If anything is telling of Staten Island band Cymbals Eat Guitars, it lies in frontman Joseph D’Agostino’s affinity for “records that wash over you and drown you,” records that are “extremely ambitious.” He mentioned “The guitar solo in the middle of [Wilco’s] "I'm the Man Who Loves You", or a lot of Tom Verlaine's work on Marquee Moon.  That shit is wrenchingly exploratory.”

It comes as no surprise, then, that Cymbals Eat Guitars improvise and explore as far and wide as they are capable…and maybe then some. These guys can soar through dynamic ranges within a song as skillfully and intuitively as the zigzags of a rabbit on the run. Progressive, meet your new punk-tinted garage rock roommate. Distortion, shake hands with your new cousin-in-law, Melody. Cymbals Eat Guitars deliver a marriage of all things they find sweet, and they challenge themselves, undaunted by limits, to their fullest extent. That seems to be the goal.

Their self-released debut LP Why There Are Mountains released earlier this year received a glowing 8.3/10 review on Pitchfork and the amount of heads turning in their direction have been steadily increasing ever since. Cymbals Eat Guitars now have a gig resume that includes Pitchfork Fest, Monolith, 80/35, KEXP radio performances, as well as club dates in the UK. To that, they say: “We're beyond elated.  We're just so appreciative of the fact that for some reason, the stars have aligned in such a way that we were able to meet the right people at the right moments, make a good record, and get people to listen.” Joseph was kind enough to answer some of the Deli’s pressing questions.

Cymbals Eat Guitars is a great example of a band starting to garner successes and notoriety under the ‘new world order’ of the music industry (by producing an album yourselves and landing a great review on Pitchfork). That has to be exciting. What's the most surprising thing that's come of your growing popularity so far?
I think the big full-circle moment for me so far was meeting Ryan Schreiber the other night when we were filming a "Don't Look Down" p4k.tv segment on a rooftop on the North Shore of Staten Island.  I mean, I've been reading pitchfork forever—dudes tipped me off to most of my all-time faves like Bedhead, Iran, Clinic, the Dismemberment Plan, Silver Jews... so I got to tell Ryan that without Transaction De Novo, The Moon Boys, Internal Wrangler, Emergency & I, or American Water, our record probably wouldn't exist.

That Pitchfork article referenced the wide age range of your band and implied therein the wide range of influences. Is there a specific sound you're striving to create or effect you're trying to elicit?
I make it a point never to think out a lead part before I step into the booth to lay it down.  So, if I had to explicitly state my goal as a musician, it would be to make records where the song structures and sequence are clearly thought out and orchestrated for maximum overarching impact, but the all of the songs are populated with these magical, improvised, off-the-cuff moments—I think that's what keeps me coming back to certain records: these passages where you feel closer to the moment of creation and to the creator.

Could you explain how your band name came about?
It's actually a Lou Reed quote.  He was explaining why Mo Tucker stuck to floor tom, snare and kick for the majority of the first two VU records...“Cymbals eat up guitars..."

What have you been listening to and really digging lately?
I am in love with this Chicago band called Sybris that our keyboardist Brian is buddies with.  Their second album, Into the Trees is a fucking SLAYER.  Give just one listen to the second track, "Oh Man!", and I guarantee you'll be sold.  It's total pleasure center assault.

Any big shows coming up or new albums in the works?
We've been working on new material. We just recorded a song, "Tunguska", that we're releasing as a double A-side to the “Hazy Sea” single in the UK on Transparent.  We've got a couple more new songs in the cooker, and they seem to be better than a lot of the stuff on the debut, so... I don't want to speak too soon, but I think we might avoid the sophomore slump.