Category: Interviews
Phone Chat with Flobots
Flobots emcee and vocalist Jamie Laurie recently agreed to spend a little phone time with me to talk about their new release, their tour, and their plans to record. I’ve generously embedded the video for the track below so that you can listen while you read our interview. Immerse yourself and enjoy.
VM: Where are y’all?
Jamie Laurie: We were just [in Georgia]. We are in Chicago.
VM: How is the tour going?
JL: It’s going good so far. We are getting close to done.
VM: You’ve got like a week left?
JL: Yeah. Five more shows and a lot of driving.
VM: Do you have a show tonight?
JL: Yeah. A show tonight in Chicago and tomorrow night in Cleveland. Then a day off in Milwaukee, Minneapolis. Then a day off in Kansas City.
VM: What are you doing on your day off? Just driving?
JL: Probably sleeping…it’s the best time to sleep.
VM: Have you had any sight-seeing chances?
JL: Yeah actually. We get a few hours each place to walk around for a little bit, but sometimes we go way out of the ordinary. Like we actually went to an oyster farm outside of New Haven. A friend of mine runs a sustainable seaweed and oyster farm. So we went out on a boat on the Thimble Islands and like ate oysters, had some tequila in the sunlight. It was pretty nice.
VM: Yeah that’s pretty cool. So is that the highlight?
JL: You know, the highlight may have been that. The rest of the tour, I forget. It’s just too long ago…I am sure I did something in California, but I can’t remember it. It’s all a blur.
VM: So what were you doing between [this tour and your previous tour]?
JL: We did a little bit of songwriting. Then we got back and pretty soon afterwards, and then it was the holidays.
VM: The line up has evolved a lot since formation…
JL: Well…I use to be in a solo thing called Onomatopoeia, but it wasn’t really a Flobots thing. We just used the Flobots website. Really the band started in 2005, and then Brer Rabbit and I were both in it then. Then pretty soon after that, it came to be Mackenzie, Jesse, and Kenny in it. It’s changed a little since then, but [it’s pretty much the same].
VM: So do you prefer touring to recording?
JL: I like them both a lot…we recorded a song that we just released called “Bradley Manning”. Personally I love songwriting, but I still love performing. They both are just really different experiences there. One of them is a lot of alone time, and the other one…you are with crowds of people every day. One can be social, and one is anti-social.
So, do you have anyone that you would really want to collaborate with?
JL: You know, I think the thing with collaborations is that you want to make sure you do them because the song calls for it. I actually…kinda had the experience where all these people you love are doing a song together, and you listen to the song and it sucks. And you’re like, ‘Man, I waited my whole life for them to collaborate, and the song is not good.’ And so I think it is important to make sure that first and foremost it is about what the song calls for. So, for us, yeah I am a hip hop guy but, when we were making that song ‘White Flag Warrior’ it was like the song asked for Jim from Rise Against, and we reached out to him, and he really brought the missing piece to the song, and so I know that collaboration was the right thing to do. So I think there are tons of artists I love that would be fun for me to collaborate with, but I think we try to put the song first.
VM: So I heard your van broke down?
JL: Yeah! How did you hear that?
VM: Just through coordinating this interview.
JL: Yeah, the transmission is no good. So now they are fixing it, and it just so happens that our tour schedule was really weird and has us going back to Cleveland today after Chicago. After we have already come that way, but it actually ended up being perfect, because we are basically backtracking, and we will be three hours away from where our van broke down.
VM: So how are you getting around now?
JL: We rented a minivan and a truck.
VM: So after this tour wraps up, what is next for y’all?
JL: Record songs.
VM: Have you written them already?
JL: We have a lot of ideas on the whole themes of the songs, and we just have to water them and give them the proper sunlight and let them grow into beautiful new plants.
VM: Sweet! Well thank you for talking to me!
JL: Absolutely, thank you for taking the time. Thanks for caring!
Pre-show Chat with Pretty & Nice
I was recently hanging out with Pretty & Nice before their show at Flicker Bar in Athens, GA. And because I love you guys, I recorded our conversation. Go ahead and listen to us talk about their current album, their awesome merch, and their future plans.
And then go ahead and listen to their newest release, Golden Rules for Golden People, streaming below.
