Modern pop outfit Kiss Bang is forever imprinted onto our minds as exceptionally fun convention/festival-goers. The duo took to the @imperfectfifth Instagram account during SXSW 2024 to give us a glimpse into their spring break fun. Not to mention the fact that they were attending SXSW as performers. (But really, do go on.)
We got to throw a few post-fest questions their way. Results below.
You approached strangers. You ran around. You tried to win things – and WON! What was your FAVORITE experience during your iF takeover?
We really did do it all haha! I think the best part of doing this takeover was really getting to explore SXSW. It felt like we went straight from one show to the next so this really gave us the opportunity to check it out.
Was there another experience that exceeded expectations during your trip to SXSW 2024?
We would say our last show at Hotel Vegas. It was the day of our EP release and performing to a packed out venue was the best feeling in the world.
Who was the best artist or act that you discovered (besides your damn selves) this year at SXSW?
We would have to say Shannon and the Clams! We had a chance to stop by their set and we’re blown away.
What was the best food you ate that week? (For real, always need suggestions.)
Terry Black’s!!! It was on our bucket list before we got to Austin and did not disappoint.
Any highlight moments from your SXSW performances you’d like to share?
One of our favorite moments was watching people who’d never heard us before singing along to our songs by the second chorus. With the EP only being out for a couple of weeks, it was incredible to see how quickly people were falling in love with this band.
What else would you like to share that’s coming down the stretch for Kiss Bang?
More music and more shows!!! We are so excited for what’s coming up 🙂
While SXSW 2024 was too fast and too wild for many of us, Montreal-based duo DVTR – expertly comprised of Demi Lume and Jean-Cimon Tellier – kept us guessing during their fun takeover. Always ones to engage an audience, we deeply enjoy their humor and urge you to go see them live. For now, do everything you can to learn everything you can about them. We were lucky enough to have Tellier answer a few post-fest questions for us, below.
You always have such fun takeover topics planned. What made you choose your approach this year, and ultimately sharing free things you acquired?
We love free stuff and there’s a lot of free stuff usually at SXSW so you know, we didn’t have to think a lot. At first, we wanted to film ourselves doing an escape room thing downtown but it was too expensive. Then we wanted to do like an alligator tour thing but it was too expensive. So we chose the free stuff.
What was the BEST free thing you got during your stay in Austin?
All the free shows everywhere all the time, we mean, that’s better than free Coca Cola.
You encountered Nobro during your takeover. What was that experience like?
Meeting Nobro was not that big of a deal because we see them all the time in Montreal. An ok experience overall.
[laughing] Well, it was exciting for viewers! What a thrill, to be part of such a creative community! What was the best food you ate at SXSW?
So we tried to go to Franklin’s BBQ one morning but holy shit we had to wait 4 hours outside. So we went to Micklethwait BBQ, waited 0 minutes, and had the best meat ever. Much better plan.
Any highlight moments from your showcases?
We don’t remember anything. It all went too fast, too late, too much booze and whatnot, so we were too fucked up most of time. So no highlights, no.
Well, our highlight was absolutely your takeover. (Sorry, it’s the truth!) What else is coming up for you?
We’re going to the UK and France in a couple of weeks for a tour. Can’t wait to see if they’re more troublemaking people than peeps in Texas. We love troublemaking gents.
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Keep up with charming duo DVTR here. (And check out their archived takeovers and reels on our Instagram!)
SXSW 2024 was one for the ages. Our good friends Bad Bad Hats had 5 showcases and didn’t find themselves with much downtime between everything else going on that week. We were lucky enough to adventure with them when they did a takeover on our Instagram account. So, we wanted to wind down from the week with a few quick questions and feelings of admiration and fulfillment for all of the fun.
You ate tacos. You pet dogs. You sampled new La Croix. What was your FAVORITE experience during your iF takeover?
The migas tacos from Veracruz are an all time fave, but my favorite part was definitely hanging with our friends (whose dogs we were petting!) at their lovely Austin home. We’re grateful that music lends us the opportunity to visit friends all around the country.
Was there another experience that exceeded expectations during your trip to SXSW 2024?
