My first response upon hearing mr. Gnome was to ask how many members were in the band. Fully expecting a 5 or 6-piece collaboration to be responsible for the huge sound coming out of my speakers, I was floored to learn that just two artists comprise the Cleveland group. Mr. Gnome utilizes a reverse White Stripes dynamic, with Nicole Barille on guitar and vocals and Sam Meister pounding away on the percussion. The result is something that I don’t think can be fully explained in words, but if anyone would be able to do it, it would be Barille. Check out our interview with the artist in which she talks about the origin of the band, their new album, and why creative control isn’t something they plan to give up anytime soon.

How did the two of you meet?

We’ve actually known each other since high school. We met each other right at the end of our awesome time in high school. We didn’t form mr. Gnome together until we were both done with college, so that was pretty much when all that began.

Why did you two decide that you wanted to work together musically?

It kind of happened accidentally. We were playing in another band more based around Sam [Meister]’s songs. He was writing a bunch of stuff, and I started playing lead guitar for him. We never played out or anything, and we had a lot more free time to be kinda doing our own thing. Sam’s been a drummer since he was like fifteen, but he hadn’t really touched the drums too much until we started playing together. I had a handful of songs that I wanted to try out and maybe try singing a little bit, so he rolled out the drum kit, and we started doing that in our spare time. That started growing a little quicker than the other band we were in, and it just grew from there.

What is your songwriting process like?

It just happens in different ways. The majority of songs are written from initial ideas that I have from a melody or guitar part that I track in my Garage Band and kind of lay it down that way. Then I bring those parts to Sam and it helps him bring it to a more collaborative process, to bring it to a finishing point. We experiment with it for a while and see all the places it can go. It’s definitely very collaborative. Sometimes we just feel like jamming and working on an idea, and it just happens naturally, off of a beat or something, and a song is born, but it’s always a collaborative effort.

What differences will your fans see in this new album as opposed to the last one?

We got introduced to a couple different sounds through doing this record. We got to record it at Pink Duck Studios, which is Josh Homme’s studio out in Burbank. Kinda got turned on to the hollow-body guitars and some vintage amps. It’s kind of an extension of the last record. It’s not really the straight and narrow. We took parts we were starting to dabble on in the last one and started to expand and really playing off of it. So yeah, it’s definitely an extension. It’s still us, but it kind of goes off into different areas that the last album didn’t actually touch upon.

Can you tell us a little about what you’ve had going on?

A couple of things happened to push the album back a little bit. We had to switch some dates around, and the bulk of our tour is in November and December now. We already did a couple weeks in October. We did New York and Boston, and last week we did Nashville, Birmingham, and a couple other cities, so it’s been nice. We’ve had a chance to come back home, but Halloween is when the album was finished, and we start touring on November 11th, I believe. That’s when the whole West Coast, Midwest, and West Coast tour starts.

Would you say touring is heaven or hell for you?

We definitely like it or else we wouldn’t do it as much as we do. There’s definitely nights when you wish you could sleep in your own bed or sit and do nothing, but we’re addicted to playing live. It’s exciting to tour just because you get to see everything grow and all of your work start to pay off. We definitely love it.

I think I read, if this is correct, that you guys have produced pretty much all of your material. Is that correct for this new album?

Yes, yes.

I was just going to ask, are there any producers that you would like to work with that you haven’t had a chance to yet?

I’m sure we could think of a few. If the opportunity would present itself and it was the right person, alright for sure, but every song is kind of like your child. To be able to control it, find where you want to bring it, and pick what sounds that you really want to help enhance it…to be able to control it is really cool for us. It would definitely be pretty hard to give up all that control.

When can we see you in LA?

We’ll be there on November 24th. We’ll be at the Silverlake Lounge, and the 25th we’ll be playing in Long Beach at Alex’s Bar.

Last question here. Do you guys have any parting words for your fans?

We love them, and any parting words?

Thank you.

For more info on mr.Gnome check out:

www.mrgnome.com/

or

www.myspace.com/mrgnome