bailey’s and Neumayer’s voices mesh better on the handful of promising new songs that have been recorded at Kevin Ratterman’s Funeral Home studio. They’re at times moodier and more intricate than “Red Glows Brighter,” which was a good but disjointed album due to bassist and singer Kelly Scullin’s departure.
The new album “is a little more confident,” Neumayer said.
Sitting at Sunergos Coffee in Germantown, the band’s founding members pause awkwardly when asked about their status as very much still a Louisville band — even as Louisville bands that formed in the same era, like My Morning Jacket and Christiansen, have gone on to wider notice and acclaim.
It doesn’t help that “Evil Urges” is playing in the coffeehouse.
“I think we’re all really leather-headed about it,” guitarist and singer Jeremy Irvin said. “And we’ve had some awesome experiences with this band.”
Neumayer added: “I’d only be heartbroken if we weren’t playing together.”
Drummer Evan Bailey said they’d be happy to release the new album on a bigger label than Irvin’s Landmark Records. They’ve considered shopping the new songs around to bigger labels, too.
The band is fine with their position because it was reached on their terms. The long gaps between records are often a result of the band’s egalitarian nature. The members are equals, even though it’s easier for bands when one member is in charge. (See: My Morning Jacket.)
“We all feel like we have a voice, that it’s no one person’s band,” Neumayer said, and then paused and smiled.
Bailey adds: “But I would say it’s what’s kept us together so long.”
