(Source: A-G-R-I-P-I-N-A, via rockandrollballerina)
Tiger, Travis & Tres
Morning Teleportation
5/23/2012
For the Record can you please state your name and position in the band.
Tiger- guitar, singing, other assorted instruments.
Travis- Keyboards, other things, little bit of background singing and shouting.
My name is Tres, I play the drums.
Where are all of you from?
Travis: I’m originally from Bowling Green, Kentucky, and also Tres.
Tres: Sup? Yeah I live there. We’re from all over, man. We Travel.
Tiger: Originally Chicago, and Bowling Green, Kentucky, and Portland, Oregon.
Tres: Austin, Texas.
Tiger: A whole mixture of cities.
Tres: Pretty much living in America.
Tiger: Living in America. Living in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Who are your influences? Musically and in general.
Tres: Jesus Christ
Travis: Tres.
Tiger: Tres.
Tres: Spinach is good. Get’s your brain right.
Tiger: Spinach, Kale, Asparagus, Yes, the band Yes.
Tres: George Clooney
What made you want to play music?
Tres: Most of our parents were all like music dudes and dudettes. We just followed in their footsteps.
Tiger: I didn’t have any musical parents, really, but my dad really appreciated music. I just like the reaction a lot of the time. Playing music’s fun, and it’s good all around. I like to see people smilin’-
Tres: I love making people smile.
Tiger: That’s a good thing, and it’s also just very meditative and good too for the soul and other sorts of things.
Do you guys travel to San Francisco a lot?
Travis: This will probably be our 6th time in the Bay Area.
Tres: For real?
Travis: Yeah, we did it with [Portugal. The Man], we did it with [Cage the Elephant], we did it headlining, we headlined again, we played Oakland last time, and now we’re back again if I remember pretty goodly. Goodly is not a word, but I just made it a word.
How was playing at the Fillmore a while back?
Tiger: They had apples, right? They give out apples there, right?
Travis: It was so good. It was such a great vibe to even be on that same stage, you know what I mean? Just hanging out in history.
Tiger: I just remember a big ol’ bowl of apples in the hallway.
Travis: That’s all you remember was the apples?
Tiger: And very awesome posters. Apples and posters.
You have been touring quite a bit, and what is it about touring that is most enjoyable for you guys?
Travis: I like it. It feels right.
Tres: I just like that it takes us around the country. It’s like our job. We don’t have to spend money vacationing we just do work, see all the cool places, meet cool cats, and kick it all the time just for gas money.
Any crazy tour stories?
Travis: I don’t think we can say that on the mic. What’s the most PG tour story?
Tres: Well one thing, I don’t know if you’ve ever wrecked a fuckin’ full on van/trailer. But we wrecked a van/trailer in North Dakota, I take that back I did it.
Travis: I was asleep, but apparently we were going about 65-70 in a blizzard and he did a 180 right in front of a semi and woke up feeling like “Oh, this is how it’s gonna end.”
Tiger: We woke up with the car spinning out. Everything was like in slow motion and I just remember feeling just completely blank-minded almost, and just everything going really really slow but spinning out on the highway and going into a ditch.
Travis: So we ended up being in the ditch the other way looking at the passing traffic passing us, and then a cop light and then he helped pull us out, and uhh-
Tres: Nobody got hurt that was good.
Travis: But we got busted.
Tiger: That was good though, that no one got hurt.
Tres: Yeah the trailer got busted for sure. Broke a little fender action. I thought I killed everybody.
Don’t drive when you’re tired!
Expanding Anyway came out more than a year ago now, is there a second album currently in the works?
Tiger: Yeah we’ve been recording songs. Did a track in Nashville the other day, did a track in New York the other day, and after the end of this tour we go back down to our friend’s studio and lay down a couple more tracks. We’re just kind of like building the framework for the next one.
Travis: It’s like demo, getting into the studio and writing the things we’ve been working on.
How will it differentiate from Expanding Anyway?
Tiger: I don’t know, we’re looking through some of the ridiculous recordings from the uhh-
Travis: The past three years
Tiger: And last summer too.
Travis: A lot of experimenting, and just seeing where we are gonna go with it. Just working on those tracks and I think we might be play a few tonight. It feels good. Like lighting it, and touring and playing a couple shows on it, and then when we get into the studio it’s just really tight. Just playing it a lot because I really like to just record and play it live with everyone. Like try to get one really good take then maybe we will add a little bit on it.
