Monday, March 31, 2014
Erica Rivera Profiles KVS Letterpress
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Erica Rivera Interviews Yellow Ostrich
Q&A: Yellow
Ostrich
Yellow Ostrich began as Alex Schaaf’s passion project. While
studying music at Lawrence University
in Appleton , Wisconsin ,
the 21-year-old recorded lo-fi, 4-track songs from his bedroom and released
them on Bandcamp. After opening for Bishop Allen, Schaaf befriended that band’s
drummer, Michael Tapper. In 2010, Schaaf moved to Brooklyn
and joined forces with Tapper; the duo released “The Mistress” in 2011. Jon
Natchez (bass) came on board in time for 2012’s “Strange
Land ” but left the band shortly
thereafter. Jared Van Fleet (keyboard/guitar) and Zach Rose (base) were then
added to the lineup and the foursome recorded “Cosmos” (2014), an album where melodic,
hymnal vocals coalesce with guitar-driven, indie rock instrumentation.
Schaaf spoke to Vita.mn from the band’s tour van.
Q: Yellow Ostrich started a solo project. Has adding
bandmates changed how you write your songs?
A: In terms of arrangements, we have to think about
how it’s going to work best with the people who are doing it. The songwriting
itself still feels the same. It just comes out of nowhere. You can’t think too
much about what the set-up is before trying to write something.
Q: Your music has such a solitary quality to it. Why
do you think that is?
A: The basic structure of the songs still starts with
me. I come up with the lyrics first and send a bare bones idea around and the
guys fill it out and develop the songs further. It’s interesting to have a
bigger band but not necessarily lose that feeling of something smaller and
intimate.
Q: What prompted your move from Wisconsin
to New York and how has the move
affected Yellow Ostrich?
A: I moved to Brooklyn after I
finished college four years ago. Change would have been inevitable. Living in Brooklyn ,
for sure, is different from if I had moved anywhere else. Brooklyn
influences how the band works because there are so many bands, everyone’s doing
stuff, and it’s easier to stay busy and motivated.
Q: When you were in school studying music, is Yellow
Ostrich what you imagined you’d be doing?
A: I didn’t really have a plan. At college, I was
doing piano, performance, theory, and similar classical stuff, but I never
wanted to do that. I knew that I always wanted to have a rock ‘n’ roll band. In
that sense, it’s kind of going how I pictured it. So far, so good.
Q: Your new album was heavily influenced by
astronomy. What about that fascinates you?
A: I got into watching the Carl Sagan show “Cosmos.”
The whole point of the show is trying to make science appealing to the greatest
amount of people possible. I like that it’s about science and that it’s
educational; it’s not too technical but not dumbing it down. Astronomy is
appealing from a songwriting perspective because it’s so huge. It could mean
anything. It’s so all-encompassing.
Q: How do you translate a concept like that into a
sound, as far as instrumentation goes?
A: It wasn’t so direct. We weren’t trying to make it
sound like space. It’s more about the themes in the lyrics. The sound just came
from the four of us working together and trying to come up with something that
all of us were happy with and narrowing down the ideas to make a cohesive
sound.
Q: Do you still have a day job of digitizing home
videos?
A: Yeah, I still have the day job. All of us are
still figuring out how to do the band while also keeping our jobs at home and
making enough to pay Brooklyn rent. Jared’s working from
the van right now, online.
Q: Do you find having a job to be a balancing force
or would you prefer to do music full-time?
A: I think all of us would prefer to do music
full-time but it’s not feasible at the moment. It’s definitely a balance trying
to figure out how to devote as much as possible to the band while not
jeopardizing our jobs. If we didn’t have our jobs, the band wouldn’t be
possible.
Q: Have you had any musical mentors along the way? Or
have you been figuring it out on your own?
A: There’s a lot of other bands in Brooklyn
that we’re friends with. We kind of watch each other and learn different
things. It’s a process of trial and error. There are certain bands that we look
at, like the National, where they’ve been at it for a while. It’s not like they
put out their first song and they were instant worldwide sensations. We just do
it, slog it out for a while, and build our audience.
Originally published on Vita.mn in March 2014.
Originally published on Vita.mn in March 2014.
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Erica Rivera Featured in Home Section of Star Tribune
Monday, March 10, 2014
Erica Rivera Interviews Icona Pop
Q&A: Icona Pop
Aino Jawo and Caroline Hjelt are Icona Pop, the electro pop
duo from Stockholm whose single “I
Love It” has become anthemic. Their euphoric and infectious music lends itself
to partying, which is, coincidentally, how these BFFs met in 2009. After moving
to London , Jawo and Hjelt dropped
their self-titled full-length debut in 2012, followed by their second studio
album “This is Icona Pop” in 2013. Icona Pop tunes soon appeared on TV shows
like “Girls” and “Glee,” and the duo made the rounds on “Late Night with Jimmy
Fallon” and “Good Morning America.” The sexy Swedes are currently opening for
Miley Cyrus’s Bangerz tour and will partner up with Katy Perry later in the
spring.