Finally, to P&N – thanks for the poster! All up on my wall!
On the Lawn with pacificUV
We met up with pacificUV before their show at the 40 Watt in Athens, GA. Looking for a quiet place to interview, we ended up crashing the lawn of a frat house to talk about their new album, The Album Leaf remix, and upcoming tour. Enjoy!
In the Dark with Ryan Graveface
So I saw The Casket Girls at South by Southwest, and I kicked myself for not getting into them beforehand so that I could interview them there (dudes, you should see this band live. It’s quite an experience). Lucky for me, it wasn’t even two months later that they showed up in Athens to play at the Caledonia Lounge. I guess they believe in second chances.
I met up with CG member Ryan Graveface (yes, the same Ryan Graveface from Black Moth Super Rainbow), and we had ourselves a nice little interview (it is important to note that this interview took place in a stationary van that sits outside of the Caledonia Lounge and serves a backstage area…and the power was out, so we were completely in the pitch black dark for the duration…appropriate). So turn off your lights and have a listen.
Backstage with Deadstring Brothers
Listen up. I got to hang backstage with Nashville-by-way-of-Detroit-based Deadstring Brothers at their show at the 40 Watt, and now you get to listen in and pretend you were there.
They’ve been compared to 70’s-era Rolling Stones. They have been called a country band. They’ve been called a blues band. Whatever they are – I’d say a cocktail of all of the above – it works, and we are ready for more.
I sat down with Kurtis Marschke (the original Deadstring Brother) and J.D. Mack to talk about their new album, Cannery Row, as well as Nashville’s influence on their sound, their experience at South by Southwest, and their upcoming album and tour. So have a gander, and then go stalk their music.
SXSW with Hunters
Hunters was my last interview at SXSW, and I have to say, I couldn’t have asked for a better one. Because it was the last day after a long week of running around frantically like a headless chicken, I was feeling a little fried, and forming full coherent sentences was getting a little complicated (more than usual).
Fortunately for me, Izzy Almeida and Derek Watson – Hunters – are two of the chillest, most conversational interviews I got all week. To cut to the chase, these dudes are just plain cool (cheesy? Deal with it). It was one of those interviews that felt like just hanging out rather than firing questions and receiving formulated answers.
We found ourselves a quiet little place to sit and talk, and we had ourselves a nice little chat about their SXSW experience, their influences, and what is next for them.
If you haven’t listened to Hunters, you’re in for a treat. Be sure to check them out. The duo has just signed to Mom+Pop and announced a tour with Bleached. So check out this interview, check out their tunes, and then be sure to hit up their tour.
VM: So, [how has it been at SXSW?].
Izzy: I’ve been having a lot of fun, even though I’m super sick – I have horrible allergies, I can barely breathe and I have no voice. But I’m still having a lot of fun!
VM: How has the audience response been?
Izzy: It’s been great, actually, yeah. I think it’s been a good opportunity to meet more people and see a bunch of bands. And it’s nice out and we’re coming from New York – it’s so cold there, so I’m enjoying it.
Derek: We’ve been running into friends in other bands, you know, all playing in one place…
Izzy: And you play some pretty weird shows, like playing after a rap group, and it doesn’t make any sense, but somehow the crowd’s into it and you’re like, ‘okay, cool!’
VM: It’s a really mixed crowd, but it’s fun. It keeps you on your toes, you know? So do you have a favorite venue or show that you’ve played so far?
Derek: I think maybe Mohawk.
Izzy: That was fun, yeah.
Derek: I’m trying to think what else… it’s kind of all a blur… oh, no! The Gypsy! That was the best one.
Izzy: Oh yeah, the Gypsy was awesome; it was like a house party. It was really cool. It was really packed and small, really cool. It was really fun; I didn’t really have a voice, but it didn’t matter.
Derek: Yeah, there was one monitor, and it wasn’t really working, so we couldn’t really hear ourselves, but it made us feel comfortable. You know, it made us feel like we were doing something we always do, so yeah, that was probably the best one.
VM: So I read you met at your job, and then you never went back.
Derek: It was a horrible job. It was one of those things were you’re in New York and you have to get a job quickly.
Izzy: It was definitely a temporary job, like, ‘okay, I’ll do this for now, and then I’ll go find something else,’ you know, but then we found each other. That’s really cheesy.