I read in an interview you guys did last year where you were asked what you call the style of music you play and you didn’t know, have you come up with a name for it now?
Tres, Travis, Tiger: No
Tiger: I don’t want to try.
Travis: Whatever we play is how we play, I don’t know how to explain it.
Tres: We could name it the “baby-makin’ music”… no?
This interview took awhile to tranpose. Not enough down time and two out of the three sound very similar through my recorder, but I’m glad I finally was able to finish it! Morning Teleportation consists of 4 very cool dudes and I can’t wait for their next full-length which according to the interview they should be working on during their break which they are currently on. However, they will be playing at the Starry Nights Music + Arts Festival in Bowling Green, KY in late September which I recommend everyone to go to because they line up looks amazing. I might even have to fly out there for the first time just to attend Starry Night. Hope you enjoyed the interview and thanks for reading!
-Jalapeno
Tom McClung and Joseph Manning
WU LYF
4/18/12
For the record can you please state your name, and position in the band.
Joe: Uh Joseph. Sitting position.
Tom: I’m Tommy. Left dock. And I play bass.
Joe: I also play the drums when I’m sitting down.
Tom: I’m standing up.
How do you like California?
Joe: It’s the best.
Tom: It’s my favorite state.
What do you like more, SF Bay Area or SoCal?
Tom: I like the Bay Area. I mean, the piers are really great. You can sit there for a really long time and think.
Joe: I like Southern California more.
Why?
Joe: Because it’s warmer.
You guys just came up from the first week of Coachella, how was it?
Tom: It was good. It was rainy, but I think we powered through somewhat.
Joe: We watched fIREHOSE.
Tom: Yeah, we did.
Joe: And Tom got a bass lesson.
Tom: Uh I got a bass lecture.
From who?
Tom: From the man himself, Mr. Michael Watt (fIREHOSE). It was amazing. That guy’s my hero. He just walked up to the Signature Tent, and he just sat there and I asked him like “Hi, uh, can you give me some advice I play bass in a band called WU LYF?” he just looked up at me and was like “You a bass man?” and I was like “Yes, sir.” But yeah it was amazing. He talked to me about everything from like John Coltrane to The Who; everything. He schooled me, then he left and I didn’t say a word.
Joe: I saw David Hasselhoff watching Pulp as well, and then we saw him in his Night Rider car driving around in the backstage area.
Was Coachella your first festival that you’ve played at?
Tom: No, we’ve played lots of them in Europe
Joe: It’s probably the biggest that we’ve ever played. Probably the only decent one as well. It’s not that [other festivals] were bad, it’s just we can’t really remember what they were really.
Tom: Yeah, we played MID Festival in France.
Joe: [Coachella] is the only legendary festival we’ve played.
Tom: Yeah, I think we’ve seen the most good bands at [Coachella], not that we don’t get to watch anybody that’s good, but like, it was really great getting to see Hope Sandoval/Mazzy Star in person, even if she didn’t play her best songs.
Are you excited for the second weekend?
Tom: Yeah. We get to see all the stuff we didn’t see.
Joe: And just watch the bands we really like again.
Tom: We get to be fans. It’s great.
Joe: And it’s gonna be warmer.
Tom: Yeah because my shoulders aren’t burnt enough yet.
Joe: I’m okay.
Do you prefer playing festivals or more intimate shows?
Joe: Small shows.
Tom: Yeah, always. It just feels like people wanted to go, people want to be there and people get excited and get themselves worked up for a small show. And at a festival you just walk in and walk out. It’s a lot harder for it to mean something to somebody, but our Coachella audience was good. They all put their hands in the air.
Do you know how many people you played to?
Tom: I reckon maybe 3,000.
Joe: No.
Tom: Really? I mean, I’m trying to compare it to when we played in Japan that was like 5,000.
Joe: Really? I thought that was like 2,000.
Tom: No that was really big. I think the stage was only a bit smaller.
Joe: It was above a thousand.
Any cool tour stories?
Joe: Tom kicked a toilet
Tom: Yeah, I broke a toilet seat because I got frustrated.
Joe: Because we were hitting him in the head with pillows. And then he had enough so he-
Tom: I got trapped down the side of the bed.
