Originally from New Jersey, Real Estate is a four-piece band whose sound might be deemed psychedelic. But even then, that would be oversimplifying. Read on to delve into the nuances of their sound and songwriting (and why those nuances may be derived from the mid–90s), and be sure not to miss the show (Friday at 8 p.m. at The Rotunda).
Street: I read that you used to be in a Weezer cover band. How does that influence your current sound? Martin Courtney: It was me and a couple of friends from high school. Matt [the guitar player] was in it. We put that band together for a show my friend Grant was doing, called Grantstock. We’re just all big Weezer fans from back in the day. When the Blue Album came out it was one of my favorite things when I was in, like, third grade [laughs]. It was that and Dave Matthew’s Band’s Under the Table and Dreaming. I wasn’t too picky, but those were my two favorite albums.
We love [Weezer’s 1996 album] Pinkerton and we all still listen to it. We’ll blast it in the van. I don’t know, I can’t really say were too influenced by it, because it’s all sort of guitar stuff, you know? I think it maybe contributed to our understanding of pop song structures. I think that first Weezer album is definitely classic pop music.
Street: What else would you cite as influences? You talk a lot about 90s music — do you think that’s a primary influence? MC: Yeah. It’s weird because our influences [were] never anything specific. But three of us — me, Alex [the bassist] and Matt — grew up together and we listened to all the same music in high school. We were just kind of trading music, like great friends want to do. There was a lot of Built to Spill and stuff.
Now, I’ve been listening to this band Luna a ton, who I probably should have gotten into in high school or something. They’re 90s indie rock to a T. That, and the last Feelies album, Only Life. So I think that 90s indie pop is going to be more of an influence on our newer stuff. I really feel like the songs I’ve been writing have been pretty influenced by that.
Street: I noticed that a lot of songs on your self–titled album reference the beach, and now the major beaches in New Jersey, your home state, have become infamous because of the Jersey Shore phenomenon. What’s your take on that? Do you watch that show? MC: Not really. My girlfriend is kind of into it. It’s funny. Growing up, at least, I didn’t really live near the beach. I would go to Wildwood or Seaside Heights with my family once a summer or something like that. Or with friends, like in high school we would go sometimes for a day or something. I always kind of saw it as Jersey Shore, even growing up. That’s just the kind of vibe you get from going to the beach. It’s funny that it became such a huge phenomenon… because that, to me, was just part of growing up. Seeing people super Guidoed–out was pretty standard. They’re not even from Jersey, those people. They’re from Long Island, which makes even more sense.
Street: Real Estate is a pretty weird band name. How did you choose it? MC: When we started the band it was right after college. I had just moved home to my parents house, and I was going to real estate school to get my license. That’s what my parents do; they own a real estate company in south Bergen county. So I was going to do that, but then we started the band. I got my license, [though].
We were trying to think of a band name and we were throwing all these stupid names around. One we thought was really cool was Night Breeze… but we [decided] that was a little too much. But then Etienne [drummer] said ‘Why don’t we just call it Real Estate?’ And because I grew up with parents as real estate agents, I hated it. But then, for some reason, I was also OK with it. I was like ‘It’s stupid, but it’s so generic. I kind of love it.’ I think it sort of grew into that.
The more songs we wrote about growing up in the suburbs, this theme kind of started to emerge. And it started to make more sense, I guess, because real estate and houses and the suburbs all conjure similar imagery. So it got better as we progressed as a band.
Street: Do you think you’ll ever go back and work in real estate? Is that a possibility for you? MC: I don’t really want to, I don’t think so. Sometimes I’ll help my parents out at the office and stuff, but I’m not a [real estate agent]. So my answer is no.
Street: Did you come to Philly a lot to play, or see shows as a kid? Is it a place you’re familiar with? MC: Not until, really, after high school. I probably went to Philly as a small child and saw the Liberty Bell. Real Estate has played there a bunch of times at this point. It’s cool, we have a lot of friends in Philly. Maybe, like, half of my core group of high school friends went to college at University of the Arts. And [Alex] Bleeker, our bass player, lived in Philly.
I think the first time I went to Philly to see a show was my freshman year of college, [when] Arcade Fire [was] on their first tour. They played at the TLA. We’ve played at Jonny Brenda’s once and Kung Fu Necktie. But it’s cool, I like Philly. It’s a different city, and it’s got a different vibe than New York. I live in Jersey City, and it’s only like an hour and a half to get to Philly, so it’s easy.
Street: Do you frequently play college shows? Is that something you’re experienced with? MC: We’ve done a few. I think the last one we played was at Hampshire College. It was the beginning of the school year, at the end of freshman orientation or something.
College shows are fun, because people are usually excited to see a band on their college campus, and you’re usually playing in a small auditorium or a cafeteria or something. So yeah, I’m excited.
Street: When can we expect a new album? How do you think it will differ from your self–titled? MC: It’s pretty much written. We’ve learned a bunch of new songs in the past month and we’ll probably be playing a lot of new material at the show. This Philly show is probably going to be the first time we play a bunch of new songs, like four new songs or something. We’re going to hopefully get done recording at the end of March or something, and we’ll have the record out by the end of the summer. That’s the general plan. But we haven’t even booked studio time yet; we’re still kind of waiting to do that. Hopefully we’ll have it booked within the next two weeks, and we’ll go in soon after that.
It’s going to sound different because we’re going to record in a studio. So it will sound a little more professional, and hopefully it will sound a little more similar throughout. We’re going to record in a studio with two–inch tapes, and it’ll sound really nice. There are definitely songs that have a different vibe than the first album, but then others are similar in that they’re kind of jammy and looser. There’s tight pop songs and then there’s loose jammers.
