The iconic and oh-so catchy rock band Spoon takes over the Music Farm stage April 29 for a sold out show. Though it’s too late to snag tickets if you haven’t already, you can still get an inside look into the band.
The Charleston City Paper spoke with drummer and founding member Jim Eno, who has been with Spoon for 30 years. He formed the group in 1993 with frontman and guitarist Britt Daniel in Austin. Today, the band includes keyboardists/guitarists Alex Fischel and Gerardo Larios and bassist/keyboardist Ben Trokan.
Check out the Q&A to learn about Eno’s journey with the rhythmic art-rock group.
City Paper: Think back to when you were forming Spoon. Where were you in your personal journey?
Jim Eno: I started music really late in life, like when I was 21 in college I started playing. Drumming was always a hobby. At that time all I wanted to do was play music, but I had a day job too — so I was having to concentrate on that. Music was always the thing that I most enjoyed, but it never occurred to me that I could make my living doing it, because in my mind, to make your living doing music, you have to start young and do all the training. I was nothing like that.
I met Britt, and we played in a couple of bands together. The types of songs he was bringing to the table were awesome at the time, and I feel like they’re still the same way. He was more focused on the live show. We had to do a recording in order to get shows, so we recorded all the songs that we were playing live at the time to send out to clubs.
CP: What drew you to the drums?
Eno: I was the kid that would ask for a drum set every year from my parents. They would never get one for me. I tell my mom, ‘It’s OK, mom, things turned out [good in the end].’ She still feels bad about that. But it was something I knew would be super fun to get into. And then when I had a day job, I was like, ‘I’m just gonna get a drum set and play.’”
CP: Was there a moment when you were like, “Holy shit, the band is making it”?
Eno: I haven’t felt that yet. Our career is not like one that has a bunch of hit radio singles. Pretty much from our third record, we had a following slowly building — like very slowly. Every record we put out, we get some more fans. We haven’t had this thing where it’s like, ‘Oh my god, this is it,’ you know? We’re always still trying to pay the bills, still trying to make money touring, still trying to do all that stuff.”
CP: Are there any drummers in particular who inspired you or influenced you either over your career or currently?
Eno: When I was learning how to play the drums, I was really into The Smiths and early U2, like Boy and War, so Larry Mullen Jr. I was into early REM. Elvis Costello — all those drummers were very influential on me — and obviously Ringo.
CP: Why is music important to you personally, and not just playing it, but listening to it or seeing live music?
Eno: I feel like I use music a lot for inspiration. I can listen to new songs — or pretty much any song — and be like, ‘Oh man, that’s really cool. I need to know how they did this.’ And that will inform my decisions in the studio in many different ways. Going to see live shows, that always adds a spark. Just seeing live music where I’m not playing it is really, really fun. So I would just say, I use music a lot for inspiration — looking for things that I haven’t thought of and looking for different approaches to rhythm or melody or something.”
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