Joe: - He came up to try and play wrestle with me, but then I pushed him off and he fell down the side of the bed between the bed and the wall.
Tom: I was suffocating, and they didn’t realize, and I got really annoyed and like went and locked myself in the toilet, took it out on that seat and smashed it up with my foot.
Joe: and we didn’t have to pay for it.
Tom: Yeah, that was good! I threw all the pieces of the toilet seat in the bath and they came up and had a look and they were like “Okay, sir that’s fine. Don’t worry about a thing.” Must happen all the time.
Where was this?
Tom and Joe: L.A.
So it’s been almost a year since Go Tell Fire To The Mountain came out, can we expect new material from you guys anytime soon?
Tom: Well, I don’t know about soon, but definitely like, the reason that we’re gonna stop touring is so we can completely focus on it because it doesn’t do much for you creatively. When you get out of the van you’re not always in the best mood to play. Everyone’s hungry or something and no one wants to sit down and try to write anything. You need time so it can come naturally. But I don’t want to put any dates on it either because I don’t want people to expect it to come out. It’d be silly to just keep pushing by the deadline.
Do you know yet how it will differ from Go Tell Fire To The Mountain?
Tom: We’ve been talking about just learning how to play quietly properly. Me and Joe were saying the other day it’s really hard to play quietly, steadily, and funkily, all at the same time.
Joe: Yeah, we’re just trying to get better at being musicians.
So a more mellow sound?
Tom: Just maybe more dynamic. Maybe the quieter you learn how to play the louder you can sound coming out of it. We might be able to play heavier by the end of it as well. It’s just like learning your craft. Touring does a lot for learning your craft. We became tighter.
Joe: And we learn what’s really bad about the songs, and we don’t want to repeat it.
Would you guys mind explaining the meaning behind your name?
Joe: The foundation?
Yeah
Tom: it started out as a clever acronym for the letters, but the Lucifer Youth Foundation now is starting to take form. We’re inviting our friends and other creative people into it to be part of the projects that we do. I think that’s the meaning behind the name it being like less of a band and more of a collective. We’ve talked about this before where it actually is becoming that now. So like, we have our friends, Altamont Apparel, who’s doing the design for a t-shirt collaboration. Yeah that T-shirt will be coming out soon. That’s just the first like real outside project that we’ve done with anybody. We’re pretty excited about it.
All your videos are connected to political issues in one way or another, can you please explain what type of message you’re trying to portray?
Joe: Smoke. Smoke more frequently.
Tom: Um, don’t do that. I mean, I think the message in, say the Dirt video, would be you know - it was current because it was about featured things that were happening at the time, but I think when people watch that video it’s more of just an example of people letting loose, and standing up for what you believe in. I don’t think the specifics of it are what’s important. It’s just the freedom, and I guess passion, believing in something whether it’s smashing something up for the greater cause.
Who are your musical influences?
Tom: Mike Watt.
Joe: George Hurley. I met Ariel Pink this morning.
Tom: Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti.
Joe: He’s my musical Influence.
Tom: Yeah I met Ian MacKaye. He’s one of my hero’s. I met him at Coachella, and he was just trying to get into the toilet and I was like “Hey, hey watch out man, they’re locked!” and like I just introduced myself to him and he was like “Hi, I’m Ian.” It was just like really casual. He told me there’s a new [The Even’s] album coming out soon so everyone should buy it. It’s gonna be a great record.
Anything you would like to add about your record?
Tom: Hold onto it. There probably isn’t going to be another one like it. Don’t expect another one like it.
These guys put on one hell of a show, and I cannot wait till next year when they come back to the Bay Area to play again. WU LYF is undoubtedly one of my favorite bands that I recently discovered, and if you are unfamiliar with them and their music then I definitely recommend checking these Englishmen out on their website wulyf.org.
Hope you enjoyed!
-Jalapeno
Toby Cordova and Ian Blesse
Hope you enjoyed!
-Jalapeño
Keith Goodwin
Good Old War
3/24/12
You were just at SXSW. How was it?
It was awesome. You know, you get to see a lot of the bands that we’re friends with, a lot of bands that we like listening to, and see their show. It’s just awesome. There’s a lot of great music there.
Who was your favorite band there?
Probably Maps and Atlases.
How did the audience respond to your new songs?
I think they liked them, I mean they were singing them so I feel like that’s a good sign. -It feels good, you know?