We found parking every day! A miracle!
I’ll say! Who was the best artist or act that you discovered this year at SXSW?
We loved checking out Snacktime, so fun. And we enjoyed hearing and meeting Airu from Spain. We gotta get over there to a play show sometime!
What was the best food you ate that week?
Everything is so tasty at Loro. The brisket on the burger?? The salsa with the wonton chips?? Don’t get me started on the cocktails!!
YUM! You played at least 5 showcases during SXSW. Any highlight moments from your performances?
We were so pleased with the turnout at all the shows. We know there are lots of bands to see so we’re honored when people come by to check out a set. I had to bust out the kazoo at a few shows and show off my skills.
What else would you like to share that’s coming down the stretch for Bad Bad Hats?
Our new album is out April 12th! So excited for people to hear it. And we’ll be hitting the road in May to start the first leg of our album release tour. Come see us in a city near you!
It is rare to find someone who is so mad talented at such a young age. But Keli Price has been knocking on music’s door for YEARS. He’s a singer and songwriter and has naturally forayed into the acting arena. He recently played Zak in ‘Side Effects‘ on a YouTube-exclusive channel called AwesomenessTV. But that’s not all. He’s currently recording music, reaping in the benefits of years of hard work, and being the coolest bi-coastal citizen you’ll ever encounter! Check out what he had to say about it all in our interview below. And swoon.
Serial Optimist: We have it on good authority that you have been involved in music for quite some time. When did you realize it was a passion you wanted to make into a career?
Keli Price: Music has always been a passion of mine. I could never get enough of it. When I was about five years old I would sing with my dad as he would play the guitar to songs like “Needle and the damage done” by Neil Young, “Angie” by The Rolling Stones, and eventually, I was so immersed in music that I knew it was going to always be a big part of my life.
SO: What was the first live show you went to? Any musical artists you would suggest that the Serial Optimist readers see live?
Keli: It was a Bob Dylan show at the Tiles Center on Long Island, NY. I was about five or six at the time. I remember turning to my mom and saying “He’s really good but I think he’s depressed”. You should definitely check out “Cream” or “The James Gang” in concert, if you get the chance. Both of those bands put on amazing shows, never a dull moment.
SO: Making a note of it now! What was the first song you wrote? What’s the story behind it?
Keli: The first song I ever wrote was called “LA”. I was in a hotel room in Los Angeles with my little brother Nikko. I was about eleven years old and he was eight. We were sitting there in our boxers about to get ready for the day when he picks up the guitar and starts strumming this chord progression. I started singing this vocal melody and that was that. There was something so organic and natural about that experience. I’ll never forget it. I still go back all the time and listen to the song. I’m transported back to that moment every time.
SO: We hear you may have attended Pepperdine University. What was the collegiate experience like for you?
Keli: Pepperdine was a great experience for me. I studied Psychology there and learned a lot more about why Bob Dylan is depressed;) No, but I really did get so much out of that experience and added so much to my personal knowledge about people in general.
SO: How did you get involved with AwesomenessTV and ‘Side Effects’?
Keli: I was called in to audition for the casting director Sheryl Levine, for the role of Zac. I was then brought back to read for the producers. I got a call a couple of weeks later that I had gotten the part.
SO: Easy enough! We read your FanLaLa interview about how you see YouTube as a television rival. We concur as you can see the power of YouTube sensationalism with Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, etc. Besides ‘Side Effects’, what has been the most artistically stimulating content you have run across on YouTube or a similar platform?
Keli: I mean, I personally go on “YouTube” more then I watch television. Whether it’s to check out music, watch an interview, or check out a video that all my friends are talking about. YouTube pretty much covers it all. Even if I missed an important political speech, a crazy NBA dunk, or an episode of my favorite show, chances are, I can check it out on “YouTube”. It gives anybody the chance to get there own content out there to the world. Giving an opportunity to people that can’t get their foot in the door at TV Networks or record labels, to be seen or heard on another medium, youtube.
SO: What is your favorite food joint in New York? What about LA? (We’re looking for stellar places to hang in our travels, too!)
