How is the tour going? Whats its like to tour with Ted Leo? I met him once and he is a super nice guy. He seems very supportive of his opening bands, tweeting photos from sets and similar stuff. What are your plans for the rest of the year? It looks like you have been recording how is that going? Can we expect a new album in the near future?
Jarrett: Tour has been great. Ted Leo and the guys in the Pharmacists are amazing people. They have been so great to us and we are truly excited to play with them every night. Also they fucking rock! They put on an unbelievable performance every night. We are going to be doing a lot more touring through June and then hopefully taking it easy for a little bit. We just finished up our fourth full length, called Castle Talk, which should be out in late summer. Then we will hit the road again.
What inspires your guys sound? There is some punk rock in it, but there are also hooks and melodies that seem closer to brit-pop, ie the Jam, Squeeze, stuff like that. I also can definitely hear a 80's hardcore influence and some riot grrl style. Then again I could be totally off base.
Jarrett: Our sound is what happens when the three of us get together in our basement and play music. We have no preconceived notions about what this band should sound like. That allows us to draw on all of our influences.
You all are from New Jersey, whats the scene like there? Part of this blog is to document regional scenes, so I am always interested in hearing what people have to say about where they come from. It seems like New Jersey's proximity to New York has meant there is always a fresh crop of new and talented bands.
Jarrett: Jersey's proximity to NYC definitely has an effect on the scene. New Brunswick, NJ, where we are from, is a college town that for an outsider would look to be completely lacking in young culture. There is only one legit venue and it is a 21+ bar. So most of the students can't go there. What has happened is that New Brunswick has one of the best basement show scenes in the country. Touring bands come through multiple times every week and there is a show almost every night. Because all of the shows are officially illegal not a lot of people outside the town know how awesome it is. I also have a feeling that there are a lot of people in town that don't know how awesome it is! Lots of Jersey people think they have to go to NYC to see a great show but it totally isn't that way. I think New Brunswick has some of the best shows I've ever been to.
What is your preferred venue? On your blog you have a bunch of youtube videos of the band playing a basement show in Philly. It looks like that show was awesome. Do you prefer smaller shows where everyone goes nuts to bigger more traditional shows where people act
appropriately?
Jarrett: Recently our label Don GIovanni Records ran a sold out show at Bowery Ballroom in NYC. The label exists because of the New Brunswick basement scene and only releases bands that are connected to that. The idea was to run a show at a very traditional venue and show off how many people love these bands that don't often get attention from hip blogs and places like that. The crowd was amazing. People were dancing everywhere and our friends kept jumping up on stage and singing along. The point of this is that people having a great time and traditional venues can go together. We prefer to play all ages shows but for a number of reasons that isn't always possible.
Thanks!
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