Pacer Test

 Photo: Facebook. Left to right: Kyle Robinson, Gabe Klingler-Horn, Daniel Carr, Aidan Sloppy.

Pacer Test Sprints Ahead

By, Joshua Reedy on Dec 13, 2019

Pacer Test is an Albany band with a sound that will hit you harder than the cardiovascular endurance test they’re named after. The quartet has released two songs officially, “Space Cowboy” and “We All Love Tom," on Spotify and other services. Pacer Test also plays local shows in Albany at locations such as the Byrdhouse or the Low Beat. The band is currently composed of Gabe Klingler-Horn (Vocals/Guitar), Kyle Robinson (Vocals/Keys), Aidan Sloppy (Bass/Recording/Engineering), and Daniel Carr (Drums). The band invited me into their current residence where we talked practice, band history and more.

(NOTE: Daniel Carr was not present for this interview)

X: How did you guys all meet and decide to make music together?

GK: So we all go to school at Saint Rose and Kyle and I moved in here the beginning of last year, our Sophomore year. And we started writing music for a little while and we had one song written for a really long time but we didn’t have any band members, we were like “Oh wow this is really cool but we can’t do anything with it.” 

KR: Yeah we just kind of sat in the living room with like, the midi controller and the awful Logic samples and we made “Space Cowboy.”

X: Is it true you guys met in guitar class?

KR: No it was Star Day, that’s like our orientation. So we were here the first day of school and Gabe was like, one of the first people that I met. We were in the same orientation group. 

GK: And then sometime later in the semester I talked to one of our professors about joining his work-study group just so I could play around with more of the sound equipment. And then that’s where I met this guy (Points to Aidan) and you (Aidan) tell your side because it was like, two bands started at seperate spots and then we met each other.

AS: Yeah so, our dearly departed friend Tom (Tom is not dead) and I worked together doing record engineering at the college so I’ve known him pretty well for a couple years. Then we (Aidan and Tom) started hanging out more outside of school last year and we wanted to start a band together. It was kind of a joke, like, “We have to start a band together.” And when I started to meet Gabe I used to run shows at the Orange Peel and these two (Gabe and Kyle) were frequent flyers there. So we got to know each other pretty well and when they were looking for band members they knew that I liked to rock. So I was like “Yeah man, I’ll rock as long as I can bring my friend Tom along.” So Tom and I got our dream of having a band together and Tom was our drummer before he moved away.

X: Are you guys all from Albany originally?

GK: I grew up 30 minutes south of here, so I was always around Albany. I was always around locally, I came up to play shows sometimes but mainly played shows downstate.

AS: I’m from Western Pennsylvania. A town called Erie, I’m here for college

KR: I’m from Plymouth, Massachusetts; can’t wait to get back there for Thanksgiving, because we invented it. I also came here for school.

X: Are you guys involved in any other projects?

AS: I also play in an active prog-rock band called Glasswing and we do long songs and concepts about, you know, aliens and stuff. It’s very sci-fi. We tour in the 

Summers. 

X: Can you guys describe your process for songwriting?

 

KR: I’d say Gabe does most of the original riff writing; he’ll come in with a lot of the core ideas. Sometimes we’ll work together before coming in with everyone else. Gabe is probably the main contributor and then we all just add our little sprinkles on top. 

GK: The magic doesn’t really happen until we’re all in the room. It could just be a singer-songwriter song before we get to rock (laughs). As far as lyric writing: it’s just kind of all over the place. It’s about the bigger picture, whoever needs to do something we just kind of just let that happen. 

KR: No matter what we write, It doesn’t sound like a Pacer Test song until we’re in a basement that’s so dusty that I can’t breathe for half of it. 

GK: Those are the best venues: the ones where you have to blow your nose like, three or four days after being there, blowing out dust. 

X: Are there any local places you want to give a quick shoutout to?

GK: So, I mean, definitely the Byrdhouse. Put the Byrdhouse twice. 

KR: We for some reason play a lot of events. We want to play the Chateau.

GK: We also played the Low Beat, we played the Hollow. 

