Andy LeMaster, the songwriter/guitarist/vocalist for the band Now It's Overhead, said his main musical goal has always been to be unpretentious.
"I wanted to write songs that were meaningful to me and to others," LeMaster said by phone from Los Angeles. "The focus was to be a studio band."
LeMaster and drummer Clay Leverett joined up in the late 1990s and formed the nucleus of Now It's Overhead. "It was about the purity of music and what it could do to us. Then we got together with other musicians."
After a revolving door of additional band members, the group joined up with Azure Ray's Orenda Fink and Maria Taylor. In 2001, the band released its self-titled debut. By 2004, Now It's Overhead had released its breakthrough album, "Fall Back Open," which primed the group for this year's "Dark Light Daybreak."
"With the new album, we set up different parameters," said LeMaster. "We went ahead with 15 songs and did it with a full-band approach. We did that instead of piecing the songs together like we did in the past. We worked up the arrangements, and then we reconstructed the songs and deconstructed the songs."
Even after an album is released, the band's creative process changes the songs for a live show. "We are still reconstructing and deconstructing to the point that when they get to the stage there is a level of immediacy. I mean, anyone can try to re-create the studio sound on the stage. For us, it would mean using a lot of production samples.
"So, for us to play some songs live, we have to change them and make them more sparse. That way we can guarantee the audience will experience the band differently than when they listen to the album."
Recording and touring is LeMaster's life, and it's something he does not want to change anytime soon. "I want to keep focusing on making music. I don't have any set goals, and I'm not interested in numbers or how many units are being sold. No, I just want to keep my music real. Like when I first started out."
If you go
What: Now It's Overhead, Tilly & the Wall, Seve Vs. Evan
Where: Kilby Court, 741 S. 300 West
When: Tonight, 7:30 p.m.
How much: $10
Phone: 320-9887
Web: www.kilbycourt.com
E-mail: scott@desnews.com