Practice makes perfect for campus band Genghis Tron

Freddy Deknatel Assistant A&E Editor

In a cramped room in the basement of Davison, the band Genghis Tron practices. On March 23, their usual Wednesday afternoon rehearsal was all the more inviting as the wet March snow flurried outside. Soon after I arrived, keyboardist Michael Sochynsky ’05 looked out through the basement windows and remarked, “Damn, it’s snowing outside!” Then, he went back to pushing buttons on his keyboard to produce heavy electronic tones from the machine. Mookie Singerman ’06, who provides the vocals, programs sound bites on his PowerBook and plays the keyboard, alternated between two poses throughout practice: playing his instruments coolly and, when his vocals came in, lurching forward toward the floor, screaming into his microphone at top volume. Hamilton Jordan ’06, who plays a kinetic electric guitar, shifted through speedy, metal riffs and long, deep-toned melodies that most Vassar students would quickly associate with Ratatat.

The three have been playing together as Genghis Tron since February 2004, and in that time have played 16 or 17 shows, according to Jordan. After being asked this question, all three chime in to explain that that number will be going up shortly. “We’re playing 50 shows this summer,” said Sochynsky while perched on an amp behind his keyboards. In total, it’ll be a five week tour running around the country. When I saw them practice, though, they were focused on a show at New York’s Knittng Factory the following night.

Genghis Tron is dynamic, imaginative noise rock. Singerman’s screaming, Jordan’s piercing guitar, and Sochynsky’s keyboards initially sound abrasive and intense, fitting into the noise rock niche; but segments of screaming and electric blasting are tempered by quieter interludes that are spacey and melodic, lending themselves more to the pop sounds of Ratatat and others of that dreamy electric style. Sochynksy’s bridging keyboard line in “Rock Candy,” the first song off their debut Cloak of Love EP, comes after the song’s opening salvo, and the keys intone a deep, rollicking sound that you can’t resist nodding your head to. Jordan is a deft guitar player who shreds his weathered Gibson Les Paul fiercely, shifts to play an equally fast but more soothing riff, and then slows all the way down to low, sustained notes that echo the keyboards. Singerman was energetic, at their rehearsal, as he fiddled with the PowerBook, pounded his keyboard, and then erupted with his vocals.

“We all like the same things, but we all obviously have pretty different backgrounds,” said Jordan of the band’s musical influences. He spent high school listening to heavy metal, which is clear in his guitar playing. Singerman and Sochynsky rattle off bands that were influences: Kraftwerk, Ratatat, Converge. “Blood Brothers and Prince,” Singerman said, while Jordan repeated how he listened “to a lot of brutal metal” in high school, naming Brutal Truth as a band he listened to a lot.

Genghis Tron have an busy upcoming schedule, most notably with their show at the Knitting Factory on April 20 that promises to be their biggest yet, Sochynsky said. They’ll be opening for Melt Banana—“a legendary Japanese scream rock band,” said Singerman—and An Albatross; the show will likely sell out. This week, on April 2, they play at MACRoCk 2005, the Mid-Atlantic College Radio Conference held at James Madison University in Virginia.

Their Cloak of Love EP was released this month on Crucial Blast, and was produced by Colin Marston of the band Behold…the Arctopus. Lovepump United, the Vassar label that Singerman co-runs, will be releasing the EP on vinyl on March 29.

The playing last Wednesday in the bottom of Davison was lively and loose, but one could still sense the seriousness of this Vassar band that is doing quite well for itself these days. “Let’s note the mistakes that were made,” Sochynsky declared after a less than satisfactory playing of a song. “I got distracted because I noticed my distortion wasn’t on,” explained Jordan. Then all three joked about their sponsorship from Moog, a keyboard company that recently agreed to a partnership with the band. “We have to wear Moog shirts at every show now,” joked Sochynsky. While tuning his guitar, Jordan joked about the Moog belt buckle he hoped he could buy at half price. Standing between brand new 1,000 watt speakers that were maybe four feet tall, Genghis Tron joked some more, then returned to their music.