Category: Interviews
SXSW 2014: HEARTSREVOLUTION x Vinyl Mag
Leyla ‘Lo’ Safai and Ben Pollock make up New York-based HEARTSREVOLUTION. From embracing the food truck era by turning an ice cream truck into their tricked-out bandwagon, to graffiti “he(art)” via stuffed animals, to the synth-punk-magic-pop music they create, how these two even found the time to speak with us at Vinyl Mag at South by Southwest this year is impressive (to say the least). We shared eggrolls and talked about things like their favorite track to perform and their fabulous ice cream truck creation and the Swarovski crystals that were donated from Michael Jackson’s Neverland estate (totally a real thing). Be sure to also check out their latest album Ride or Die that dropped earlier this month.
Vinyl Mag: What are you most excited to see or do while in Austin?
Ben Pollock: I mean, personally, and I think Lo would agree, because we haven’t been here in so many years due to working on music or the ice cream truck or just not being ready in general, now that we are here, we are really focused on just representing what we came for. The album is coming out, the truck is done and we’ve got this graffiti thing we’re doing now – it’s just a big year for us. It took so much work and so many man-hours to be in the position that we’re in; it just feels like the right time to be back.
Leyla ‘Lo’ Safai: When we were building the truck, we thought it would take about six months, but…it just takes as long as it takes. People don’t seem to understand that, either. The first couple of years that we came to South by Southwest, we got a lot of super early buzz and press; we got really lucky. There’s this magazine out of the UK called NME, and they wrote highly on us and put us on their top 10 acts to check out for South by Southwest, and it really seemed to jump start our career and trigger all of the other magazines to write about us as well. It was great, but the songs were unevolved, there was no album, there was no management, and the ice cream truck we had at the time was a beat up 1960’s pink truck with chipped paint. There was in idea that was there, but it takes time to flush things out. People were really unforgiving to that and chalked it up to us taking too long….because we live in a society of social media and instant gratification, people think that everything is immediate, but that’s just not the case. Think of trying to build something terrific and magnificent like a pyramid or a sphinx and looking in admiration like, ‘Wow! That must have taken 20 years to make,’ and us building this crystal ice cream truck is just like that…of course, funding was a major aspect of it all, and during the process Swarovski gave us crystals, and we ran out, and it just so happened to be the year that Michael Jackson passed away, and they gave us his Neverland crystals in order to complete our truck. I mean, a lot of crazy stuff happened to get here, and that’s one thing that people just always seem to overlook.
VM: How have the fans responded to your latest music video for “Kiss”?
LS: There was a huge issue with the Noisey release of our video, and somehow it got loaded on a back-ended server, and none of the views were actually accounted for. So as far as the numbers go, we will never know how many times it was actually viewed through there before I ultimately uploaded it on my own. But, I do know that Skrillex tweeted the link to the Soundcloud of the song, and that got like 95,000 plays. It was really important to us to make that video, though, because before Lady Gaga and Macklemore and all of that, we had been trying to make a boy/boy love story for like four and a half years. We paid an animator like 5,000 euros to make the world’s first gay animation love story; they took the money, made the characters that are on the front of our truck and then just never replied. And so now it seems to be very ‘in’ to do that, but we’ve been trying to do for years.
VM: What is your favorite track to perform?
LS: Maybe Vertigo…
BP: Really? We’ve only played it two times.
LS: Yeah, actually.
BP: We really like performing the songs off of the new album, but we’ve only played them a few times, so we haven’t had too many chances yet.
VM: Right, so you’re super into playing and performing the new songs right now, yeah?
BP: Right; we’re going to start playing them a lot more. There’s a lot of range of that album, and we’re used to playing short, high energy sets. So we’re pretty excited to start incorporating more range into our shows.
VM: Where were you [last night] when the tragedy at Red River and 9th occurred?
LS: We were in bed, although we were supposed to be out – in the truck – there, essentially. We’ve been out doing graffiti every night while out here in Austin, so we had planned to go back to the Mohawk and take photos and whatnot, but we decided we needed some rest. It’s really crazy – we were literally going to be right there.
VM: A favorite question of mine to ask this year: are you food truck people or barbecue joint people?
LS: See for me, when I made the first ice cream truck in L.A., I was like, ‘This is going to change the way our life is!’, and everybody told me it would never work. It was during the peak of the recession, so people didn’t have money to start businesses, and everybody just hated their life. When we first came to South by Southwest, there were no food trucks- imagine that. I was like, ‘You guys, it’s going to change everything!’. I started tearing up when we got back to L.A. and saw parking lots solely dedicated to food trucks. It’s not about credit, because there is this thing called the Internet, so you can Google who started it. We pioneered this, and now everyone is enjoying the perks of it, which I’m super happy about. That’s how I feel about our music – we’re going to change the world.
VM: How did the two of you meet?
LS: The first time I ever really noticed him was at The Strokes concert, but we worked at the same place in downtown Los Angeles. After the concert I was like, ‘Hey, we should hang out sometime,’ because the strokes were my favorite band, and they were his favorite band, also. Since then we’ve just continued to have the best time of our lives. It’s like the universe pulled us together, because he’s super normal, and I’m super crazy and mental, so we balance each other out.
VM: What is next for you once South by Southwest is over?
LS: When we get home, I get to see the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow – for lack of better words. For the past six months, we’ve been working on all of the tangible products of the release, and I’ve gotten to do everything that I’ve wanted to do with it. I had Crayola sponsor the CD, and the album artwork is a coloring book; it comes with an activity book that has three crayons- neon pink, yellow and green. We also had velvet record sleeves made in China that look like the old 60’s and 70’s covers. The vinyl itself is fluorescent pink and so beautiful. They really just let me make my sh*t, and it’s amazing. I honestly feel like I’ve given everything I had to give with this record, and now it’s about sharing it with the world and hoping they get to hear it.
SXSW 2014: Bonzie x Vinyl Mag
Nina Ferraro (Bonzie) isn’t your typical young college girl. While most girls her age would choose to spend their Spring Break on a beach somewhere taking Jell-O shots (I know I did), Bonzie chose to spend hers at South by Southwest, playing shows and pursuing her music career. Par for the course for someone who started booking her own shows at age 12. We sat down with Nina to talk about how awesome she is, as well as her experience at SXSW and her plans after the festival. Check out our conversation below, and be sure to give her music a listen – it’s more than worth it.
Vinyl Mag: How are you liking Austin so far?
Bonzie: I love it! I love it! First of all, I like the warmth. It’s a nice break from Chicago. I like the weather in Chicago.
VM: Chicago is freezing!
B: It is freezing. They got ten inches of snow a couple of days ago. Aside from that, I like the southern hospitality. Granted, most of the people I’m interacting with are not from Austin. It’s nice that you’re from Austin; I’m finally getting to talk with the locals. I like it a lot.
VM: When are your upcoming shows for South By?
B: I’ve got the Nylon show tomorrow. I love Nylon magazine; it’s one of my favorite magazines. I have a Hyde Park showcase.
VM: Hyde Park is awesome. It’s just a solid, classic restaurant to go to. Good food, good people – you’ll have a good time. Tell me a little bit about how you got into music.
B: It’s interesting; I don’t have a musical family. I didn’t have anyone in my life who was really musical to look up to. I’m not really sure, honestly. I started playing piano when I was very young, and I took piano lessons, and I didn’t really connect with it. I didn’t really like piano lessons like any other kids. I picked up the guitar when I was nine and started writing music, and it just felt pretty natural. It wasn’t something I really thought about or had conscious decision to do. It just started happening, and I went with it. I didn’t tell anyone about it for a while. I would write songs and play them for people and tell them that they were covers. I started booking my own shows.