Keli: “Hunan Café” is a little Chinese restaurant off of the Sunset Strip. It’s the best Chinese food I’ve ever had. It’s my favorite restaurant in LA. When you’re in New York you should definitely check out Gitane in Nolita.
SO: YUM! Can’t wait! Ok, so tell us a little bit about ‘The Sound of Magic’.
Keli: ‘The Sound of Magic’ is a coming-of-age rock musical with a mix of music, comedy, and fantasy. The film is set in a world we all know with an element of the beyond. It allows the mind to escape into a fantasy of wishes and dreams come true. I really enjoyed playing the role of Lee who is calm and cool and definitely beats to his own drum. It was a pleasure filming with such an eclectic group of actors and brilliant directors.
SO: Can’t wait to see it! If you could perform with any talent, who would you choose and why?
Keli: Mick Jagger. On stage with Mick Jagger would be a dream come true. Acting-wise, acting opposite someone like Michael Fassbender or Robert De Niro wouldn’t be so bad.
SO: Haha! No, that probably wouldn’t be bad. If you could give one piece of advice to our readers, what would it be?
Keli: Trust your instincts.
SO: Thank you! And finally, what do you think is underappreciated in this world?
Keli: Diversity! There is so much to learn from people who are different than you are.
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Want to keep updated on all things Keli? Follow @KeliPrice now!
Emo children of the aughts rejoice, because one of our favorite live bands is making the rounds again, and they’re bigger than ever before. Pop-punk bad boys Yellowcard delivered a kiss of surf pop, a hint of nostalgia, and a whole lot of energy every time they took the stage. So when I had the opportunity to interview Ryan Key, Yellowcard’s lead singer, Star Wars aficionado, podcast host, and content creator extraordinaire – I snapped it up.
One of the first things I say, after promising myself not to bring it up? “I spoke to you in 2006 and it was to ask you to sign a t-shirt for my friend and I was too nervous to say anything else.” Cool. Word vomit.
“Oh, I was such a little shit in 2006 too,” Key immediately admitted, laughing. “So, it should be a way better encounter this time, I promise.”
Key’s self-awareness eased us into a conversation that ran the gamut. From our shared love of Star Wars (Though I haven’t quite expanded into podcast territory yet), being driven by bitterness through some tough times, how it feels coming off the biggest tour Yellowcard has ever experienced, and reflecting on 20 years of Ocean Avenue.
Yellowcard’s rapid-fire return fueled a “Celebrating 20 Years of Ocean Avenue” tour that took on bigger venues than they’ve ever played. The band’s welcome back was far from polite, with screaming fans more dedicated to the art form, acceptance of the music, and enjoyment during shows to fuel the energy.
From theatrical beginnings…
Admittedly, Ryan didn’t do much with music growing up. He took piano lessons for a couple of months, hated it, and quit. He wasn’t much for musicals, either. He was much more attached to the idea of the theater. An idea – it seems – that may have stemmed from his first role as Tiny Tim in none other than A Christmas Carol.
“It’s two lines,” Key admits, laughing. “But being on stage at 6 years old in front of enough people, I can only imagine shaped me, changed me forever. Having that moment happen on your impressionable little 1st-grade mind. It’s like, yeah I want more of this. You get that dopamine hit of being on stage and the adrenaline of that, you want more of that. And you don’t know why but I think as a kid, after that, I was just dead set on being on stage however I could.”
In 10th grade, Key was accepted to Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in Jacksonville and his pursuit of acting and theater got really serious. He was super involved at school in the shows and the deep, specific education. “We were studying Stanslovsky and real heavy stuff for high school kids,” Key says.
…to stress-reducing hobbies.
To help blow off steam in his -very limited – free time? “I had a band on the weekends,” he explains. “I got my first guitar when I was 11 or 12 years old and I played it and I wrote really crappy songs and had some friends that I played with but that was never gonna be something that I did professionally. I never even had it in my mind. I didn’t really enjoy singing, to be honest, very much. It’s still not my favorite part of my job. I was the lead singer of the band but I think that comes from that sense of wanting to be an entertainer, wanting to be a performer.”
