The Handsome Furs on Their Heavy New Album

“I would personally not play than to have people sitting there quietly judging me,” asserts Dan Boeckner, one half of the effervescent duo, the Handsome Furs. There is a brief pause, and he smiles. “Maybe it’s because I’m not really good at playing guitar.” Boeckner, and his counterpart, Alexei Perry are a driving force to be reckoned with. They have strong feelings of how a band should comport themselves, and holier-than-though temperament and ostentatious judgment isn’t talent.

“I think it really depends on how the bands present themselves,” Boeckner continues. “I know a lot of bands, like a lot of popular indie-rock bands being very precious about their stuff. Like you’re the artist and everybody has to be quiet and appreciate what a fucking genius you are.” The Handsome Furs speak only from experience. Sometime in between getting married and touring (for both the Handsome Furs and Boeckner’s other prized project, Wolf Parade), they managed to record their new album, Face Control, their follow-up to their 2007 debut, Plague Park.

“It’s a little more raw, and a little faster, and it’s better,” assures Perry. “It’s really, really obnoxiously loud,” adds Boeckner. “It’s a lot heavier than the last record. We were still trying to figure out what we were as a band.” Their genuine appreciation for the development of the Handsome Furs may seem as a surprise coming from a guy who has bands Wolf Parade and Atlas Strategic under his belt. Yet, Boeckner shares that having success in one band does not guarantee a continuous hit.

“On our first tour, when we got to Finland, we finally figured out how to play the songs. There was this really wicked moment when we were playing for some friends, and they were upfront shaking around, throwing beer at each other. I looked over at Alexei and was like ‘Oh, we can actually play these songs.’ We were playing ‘What We Had,’ and it actually sounded pretty all right. That was a big moment.” “Before that,” Perry laughs, “we’d only ever played in our bedroom.”

The Handsome Furs have come a long way since Plague Park. Yet, when they recount stories from their beginnings, they reflect with gratitude. It was never about being famous, but rather about having an audience that appreciates them. “We had a hilarious show in Cologne, Germany,” recalls Perry. “There had been no promotion and the venue had been switched at the last moment, so there were literally seven people that came to the show. So we brought out chips and dip from backstage and decided to have a house party with them instead.”

“If your engagement with the audience is to get them to submit to your genius quietly, then I think that’s kind of bullshit,” notes Boeckner. “One of the best crowds we’ve had was when I looked out and there were a bunch of people who weren’t looking at the stage, but were dancing with their friends. And I was like ‘This is awesome’. They’re not even looking at the stage, they’re just getting down with each other. So that made me happy.”

Mixers, house parties, and anti-judgment aside, they’ve reached rock star status with their fans in a typical, unruly fashion. “Pretty much every night I tell Dan to break something,” muses Perry. “Once I had someone try to play my drum machine while I was playing it. I was like ‘Dude, what you’re liking right now, you’re destroying.”

Perhaps the most interesting part about the Handsome Furs is their road to success. They started up a band from scratch with all of the know-how and proficiency from previous ventures, but took the route of a newcomer. Yet, despite how they made their entrance, they have the lyrics of would-be sonnets, and the sound to make their contemporaries appreciate what a “fucking geniuses” they are.
Aside from how damn cool they are (Boeckner’s first concert was seeing Grapes of Wrath with the librarian’s daughter), and their penchant for significant music, the Handsome Furs always go back to their fans. “You can play for four, four hundred, or four thousand people, but if they’re not jumping around and into it, then you aren’t either,” explains Perry. “Audiences make the biggest difference in the world.”

“Audiences are the cornerstone of an infectious concert,” adds Boeckner. “Although I generally like it when people are a little bit sauced and are into it.”

No judgment.