Touring is an economic necessity for musicians — and especially for a band on an independent record label. For Handsome Furs, touring is also inspiration, the creative fuel that’s driven the band’s last two records.
The husband/wife duo of Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry are particularly inspired by traveling abroad, to places mostly untouched by American pop music.
The band’s two records — 2007’s “Plague Park” and “Face Control,” released in March — have danceable, electronics-imbued rock songs about places and instigated by places, said Boeckner, who compares his songwriting to travel journalism.
Well, maybe travel poetry — the lyrics tend to be abstract.
“It’s interesting to me to take an impression of a place — political or historical — and interpret that through the language of rock,” he said.
Boeckner said he struggles to write songs at home; he needs stimulation to create music, and seeing new places is the perfect stimulant. And it’s a serendipitous situation, because he would never be able to afford to travel this extensively were he not a touring musician.
“Face Control” was written while Handsome Furs toured through Eastern Europe, and the name derives from a practice at Russian nightclubs where patrons are rejected based purely on their attractiveness, even if they’d paid small fortunes for reservations.
It’s a part of the world that’s found an indie rock champion; Boeckner said he wishes more bands would play shows in Eastern Europe.
“Serbia has a huge stigma because of the war. Bucharest has a reputation as being a dangerous place, and it’s not totally undeserved,” he said. “Bookers just don’t like to deal with buying extra insurance and dealing with sketchy promoters.
“The shows there are great, though. People in Eastern Europe are just starved for music because no one ever plays there. You can play for the same number of people as in Berlin, but the crowds aren’t as jaded.”
“Face Control” has accomplished more than earning generally rave reviews from critics — it’s pried away the impression of Handsome Furs as a mere side project of Boeckner’s more prominent band, Wolf Parade. Boeckner is gratified that music writers have stopped using the “side project” tag, because he never viewed Handsome Furs that way.
“I used to get kind of upset when this was called a side project, but I realize that people mainly know me from Wolf Parade,” he said. “But that’s not the way we operate. It’s just a different band that I play in.”
The Boeckner-Perry clan is based in Montreal, but they’ve toured endlessly since before Christmas, as is their habit when Boeckner isn’t working with his main band, Wolf Parade. And they’re on the road further still through October, including a stop Thursday at Skull Alley.
Boeckner is primed for the Louisville show; he hasn’t played Louisville in years, but he has fond memories of playing particularly wild shows in Louisville.
“Every time we play in Kentucky we always play in Newport,” he said, miffed. “It’s not Louisville.”
