Wil Wright takes stock in Senryu's accomplishments

Wil Wright of Knoxville band Senryu

Wil Wright of Knoxville band Senryu

Touring with a slew of regional bands makes it hard to keep up with the two Knoxville-based bands Wil Wright has founded. A member of The Physics of Meaning and locally, Senryu and The Skeleton Coast, Wright is fresh off a tour with a Philadelphia band, where he acted as manager. Despite the hectic schedule that divides his devotion among multiple acts, after a full decade as the front man for Senryu, Wright says he has nearly achieved every goal he set out for the band.

Reaching the decade milestone puts Senryu on a short list of Knoxville acts capable of enduring the financial burdens, loss of interest and internal conflicts that derail the average local act in three years or less. To commemorate the rare accomplishment, the band is recording a new album. While Wright points out that such a release provides "a good excuse to tour," throughout his career and work as a manager, he has learned to plan tours more strategically in regard to expenses and available time.

"I just finished touring as manager for a band from Philadelphia called Pattern Is Movement," Wright says of his other obligations. "We did five weeks with our friends St.Vincent at some of the most incredible venues and theaters I have ever seen. Skeleton Coast and Senryu are both extremely important to me, and I think about both of them the same amount. It's just that I tour so much with other bands that there is only so much time when I'm home to work on things. I am currently contributing to Physics of Meaning, Senryu and Skeleton Coast, but I have a few things up my sleeve for the fall. I want to take Senryu on a bunch of tiny tours through the remainder of the year, but only if we are going with a friend band. Trying to put together financially smart shows out of town really puts me to sleep."

With this album Senryu intends to diverge from its staple pop writing formulas and experiment with direction and instrumentation. Wright tells that in preparing for the recording the group put down myriad additional tracks for layering. The album also marks the first outing of Senryu's newest players the McCormack brothers (Dan and Andres). Upon the tentatively self-titled album's release, Wright will cross one of the few remaining goals off of his Senryu checklist as the album will be accompanied by a 7-inch vinyl supplement.

"So far, it has been dramatically less pop/rock oriented than our albums usually lean," says Wright. "We're recording a lot of extra music, just to cut up and use like sound collage. This album will integrate real drums with drum programming more than we ever have. Instead of standard pop/rock arrangements, we're just throwing it all against the wall, and the songs so far are pretty satisfying to me. ... I am lucky to have attentive listeners and amazing musicians to write songs for, and I feel like it's my job to keep it interesting to everyone. Not everybody is so lucky.

"The only thing different about this, regarding the release, is that we're hoping to promote it with a 7-inch, mostly because putting out a release on vinyl is one of the few remaining unmet goals I have for this band. We will likely release the album on Cargo Cult, which is our little label."

Thursday, July 9, Senryu plays Pilot Light along with The Bachelorettes. The show starts at 10 p.m. and costs $5.

HOOKED UP: The Tenderhooks join Billy Wallace for a show at Pilot Light Sunday night. The show is slated for 10 p.m., and admission is $5.

TAKE A SMALL STAND: On Monday, Preservation Pub presents a full day of music beginning at happy hour (5-7 p.m.), when The Defibulators take the stage. At 10 p.m., Standing Small and The Hotshot Freight Train perform. The later show costs $3.

© 2009 Knoxville.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.