Derek: Wow. You should write Hallmark cards.
Izzy: I do actually, that’s what I do on tour!
Derek: That’s her next job! She just comes up with different cards and then sends them into Hallmark (laughs).
VM: So, did you find your sound the first time you ever played together?
Izzy: No, it was really weird and easy for some reason. I don’t know why. Well, I think the reason why is we had an adventure, playing together…we had talked about music before and had a lot of similar tastes and backgrounds.
VM: You’ve been compared to the Stooges and Sonic Youth. Do you like that comparison – do you think that’s accurate?
Derek: I don’t know if it’s accurate, but it’s nice. I mean, those bands are awesome.
VM: Izzy – I read that you’d had a bunch of bands in your head since you were a kid. Was it always the same genre?
Izzy: Oh, when I was way younger, it was really cheesy stuff, like…it’s embarrassing. But then when I started getting more into rock and stuff, that’s when I started trying to write rock songs, but they were really bad because I was really young. I still remember them because, wow, they were awful. They’re going to the grave with me (laughs).
VM: No sharing?
Izzy: No way. It’s definitely one of those secrets you have to keep.
Derek: And I think maybe the Sonic Youth thing comes up, because we use tunings for our guitars and stuff, so maybe in that way I could hear it. And, you know, since it was a guy and a girl, I think people gravitate toward stuff like that automatically. In that way it makes sense.
Izzy: The Stooges and Sonic Youth were definitely a big influence for me, especially coming from Brazil where it was hard to find out about bands. So for me finding out about the Stooges and Sonic Youth was already a huge thing, like, ‘oh my God, I found it!’ And there was a scene in Rio that knew about those bands, but I wasn’t part of it. Like, my brothers and sisters were listening to stuff that’s just not good, and I was just trying to find stuff out on my own, you know?
Derek: Yeah, and they’re really good intro bands, bands that you can start to dig with.
VM: So how did you get put in touch with Nick from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to mix you?
Derek: We just knew him from around, and the timing was just such that they were on a break – like they had just finished touring, and they were kind of taking a break to sort of regroup and have a little time for themselves – and he was down; he was like, ‘oh, I’m kind of interested in doing stuff with you.’ And we didn’t have any money, so for someone to offer to do it for free was kind of, you know, from the heavens. No matter who would’ve asked us we would’ve said yes, to be honest. It was just a really lucky situation. And he was super cool about going back and forth with mixes and stuff like that, so that worked out really well.
VM: Wow, that’s awesome. So, [Izzy] what was it the Village Voice said? Did you read that? They said that when you’re on stage, you’re the world’s most rhythmic stroke victim.
Izzy: I feel like that makes sense actually, because sometimes when I see a video of a show or something, I feel like I’m just not even in rhythm, like I don’t even know what’s happening. I think it’s funny; it’s cool. I don’t care.
VM: So I know we’ve talked about your favorite show, but who’s your favorite person that you’ve seen at SXSW?
Izzy: I haven’t been going to that many shows, because I’ve been so sick!
Derek: Wow, I’ve seen a bunch. Believe it or not, I think Riff Raff was kind of awesome. I wasn’t expecting that. I wanted to see the dude from Hawkwind – he was doing Space Ritual, but I couldn’t go – I think we were playing at the same time. That was kind of a bummer. We saw Pangea and FIDLAR – that was good. We saw like a song of Bleached.
VM: Aren’t you touring with them?
Derek: Yeah, almost as soon as we get back we’re leaving.
Izzy: Yeah, we’re recording and then we’re going on tour.
Derek: It’s hard to say though, I feel like you just see so many things here. I might wanna see Waka Flocka tonight, if that’s possible. It’s like a guilty pleasure.
VM: Do you wanna see JT (laughs)?
Derek: Oh, is that tonight? I didn’t have any plans to do that, but that could be kind of funny. Where is that?
VM: Is that that MySpace secret show or something?
Derek: Oh yeah, doesn’t he do MySpace now or something? They’re like revamping it or something?
VM: Yeah, every time I hear about MySpace now it’s associated with him.
Izzy: Maybe it’s an urban legend or something, because I don’t know how I found out about that, but that’s all I hear.
