Q: Can you talk about the original formation of Tower Defense and the process of writing the songs for Mind the Menagerie?

Mike: After the dissolution of Apollo Up! in 2008, Jereme and I ran through a few bands both together (Gentleman Divers, Bad Feeler) and apart (Short Ropes) hitting a wall as to what to do next. We even put out a “Rhythm Section Available” press release that ran on NashvilleCream.com. We had a couple of wheel-spinning rehearsals as a two-piece before landing on a two-bass power trio. It took some convincing, but Sarah eventually agreed.

Most of the first songs we wrote were based on bass parts that Sarah had been messing around with, and then I started writing as well. It was a really fertile year-long period where we wrote that whole first record.

Jereme: Mike and I knew we still wanted to play together and have a little bit more of a creative voice in the process. It made logical sense to try the two bass and single drum format logistically. Playing in bands with our friends is important and obviously, the three of us are super close. Being in a three piece allowed for a lot of musical space. I think the longer we went, the more the space started to become a problem creatively. We were missing that guitar voice.

Q:Can you tell us a little bit about what each song is about? The Lottery, The Actor, The Trap - what inspired them?

Mike: I’ve almost never successfully written a song that was actually about anything. With rare exceptions, I’d just find a string of words that fit the cadence of the melody, and then build a little short story around that. There were quite a few songs based on dreams, though. “The Actor” was one, inspired by a dream I had about a disheveled actor (I think it was former Nashvillian Anson Mount, who was on a show on AMC at the time) being forced to sign autographs in a public library. “The Lottery” is a little dystopian riff on Shirley Jackson’s story of the same name, framed in the setting of the 2008 financial crisis. The Trap . . . still not really sure what that’s about. Broadly, it’s the story of someone being lured into some kind of bad situation. For some reason, I’ve always pictured “Bart Simpson’s Dracula” when I sing it.

Jereme: If I knew the lyrics, I could.

Q: What was the original recording process like back in 2013? Or was it in 2012?

Mike: We had ten songs finished less than a year from our first show, and reached out to Jeremy Ferguson at Battle Tapes, who we’d recorded all of the Apollo Up! records with. He was going to be out of the country during the time we had set aside for tracking, but said that his intern Alicia Bognanno could record it for free while they were away. We asked our AU! buddy Jay Phillips to hang out and help us out with quality control, basically there to keep us honest about whether our performances were up to snuff. We knocked out 10 songs over the course of a week, sneaking in nights and weekends in November 2012, and then Jay mixed it that winter and spring. Alicia, of course, went on to found now-legendary Nashville rockers Bully.

Jereme: I was pretty adamant that we record at Battle Tapes. I think it is the best and we had equity and comfortability established there. Everyone did a great job, but I personally became unhappy with how things sounded the further removed we got from the release. Nothing bad, I just wanted us to sound differently.

Q: When did Currey join the band? WHY did Currey join the band?

Mike: After the songwriting hot streak that resulted in Mind the Menagerie, I hit a wall creatively. We wrote a handful of songs, but most didn’t pass muster. We started talking about how a guitar player might broaden our palette, and maybe help us shake off the writer’s block. In the meantime, Jereme started bringing in compositions which were amazing, but difficult to play and sing at the same time. Currey was a good friend and a frequent collaborator, so we asked her to come help us out with a B-52s cover (“52 Girls”) and to try playing guitar on a handful of new songs.

Jereme: Mike and Sarah called me and said Currey was in the band. I think we will all admit that we went through some growing pains as a four piece, but I cannot imagine it being any other way at this point, and would not even know how to approach any one of the members not being there.

Q: Speak to what that process was like and how the changes themselves morphed over time?

Mike: We ended up working up a little over half of the songs on MtM with Currey on guitar. At first, the process was very prescriptive. I’d write a single-note line for her to harmonize with mine, or she’d just follow Sarah’s bass part and play rhythm guitar. I don’t think that was the best way to start out, in retrospect, but we were in a hurry to get “up and running” as a four piece on a full set of songs. Some of the new arrangements were stilted, and dropped out of the set as soon as they could be replaced, but others hung around, and Currey has certainly made those parts her own.

Jereme: I think the three songs we are re-releasing are the true essence of MtM. Those songs were the best, we played out the most, and were still recognized by the audience. They are tight little rock songs made better by having Currey added to them.

Q: For Never Mind the Menagerie, you are paying tribute to your 10-year anniversary and the growth of the band. What was the process like for recording these new versions? Why did you select these three songs?

Mike: The 10th anniversary of MtM was looming, but we had mixed feelings about the usual “remaster and re-release” approach to such things, mostly because that record no longer represents the band we are today. I wanted to work up and record “The Register,” one of my favorites from the first record that we never managed to get arranged as a four-piece, but it remains as resistant to rearrangement as ever. So we focused on the three MtM tunes that we still play. “The Lottery” and “The Actor” have just never really left our repertoire, and “The Trap” has been our warm-up song for years, something easy to play (ie, hard to mess up) to ease us into rehearsal mode. Re-recording those three as an EP seemed like a nice way to continue our run of singles we’ve had going this year while still paying tribute to our roots, so to speak.

Jereme: It was fun to record these in our current set-up and for me to try to further my process of recording us. This was my chance to make these songs sound exactly how I wanted. I wanted to pay tribute to the originals, but update them sonically. There are double guitars and vocals on most everything. Mike’s vocals being super dry on "The Actor" were intentional as is the doubling and reverb on the other two. There is a little something for everyone in each of the tunes. I approached mixing differently than the other singles we have been putting out and I am pretty happy with how things turned out.

Q: The artwork was reworked via AI; a somewhat controversial topic these days. I understand you have original artist Kelly Kerrigan’s blessing for the change but can you speak to the approach of using AI for the art?

Mike: As a proper nerd, new tech like AI is fascinating to me, but the ethical considerations have certainly given me pause. I loved the idea of seeing what a gifted visual mind like Michael Eades’ could bring to recreating the original cover art in a tool like Midjourney. However, the artist that provided “Horse Mix” for Mind the Menagerie, Kelly Hodge, is an old, dear friend. It was really important to us that she was at peace with us making a derived work based on her creativity. Kelly has graciously granted us permission to do so, and has enthusiastically supported us every step of the way.

Tower Defense has been releasing music at a more regular cadence this year. No question about this; just Thank You for that!