Spoon’s journey to the top pauses in Homestead

Spoon…Spoon with The Walkmen and White Rabbits Carnegie Music Hall of Homestead 10 East 10th Ave. 412-462-3444 8 p.m.

When it comes to fame and recognition, some bands explode onto the scene and some just creep on in.

For Texas quartet Spoon, it’s been a long, slow climb to the top of the indie-rock heap.

But after 14 years, six full records and countless tours, the band landed on the tip of every music taste-maker’s tongue last year with Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, an album with a silly title and music that’s anything but – and arguably the best rock ‘n’ roll the men of Spoon have ever dished out.

After forming out of Austin, Texas, in 1994 by songwriter and vocalist Britt Daniels and drummer Jim Eno, the ascent to fame began as Spoon recorded its debut, Telephono, for indie stalwart Matador Records.

The record caught the attention of major label Elektra, and by 1998, A Series of Sneaks was released. But the record deal was itself just that: a series of sneaky moves that eventually led Spoon to be without a label and without distribution for its quickly evolving style of minimalist, catchy indie rock.

“After Elektra dropped us, we just didn’t care about being on a major label anymore. We were just trying to get back on our feet,” said Eno in a telephone interview.

“We knew we had to record again, we just needed to regain the confidence that someone would want to put it out.”

And so continued Spoon’s journey to the top tier of indie rock. By 2000, Spoon had been picked up and dusted off by another powerful indie label, Merge Records, and within a year released Girls Can Tell, the first of a span of four records that would successfully push the band into the spotlight – with each record pushing a little bit further.

Kill the Moonlight dropped a year later and landed on several year-end top lists, even featuring a song (“The Way We Get By”) played on the uber-trendy TV show “The O.C.”

Next came Gimme Fiction in 2005, which debuted well within the Billboard 200 chart and went on to sell almost 200,000 copies. But it wasn’t until last summer, with the release of Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, that Spoon became the king of the silverware drawer.

“I think we’re hitting or stride – that’s a good term,” Eno said. “But everyone asks – doesn’t this (album) feel like it’s so much more successful? That’s not how it feels to us, because after 2000 or ’01, when Girls Can Tell came out, it’s been a steady climb. Sales have doubled every record. It doesn’t feel like something big has happened.”

In a musical climate where it seems that a band is on magazine covers after leaking just a few tracks on MySpace, it’s refreshing to hear from one whose biggest breakthrough disc is its sixth.

But why now? Why Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga?

For Eno, it was all about mixing it up.

“The only thing we really talked about when we recorded was making it wild,” he said. “We wanted to use varied instruments. We designed the sound of the records on what felt natural from these songs. You may be looking for a dance record when you begin, but if the songs are ballads, you go with it.”

The record, which debuted in the Billboard 200 top 10, is a mish-mash of soulful, horn-driven songs, ethereal piano ditties and straight-ahead rock anthems, all with a healthy dose of rhythm and funk.

Daniels sings of his usual fare – that is, things not usual at all: Japanese cigarette cases, cherry bombs and, well, all that emotional stuff.

Still, it wasn’t until the album’s release that the men of Spoon knew they were on to something.

“I think when you spend six months doing a record, you’re too close to it to know if it’s good,” Eno said.

“You never know until people actually hear it. And this record leaked two months before it came out, and to a very positive buzz. We could feel this energy up until when it came out.”

Eno sensed it right. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, with it’s single “The Underdog,” gained the band both indie and mainstream exposure with appearances on many late-night shows, including “Saturday Night Live,” bigger-than-ever record sales and spots in just about every music magazine around.

Spoon will play tonight, with similarly cred-building indie acts White Rabbits and The Walkmen at Homestead’s Carnegie Library. So what can one expect from a Spoon show? Well, if you’ve heard the records, you’ve got a pretty good idea.

“We don’t really jam. Sometimes we will do something like a ‘jam’ to get a groove or play around with a cover, but the way we’ll do it is approach the song like it is on records,” Eno said.

And if we couldn’t tell already from Spoon’s ever-building resume, he added, “We’re busy guys, we get to the point.”