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Announcements and such

2010-05-11T12:43:00.000-07:00

From now on I will no longer be contributing to The Music Pirate. I had so much fun writing for the blog over the past 8 months or so, but they've decided to give posting access only to students who also write for the campus newspaper and unfortunately I don't have the time to commit myself to both publications. I wish them the best and hope TMP continues to provide readers with awesome interviews, reviews, and content.

As for me, summer's just around the corner and I plan on seeing more shows, taking more videos, and writing more reviews (even if the only place they get published is here). I have a few other projects developing as well, so I'll be sure to keep you all updated.

x

A Fortuitous Story

2010-05-01T15:15:00.000-07:00

About a year ago I went to a restaurant with my friend Liz for lunch. Before leaving, I saw that the front desk had a bowl of fortune cookies out for customers to take. As I reached into the bowl, a single thought crossed through my mind: I HATE opening a fortune cookie and getting a lame, generic, unwanted phrase. Something like "Don't Worry. Be Happy." that leaves you feeling like you got nothing out of the experience (and yes, opening a fortune cookie should be an experience). So, quite selfishly, I decided to take two cookies out of the bowl in case one cookie provided me with a less than satisfactory fortune.

Liz and I headed out to her car and I proceeded to take the first cookie out of its packaging and crack it open. Now, let me preface this by saying nothing like this has ever happened to me. It may be the most ironic situation I've ever experienced. I pulled out the thin piece of paper from my cookie and it read:

WTF!!!!! I could not stop laughing. I was completely in disbelief. After seeing these words emerge from my first cookie, I turned to Liz and said "my second cookie better have the greatest fortune ever in it or I will seriously hit someone."

Now, you can imagine the tension was building. I took the second cookie out of its wrapper and hoped that I would find what I was looking for. I pulled the next fortune out of its shell and smiled as I read:

YESSS. Possibly the most fulfilling fortune I have ever received from a restaurant cookie. I've kept both these fortunes with me in my wallet ever since to remind me of two things: how funny life's coincidences are, and how staying focused on my goals will take me where I want to be.

So there you have it. A hopefully entertaining short story for your Saturday afternoon.

Side note: My review of Vampire Weekend's show at The Fox Theater is up on The Music Pirate and all of Flavia's photos from the night are on TMP's flickr account.

Coachella Day 3

2010-04-20T11:23:00.000-07:00

Sunday April 18th was one of the best days of my life. Got to the venue around 2 and headed straight to the outdoor stage, determined to get a spot at the barrier for Thom Yorke (who is my favorite artist in the universe). Owen Pallet was the first act I saw. He was great, and he has the best laugh ever.

Deerhunter was next and they really impressed me. They had some power issues so while the guys were waiting for that to be fixed, Brad Cox made up an impromptu song about Coachella 2010 and I snagged the whole thing on video.

When Deerhunter finished I bolted to the barrier and secured my spot for Thom Yorke. Sunny Day Real Estate followed. They were decent but probably not something I'd listen to again. Jonsi's performance was fantastic. I absolutely loved him. He was wearing the coolest jacket ever and his voice was incredible. Plus his bassist is one of the cutest boys alive.

By the time Phoenix took the stage the crowd had really grown. Everyone started pushing and shoving and I thought my body might break in half. Not to mention I had been standing since 2pm waiting for Thom to take the stage. Didn't eat, didn't sit down once, but it was completely worth it in the end. Phoenix was amazing and during their set Jay Z, Beyonce, Kate Hudson and Solange all came to the photo pit right next to me to watch. I took video of Phoenix performing Lisztomania and filmed a bit of the aforementioned people rocking out. I don't actually remember filming them (I feel kind of bad for doing it now) but it was pretty cool that they were so close.

During Phoenix's performance, Thomas Mars ran to the barrier and jumped right on top of me. Everyone around me freaked out.

Phoenix finished and then began the hour and half wait for Thom Yorke and Atoms For Peace. By this time I was so exhausted I didn't know how I was going to stay up front, but the crowd pushed so hard that I couldn't have left anyway. When Atoms For Peace finally took the stage I couldn't believe how close I was. I took 13 videos before my camera died. Still can't comprehend that I was there.

Thom Yorke is indescribable. Something I'll never forget. Now all I need to do is see Radiohead play live and my life will be complete!

Coachella was such a great experience, despite the disaster that was Friday. I'm definitely going to try to go again next year. Totally worth the money and the physical pain haha.

Coachella Day 2

2010-04-20T08:38:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning, Chloe and Flavia called a taxi and headed back to the venue to search for Flavia's car. They found it about an hour after they left parked on a dirt mound somewhere. Once I heard the car had been located I knew the rest of Coachella would be amazing.

I got in to the venue around 2:30 and headed over to see Portugal. The Man. They sounded great. After they finished I made my way to the barrier for Girls.

Loved their set. Christopher Owens waltzed on stage wearing bright red lipstick and blue eyeshadow and looked like a total babe doing it. After Girls was over, I immediately headed to the outdoor stage with the goal of making it to the barrier for MGMT later that night. First up was The Temper Trap who had a good sized crowd

Next up was one of my favorite bands of all time: Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros. I managed to weave my way to the middle of the pack during Temper Trap, but couldn't get any closer during ESMZ.

Before they started, Alex Ebert accidentally knocked a microphone stand off the stage and hit a photographer in the head. The photog started bleeding and Alex said something along the lines of "Oh, I'm so sorry. You're a real hero man" before taking his shirt off and wrapping it around the guy's head like a bandage.

Edward Sharpe finished up and I continued pushing my way towards the front. The xx played next and they sounded great but were kind of boring. I think their music would probably translate better in a more intimate venue. During The xx's set, the Coachella stage caught fire and after finishing a song, Oliver Sim looked out towards the stage and said "the roof is on fire." I laughed.

Following The xx was Hot Chip. The crowd literally went insane. I thought I was going to suffocate.

Tried to take some video but it's mostly just some guy's head in front of me. When it was finally time for MGMT there was no way I could make it any closer to the front. I ended up around 5 to 7 people back, which was impressive considering the crowd they drew. Took six videos:

Time To Pretend, Electric Feel, and It's Working are on my youtube channel. I was being pummeled by the crowd and it was disastrous trying to keep the camera focused, but I think the sound came out okay. Also got some mediocre photos:

MGMT was great. By the time they were finished I was so exhausted I thought my body was going to disintegrate. I found my friends and we all headed over to the giant origami crane structure, sat down, and listened to the end of Muse and the beginning of Tiesto

Someone commented on this video and said it looked like a spaceship landing hahaha.

That about sums up Day 2.

Coachella Day 1

2010-04-19T22:34:00.000-07:00

Day one of Coachella was more like CoacHELLa for me. I left for Indio on Friday with 3 of my friends around 1 pm for what was supposed to be a roughly 2 and a half hour drive, but at 8pm we were still stuck in bumper to bumper traffic and had not reached the venue. My friend Chloe and I decided to get out of the car and walk 2 miles to the concert, and by the time we got in it was already 9 o'clock. I managed to see the end of Imogen Heap and all of Fever Ray's set, which was what I was most excited for on Friday anyway.

I got a decent spot near the stage and took 5 videos, the last of which was what seems to be a new song. *EDIT: It's a cover of Peter Gabriel's Mercy Street. Thank you to cstreeterut for figuring that out for me* Also spotted Will Berman and Matt Asti from MGMT watching in the photo pit for a few seconds before being ushered away by security.

After Fever Ray's performance things only got worse for me and my friends. Chloe and I never found the other two girls we came with, who had parked the car and then lost it. I ended up having to pay $90 (Chloe paid an additional $30) to have a random woman drive us back to our hotel which was about 25 minutes away.

So, Day 1 was kind of a bust. I am happy to report however that Days 2 and 3 were pretty much the best days of my life. More on that later.

Last night in (Vampire Weekend) videos...

2010-04-15T16:55:00.000-07:00

Last night I finally left my house and saw a live show. Vampire Weekend played at The Fox Theater in Pomona, CA along with Abe Vigoda and not only did I manage to snag a spot by the barrier, but I also got my best friend Flavia hooked up with a photo pass, so expect some cool shots to be posted soon!

Flavia and I got to the venue around 7:30 and the line was insane. I've never seen a line so long. I swear it wrapped around two buildings...

Once in the venue, Flavia and I headed to the front of the stage and she tested out her camera during the opener.

Abe Vigoda was alright, although they had some sound issues and the mics were definitely too low. I didn't take any video of them, but I did take one of Flavia dancing to their music.

Vampire Weekend came on to a thunderous applause. I've never listened to much of their music, but I have to say they really impresed me. Ezra Koenig's voice was pretty much impeccable during the night and the band had great chemistry together.

"It's gotta be funky. Not Baja Fresh, more Del Taco, know what I mean?"

I love the end of this next video. The crowd had so much energy which made the show infinitely better. The whole place was shaking.

They 'closed' with Oxford Comma...

But then came out for 3 encore songs, the last of which was Walcott.

I took 19 videos of Vampire Weekend total which proves two things: 1) I am insane and 2) Vampire Weekend played the longest set ever.

You can read my official review of Vampire Weekend's show at the Fox Theater on The Music Pirate HERE

Tomorrow I'm heading to Coachella and I'm planning on taking lots more video. Excited beyond words.

The Growlers Interview

2010-02-07T21:16:00.000-08:00

Somehow I forgot to post about an interview I did back in October with the Costa Mesa, Calif. based band The Growlers. These guys were tons of fun to hang out with and even let us film their practice session in their home studio. You can check out the interview on TMP HERE

The videos from The Growlers' practice session are up on TMP's youtube channel and we also took pictures of The Growlers' home studio, which you can see on TMP's flickr account.

xx

COACHELLA 2010

2010-01-22T12:29:00.000-08:00

HERE I COME!!!

New stuff

2010-01-17T13:19:00.000-08:00

Hello!

I have a new YouTube channel. I decided it was time for a more sophisticated username (being that my previous one was derived from an email I made in the 7th grade) but unfortunately YouTube doesn't let you change usernames without making a new account. So, from now on all my videos will be posted here:

http://www.youtube.com/eszterzimanyi

I've added the new channel to the links section of the blog as well. No videos up yet, but hopefully I'll be seeing some shows again soon.

Wolf In A Spacesuit to release limited edition vinyl

2010-01-12T12:51:00.000-08:00

Wolf In A Spacesuit are releasing two singles, Bark of a Cedar and I Fee Nthg, on white vinyl through Hi-Scores Recording Library. The limited edition vinyl will be available in February but you can pre-order a copy now HERE . There are only 500 copies available, so if you're a lover of vinyl be sure to send in your order!

According to the Hi-Scores Recording Library website, Wolf In A Spacesuit are also scheduled to play a show at Piano's in Brooklyn, NY on Feb. 25th. The show will be part of a Hi-Scores Recording Library showcase.

You can read my review of Wolf In A Spacesuit's debut EP, Pomegranate Stationary, HERE or read my interview with the wolves THIS WAY.

Last night in videos!

2009-12-15T16:12:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I saw a live show, but last night I made my way to LA's The Mayan to see one of my all time favorite bands: Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros. It was possibly the best experience I have ever had at a concert in my life.

Las Cafeteras opened the show. They were nothing less than fabulous. The seven members, comprised of three girls and four boys, played traditional music from southern Mexico and not only sang and played instruments but also tap danced. I wish I could have gotten video of the dancing because it was amazing, but I didn't have enough room on my camera's memory card.

Fools Gold came next. They were loud, energetic, and fun. I had seen frontman Luke Top's solo shows twice before, but I have to say seeing him with such a large backing band was really a treat. The saxophonist was awesome, and he also played the flute during the show. It's nice to see some 'classical' instruments involved in contemporary music.

Some of the guys from Edward Sharpe came out during Fools Gold's closing song. So fun.

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros are truly indescribable, but I'm going to try to do them justice with written words. All I can really say is their energy, joy, and love is tangible and radiates through to the entire audience no matter how close or far they are from the stage. They sound impeccable live and it is impossible to stop smiling throughout their set.