VM: How old were you when you started booking your own shows?
B: I was 12 when I started. Granted, the first shows that I booked were very, very small, like coffee shops.
VM: And now you’re playing things like Nylon.
B: Yeah! It’s been great! It’s been amazing how it’s progressed, how I’ve progressed. It’s felt very natural.
VM: So you just released your full-length, debut album. Can you tell me about that process?
B: It’s an interesting thing, because I do write my songs by myself. So, I write them in my room with my guitar, just thinking and writing. Sometimes it sucks, sometimes it’s slow, but it’s always alone. So, when it comes to making a record, or even arranging a band, I have these very specific ideas in my mind about what I want to happen: this is part should be this, the drum should do this, this is a keyboard solo here. The record was a matter of – for me – playing with different musicians, seeing how they interpret my ideas, listening to it, recording it, and if it’s not right, doing it again. You know, doing it as many time until it’s as close as I think the material world can get to what I envisioned. That’s the way I did my album. It was nice, because I didn’t really have a time frame, so I really spent time on it and made it what I wanted it to be.
VM: And two of the guys from Milk Carton Kids played with you?
B: Yeah, Joey Ryan and Kenneth from the Milk Carton Kids. Joey sang on “Felix” and Kenneth played the guitar. They were super cool; they were really nice guys. Joey has the most beautiful voice. When I made that song, I wanted a male harmony part that was sort of like the voice of Joey Ryan from the Milk Carton Kids, and he ended up doing it, which was amazing. And Kenneth is really cool; he does this amazing, almost Spanish, guitar part over “Felix.” It’s beautiful. They’re great musicians.
VM: What about school? Have you graduated high school yet?
B: Yeah, I graduated high school. I’m in college. I’ve just made it work. You have to really be self-motivated. I know that’s so easily said and not easily done, because we have the Internet, and we do write essays on the computer – it’s just the worst combination.
VM: There’s this awesome app you can download, and it’ll block everything you want it to block for you.
B: Oh no, but why would you do that?
VM: So, it’ll keep you from getting on Facebook for two hours.
B: I’m not promoting myself here, because I just said you have to be self-motivated, and now I’m talking about all the ways I procrastinate.
VM: I’m sure you’re studying Music?
B: No, actually I don’t study Music. I’m doing more like Sociology.
VM: Does that inspire your music at all?
B: Sort of, yeah. I feel like I get a lot of my inspiration just by existing and meeting people, but I think anything you can add to your mind is good, for the most part.
VM: How did you pick your name?
B: Bonzie was a word that I made up but I started associating with creative outputs that I did. I had been releasing music under my own name and performing under Nina Ferraro. There’s something that just felt too personal about me as a person, which my music is not. When I’m in my music, I just think about the music, and I sort of lose my body. I just felt really natural and comfortable to go under Bonzie.
VM: It has a life of its own it sounds like. So you said for your songwriting, it’s more of a solo process. That’s unique for a lot of the people I’ve been talking to this week. Do you talk to people while you’re writing? Do you ask for advice from anyone?
B: I do write the songs on my own. When it comes to performing and playing with other musicians, it’s such an amazing type of connection, because it’s taking a singular idea and meshing it with other ideas, and that’s the sound that comes out. The song remains the same, but it’s a matter of how it evolves and the sound that comes out. That’s been fun with my band, especially playing the South By shows. Since we’re playing so many venues, you start to get to the core of what it means to be done and what the feeling is of the songs. It’s been really cool at South By, because we’re playing so many shows so close together that we feel very connected.
VM: Who are you performing with right now?
B: Right now, my band is Lucas Gillan on drums, Packy Monhelm on keys and guitar and Anton Catwich on bass. They’re all from Chicago. I play with lots of different musicians.
VM: Are y’all having a blast down here?
B: It’s so much fun!
VM: Have you hit up any of the parties? Have you let yourself breathe and relax yet?
B: Yeah, a little bit. I haven’t had much time. I had two shows yesterday, and I had a show the day I came in on Tuesday, so I’ve been sort of in that zone. Today was my day off. I’m thinking I might find Ellis Leone’s band, San Fermin. I’m hoping to go see that. I went to the ATO Records party, too yesterday, which was fun. Honestly, I have the most fun when I’m performing and on stage, and when I talk to people afterwards, but I love going to see shows too.
VM: Can you tell me about your craziest experience at South By?
B: I feel like every moment has been crazy. I got lost once; that was interesting. That was a little crazy and wild. Let’s see…we were unloading the car, and one of the guitarists pulled forward and put the car into drive, and it started rolling down a hill. That was kind of crazy!
VM: How did you stop it?
B: By running to the front seat and grabbing the wheel! That has nothing to do with Austin though. I did see the line for a Lady Gaga show that was absolutely insane and that horrible, horrible tragedy with the drunk driver. A lot is happening here. It’s a lot of people, it’s a lot of enthusiasm, so it’s pretty intense, but it’s fun.
VM: What projects are you working on that you’re really excited about for the future?
B: Right now, I’m working on this music video for my song, “Data Blockers.” I recorded it in Brooklyn with this group called APK Productions. It was fun to record; we’re just working on finishing it and getting the editing right. I’m looking through footage, and I’m being as collaborative as possible.
VM: I can’t wait for the release of it. Do you know when that’s going to be?
B: I don’t know. Hopefully by the end of this month. It’s going to be soon for sure.
VM: You’ve got a lot going on.
B: I’m doing some recording, too. I’ve been recording slowly for my next record.
VM: Do you record in Chicago?
B: Yeah, so far for this record it’s been mostly in Chicago. I put out a single that I did with Steve Albini in Chicago recently, but right now I’m recording more and working on the video.
VM: Do you think Chicago itself has affected the way you approach music in any way, because it’s a unique place?
B: It is a unique place! The more I travel, the more I realize that. I grew up in Wisconsin, and then I moved to Chicago when I was in my early teens, so it’s still in the Midwest.
VM: Midwestern girl deep down.
B: Yeah. I mean, when I come to a place like Austin, there’s just a different vibe. It’s really cool! The people are really nice and really interesting, just very kind and open, not that we’re not that way in Chicago.
VM: It’s so cold in Chicago; you’re like fending off the wind.
B: Yeah, there’s totally something to that! I always talk about the weather.
VM: It does affect you; I mean, you have to live in the weather.
B: For sure. Anthropologists, when they go to somewhere like Antarctica, they study those people. Those people are different…I don’t know. I just came up with that place, but anywhere, even like Alaska, even in the U.S. There’s a different culture depending on the environment.
VM: It is true. I’ve noticed what you’re saying. Like in the North, people act a little more insular.
B: Yeah, more focused on their body.
VM: Then you get southern people, who are just crazy.
B: Yeah! It’s fun; it’s awesome; I love it! But Chicago has probably influenced me in some non-descript way. I guess you can never really know how much something influences you, but the more I go places, talk to people, I guess it does.
VM: Can you tell me a little bit more about the shoot? I was Googling you earlier, and I saw the cover of your album, and you’re very stark and isolated. It’s a beautiful photo. Who did that?
B: Oh, are you talking about on my website? That was Jim Newberry in Chicago.
VM: So, you work with a lot of Chicago photographers and recording people?
