Hop Along continue to evolve with Bark Your Head Off, Dog

Photo courtesy of the artist.

The first time that Hop Along came to Birmingham, it was in 2010, opening for P.S. Eliot, the former project by Birmingham’s own Katie and Allison Crutchfield. That was before Hop Along’s full length debut, Get Disowned, and before the band signed to Saddle Creek, a label further connected to the Magic City through acts like Azure Ray, Orenda Fink, and Maria Taylor.

The connection doesn’t end with the opening gig or the label, however, Hop Along also now finds itself based in Philadelphia, a spot that the Crutchfields have both called home for some period of time in their careers. The overlap is so deep-rooted that drummer Mark Quinlan no longer remembers where it began; just that there was a mutual respect between the musicians.

Bark Your Head Off, Dog is Hop Along’s third full-length release as a full band, and it features a new sound; a “fully realized” version of what the band has always hoped to be. Before their upcoming stop at Saturn Birmingham on Friday, May 11, Quinlan talked about achieving that sound, the band’s beginnings and its relationship with Saddle Creek.

Jefferson County Journal: Hop Along sort of started with your sister Frances and then the rest of the band sort of filled in around her.  Did you two play a lot of music together as kids? How did that evolve?

Mark Quinlan: We played together a little in a casual sense, and then it worked out, timing wise, where my band at the time disbanded and Frances wanted to take on a band. That happened pretty much right when she graduated college — around 2008 or 2009. It sort of took off from there. We decided to take on new members, write new songs. That was around 2008, I think.

Jefferson County Journal: Do you two write together, mostly? Is it a group effort?

Quinlan: Every song is different. But typically, Frances comes with an inkling — a relatively developed thought — it can go from being nothing to really being something almost completely different. And for the most part, we’ll build on that idea; we’ll orchestrate something that’s closer to the end result. We’ll talk about guitar, talk about melodies, talk about structure — but Frances always has complete control over her lyrics. Writing music is a group effort, for sure.

Jefferson County Journal: You took your time with Bark Your Head Off, Dog — roughly three years — and it’s a much different sound for you. Why were you able to take your time a bit more this time, and why did you feel rushed in the past?

Quinlan: This time we decided to plan as effectively as we could, [to] really mastermind the effectiveness of our time together so that we could feel that the project that had been completed was the closest to our notion of what we thought it should be. That’s a crazy sentence.

But spending as much time together as we could and realizing in the studio that we had to communicate and play not only to our own strengths and comforts, but to build upon the song and give the song what it needs — that lent itself to the album as it is now; understanding what the song required and giving that to the song was most important this time around.

We took it into our own hands this time more than ever, I think. We knew what we wanted and I think we were more able to get there. Because we had worked together before on the last album and we knew what to expect a little more this time.

Jefferson County Journal: This record’s new sound — where did it come from? Do you feel like the band’s sound is still evolving?

Quinlan: It’s always a surprise every time we make a record. There’s no way of foreseeing what it’s going to be before we really start writing it. So it’s hard to say. I’d love to think that we are continuously evolving; getting better at our instruments, getting better hearing each other and listening. I hope that’s what’s happening.

Jefferson County Journal: How does the older material mesh with the newer sound live?

Quinlan: At this point we have enough songs that we can create many setlists that can be interesting or stimulating. It’s a cool feeling to be able to create a setlist from three LPs because you can have a lot of variety.

Jefferson County Journal: How did you relationship develop with Saddle Creek Records, and how mutually beneficial has it been?

Quinlan: Art and business is a fun balance, because art is full of emotion and a need for validation and all of these romantic and sensitive ideas. Typically, business doesn’t contain any of that, so when you mix them together, it’s really important that people you are working with understand and have a respect for that dynamic and how close your art and music are to you. We have that in Saddle Creek, and we respect them very much.

Frances recorded a solo record a long time ago and sent it in and it was rejected outright — not in an impolite way. She’s glad for this now, but at the time it was, “We’ve got to get there. We’ve got to get there.”

After that, the band began to evolve, and we recorded Getting Disowned. And I can’t remember how it happened — I want to say our booking agent [made the connection], because as far as the Hop Along team goes, the booking agent is the oldest member outside of people that are actually responsible for playing music. I’m pretty sure he had a hand in connecting us; so we had a call with them and they were interested in making the next record and they were the most passionate of everyone that we spoke with and they continue to be a very passionate partner.

Jefferson County Journal: I imagine that’s a label that had put out a lot of music that you guys had grown up on and looking up to…

Quinlan: Oh yeah. Some of my favorite bands were on Saddle Creek. I always thought those guys had really good taste.

Hop Along comes to Saturn on Friday, May 11. Saintseneca and Bitter Calm open. Doors are at 8 p.m. and the show begins at 9 p.m. Tickets are $15. To find out more, visit saturnbirmingham.com.