During the show, I met an awesome guy named Aaron. Turns out he's friends with the band, and after the second or third song, one of Edward Sharpe's crew came out and handed him fifteen wristbands to give to whomever he wanted. I still can't believe he gave one to me....

Because Aaron gave me a wristband, I (along with 14 other lucky kids) got to go on stage during the encore and dance. It was a once in a lifetime experience and I will forever be grateful that I got the chance to share the stage with my idols.

My mom miraculously managed to use my camera correctly, and captured this endearing and hilarious moment. Alex tried to sit on a sound moniter and almost fell off the stage. So great.

It's impossible to figure out how to put last night into eloquent wording for a show review....but I hope the videos are decent enough to speak for themselves. I have more on my youtube account HERE.

Precious Movie Review

2009-12-02T19:12:00.001-08:00

Recently, I reviewed the move "Precious: Based on the novel 'Push' by Sapphire" for The Coast Report. Unfortunately, it was edited down due to space issues...but you can read it HERE if you're interested.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Review

2009-11-16T21:54:00.000-08:00

The next installment of the “Twilight” movie series will premiere Friday and tickets are already selling out. The Twilight franchise saw 30 million people buy tickets to the first movie, and over 70 million copies of the Twilight books have been sold.

It's no wonder then that the executives behind the Twilight movies hired famous music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas (the brains behind the music selections for TV shows like The O.C., Gossip Girl, and Grey's Anatomy) to oversee the soundtracks to the four films.

Read the rest of my review of the Twilight: New Moon Soundtrack on The Music Pirate!

Technology and such

2009-11-12T13:05:00.000-08:00

"When I was a kid, I was obsessed with dinosaurs. I remember taking paintbrushes with me to the playground and sitting in the dirt looking for fossils.

I would spend days digging holes and brushing aside the sand, convinced that, one day, I would find the complete skeleton of a T-Rex and be the most celebrated 4 year old in town..."

Above is an excerpt of a commentary I recently wrote on how advancements in technology have changed the way children play and interact with others. It's in print in this week's Coast Report and also online HERE.

Next I'll be writing a review of the Twilight: New Moon soundtrack.

Stay tuned....

Dia de Los Muertos

2009-10-28T18:29:00.000-07:00

I recently wrote an article on the traditional Mexican holiday Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead). I also took the picture that was published with the story. It's pretty neat. You should check it out.

Read my article online HERE.

Last night in videos

2009-10-25T10:42:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to the Echoplex with my boss Lucas and his girlfriend Carly to see Flosstradamus and Kid Sister.

Totally Michael opened the show. He was hilarious. Great energy, fun songs.

Flosstradamus DJ'd next. They played a great mix of hip-hop, house music, and some disco-ey stuff.

I wasn't really expecting to hear Empire of the Sun or Lykke Li, both of which they spun, so that was a nice surprise. Flosstradamus definitely likes to mix things up.

Kid Sister (who is actually the older sister of Josh from Flosstradamus) closed the show. Josh stayed on stage and rapped with her which was cool. She also had these two dancers who were intense!

Before this song, Josh said that Kid Sister's album was dropping on November 11th. It actually comes out November 17th, so she teased him by asking him when her birthday is. Now we all know. July 3rd folks.

You can see all my videos from the show last night on The Music Pirate's official YouTube page HERE: http://www.youtube.com/themusicpirateTV

Flosstradamus Interview

2009-10-22T21:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had the chance to sit in on my boss/editor/friend Lucas's phone interview with Curtis Cameruci from Flosstradamus! I got to ask a few questions of my own, and even suggested something to Curtis that got a response of "that is actually a really good idea."

Check it out HERE

We're catching Flosstradamus at The Echo this Saturday and planning on taking some exclusive video so stay tuned!

Side note: the lovely Vuk (who I saw open for Fever Ray earlier this month) plugged my blog on her facebook page! She is the sweetest.

New article in The Coast Report

2009-10-21T21:35:00.000-07:00

I recently wrote a review on the new Spike Jonze / Dave Eggers movie "Where the Wild Things Are."

You can find it on The Coast Report's website HERE

I didn't give it a good review though, so if you haven't seen the movie, be warned. Either way it's there if you're curious.

xoxo

It's been less than 24 hours...

2009-10-20T10:52:00.000-07:00

...since The Music Pirate posted our interview with Wolf in a Spacesuit and already women are fighting over those mysterious and intriguing canines (and by women, I really mean myself and Anneliese).

hahaha so funny.

Wolf in a Spacesuit Interview

2009-10-19T18:13:00.000-07:00

So last Tuesday I got the chance to interview two of the three members of Wolf in a Spacesuit. It's the first interview ever they've ever done! Check it out on The Music Pirate HERE

Fever Ray at The Glass House

2009-10-11T19:57:00.000-07:00

Check out my review of Fever Ray's show at The Glass House in Pomona last Tuesday, and be sure to watch my videos from the show!

Read my review HERE

Last night in videos

2009-10-07T17:09:00.000-07:00

Back in June I interviewed Aaron Pfenning of Chairlift. One of my questions was "what artists do you want to collaborate with" and the first thing he said was "Fever Ray. Check it out."

So I did. Last night I went to see Fever Ray and her opener Vuk at The Glass House in Pomona, and I have to say it was one of the best live shows I have ever been to.

Vuk played by herself, sticking primarily to some small organ instrument she hid inside a box. She sang in both Finnish and English and was interesting to say the least. This song above was my favorite from the set, and the only song on which she used her autoharp. She has a gorgeous voice, and her album is definitely worth checking out, although I believe she said it's only available in Finland. Bummer. Before closing the show Vuk told us all how lucky we were to get such an intimate experience with Fever Ray--their show could not have had more than 100 people in attendance--and she was right. It really was magical.

I can't even begin to describe Fever Ray's performance last night. I think I'll let the videos speak for themselves. All I can compare it to is being in Disneyland as a 5 year old. Mesmerizing.

She played two cover songs last night: Nick Cave's "Stranger Than Kindness" and Vashti Bunyan's "Here Before".

Fever Ray closed the show with Coconut, one of my favorite songs off the album.

AMAZING. You can view video of her entire set from last night on The Music Pirate's official youtube channel HERE. The videos were all taken by me...shamelessly.

Amazing Baby at the Troubadour

2009-10-05T20:08:00.000-07:00

My review of Amazing Baby's show at the Troubadour two weeks ago has been published on The Music Pirate. Find it HERE

We also set up a Flickr account and Anneliese Wilson's photos of Amazing Baby are up now!

Side note: We are working on some cool video projects that we will be posting on an official TMP youtube account...it's going to be awesome!

We also have an official MySpace! I have added it to the links section. Add us!

I can't believe I missed this

2009-10-05T09:05:00.000-07:00

Video courtesy of Eric Horn

Thom Yorke performing at the Echo this past Friday. His dancing is so A+.

Real Quick

2009-10-03T20:42:00.000-07:00

I fell off the face of the planet for a bit.

Upcoming:

- I'll be at Fever Ray on Tuesday. Definitely taking lots of video and writing a review. Be on the look out.

- Still waiting on photos from Anneliese Wilson for the Amazing Baby review. TMP may just publish the review without them and update with photos later. Let you know when it happens.

- I believe Lucas and I are seeing Flosstradamus on the 24th. There might be an interview. I might be really excited about this.

And that's it!

New article by yours truly

2009-09-28T16:50:00.001-07:00

Check out my review of Wolf In A Spacesuit's EP Pomegranate Stationary HERE

it's pretty A+

Last night in videos...

2009-09-24T11:50:00.000-07:00

Last night my good friend Anneliese and I went to see Amazing Baby at the Troubadour. Anneliese accompanied me as an official photographer and I get to play the part of critic later this week...but for now here are the highlights of our adventure last night:

Firstly I should say that on our way to LA we almost got into a car accident twice, and when we arrived Anneliese dropped her $3,000 camera lens onto the pavement and jammed it, which prevented her from being able to zoom. Huge damper on the night, although I think she ended up fixing it, sort of. Hopefully the pictures turn out well!

Night Horse opened first and surprisingly the show was packed pretty much from the beginning. They were good, but their songs seemed to drag on forever and I felt like the instrumentals were overpowering the vocals...something that held true for the entire night actually.

The Entrance Band was next. They also had ridiculously long songs so I didn't take much video. Good energy on stage. There was a girl standing next to me the entire time making that cliche 'Native American' hoot noise...I don't know how else to describe it except to say that it was really obnoxious and made my ears ring. Strange whistling, hooting, and screaming is okay once or twice, but do people really have to do it during and after every song? Come on.

Amazing Baby finally took the stage around 11:15 or so. They opened with Headdress, then played Supreme Being, Kankra, Roverfrenz, The Narwhal, Bayonets, Invisible Palace, and came out for an encore of Pump Yr Brakes. Even though they played eight songs I have to say the set felt incredibly short. As always the band was amazing, I loved the new arrangement on Supreme Being. It tripped me up when William sang "fancy friends" instead of the original demo's lyrics, which had "faggot" where fancy is now. Censorship man, it's crazy. Then again, it's probably better not to promote the use of derogatory terms.

I was happy to get the entirety of Pump Yr Brakes on video this time. My battery was flashing empty as they played this song and I seriously thought my camera was going to die in the middle of it, but it held out for me! I should say as well that Amazing Baby was a huge fan of strobe lights last night...so beware of that if you watch these. There are two other A.B. videos on my youtube channel, and also a second video of The Entrance Band.

All in all it was a great show. Stay tuned for a full (and better written) review and photos from Anneliese Wilson!

OCC's Music Blog

2009-09-21T20:47:00.000-07:00

So, unlike on LiveJournal, Google doesn't automatically forward you to your new site name if you change your url on Blogger. Learn new things every day!

OCC's Music Review is now operating under the name 'The Music Pirate'.

Find everything here for now: http://themusicpirate.blogspot.com

My commentary on music piracy

2009-09-19T16:14:00.000-07:00

Here's the unedited version of my commentary on how downloading music illegally affects the music industry. It's a lot longer than the printed version, but I think it flows better. Read it if you'd like!

I bought my first CD when I was 11 years old. My mom had written me a check and allowed me to go by myself to a local Wherehouse Records store to purchase one CD of my choosing, and I was ecstatic. I spent what felt like hours scouring the isles of the store looking for No Doubt’s Tragic Kingdom and finally found it at the very bottom row of one of the shelves.

I remember being filled with excitement and anticipation as I walked up to the cash register with my friend and handed the cashier my CD and money. The cashier gave me a smile, scanned the CD, and looked at the check. “There’s a problem,” he said to me. “You’re one dollar short.”
My heart sank. I looked from the cashier to my friend in disbelief and was just about to turn around and put the CD back when the man standing behind me in line said “I’ll pay for it. How much do you need?”

I will never forget that act of kindness. I had pined for that No Doubt CD for years and valued it more than any of my other possessions. I remember playing the CD again and again while pouring over the insert book, reading the lyrics and singing along. I had always resolved to find that man one day and pay him back, but of course I never got his name and I no longer remember what he looks like.

Today, if I wanted to own that same No Doubt CD the experience would be entirely different. A few simple searches on the internet would lead me to various file sharing websites where I could easily download the album for free. Instant gratification. No looking through isles, no cashier to wait for, and no money necessary.

Downloading music, whether legally or illegally, has completely changed the record industry. Consumers seem perfectly content to click their computer mouses a few times and download whatever songs they want at their leisure. Almost everyone has an iPod or some other mp3 player and the days of sitting around a stereo and listening to an album from start to finish seem lost forever.

Digital downloads are far more convenient than buying physical albums. They don’t take up shelf space in your home and as long as you back all your files up you don’t need to worry about losing your favorite album. But has this change in technology done more harm than good?

The transition from physical copies of music to digital downloads has made music as common of a commodity as a tube of toothpaste in the United States. It seems that music has been completely devalued by this evolution in technology. The excitement of going out to a record store and having to look for a specific album is gone. Virtually everything is available online and whether music fans realize it or not, society has come to take this art form for granted.

According to the Record Industry Association of America, “global music piracy causes $12.5 billion in economic losses every year.” This loss affects not only the employees of record labels, but also detracts from revenue that could be spent on finding and promoting new artists, and allowing signed artists to record more albums.