In general, do you know how your fans responded to your recent release, Come Back As Rain?
I think pretty well. I can really only go by the internet, maybe people showing up and singing along, but i haven’t really seen many negative remarks about the album. It’s all been pretty positive.
Do you have a favorite song off of your latest album, “Come Back As Rain”?
I really love “Amazing Eyes”. I also love “Not Quite Happiness” a few kind of mellow ones on the record. They really hit me in a big spot. I think “Better Weather” is really cool - I like ‘em all really.
What influences G.O.W’s music?
Well we’re influenced by a lot of things, like good and bad things, life in general, you know? We write about how we feel, so there may be something bad going on in our lives and we feel like expressing ourselves in the situation. Then there’s also really good things that happen and we write a song about that, and it’s pretty sweet! And for musical influences it’s really all over the place because we listen to all different kinds of music. Again, it’s like we’re influenced by the good and the bad and if we hear something we don’t like then I’m never going to do anything like that, you know? Same with things that we do like. If it’s something that we love then we’ll try to do something like that and put our flavor to it. We’re really influenced by anything. I think maybe lyrical content seems to be a lot about missing home, missing out on things when we’re not home because we’re on the road all the time. So there’s that longing to be home, and there’s things that change at home when we go away for months at a time. I think that probably influenced a lot of the songs.
What has influenced you personally to play music?
I used to watch my dad and his friends play, and I thought it was the coolest thing. I guess because I used to watch them, I was able to kind of sing along, sing notes and everything. when my friends in middle school started playing music, I was like “I need to learn how to play guitar. I need to learn how to play with them.” So that’s what I did and maybe the fact that I was making songs and singing them at a young age and the girls were lovin’ it and I was like “This is awesome! I’m gonna keep doin’ it.” So that was some of the influence, and also just good music I was listening to.
What were you listening to?
At the time, when I started; Nirvana, Metallica, Blink 182 - It was really all over the place because, you know, I was listening to the stuff my parents listened to; Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel, The Beatles.
If you were to play a different genre of music, what would it be?
Well I like making beats on programs on the computer. So I guess like R&B. Hip-Hop would be sweet. So yeah stuff like that. I just like pop music in general, any kind of pop that I’m down to make.
Is there something that your fans don’t know about the band?
I think everybody pretty much knows everything. I’m not gonna be able to give you any dirt. There really isn’t much dirt anyway. In this band we try to keep it real chill because we’ve all been in other bands that have kind of fallen apart. So in this band we’re just like ”Alright, let’s just agree on what music we want to play. Treat other with respect. Give each other the space that we need. And just try to enjoy it” - because we are gone a lot of the year and we are together 24 hours a day so in order to make it so that there isn’t that much drama we just kind of keep it chill, have a good time, have fun, and not go too crazy. It’s not like that crazy “sex, drugs, and rock & roll” type thing. It’s just real relaxed.
Bands falling apart, are you referring to Days Away?
Yeah. I try to learn from my mistakes.
Was that all “sex drugs and rock & roll”?
Yeah pretty much. You gotta live and you gotta learn.
Which band, that you’ve shared the stage with, has been the worst?
Well in this band there hasn’t been any bad bands that we’ve toured with. There have been, in the past in our old band, there have been bands that weren’t friendly. We played with the band Live. They we’re like big in the 90’s. They just weren’t very friendly. I like friendly bands, I don’t like bands that act like their better than everyone else.
What is something you would like your fans to know about “Come Back As Rain”?
I think the cool thing about this album is that we really took our time with it. We had a lot of songs and we picked our favorites collectively, and we’d sit around a table and we’d talk about the lyrics and revise certain things together so everyone was happy. We played the songs a bunch of times so that, you know, when we were playing it things changed like different fills or effects like saying something differently, and we can change it then instead of changing it later after touring for a little while. So we really got it all prepared beforehand compared to the other two, I think. We would just come up with songs and then slam down in the studio and they would evolve as we play them more and more so we tried to get that on the record and I think that kind of comes through for me at least. We’re just trying to write things that mean something to us, and hopefully mean something to other people.
I haven’t been able to stop listening to Come Back As Rain for two weeks after I interviewed Keith, It’s a great album and its available for sale everywhere now. If you want to check it out before you buy it however, the entire album is available for streaming on Good Old War’s website. Hope you enjoy!