B: Yeah, he does a lot of musicians. It was fun to do that. That was a while back. Thank you about that picture. I’ve worked a lot with Shee Sinsong; she’s a photographer in New York who I just became friends with, and we did a photo shoot out there. It was really fun. It was she and all of her friends; she had just graduated college, so she’s super young, and she and her friends just got the wardrobe together. I mean, the APK Productions felt like a similar thing, but it was just she and her friends doing the wardrobe and super inspired about how the backdrop needed to be. It was fun!
VM: Awesome! This is fantastic. I’ll have so much to write about.
B: Thank you for having me! I talk too much.
VM: No, this is wonderful!
*Bonzie, you’re just a delight.
Tour Dates:
May 09 Joe’s Pub New York, NY
May 10 World Cafe Live Philadelphia Philadelphia, PA
May 11 Sixth & I Historic Synagogue Washington, DC
SXSW 2014: Black Lips x Vinyl Mag
Happy Birthday to me. I got the chance to wake up on my birthday at South by Southwest and drive straight to an interview with The Black Lips. Not a bad start to a day. We sat down at their hotel on the fourth day of SXSW to talk about BL’s latest album, Underneath the Rainbow, their Middle Eastern tour, their favorite Georgia venue and what’s next for the band.
VM: We’re really excited for Underneath the Rainbow; it comes out March 18th. How is different from your previous album releases?
Jared: It’s not really that different; it’s not really a radical departure. We have our sound and everything. We just keep recording songs; they’re just in different studios sometimes, but mostly the same process.
Cole: We’re just tightening up what we have always done.
VM: Who does all the writing?
Cole: We all do some.
VM: What was your inspiration for the album, or do you just write all the time?
Cole: We kind of just write all the time and let things gel together naturally.
VM: Tell us about your video for ‘Boys in the Woods.’
Jared: It was just a vision we had of a redneck odyssey in the woods. I guess it’s supposed to be about crankcuts and weirdos that live differently than most people.
VM: Where was it filmed?
Joe: Conley, Georgia.
Jared: I think it used to be a hospital or maybe a school. It’s like an abandoned place, and one of our friends has a horror studio there with props and everything. So, we had a lot of space to work with and sources.
VM: How many shows do you have at ‘South By’ this year?
Cole: Ten.
VM: It’s Friday; how many shows do you have left?
Jared: Five.
Joe: We have three tomorrow and actually three tonight, so six.
Cole: We have DJ gigs as well.
VM: So, 10 shows plus DJ gigs; that’s intense. When did you guys get in?
Jared: Tuesday night, or Tuesday afternoon.
VM: Who have you seen? Have you seen anybody good?
Jared: OFF! played before us, and we saw them.
Joe: We saw Perfect Pussy last night.
Cole: We saw Sean Lennon’s band, Ghost of the Saber Tooth Tiger [GOASTT].
Joe: We saw Natural Child, right?
Ian: Pretty much if they played before us, we watched them.
VM: So you’ve seen a lot! Was there anyone you really wanted to see this year?
Cole: No.
Jared: I personally gave up on trying to see shows a few years ago, because you get your hopes up about a show you probably won’t be able to go to. If I happen to be somewhere, then I’ll watch it; sometimes you get lucky.
Joe: I agree 100 percent.
Cole: I second that.
VM: So can we expect some typical Black Lips antics on stage?
Cole: You never know what you’ll get.
Jared: Depends on what’s in the water, and the mood, what time of day it is; you have to feel it out.
Ian: We’re like a Ferrari; the years might change, but we’re still fast and smooth.
VM: Well said. Tell us about your Middle Eastern tour.
Jared: Well, it was really unprecedented. We took the first step, and – to our knowledge, and no one has disputed this since – we were the first western band to do that full circuit. It sounds crazy. Like, we went going to Iraq and Egypt at this time when it looks crazy over there, but it really couldn’t have been more normal. The shows were really well attended, it was organized, and everyone was really nice to us. No running over borders in the middle of the night or riots or anything. It was just like your average tour. Actually, it was one of the more wholesome tours we’ve ever done. We had a lot of families there and a lot of little kids. We didn’t really party. It was very wholesome and special.
VM: So did you go on that tour intending to be the first, or did you find out later that that was the case?
Jared: Well, it was there, and we were like, ‘why not go play?’ We started meeting bands that were from around the region and different people, like filmmakers, and it just started to become more of a reality. So, we were like, ‘why not go there? We haven’t been.’
VM: Do you have any other places you want to go?
Jared: Malaysia, Indonesia…
Cole: Cuba.
Jared: I guess at some point, we’ll have to go to China. It’s hard to avoid.
VM: Do you want to go to China? You seem a little ‘meh.’
Jared: I’m sure it will be cool, but if I had to make a list of places, that’s not super high up.
VM: What would be your number one?
Cole: We wanted to go to Antarctica, but not anymore, because Metallica did it. We want to be the first in some things.
VM: What’s your favorite venue to play in Georgia?
Jared: If you could fill it up, I really like Variety Playhouse. Actually, now that they’ve redone the Georgia Theatre. I really like the Georgia Theatre.
VM: It’s awesome now! There’s no bad place as an audience member. Wherever you are, you can see the stage.
Jared: I’ll go ahead and say Georgia Theatre. There’s Nintendo backstage, restaurant and bar on the roof, and good sound.
Cole: Giant bands.
Ian: The food’s good.
VM: The food is good.
Cole: My dream is to play the Fox Theater in Atlanta. It’s gigantic! We’d have to be lucky enough to open for somebody, probably.
Jared: I think to put on a show there is just thousands and thousands of dollars.
VM: Bill Cody from Athens directed the documentary, ‘Kids Like You and Me,’ for your tour. How did you get connected with him, and why did you decide to do a documentary?
Jared: I can’t remember how we met him. I think he just started coming to our shows in L.A. Over the months and years, we found out he was a filmmaker, and I was a fan of ‘Athens, Georgia Inside Out.’ We would always talk sh*t about playing in Iraq but not in the green zone. He said, ‘well, I used to teach film there.’ So we were like, ‘well, if you actually have some contacts there…’ and he actually took it seriously. Three years later we were there with him, but it just started from that one little ‘I want to play in Iraq’ and snowballed from there.
VM: What is your favorite part about playing at ‘South By?’
Joe: Seeing friends.
VM: After ‘South By,’ what are your plans?
Jared: We’re hitting the road for a while. We’re going to the West coast from here, going to do a little circle up and down the coast and a little, quick dip into Canada, then the East coast, then Europe and a bunch of other stuff.
VM: Thanks for talking to us.
Jared: It was a pleasure.
Get More:
www.mtvu.com
SXSW 2014: Little Daylight x Vinyl Mag
One of my favorite interviews of South by Southwest this year was with Little Daylight. I sat down with members Nikki Taylor, Matt Lewkowicz and Eric Zeiler to discuss their love of remixes, the power of caffeine and their future plans. Please listen to this band. You will like them as much as we do. Vinyl Mag seal of approval!
Vinyl Mag: How are ya’ll doing? How is Austin? What do you think about everything here?
Nikki Taylor: I mean, I love it, we were here last year, so this is our second year, and it’s such an awesome, fun time of year. We’re playing a lot of shows this year, and doing a lot of stuff, so it’s busier than last year. It’s a little less party and see lots of bands vibe, and more of a play a lot of music vibe, but either way it’s fun.
VM: Cool. What have ya’ll been up to?
Matt Lewkowicz: We just got in yesterday.
VM: And you flew in from New York?
Matt: No, we drove from New York.
Nikki: Three days of driving.
VM: That’s crazy!
Eric Zeiler: We’re starting our tour after this, in Houston, so we had to drive here to get everything. Oh no, Dallas – we’re starting in Dallas.