This fact can be hard to believe, as Key’s vocal range is impressive and wide-ranging in its pop-punk glory. And his life performance tactics? Energetic to this day, at a level most people aren’t entirely capable of even at their peak. “It was never in my mind as something I wanted to pursue as a career,” he shrugs. “I just didn’t get into college where I wanted to go.”
When one door closes…
Ryan never let his rejection to the Theater Program at Boston University – twice, unfortunately – go. “I got into school in Boston but I didn’t get into their BFA program. My parents were like, ‘We’re not going to spend all that money for you to go to a private school in Boston if you’re not in the program that you want to be in.'”
While reasonable, it can be difficult to recover from something like that so early on in one’s career. From that bitterness was born a focus. Admittedly – and fairly – Ryan was spiteful about what had happened and chose not to complete the BFA program he started in Florida. He dropped out of school, leaned hard into music, and eventually began singing in Yellowcard.
To hear an artist admit to leaning into something in that anger is very refreshing. You often hear about heartache and heartbreak in everyone’s work, but it can be difficult to address the times of anger and instances when you feel things didn’t go the way they perhaps should have. Having a creative outlet to pour himself into was clearly the way to go, and is something so many of us should embrace as a healing mechanism in times of trouble.
Celebrating 20 Years of Ocean Avenue
Ryan says the band really appreciates the fact that the fans have weathered the storms alongside them. He credits this grand musical journey to the fact that fans have been patient and forgiving.
I have, personally, been a fan of Yellowcard’s since I was an adolescent, so getting a peek into their tour dynamic was ideal. When asked about the “Celebrating 20 Years of Ocean Avenue” tour, Key was almost gushing. “I feel like my favorite part of the tour was the energy between the band itself. I don’t think we’ve ever gone on a tour that was so lacking in negativity as this one. This tour was so full of happiness and positivity that it felt like an alien world, almost, compared to the Yellowcard that I’ve known for the past 20+ years.”
What Key refers to – this feeling of a more in-sync crew and better touring environment and experience – has been echoed by artists the world over since the pandemic triggered larger conversations around mental health and balance in the music industry. Tours are being approached in a more holistic manner, and it’s been a reinvigorating time in the music industry. He went on:
I think we all felt that way. Which compounded each other aspect of the tour. The shows and interaction with fans, on-stage and off, and the support I think that we had from our crew every day felt stronger and better. I think that’s because there was a sense of peace and calm on the road.
We’ve never had that. Yellowcard has historically been a bit of a chaotic and tumultuous bag of personalities that have not created the best environment to work in. So this was, you know, jarring in the best possible way, to get out there and get a couple weeks in and realize, Oh, everything is just OK. And we can just let that be.
Pausing to reflect
It was almost spiritual, the way that he described it. Key’s acute awareness of the dynamic of the band made me wonder, aloud, how long it took in his career to come to this acceptance of who he is and his identity in the band.
I think it started, for me personally, during the final chapter of it all, at the end. You know, in 2016, 2017. Realizing that I was going to lose it forever because, at the time, it truly felt like that was going to be the case. It started with, I think, just a simple idea of really wanting to enjoy that tour in 2016 and 2017 and the international stuff we did.
That whole experience, as much as I tried, was sort of tinged with the reasons we were stepping away from it. The metrics that you use to quantify success, right, started to say “This is on the way down. We’re on the backslide.” Let’s end this before it goes too far so we can end it on our own terms and make it something special for fans and for ourselves.
It went a lot deeper than that because it did go into the personalities and the inner workings of the band and things that we keep pretty close to the chest. So, as much as I tried to really enjoy it all, there was still an air of sadness and kind of negativity that had carried into that from all of the reasons we decided to step away in the first place.
It wasn’t until I got home and started to have to figure out how to make my own way [that the self-awareness set in.] And the pandemic, really, was huge. A good friend of mine from high school was stopping through to stay with me. I had moved back to Los Angeles – which didn’t work out because the pandemic hit and we couldn’t tour or work so I was only there for about 6 or 8 months and then I left to come back east – but I had gone out there to kind of re-establish myself there and start working on film and tv music and things I want to do, too, as I get older.