Losing money to piracy also has a profound effect on working musicians themselves. Artists are now forced to make up a large part of their earnings through licensing their songs to television commercials and shows, touring relentlessly, and selling merchandise.

Even with these alternatives to offset the fall in record sales, bands can still struggle to make ends meet. Renting a tour bus and paying for a driver and gas can cost as much as $1,000 a day.

In 2007, the Boston based band The Dresden Dolls told NPR Music in an interview that their record contract had them receiving about $1 in royalties for every CD sold, but “before a band gets to see any of that, it has to sell enough CDs to cover all of the label’s production expenses, which can amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars.” Most bands try to dig themselves out of this hole through relentless touring, but even selling tickets comes with a price. The venue and concert promoters also take a share out of ticket sales, and don’t forget bands have sound technicians and roadies to pay for.

Record labels and artists are not taking these losses lightly. In addition to public campaigns against piracy, the record industry has also prosecuted numerous people suspected and found guilty of downloading music illegally.

Most recently The Boston Globe reported that a Boston University graduate student was fined $675,000 in damages for illegally downloading 30 songs and sharing them online. That’s a far cry from the $30 he would have paid had he simply bought the songs on iTunes, yet shockingly some might say this graduate student got off lucky.

In June of 2009, CNN reported that a 32-year-old Minnesota woman was found guilty of downloading music illegally and ordered to pay $1.9 million dollars for 24 songs.

In the midst of battling online piracy, the record industry is desperately trying to find ways to encourage consumers to buy albums again. On September 9^th, Apple announced its newest version of iTunes called iTunes LP.

This new program will include album artwork, photos, lyrics, and videos as part of an album purchase, in effect recreating the physical album experience. The company hopes that by offering these extra incentives to consumers, people will be more likely to spend their money on music as opposed to sharing files with each other.

Ultimately, the record industry will never fully be rid of music piracy. Friends will always burn CDs and share music with one another, and file sharing websites will probably always exist.

I believe the best way to combat piracy is to keep consumers informed about the consequences of downloading music illegally, not only for the record companies but for everyone working in the music industry.

So, next time you consider downloading music from a file sharing website or giving a CD of yours to a friend consider this: is 99 cents per song really too much to ask for the months of labor musicians, producers, engineers, and record labels put into creating an album for you? If you still feel it is, I hope you plan on spending $40 on concert tickets sometime soon.

My first article in print is out!

2009-09-17T17:30:00.000-07:00

If you go to Orange Coast College you should pick up this week's Coast Report and check out my opinion piece on music piracy and its effects on the music industry. The article is also available online here. The original piece was about 1,200 words, but my editor cut it down to around 350 to fit the space allotment opinion pieces are given in the physical paper. It still works, but I might end up publishing the unedited article here later since I like it better.

Last night in videos

2009-09-17T09:17:00.001-07:00

Last night I went to see John Maus, Glasser, and Chairlift at the Troubadour. Words cant even begin to express how amazing everyone sounded.

John Maus opened the show and blew my mind. He spent most of the night walking around in a circle and gyrating in a way that was vaguely reminiscent of someone suffering from a seizure. I have three other videos of his performance but I think this is the only one where you can actually see him.

Glasser came next and she was adorable. Brilliant voice, fabulous outfit, and the cutest dancing ever. I will definitely see her again the next time she rolls through town.

Chairlift closed the show and as always they sounded like perfection. I had a lovely chat with Aaron before the show and he told me they had just gotten back from filming a segment for Yo Gabba Gabba! Can't wait to see it.

*edit* thought I would be writing a proper review for this show for TMP but I was assigned to do something else and then it ended up getting lost in a list of things to do. So instead I will edit this post later with better descriptions. ha!

Amazing Baby Interview

2009-09-15T12:48:00.000-07:00

INTERVIEW WITH WILLIAM ROAN OF AMAZING BABY

September 11th 2009

Amazing Baby is a five piece band from New York that has toured the world supporting acts such as Cold War Kids and MGMT, and has been hailed as one of the best new bands to come out of Brooklyn. The band is currently headlining a national tour in support of their debut full length album Rewild, released through Shangri-La Records. They'll be playing a show in Los Angeles on September 23^rd, but before heading out west, lead singer and lyricist William Roan took the time to call The Coast Report’s Eszter Zimanyi from Chicago and talk about the stress of touring, Amazing Baby’s new drummer, and the world’s “best” dancer. Read the transcript below and be sure to check out Amazing Baby with Night Horse and The Entrance Band at The Troubadour next week!

Video courtesy of Amazing Baby and Shangri-La Records

Eszter: Hey!

Will: Hey what’s up Eszter

Eszter: Not too much. How are you? How’s Chicago?

Will: Chicago’s pretty nice! The weather is lovely here actually, it’s nice and cool, and we’re just kind of chillin’. We just had sound check and we did a radio promo thing. Our new drummer Ryan is from Chicago so lots of people are coming and we have a very special dancer that’s going to perform with us on stage tonight.

Eszter: Yeah! I saw that you posted something on your twitter about a special guest tonight. I was wondering who it was.

Will: It’s this guy who became friends with our guitar player Simon at Lollapalooza this summer.

Eszter: Cool. Did you just say you have a new drummer?

Will: Yeah, we have a new drummer.

Eszter: Woah. Give me the deets on that. I had no idea that was happening!

Will: Pretty much Ryan Rapsys, who is our new drummer, has performed with a lot of bands before and he’s really pro. He’s worked with Don, our bass player, on Don’s solo record by the band The Historics, which is a band that Don started with Michael Madden from Maroon 5 and a bunch of other people. Basically Matt, our original drummer, got to a point where I think he wanted to focus more on being at home. We’re on the road so much and it’s very hard. I just think that he had gotten kind of tired of the grind. It’s really hard you know?

Eszter: Oh yeah I totally do.

Will: I think we all have the drive to keep it up and I think Matt just needed a break. It kind of worked out because Ryan is an incredible drummer and he’s really changed a lot of our sound for the better.

Eszter: Right. Well I’m glad you found someone who fits well with the band. I totally understand what you mean though. I don’t think people realize that bands have to tour relentlessly to pay back all the money that they and their record labels put into making an album. It’s intense.

Will: Yeah I know seriously. It’s pretty crazy. It’s very hard for personal relationships and stuff like that as well. Almost everybody in the band is in a relationship and I’m kind of seeing somebody who’s also touring so I don’t get to see her often. It’s very hard. But you’ve got to do it. This is the life I’ve chosen and I’m very thankful to be able to do it. It’s just not totally perfect all the time.

Eszter: I think people have this misconception that being a musician is very glamorous and it’s not at all.

Will: No definitely not. It’s very brutal and it’s very hard. You have to take good care of your body and you really have to keep your head above the water. It gets very overwhelming. But it’s also beautiful and we’ve gotten to see parts of the world I would never have gotten the chance to see otherwise, so that’s a huge plus. I’ve been able to see amazing bands that I’ve never seen before and meet people that I would have never gotten to meet so all in all it’s incredible, but it is hard.

Eszter: You guys released a second video for your song Headdress. Were you unhappy with the first one?

Will: It ended up becoming very confusing to undertake it. The alternate video was made by our friend earlier and the label wanted to put out the song as a single so they decided they wanted to do a new video to push it. In hindsight I’m not sure if that was the best idea because both videos have similar motifs and in general it’s kind of hard to release a single for a song that has been on the internet for a while. We actually just shot a new music video for our song Supreme Being which is an unreleased song of ours.

Eszter: I love that song so much! I’m so glad you’re releasing it.

Will: Yeah! We’re releasing it. We did a brand new version which is awesome. It’s a big improvement upon the original demo and we got some guest vocalists to join us on it. Our friends Heather and Erika from Au Revior Simone sing back up on it and we’re going to put it out as a single probably next week or the week after. I just got done shooting a really cool and surreal music video for it.

Eszter: Awesome. Well back to the alternate Headdress video. There are naked girls running around in the video and obviously for YouTube and certain websites you had to censor that, so I’m wondering what you think about censorship in the media? Do you feel like it compromises your creative integrity?

Will: Yeah definitely in some ways. When I re-recorded this new version of Supreme Being for example, I had to change some lyrics which really frustrated me. Even though sometimes things end up becoming clear and deliberate, I like to think that everything I do has a purpose and I don’t like to have to change things for any other person than myself. But I also understand the need and I think, in terms of the Headdress video, the way we censored it was kind of cool. We used those old school black lines over stuff and I thought that had a cool image context to it.

Eszter: Yeah definitely.

Will: Sometimes the way you censor yourself can be interesting.

Eszter: That’s true, but I do hate when artists are forced to change lyrics for late night TV shows or radio, etc. because it feels like message of the song becomes distorted in a way.

Will: Yeah. Sometimes you can do other things. Like for Supreme Being we did weird sort of stubby edits and tried singing stuff backwards. It ends up sounding kind of cool. You know, I understand the need and in general to be able to put your art out to more people it’s necessary to do that. I really don’t think it’s super important and I think it definitely does degrade the art as a whole. What can you do? It’s the name of the game.

Eszter: What do you think about file sharing and downloading music illegally?

Will: Well, it definitely has hurt the music industry in some ways because people sell less music, but I also have to say I think it’s very important. It has changed the music industry in a good way. I think a lot of people are exposed to more music that they wouldn’t have heard otherwise. It’s hard for bands to work the way they worked before because spending the amount of money that used to be spent on music is really unreasonable now. It’s harder to sell records and get yourself out there. I think file sharing is important and it might not last forever. It might become harder to do it, but at least right now there’s kind of this mentality where you can get almost anything. It helped me to check out new music that I had read about but couldn’t find or didn’t have enough money to buy. I usually do purchase music that I really enjoy and I cherish hard copies of music, but I also do download myself and I think it’s an important tool in general to be able to have. It’s a free market of expression and it allows you to check out things that you may not have been able to previously.

Eszter: Do you feel like artists should have control over how much their music sells for themselves?

Will: I don’t know. I’m not sure. I usually like to leave that up to someone else because I would like to give it all away and also still be successful, and sometimes that works for people and sometimes it doesn’t. I definitely think that it’s absurd how expensive some things are and I think that music should be less expensive. There needs to be a shift in how that works. Do we end up selling music like we would sell art and have original pieces be very expensive and have reproductions for much less? You know, that may be a way to look at it too. So I definitely think artists should have a say, but I also think artists should stay out of the commerce aspect of music as much as possible and pretty much stay focused on the art in general.

Eszter: Have you heard about the new iTunes model that Apple just released two days ago?

Will: No, what’s that all about?

Eszter: It’s called iTunes LP and basically they’re going to recreate the physical album experience by giving consumers album artwork, photos, lyrics, and music videos whenever they download an entire album off of iTunes. I think it’s a little bit more expensive but they’re giving a lot more incentive to buy music. I thought it was a really cool idea to combat the loss in CD sales.

Will: I think that is a really good idea too. I think most of my friends that paid money for our album purchased it on iTunes. If anybody’s going to innovate the model it’s probably going to be Apple first. That sounds like a very cool idea, I like that a lot. We did some interesting things with our album where if you bought it on iTunes you got an extra song, and if you bought it on vinyl you got a free download card for the album as well. So we were trying out a whole slew of different ideas. I don’t know how well it’s working out but you have to try to give people incentive for purchasing albums now.

Eszter: Yeah that was really cool! Props to you for thinking of that. Do you think it’s possible to create original music today or do you feel like everyone is recycling each others ideas to a certain extent?

Will: Well I think that’s always been true over the course of humanity. I think there’s definitely a lot of original music out there and sometimes you can find things original in a recycled medium. I think that music is continually getting better. There’s definitely a lot of regurgitated crap out there; there always has been and there will continue to be. But I think that more and more you will find that there’s some crazy cool music out there as well. Sometimes people like comforting music that reminds them of older sounds or styles and I think that can be very innovative too.

Eszter: Do you have plans to collaborate with any artists soon or are there any artists you are dying to collaborate with now?