VM: Keep it in Texas. Texas is like a country in and of itself. Could you each tell me about your role in the group and how you work together?
Nikki: We’re a democracy in how Ancient Greece is a democracy, but with women.
Matt: Right, we allow women.
Nikki: Right, a band of the people. For the people. By the people.
Matt: And waving it towards women’s rights…but yes, in terms of individual roles, we just kind of mush it all together to one patty and then just fry it up, slice it up and see what happens.
Eric: We do have instruments that we play, though, live, and those are distinct roles. For the stage. For the studio, everything is very egalitarian, and everyone is playing different instruments and writing together…but live, I play bass and keyboards.
Matt: I play guitar and keyboards and percussion.
Nikki: I sing and I play keys. and we have a drummer. He’s not here right now, but yeah – it’s the four of us onstage.
VM: When you’re creating a song or a track, how do you approach it? What is your ultimate goal, and how do you reach that goal?
Nikki: We just finished recording our album a couple weeks ago. It was over the summer and the fall, and we all just kind of brought in a lot of ideas. The first day we were working on the album, we sifted through everything we had all been thinking about. And as soon as we had an idea going, we just all workshopped it. Literally, the three of us, just like sitting here talking about what kind of thing it should be. And the end goal, I would say, is just to make the song its best version of itself. We don’t have this thing of, ‘oh this song needs to be this type of thing.’ We had a song that started out on our album as a four on the floor, electronic kind of thing and ended up being a ballad. So it evolves.
Eric: The electronic stuff – the fact that we do most of our creation in the studio – we have all sorts of tools that are at our disposal. Guitars, acoustic guitars, instruments, drums, and then like electronic stuff. So, depending on the song, those elements might come to the forefront just because the song demands them. Because we’re in the studio, and not just in a rehearsal space, we have those at our disposal. We all love that. We are all into having that kind of music, so we were excited about having those sounds in the songs.
VM: Didn’t you have your EP before you ever performed live?
Matt: No, we didn’t release the EP, but we had recorded some of the songs.
Nikki: We released our first album last year, and then our first show was actually last year at South By. So this is actually our one year anniversary of playing our first show here.
VM: What are you excited about at South By? What shows are you most excited to be playing?
Eric: Of ours? We’re probably most excited about the Filter one; it’s with the four-band lineup, and they’re all great bands. It’s with Washed Out, Temples, and Eagles, so it will be exciting to play with all the other bands…
Nikki: And Mr. Wise is playing, and we like him a lot so that will be a good show, too.
VM: You’re performing today right?
Nikki: Tonight. Midnight.
VM: I want to come to that!
Nikki: Yeah, you should!
VM: I’ll have to make it. So…you definitely incorporate remixes into what you do. You released a whole remix album when you also released Tunnel Vision. Does that change the way you approach anything, with the intention of creating remixes?
Matt: Yeah, remixing has been a part of us since making music has been a part of us. From the beginning, we were doing both at the same time. And the remixes have always been a good place for us to practice our studio skills. A lot of times when we write a song, what we do is we workshop things and work on chopping things up and approaching them differently every day until we see what sticks and what works well. With remixes, that’s what we’re doing from the beginning…there are parallel paths to us. So, that’s why remixing and writing originals has been a very similar act.
Nikki: And then getting remixes back from other people.
VM: Yeah, I mean people are remixing your tracks all the time. How is that? That’s got to be really cool. I feel like it’s really flattering, having people be like, ‘I want to rework your track and make it part of this new creation.’
Nikki: Yeah, definitely. And it’s so cool, as the originator of the song, to hear people’s take on it. There are so many different directions you can go with it, and it’s really great when you hear something you never would have thought is in the song, and someone saw something and created something around it. It’s so cool. I remember we did…who was the remix you got stuck in your head?
Matt: Twice As Nice.
Nikki: Twice As Nice did a remix of “Overdose,” and it was so cool. The chords were so different and awesome and catchy that for a while Matt would get the song in his head, but the remix version in his head.
Matt: Yeah, I would be taking a shower and singing our song and realize I wasn’t singing our song the way we wrote it. I was singing the song the way it had been remixed, and that was just a surreal moment.
VM: That’s so cool, like the cultural collaborative effort of people when you work in remixing.
Eric: Yeah, we’ve been back to remixing after being off of it while we’ve been making our album, about eight months. But we’ve been back at it and a couple of them, we would love to perform live someday. Like remixes of other artists we’ve done that we’re so excited about that we imagine it would even be fun to perform it. It’s basically like writing a new song for us, based around someone else’s vocals.
Nikki: It’s almost like the line becomes very transparent or something. Like remixes and originals, and people remixing you and you doing other stuff and performing it live – yeah, you’re right, – it’s like this community effort, sort of group thing that you’re just taking pieces from stuff.
VM: That kind of plays into your whole vibe, like you were saying earlier. Like you’re very egalitarian – you’re kind of always co-working a democracy. I feel like the remix falls into that vibe – that democratizing impulse you have. What projects are you working on as of now? I guess you’re about to release the new album.
Eric: The project of going on tour for two months!
Matt: Our project is learning how to drive for long amounts of time on single cups of coffee. We’re trying to get one cup of coffee to stretch for at least five hours, or something like that.
Eric: Caffeine matters.
Matt: And also stretch our bladders out so we can go without stopping and peeing. I mean, that’s a big project for us. I guess it’s liquid management.
Nikki: Liquid assets management.
Matt: Which in a socialistic-egalitarian-democracy, is something important we all have to vote on and think on and discuss ([aughing]. But that really is the project right now. Truly, it’s being on the road. We did the six-to-eight-month album block, and now we have risen again, and we’re in the real world, and we have to play shows and go to cities we’ve never been to. That’s kind of an exciting thing that is happening on this tour for the first time. We’re going to places like Columbus, Ohio, and Louisville, Kentucky.
Nikki: New Orleans.
Eric: Where are you from?
VM: I’m from around Nashville.
Matt: Cool. We’re playing there also, in the summer! Mercy Lounge.
Eric: Do you know the band Coin?
VM: I don’t.
Eric: They’re from Nashville, and they’ve become friends. They’re here – they’re playing a bunch. You’re about to hear a lot about them. They’re doing great. They’re awesome. They represent Nashville well.
*Catch Little Daylight up on their tour!!!!
MON 21 APRIL
The Independent San Francisco, CA, US
WED 23 APRIL
Troubadour West Hollywood, CA, US
THU 24 APRIL
5th Avenue Side Stage San Diego, CA, US
TUE 20 MAY
Rumsey Playfield, Central Park New York, NY
THU 19 JUNE – SUN 22 JUNE
Firefly Music Festival 2014 Dover, DE
SXSW 2014: Bright Light Social Hour x Vinyl Mag
In the trendy East Sixth Street district, I watched Bright Light Social Hour rock the backyard of the local dive bar, Liberty. Hot, sweaty and dusty, surrounded by long beards and longer hair, I could sense right away how at home this Austin-based band was. After we loaded up with tacos at the East Side King food truck, we snuck away to a quiet alley to talk. Formed in 2004, BLSH released their self-titled debut album in 2010. In 2011, they dominated the Austin Music Awards during SXSW with six awards, including Band of the Year, Album of the Year and Song of the Year (nbd). After a non-stop tour of over 300 shows, the Psychedelic Southern Rock band is ready to release their second album later this year. I spoke with members Curtis Roush, Jack O’Brien, Joseph Mirasole and Edward Braillif. – Jessamyn Mctwigan
VM: I saw you guys at Holy Mountain last night – what a great show! I really enjoyed it. I know you guys are working on your second album – where are you with that?
