Small Factory

The Arc of Small Factory

The pivots — what forced Small Factory to reinvent.

1. 01

   The Pop-Punk Blueprint

   In 1991, the band formed around the simple dynamic of dual male-female vocals and scratchy, treble-heavy guitars. They relied on dirt-cheap self-released singles and local college radio support to build a buzz. The songs on their 1993 debut, I Do Not Love You, are fast, urgent, and completely devoid of studio trickery. You can hear the bleed from Summersquash's cymbals right into the vocal mics. It is raw, immediate, and utterly sincere.

2. 02

   The Sophisticated Crunch

   By 1994, the band signed with Vernon Yard Recordings, a Virgin Records imprint, to release For If You Cannot Fly. The move to a label with actual distribution meant slightly better gear and a cleaner mix, but they fought hard to keep their basement-show grit. The melodies got tighter, and Auchenbach's guitar work showed a massive leap in complexity. It was the sound of a band trying to grow up without losing the naive charm that made them in the first place.

Influences

• Beat Happening — The band toured with similar minimal-aesthetic acts and openly praised the K Records ethos of amateur-friendly recording. You hear this in the primitive, tom-heavy drumming of Phoebe Summersquash. It is the deliberate rejection of stadium-rock flash in favor of raw emotion.
• The Velvet Underground — Dave Auchenbach frequently cited the band's primal three-chord structures as his primary guitar inspiration. The chugging, steady rhythm on tracks like 'The Ground That We Walk On' pulls directly from the Moe Tucker style of keeping time. It is all about the steady, unyielding forward drive.
• Galaxie 500 — The dual-vocal dynamic and the jangly, echo-laden guitar lines of the late '80s Boston scene heavily informed Small Factory's early arrangements. You hear it in the way Kemp and Summersquash trade lines with a sleepy, melancholic delivery. The influence of Dean Wareham's simple, expressive soloing is all over their early 7-inch singles.
• The Pastels — Small Factory routinely covered UK indie-pop tropes and drew heavily from the shambolic, sweet-and-sour songwriting style of the Scottish C86 scene. The vocal harmonies are deliberately slightly flat but completely endearing. It is the exact same charm that Stephen Pastel made a career out of.
• Buzzcocks — Auchenbach pointed to Pete Shelley's knack for writing incredibly tight, two-minute love songs disguised as punk rock. The frantic tempo of 'Valentine' uses the same rapid-fire chord changes and high-register guitar leads. It is pop music played with a severe sense of urgency.