Will: Well, I’ve always had a fantasy of collaborating with my heroes you know…but like I said we have Supreme Being coming out and two of the girls from Au Revior Simone play on that. We’re also working on some new remixes coming out soon which are somewhat like collaborations. We’re really excited about them and we’ve been working very hard to get some remixes on board so we’ll see what happens with that. To be honest, I think we’re trying to get in on doing some remixing for other bands too, but it’s hard as far as collaboration goes. I’m trying to do something with my friend Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson when I get off tour, if I ever get a chance. Pretty much when we get some free time that will be on the horizon but we don’t really stop touring until the end of October so it will be a little while before I can approach that.

Eszter: What’s something about you or your music the general public might not know that you think they should know?

Will: Hmm. It’s hard to say. I guess we definitely take our music very seriously but I think people also have to understand that we’re really friendly and goofy guys that love playing a good joke. Although a lot of our music is serious I think more and more we’re going to try and make lighthearted music that might come across less pretentious. I think a lot of people might think that we have certain pretentions and that’s just not the case. I think we’re very approachable people that like a good joke…and a good lady!

Eszter: What’s been your craziest experience with a fan?

Will: Probably this dancer. You should YouTube “world’s best dancer lollapalooza” and this guy that’s dancing in the video is going to be performing with us tonight. Our guitarist has had to be in contact with him for the past month and he’s been calling us trying to set this dance thing up for our concert, which is ridiculous. I think it’s kind of freaked out Simon a bit. You have to watch the video though to understand why.

Eszter: I know, I tried to watch it earlier but my computer was lagging too much so I gave up. But I will watch it at some point for you.

Will: Thanks. Also, last night we were interviewed by some people from Michigan. They came into our dressing room with a camera and one of the girls was Asian, and for the first twenty minutes of the interview she pretended to be a Korean exchange student. She completely and totally committed to it and then just started laughing and said she couldn’t do it anymore. It was really funny. It didn’t freak me out but it was very surprising and kind of out of character for what I was expecting.

Eszter: That’s really funny. Okay, do you remember when you were last in Los Angeles and you played at the Hammer Museum?

Will: Yes.

Eszter: Your microphone cut out during “Pump Yr Brakes”. Can you tell me what went through your mind when that happened? Has that ever happened to you before?

Will: That’s never happened to me before. I was actually really frustrated that our drummer stopped drumming because I thought I would do it acapella since we were almost over. So what was going through my head was to keep going, to be honest.

Eszter: Oh man, it was the weirdest thing ever!

Will: Yeah seriously. All the power went out. There was a power surge. You know, that's the thing. I've definitely made mistakes on stage before where the cord of my microphone has been pulled out or I've dropped the mic, and that's really embarrassing, but with the power just completely going out all together, it didn't freak me out so much. I kind of wanted to keep going with it, but unfortunately we just stopped. It would have been really cool if we had continued but in general I think it came across alright.

Eszter: Alright, this is my last question. If you could put together a dream festival who would be on the lineup, where would it be located, and what would you call it?

Will: Umm, I would call it like the Cool Wave festival or something. Or the Waved Out festival.

Eszter: Oh Waved Out! I like that.

Will: Waved Out. And this is what I would have. I would have LCD Soundsystem play –

Eszter: You can do anyone dead or alive FYI.

Will: Oh, well that’s crazy! That’s crazy. I would have The Smiths play, Pavement, Love, Phillip Glass would play, with like a saxophone orchestra. I would have the Talking Heads play, probably The Psychedelic Furs play, I would have Sly Stone play, and Stevie Wonder. Yeah…I don’t know.

Eszter: Where would it be?

Will: It would be…that’s a good question. Let me think. It would be in my hometown of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.

Eszter: That’s an island right?

Will: Yes. Martha’s Vineyard rules. It’s an island off the coast of Massachusetts, one of the most beautiful places on the planet.

Eszter: Alright well that's it! Thank you so much!

Be sure to check out Amazing Baby at their websites:

http://www.theamazingbaby.com

http://www.myspace.com/amazingbaby

And buy their record REWILD in stores now!

up and published!

2009-09-03T20:52:00.000-07:00

Back in June I interviewed Aaron Pfenning of the band Chairlift. Originally the article was intended for the University of Delaware's music magazine, but after that fell apart I was left with no where to publish it. I'm happy to say the interview is now up on The Coast Report's music blog and can be seen here

However, it is a slightly more condensed version, so the full transcript has been posted on this blog for those of you who want to read the whole thing. Be sure to check out Chairlift on their national US tour this fall! They'll be in Los Angeles on September 16th. I'm going so say hi if you see me!

Chairlift Interview

2009-09-03T20:46:00.000-07:00

INTERVIEW WITH AARON PFENNING OF CHAIRLIFT

June 18th 2009

You may not immediately recognize the name, but you have definitely heard the band Chairlift at least once. The Brooklyn-based trio was first put on the map when Apple decided to use their infectious and charming song ‘Bruises’ in a national iPod nano campaign. Now, Chairlift is proving they have much more to offer with their sophisticated and genre-blending debut album “Does You Inspire You” released through Columbia Records this past April. Since then, Chairlift has been touring around the world playing festivals like Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, and All Points West, and supporting acts such as Peter Bjorn & John. The Coast Report’s Eszter Zimanyi caught up with Chairlift guitarist, lyricist, and vocalist Aaron Pfenning this past June in Los Angeles to talk about everything from shirt designs to twittering taco trucks. Here’s what went down:

Eszter: So. You guys recently put your music video for “Bruises” up on your MySpace. Was that the premiere?

Aaron: The video premiered on radar.com two weeks ago, and then we put it up on our MySpace.

Eszter: Oh, I’m behind. Well I read somewhere that Caroline [Polachek] was going to direct it. Did that still hold true?

Aaron: No, she didn’t direct it. “Bruises” was directed by Timothy Saccenti. He’s a really good director; he’s done some Animal Collective videos.

Eszter: Who came up with the concept for the surveillance room?

Aaron: A lot of it Caroline came up with, and then the whole band sat down and talked about it.

Eszter: Is there a specific reason you chose that setting?

Aaron: The idea was just to make a fort that was our own hide out space, where we could just eat cake and take pills and make out.

Eszter: Well that’s always fun! I saw Chairlift in Philadelphia back in May, and I remember as I was sitting outside waiting to be let in to the venue I saw your merchandise. There was this t-shirt there that had the three of you sketched nude on the front, and I thought it was a really bold statement, so where did that design idea come from?

Aaron: Caroline has this cat shirt with three cats on the front, and they’re looking at you. Then on the back they have their asses, cat asses, on them. So we were like ‘oh, we should just do a Chairlift shirt with us as the cats...but naked.”

Eszter: [laughs] did you pose?

Aaron: No, well yeah we did...also our chest hair really does look like that.

Eszter: It’s funny because I saw that shirt and I thought, “I really want to buy that”. It’s so versatile and I feel like I could then buy fabric and design outfits for you…like reinvent the shirt…but I think I would probably be the only person to think of doing that.

Aaron: Yeah. It’s a really great shirt.

Eszter: I know. I like it a lot!

Aaron: I should say too, our friend Clark Butterfield made those. He’s a really good designer. He does a line of shoes called Zuriick...they’re sold here in Urban Outfitters.

Eszter: Cool. So I read that you guys recorded your demo onto a cassette tape so that record labels wouldn’t be able to leak it?

Aaron: Yes.

Eszter: Do you then prefer the idea of music being sold in physical manifestations as opposed to downloading songs off the internet?

Aaron: I just think that CDs are on the way out. Actually I think there is a statistic somewhere that points towards CD sales of plastic origin going down and digital and vinyl sales going up. It’s just easy. I buy all my music on iTunes or vinyl.

Eszter: Would you want CDs to come back into fashion?

Aaron: No, I just think they’re outdated, and kind of annoying to have around.

Eszter: Well, in terms of vinyl then…you guys wrote a song called “Garbage” in which you comment on how all of our human possessions continue to pollute the earth after we die. How do you reconcile this idea of producing music in a physical way that, you know, doesn’t biodegrade with the issue of albums being leaked and downloaded illegally off the internet?

Aaron: I think one of the coolest things I heard recently is when Rick Rubin took over co-heading Columbia Records he got rid of all the plastic jewel cases and made everyone release their CDs on recyclable paper. Our CD is that way if you look at it.

Eszter: That’s cool.

Aaron: We just got back from Taco Zone.

Eszter: Oh? How was it?

Aaron: It was really good.

Eszter: I’ve heard that you are all very into tacos.

Aaron: Yeah! I just had this idea that I want to become a taco manager. You know what’s cool about the taco trucks? Some of them have started twittering, so they’ll like twitter and tell you where the truck is going to be so people can find it. It’s a pretty good idea.

Eszter: Yeah it is. [laughs] When you guys are writing your songs, do you tend to hear them as a completed piece already in your head? Or is it more like separated layers that you put together like a puzzle?

Aaron: Actually, we’ve done it both ways. There’s never a formula.

Eszter: Do you ever listen to your own record or do you find it difficult to hear your work as a finished product?

Aaron: Um, well in the process of making it and coming up with songs we listen to them all the time, but I haven’t listened to our album in about ten months.

Eszter: Yeah, but that’s good because then you wont get tired of playing it live.

Aaron: Yeah, I think I would be so sick of playing our songs if I listened to our album a lot. I pretty much hear it every night when we play it.

Eszter: A good amount of your songs on the album have a dreamier, more atmospheric feel to them. How are you finding translating these songs in your live performances is going? Do your audiences get involved at all or do they tend to just stand there and stare at you?

Aaron: Well, it can be cool when people just stand there and stare at you. I do that a lot.

Eszter: I feel like I want to come to your next show dressed in a costume or something, just to shake things up and see how people react.

Aaron: Yeah, it would be great to have a costume party.

Eszter: You should do it. I could come dressed as an iPod, just to be ironic.

Aaron: Yeah shake it up a little bit...iPod shuffle.

Eszter: Yeah and I could attach maracas and they could be like the headphones.

Aaron: Yeah! Yeah, and iPod shuffle yourself through the crowd.

Eszter: Yes! Let’s do it. I’ll keep in touch.

Aaron: [laughs] I like when there’s a lot of energy, like when we just played at Bonnaroo. There was so much energy and that always feeds back at you and makes us play better with each other.

Eszter: Yeah! Oh man, I need to go to a festival. A lot of times lyrics get misinterpreted, and I saw you guys have that blog on your MySpace with the sort of satirical analysis of Bruises...which I think is a joke right?

Aaron: I think it’s a joke, yes.

Eszter: Have you ever had fans sincerely come up to you with this idea of what your song means that you see no logic in or makes no sense at all?

Aaron: Yes, but I love that. I love hearing different interpretations of our songs.

Eszter: Do you have a specific example?

Aaron: Uh...there are quite a few...I can’t think of one off the top of my head, sorry.

Eszter: It’s okay. Moving on. Do you know how the Flosstradamus collaboration with Caroline came about?

Aaron: Hmm...that’s a question for my manager. I have no idea.

Eszter: [laughs] well, do you have any artists you really want to collaborate with?

Aaron: Fever Ray, check it out. The Dream, Jay-Z…seriously. I would love to do something with Crystal Antlers, I would love to do something with Dirty Projectors, St. Vincent, these are all bands I really look up to and would just love to do something with. Oh, Grizzly Bear is another band I would love to collaborate with. Chris Taylor from Grizzly bear produced our song Dixie Gypsy, which is one of the new songs on the re-release of our album.

Eszter: Cool. You guys have been playing new songs in your live shows; do you have plans to record soon?

Aaron: Yeah. I think in January.

Eszter: When do you think the album would be out? Next summer?

Aaron: Yeah, it would be a pretty quick turn around I think. It wouldn’t take a long time.

Eszter: Awesome. So, since you’re always grouped together with all these other Brooklyn bands, do you ever feel stigmatized by it, like this idea that you are all part of some movement?

Aaron: Uh, there’s a scene but it’s just a geographical scene. We’re just friends. I don’t think there’s a Brooklyn sound, because we’re all doing such different things.

Eszter: Right. So do you think there’s merit to this idea of a Brooklyn scene even though all of these bands are making music that is fundamentally different from one another?

