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The two began creating sounds in 2000 as an experimental music project when McShane, a classically trained vocalist and guitarist and Molina, a punk bassist, decided to abandon their known instruments and perform with instruments they had no idea how to play. They chose this path in order to seek new musical territory through a naive approach. The music if thousands creates has been described as atmospheric, ambient, experimental, found sound, trance-hypnotic, noise and drone, among many others. The band resides in Duluth, MN ...an exercise in complete yet controlled abandonment.... Losing Today Magazine aaron m. molina christian h. mcshane ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ....yawn. The much more interesting story began in 2000 when Aaron was looking for a practice space. He was new to Duluth, MN and called a phone number Christian had placed in a newspaper looking for someone to help share the rent for a makeshift studio in the West End of Duluth. For those who are reading this that live in another part of the world, although Duluth, MN may seem like the embodiment of the movie Fargo to outsiders, the West End is not exactly the safest place to store thousands of dollars worth of musical gear. It's not unlike any other crappy place in America. After two successful break-in's they decided to move everything to their homes. Besides, the floor was warped, the pipes leaked like a waterfall in the basement, and they shared the studio with a hee-haw country band and two seamstresses. Anyway, that's where the story begins. Back then, Christian was a frustrated solo singer/songwriter and Aaron was unsuccessfully trying to start a band in the flavor of Soul Coughing and whatnot. A couple of months after Aaron moved into the studio, late one evening, Christian came to the studio and Aaron asked him if he'd like to play some music. After trying different musical ideas over and over again with no success, they decided, just for fun, to play instruments they didn't know how to play. The result astounded both of them. It was the beginning of if thousands.
Honest answers to FAQ's throughout the years • The #1 most often asked question. Aaron is Mexican and Scandinavian. Christian is Scottish, English and Blackfoot Native American. • The song "walking otis" from "i have nothing" has a base track in which Christian is indeed walking a dog named "Otis". For a short while, he housesat a friend's home and would take care of and walk around the neighborhood with Otis, an old black lab. He recorded walking with Otis with a minidisc recorder and true stero mics attached to his glasses. It's the only if thousands song whereas a base track was recorded before going into the studio. • The song "crispin glover " from "i have nothing" is thier homage to the famous actor. Totally improvised. • Aaron was born in Minnesota. Christian was born in Wisconsin. • Aaron bought his second guitar he used in if thousands from a very nice man who had burns covering 3/4 of his body. Christian found the first keyboard he played with if thousands, a vintage Moog synthesizer, in a snowbank in the middle of the woods in Superior, Wis. • if thousands never used computers to make any sounds for their music. They tried a couple times and thought the sounds were awful. • Aaron and Alan have been friends since shortly before yellowstone was recorded. Christian has been friends with Alan Sparhawk since 1990 (4 years pre-Low fame). Christian and Alan worked together at Schmitt Music in Duluth from 1990-91. Alan worked the counter and Christian taught guitar Big whoop de doo. At some time during those years, Alan asked Christian if he would teach him how to read music. Christian said no. A rather puzzled Alan asked why. Christian told him that if he knew how to read music, it would destroy his unique style of playing. Alan was not happy with Christian's answer. Three years later, Alan's band, Low, blew the indie music world away. Alan still doesn't know how to read music, and Christian will never teach him. If anything, Christian has been learning from Alan ever since. • As of 2007, if thousands have recorded four full-length albums, four ep's, eight soundtracks and innumerable compilations and guest appearances on other artist's albums. • if thousands recorded yellowstone for Chairkickers' Music by simply asking Alan if he'd be interested. It had nothing to do with being friends. He just liked what they did. • They were described by New York's Village Voice as "The Gothic Drone Lords of Duluth". (?) • Before they performed live the first time in the Fall of 2000, they were sure everyone would hate them. • They still think everyone hates them. • In the beginning, Aaron and Christian promised each other that if thousands was not intended to be a money-making band. Although extremely (and surprisingly) successful and respected world-wide for an ambient/noise/soundtrack band, they have purposefully never made enough from if thousands to quit their day jobs. They have rarely (if ever) made a profit. As the saying goes, either you make music you love and make nothing... or you make music you hate and make money. if thousands has always been the former. • Christian is not actually, by definition, a classical musican. This moniker was a product of the music industry, started as a partial inside joke by Christian himself, and circulated around again by... the music industry. He studied composing for 2 years in a university and was nearly kicked out, then studied guitar and voice at a different university for 1 year and quit because of the lack of individualistic freedom. However, he was taught music theory at age 12 by a friend and has been composing ever since. While studying music at the same university he studied guitar and voice, he switched his degree to journalism and graduated magna cum laude. He learned all there was to composition, but never learned counterpoint. "Counterpoint" is the "art" of learning how to break all the rules you've