«S&T Syndicate» — crazy idea incubators

How to survive a lineup change twice during the album recording, publish an album on an answering machine, and have a couple more crazy ideas hidden for future realization – a new level of elevator music

There’s this tradition that has formed by accident but brings me a lot of joy – to meet up with musicians again when they release another recording. This time I have met up with three guys from the «S&T Syndicate» band — Rihards Vāvere (drums), Mārtiņš Jurjāns (keyboards), and the newest addition to the band – Kaspars Lastovskis (bass). As usual, the conversation was full of jokes and laughter, and the atmosphere was positive and creative, just as it has to be when different artists meet up. I finally got the chance to ask the one question that was plaguing my mind since the moment I saw the ad for this album – why have they decided to release it in such an unusual way – on an answering machine… That completely ruins the quality (since it’s 8khz…), but at least it’s creative, right? If it fits the concept, then it fits the concept; anything goes! I do support this approach because if you have this pull to search for unusual solutions, maybe it will pave the way to some ingenious ideas in the future, right? And also, if a person calls the number to listen to the album, then it means that the person wishes to listen to this artist, which in turn means that he might go to the concert and, which is most important – he might tell his friends that he has experienced something so unusual because it’s not cool to keep something like that to yourself! So, here is my cool conversation with the cool “Syndicates” about music, musicians, and their album «Elevator Music 2.1»! Here we go!

You know what I like most? That our conversation, once again, starts with me congratulation you on the release of your album!

Rihards: Hah! Yeah, thanks!

It Doesn’t seem to be too long ago!

Rihards: Feels like yesterday, right?

So tell me more! You have changes in the band! How many years have passed? Three?

Rihards: The first album was in 2017. But this album was actually ready some two years ago already.

As usual, one thing is to record, another one is to do all the work – mixing, mastering…

Rihards:The covid has screwed us over… We thought it would take us a couple of months, but then things dragged on, and then we started dragging our feet…
Mārtiņš: There were some objective reasons why this album wasn’t being released, but some subjective reasons as well.
Kaspars: But changes in the lineup – yes! It was right before the covid in 2019, right?
Rihards: Yes! We always had the wish to have the most rhythmical bass player in the world, someone always to attend the rehearsals and be there on time, to always know all the lines… our «GrooveBox»! [laughs] We always wanted Kaspars Lastovskis! Kaspars Balodis, our rhythm guitarist, has contacted him, but Kaspars said he had almost no free time; he was in doubt. I said – just tell him to come and have a jam session with us! So he came and made the right choice – he joined the band! We are very happy to have him with us. And me as a drummer – I’m in seventh heaven!

I can imagine! At least now you have a chance to be a little artsier!

Rihards: To be a little more sloppy… [everyone laugs]

Yeah, the bass will save the day?

​​Rihards: Exactly!
Kaspars: It’s interesting – I already wanted to play with them when they approached me, I knew of them years before that. So yeah, I came to jam, but the guys had everything set up! They had the album ready, and I had to jump into the last coach while the train was already moving.

Wait, you have recorded an album without the bass?

Mārtiņš: No, no! We had the songs ready, but we still had to record them!
Kaspars: I had like a couple of months to learn all the lines. We recorded 12 songs, then some old songs – I had to learn everything and think my lines through. They threw me in the deep end and made me work from the go!

At least it’s not boring!

Mārtiņš: There was also this thing when you said – this song’s a no-go, this one’s a no-go…
Rihards: We recorded 12 tuned, and then when we listened to them, we realized that if all the songs stayed, the listeners would get tired of the music towards the middle of the album, we didn’t want that!

But what about those double CDs?

Rihards: I think we did enough on our first CD with 15 songs!
Kaspars: You can’t overdose the listener. So yeah, we’ve recorded everything, planned to release in a couple of months, and then – bam! Covid… Then it dragged on for some two years. Then we had the changes in our lineup once again – as surprising as a bolt of lightning in a clear sky, our guitarist Ernests Rasa said that he wanted to do something else with his life. So we were back to this state where we could do something, but then we couldn’t. We started looking for other guitarists, and Elvijs Grafcovs helped out – he gave us one of his students, Roberts Gromovs, his a stylish dude; he looks as if he teleported here from the 80s.

Yeah, I noticed during the presentation! Catchy looks!

Kaspars: The most stylish one in the band!
Rihards:​​​​​​ So again, the newest member of the band had to catch up as fast as he could, we said – dude, we want to release the album! Learn!

