Codebreaker commandant Steven Hawley says it's more a feeling we get, but some will argue that the eight tracks on the band's new record, "Spacecamp Luxury," share a lot of sonic similarities with '80s synth pop of all stripes, too. There are keyboards that will remind you of Depeche Mode, beat box rhythms that recall the earliest examples of New York- and (especially) Miami-style Latin hip-hop and there are guitar figures that will, egad, even make you think of Tears for Fears!
But, Codebreaker are no revivalists and they're certainly not copying any trends, past or present. In reality, Codebreaker's style is much more difficult to codify. There are keyboards that make sounds that will take you back to '70s funk records -- including healthy doses of Vocoder -- they're more interested in the low end than most '80s groups were, thanks to a love for reggae and funk.
Best of all, in the end, you'll walk away humming great choruses from tracks like "Moody Automatic," which also has a great Beatles-style vocal bit at the end.
Codebreaker is gearing up to really launch "Spacecamp Luxury" and we asked Hawley to tell us about the band, the record and the future of Codebreaker.
OMC: How did Codebreaker get started?
SH: Codebreaker has been around for quite some time now. My guitarist Timi and I have been friends since high school. Like a lot of kids at that time, we played in various hardcore, punk rock and ska groups. Every time I ran into Timi we'd end up talking about our love for a lot of different music. This was a rare quality because most teenagers of sub-cultural arenas mainly play in groups to feel a part of a scene or to hopefully sound like one of their favorite scenester groups.
Timi and I parted ways and met up a few years later. By then most of our former peers either turned into thugs or started indie rock groups, neither of which appealed to us. We didn't start with the intention of "going for a sound." We are long-time dissenters of the "scenes" and from the little we heard going on, really didn't care to know more. We just started out of an honest, genuine love for music, people and performing, not to be a part of or to win over the approval of scenes. So, we just focused on creating our own thing.
OMC: Is it a conventional band set-up or more like your project with guests?
SH: We are finally a band, yes. It was only a "project" for as long as it was because we wanted to wait for the right fit rather than to have "a band" with compromised direction. We knew it would take some time.
OMC: Tell us about some of your co-conspirators. I see you've got Sage Schwarm and Nate Vest of The Thousandaires, Paul Jonas and some others. What do they bring to Codebreaker?
SH: Well, Sage is a permanent member and co-writer. As for Nate, Paul Jonas and Andy Noble, they were basically hired guns who helped Timi, William and I record some songs and mobilize things enough to at least get us playing out, here and there. We knew these guys as top-notch players with great taste and a real sincere approach to things, which was important to us.
OMC: Is "Spacecamp Luxury" your first record?
SH: Yes.
OMC: Tell us about making it. Was it recorded at home?
SH: Some of it at (Jeff) Hamilton's, some of it at Bionic and some at Sage's house. Fortunately, Sage has an incredible ear for tasteful mixing and production, which aided us a great deal when making the record.
OMC: How can people buy "Spacecamp Luxury"?
SH: (It's at) Lotus Land, Atomic, Farwell Music, Revolutions, Exclusive Company. Or online through www.garageband.com by looking up our group, or our site which should be up in a couple weeks, www.codebreakermusic.com.
OMC: Obviously Codebreaker has been influenced by the technopop bands of the early and mid-'80s. Do you have any favorites from that era?
SH: I think some people reference the '80s to us much more out of the feelings our music evokes with them than how the music actually sounds itself. It just goes with the territory of writing forward-thinking and sounding dance songs. Emotionally, it's the most familiar point of reference for a particular age group. When someone says to me, "Hey that reminds me A LOT of Tears for Fears!" I think to myself, Really? Complete with reggae bass lines, echo plexing, and vocoder huh? What the person's really trying to say is, "Hey thanks, your helping me enjoy pop music again." It makes me warm inside and I say, your welcome you fine cadet, Codebreaker is here to help!
OMC: What other types of music inspire you and inform your work?
{INSERT_RELATED}SH: Low end: right now i'd say a lot of dub, disco, reggae and robo funk. We dig on a lot of Latin and Brasilian rhythms, too. Melodically: anywhere from (Burt) Bacharach, the Four Freshmen, Scott Walker to The Slits. I remember feeling positively changed the first time I heard "The Call Up" by The Clash. It was one of the most amazing things I'd ever heard.
OMC: The record includes a great cover of the Violent Femmes' "Gone Daddy Gone." It was recorded for the recent tribute disc, wasn't it? Why did you pick that track to cover?
SH: Yeah, it was originally for a tribute disc (released in Milwaukee last year). Since I didn't really know anybody who owned it, I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to re-release it ourselves. The track was picked because we wanted something we could really deconstruct. I wanted very little resemblance to the original, in a dancefloor way. The lyrics bored me, so I thought it would be more fun to take just a few lines I liked and keep repeating them.
OMC: How often does the band play live?
SH: Locally, about every other month or so. We love playing live, we love our fans, we love giving them a full show, we love to sweat, we love dressing up, we love going bonkers.
OMC: What's next for Codebreaker?
SH: Touring the album, keep releasing new songs and keep helping Milwaukee realize there's vibrant life beyond The Gufs and Bodeans.
Codebreaker plays Fri., Nov. 22 at Onopa Brewing, 735 E. Center St., in Riverwest, with Germany's Stereo Total and .Quintron & Miss Pussycat.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