-Jalapeño
Joey Ryan & Kenneth Pattengale
The Milk Carton Kids
1/17/12
Where are you both from?
Joey: We’re from Los Angeles, California, born and raised. That’s where we met.
Did you guys go to school together?
Joey: No, we didn’t meet until we became adults and moved backed to LA and were sort of pursuing a musical career as solo artists. Played a lot of the same places around there and happened upon each other.
Where’d you move from?
Joey: I guess maybe Kenneth was always in or near LA. I went to UC Berkeley up here in the Bay Area and moved back after college.
Kenneth: (to Joey) You sound very old with your cold voice.
Joey: Thank you. Distinguished?
Kenneth: Nope. A little wimpy.
Joey: Just sick. I’ll try to young it up.
What or who has influenced you both to play music?
Joey: I think there’s some sort of weird, deep seeded psychological compulsion to do it. I definitely, personally, wouldn’t do it if I didn’t feel that compulsion. Like it was something that I had to do and there was nothing else that would make me happy cause it’s definitely not the easiest thing other than just the pleasure and fulfillment you get out of the creativity of it. I don’t know what causes that, whatever it is I’d like to know and get rid of it.
Kenneth: I’m with Joe, but I think Joe is alluding the question a little bit. But you know the normal stuff… no not really I got obsessed with big band jazz for a little while, a lot of Tom Waits, a lot of just singular song writers. The Joe Henry’s, John Prines’s, and Lucinda Williams’ of the world. The Brendan Hines was a big influence, who happens to be opening for us, and continues to be one.
Have you both always played the guitar?
Joey: No as a little kid I played piano for a couple years and growing up I played the clarinet, and picked up the guitar not until the end or middle of my college years. Kenneth was a classical cellist all growing up and then picked up about 18 other instruments along the way somehow.
Kenneth: That’s true. Joey was a dork who walked around with the clarinet during high school so then he decided to pick up the guitar and just look like a dork without the clarinet.
Joey: Yeah clarinet doesn’t have the same effect on people as the guitar does.
Do you write a lot of your songs while on the road?
Kenneth: (about Joey) He’s writing a song right now on the phone as we speak… - no hardly ever. We very recently started to spend some time in-between sound check and shows sort of just taking note of different musical ideas that come up, but largely when you’re touring the time is so strict just as far as the time-table of the evening that it’s often hard to find very much time at all to really focus and do anything. Instead, all the writing for this last album came during a hiatus where we were preparing to record the tracks that would become our first album. We had a lot of time and instead of rehearsing a lot of the songs that already existed we spent the majority of it writing the nine new songs that then appeared on the second album/the first studio album.
Oh, well it’s just that there are a lot of place names mentioned in your songs.
Joey: Well [Kenneth] described it pretty well a couple days ago. I remember someone asked saying “why so many place names in the songs?” -I think one of the most poignant things that [Kenneth] said about it was it sort of provides a backdrop and some physical imagery and a place in which the characters in the song can take shape and kind of form their story and go through whatever trials and emotions they’re gonna go through, and it provides a real nice backdrop for the characters lives. Also, each of the places that we’ve mentioned in songs are so loaded with connotation in terms of what each of those places stands for.
Kenneth: I of course said it much more eloquently than that, but it was a good idea.
Joey: That was my best paraphrase.
Kenneth: Thanks Joe.
What is each of your favorite song off Prologue?
Kenneth: Uhh boy… all of them.
Joey: They all sound so great.
Kenneth: They sound terrible… No uh, if you had a gun to my head, which is actually one of my fantasies while l’m listening to my own music because it’s so conflicted an idea. …That’s a joke. Uhm, maybe “Stealing Romance” I think. For me, the music and the lyrics were maybe one of the more ambitious undertakings musically, of late, and I thought that we knocked it out of the park so I was real pleased with that one.
Joey: Yeah that’s a good one.
Kenneth: Joe likes that one too.
Joey: No one’s ever asked that. I’ve never considered it, but I guess one thing that I do like about the record is that it plays nicely as a full album and one of the things we’ve been doing is giving it away for a free download on our website. That’s a decision we made early on to just give all of our music away for free, and one of the things that accomplishes, which i think is really valuable is that, of the 70,000 people that have downloaded it, all those people have the entire album. Which is so much more preferable to us than all those people having selected 3 or 4 songs to download from somewhere, and not really having the full picture of what it was that we endeavored to create with the album. And they also get the liner notes and the artwork and everything that we spent a lot of time putting together in order to present a complete artistic package. By giving it away the way that we’re doing, we’re making sure that everyone gets the whole thing, which is not so common anymore.