Derek: Yeah, it’s like I think of them together, which is weird, because I haven’t thought about that website in so long.
VM: So, you’re touring, and then are you coming up with anything new?
Derek: Yeah, we’re finishing our record as soon as we get back. We’ve got a bunch of days where we’ll finish up everything. I think we record the day after we get back, so we’ll be nice and refreshed for that, right (laughs)? But yeah, we record for a bunch of days, and then we leave a few days after that to go on tour with Bleached, and then we’re out with those guys until the end of April… and then we’re back, and then we have another tour after that.
VM: And you’re coming to Atlanta?
Derek: Yeah! Are you gonna come?
VM: Yeah, I’m from Athens, which is right there.
Derek: Oh, that’s pretty close?
VM: Yeah, it’s like an hour, so we’ll be there.
Derek: I’m not sure where we’re playing but…
VM: The Earl.
Izzy: Oh, I’ve been there before, it’s fun, I like it!
Derek: Oh, that’s cool. Yeah, we played the Drunken Unicorn there once, and the Masquerade.
VM: Did you play upstairs there, or…?
Izzy: Yeah, upstairs.
VM: Yeah, the Masquerade has Heaven, Purgatory, Hell…
Derek: So we were Heaven-sent? But the backstage was like Hell. It felt like jail, like a holding cell…
Izzy: It was like a green room, for real – everything was green.
Derek: Yeah, it had a high ceiling, but there were no windows, and there were these really weird, greasy chairs. It was fine. I mean, it was actually really funny. I actually liked the stage there. You could really get to the audience.
VM: Yeah, that’s cool. The floor though, if you’re in the audience, I always feel like I’m gonna fall through. It freaks me out every time.
Derek: Yeah, that’s kind of scary.
VM: Well, cool, we’ll see you in Atlanta then!
SXSW with PEACE
You’ve probably heard of PEACE by now. This British quartet are making serious waves in the music world, and we can’t get enough of them. They’ve been called the future of indie rock – although, as you’ll see in this interview, they don’t consider themselves to be “indie.” Either way, they are “the future of something.”
I was able to catch up with them for a few minutes after a morning showcase at South by Southwest to talk a little bit about what drives the music, their boredom, and who they enjoyed most at SXSW.
They are men of few words, but honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way. They are the perfect caricatures of true rockstars- they give the impression that they genuinely don’t care, and it’s not a facade. They prefer to let their music speak for them. PEACE is a group of musicians, and they don’t feel the need to be anything else.
Their album, In Love, just dropped yesterday, and we’ve already run through it several times. Be sure to check it out right after you check out this interview.
SXSW with The Staves
You can’t not love The Staves. As someone who is prone to more than my share of girl crushes (I’m talking about you, Sarah Balliet, Alice Glass, Carrie Brownstein, Missy Gilbert…), I gotta say…these ladies are awesome.
The Staves gained popularity in the US through their tours with The Civil Wars and Bon Iver, and they recently released their debut full length Dead & Born & Grown in November. And since it’s been on repeat on my iPod since it was introduced to me, I was super pumped for this interview.
I met up with Emily, Camilla, and Jessica Staveley-Taylor in the convention center in downtown Austin on the third day of SXSW. I was greeted with genuine friendliness and free chips and salsa (give me food, I will love you). After a little bit of chit-chat, we got our interview on. So go ahead and live variously through my hangout session with The Staves. Enjoy.
Vinyl Mag: I read that you grew up listening to Crosby, Stills & Nash and The Beatles, which is kinda what I grew up with, because my mom was always listening to it. So, how does that effect your writing? Does that have an influence on you?
Camilla: Yeah, it definitely does in terms of the structure, vocal arrangements and stuff of The Beatles and Crosby, Still & Nash. When you think harmonies, you think Crosby, Stills & Nash more than The Beatles. But The Beatles have amazing harmonies, amazing arrangements, backing vocals, lines…I think that influenced us a lot.
VM: So, this is just a pattern that I noticed. I don’t know if it’s coincidence or not, but you’re playing St. David’s and then you’re playing St. Mary’s, and then you’re playing – what is it, St. James? Is that just me noticing a pattern or is that a thing?
Jessica: We are very holy people. We like to think of ourselves as the Holy Trinity. We always try and play saintly locations.
