Band of the Month - House of Bread

Fort Wayne musicians Omar Azfaal and Bob Haddad are two peas in a pod, so to speak. They're primarily know for their collective work in the bands All Nite Skate, and more recently, Castles. Their latest collaboration comes in the form of House of Bread, having just self-released it's third album, Superhuman Tomb.

House of Bread began in 2006 as a solo outlet for Azfaal. At a time when he was playing guitar in the instrumental band All Nite Skate, he got drunk (by himself, evidently) and decided to create an outlet for his more personal musical drives. This writer imagines a young man quietly slurring to himself, "I'm go-in to make a solo alb-hiccup-album." The next day, hungover, he began work on what would become the first House of Bread record, The House that Bread Built.

"You know, the first album... it's a little sloppy, and has a lot of haphazard moments on it." says Azfaal. "I did it on my own, with just a handful of guitar pedals and whatnot. I didn't even have any software. I mean, I didn't do a lot of writing on it. It's just a hodge-podge of some crazy, crazy shit."

The follow-up, Out of Sight: Because You Hear It, came a year later.

"I feel like (with Out of Sight:) I tried to do what we ultimately did with Superhuman Tomb, but I feel that I sort-of missed the mark. It had many of the electronic elements and whatnot, but I don't feel it was as tight or as polished as it could've been."

Things were different for Superhuman Tomb, as the project marked the beginning of Azfaal and Haddad's collaboration under the House of Bread moniker.

"Yeah, I was a huge fan of the stuff that he was working on. I said to Omar, 'You should let me be in your band.' He was like, 'No'.", explains Haddad.

But Bob wasn't taking "No" for an answer.

"Yeah, I said 'Someday..I will be in House of Bread'", he says with a laugh.

I couldn't be happier that these two are working together - as the duo have created a truly fun and multi-dimensional record.

Certainly, Superhuman has a 'did it at home' asthetic to what is happening sonically, but that is not to say that it isn't tastefully produced. It quite charming, actually. This is a song-based, shimmery, and dance-y dreampop record that is highly accessible, but never uninteresting.

Listeners might pick-up on an atypical marriage between Superhuman's brightly-layered melodic elements and what appear to be somewhat personal and sometimes heavy-duty lyrical content.

"It is about nostalgia, really. Lyrically, that's where it's coming from.", says Omar. "They're songs for people who remember what it was like at that time in their lives. Musically, you're totally right. We wanted the record to be really fun. Fun as hell, you know? And you're right about the lyrics...we sort-of intentionally matched the fun musical themes with dark lyrical undertones."

"For me...I think of adolescence. Have you seen or read 'Where the Wild Things Are'? It's sort of like that.", adds Bob.

"If you go back and listen to the first two records that Omar did, you'll hear some of that bratty-ness in some of the songs. Like one, called 'Crossing Guard'. That's one example", he says.

Omar explains, "Yeah, that one is about this total crush I had on my crossing guard. Then, she gets hit by a car..."

Gross. At any rate, Superhuman Tomb is a record that deserves to be heard, and House of Bread is an indie band that fans Xiu Xiu, Coma Cinema, and Magnetic Fields will appreciate getting to know.

Noting that Superhuman took 3 years to record and produce, I asked the band if the world would have to wait another 3 years to hear more.

"No, I don't think so", says Azfaal. "We have a plans to do an EP this fall. Were working on a lot of ideas, and we already have some stuff recorded. So, yeah, I guess we plan to put out a nice little fall EP."

Sign me up.

LISTEN ON MFT HERE - http://musicalfamilytree.com/band/house_of_bread

SEE EM HERE -

BRMF, Nuvo and Butler Scion Present:

DR FINGER w/ Christian Taylor & Homeschool, House of Bread

Thursday, September 16th
Locals Only
2449 E. 56th St.
Indianapolis, IN 46220
21+ / 9:00 / FREE
Facebook Event