Were either of you trained vocally?
Kenneth: No quite the opposite. We were detrained vocally. No I’m kidding.
Joey: Both of us are self-taught. Both on guitar and vocals.
Kenneth: But last night there was a vocal coach over for dinner at my house who’d seen a show a few days before and marveled at some of the acrobatics that I achieved with my voice.
Joey: (to Kenneth) Is that true?
Kenneth: Well, Yes it is true, but I realized I said that very pompously. I wasn’t proud of that, I was excited to hear someone professionally muse about that and ask me if I could never not do it. I think it was like a business question for him. He was sort of probably banking that I couldn’t do it all the time, but uh, I can.
What were you doing?
Kenneth: There’s a part in a song that I sing very high and it goes from like a full body voice to a falsetto, but it’s meant to be one continuous melody and that I guess stuck out in his mind at the show and wondered if i was able to pull that off every show. I can. “Rock & Roll ‘er” the first line.
Joey: Yeah, that is impressive.
Kenneth: Thanks Joe
Joey: I’d say you land that trick a good 60-70% of the time.
Kenneth: Well, I told the vocal coach it was 100% so you better keep my secret.
Joey: No, I’m sure you do achieve the effect every time
What bands/artists are you into right now?
Kenneth: The Brendan Hines, mostly.
Joey: My favorite new discovery, sort of, we made on the road, I guess it was her sophomore album that came out last year was Sarah Jarosz. She’s this, I guess, bluegrass phenom type of girl. She’s a banjo player, but mostly a mandolin picker with the most beautiful voice as clear as a bell, and both of us, especially I, fell in love with her record over the course of last years touring. Another record, in the beginning of the year, by a guy called Trevor Manear is one that we really enjoyed on the road this year.
Kenneth: Yeah we liked those two. Honestly, I don’t listen to a lot of music; truthfully.
Joey: Me neither
Kenneth: But those two are great. We’ve taken a lot of people on the road with us this year, and opened for a lot of people that I’m a fan of. Over the Rhine being one of them, the golden Gaby Moreno, our buddy Buddy from LA, he’s pretty terrific, and The Brendan Hines.
Have you guys started working on your next album?
Kenneth: Well we have. We are going to record a new album in April, I believe. Try to have it out by August, maybe September.
Joey: That’s the first time we’ve ever officially said that. You can say you heard it here first.
* YOU READ IT HERE FIRST*
Kenneth: Yeah, but that could always change. We’ve just begun working on the songs. You know, if I were hit by a car or something next week that would probably change a little bit. So we’re doing that, September - August or September is the date. We have a few festivals to play around then, and Joey and I particularly like touring during the summer and the fall, and late spring in the US so we’re gonna be doing a lot of that too. Yeah it’s been 6 months since the album; it’s time to do another one.
What is something a lot of people don’t know about the both of you?
Joey: I don’t know if this is something that not a lot of people know, maybe they can infer it from how we interact with each other on the stage, but -
Kenneth: We’re not friends at all…
Joey: Well, actually I was gonna say something kind of similar to that.
Kenneth: Whaa, we’re best friends!
Joey: I know, well it ends up being the opposite of that.
Kenneth: What are you trying to say?
Joey: I’m trying to say that Kenneth and I, I think, have one of the most productive ways of antagonizing each other that two people have ever had. There’s a way that we sort of get at each other which usually yields this incredible result whether it’s creatively or if it’s to do with a business decision or even just an abstract conversation. It’s not all the time but sometimes - I guess we’re close enough and good enough friends that we allow ourselves to really go at each other in a lot of aspects of life and don’t really hold back from each other and I think you only do get that when you get so close to somebody and you feel comfortable doing that but the unique thing about it, I think, is that it could be destructive but for us it’s productive. so I guess what I’m trying to say is what not a lot of people know is that when we’re riding in the car together for 40 thousand miles we’re mostly just yelling at each other.
Kenneth: You’re an idiot. That’s an idiotic answer.
Joey: Do you disagree?
Kenneth: No, that’s spot on. That’s true. You’re right, for once.