My friend stopped through and it was only going to be for a week but it was the week that the lockdown happened in California. So he ended up staying with me for an entire month. During that time, he sort of opened my mind to meditating and starting to truly figure out what was going on with myself and work on the reasons why I had ended up where I was. I had never taken a minute to look that far inward, I don’t think. So it really wasn’t until 2020 that I started to kind of forge the path that has led me back here, now, where I am.
As if to echo this spiritual, self-reflective sentiment, he notably wrapped the tour wielding a lightsaber, a symbol that the force is strong. While he claims that he brought the saber to make his nephew happy, we know there were probably additional motives here. (Because, really, who doesn’t want to have a lightsaber on tour with them?) For those of you wondering, yes, he does have a lightsaber lying around. In fact, he has multiple.
Embracing creative outlets
Besides his lifetime love of the franchise, Key has had the opportunity to connect with the franchise on a different level since the pandemic. “I’ve been really lucky the last 3 or 4 years to intensify my connection with Star Wars through hosting the Thank The Maker podcast with my friends,” he almost gushes. “I think Star Wars reminds you, at 43 years old, if you just give in and let yourself love it the way that I do, it reminds you how to play. That’s something that adults just don’t do.”
At this point, Key doesn’t realize he has hit a home run and we dive into a conversation about what being a “Disney adult” means in certain circles and some of the symbolism involved in Star Wars. We agreed that a certain level of play is encouraged to truly live a full life, especially as we age. “I’m a big fan of my wife for allowing me to just embrace that side, that childhood side of me, and letting me dress up in costumes with my friends and swing lightsabers around, you know?” he says, almost in amazement. “It’s really been a beneficial thing.”
Embracing change
As for if anything has changed for the band over the years – aside from the deep, self-realizations and occasional weaponry – Ryan says writing with everyone has become much more simplified. Explaining that the technology just wasn’t there to support quick changes to tracks and production fixes when they recorded their first albums, Key said the process now is just so much more accessible. “We can get right into ProTools, create the demo, program the drums so that we can change those around – we can try all the different options.”
The great part about having home studios is being able to control the sound as you build it. This way, you have more of an actualized recording that more than likely will sound much more similar to the final product. “It’s way more inspiring to have a good-sounding, ripping demo to steer the direction of the melody and the lyric that I’m going to put over the music.”
But the way Yellowcard writes? Pretty much the same. And super focused on the instrumentals. “It’ll start with usually a guitar riff. Shawn also has brought plenty of ideas on the violin or ideas for the structure of a whole song. He’ll have like a motif or a chord progression he will bring in that we will then build riffs and things around that.”
But you have to remember, Ryan is one with The Force. “I get middle-of-the-night ideas sometimes. I’ll wake up or I’ll not be able to sleep, one or the other. And it’ll just happen and I’ll take out my notes app on my phone and start plugging stuff in.
The title track from their latest release, “Childhood Eyes,” actually came to be that way. “I woke up with that chorus melody in my head and I started to put words to it. I could hear it happening in my head. And when I got to Austin for pre-production, I had an idea for the verse and the chorus in my notepad but I had never picked up a guitar to put music to it. So I just said, ‘Hey I have these lyrics and I have sort of a cadence and a rhythm for them.’ And we wrote the whole song in 15 minutes.”
Looking forward…
In the coming weeks, Key will be working from his new home studio. When asked about his plans for the space, he perks up immediately. “I’m doing the whole room black,” he says. “Ceiling, walls, floor. A lot of wood grain and a lot of green pops in the room. The vibe is super Scandinavian, and I love that. I’m a big fan of Iceland, Sweden and Denmark. I love that part of the world so much. So we have a lot of this [look] in our house.”
Even more than the initial planning and execution of the project, this room will hold so much more meaning for Ryan as an artist, as he explores new podcast-related projects, and films content, pursues long-term goals (like music supervision and composition), and writes new Yellowcard songs for us to enjoy. It will also hold space for Ryan as a new father, viewing movies and creating art in this space with his family.