Jack O’Brien: We recorded it here on Lake Travis in Austin. We’re getting ready to mix it in New York with Chris Cody. He’s done Beach House, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs…
VM: You have a couple more shows here at Southby, right?
JO: Yeah, we’re playing the Soho Lounge, the official showcase tomorrow. And Saturday, we play The Pie In The Sky Collective Future Musicians showcase at Shiner Saloon.
VM: Sounds like your excited about the second showcase?
JO: That one is gonna be awesome – definitely the best from around here.
VM: How do you feel about playing SXSW?
Joseph Mirasole: We love it. It’s crazy, and it hurts, but it’s a good hurt… it’s like adult Olympics. It’s the only week that I feel like I’m getting older.
VM: I know you guys are all locals; how long have you known each other?
Curtis Roush: About 10 years. It’s been a long courtship; we dated for a while… don’t even know where one beard ends and the other begins – like Siamese twins, or you know, when a dog and owner start to look alike…
After the South by Southwest interview, Emily McBride conducted a follow-up interview with member Jack O’Brien via phone to talk more about BLSH’s upcoming album, how the rest of their SXSW was and tour plans. Enjoy!
VM: I was looking at your Facebook page, and I saw on the ‘About’ it says ‘la lucha sigue’…I looked it up, and it says it means, ‘the struggle continues.’ So, can you explain what inspired you to make that your ‘About?’
JO: I don’t know. I think any time we run into some sort of adversity, I think that’s just something we say to each other. I don’t know where it comes from, but I feel like it’s something we hear a lot in Texas, so I think it’s just remembering to always be putting the passion forth for the things that you believe in.
VM: Okay, so that’s a common saying in Texas?
JO: In Mexico, and maybe in the Spanish-speaking communities in Texas, yeah.
VM: You’re playing Shaky Knees in Atlanta coming up, and we’re in Athens-Atlanta area, so we’ll definitely be there, but how did that come about? And have you looked at the lineup? It’s really awesome this year.
JO: Yeah, yeah. They just reached out to our booking guy and then – maybe our booking guy reached out to them; I’m not actually positive [laughing] – but I haven’t heard of the festival before. I guess it’s only the second year, and when we saw the lineup, we were like, ‘hell yeah, let’s do it!’ So yeah, really phenomenal. A bunch of great bands, and a lot of great Austin bands, too. I saw Spoon is playing, so that’s exciting. I feel like they haven’t done anything. They were kind of on hiatus for a few years, so that’s really cool.
VM: So who, besides Spoon, are you most excited to see there?
JO: Well, unfortunately, I’m only going to get to be there Friday, because the next night we have a festival in Tampa, but definitely Spoon, the National…Man Man I really like; White Denim is also from Austin….and The Whigs is a band I’ve never seen, but they keep popping up, like, ‘if you like Bright Light Social Hour, you should check out The Whigs.’
VM: Yeah yeah, they’re cool. They’re from Athens, so they’re one of our local groups we’re proud of.
JO: Oh, crazy! Oh, I just saw that Graveyard is Friday! We just saw Graveyard – actually did a show with them once in Atlanta – they’re actually from Sweden, but it’s like really cool, groovy, psych-y kind of blues metal stuff…really hilarious Swedish guys. We met them at their show, and they were just really drunk and goofy, and I couldn’t understand anything they were saying. They were just really jolly and drinking hard. And lots of laughing and taking photos and not understanding.
VM: That’s all you need. So I know South By is over, but since this was technically a South By interview, did you get to see anybody? I know most of the bands I talked to are like, ‘no, I never get to see any music!’
JO: Not much… you know, I got to see a lot of local bands and local friends, and friends that were in from out of town who were playing on the same shows as us, so that was cool. My girlfriend bought a pass, – she paid for the wristband, and at the end of the weekend, she was like, ‘it sucks! Everything I went to, I got in because of you. I didn’t need my pass!’ We tried to go see some shows, and then I would know the production guy, and he would pull us in, and she’d be like, ‘no!’ but we finally went in, and we got to see CLASSIXX, and that was like the only one we actually we went to just as a consumer.
VM: Tell me about your upcoming album. I know ya’ll have been writing for a while. Where are you stage-wise?
JO: Well, we’ve finished it a few times [laughing], but we keep reopening the project file, you know. We really wanted to work with this mixing engineer, Chris Cody, and we flew up to New York and did one song with him, and he blew us away, so we’re going to do the whole record with him. He’s done Beach House, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Grizzly Bear and a bunch of TV on the Radio, and people with that kind of indie sound. But he wasn’t available until the beginning of May, so we kind of got back, and we were listening back to our tracks and just trying to think of ways to improve the sound from what’s already there. Of course that is a slippery slope, so we went out and bought a four track tape machine just the other day. Right now, we’re running every little individual instrument from the record through that tape machine way too hot so that it gets this really warm, punchy saturation. That’s kind of a whole week-long process, just running everything out of the computer onto tape, so when we bring it to him, it’s something closer to what we want it to already sound like. And we’re rerecording drums on a couple songs just to make a few changes, – you know things that we wouldn’t do if we didn’t have the time, but since we have the time, we’re kind of just really dialing things in.
VM: So what’s the projected release date as of right now?
JO: We don’t have a date yet. We’re going to try for the Fall, but the scary thing about the Fall is, the music industry basically shuts down from October to January. I question it, but they say it’s pretty inadvisable to put a record out between then – between October and December – so if we don’t make it out then, then we have to wait until next year. I really hope that doesn’t happen. We’re shooting for the Fall, but I don’t want to say, because I feel like I have been saying ‘about six months’ for about two years, and it still hasn’t happened.
VM: So I want to talk more about that just because I’m curious and ignorant- why is that a bad idea?
JO: To put it out in the winter?
VM: Yeah.
JO: Well, October in Austin’s a little rough, because it’s the Austin City Limits Festival….like, if you’re trying to promote something that’s not really the festival thing, it’s going to get lost. But then during the holidays, a lot of media, press, people like that just quiet down a lot, you know – are less busy. So just trying to get the promotional publicity and stuff like that…it freaks out publicists to try and work during that time, because people are generally not responsive. That’s what they say. You see a lot of larger-name artists will put out Christmas records and stuff like that, but generally, I think it’s a time you’ve got more general consumer things, and family issues become much more in the forefront…and the music stuff kind of gets on the back burner a little bit.
VM: Is there anything else you can tell me about the album?
JO: Yeah! What do you want to hear? Like sound? Or what else will happen with it timeline-wise?
VM: Yeah, just the sound and I guess the typical, ‘what was the inspiration for this album?’ question.
JO: [Laughing] It’s definitely a lot more introverted, for sure. I think that the one record we put out is extremely extroverted, and it was really natural for us at the time, because the guitarist and I were both in grad school and living really stressful lives. And we never played outside of Austin, so every time we would play a show would be this huge party. We would be letting off all this steam. We were just swamped with really dense things with school, so we just wanted to write a really fun, outgoing carefree, wide-eyed music.
After that, we started to take the band seriously, touring a lot. So then we were doing this every night, and it didn’t really feel like a genuine party every single night, you know? So I think that the music we started writing started to reflect something like that – just a lot more of feeling a disconnect from an audience that is there to party, but you’re kind of maybe phoning it in a little bit.
I think it’s just about spending a lot of time in the van and feeling really isolated from the rest of the world and feeling very marginalized. You’re kind of this sneaky circus that’s just sneaking into towns and setting up this party, and then you take it right back down. And there’s a lot of space allegory, feeling like you’re just floating in space and dream world. So, it’s much more dreamy and much more psychedelic and darker, and there’s a lot more heavy rhythms and deeper grooves.