I cannot praise these two guys enough. I’ve never laughed so hard during an interview, and I still laugh even after hearing the recording quite a few times. After the interview I got to stay for the show, and I enjoyed it very much. They really know how to please a crowd, and I definitely recommend going if given the chance. To download their album for free go to their website: www.themilkcartonkids.com
Hope you enjoyed!
-Jalapeño
ANTHONY GREEN - “Only Love (feat. Nate Ruess of fun.)”
from Beautiful Things available Tuesday, January 17th
Pre-order now on iTunes: http://pfr.ec/AvefSi
Ever had that time in your life when you wished you went to the venue much later because the opening band sucks? …yeah I’m having it right now…
RYAN SOLLEE
THE BUILDERS AND THE BUTCHERS
12/11/11
Why are there two percussionists playing on one standard drum kit instead of one?
You can get a lot more interesting drum patterns if you have four hands as opposed to a foot and two hands. And it just sounds more interesting and it just makes for a different approach to songs. We like being a rock band essentially, but with that weird percussion mix it makes it really cool.
Where are you guys mostly from?
Most of the band is from Alaska, we’ve had a lot of members change, but right now four out of five member are from Alaska. I knew almost everybody before I moved to Portland from Alaska and they all moved with different bands and we formed this band a little later on. The other bands were kind of winding down so this band kind of took hold.
Why did you move to Portland, Oregon?
We all moved to Portland kind of for music, but with different bands. You can’t really do music seriously in Alaska and you can’t tour so we decided to just be in Portland and give it a shot.
I first saw you guys play two years ago at The Fillmore with Portugal. The Man. It was an amazing show, but how was that experience for you?
It was great. That tour was great. We played awesome places and The Fillmore was a total dream to play there and we can check it off the list of things to do as a band.
What is your take on your new album, Dead Reckoning?
I think it’s different. The first record we did was completely unplugged instruments, and there wasn’t any electricity it was just folk instrument. The next record was mostly that again and just better produced, and this (Dead Reckoning) actually has a lot of electric instruments on it so it’s a little bit more like a rock record. That’d be kind of the biggest difference, and also we did it pretty much live in the studio to kind of get the energy of us playing together. So it’s not quite as hi-fi as the second record, but a little bit more honest as to how we play the songs. It was straight. We just recorded it, and it felt like too simple almost. It was really weird, but it was great.
Do you have a favorite track off the record?
There’s this song called “ Out of the Mountain” that’s like a soft song kind of toward the end of the album. That’s my favorite arrangement that we’ve ever done.
What were your inspirations for this album?
Well I wrote a lot of it after being on the road a bunch, so I’m sure those experiences, but also anything can inspire a song, and it’s so random. It’s like any book, movie, or just a phrase or whatever. It’s weird like there’s no one thing that I can personally do that I’m gonna go write a song today. They just come and I have to write ‘em. It’s not like a conscious thing so I’m not sure if there was any thing that inspired it, but I was reading a lot of books about stories of survival and when people get to the end of their thing and they’re like “uhh I’m gonna die” and they survive, and that’s super interesting. Like “what is that moment like?”
If you could tour or collaborate with anyone, who would it be?
Tom Waits. He’s kind of like God when it comes to songwriting.
What are your plans after the tour?
Well we’re making a record this winter so we have a ton of songs that we’re just gonna hammer out and record in May, I think.
What’s something that a lot of people don’t know about you?
I used to be a fish biologist before I started this band. That’s my professional career. I studied Salmon and all of those things. I worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service doing stream surveys and different things. So looking for Salmon in streams and stream restoration.
Discussing Politics
I follow the band on twitter and the last post I saw was a picture of Occupy Anchorage. What is your stance on the occupy movement?
I think it’s awesome. I think that people get hung up about what they’re saying, doing or like “Oh do they have a message?” but the fact that they’re just doing it is awesome and that’s what people are kind of failing to see. That people are actually taking time out of their day to go protest or whatever is really really cool. And that it’s spreading is cool. It’s a bummer that it seems like there is a lot of discouragement by arrests and people getting maced or pepper sprayed. It’s a shame that that’s happening. I agree with 95% of what they’re saying. I went to the first day of the big protest in Portland, it was great, and a lot of people had a lot of really good things to say.
Were there a lot of people?
