The Glazzies: Their Own Right Time
The future looks bright for Peter Landi and his band, the Glazzies. The band, whose other member is Dave Horn on drums, recently signed to Old Flame Records and expects a summer 2015 release of its second album, “Kill Me Kindly.” Touring in and outside of the U.S. will follow, along with the release of an EP that features Emmett Murphy (better known as Murph) of the alternative rock ’n’ roll band Dinosaur Jr.
While the release of “Kill Me Kindly” is still months away, the Glazzies’ new single, “Spill,” is featured in the online music publication Consequence of Sound. Friday night at 8, the band will return to the Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett, sharing the stage with Daddy Issues, an all-female trio from Nashville.
Mr. Landi, who lives in Sag Harbor, shows no signs of worry or urgency with regard to success in the crowded and hyper-competitive field of popular music; rather, his methodical approach has thus far opened doors in their own, right time. He and Mr. Horn formed the Glazzies (pronounced “glozzies,” the word is from “A Clockwork Orange,” a copy of which they came across in a rehearsal studio) in 2008, while still in high school. Last December, during Mr. Horn’s temporary departure from the band, Mr. Landi traveled to Sonelab, the Easthampton, Mass. studio of Justin Pizzoferrato, a producer and recording engineer who has worked with bands including Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr., the latter a primary influence on the Glazzies.
“He’s done a bunch of records I loved,” Mr. Landi said of the producer, including “Beyond,” Dinosaur Jr.’s 2007 release, which closely coincided with the Glazzies’ formation. “I thought it would be so cool to have a record that sounded like that.” He saw an article online about the producer and his studio, contacted him, and Mr. Pizzoferrato agreed to work with the band.
Though his only formal training is on drums, Mr. Landi plays all of the instruments on “Kill Me Kindly.” “After a couple of years, I decided to stop taking [drum] lessons and started playing along to favorite albums,” he said. “Around middle school, I picked up the guitar because I started getting into bands and everything. By default, I became the singer — nobody else wanted to do it. I ended up really liking it, and enjoyed writing songs.”
Mr. Horn rejoined the Glazzies, and more tracks were recorded during subsequent sessions with Mr. Pizzoferrato at Sonelab, some of them featuring Murph on drums. “We reached out to him and sent him our songs,” Mr. Landi said. “He wrote back that he loved the stuff. We recorded the whole EP live — I was standing 10 feet in front of one of my favorite drummers, kind of losing my mind inside. But he was super-sweet, no ego at all. A genuinely nice guy.”
Even before the sessions for “Kill Me Kindly,” the band was approached on the strength of its debut release, “Time Bomb Love,” by Michael Watkins of Drunken Piano, a Brooklyn artist management and publicity company. “He found out we were going to be recording with Justin,” Mr. Landi said. “He said that after the record was made, we should talk.” Mr. Watkins shopped the recordings, and Old Flame Records — the first label contacted — was sufficiently impressed.
For the moment, the Glazzies remain a duo, but, in its own right time, the band could expand to a quartet. Mr. Landi and Mr. Horn “have that unspoken musical chemistry,” the former said. “We kind of know what the other one is thinking when we’re playing. It’s hard to find or recreate. The goal is eventually to find a bass player and another guitar player, but it’s got to be the right people, obviously. If it happens, it happens, but if it doesn’t we’ll keep chugging along. For now, we’re excited that people are responding the way they are to a duo.”