Aaron: I think so, but I’m always interested in hearing what other people interpret it as, because I’m just so caught up in doing my own thing that I don’t really think about it too much.

Eszter: Well for me it’s like, every interview I read with you, or MGMT, etc, they are constantly bringing up this idea of a Brooklyn scene, but the answers from all of these bands are always the same: “we’re all doing different things”. So I don’t know why the idea is continually perpetuated.

Aaron: Yeah. It’s just, so collaborative. It’s easy to encourage people and get along.

Eszter: How do you define success as a band, and do you feel content with where you are as a band right now?

Aaron: I think I’m never content. That’s the problem. And, I would say success is just being able to record the songs that you really want to record, and being happy with them, and then being able to get them out there. Also, playing shows where you feel like people come and everyone shares something, and there’s a lot of energy and discourse in a way.

Eszter: Yeah. Well I think it’s good that you’re not content, because that means you’ll always be motivated to do more, you know what I mean?

Aaron: Yeah. There are moments where I feel like, if we play a really good show, for maybe an hour afterward I feel really content with everything, and then it all kind of goes away and I have to build it back up again.

Eszter: What is the ultimate goal for you as a band, as an artist, and as a person?

Aaron: I guess it’s just to never stop being curious about things. I just love learning things; I think David Lynch taught me a lot about getting obsessed with something and then learning all you can about it, and actually doing something about it, you know, getting really hands on.

Eszter: Yes. Okay, what is your favorite instrument, and not necessarily to play but just in general?

Aaron: I think the human body, as an instrument.

Eszter: Oh, I like that, but I have a proposition for you.

Aaron: Okay.

Eszter: This is my goal in life. I want to convince a band to learn to play the Theremin*. You know what that is right?

Aaron: Oh yes.

*The Theremin is an electronic musical instrument controlled without any physical contact from the player. It is comprised of two metal antennae that sense the position of the player’s hands in the air and control the frequency and amplitude of sound based on the location of said player’s hands. These electric signals are then amplified and sent through a set of loudspeakers to create a haunting and ghost-like sound.

Eszter: Well, I really think you should incorporate it into your music. I think it would work for you, and I think one of you should play it on stage because it’s the coolest instrument ever.

Aaron: It would be fun to maybe run it through some effects.

Eszter: Yeah, but the whole point is to do it live, so then people in the audience can be like “what is going on?” Anyway let it marinate. It can be your new goal.

Aaron: Let it marinate?

Eszter: Yes.

Aaron: Okay...Theremation.

Eszter: You guys are going to Europe this summer. Is there any country you haven’t been to that you really want to visit, or any country you want to go back to?

Aaron: Iceland, Japan, and Australia.

Eszter: Hungary isn’t on that list?

Aaron: Now it is, yes. I would love to go to Hungary.

Eszter: Have you been there?

Aaron: No.

Eszter: It’s really cool, speaking as a citizen of that country. Alright so this next question is my Colorado reference, and you are the one member actually from Colorado right?

Aaron: Yeah, well, I grew up in Oklahoma and Colorado. I split my time between the two.

Eszter: Oh, neat. Well, if you were a character on South Park who would you be and why?

Aaron: I feel like...hmm...that’s a good one. I don’t know. I think it would be more fun to be our whole band on South Park in like a guest episode...like wasn’t Michael Jackson on it at one point? I don’t know.

Eszter: I’m not sure, but I did watch the Radiohead episode today, that was a good one.

Aaron: Yeah! Yeah, something like that would be fun. I would love to go in and do voices for it too.

Eszter: Yeah! Well, we could end it with a riddle...or we could just end it here.

Aaron: What’s the riddle?

Eszter: Alright. So one day you’re hanging out with Pinocchio, everyone’s favorite puppet, and he says to you “my nose will grow now.” What happens? Because, the story tells us his nose only grows when he lies. So if he says “my nose will grow now” and it grows, then he’s telling the truth and it can’t grow, but if he says “my nose will grow now” and it doesn’t, then he’s lying and it has to grow. So what happens at the moment he says that statement?

Aaron: [long pause] we’re talking about his nose?

Eszter: Yes.

[long pause]

Eszter: It’s going to bother you for the rest of your life now, isn’t it.

Aaron: Do you even know the answer?

Eszter: I think the world implodes...but my friend came up with a really good one. She said at the moment Pinocchio says “my nose will grow now” and it doesn’t, it turns into a lie and it grows a little bit. Then it turns into the truth so it grows back to normal size. Then it’s a lie again, so it grows again...so basically it just goes back and forth, and never stops.

Aaron: Yeah...it’s like a data-glitch or something. [laughs] That was really good. I think that what would happen is the earth will just break apart, and we’ll all fall into the ocean and become orcas.

Eszter: [laughs] Well that’s it, unless you want to rate my interviewing skills.

Aaron: Yeah, can I rate you in tacos?

Eszter: Yes!

Aaron: I give you...nine tacos.

Eszter: Out of ten?

Aaron: No. Nine tacos out of tacos.

Eszter: Okay.

Aaron: How were my interviewing skills?

Eszter: You’re awesome. I like your answers a lot. Do you want me to rate you in tacos?

Aaron: Yes.

Eszter: I think I’ll give you...12.5

Aaron: Tacos?

Eszter: Yes, 12.5 tacos...out of tacos.

Aaron: Thanks!

Check out more on Chairlift, including tour dates, at their websites:

http://www.myspace.com/chairlift

http://www.chairliftmusic.com

ESMZ

2009-09-02T21:21:00.000-07:00

Video courtesy of omfgitsskeet

I have no words to describe how incredibly amazing this performance is. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros perform with the kind of energy so tangible it seeps through my computer and fills my soul with emotion. Not many bands can affect me so strongly through youtube videos...I can't even imagine experiencing this band in person. If you ever get the chance to see them live don't hesitate. I bet you will walk away feeling like your life has been changed.

A Quick Update...

2009-08-31T16:51:00.001-07:00

Hey.

How are you? How was your month of August? Do anything exciting? That's great.

As evidenced by my lack of updates I have been M.I.A. for a while. However, I've decided to fill you in on the happenings in my life and maybe clear a few things up along the way. At one time, (specifically last February through May) I wrote for the University of Delaware's music publication entitled aUDio Magazine. The magazine was run entirely by students and was...a relaxed environment to say the least. Over the summer aUDio's website crashed. I emailed my editor and inquired about the reason behind this, and more importantly why it had not been fixed, but eventually I resolved to accept the demise of the publication and move on. So. That brings me to today. I am now on staff writing for The Coast Report. It's based in Costa Mesa, California, and is the student paper for Orange Coast College (home to 25,000 students, crazy right?!). It's much more organized than the University of Delaware's music magazine, perhaps because it is backed by college faculty. I'm excited to start writing regularly again. I'm also excited to get some of my unpublished work that I had originally done for Delaware out there (you know, where people might actually see it). I'll continue posting my work on this blog as well so check back in once in a while!

Here's the website for The Coast Report:

http://www.coastreportonline.com

Our first printed issue comes out September 9th and the website is always being updated.

OCC also has a music blog that I will be contributing to throughout the year. Check it out here:

http://www.themusicpirate.blogspot.com

Thanks for all your continued support!

-Eszter

Check it out!

2009-08-06T14:03:00.000-07:00

The Music Slut posted my video of Chairlift covering the Pulp song Babies back in May and I only just discovered it! How cool though. Now I know where all those views have been coming from haha.

Check it out here: http://themusicslut.com/2009/05/chairlift-covers-pulp-classic/

!!!

2009-08-01T12:34:00.000-07:00

Holy smokes! My mom is psychic. She came home today with two Duchicela CDs and a panflute! I am so excited by this right now. Apparently Duchicela was here playing at a flea market. Bummed I missed them but so glad my mom brought back all this cool stuff for me. yay!

Take me to Lima...

2009-07-27T12:04:00.000-07:00

Video courtesy of citymusictv

I want to learn to play the Zampoña. This group is called Duchicela and they play music from the Andes. I have one of their CDs. It's so great.

Everything sounds better...

2009-07-11T21:48:00.000-07:00

Video courtesy of The Gregory Brothers

The newest episode of Auto-tune the News. These guys are brilliant. I still can't get over Brian Oxman saying he warned people Michael Jackson would "wake up dead". Oh man. The news really does sound better auto-tuned. Enjoy.

Dazzler Interview

2009-07-07T14:50:00.000-07:00

INTERVIEW WITH LOS ANGELES ROCK BAND: DAZZLER.

July 2nd 2009

I found out about Dazzler's show at UCLA's Hammer Museum exactly a week prior to the event. I was on Facebook when Dazzler's guitarist, Andy Marlow, posted a status update about the show, and I promptly called my friend asking if she wanted to go. It was then that I realized I had the perfect opportunity to ask for an interview, and so, I very unprofessionally sent Andy a Facebook message asking if he would be interested in speaking with me. Luckily for me he obliged, and I managed to confirm the interview the same day I asked for it (which is an incredible feat, as any journalist will tell you). Not only did I get to interview Andy, but all five members of Dazzler (Neil Schuh, Adam Villacin, Andy Marlow, Michael Gold, and Tyler Thacker) graciously sat down with me after their set, proving just how awesome this band really is. Here's how it went:

Eszter: So, I want to start off by talking about Dazzler TV. I saw the promo and I thought it looked really cool. Where did that idea come from?

Adam (vocoder, percussion): So, a couple months back Neil got jumped outside of a Burrito King and got his jaw broken, so we couldn’t play any shows for a few months. We decided to fill in our spare time by writing new songs, but also filming some weird videos. We all went to art school and thought that we would try our hand at performance and video stuff.

Eszter: Are these just going to be skits?

Tyler (drums): Oh no, well we’ve already made a whole season so we’re releasing teasers for full length episodes to come.

Eszter: Is it more like a show and not to do really with your music?

Tyler: Well, it’s all scored. Neil scored the first ones, and the teasers, and it’s all music by the band.

Neil (vocals, keytar): We’ve written the majority of the episodes ourselves but we do have outside collaborators.

Eszter: Is this something you’re hoping will get fans to connect with you better and get to know you aside from your music?

Tyler: I suppose. I mean, I don’t think we have any expectations. I think we’re all just trying to keep each other engaged creatively however we can, and in times of adversity we’ll be able to forge through and continue making art.

Eszter: Yeah, I like the idea a lot.

Andy (guitar): Dazzler has always been a very visual band and one of our biggest influences is Devo, and they’re very visual. They had all these videos and stuff like that. We’re kind of in that same multi-media aspect.

Neil: We’re more than just A BAND.

Andy: Right, and in this age, in the YouTube age, it’s so much more accessible and easier to actually have an impact.

Tyler: We also did it to keep a sense of camaraderie in the band alive. People need to associate that with images, and for people who haven’t been able to see us play live or anything, obviously we go a lot beyond just being musicians. It’s a way to engage people that haven’t been to our shows visually. In the digital age, it reaffirms that there are still groups of people working together and making singular products.

Eszter: How did all of you meet and when did you realize you had chemistry as a band?

Tyler: Um, it’s been a long story and there’s been a lot of evolution. It started off as Totally Radd and then we brought on new members. Andy’s been with us for a long time and Michael joined up before Andy did, well actually Andy had played a show with us, and Filip Nikolic (Dazzler's current touring bassist) and Andy both played in Ima Robot. There have been a lot of different incantations of the band.

Neil: This is my favorite incantation of the band. [laughs]

Andy: Incarnation.

Tyler: Incarnations?

Michael (keyboards): Enchantations.

Adam: We did try to summon the ghost of Frank Zappa one night.

Eszter: [laughs] did you really?

Neil: WE DID!!!

Tyler: We did, with magic wands. [all laugh]

Adam: We made them, also.

Eszter: That’s awesome. No Ouija board involved?

Tyler: No.

Eszter: Aww, you should have gotten one.

Adam: It was at Frank Zappa’s old house in Laurel Canyon.

Neil: Across from Houdini’s mansion.

Tyler: And sure enough, instead of finding Frank Zappa’s ghost we found the mistress of Houdini’s secret passageway across Laurel Canyon.

