On the day of the interview, Alex Bleeker, bassist, singer and founder of Real Estate, is happy for two reasons.
One: that night he begins his American tour, the first since the pandemic.
Two: the concert is next to his house.
“The tour begins in San Francisco.
So this is one of those rare occasions where at the beginning of the tour I wake up in my own bed.
Now I'm at home, but it's like I'm on tour.
"Actually, it's surreal: I wake up, I have a coffee, I'll go out with my wife for a while, I'll eat a
muffin,
I pack my suitcase and go to the living room," he says via video conference.
Because, although every time Real Estate is talked about, “the New Jersey gang” is added as a tagline, that is no longer exactly the case.
“Matt [Kallman], the keyboard player, lives very close to me, outside of San Francisco.
I'm on the beach, in a very nice little surfer town.
Martin [Coutney, singer] is still on the east coast along with our drummer Sammi [Niss].
And Julian [Lynch, guitarist] is somewhere in the middle of America.
So we have all the bases covered.”
Real Estate is a quintet as
indie
as an Adidas Gazelle.
In fact, the funny thing about them is that when they emerged, in 2008, their crystalline guitars were already
vintage
.
They seemed like a group from the nineties, the American interpretation of what a British band sounded like in 1996. Some Teenage Fanclub from a
high school
in New Jersey, that state that had the bad luck to fall next to New York and that is why it is an object of mockery.
Although, musically, not much of a joke.
Everyone from Frank Sinatra to Sharon van Etten has come from there.
“Without a doubt, our guitars sound bright and melodic.
And if you tell me that they remember Teenage Fanclub, well that's a great compliment.
And if you tell me that the voices remind you of Cocteau Twins, the same, because, for me, they are one of the best bands in history.
Yes, we have listened to a lot of British records, that is undeniable.”
Now they are releasing their sixth album,
Daniel
, which is more of the same, understanding that expression as a compliment.
There is a moment when one can only applaud the stubbornness of not changing direction.
Especially if, as they do, they take themselves very little seriously.
For example, for this first concert they have decided to set up a bingo: “Each number is assigned to a song.
Yesterday I spent the day making something that sounds like a high school project: a big, crappy bingo board.
“I don’t know how it’s going to turn out, but I think that’s what will make it fun.”
“Over time you learn things, like not being afraid to be yourself and have fun, because that's what shines.”
His style is light and luminous.
And when you make that kind of pop, there's no point in getting too transcendent either.
“Over time you learn a few things, like not to be afraid to be yourself and have fun, because that's what really shines.
Or not to follow any particular trend, there are unlimited paths to follow.
I wish someone had told me when I was starting out.
It's been a while since we exposed ourselves more.
It's like bingo.
Probably 10 years ago I would have thought that wasn't cool.
And people actually love it.
“I wish we had done this kind of thing from the beginning.”
Having fun seems to be the key.
It makes some sense, it's like they're seeing the end of a long streak of bad luck.
They released their fifth album,
The Main Thing,
on February 28, 2020. “A week before the pandemic started.
Can you believe it?
It was almost like throwing it away,” she says.
The previous one,
In Mind, came out in October 2017, the same month that
Spin
magazine
published an article with accusations of abuse by seven women against one of its founders, Matt Mondanile.
“What is not known is that we had fired him years before it became public.
And it was because there were people who came to us privately and told us a little about what had happened.
At that moment we knew that, out of respect for those people, we could not continue with him.
We didn't make a press release about why we fired him, but he was already out of the band and out of our lives years before.
Honestly, it was the best decision we could have made as a band.”
The cycle may have ended: the classics have already passed seven years, almost eight in their case, of bad luck.
Daniel
has had good reviews, which is a great start.
“I would like to pay more attention to the good ones.
But the funny thing is that, although I want the praise, the ones that amuse me are the negative ones.
“That's what I'm really looking for,” he laughs.
This absence of drama in the face of criticism could be understood as an act of maturity.
They are already close to 40 and have 15 years of experience.
Perhaps the time has come to stop talking about Real Estate as an
indie
band and refer to them as part of what they call
dad rock, indie
for mature people.
“You have to accept it.
Of the five members of the band, three are parents.
The third, two months ago.
So we are the majority.
I think we're officially
dad rock now.
Actually, it's great.
I don't find it derogatory.
We've been here long enough for some people to be born and raised.
We did a couple of promotional gigs in New York last week and people came with their kids.
Some of the kids are 15, 16 or even 20. It's amazing.
I like to see a younger generation who are no longer children and grew up with our music.
Part of me says, 'I can't believe I'm old enough for this.'
And another part thinks: 'It's exciting to be resonating with multiple generations.'
The most amazing thing about Real Estate is that they are absolutely normal.
Ordinary people with ordinary lives.
Except for the unfortunate incident at Mondanile, there is nothing striking about his story.
In that sense they are reminiscent of another New Jersey band, Yo La Tengo, whose 30 years of life could fit into a Mötley Crüe Monday morning.
“We have always looked at Yo La Tengo as a model.
They have released many albums, they are still great, vital and have not become a parody of themselves.
They are real, at best, unmistakable and have a long and illustrious career in which they have always been credible and respectful.
It's a difficult path to take, but that's the model.
That's how I would like to be when I grow up.
Well, actually, I'm older now.”
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