Yeah, like 10,000 people.
Why do you think the occupy movement is important?
Because there’s obviously huge problems with what’s happening with the country. I mean, there’s always been problems, and that’s fine, but these problems are really really -just starting with the way the medical system is done and insurance and the way the banking is done- Every avenue where there’s like rich and poor there’s a widening disparity and the times where America is great is when the middle class is the most powerful, and right now you are getting squeezed if you are a middle class person. You’re becoming a more and more poor person. And if you look at like good societies over the course of history, it’s always the flourishing middle class. People have what they want and they have everything they need, or at least they have everything they need. At least they have those basic necessities and they don’t have to think “oh should I get groceries or should I go to the hospital?” That’s why I think it’s important.
I think that regardless of if it works or not, at least more people’s eyes are opened. That’s the important thing.
Hope you enjoyed! And I would also like to add a huge congratulations to Ryan! His wife is expecting to give birth to their first child in April. All the best to him and his family!
-Jalapeño
Debut video of Portugal. The Man playing “Senseless” acoustically.
-Jalapeño
Invisible Children is trying to raise 2 million dollars for the Protection Project that sets up radio signals in Uganda that will help save the people from the LRA. All I ask is at least $1 donation. None of the money goes to me, just to the people that are in need of help in Uganda. You can learn more at: invisiblechildren.com/freetimmy
Thank you
The Black Keys posted 5 songs from El Camino on their website. They’re definitely worth a listen!
-Jalapeño
February 12th! The one thing I’m looking forward to the most right now.
-Jalapeño
RE-BLOG THIS POST & I’ll follow your tumblr…
Tickets to the tour are ONLY available with the “Beautiful Things” album pre-order. To get your album & tickets CLICK HERE.
BEAUTIFUL THINGS TOUR
Anthony Green w/ special guests The Dear Hunter
1/13/12 Toad’s Place New Haven, CT - TICKETS
1/14/12 The Recher Theatre Towson, MD - TICKETS
1/15/12 The Loft Poughkeepsie, NY - TICKETS
1/18/12 Paradise Rock Club Boston, MA - TICKETS
1/19/12 Bowery Ballroom New York, NY - TICKETS
1/20/12 Union Transfer Philadelphia, PA - TICKETS
1/21/12 The Kingdom Richmond, VA - TICKETS
1/22/12 Cat’s Cradle Carrboro, NC - TICKETS
1/24/12 Exit/In Nashville, TN - TICKETS
1/25/12 The Loft Atlanta, GA - TICKETS
1/27/12 State Theatre St Petersburg, FL - TICKETS
1/28/12 Culture Room Fort Lauderdale, FL - TICKETS
1/29/12 The Social Orlando, FL - TICKETS
1/31/12 Warehouse Live Houston, TX - TICKETS
2/1/12 Korova San Antonio, TX - TICKETS
2/2/12 Mohawk Austin, TX - TICKETS
2/3/12 Trees Dallas, TX - TICKETS
2/4/12 Tricky Falls El Paso, TX - TICKETS
2/6/12 Clubhouse Music Venue Tempe, AZ - TICKETS
2/8/12 The Epicentre San Diego, CA - TICKETS
2/9/12 El Rey Theatre Chico, CA - TICKETS
2/11/12 The Glass House Pomona, CA - TICKETS
2/12/12 Slims San Francisco, CA - TICKETS
2/14/12 Hawthorne Theater Portland, OR - TICKETS
2/15/12 Neumos Seattle, WA - TICKETS
2/17/12 The Complex Salt Lake City, UT - TICKETS
2/18/12 Bluebird Theater Denver, CO - TICKETS
MORE DATES
**6/20/12 Mr. Small’s Theatre Pittsburgh, PA - TICKETS
**6/21/12 The Emerson Theatre Indianapolis, IN - TICKETS
**6/22/12 The Bottom Lounge Chicago, IL - TICKETS
**6/23/12 Station 4 St. Paul, MN - TICKETS
**6/26/12 Magic Stick Detroit, MI - TICKETS
**6/27/12 Grog Shop Cleveland Heights, OH - TICKETS
**6/28/12 Club at Water St. Music Hall Rochester, NY - TICKETS
**6/29/12 The Met Cafe Pawtucket, RI - TICKETS
**6/30/12 Hangar 84 Vineland, NJ - TICKETS