VM: I’m really excited to hear it. So what is next for you, besides the stuff we’ve talked about? What are you trying to get the word out about?
JO: I guess the album, mainly. We’re not there quite yet…but it’s coming, it’s coming. I guess mainly that. It’s coming, and we’re finishing it, but also just the festivals we’ve got coming up. We’re doing Shaky Knees and Sasquatch, and before Shaky Knees, we’re opening for Charles Bradley in Asheville. So that’s cool – little things like that. I’ve got a music video that I’m editing right now for one of the tracks on the album, so hopefully that will be out sometime, maybe the summer.
VM: You do your own video editing? That’s pretty cool.
JO: Well, yeah, I’ve never done it for anything. I’ve done it for stuff on our website that’s promotional videos, but I’ve never done a music video like this, so this is kind of a big project for me, so we’ll see how it turns out. But I got this amazing Director of Photography and then another director with these really amazing cameras that had this whole mount built on this truck, and we had a ton of friends dress up super weird, so I think it will be really strange and then really fun. So that’s kind of my project right now.
VM: What song is it for?
JO: It’s called “Infinite Cities.”
SXSW 2014: Cherub x Vinyl Video
This was one of my favorites. Last day of South by Southwest. Exhausted. My feet fell off somewhere on Sixth Street the night before. Pretty much ready to take a nap on the sidewalk. Completely ignoring all of that, because I get to interview Cherub, and there is no way not to be pumped about that.
We love this band. We all flipped over 100 Bottles when it came out last year, and we are more than ready for Year of the Caprese to come out on May 27 (as my poor friends know, I have a higher tolerance for listening to the same album/song/band for months on end than most people, so guys – you better like this one, because I have a feeling this is my 2014 Summer soundtrack).
I was super dang excited when I found out that I was going to get to interview Cherub at SXSW this year. Aside from being amazing musicians who put on an awesome live show (I just so happen to be seeing them tomorrow night at the Georgia Theatre in Athens!), I found out that they are also genuinely delightful dudes (#accidentalalliteration). Check out the Vinyl Video below to watch us talk about their music, applesauce, chunky vs. creamy peanut butter and what is next for Cherub.
SXSW 2014: Spirit Animal x Vinyl Mag
There are many factors that go into scheduling interviews during the chaotic week that is South by Southwest; luckily, the scheduling aspect is completely taken care of by the brains behind this whole operation, Emily McBride.
Upon receiving my schedule and reviewing it thoroughly, my interview with Spirit Animal stuck out for a few different reasons, one of them being that the location was listed as “The Shred Shed” – fast forward to mass confusion and a hefty realization that the “Shred Shed” was an exhibit at the Austin Convention Center that didn’t really even exist until the following day. After sorting out the details with lead singer Steve Cooper, we settled on a completely appropriate and professional meeting point – let’s meet up at the condiment table, somewhere between Exhibit Hall 1 and 3…
Besides the appeal of its location, this interview also stood out to me because of the band itself. Upon first listen, all of us at Vinyl Mag instantly knew that this is a band to look out for (and not just because Steve Cooper’s voice makes me think of Anthony Kiedis sometimes…is anyone else getting that? Especially on “I’m Around”…).
The guys of Spirit Animal have been known for their on-stage energy, and upon meeting with them, their off-stage energy does them just as much credit. In between their many performances, we snagged a few precious moments with Spirit Animal to ask them about their latest hit, “The Black Jack White,” Beyoncé and their summer plans.
VM: Is this your first experience at SXSW?
Steve Cooper [vocals, Moog]: It’s actually our third year; we’re pretty seasoned at this point [laughs].
VM: Your hit song “The Black Jack White” has begun to take off- are you actual fans of the White Stripes?
Paul Michel [bass]: I mean, yeah, we’re fans. We’re not like crazy about them or anything. It just fit as an appropriate title.
SC: Everyone likes The White Stripes, right?
VM: What is the writing process like? Does the music or lyrics come first?
SC: We don’t have a solid method down, but usually the music comes first. We work together to form something, and however it comes about is how it comes.
VM: A big thing for music this year – and always – is Beyoncé. Are you a fan of the new album?
SC: I mean, I woke up like this! No, but really, we’re huge fans. That new album is sexy and awesome.
VM: How do you feel that MTV’s Buzzworthy has helped in getting your name out?
PM: It’s been really awesome to have them airing our music video, and of course just reaching all kinds of audiences that we wouldn’t necessarily have reached otherwise. We were really excited to have them air our video.
VM: What showcases have you wanted to catch while at SXSW?
SC: Young the Giant, for sure. Also not only do we get to see Parade of Lights, but we get to play our showcase with them. That’s really awesome and exciting for us, because we love them. But like – Young the Giant.
PM: We took it pretty serious this year and made actual spreadsheets of who we wanted to see while we were down here; you can’t mess around when it comes to SXSW.
VM: What’s next for Spirit Animal once South By comes to an end?
COOPER: We have a song we plan to release in May and will probably go on tour for a bit. We have a whole archive of new songs we’re excited to put out, but we’re planning on playing our cards right and just seeing what’s best for us.
*You KNOW you wanna see these dudes live. But seriously. You do.
Tour Dates:
04.30.14 — BOSTON, MA: TT the Bears Place
05.02.14 — HEMPSTEAD, NY: Hofstra University
05.03.14 — MONTREAL, QB: Quai Des Brumes
05.05.14 — TORONTO, ON: Horseshoe Tavern
05.06.14 — WINDSOR, ON: Phog Lounge
05.08.14 — PHILADELPHIA, PA: North Star
05.09.14 — NEW YORK, NY: Westway
05.10.14 — COLUMBIA, MD: Sweetlife Festival
05.20.14 — COLUMBUS, OH: Double Happiness
05.21.14 — CINCINNATI, OH: Motr Pub
05.22.14 — CHICAGO, IL: Subterranean
05.23.14 — MADISON, WI: Mickey’s
05.24.14 — TERRE HAUTE, IN: The Verve
05.27.14 — DES MOINES, IA: Vaudeville Mews
05.28.14 — LINCOLN, NE: Vega
05.30.14 — KANSAS CITY, MO: Czar Bar
05.31.14 — WICHITA, KS: Wichita River Fest
06.03.14 — DENVER, CO: Moon Room
06.05.14 — LAS VEGAS, NV: Backstage Bar
06.10.14 — SAN FRANCISCO, CA: Bottom of the Hill
06.12.14 — SEATTLE, WA: Lofi’s
06.13.14 — VANCOUVER, BC: Waldorf Hotel
06.14.14 — PORTLAND, OR: Hawthorne Theater
06.18.14 — PHOENIX, AZ: Last Exit Live
06.21.14 — FORT WORTH, TX: Lola’s
06.24.14 — COLUMBIA, MO: Mojo’s
SXSW 2014: De Lux x Vinyl Mag
Sean Guerin and Isaac Franco are a duo from California that wants to make you dance. If dancing isn’t necessarily your thing, you’re at least going to consider it. Their musical influences alone say great things for these two, but the self-described “new wave disco” music that they create is on a playing field of its own. South by Southwest seems to encompass just about any genre of music your tiny heart desires, but even still, you’re in luck if you discover even a handful that stay with you.
