Just don’t call them late for dinner: (l-r) Carlton, Fox, Lilley and Bombard make up the Sixfifteens. Photo by John Whipple

It’s Time to Rock
After a year of change, the Sixfifteens settle into a new lineup, debuting a fresh sound and a set list full of new material
By Kirsten Ferguson

Stenciled across the door of the small basement room where the Sixfifteens practice is this charming appellation: “I Shit My Pants Studio.” The name suggests that the four members of the Saratoga Springs band—whose music contains elements of indie rock, power pop and punk—may have a cavalier attitude when it comes to rehearsing and recording. Still, the band’s practice room is surprisingly tidy and well-appointed, with bright orange walls, red velour curtains and neat wall hooks for the many coils of headphones and cords. Only a mural that hangs on the wall behind drummer Joel Lilley’s kit seems jarringly out of place. Someone short on irony has painted a large banner of smiling kittens in nearly day-glow Christmas colors. (A friend of the band discovered the masterpiece of Bad Art in an attic.)

Much like many of the most enjoyable rock bands, the Sixfifteens manage to take their music seriously without taking themselves too seriously. Take the band’s name, for instance: It was inspired by frontman-guitarist Bob Carlton’s former job at his family’s newsstand in Glens Falls. “I used to have a job where I worked until 6:15,” Carlton explains. “It sucked. I worked for my dad. One time I asked my dad, ‘Why 6:15?’ I was like, ‘Why don’t I work until 6 or 6:30?’ My dad said, ‘Because I told you so.’ That was his only answer.”

As the band members warm up for practice, guitarist Jeff Fox swigs repeatedly from a bottle of vodka (“The bottle floats in a pool,” he states, after I express surprise that some brands of vodka are packaged in plastic containers). After a few minutes, the isolated and discordant notes of band members tuning their instruments has morphed into a full-bodied song: “Dusk and Dawn,” one of a slew of sprawling new songs that they have recorded for an upcoming album on a yet-to-be-decided label. Their next song, “Auto-Stop,” is far more punk than anything they’ve written since forming in 2002, when then-bassist Gene Davenport influenced the band’s lighter power-pop sound. Davenport exited the band earlier this year after deciding to move to New York City, which left the Sixfifteens abruptly without a bass player.

The punkish affront of “Auto-Stop” seems well suited to Carlton, who first started playing in local bands in the late ’80s when his ragged, four-chord guitar style was clearly inspired by punk bands like the Ramones. “I think the loss of Gene helped us to move in another direction,” Carlton says. “When Joel and I first started the Sixfifteens, the idea was to make it a power pop sort of band. Gene is a good pop bass player. When he quit, it put us in a situation where we were able to break out of that pop shell. Now there’s a little bit of emo in our music, a little bit of indie rock.”

After playing as a three-piece for much of the past year, the Sixfifteens recruited Matt Bombard of Schodack last month through an ad on an online music site. Bombard’s previous band, Gohbi, had broken up in September. “Matt showed up to his first rehearsal knowing all of our songs. He played a show with us the next day in New York City,” Carlton relays. Although grateful to have found such a capable bass player, Carlton and Lilley both describe their time as a trio as a period of growth. “It was good to play just the three of us,” Lilley says. “We had to work a lot harder. I think we solidified the way everything fit in with us. Then when Matt came along, it made it that much easier [to incorporate a new player].”

“Matt fit in really well—he put the pieces together,” Carlton adds.

Despite all the lineup changes, the Sixfifteens have always had a solid foundation in Carlton and Lilley, who spent much of the ’90s playing together in the Saratoga Springs indie-rock group Dryer. “It’s really easy with Bob and me,” Lilley says. “It’s nice to not have to talk about things all the time, to just feel them out. I know what he’s going to play before he plays it.”

“Yeah, it’s a standard 4/4 thing,” laughs Carlton in a self-deprecating tone.

“We’ve spent a lot of time playing together, almost 10 years,” Lilley continues. “We’ve gone through all these musical phases together. I’ve seen Bob’s playing change rather dramatically.”

“I went from sucking to being OK,” Carlton jokes.

“I think Bob can do all the things I can’t do on guitar,” Fox adds in Carlton’s defense.

The band may not agree on what their overall sound is these days. Carlton calls it “noisy indie-rock,” while Bombard says “it’s a little more punk” and Fox defines it solely as “rock.” But they do concur on some of their favorite current musical acts: Wilco, Guided by Voices, Sloan and Supergrass. And they agree that by finally nailing down their lineup, the Sixfifteens are free to experiment with new sounds and new material.

“Our songwriting is getting more collaborative,” Fox says.

“As new people come in, songs start to change. You start to spread out more,” adds Carlton. “Now we’re writing better music, better songs. We’re not looking for a commercial sound. We’re writing music for the sake of how we like it. We’re not trying to fit into any one sound or worrying about being indie rock or power pop.”

The Sixfifteens play with the Scientific Maps and Blend Engine at Valentine’s on Saturday (Oct. 11). The show starts at 9 PM and is $5. Call the club, 432-6572 for further information on the show. For more information about the band, visit www.thesixfifteens.com.

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