Emily: I hadn’t realized that there were so many churches.
Camilla: We should do like a saints tour.
VM: I was like, that can’t be a coincidence, but apparently it is.
Jessica: St. David’s here we played last year, and it was like the highlight of the week for us, so we’re really excited to play there again. It was so cool.
VM: So, you’re all sisters?
Camilla, Jessica, Emily: Yes.
VM: So how does that [work for you]?
Jessica: It’s definitely not [the normal sibling dynamic], but it works for us though. We get along really well; we always have. We always hung out together at home and had a shared group of friends and shared tastes, so it was never like a question really. We work well as a band, so we always have so much fun together.
VM: So what are your ages?
Jessica: (Points to Emily) She’s the eldest, I’m the middle, and she’s the baby (points to Camilla). Can I just say that?
Camilla: We’re all 21.
Emily: Yeah, we’re all 21.
VM: So you’ve toured with bands like The Civil Wars; how was that?
Jessica, Camilla: Great!
Camilla: It was really fun. That was like our first US tour, so it was really cool…mostly in the south. We were on the tour bus with them, and that was like a whole experience in itself. It was like ‘ah it’s our bus’ it was so cool!
Emily: I don’t know; it really felt like one big family. We didn’t have anyone with us…like, we didn’t have a band; we didn’t have a manger or anything, so it was just like us in there – such a small little unit.
Jessica: We just kinda said, ‘do you have room in your bus? Can we come on with you?’ Otherwise we’d have to drive a car, and they were like, ‘yeah, come on with us!’. Which is really nice of them…luckily for them we were really cool (laughs), and they were really cool.
Emily: It was lovely. We got to play some cool places.
Jessica: And we played here at the Paramount.
Emily: Yeah, it was crazy.
VM: So do you think crowds or fans are different here in the US than in the UK? What are the differences?
Emily: I don’t know. I think audiences are different, like [there are] ifferent audiences depending on who you are playing to…I don’t know if there is a huge cultural variety. Back in the UK, I guess our experience has been that Americans have been more instantly vocal with their reaction.
Jessica: On that tour with The Civil Wars…[the American audience] would just be like so friendly as we were on stage. They’d be like, ‘you guys are great!’
Camilla: ‘Welcome to Texas!’
Jessica: It was just so nice. I think maybe English crowds are a bit more reserved.
VM: So do y’all all write, or does one person do the writing?
Camilla: We kinda take turns.
Emily: Some songs will be more one person than the others, and some songs I couldn’t really remember who wrote which line. It’s just kind of all three of us. It depends on a lot of things. When we first started, not living in the same place, there were quite a few miles between us, so we would write individually and then come together and as we learned the parts of each others songs, they’d change and become a ‘Staves’ song rather than like a ‘Jess’ song…it’s basically pretty collaborative.
VM: So you just released your debut album, Dead & Born & Grown. How did you come up with the name?
Jessica: Well it’s title track. It’s one of the songs on the album, so we called the record that because that song was one of the first songs we’d ever written together years ago…so it was kinda the beginning of everything, so it’s got a really special place for us. It’s got a really nice..what’s the word…
Camilla: It’s got everything from the beginning to now…so it’s kind of like a compilation of everything – some of them were written knowing we would make an album and needed more songs, and some of them we’ve had written for ages, so it’s sort of like a ‘best of’…
Jessica: (Laughs) We were gonna call it like the ‘Greatest Hits’ but we thought maybe that wasn’t the best title for it.
Camilla: ‘Best of the Staves!’ (laughs)
Emily: We just saw someone while we were trying to cross the road, and we were waiting for the lights and this guy in front of us just started walking, so I started following him, and he just turned around and said, ‘don’t follow me – I’m drunk!’ And sure enough cars just kept passing ahead, and I thought that would be a quite good album title.
Jessica: (laughs) ‘Don’t Follow Me, I’m Drunk.’
VM: So I’m getting an exclusive preview for your next album title.
Jessica: (jokingly) Oh, yeah- we’re always inspired by everything around us.
VM: So The Guardian compared you to Mumford & Sons. How do you feel about that?
Jessica: I think that Mumford & Sons fans would be very disappointed if they bought our album. Especially bangers. No bangers on there.