Luckily for Vinyl Mag, and me in particular, De Lux brought an entirely new sound to my ever-growing SXSW table, and now I have a total understanding for how Christopher Walken must have felt in the infamous “Cowbell” skit- disco (and particularly, De Lux) being the Cowbell. I could go on and on about how into their hit single “Better at Making Time” I am, but I’ll chose to let you discover the track’s awesomeness for yourself. We sat down with the guys of De Lux after their show at the Filter Magazine showcase, and you should probably go ahead and see what they’re all about. Afterwards, stream their music and instigate an impromptu dance party wherever you may be.
VM: Is this your first SXSW?
Sean Guerin: Yeah, it is. It’s our first time in Texas, too.
Isaac Franco: We’ve maintained to our little bubble; we haven’t traveled very often.
VM: Being that it is your first time here, what was top on your Austin “to do” list?
Isaac: We didn’t really have any; it was more just about getting the vibe of the place and seeing what we liked and didn’t like.
VM: What don’t you like?
Sean: We call Sixth Street “Zombie Street”; we went there last night for the first time, and everyone was just walking all fast and strange.
Sean: Everyone is really nice here, though, which is different. You have people saying “hi” to you on every block.
Isaac: Congress Street is really cool and just a little bit outside of downtown. There are really cool places to eat and hang out, and we enjoyed that area a lot.
VM: Have you two caught any cool shows?
Sean: Yeah, we’ve caught a few. We saw Damon Albarn and the 1975; we played at the same venue as the 1975 earlie,r and we had passes so we were like, “let’s go.” But yeah, Damon Albarn was really awesome.
VM: So, when did you actually get in town?
Isaac: We got here last Friday.
VM: Oh, so you’ve been at it for a minute! When do you leave?
Sean: Unfortunately, tomorrow.
VM: Ah, I leave tomorrow also; so bittersweet. So, let’s take this in a positive direction- who are your musical influences?
Sean: Television, Talking Heads, David Bowie, ESG, The Clash- we’ve got a list going.
Isaac: LCD Soundsystem for sure. I’ve been getting into Orange Juice- they’re wicked.
Sean: I’ve been getting into a lot of SEGA music.
VM: So would you say you gather inspiration from all of these avenues?
Sean: Yeah, we’ve been working on our second record, and we write all of the time, so it just seems to happen that way. I definitely feel like the music we listed has been having an effect on the music we’ve been writing recently. Oh, we’re also really into Prince.
VM: Prince was like the big thing for South by Southwest last year; you know, that show that was widely talked about, but you would never actually get in to.
Sean: Oh, that’s awesome!
VM: Would you consider yourself food truck people or barbecue joint people during SXSW?
Isaac: Probably neither- we’re more diner kind of people. We like to sit down and be warm.
Sean: Here it’s diner, but at home it is food trucks. There are a lot of great burrito and taco trucks.
Isaac: It’s hard to get food down here when we have shows back-to-back, so when we do get to eat together, it’s late at night, and we just show up at an IHOP or something.
VM: I read that skateboarding was how the two of you ultimately met, and you then were in a former band together? Is this true or just the internet talking?
Isaac: Skateboarding, a bit of high school, and another band.
VM: Ok, so you went to high school together? Were you homies in high school?
Sean: We weren’t really homies. I mean, we were cool with each other, but we didn’t really hang out with each other.
VM: Did you leave the [previous] band with a mutual understanding that you were planning on starting something together?
Sean: When we started writing songs, we were still in that particular project, but eventually we got so into it that we stopped writing for the other project, so it just sort of melted away. We just didn’t communicate with the other band members for a while, and vice versa.
VM: But are you still all cool? No bad blood?
Isaac: Yeah, I mean, we just hung out at shows and kept it strictly business, which was kind of annoying.
VM: Where were you when the accident at Red River and 9th took place?
Sean: Our band decided to stay home that night, which was totally coincidental.
Isaac: I knew a couple of people walking over there just minutes before it happened. We all got a bunch of texts making sure everyone was okay and whatnot; it’s just all really sad…
VM: If you had to categorize your own music and put it into a genre, where would you put it?
Sean: I mean, it kind of changes- I feel like we’re more disco than punk.
Isaac: It’s also like a new wave sound.
VM: How many shows have you played since you’ve been here?
Sean: We’ve played six so far. This is our second for the day, and we have another tonight at The Madison.
VM: What’s next for De Lux?
Sean: Yeah, we’re returning home; we have our first album coming out on April 8th.
Isaac: We have our album release show, and the month after that we are heading to Hawaii, where someone bought tickets for us to play a show. So we’ll be staying at a house on the beach and just playing music, which is exciting.
VM: Last question- where did you come up with the name De Lux?
Isaac: It almost sounds like we’re a diva band from the 70’s, and we’re totally not that way at all, so it’s just funny at this point.
SXSW 2014: Cash Cash x Vinyl Mag
It was an unexpected delight on a hot day of SXSW to share ice cream sundae’s and brownies a la mode at Moonshine’s with the down to earth guys of Cash Cash. Though I was not surprised by their casual and comfortable nature – these three childhood best friends and two brothers, Jean Paul Makhlouf, Alex Makhlouf and Samuel Frisch have been sharing mealtime conversations for some time now – I was surprised at how personable they were with me, an outsider.
From adolescence, they did everything themselves musically, from producing in their garage, to their own marketing. Together, they built a passion and understanding for music and music theory.
Their more recent success came in 2013, with the single “Take Me Home” featuring Bebe Rexha. It peaked at #18 on the US Pop Songs chart and #67 on the US Billboard Hot 100 earlier this year.
I spoke with the band about their most recent song “Lightning,” featuring Goo Goo Dolls front man John Rzeznick, their own radio show and being signed with Atlantic Records.
Vinyl Mag: How do you guys decide what to remix or which artist to feature in your songs?
Jean Paul: We started with electronic music as our base when we were younger, which has recently branched out into songwriting… we are very picky about who we use. We turn down requests from artists and labels all of the time. We don’t want to pump out a lot of stuff but rather, when we want to remix something, we start with the artist’s voice, like an instrument that we want to work with, and we will remix it from there. Like Bruno Mars’ sharp vocals on “Treasure,” and we were excited to work with Icona Pop on “All Night.”
VM: So tell me about “Lightning.” Was it John Rzeznick’s voice that was the deciding factor?
JP: Yeah, it’s a juxtaposition of his voice with what we do on the chorus that really works. It’s climbing up the top ten list of Hypemachine – we’re really excited.
VM: You recently got signed with Atlantic. How is that going?
Alex Makhlouf: We’re really happy with Atlantic; it feels like family. We already know how to do everything from the ground up, and they really know how to help us keep doing just that and to push us into realizing our vision. Plus, we’re excited to collaborate with artists on the label, for example, the guys of Chromeo, and more with Icona Pop.
VM: Tell me about the radio show that you guys do.
AM: It’s called Royalty Radio, and you can stream it. It’s basically our way of giving back and helping to promote the people that deserve recognition, like for example a friend of ours from back home that we grew up with – he’s so talented, and we hope to help him get that exposure. We also like to let our fans know what we’re up to and who we’re listening to and inspired by.
VM: You guys really like sweets, huh? So far, no one has ordered any appetizers or sandwiches for lunch – just sweet drinks and desserts. Traveling all over the world, what kind of weird food have you tried?
JP: We toured in Japan – they have lots of really weird candy. If you ever travel there, you have to try the dried octopus candy and dried fish jerky. We’re headed to Australia soon; we’ll have to try the sweets there!
*Catch Cash Cash on tour now!!
