Here in Chicago, we’re still in the last days of winter. I’ve decided to try to bring myself out of the cold weather mindset with some jams of the indie pop rock persuasion that makes me want to dance. For me, this has always been a way to cheer me up from the dreary cloudy days that Chicago seems to have so often in the late winter months. From The Maine’s release of “Black Butterflies and De Ja Vu” to the more mainstream “÷” by Ed Sheeran, I’m letting the sweet sounds of electric guitars and Irish Fiddles melt the snow in my mind. Recently, I’ve been able to add The City and Horses new record “Ruins”, to that list which drops on April 21. The six-piece band that’s based out of both New York City and Philadelphia have been playing funky indie pop since 2007. They find influence in the form…
Less than one week to go until we’re grooving in the groves at San Francisco’s Outside Lands Fest! To help you navigate the lineup, I’ve put together a list of all of the bands that were ever featured in Band of the Day app, and playlists for each day.
Back in the summer of 2011, right before the release of Band of the Day app, I decided that I wanted The Vaccines to be the very first band featured on the day the app launched. They had caught my attention when I was finishing up my MA degree in London the year before, and I had written a review of their EP as part of the application process for my job.
I saw that they were coming to San Francisco, so I reached out to their record label to try and set up an interview with the band. At the time, given that the app was unreleased, my request was (understandably) ignored. Nevertheless, I decided to prepare some questions anyway, banking on the chance to introduce myself to them directly at the show and get that interview.
I dragged my friend Jon, and after their sweat-inducing set we went outside to have a drink and catch some air. We spotted bassist Arni Arnason hanging out in the same area, so Jon prodded me to just go over and talk to them. As extroverted as I appear to be, I actually hate approaching people. I’m completely comfortable chatting to people when they approach me, but I find that making initial contact with a stranger brings up a lot of anxiety. But I also knew that I really wanted to get that interview.
So I took a deep breath, quickly downed the rest of the liquid courage that was in my hand, walked straight over to him and said, “Hey! I’m Amanda. Can I ambush interview you?”
He gave a bemused chuckle and said, “Sure, as long as you don’t ask boring questions.” I promised that he wouldn’t be bored because, if I’m truly confident about one thing, it’s that I’m not a boring person. And this is the conversation that followed:
Listening back to it four years later, I can’t help but self-criticize on a few bits (“You respond with the word ‘nice’ too much!”; “Your voice sounds really weird there!”), but overall it warms my heart that I have audio documentation of where I started from in that first year of working on Band of the Day app. I came into the role with very little professional experience and, today, on the very last day of the app’s existence, I now have 4.5 years of a crash course into working in both the music and tech startup industries.
Last month, my friend JP Pineda, who runs JRNE Artist Management, reached out to me to collaborate on a female-powered playlist for an event put on by a really cool organization called Global Fund For Women. One of his artists, the Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Carolyn Malachi, was a key part of their #hackgirlsrights campaign.
Meant to post this earlier, but better late than never! Enjoy! 🙂
A #MusicMonday shout out (loud) to Sweden indie pop darlings, Shout Out Louds, and their track that inspired the title of this blog.
I thought this was going to be a quick post, before realizing that this track only appears on the Scandinavian release of their album, Howl Howl Gaff Gaff (2005), and thus was impossible to track down on Spotify and YouTube. Luckily the good folks over at I Crave That Sound had the Soundcloud link available. Ahhh…and all is right with the world.
Earlier today, she reached out to me with the most heartwarming LinkedIn message I’ve ever received, which was prompted by my post from a couple days ago.
Seriously, I was on the verge of tears myself after reading this! So I took a look through her website, and saw what an incredible resource it is for those of you who are still on your journey to figuring out post-college life/your career paths (a.k.a. the dreaded quarter-life crisis). As she says in her About section:
This blog focuses on embracing the journey to your success. Whether you are pursuing your dream career, trying to build a business, or relocating to a new city, the first couple of months out of college are not easy. In fact, they can be downright unbearable. But don’t fret! The highs and lows of life make you stronger and they make the journey all the more memorable.