Neil: With magic!

Eszter: Wow.

Andy: It’s also where, uh, Adam first constructed his dream catcher. He’s in the Guinness Book of World Records for constructing the world’s largest dream catcher.

Eszter: Wait, what?! You have the world’s largest dream catcher? I was obsessed with dream catchers when I was a kid.

Andy: How big was your dream catcher that you made?

Adam: It was 26 feet. It’s the largest one in the world.

Eszter: Wow, and you made it yourself?

Adam: Yeah, well I had a little help. Tyler helped and Daniel Renberg, an artist that I went to school with, also worked on it with me, and uh, I mean everyone kind of helped out.

Eszter: Yeah. Where is it now?

Adam: It’s still there. [laughs]

Michael: Is it really still there?

Adam: Yeah, it’s on Laurel and Lookout, chillin’. The house is for sale, it’s like 2.1 million I think.

Andy: It collects the dreams of all of Hollywood. [all laugh]

Eszter: That is amazing. I’d love to know what’s in it.

Adam: Oh and also, a Scientologist is responsible for stealing the feather from it.

Neil: Oh, you found out!

Adam: Yeah, it was at Danny Masterson’s Halloween party. Danny’s a cool guy, but someone he knows stole it.

Eszter: Okay, well I want to ask about Totally Radd. Is Dazzler a completely new project or is it just an evolution of Totally Radd where you changed your band name?

Tyler: It started off as an evolution of Totally Radd but…

Adam: I think it’s a new project now.

Tyler: We built something totally unique for Dazzler, which is ultimately, musically very different. I think it really lends itself to a larger band as well. The music is aimed to be more lush and slightly more organic, but playful obviously, and made for people to have fun to.

Eszter: You guys decided to name your album “Dancing on a Comet’s Tail”. I’m wondering why you chose to call it that as opposed to just calling it Dazzler?

Adam: We wrote Dancing on a Comet’s Tail like four years ago, something like that? Three or four years ago.

Tyler: At this point we’re kind of dancing on our own tail [all laugh]

Adam: In a masculine way.

Tyler: From a male perspective.

Michael: It’s an inside joke.

Eszter: Well, is there anything else you want this idea of Dancing on a Comet’s Tail to represent to your fans?

Tyler: Well, I think it’s…I mean obviously it’s saying—

Andy: It’s not literal. We don’t mean it literally, you know. [all laugh]

Michael: I have never actually danced on a comet’s tail.

Neil: You’d burn your little tootsies off! [all laugh]

Tyler: What we’re trying to do is kind of like a pop music endeavor and a lot of the music can be a tip of the hat to a lot of our favorite artists, and it’s an awareness of a lineage of music.

Adam: Also we can remind people that they can dance to rock and roll.

Andy: And it’s the name of one of our songs, and some bands do that. [all laugh]

Eszter: Well, I know. I just meant like, I wouldn’t have been surprised if you had just called it Dazzler because to me the word Dazzler implies that you’re going to get something amazing. It’s like an active word, I guess you could say.

Andy: That’s why it’s the name of our band.

Neil: You know you’re going to get something!

Eszter: Alright, alright. What makes Dazzler stand out among other bands today?

Andy: A LOT.

Tyler: Besides being the most challenging and ambitious band in all of Los Angeles county [all laugh] it um…

Adam: Wait, hold on, hold on. Brock, answer this question for us.

At this point, a man named Brock walks over to our table and sits down.

Adam: This is our friend Brock. He’s an artist from Los Angeles.

Tyler: He’s an actor.

Brock: Renaissance man.

Eszter: Hi, nice to meet you. Okay, I asked ‘what makes Dazzler stand out among other bands today’?

Brock: Well, um, I think they make everybody in the audience horny. [all laugh]

Tyler: Everyone.

Brock: Everyone.

Neil: Even small children? Animals?

Brock: Well, whatever they can feel…yes.

Andy: ANGELS. DEMONS.

Neil: Spirits?!

Adam: Even Vampires?!

[all laugh]

Brock: The other thing is, you know, you have a rock band that you can also dance to which is a neat thing these days. People don’t feel goofy dancing to Dazzler. They don’t have to be like that straight assed guy that’s sitting there ‘cause he thinks he’s going to look stupid if he dances.

Eszter: Alright, I like that. Your sound is definitely kind of nostalgic, it has sort of a 70s rock feel to it, so were you inspired by that genre of music and if so what about it inspires you?

Adam: Well, we’re all music nerds and we all go digging for old records and I think we look more towards stuff that’s been written in the past, in the 70s, rather than more contemporary stuff as influences.

Tyler: I think the 70s were a time of exploitation and I think that we are intrigued by exploitation. A lot of music from the 70s was referential to music from the past in a new way and I find that, personally, intriguing. The 70s is my favorite decade.

Andy: The 70s is my favorite decade!

Neil: As far as, like, recording music goes, the 70s blew everything up. There was so much possible that no one had dreamed of that allowed a lot of new and really interesting music to be made. Granted, we have too many options today, in that, a lot of people get lost in the creative process because they don’t have enough limitation, I think.

Andy: I think also the 70s was also the first time when you saw different musical elements like funk, prog, rock, disco, all these things started coming together for the first time and that’s kind of like what our band is too. So naturally, we look towards that music for inspiration.

Michael: And it was in a way that was more raw and fresh and had a level of excitement that the genre-crossing didn’t really have in later decades as much…so we try to look back to that to obtain a certain kind of fresh sound.

Adam: Something interesting that I just thought of is that, uh, I think knowing the rest of the guys in my band, all of our favorite genres are rooted in the 70s, but are also completely different from each other. I think we all have different influences when we come in and write songs together. We have very, very different musical backgrounds. I think it all just kind of clicked. For lack of a better term I’d say rooting it down to a decade in particular is basically the lowest common denominator for approaching musical influence.

Neil: Parts of the 80s…

Michael: Yeah parts of the 80s.

Neil: We mean like 1970 through 1983, but there’s always exceptions. 80s get a bad rep sometimes.

Eszter: You guys have started to build up a pretty good following and you’re going on a national tour with Anavan, but you’re still an unsigned band. Is being signed to a label something you’re aiming towards or would you rather keep complete creative control of the band yourselves?

Tyler: Both, ideally.

Michael: I think to realize the vision that is this band we do kind of need help, you know?

Adam: Well, we’d just like to get our music out to a broader audience. I’d like to say we’ve done almost as much as we can staying in LA.

Michael: Definitely.

Adam: I’m really excited to get on the road.

Andy: We wouldn’t say no to a good deal, basically.

Adam: Well, we’d like to get our records heard by everyone and not just people in LA.

Eszter: Have you gotten any label offers yet?

Tyler: There’s interest, but we’re just looking for the right deal. I think that we have something really unique to provide and I think we stand out a lot from other bands. We have a really unique voice and I think that the right record label is going to find that really intriguing and want to take us on. And we could absolutely use it because we have a lot of imagination and we’re really ambitious and hard working.

Eszter: Where do you see Dazzler in 5 years and what do you hope to accomplish as a band?

[all laugh]

Tyler: I think we’re just trying to get through the next couple months.

Michael: Tyler’s going to be really fat. [all laugh]

Tyler: I’m going to gain a lot of weight and wear sunglasses all the time in 5 years.

Michael: My personal prediction is that Andy is going to be a full on shameless new age hippie and he’ll do yoga and stuff.

Eszter: [laughs] he’s not already?

Michael: He’s getting there.

Adam: We don’t have any serious answers for this question. I hope we have vintage Ferraris…from the 70s!

Andy: I hope that in five years we’re still together and we’re still making really good music.

Eszter: Okay, moving on. What is one instrument the general public might not be aware of that you think they should know about?

Neil: Not the keytar! [laughs]

Tyler: I’d say…what a waterphone?

Andy: How about the Chinese butterfly harp? Neil plays a Chinese butterfly harp. What’s it called?

Neil: The Yang Qin.

Adam: You’ve got to spell that for her.

Neil: [spells]. It’s also the same thing as the Persian Santur, basically.

Eszter: How did you get into playing that?

Neil: I took a class at a community college actually. It’s a hammered dulcimer. Being a pianist and a multi-instrumentalist, I was able to adapt to it pretty quickly.

Andy: It’s beautiful.

Neil: Get involved with your local community college.

Tyler: Yeah, before California stops funding community college.

Adam: Do you think we could get an Ableton sponsorship out of this? Ableton is the instrument everyone should know about. [laughs]

Neil: Ableton Live.

Eszter: Well, we can end it here, or we can end it with a riddle.

Tyler: I’d like to end it with a riddle. I love riddles.

Adam: I got this one guys.

Eszter: I do too! Okay, are you ready?

All: Yes.

Eszter: If the temperature outside today is zero degrees—

Adam: Negative thirty-two degrees.

Eszter: Damn!

All: OHHHHHH.

Eszter: That’s not even fair!!! No, I get to do another one, that’s not even fair.

Andy: You’re the fucking riddler bro.

Eszter: Okay. This one has an open answer. If you—

Neil: Bill Withers? [all laugh]

Andy: We have some good duck jokes.

Eszter: Some good duck jokes? Do you want to tell them?

Neil: Well wait, I want to—

Michael: Let’s hear the riddle.

Eszter: Okay. If you try to fail, and you succeed, which have you done?

[pause]

Michael: Succeed.

Tyler: Both.

Adam: Fail at what?

Eszter: Whatever you want.

Michael: You fail. You fail.

Eszter: But you’ve succeeded at failing, so you’ve succeeded.

Neil: Right so it’s…

Eszter: It’s both, I guess.

Tyler: Well, if you try to fail, and you succeed at failing…

Michael: You succeed at failing, but if you just succeed…

Tyler: One more!

Eszter: One more? Alright, alright.

Adam: That’s not a riddle.

Eszter: I know. It’s an open ended question, I stated that! Alright this is my last one, this is a good one, but it’s complicated

Adam: It’s a paradox. That’s what it’s called.

Eszter: It is…Okay, pretend you’re hanging out with Pinocchio, everyone’s favorite puppet, and he says to you “my nose will grow now”. What happens, because his nose only grows if he lies, so if he says “my nose will grow now” and it grows, then he’s telling the truth and it can’t grow, but if he says that and it doesn’t grow, then he’s lying and it has to grow.

Adam: You ask the one who is guarding the door on the left, what the guy on the right would say if you asked him that same question.

Eszter: What?

[laughs]

Tyler: That didn’t actually make sense though.

Adam: What would the other guy’s answer be if I asked him if he was the one who told the truth?

Tyler: Wait, wait. Okay, so Pinocchio’s nose grows when he lies.

Eszter: Yes, and he says to you “my nose will grow NOW.” So at that instant what happens? Because it only grows when he lies, but if it grows after he says that then it’s the truth.

Adam: These aren’t riddles. These are philosophical questions.

Tyler: It grows, because he’s lying. Unless he says “My nose will grow NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW” as it grows…

Andy: You know what, that’s right. That’s right.

Tyler: Because in terms of quantum physics like…

Eszter: Alright. I want to hear these duck jokes.

Adam: Alright. A duck walks into a bar and he asks the bar tender, “hey have you seen my brother?” The bartender says, “what does he look like?” [laughs]

Andy: What do you get when you cross a duck and a cat?

Michael: What?

Andy: A duck filled platyma….[all laugh] I mean a duck filled fatty puss!

Adam: Okay, I got a good one. How do you turn a duck into a soul singer?

Eszter: A soul singer? I don’t know.

Adam: Put it in the microwave until it’s Bill Withers. Hey think about this, people are reading this.

Eszter: I know, these duck jokes are going to…

Tyler: They’re going to travel.

Eszter: Yeah.

Adam: There’s no delivery! [laughs]

Brock: Okay, a woman walks into a bar with her pet duck. The bartender says “Hey, we don’t allow pigs in here”. She says “It’s not a pig, it’s a duck” and the bartender says “I was talking to you.”

[all laugh]

Michael: That’s not how it goes! It’s “I’m talking to the duck”! I told this in rehearsal the other day.

Tyler: It’s funnier now.