Apr 17 Budweiser Made in America Charlotte Party Charlotte, NC
Apr 19 New City Gas Montreal, Canada
Apr 22 Budweiser Made in America Athens Party Athens, GA
Apr 25 Life In Color West Lafayette, IN
Apr 26 Life In Color Columbia, MO
May 23 Exchange Los Angeles, CA
May 24 EDC New York East Rutherford, NJ
May 25 Sunset Music Festival Tampa, FL
May 26 Marquee Dayclub Las Vegas, NV
May 27 Shrine Mashantucket, CT
Jun 01 Nikon at Jones Beach Theater Wantagh, NY
Jun 06 Royale Nightclub Boston, MA
Jun 07 X Games @ Austin 360 Amphitheater Austin, TX
Jun 14 Grand Central Miami, FL
Jun 16 Marquee Nightclub Las Vegas, NV
Jun 20 Firefly Music Festival Dover, DE
Jun 26 Electric Forrest Rothbury, MI
Jul 04 Life In Color Hidalgo, TX
Jul 18 Bassmnt San Diego, CA
Aug 01 Lollapalooza Chicago, IL
Aug 03 Boonstock Penticton, Canada
Aug 09 Whiskey Portland, OR
SXSW 2014: Luke Winslow-King x Vinyl Mag
You may remember that we all went gaga over Luke Winslow-King‘s album The Coming Tide about a year ago. This gent is brilliant, and we still haven’t gotten over it. So, of course, we had to snag an interview with him this year at his showcase at the Bloodshot Records Yard Dog Day Party to talk about what he’s got coming out next, his New Orleans influence and his fashion inspirations! Enjoy!
Vinyl Mag: So what exactly [brought you to move] to New Orleans? I heard the rumor that it was a crime.
Luke Winslow-King: Yes. After high school, I went on tour with a few friends from Earth Work Music in Northern Michigan, and we were on a tour around the country playing a Pete Seeger compilation of Woody Guthrie’s songs and stories. We went to California and Texas. We played the Old Settler’s Festival on our way to Louisiana, and we went to Festival International in Lafayette. Then, when we got to New Orleans, I was staying at my friend, John Butae’s, house, and we parked our car in front of The Pink Hotel on Ursaline Street in New Orleans. We woke up and found broken glass on the sidewalk where our car was. All our instruments were still in flight. I stayed in New Orleans for about two or three weeks after that and fell in love with the place. I auditioned for the classical music program at the University of New Orleans then went there for school for the next few years. I kind of fell in love with the place. I moved to New York for about a year and then came back to New Orleans after hurricane Katrina and stuck around. I love it there; it’s great.
VM: Can you tell me more about how you got into music?
LWK: I picked up a guitar when I was five or six years old. I always had instruments around the house and was always interested in it. My dad plays Bob Dylan songs and Neil Young, so he was always playing around the campfire growing up. I grew up in church and was always singing. I started taking the guitar seriously and taking lessons around 10 years old. I started my own band when I was 14 and played gigs in my hometown. I started Winslow-King Blues Band when I was 15. So, I’ve always been into it since I was a child and have just gone on different tangents of rock and roll and classical music; I was really into bebop jazz in high school. Then I got into Chicago Blues, and then Delta Blues and New Orleans…jazz.
VM: I actually went down to the Delta for a trip and hung out with the B.B. Kings in Indianola. The Delta is really like a hotbed of American music. It’s really unique American cultural form.
LWK: Yeah, jazz and blues are really the only original American forms that were created in America, as far as music goes. Then rock and roll, and then things come off of it. The Delta is an incredible place for rich culture, not just in music, but also in all other forms.
VM: As is New Orleans.
LWK: Yeah, it is. The heritage there goes really deep, and it’s a great amalgamation of cultures. It’s been really inspiring for me, and I think it’s a great city that I can play original blues, and jazz, and rock and roll, and folk music and blend it together and have an audience for all of those styles. In one night and on one album, you can do anything you like, and people can really support you there. Sometimes we get the drunken tourists, and we’ve just got to keep them entertained, but we also have some really great listening audiences in New Orleans, too, which we’re really lucky to have. Sometimes it’s hard for people to play country or folk music; it doesn’t always go over as well in New Orleans, because people are expecting to hear the traditional roots music. We’re really lucky that we marry those two things – we write original folk songs, but we also play traditional jazz and blues. In New Orleans, we have a special niche that we can write new music but have this old sound that people are looking for when they’re on musical, tourist trips. We try to keep the old styles alive and also breathe fresh air into the old styles but also try to be creative and write new things and not just be playing traditional material.
VM: What projects do you have in the works right now that you’re most excited about?
LWK: We have a new album that’s most of the way finished. It’s coming out in the fall, and we’ve been working really hard on that in New Orleans. We’re doing a bunch of projects like touring and playing music. I’m going to some other recording projects with other artists that are coming up this year. I’ve been doing a couple “side-manning” things but mostly just focusing on that new album that’s coming out in the fall.
VM: Are you more of a taco or a barbecue man?
LWK: Wow. I would say I’m more a barbecue person, but I hate to say in an interview – but, I’m going to – that I think Louisiana might have better barbecue than Texas.
VM: Oooooo!
LWK: I went to two barbecue places in Austin this week.
VM: Where did you go?
LWK: I went to Green Mesquite, and I went to another one, but I can’t remember the name. The joint barbecue in New Orleans put them both to shame, I have to say.
VM: You don’t like the brisket. I don’t even know what New Orleans barbecue tastes like.
LWK: It’s the same; it’s just better.
VM: What’s your weirdest Austin experience since you got here?
LWK: I haven’t had any weird experiences here. I think it was a weirder place for me when I was young on my first road trip. I came here before I came to New Orleans on that first road trip.
VM: When was that?
LWK: That was probably in 2001. I went to Barton Springs for the first time in Hamilton’s Pool. That was pretty weird. I had a strange time then, but now it doesn’t seem that weird to me. It was weirder back then. I was more surprised by how progressive it was. I was really surprised that there was so much greenery and vegetation and beauty in Texas that I didn’t expect. I expected more desert. The whole country is special. It’s really nice. I love it. I’m glad to come and visit here, but I don’t think it’s that weird anymore. I think it’s becoming more palatable for all sorts of people.
VM: I know you’re crazy busy with your touring, but any fun you’re going to sneak in before you leave town?
LWK: Nope, we’re hitting the road. We’re going to play this show and get back home. We’ve been really busy, driving around and working on our album. We’re just really focused on getting the tour going and these projects we’re working on. We’re excited to go home and rest up. We’re playing the French Quarter Fest in New Orleans in April and Jazz Fest in May, but I am going to take a break and go to trout camp in Northern Michigan for the opening game trout season. I’m very excited about that, on a side note. It’s where you camp out, and then you go trout fishing.
VM: [Is trout fishing] a Michigan thing?
LWK: Yeah, there’s no trout in Texas.
VM: What inspires you fashion wise?
LWK: Thank you. My fashion icon is also a Texan. His name is Mance Lipscomb. He’s a great Texas songster. If you hadn’t heard of Mance Lipscomb, you should check him out and also check out his great style. He wears a lot of clashing stripes, and I like that.
VM: You look like a professional.
LWK: Thank you! I like to take my job really seriously as a professional, and I appreciate it when people dress up on stage. Your audience gets a sense of what you’re about when you take your appearance seriously. Every time I’m on stage, I try to think about what the audience is looking for while being yourself and being honest to you and your music. That’s what it’s about, is satisfying your audience and bringing something that’s valuable for them. If you’re just up there for yourself, then it’s really not that fun to watch.
VM: That’s a very humble attitude for a musician.
LWK: Thank you! I think it’s a really important thing to keep insight. Thank you!