Spoon revels in its independent status

By John Benson

The difference in gradation between a teaspoon, tablespoon and ladle actually describes the growth of indie rock act Spoon over the past few years.

Whereas the quartet’s 2005 effort “Gimme Fiction” alerted music fans to this Austin, Texas-based group, the outfit’s most recent album, 2007’s “Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga,” resulted in mainstream attention and press.

“When it comes to how the records have come together one after another, for me it’s just been a gradual build in life,” said drummer Jim Eno, calling from the Lone Star State. “It’s been slow for us, like a word-of-mouth build ever since ‘Girls Can Tell’ (2001).

“That’s where people started to notice us, and we started to have more than 20 people at our shows. And then with ‘Gimme Fiction’, that was just farther along the path.”

That means “Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga” finds Spoon even further down that yellow brick road to notoriety. The latest album created such a buzz that the foursome was even asked to host “Saturday Night Live.” It’s a memory that Eno will never forget.

“There are certain things in your career and, being in a band or an actor, ‘Saturday Night Live’ has to be one of the top things,” Eno said. “Because of its history, that was an amazing experience and was something I thought I’d never do.

“It was very surreal. It’s hard to describe how great it was.”

Great is also a common adjective found in critical reviews of “Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga,” which finds the band further exploring its decidedly indie rock sound of Brit Daniels’ gritty vocals, simple guitar melodies and solid rhythms. This style has been a staple of the act for years. Furthermore, you won’t find anything clunky or careless on a Spoon album.

“That’s true,” Eno said. “We have a lot of accidents on there, but we usually have to decide whether to keep them in there or not. So, we tend to like things a little bit more clean.”

Among his favorite tracks on “Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga” is the — surprise! — clean-sounding “Black Like Me.”

“It’s funny because the first 10 seconds of that song is pretty amazing to me,” Eno said. “And it’s one of those songs where just in the very initial part of it, it’s pretty emotional.”

Even though Eno hints the band is starting to wind down its touring of “Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga,” with Daniels planning to begin writing the next album, Spoon comes to Pittsburgh for a Monday show at the Carnegie Music Hall of Homestead.

The drummer said the outfit has 50 songs in its repertoire, allowing for its live show to be unique. Fans can expect to hear a career-spanning set, including EP material and maybe a Paul Simon or Destroyer cover.

In talking to the soft-spoken Eno, it’s apparent that Spoon is reveling in its independent status. Not only does the group enjoy autonomy album-wise, but it embraces the notion of community between artist and fan in an old school fashion.

“It’s a rock show, and hopefully there’s a good after-party,” Eno laughed. “Usually the venues will close, and we’ll go to bars or houses nearby. So it’s good to hang out with people in the town you’re playing in.”