VM: I’m actually not a huge Mumford & Sons person, so that was kind of a surprising thing for me too. It just seemed a little random.
Emily: It’s strange, because then people put Laura Marling and Mumford & Sons in the same category. They’re so different..like what? I think it’s just because they come from the same time, and they are kind of in the same group of people, but musically, I don’t get it.
Jessica: I think because Mumford have done so well there is kind of like an umbrella term for those types of bands – which we’re happy to be under. They’re great, and it’s always great when there’s a band that gets the success it has, and it kind of opens the door for people that are doing harmonies and playing acoustic guitars…something that’s not super pop or R&B. We’ve been doing this for so long, we’ve always listened those records like The Beatles and Crosby, Still & Nash, and for a long time that wasn’t cool. We were just kind of rattling around at home loving that music, but no one else was really into it. It seems like now there’s a real awareness I think of that whole thing. So bands like that have done a really good job. It’s cool.
VM: So who are you most looking forward to seeing?
Camilla: Alt J. Really wanna see them.
Emily: Mikhael Paskalev.
Camilla: Mikhael Paskalev, yeah. Make sure you get a chance to see him.
Jessica: I don’t know who else is playing!
Camilla: It’s so tricky when you’re playing. You [know that there are] all those people that you want to see, but it’s quite hard to actually find time to get to the places.
VM: How many shows are you playing here?
Camilla: I think it’s three. Not like a horrendous amount.
Emily: And then there’s like a session or so.
VM: So what is next for you after SXSW?
Jessica: After this, we go home and we do some laundry, sleep for a bit, and then we’re going to go on a UK tour…so yeah, that short run around the UK and the rest of Europe, and then we’re going to come over here in May and do our first headline tour in the US, which is May into June, which is really exciting.
VM: Are you coming to Georgia?
Jessica: I hope so!
Camilla: I don’t think the routing is 100 percent finished yet.
Emily: Every time I see it, it’s changed.
Camilla: If not, we’ll probably be kind of close by. I think it’s going to be a short tour, like six weeks or something.
Jessica: Your country is massive. Touring at home is like two weeks, max. You scratch the surface each time in America, which is kinda the exciting thing about it.
SXSW with Parenthetical Girls
On day three of SXSW, I was privileged (yes…Privilege-d…get it?) to be able to meet with Zac Pennington from Parenthetical Girls. Play on words, yes, but no less a true statement. Parenthetical Girls are an experimental-pop group from Oregon who have an eclectic style and dabble in everything from orchestral to electronic elements. After running into (and then conquering) my usual navigational challenges, I connected with after the band’s show at Old Emo’s, where I was able to get the scoop on important topics ranging from Taylor Swift to conceptual influences. Intrigued? Read on. Because you know you want to……
Vinyl Mag: How was the set?
Zac Pennington: It went really well; we had some technical problems, but that’s to be expected.
VM: Right on. How many shows have you played so far?
ZP: This is our third, and we have two more. Tomorrow [Friday] we have off, and then two on Saturday.
VM: Why the transition from Swastika Girls to Parenthetical Girls?
ZP: That name was pretty short-lived. We had that name for a couple of months and essentially just decided against it. It was more of a burden to bear than I had liked to have. It was just difficult, because I didn’t care enough about it to have to defend it all the time.
VM: Have you been to/played a SXSW before?
ZP: We came one other time a few years ago- I guess it was in 2008. We kind of took a long break from it- it was just too much. I can imagine it would be really nice as a spectator.
VM: I can’t imagine how exhausting it must be- even just the drive from Oregon must have been brutal.
ZP: SXSW landed in the middle of a little tour we’re doing throughout the US, so it’s been broken up, at least.
VM: Oh okay. So where’s next?
ZP: We’re going to Dallas and then heading northward to Birmingham and Atlanta, and then up the east coast.
VM: Do you prefer to be touring or is it just par for the course?
ZP: I like it. It’s nice to tour; otherwise I often feel like I’m not doing enough. When you’re touring, its all that you can do, and you spend all of your time doing that one thing, so there’s no option to get distracted from it.
VM: Have you had any favorite sets that you’ve caught so far?
