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Tell Me – A little Q & A
Reprinted from the Buffalo News; Gusto – January 9, 2004

With a sound atypical of other Rochester bands, Gregory Paul and the Autumdivers carved out a unique musical niche with moody tones on their 2002 release “Spirit and Decibels.” “We basically sound like a British rock group stuck in the US.,” said singer and guitarist Paul. “Everyone else is doing either punk rock or garage rock or jam band or cover band stuff, And then there’s us, which I don’t think is that weird but for some reason seems hard to come by.”

We caught up with Paul from Rochester where he was recording tracks for the band’s next album.

How did the Autumdivers come together?

Through the early ‘90s, our drummer, Aaron Boucher and I had this band called Stillmotion, which was sort of like a shoegazer, sort of space-rock outfit. Then that ended, and Aaron started a record label and I went to school for art. I started getting back into music again after a year and a half hiatus. (Three years later,) Aaron and I started playing together again and it was just the two of us for about three years, just drums and guitar and vocal, just the duo, before the White Stripes came along, mind you (laughs). (Bassist Tony Wensel joined the Autumdivers in September 2001.)

How did the band get its name?

We were out on a West Coast tour this summer and we just kind of came up with this agreement to come up with a band name. I had gotten the name from watching the movie “Gangs of New York.” There are these people called autumdivers who basically pick pocketed people in church in New York City. There’s really no meaning to us. I just think it’s a catchy interesting name and I like the American history aspect behind it.

Could you describe your sound? It was interesting seeing you live at Thursday at the Square last summer because it’s kind of ghostly music. How would you describe it?

I’ve been in a lot of different types of bands over the years, but there’s been this one thread throughout all my music. I’ve always had this interest in ambient tonality and even in some senses minimalist music — things that just carry a mood. I don really like to kind of categorize it. It’s just something that comes out every night in what we do. We’re basically a rock band with those tendencies.

What should people expect from your live shows?

I think they should expect emotional music. It has nothing to do with emo. I know there’s this whole emo thing out there, but I call it brat rock. I’m not anti-emo, but a lot of it sounds whiny and wimpy. I don’t believe them. It has to be believable. I mean, Johnny Cash is believable. But the thing with us is that it’s emotional music, the kind of music that can jerk you around emotionally. It can be inspirational in U2 sort of way, or really hit you in that Radiohead kind of way. The bottom line is it’s emotional music — I just want people to get lost in (the music), and they do. When I reach people that way, I think the mission is accomplished, take people out of time or something for a little while. Music is a universal language and it’s nice to communicate with the audience on that level.

— Liz Hacken, Special to The News