Kalamazoo Veterans Minutes Release First Full-Length LP Friday, January 13th

By Zac Clark

If anyone wants a preview of Minutes' album release party coming up this Friday the 13th, all they'd have to do is take a look behind the counter at Fourth Coast Café the day before. There, if you come at the right time, you may spot a man behind the counter. You'll see him bobbing his mostly bald head to Frank Fuzz, a local guitarist, who is being played over the sound system. He deftly moves from cans of whippets to steam machines and cookies shelves, handling customers with ease and always keeping tired, yet clear, eyes on the door for passer-byes. If you ask for his name he will gladly reach out his hand for a quick shake and tell you he is Mark Larmee—bassist and aficionado of Minutes.

He can tell you everything you need to know about the band Minutes and, if that isn't enough, a look at his craft can be just as revealing—if not more so. Larmee handles customers with a warm, high-speed back-and-forth full of orders and small talk that mimics the energy and rhythm within Minutes' music. Upon my own visit to the caffeine den, I had the pleasure of running into band mate, drummer, and guitarist, Isaac "Ike" Turner. Before I could say hello, however, Mark intercepted with milk and cookies for Ike's daughter, exclaiming "Dude! Did your Dad cut your arms off?" teasing her as she tucked her arms into her pink snow-pants, hiding them from view. This warmth and charisma is also replicated within Minute's new self-titled album, and is indicative of the overall feel of their performance.
The group garnered much of their crowd-pleasing, forward and earnest mentality from an enormous collective musical experience. Larmee, turning 34 on this upcoming show, bartended at the Old Harvey's back when The White Stripes came to town and worked sound for the famous (and now defunct) Club Soda. The rest of the band, "being solidly in their '30's'" have more musical experience under their belts than I have years in my life. Ryan Nelson has been drumming since he was 14, Isaac Turner teaches the history of Rock n' Roll over at Kalamazoo Valley Community College, and Chafe has grown up around the Western Michigan music scene. All the band members have toured, and been in more bands than Eric Clapton and George Harrison combined. If that wasn't enough, they all can remember a time when the stage they will be playing on this Friday the 13th didn't exist.

As for the record itself it will be the fifth in a series of odds and ends releases but their first LP. "We have two "Live On WIDR" albums released as 001 and 002 and also had a little 'Thank You' CDR we put together for a gig done over at Electrical Audio," Larmee explained. The band also has a 7" that was released February 24th of 2010 but otherwise this will be fans' first opportunity to get a hold of a full-length wax album.

While some issues took place during recording, one involving an unfortunate incident with a malfunctioning reel-to-reel and a re-recording after a "too hot" and "too pristine" take, Larmee feels that the band achieved their desired sound for "Minutes." "We wanted to provide a cool sound on vinyl, an honest sound—we really wanted to explore the nuances of vinyl," Larmee explained. Reinforcing that honesty, Larmee stated that "You can listen to it all for free on bandcamp.com, listeners can expect whatever they want. We didn't want to make anything slick, fake, or dishonest." He describes the sound as "mid-fi," where they hope the tape hiss and occasional mishaps aid the sound of the record rather than detract from it. From a select couple of listens, one would say that this assessment isn't far off. They are rowdy and rambunctious but they accomplish the goal of bringing the listener quality music without adding so much polish that they are blinded by the glare.

After his daughter had devoured the cookie, and Mark had provided a to-go cup for the unfinished milk, Isaac, thick rimmed glasses ringing crinkled smile lines around his eyes, in a red beanie reminiscent of Jaques Cousteau, walked over to me and quipped "I hope he is stressing what great friends we all are." And while he left after that, leaving me to finish my interview with Larmer, I couldn't help but feel that he didn't need to; that the connection between the listener, music, band and band mates had already been explained to me simply through the love and dedication that Minutes has left with Kalamazoo's music scene.