It’s definitely worth following, no matter if you’re unemployed or have already established a career path. There’s always room to grow, and to be inspired by what other people are doing in life. I dunno about you guys, but oftentimes when I hear about extremely successful people who are at the top of their field, I feel completely intimidated; like I’m personally not capable of achieving that level of success.
What sets My Freshman Year Of Life apart from other career-focused blogs, and what excites me the most, is that it’s all about being transparent about the struggles you have to endure to become successful, while simultaneously giving intelligent and manageable solutions to work through those struggles.
And to end this on a semi-unrelated note, I was listening to Porter Robinson while reading her message so I thought it’d be fitting to dedicate “Fresh Static Snow” to My Freshman Year Of Life 🙂
(Note: this interview was conducted in May 2012, originally for Band of the Day.)
As the famous Scout Motto goes, “Always Be Prepared” — which, oddly enough, applies just as much to writing a song as it does to starting a fire with nothing but two twigs. For the creative-minded individual, inspiration can strike at anytime. Think of how many writers you’ve seen whip out a tiny notebook to jot down a brilliant observation, or photographers snapping a candid picture when the light is just right.
For Kasabian‘s chief songwriter Sergio Pizzorno, one of the most useful devices in his scout kit is the voice memo feature on his mobile phone. The song “Switchblade Smiles,” from their latest album Velociraptor! started out as nothing but a few seconds of Pizzorno singing random noises that came into his head, and recording them on his phone.
“I can hear the whole song going around that 3 second thing…what is strange is that I know can fill in the gaps from something so tiny, and I’ve always been able to do it,” Pizzorno tells me during my interview with him before Kasabian’s headlining show at San Francisco’s Fillmore. Eight years have passed since Kasabian released their 2004 self-titled debut album and, supporting the 2011 release of their fourth and latest album Velociraptor!, the Leicester, England-natives are back on US soil.
Read on to find out what keeps one of the UK’s most successful bands excited about creating music and touring, and how Pizzorno sometimes wonders what audience members have eaten for dinner (it’s not delivery, it’s Pizzorno).
Amanda Van West: On your latest album Velociraptor, I noticed a lot of themes of escapism, especially with songs like “La Fee Verte.” Were you conscious of that theme, and where would you say music helps you escape to? Sergio Pizzorno: I’ve always wanted to escape really. I suppose [making music] that’s when I feel the most free and the most happiest I think. I suppose rock and roll is a way of life, really. When you’re on tour you feel detached from anything, you don’t really feel a part of a society. You feel like you’ve escaped from that, escaped from real work. Artists always tend to do that.
AVW: Doing so much touring around the world since Kasabian first started, what still keeps you excited on the road? Serge: I’ve directed all my energy into being creative, making little videos, putting them out on a website, doing music, just having ideas. While I’m away and missing home, I’m gonna concentrate on making the show incredible and coming up with new ideas to make people excited. And I think that’s when I feel most happy, when I’m making shit, that’s what I love doing; making tunes, making little films. I love making stuff.
AVW: When you’re playing a song live, is your mindset completely in the present moment, or does it wander?
Serge: You know what? It’s weird…all things can happen when you’re [playing live]. Stupid things come into your mind when you’re playing. AVW: Like what? Serge: Like, “I wonder what she’s had for dinner that girl there?” Or “I wonder if that chandelier is gonna fall down?” I imagine it’s like being hypnotized. There are thoughts you can’t control, all that sorts of things come in your head and you catch yourself thinking ,“what the hell am I thinking about that for?” AVW: Do you try to trace it back to find out what your original thought was? Serge: Yeah, things like “I wonder if I left the gas on?” or “I can’t remember if the TV’s on,” and then I think to myself, “Shut up, I can’t think about that now, I’m playing! I’m playing the gig!” [laughs] It’s strange.