Michael: It is funnier now. “I’m talking to YOU.” [all laugh]

Eszter: Well, that’s it. Thanks guys.

Check out more on Dazzler, including tour dates, at one of their websites:

http://www.myspace.com/dazzler

http://www.dazzlermusic.com

Last night in videos...

2009-07-03T14:19:00.000-07:00

Dazzler went on first last night. They were awesome. Keytars and vocoders, it doesn't get better than that. They were gracious enough to give me an interview after their set, so look for that to be up here soon. They're also going on a national tour with Anavan so check them out!

After Dazzler came Band of Skulls. They were incredible, but unfortunately this is the only video I got from their set because I left early to do the interview.

Amazing Baby finished the show and they were nothing less than AMAZING, despite being lost in a sea of fog the entire night. During Pump Yr Brakes Will's microphone cut out and no one knew the lyrics to the song. It was hilarious. Of course the second they stopped the song it worked again...I wonder why he didn't just grab someone else's mic? But there's nothing wrong with some instrumentals.

They closed with The Narwhal and kept it going for almost seven minutes. Brilliant. Anyway it was an awesome show. Maybe I'll write a proper review later...but for now this will have to do.

Could someone buy me a plane ticket to Massachusetts right now?!

2009-06-27T18:14:00.000-07:00

Video courtesy of Jacob's Pillow

I was a competitive figure skater back in the day. I always thought about how amazing it would be to perform a program of some sort to an instrumental version of a Radiohead song (being that they are my favorite band and I am absolutely obsessed with their music). Well, I just learned that a lovely man by the name of Edward Clug has choreographed and produced an entire ballet set to the music of Radiohead. It looks absolutely stunning. I really hope the ballet goes on tour. If I don't get a chance to see this I will never fully recover. July 1st through the 5th at the Ted Shawn Theatre in Becket, MA, for all you lucky New Englanders.

check it out:
http://www.jacobspillow.org/festival/2009/07/radio-and-juliet-1/

Burning bridges shore to shore...

2009-06-23T16:01:00.000-07:00

today I spent over four hours trying to convert a video into audio format...and failed miserably. I was just about to write off all modern technology and go feral in the woods somewhere when I found this video on youtube...now I'm stuck in front of the computer watching it on repeat.

Video courtesy of Pretty Monkey Studio

La Roux - Bulletproof. Cool.

My Bird

2009-06-22T19:34:00.000-07:00

I am endlessly entertained by this little guy...

The World/Inferno Friendship Society

2009-06-22T18:53:00.000-07:00

The World/Inferno Friendship Society: More of a Wine Drinking Band

April 25^th of 2009 proved to be quite an excursion for Audio Magazine’s intrepid reporters, Laurel Kalman and Eszter Zimanyi. A three hour drive from the University of Delaware had finally brought them to their destination: a small club called Chubby’s in Red Bank, New Jersey. After a good ten minutes of searching for the discretely located club, our reporters found their way inside and sat down with The World/Inferno Friendship Society’s Singer/Lyricist Jack Terricloth and Bassist Sandra Malak to talk about music, fans, parents, and everything in between.

Laurel: So I have one really random question I have to ask.

Jack: Sure

Laurel: Growing up in Bridgewater, New Jersey, what did you do to entertain yourself, because I’m from there and growing up my friends and I would ask each other “do you want to go to the diner, or the mall?”

Jack: Well the mall wasn’t there when I grew up so it was the diner almost every night. A funny story about the mall, they were building it while I was in high school and we would always go there and move all the markers around. So I like to think we delayed the mall being built by at least a year. We also figured out how to hotwire the bulldozers and we would move those around as well, so yeah.

Laurel: I asked that because I was at your show “Addicted to Bad Ideas” at Webster Hall and some kid told me that I wasn’t from Bridgewater because I didn’t know there was more to do than go to the mall or a diner.

Jack: There used to be a quarry in Martinsville which we used to hang out in all the time. We squatted there pretty much, and part of it fell down and then they knocked the rest of it down, but it was a punk-rock crash pad.

Laurel: Ah, so if only I was like twenty years older.

Eszter: Way to make them feel old, Laurel!

Sandra: We are old. We’re a thousand years old.

Eszter: No, no. You’re only as old as you feel Sandra.

Sandra and Jack: We feel a thousand years old [laughs]

Laurel: So, what is the answer of the day for ‘what does The World/Inferno Friendship Society sound like’?

Jack: Oh oh, what does Inferno sound like today? Let’s see. I would say Louis Prima. Period.

Eszter: I know that you guys have had a lot of members come and go in the band, and I’m wondering: how much do the other members of the band contribute to the creative process?

Jack: Whoever shows up gets their say; whoever doesn’t show up doesn’t get their say.

Eszter: Lyrically, do you do all of it?

Jack: I do the majority of the lyrics. Occasionally someone will throw a line in or I will steal something from somebody. But yes for the most part I write all the lyrics.

Eszter: Do you ever wish you had a more constant line up?

Sandra: We do actually, we’ve had a pretty solid crew for several years now. We only have interchangeable members for certain tours that we do. Maybe somebody can’t make a couple weeks of the tour, so they’ll change out, you know, and we’ll have substitutes for people. So there is actually a solid crew; I think it’s becoming more of a myth that we have interchangeable members. They take turns, but they’re pretty consistent.

Jack: Yeah, I’d say there is a solid community of about fifteen people that play with us.

Laurel: Do you guys ever have trouble fitting on stages?

Sandra: We like each other…

Jack: It’s fun to be close to each other.

Laurel: I was at the Ottobar last night and all I could think was ‘I have no idea how they are all going to fit up there’.

Jack: Actually I was wishing Hess was there last night because sometimes when I can’t stand up I just lean on him, and he wasn’t there so I ended up falling over.

Sandra: I like when we’re tight on stage. It feels more cozy and we feel each other’s sweat.

Jack: Remember the night when the stage was too big and we actually—

Laurel: Mr. Small’s in Pittsburg? I actually heard about that from someone. He was like “they actually looked too small for the stage”.

Jack: I looked around like ‘where is everybody?’ [laughs]

Laurel: Was there a defining moment when you realized World/Inferno had become bigger than the band and had become its own scene or culture that it is now?

Jack: Very quickly actually. It took on its own life within six months of this happening. Very quickly I realized that I was not in charge anymore and I was just a band member, not a band leader, which is fine because I feel I don’t want to lead anybody. I think everyone should do their own thing. World/Inferno took on its own life probably three seven-inches in, so definitely before the first record.

Eszter: I absolutely didn’t know about you guys until I met Laurel and she sent me some videos of a documentary…

Jack: Oh which one? The one about the kids?

Laurel: Yes, the one that was very focused on the culture surrounding the band.

Eszter: Yeah, and I watched that but I actually was kind of like, terrified by the intensity of your fans and I was wondering if the intensity of your fans ever kind of scares you? I hear that they have a bunch of rules for what dances to do during certain songs…I was like ‘Oh God’.

Jack: They don’t frighten me, no. I know I’m afraid of knives, I’m afraid of needles, I’m afraid of snakes, I am not afraid of teenagers.

[all laugh]

Sandra: The dance rules are actually kind of cool. It reminds me of the 50’s where every dance had a title, like “now we’re doing the mashed potato!” or “now we’re doing the Saigon kick!”

Eszter: Yeah. They’re very involved, which is cool.

Sandra: I take it as a compliment, so it’s not frightening.

Jack: I encourage it, and will continue to.

Laurel: With a fan base as dedicated as yours, how does playing new songs on tour go, when they don’t know the words or what to expect? I feel like it’s very different from the songs in which everyone sings along.

Jack: That’s a good point. We have to keep playing new songs because we’re like a shark. If you don’t keep moving, you die. I think, actually, everyone has been very good about youtube-ing the new songs and learning the songs within a day of us playing them; which is often very funny because a lot of times the lyrics aren’t done yet and so the kids are singing different lyrics than the ones I’m singing because I’ve changed them.

At this point, Jimmy, a staff member at the club, interrupts the interview to ask what kind of beverages the band would like. He offers a list of different beers, and Sandra suggests that the band is more of a wine drinking band.

Eszter: Do you guys get that for free? Man, let’s start a band Laurel!

[all laugh]

Sandra: It’s not exactly free, I mean, we end up kind of paying for it in the end. It’s just that it appears to be free which is comforting.

Eszter: Yeah. I think, you know, the delusion of it being free is nice.

Jack: It does come out of our pay eventually.

Sandra: Which is why we’re paid so little, because we drink so much.

Eszter: In today’s age obviously a lot of people are downloading music, downloading music illegally. Records aren’t being sold as much since people are getting stuff on the internet. So I’m wondering how you define success as a band since so much of it depends on touring now, and also if you’re content with where you are right now as a band?

Jack: I am totally pro people downloading songs. I think information needs and wants to be free in order to better the culture.

Laurel: Weren’t all of your songs up on your website at one point as a free download?

Jack: They were actually, and we only stopped doing that because it was starting to cost us money to have all the data and info hosted on the website. So we didn’t take it off to sell more music, it was just because we were losing money giving stuff away. You know, I’m happy giving things away, but once it actually starts costing you money to give things away…anyway I don’t think there is such a thing as “illegal downloading”. I think we should let people get stuff out there, that’s totally cool, and it also brings more kids to the shows. And it also destroys the music industry, which I think should be destroyed! So kids get the music, come to the shows, we get the money from the shows, totally cool.

Eszter: So how is success defined for you then as a band?

Jack: Oh, just having a crowded room.

Jack: [to Sandra] Would you like to add anything to that?

Sandra: I think success is feeling happy on stage. It doesn’t always have to be crowded.

Eszter: Plus intimate crowds are nice actually.

Sandra: Yeah, we played a show for seven people last year somewhere in the middle of South or North Carolina, and it was one of the best shows we ever played.

—Jack, who has been sitting on a briefcase, loses his balance for a moment and almost falls over—

Eszter: You really can sit next to us on this couch you know, I feel bad.

Jack: I didn’t actually fall. I’m like a cat. I meant to do that.

Eszter: Alright. So the vast majority of songs today that are popular are about money, sex, drugs, etc. but a lot of your songs are based around historical events. So what is it about history that inspires you?

Jack: Well, I just want to know what myself and my friends are going to do next, so you kind of look to the past for antecedents of people who you think might be like you and make decisions about what you are going to do next. People such as Paul Robeson or Peter Lorre…whoever I write songs about. And they often made wrong mistakes, and you don’t have to make the same mistakes they did. So I look for people who I think had similar problems and similar ideals to what I have, and then I try to figure out what I should do next.

Laurel: Well speaking of Peter Lorre, again you’ve written about so many different people and historical events, why did you choose to expand on Peter Lorre?

Jack: I think it was a mix of, uh, he was like a childhood hero of mine. He was Bugs Bunny, and who doesn’t love Bugs Bunny? And he also had this other life in Germany where he worked with Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill. And somehow he ingratiated himself into the culture so much that everyone knows who he is even though no one knows that much about him. If you want to look at the 20^th century from a punk-rock point of view, Peter Lorre is everywhere you want to be. I’ve said this before but I’ll say it again for your readers. Born in Transylvania, you gotta love that. He moved to Vienna and worked with Fritz Lang, worked with Bertolt Brecht. Got kicked out of Germany because he was Jewish, moved to Hollywood, worked with Humphrey Bogart for Christ’s sakes. Then because he had communist leanings, he was yelled at by the House of Un-American Activities Committee and then he actually went back to Germany, which very few immigrants did, to direct his own movies. He just seemed to be everywhere you might want to be in the 20^th century. Plus he was high for 40 years straight, which is totally cool. He really didn’t seem to give a damn about much—really had his ideals, which were vague, but also seemed to have a good sense of humor about his place in the world. He could have really felt sorry for himself and he didn’t. He was like, “I’m working, I’ll take it, and I’ll do the best job I can. This is my life and this is what I do.”

Laurel: That’s great. Now you guys are doing a lot of regular touring and then also putting on your production, “Addicted to Bad Ideas”. Does that ever get confusing or exhausting?

Sandra: No it’s great. It makes it more interesting.