ZP: To be honest, I haven’t seen a lot so far. Last night we played with the band Maserati; I didn’t catch it, but Paul (drummer) caught it and said it was one of the greatest shows he’s seen in years. There is this band called Austra that I’m a big fan of and really want to see. I would also love to see Nick Cave, but I think that’s probably not going to happen.
VM: So, Privilege Is Over released February 19th– how have the fans responded thus far?
ZP: Fairly well. It’s an interesting project; a lot of the material that’s on the album – I guess all of it – has been released in some form or another. We started this project by doing a series of 12” EPs. Its been interesting. For the people who follow us really closely, they’re kind of already familiar with the material. It’s a condensed version of works as an individual piece for people, but also, ideally for people who maybe haven’t been involved with us so much. Its an easier thing to consume as a listener.
VM: How did the idea of Privilege the series come about?
ZP: We made an album in 2008 called Entanglement that was an orchestral-pop album; we recorded it with an orchestra, and it took a really long time and was really labor-intensive. So, we decided that didn’t want to take that long to make another album, and we tend to take kind of a long time, and so the idea of making shorter statement was kind of pragmatic. Also, I feel it was a way for us to try a bunch of different thing that maybe we wouldn’t have felt comfortable doing if we were making a whole album.
VM: Who or what influenced the idea of Privilege and the fictional-characteristic concept?
PG: The idea of Privilege is a vast and wide idea that means a lot of things. In the case of this album, most explicitly, the easiest way to relate it would be monetary privilege. Generally, though, class affects everything in our culture, whatever that fundamentally even means.
VM: Who do you draw your influences from musically; who are you into right now?
PG: A lot of the things that inspire us are not particularly contemporary, but I guess for contemporary stuff….I do really like that band Austra. My favorite current band is a band called Planningtorock. But a lot of the stuff that we listen to is less rock and more electronic-pop. I listen to a lot of contemporary radio-pop, though. I listen to a lot of Taylor Swift. Who doesn’t? She’s killing it everywhere.
VM: Explain the concept behind ‘Curtains’ (the video).
PG: Well, that song was the last song on the album of the entire series, and it’s kind of an epitaph for the whole project, so I really wanted to make a literal Viking-burial. Initially, I wanted to have a public hanging, but I couldn’t figure out how to do it cheaply. With this, all I had to do was buy a boat so we could set it on fire- it was a lot easier and less expensive than you’d think. It was just a nice farewell to the project, and in some ways it was like a eulogy to Parenthetical Girls as it was.
VM: How do you choose your album artwork and any artwork that represents the band?
PG: I’m a really big fan of commercial illustration, so for all of the records, I’ve commissioned pieces from illustrators that I really like. A lot of the stuff that we make is actually Amber who plays the keyboard; she hasn’t done one of our album covers yet, but she does a lot of the other illustrations.
VM: What are your plans for 2013 as a whole? What will you be working on next?
PG: We’re continuing to tour for the first half of the year. We’ve been working on some new material, but nothing that is really definable yet. We’re hoping to put out a new album much more quickly than we have [in the past]. We hope to have one out by next year, but we also take longer than we anticipate, so who knows.
SXSW with Ginger & The Ghost
Ginger & The Ghost is one of my absolute favorite South by Southwest finds.
Not only were they some of the most friendly, personable people I’ve gotten to talk to, but they are also enormously talented. Seeing them perform live feels like a privilege, almost as if the audience is being granted an exclusive chance to view them in their natural habitat. Usually I feel the overwhelming urge to sing along when I see a live show – this is one of the only ones I have seen that made me want to hush and unblinkingly observe the artists in front of me.
Missy (“Ginger”)’s voice is not of this world, and as you listen to her, you can’t help but think that she was made for this…actually hand crafted to be doing exactly what you see and hear. Her talent is real.
Dan, “The Ghost,” manifests himself in a way that perfectly befits his title. He stands beside Missy with a ghostlike omnipresence, but that by no means implies that he fades into the background. He seems to be haunting the stage as he plays, and he is undeniably felt.
Only Ginger & The Ghost could make an audience forget that they are in a small, unassuming bar in the middle of 6th Street in Austin, Texas and transport them into an otherworldly galaxy (one that I’m eager to return to).
So there you have it. Amazing band. Awesome people. So before you bolt off and scoop up their EP (which came out March 15!!), go ahead and check out this interview first!