AVW: What would you say is the most unusual catalyst you’ve ever had for a song? Serge: Well, it’s hard to say, there’s nothing really unusual about it but what probably is unusual would be how little the idea can be and you know it’s gonna be great. Like with “Switchblades” [“Switchblade Smiles”], I just had this idea, and I got my phone and went like [makes noises], and I can hear the whole song going around that 3 second thing, and I could play that to someone and they would be like “well that’s just you being weird, that’s just a weird noise”. What is strange is that I know can fill in the gaps from something so tiny and I’ve always been able to do it, I showed demos to people and they were going “yeah…that’s nice” and I realize, “Shit, they’re not hearing it out, and I’m hearing the end!” AVW: It must be like when you write down notes for an outline of a whole essay before putting it together. Serge: Yeah totally! I can’t draw but I’m sure it’s the same for artists, they’ll draw a few lines and they’ll know where to go. I can visualize what this is gonna be just like turning this voice memo into this huge tune.
AVW: Speaking about songwriting, how do you approach songwriting with Kasabian versus with someone like Noel Fielding [Pizzorno creates music for Fielding’s sketch-comedy show, “Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy”]? Serge: I suppose it’s similar in the fact that I regard myself as much a producer as a songwriter. I don’t really write an acoustic and then go into a studio and 99% of the time it sounds how it did when I first wrote it. So I write with synths, I write with beats, I write with bass lines, so that’s similar. I write for Kasabian based on Tom being the singer, and having to sing these songs. Whereas with Noel Fielding, the great thing about it is that it’s comedy, and a lot of music you love is quite funny, and it gives you a license to do things [that are comedic], which is quite amazing, quite freeing, really.
AVW: How important do you think it is to maintain a good sense of humor with your bandmates, and just with music in general? Serge: I think it’s what keeps us together, that ability to pull yourself out and from taking yourself so seriously, is so vital. I mean because we take it very seriously on one level and people tend to miss the jokes, which is kinda nice for us because we tend to get away with it a bit more and there is a lot more humor than people realize is going on.
AVW: What would you say is the very first meaningful music experience that you can remember having? Serge: I’d put it back to [Chuck Berry’s song} “Johnny B. Goode.” My dad use to play and I remember thinking that guitar solo was one of the most incredible things. My dad had a guitar, but he couldn’t play because it had no strings so he always used to pretend to play. And that was the moment, the real moment, music touched me in a way that I had no control over, and I think that’ll remain forever.
AVW: Are you hoping your son will also get into music one day? Serge: I think I am really. I say I’m not and I say I won’t try to influence him in anyway, but I do wish he will. AVW: Do you play music for him? Serge: Constantly. AVW: Does he like it? Serge: He does, and that’s gonna sound a bit weird but he does like our stuff. Every time it comes on the radio he goes mad, it’s well sweet! You start to feel conscious of yourself and he starts dancing and you go, “that’s incredible!” So maybe he just picks up a vibe. He does like things with a beat like techno. When he was really young, someone made a punk song and played them with a lot of baby sounds, like xylophones and stuff. Kinda like the Sex Pistols but on xylophone. He loved that.
AVW: What would you say you appreciate most about your other band mates? Serge: I appreciate Tom’s love and care, he really looks after his brothers you know? He’s very special like that, he’s always got his eye on you, and that’s kinda rare for men you know? Tom senses, and that’s really amazing. When you miss people, he is always there. Ian’s insanity, I love him for that. He’s an eccentric Englishman. He’s like a proper sort of 60’s drummer, they are quite normal but then go absolutely mental and I love him for that. Chris is solid, if the plane was gonna crash you’d want him to be pilot in the plane. Ben’s sense of humor, he has the ability to make me laugh always and I need that. And then Jay, we have that thing where only the two of us get something on some weird level, and it’s great.
The Sound Is The Word 