You mentioned we met in 2006. I wouldn’t want to meet me in 2006, you know? It’s just not even comparable, the headspace I’m in now and the tools that I have now to kind of prove my reactivity and try to stay positive. Things I was just incapable of doing for the better part of my career in Yellowcard until now. So, in the end, stepping away from the band and having that time was probably the best possible thing that could happen to me, personally. Because the perspective that I’ve come back to the band with is just so wildly different than it’s ever been before.
Yellowcard has, once again, taken a front seat in Ryan’s life. Check out an upcoming performance near you throughout 2024.
Four piece Texas-based collaborative Ley Line is more than just your run-of-the-mill inspiring, “fempowered” project. These particularly soulful songstresses will be entertaining at the Black Fret SXSW on March 17, dazzling the audience with their multilingual folk music. If you get a chance to spend some time with their music, we highly recommend it.
We are lucky enough to have nabbed them for an Instagram takeover before their performance on Wednesday, so check in to our account starting around noon. Until then, here are some inspired words from the ladies themselves.
What was the first song or album that you remember hearing, and does that work of art have any influence on how you approach your music today?
Kate: “Blackbird” by the Beatles! The Beatles are a huge inspiration for us. They are songwriters and artists who wanted to explore different genres and embraced spirituality through their music. Also, their camaraderie and playfulness really resonates with how we move through the world of music together.
If you could perform three of your songs live for our audience right now, what would they be?
We would play “Senseless Way” because it reflects the challenges of this moment so perfectly and offers a lot of hope. “Oxum” is another of our favorites, it’s joyful and celebratory and everyone deserves to feel that. But it’s also an important reminder about how precious fresh water is and reminds us to continue to cultivate a relationship with our natural world. We also would play “We Saw Blue” because it’s the origin story of our band- it’s the title track off our latest album and the name of our upcoming Visual Album coming to you on May 14th.
Clearly, nothing compares to a live, in-person show, but these livestreams have fed the energy a lot of audiophiles and fans throughout the pandemic. What have you loved about performing digitally?
Maddy: It’s actually been really humbling to be present with the music and each other. We always loved playing house concerts and even got our start playing in yoga studios where the audience was completely silent. It reminds us of that intimacy and to have trust that the music is landing exactly where it needs to be.
Any thoughts on the digital SXSW experience this year?
Lydia: We’re really excited to be able to interact with the audience and new fans. It’s pretty special to get to experience our performance alongside the audience and SXSW has made a really awesome digital platform to be able to interact directly with the audience in the moment!
If you could order carryout from any place within 10 minutes of your home right now, where would you go tonight?
Fish tacos from Veracruz (in Webberville) every time.
There are so many amazing places to go when you want to get inspired. Where are you headed to next?
Emilie: Travel is a huge part of our inspiration, especially water. So we hope to get to the beach as soon as possible but until then you can find us singing by the river at Barton Springs.
What has been your favorite way to stay grounded during the pandemic?
Kate: Giving gratitude for the simple things, having a roof over our heads and food on the table. It grounds me to remember how much I have in just having my basic needs met during this time.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Subscribe to our Youtube channel to learn more about us, we’ve got a podcast, break down videos of our songs and live performances!
Just ahead of Acid Tongue‘s October full-length release Babies, the highly entertaining musical duo of Guy Keltner and Ian Cunningham – who are often joined by “friends” and operate out of New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle – has been busy, busy, busy. First premiering their track “If I Really Loved Her” via All Things Go, which boasted that “the band demonstrate both instrumental prowess and respect for their musical heritage as the sons of psychedelic forebears,” and they’re not wrong. These guys have got a handle on crooning, beautiful, psych sounds that could really drive the way you see your autumn if you choose to partake in some listening pleasure.
But we don’t just have the inside scoop on the album release. (Friday October 13th, mark your calendars.) We also have a little more insight on some of the tracks, their feelings on the music industry, and snacks in this quick (and fun) interview with Guy Keltner that happened in honor of their upcoming album release. Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-check it out!
What is the first song or album you ever remember hearing, and who introduced it to you? Probably my mom playing Bob Marley or the Cranberries to us as kids. We had one of those old Technics sound systems with the tall boxy speaker cabinets. I’m sure we danced like goofy little kids to that stuff.