X: Can you describe what a standard practice is like? You don’t practice here in this house do you?

KR: No, at his house (points to Aidan). He’s got a basement.

GK: Alright let’s go ahead and describe what a normal practice is like and then describe what our worst practice was like.

AS: That was our best practice, man. 

GK: Ok so standard practice, I’d say we definitely don’t try to spend too much time on anything. We make sure we can get from A to B with a song.

KR: Then we see what happens. 

GK: Yeah, and then we leave a lot of the element of surprise to the gig. But usually when we’re going over new stuff we make sure everyone knows what’s going on. So about our worst/best practice, we almost lit Aidan’s house on fire one time.

KR: So we were trying to find a cover to play, and we just felt that “Mama Mia” was definitely gonna be the best fit for our next show. So I had my little marimba patched up and everybody was doing their thing but then all of a sudden Tom looks over and one of the wedges that we’re using for PA just starts to fizz and smoke.

AS: It smelled horrible. It was clipping real bad because we were putting too much load on the one speaker. 

KR: With “Mama Mia” by Abba. 

GK: Just be careful when you’re playing “Mama Mia.”

X: Describe the process of mixing and working on songs.

GK: It’s like a fun thing we all do. The majority of the mixing is totally on Aidan so I’ll leave that for him. But Kyle and I are usually the first ones to compile the sessions so we’ll usually throw something in to surprise the next person to get the sessions which is usually Aidan. It’s kind of like a hidden message. 

AS: Yeah, so we tracked all of our drums and bass together live. Then I hand those tracks off to these guys (Gabe and Kyle) and they do their thing on it, and then they hand it back to me with all their added goodies at the end. The mixing stage really isn’t that crazy; it doesn’t take us more than about four hours to put a song together. Then we send it to our boy Tom and he masters it for us. 

X: What is it like trying to balance time? I know Dan is also in Lemon of Choice and some of you also have other projects.

KR: That’s the curse of being a musician at Saint Rose or, honestly, in general: Everybody wants to be in a band and you want to be in everybody’s band. Gabe and I are also in a band right now called Waitress. Aidan obviously has Glasswing stuff. There’s a bunch of projects going on and Dan is in all of them. 

GK: Most of the bands I’m in all have a different sound. I can use different ideas for different projects. It sucks having to be busy a lot, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. 

KR: It’s stuff we love that’s making our lives super busy. 

X: This is one of my personal favorite questions: each of you name an album that really influences you right now. 

KR: I’ll give two: The Wall by Pink Floyd - I love concept albums. And then, Act V: Hymns With the Devil in Confessional by The Dear Hunter. 

AS: When I think about music and how I want it to sound I always go back to Heaven and Hell by Black Sabbath. I look for a cleanliness and a place and a purpose for everything on a record. 

GK: There’s a few, but the one that always comes back is: Periphery II: This Time It’s Personal by Periphery. It set a certain standard in my mind for producing. As far as writing music in general I really like M83.

X: Is there anything about local bands or the scene that you want to say?

GK: Laveda is fantastic. Also Strange Paradise, with Valerie Barbosa (featured on “We All Love Tom”); they’re fantastic, they just released a single. 

AS: I mixed it (the Strange Paradise single) with Dan.

GK: Bad Mothers are sick. We would be an awesome fit with them. Also It’s great to go to a place like the Byrdhouse where we don’t know a lot of people but it’s clear that they’re on the same page as us. 

AS: The college scene really drives this town.

X: What are your plans for the future?

GK: Plans for us, I don’t know, we’re just trying to get out of school for now. I don’t want to get a job just yet. By then I’m hoping to have our second album tracked.

KR: Best case scenario: Summer tour right when we graduate. 

X: Any words in closing?

KR: Thank you for giving us some time to talk. Usually I say more things that I shouldn’t but I didn’t and I’m glad!

GK: Thank you so much for coming and giving us some time to talk.

AS: Check out our stuff on Spotify and Apple Music.

GK: Just the two singles for now but keep your eye out. 

You can follow Pacer Test on Instagram and like them on Facebook at:

@Pacertestalbs

https://www.facebook.com/pacertest/