learned as a composer. We think he got the idea without actually getting the degree. • Day jobs? Aaron works as a coordinator at a school for the arts. Christian is a writer, photographer and graphic designer for a motorcyle manufacturer. They both love their jobs. • People have often cried unexpectedly and without warning during if thousands performances in the past. • Christian's longtime girlfriend, Jennifer VanDake, committed suicide before yellowstone was released in 2003. The entire album is dedicated to her. A beautiful, unique individual in her own right, she did the art for the candice recorder cd itself, based, in part, from inspirations from the movie Dune and Blade Runner, both of which she was a religous fan. She was a huge if thousands fan and Christian prefers that - - - that is all we say about that. In the liner notes of yellowstone, her date of birth is incorrect. It should read, 1980-2002. She died before her 22nd birthday, far too young. Viva Jen. • Aaron lives with his partner, Kyle and their beautiful daughter, Stella. • Christian lives in the middle of the woods in Merrifield, MN with his partner, Jessy, and her gregarious son, Payton, and two felines. • Gear geeks, please click here. • They both own their own homes: Aaron in Duluth, MN and Christian in Superior, WI. • On yellowstone, the strange voice on "we sent HLRE" was a cassette Christian played while they performed. It was a "How to Learn Morse Code" recording he found at a thrift store. As always, the song itself was an improvisation. • On lullaby, the strange voice was an unintentional fluke. Aaron found it on shortwave while searching for interesting sounds. We honestly had no idea it was Matthew Sheppard's father's eulogy until many months after the album was released. • Christian began with two guitars and a moog when if thousands started. In order to make the unique sounds that if thousands was known for, he began collecting instruments and devices. As of this date, they number close to a hundred. • if thousands first handful of shows were complete with a Hammond M3 organ that they sawed in half for easier transportation. It would be carried on stage and wired together by a complex series of somewhat dangerous trailer hitches. ...in the process, they have blown up and fried many an amp, speaker or electronic device (not surprisingly), sometimes even during performances. Christian has shocked himself uncountable times. When he was rewiring the chopped Hammond organ at the West End studio, he accidentally touched a capacitor and was thrown violently and forcefully 5 feet backwards into a wall and knocked unconcious for several minutes. Don't rewire a Hammond organ yourself, folks. Just don't. You could, quite honestly, accientally kill yourself if you don't know what you're doing. • Christian released a solo folk album in 1998 that he hopes no one actually owns anymore. • Aaron is a big fan of Neil Diamond. Christian is a big fan of old Elton John/Bernie Taupin albums. We all have skeletons. • The name "if thousands" makes no sense. But it does in a weird way. It is the product of Aaron and Christian's four month search for a band name before they first played live. Aaron came up with the name "thousand" from the Sonic Youth album A Thousand Leaves. Christian decided to pluralize thousand to thousands. They both came up with "if" after they attached the word "thousands" on a piece of paper to the studio wall and wrote little words around it (and, but, or, the, etc.... and if). Christian still has that piece of paper and will probably include it in the upcoming gallery. • Although Aaron uses a Line 6 Echo Modeler to create loops, Christian does not. In the early days, he used actual analag tape loops run on an old Akai reel-to-reel, proved to be extremely unconventional for live performances. He quickly switched to playing all instruments in a looped fashion - starting a phrase and playing it over and over again, live, without any outside looping devices. • They have decided to go on permanent haitus for many reasons, some of which are contained with the "news" portion of this site. The main reason is because they have done everything they ever dreamed of when they began. Two guys making weird emotional sounds with no lyrics no one had ever heard before before in a live setting that tapped into certain souls in an unforeseen way. Eno did it, and before him Pendricki, and before him there was always ethnic music, and before that there was the music that nature itself provided. Countless others have done & replicated this tradition since, but not like if thousands. They're not just tooting their own horn. They have always, and will continue to do, music that is honest and deeply from the heart. In the beginning, they really, honestly thought....yeah right... like this will go anywhere. They dreamed of making albums, working with great musicians and making soundtracks. And by golly, they did. One of their biggest dreams was to be featured on This American Life, which happened twice in 2006. Like Jackie Gleason in The Honeymooner's, you have to realize sometimes when it's time to take a break and do something else. if thousands will most likely make more music when your kids are older, but for now, they're into other stuff. We hope you found this interesting. We're sure there will be more in the future. Please check back.
Awards & Misc: 2006 This American Life (soundbyte to be posted soon) 2005 Sundance Film Festival Invite/Performance Best albums of 2003 (personal top 10), City Pages (2004) (yellowstone) Best Album of 2003 (top 10), Pop Matters Music (2004) (yellowstone) 2002 Best New Electronic Album, Minnesota Music Academy (nomination) (yellowstone) 2003 Sundance Film Festival Invite/Performance 2002 Best New Electronic Album, Minnesota Music Academy (nomination) (candice recorder) 2002 MPR (Minnesota Public Radio) 2001 & 2003 Picked to Click, City Pages 2001 candice recorder, top 20 for 13 consecutive weeks (CJSF, Vancouver)
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