Jack: Yeah, it’s nice to mix it up. In December and January we’re doing a bunch of radio plays.

Laurel: Is that the ‘Prairie Home Companion’ thing?

Jack: Yeah. We should probably stop calling it that. That is a fine short-hand way of doing it, but I believe Mr. Keillor’s lawyers have already contacted us about that. It really is a straight-up radio play with the band starring as the characters, and music as part of the stories as well. It actually has more to do with um, well you’re probably familiar with Orson Welles, it has more to do with his radio series about The Third Man called “The Lives of Harry Lime”. Same character in kind of connected stories every week, but each story, you can listen to just one and it wouldn’t confuse you. I’m really looking forward to it.

Eszter: Well back to touring. Touring obviously is really exhausting, so—

Jack: But never boring!

Eszter: How much longer do you think you would keep touring though, is this something you want to keep going with until you literally drop?

Jack: Oh yeah, until I drop. I actually, yeah.

Sandra: I’m not comfortable NOT touring.

Eszter: Do you ever think about what you would do if you weren’t touring or recording?

Jack: No, I remember having day jobs. They sucked! I would like to tour until I die and fall dead on stage. It might happen tonight!

Eszter: That would be a really dramatic way to die.

Jack: What a way to go! [all laugh]

Laurel: So. I once saw Ted Leo, and he was explaining how somebody thought one of his songs, which was about alienation in the political process, was about a ghost trying to make toast. Does stuff like that happen to your songs? Do people completely misinterpret them ever?

Jack: Actually sometimes I get good lyrics from things people think I’m saying, and then I work them into songs. But there’s no good story about that. We try and put our lyrics out almost immediately. I send the lyrics out to the fans and put them on the internet on our widely used forum. I do like Ted Leo very much, we’re actually childhood friends.

Laurel: Really!

Jack: Yeah. His brother Chris once played the trombone in our band. Ted is a very nice man.

Laurel: Yeah, I’ve met him a few times. I think once he jokingly agreed to play my 21^st birthday party.

Jack: You got to learn to say no to those things. I can’t tell you how many times people have asked us to play at their wedding. I mean I’ll go, if I’m invited I’ll go, but we’re not a wedding band.

Laurel: Well you’re officially invited to my 21^st birthday party if you want to come!

Jack: Is there an open bar?

Laurel: Um no, it’s going to be down the shore…with lots of drunk college kids.

Jack: Well, I’ll send a telegram.

Laurel: That works!

Jack: But yeah, Ted Leo’s a good man. We just saw him open for Against Me! recently.

Laurel: Oh, was that back in October?

Jack: It might have been. It was at Webster Hall.

Laurel: Oh, I was completely at that show!

Eszter: Are you done?

Laurel: I’m done.

Eszter: Okay. Well, I have a bone to pick with you Jack.

Jack: No, okay. Are you from California?

Eszter: YES! And I want to know why you think I stink!

Sandra: It’s not you! It’s the state of California.

Eszter: But isn’t the song called “All of California and Everyone in it Stinks” ?

Sandra: Oh yeah.

Jack: Alright, democracy. Which means that you voted for Richard Nixon, you voted for Ronald Regan—

Eszter: I’m an immigrant to this country though, so my family wasn’t even here for all that!

Jack: Well if you believe in democracy then everyone has their say and you voted for Pete Wilson. Who is your governor now?!

Eszter: Arnold Schwarzenegger!

Jack: How embarrassing is that?

Sandra: And you voted against gay marriage!

Jack: And also, if you want to talk about Hollywood, come on. Brad Pitt makes me feel like I’m too fat.

Laurel: WHAT?

Eszter: You’re way thinner than Brad Pitt.

Jack: Exactly! And I’m not even going to get into the rest of it. Come on. You have a LOT to answer for California.

Eszter: But what about the nice weather, and the beaches, and the mountains?

Jack: Too hot.

Sandra: I don’t like the heat.

Jack: Alright, well do you have any other bones to pick?

Eszter: No, that was all. Is there anything you would like to add?

Jack: Nothing. We’re the World/Inferno Friendship Society, your friends from Brooklyn, New York. And really, I especially enjoy debating things with people who I disagree with because Lord knows I need to think as much as I can! You’re only as young as you make your brain work, so I try to make my brain work all the time.

Laurel: You should sit down with my parents, they would tear you apart.

Jack: Really? Then why aren’t they doing this interview?

Laurel: Ha, yeah. I wasn’t allowed to see you guys for like six years.

Sandra: Which made you want to see us more!

Jack: Thank you Mom and Dad!

Laurel: Remember a certain show at the Bridgewater Firehouse?

Jack: I do, I do. The ceiling got caved in. My sister was at that show.

Laurel: I was supposed to go to that show and then my parents decided I couldn’t. Then the next day, the Bridgewater Parent Hot Line talked about what happened. My parents were screaming at me like, “THERE WERE RIOTS AND AMBULANCES! LAUREL WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?”

Sandra: It was probably because you weren’t there that it happened. You could have prevented this Laurel. We need you!

Laurel: Yes, I could have prevented the ceiling from caving in.

Jack: It’s very funny, we’ve gotten to the point where people have started to Google us and go “oh no, no, no.” And then we show up and, lets face it, we’re middle aged people, and the club owners are like “so you’re the guys that are going to destroy our club?” Yeah, I know.

Eszter: You’ve got to stand for something.

Jack: Or represent something. [to Laurel] But what was it about us that offended your parents so much?

Laurel: I don’t know, it was probably everything.

Sandra: They probably secretly come to shows and don’t want you to know about it.

Laurel: No, no! My parents listen to Billy Joel

Sandra: That’s what they want you to think. Mommy’s alright, Daddy’s alright, they’re just a little weird.

Laurel: I was at your show last night and my friend and I saw some parents there, and I was like “could you EVER imagine my mom here?” and my friend was like “she would have to be 155% TRASHED.”

Jack: Our shows are actually very family friendly shows. In fact, a lady I went to high school with is bringing her 16 year old daughter to the show tonight. She was like “hey, I hate to ask you this but my daughter likes your band. Can you get us in?”

Sandra: My sister is coming tonight. My cousin that I hadn’t seen in 20 years came last night.

Eszter: Wow.

Laurel: [to Jack] Now, did you go to East or West [high school]?

Jack: I went to East.

Laurel: I went to Immaculata Catholic High School. I’m one of those.

Jack: Ah! I remember it very well. I remember you had to wear your costumes every day but Friday? Do you still have to do that?

Laurel: No, we didn’t get Friday off!

Eszter: Really? You didn’t have casual Fridays?

Jack: Back in the 80s they had casual Fridays.

Laurel: That is so not fair. They got worse my senior year too. They made it so that we had to wear our tights all year round.

Sandra: Wow. Someone probably ruined it for the rest of you by wearing her skirt too high.

Jack: Actually a former roadie of ours, who you might know—Mike Leonard—gave me an Immaculata sweater, which I use as pajamas.

Laurel: Really? Would you like more? I’ve got them at my house.

Sandra: Yeah! I could get one and we could match.

Jack: Sure, why not.

Eszter: You could have sleepovers in your matching Immaculata sweaters.

Jack: Okay, well, I need to go downstairs.

Laurel: Alright, thank you so much!

Check out more on The World/Inferno Friendship Society at their websites:
http://www.worldinferno.com

http://www.myspace.com/worldinferno

Ima Robot

2009-06-22T18:46:00.000-07:00

IMA ROBOT AT THE ROXY
January 28th 2009

It was two years ago in February that I first had the opportunity to see the Los Angeles based indie band Ima Robot. I had been a die-hard fan since 2003 when their debut album was released through Virgin Records, so when my best friend offered to buy me a ticket to a show, I immediately jumped at the chance. February 15^th of 2007 marked my first trip to The Roxy Club; I remember it being packed with the some of the strangest people imaginable, including Miley Cyrus, who was in attendance to see the then un-famous opening band of the night: Metro Station. Rest assured I won’t subject you to reading about that thirty minute set, if it can even be called such. That night Ima Robot took the stage with an infectious and out of control attitude; front-man Alex Ebert emerged in a nude leotard, throwing white feathers into a sea of fans who half-way through the show rushed the stage and spent an entire song dancing along side the band. The crowd was unmanageable, and I remember being swept from one side of the room to the other in a matter of minutes; we were packed so tightly that I was convinced I was going to asphyxiate and pass out at any moment. Youtube video of this event still exists, and I am proud to say I can still find myself in that turbulent crowd. It was one of the most exciting and unpredictable shows I have ever been to, and one that will always stay fresh in my memory.
Fast forward almost exactly two years, and you will find me gearing up to once again see Ima Robot at The Roxy. I was home in California for winter break and luckily stumbled upon a Myspace bulletin announcing Ima Robot would be playing a show that evening. After a fervent twenty minutes of texting every person I knew in search of transportation, I managed to procure a ride and $20 and set out with a friend for the hour drive into the city. The Roxy Club, for those of you who have never been out west, is located on Sunset Boulevard, one of the most famous streets in Los Angeles. Everything seems to happen on Sunset, and the feeling of excitement and action is tangible the minute you step out on the sidewalk. My friend and I arrived at The Roxy around 8:30 pm, and decided to skip the first two opening acts in exchange for grabbing a quick dinner. When we finally entered the club, I was amazed to find a completely different atmosphere from the last time I had seen Ima Robot. 2007 had comprised of a massive crowd, consisting of everything from fourteen year old girls to 20-something men dressed in superhero costumes. It was during the bands promotion of their second album, Monument to the Masses. Since that time Ima Robot has stayed relatively under the radar; they successfully terminated their contract with Virgin and have been working on releasing new material themselves, a process which has been relatively slow. Still, I was understandably surprised to find that 2009 drew a much smaller and calmer crowd, and one that easily allowed me to procure a spot directly in front of the stage without any pushing or shoving. By the time Ima Robot took the stage it was already past 11pm. They were an hour late to start, however the minute they stepped on stage I forgot all my exhaustion and was filled with excitement. Alex Ebert strolled up to the microphone wearing dirty and ripped white jeans, a white cardigan, and no shoes. His hair is long now and he sports a thick beard; I imagine he looks something like the lovechild of an emaciated Ryan Gosling and Jesus, but in the most attractive way possible. Before starting their set, Alex announced the band’s keyboardist, Lars, was stuck outside of the country and would be replaced that night by what he called L.A.R.S. (lifelike analog replacement situation). This replacement turned out to be a cleverly constructed manikin wearing a werewolf mask, complete with Christmas lights as eyes, which the band was committed to interacting with throughout the show. In reality however, it was guitarist Timmy Anderson who stepped up to the plate and managed to play both guitar and keyboards for the entire night. Ima Robot made the daring decision to play all new songs off of their forthcoming album, and the crowd spent much of the night in subdued awe. The new songs are completely different from Ima Robot’s older work; they are almost tribal in sound, and have a definite South American influence to them. Alex was impeccable both vocally and performance wise; he danced as if no one was watching and was so lost in his music that the experience seemed entirely spiritual for both the band and audience. It was an experience I still cannot fully put into words. I spent the entire evening in unblinking admiration for this band, which despite largely reinventing their sound has still remained true to themselves and their creative integrity. At the end of the set, Timmy pulled out a list of older songs to decide from for an encore, and after deliberating for a few minutes, the band decided on fan favorite 12=3. This song was one of 3 out of the 10 songs played that evening familiar to fans, and it was only during the encore of 12=3 that the crowd really let lose and went wild. I left The Roxy that evening filled with elation and awe. Although the experience was completely different from the first time I saw Ima Robot, the band still captivated me and solidified their placement as my second favorite band of all time. Their stage presence, musicality, and talent all shine through during their performance, and they are undoubtedly one of the greatest live bands around today. It is still unsure whether Ima Robot will tour outside of Southern California in the near future, however if you do get the chance to see this band, I highly recommend you go. They are a band that promises the unpredictable, and always delivers.

Passive aggressive notes make me happy.

2009-06-21T16:26:00.000-07:00

My friend received this note on her car last Friday after making what she calls an "epic park". It's the greatest thing I've ever seen. Note the spelling of 'douchebag'. Is it German?