Was there a moment that it struck you and you realized you were going to pursue music, or did it kind of slowly evolve? I used to think I was going to be an astronaut. I started playing piano at five, but I wasn’t exactly keen on scheduled lessons and the homework that came with it. I finally got a guitar when I was 11 and I think that’s when everything clicked. I mostly just banged on it for the first year or so, but my parents set me up with this great teacher, an old session musician from Seattle named Al Kaatz. He’s really into soul, classic R&B and reggae, and helped shape my taste and how I approach music to date.
And did you choose the “post-menopausal” life, or did it choose you? (Referencing their “genre” categorization on Facebook.) Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a awhile, you could miss it.
“If I Really Loved Her” has such a beautiful sentiment behind it. Can we expect more of the same emotion behind the rest of Babies? The entire album is full of little easter eggs, relatable songs about daily life, but with a much deeper meaning to them. I’m not always just signing about the good stuff, either. There’s a lot of odes to life’s minutiae, thoughts on how mundane things can get. I don’t think people always want to hear about breakups and star-crossed lovers. There’s something beautiful about eating top ramen and being broke with your friends, talking about nothing and killing time.
“Talking In Your Sleep” struck our fancy with its title, and it’s one of our favorites off the release. Is this a love letter to a certain someone, or does it pull from many places? This song is about charisma. The type of people who spin webs and can turn a boring story into something compelling. We all have friends or co-workers or family that do this.
“Accidental Drug Use” threw us for a loop, one of those “well, that escalated quickly” songs when it comes to lyrics. It’s amazing. How was this one to work on in studio? That song was actually written the night Bowie died. I don’t usually get upset when one of these aging rockers passes away. They’ve lived epic lives, and lot of that generation is pretty old and has seen their best days already. Bowie’s new record was surprisingly great, though, and I felt this new excitement for his music after that. KEXP in Seattle did a Bowie day, a tribute to his tunes, right after that record dropped. A few days later, I’m hearing Bowie all day again and wondering “what the hell?”. When I heard he had passed, I was absolutely crushed and this song just spilled out.
Did you choose Friday the 13th as release date for any particular reason? Sometimes things just work out that way.
Do either of you have a favorite song off of Babies, or is that feeling applied to the entire work, since it’s your first release? I’m torn between “Humpty Dumpty” and “If I Really Loved Her”. Both of those fell into place so perfectly during the sessions, and they are such strange tunes in general. Ian is partial to “Accidental Drug Use” though. I really dig the way his drums turned out.
What has been your favorite memory together as a band so far? We did a short run in the Northwest recently, opening for De La Soul, playing Upstream Festival in Seattle, and generally having a blast with our friends when we were home visiting. Our bassist, Alessio, is from Italy and lives in Paris now. It was his first time in that part of the country and it’s such a different vibe than the rest of the US. We started laying down the tracks for our next LP, the follow-up to Babies. Just a really perfect trip.
How do you imagine people listening to this album? Everywhere. It’d be so cool to just have this be one of those LPs that synonymous with rock & roll during our era. One of those things you hear at dive bars, coffee shops, taxi cabs, wherever.
Guilty pleasure snack. Go! Chopped cheese.
What is your opinion of the modern music industry? It’s amazing that I have access to literally everything I could want to listen to in the palm of my hand. I’m a huge fan of Spotify and I think this is a cool era, we just have to slug it out and be persistent to make any money from our art.
Anything else you’d like to add? Go out and buy/steal/stream Babies as soon as you can. The vinyl looks really cool, too.
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Babies is out October 13th. Keep up with Acid Tongue here.
Pi Jacobs is a beacon of light right now. Continually engaging with fans, she keeps her head up and continues to create and to breathe life into her newly released work. We were happy to sit down with her for our last SXSW 2020 Sofa Session.
P.S. Any wine or chocolate companies that want to collaborate with Pi Jacobs right now…
High school sweethearts The Bergamot have been building a digital repertoire of incredible content and art, and now is the perfect time for you to peruse the interactive space. While we enjoy their latest full length release and wait with bated breath for their upcoming documentary, melt into their inspiring words on our quick episode!