But did Ernests manage to record his parts before leaving the band?

Martiņš: Yes!

It looks like covid managed to screw up things for a lot of people. But actually, I’ve noticed that people tend to be divided into two categories – the ones who suffered during the covid times and the ones that managed to record a lot of stuff because they suddenly had the time.

Mārtiņš: Yeah, we also had this thought that maybe we could, you know how it is, everyone’s clever afterward…

Ok, so tell me about the one you managed to record and present! Why “Elevator Music”? What’s the deal with the title? How is it connected to music? I wouldn’t imagine something like that in an elevator! You could end up staying there!

Kaspars: That’s why there’s the 2.1 – that’s an upgrade!
Rihards: 2.1 means elevator music with sub-basses!
Kaspars: This concept is a parody because usually, it’s instrumental music that sounds in the background.
Mārtiņš: The title is self irony.
Rihards: It’s self-irony because when we released the first album, someone wrote a review in «Mūzikas Saule» magazine, and this critic said that she thought that instrumental music should only be good in the background, like in a restaurant or in a bank. She expected something of sorts, and she was surprised.

And at this point, every classical musician will feel their eyelid starting to twitch…

Rihards: So then there’s this question – how much instrumental music has this person heard… This is what we laugh about in our album.
Kaspars: And the songs themselves are also as stories instead of background music.
Mārtiņš: But historically, the term «Elevator Music» was never meant to describe background sounds; its goal was to calm people down in elevators. It’s a term that has become a meter of quality… [muzak — https://www.westcoastelevators.com.au/elevator-music/]

Never thought about that, interesting

Rihards: They also tend to stick to music that fits your heartbeat while in supermarkets.

Isn’t it like they usually tend to choose the kind of music that makes you stay in the store longer?

Rihards: Exactly – slowly, unhurriedly walk through all the isles and buy the stuff you don’t really need.

So much new information, I like! So, your elevator music exists to make people stay in their elevators longer and dance?

Rihards: Especially the first song… We couldn’t dance to it ourselves, so we usually invite someone to be brave enough to try – we want to see what it could look like!

That’s not very nice…

Kaspars: No, we’re just decent dancers! [everyone laughs]
Rihards: Half of the rehearsals is spent composing and rehearsing, another half – is dancing!

You should invite some «Gang Breakers» or «Dance of Street» to your concerts, which could be line dancing 2.1

Kaspars: Not a bad idea!
Rihards: I’ll write it down!

And what’s with this number you had to call in order to listen to the album?

Kaspars: You can call the number and listen to the album!
Mārtiņš: First, the album wasn’t published anywhere, on no streaming platform. The only way to listen to it was on an answering machine. Then there’s this joke that all operators are busy, so here, listen to the album!

But why?!

Rihards: Same thing as with the elevator – when you call someone and have to listen to this boring music – it’s boring.

How did you come up with the idea?

Rihards: Gatis Pakalns helped us with that; he also made the design for the album cover. Before the presentation, when you called the link, you were invited to come to the presentation, and you would receive an SMS with the time and the place. Now you receive a link to Spotify. But also, if you manage to listen almost till the end, you get a notification that if you enjoy listening to 8khz music, you can survive the rest of the recording and get a chance to win a private concert by «S&T Syndicate».

Brave! One thing is to come up with some crazy idea; another thing is to follow through!

Rihards:​​ We could always go even further! I talked to Gatis yesterday, and we thought it to be cool to try and find this woman from the Tv some hundred years ago who used to advertise something saying: “You have no choice; you are going to be my slave!”

My gosh, I remember that!!!

Rihards: Well, we thought of finding her, go visit her, ask her to record something like” “You have no choice, you’ll be my listener! Call this number!”

Oh please, do that!!! [laughs]

Rihards:​​ Shy not?

Exactly, I always have some argumentation – why not?

Rihards: Who else would publish an album on an answering machine…

I’ve noticed that people now tend to experiment with their albums, like «FunCOOLio», who published on a cassette.

Rihards: Yeah, those things come back. Vinyl has been back for a while already.
Mārtiņš: Yeah, and vinyls mean class.

Well, it requires a bit more money and effort.

Rihards: That’s precisely why our album is only available in digital version for now.
Mārtiņš: And on an answering machine, which isn’t the cheapest, by the way.
Rihards: Yes, but unfortunately, we can’t afford a physical copy yet. We didn’t have enough concerts during covid.

But are you planning on publishing in the future?

Rihards: Definitely!