Q: Your bio says you met on a Saturday and booked your
first show the following Monday. How did Icona Pop happen so fast?
Aino: It is quite weird. I was dumped and our mutual
friend forced me to go to a party at Caroline’s place. We kind of fell in love
with each other. The energies between us were amazing. We were talking about
music—and it happens a lot when you’re out that you talk with people and want
to make music with them and then it never actually happens—but we knew
immediately that we would go through with it.
Q: You told Interview that Icona Pop is synonymous
with “fuck it mode.” What does that mean to you?
Caroline: “Fuck it mode” is a state of mind that we
end up in when we’re together. We just do our thing and we do it one-thousand
percent and we don’t care what other people think. We don’t even think about
the consequences of what we do, so we have to deal with them the next day. So
that’s the “fuck it mode.” You’re very present and you’re very now.
Aino: That’s when Icona Pop is the best.
Q: Partying is a theme in your music. What makes for
a great party?
Caroline: A great party is me and Aino in a room with
music. We call that an awesome party.
Aino: [Laughs.]
Caroline: For us, it’s about bringing all of our
friends. That’s more important than where we are. And music that makes you move
your hips and you can’t stop. And some beers. Yeah, that’s all we need for a
party.
Q: What has been a highlight of your tour with Miley
Cyrus?
Aino: The whole tour has been crazy. The first show
is always epic because it’s such an experience. In Vegas, it was a very special
night. We had a lot of friends come over and we had this massive after-party.
It was magic.
Q: How do you recover from partying in time to go onstage
again? Do you have any tricks?
Caroline: It’s kind of a rule that you shouldn’t try
to be king during the night if you can’t be king during the day. If you’ve been
having a really good night out, and you’re hungover as hell, it doesn’t matter.
You get energy from a good night out. But if you’re staying home and you know
all of your friends have a lot of fun, you wake up the next day feeling not so
satisfied. Sometimes it’s better to go out there, get energy from having fun,
and, yeah, you might be a little tired but you can still laugh about the things
you did.
Aino: It’s not about drinking beer. We’ve been out
several times without drinking. It’s just a thing where you’re meeting people
and listening to music and having a great night.
Q: Your biggest hit thus far was “I Love It.” What do
you love, other than music?
Aino: That is a hard question. We love gorgeous men.
They always give me a lot of energy. We love nature and animals.
Caroline: Yeah. We love food. We love eating.
Q: What kinds of food have you had on tour? Anything
exotic?
Aino: We got Mexican food.
Caroline: That’s our favorite.
Aino: Mexican is our favorite right now. But it’s
always different. We get hang-ups. We eat it until we can’t eat it anymore.
Q: You’re both into fashion. What are your top picks
for Spring?
Caroline: I don’t think we’re the best ones following
all the trends. We can’t keep up with everything. But we love clothes and we
love buying shoes. I think when it gets a little bit warmer, it’s perfect for a
leather jacket, a pair of great sunglasses, and maybe you should treat yourself
with those springy high heels.
Aino: Leather jacket is one of the main things we
always have. And a pair of nice sunglasses can make you look cool no matter
what you’re wearing.
Q: You collaborate often with other artists and
producers. Why is that important to your music?
Caroline: We love collaborating with people just
because of the fact when you go into the studio with another person, it gives
new energy to the songs you’re writing. It’s super fun, especially when you
work with people like us that don’t have any rules and aren’t scared of trying
new stuff.
Aino: We have a couple of collaborations coming out,
but we can’t really tell you. We’re excited.
Q: If you weren’t musicians, what careers would you
pursue?
Aino: I would be an astronaut.
Originally published on Vita.mn in March 2014.
Originally published on Vita.mn in March 2014.
Friday, March 7, 2014
Erica Rivera Interviews Lake Street Dive
Q&A: Lake
Street Dive
Though Lake Street Dive might appear to be an overnight
success story—thanks to a YouTube video of their “I Want You Back” cover that
went viral in 2013—the quartet is actually on the cusp of celebrating their ten
year “bandiversary.”
Hailing from disparate hometowns (Lead vocalist Rachael
Price from the Nashville area,
trumpet and guitar player Mike Olson from Minneapolis ,
stand-up bassist Bridget Kearney from Iowa ,
and drummer Mike Calabrese from Philadelphia ),
the foursome converged as students at the New England Conservatory in Boston .
Lake Street Dive released their self-titled debut in 2011
and an EP, “Fun Machine,” in 2012, both showcasing a strange brew of
alt-country and jazz music. Their latest album, “Bad Self Portraits,” ventures
into pop rock territory, a transformation that clearly appeals to the masses as
well as the critics, garnering gushing reviews from Rolling Stone, The New
Yorker, and Hollywood Reporter.
Olson spoke to Vita.mn from the band’s tour van.
Q: All the band members are from different states.
How does that inform the band, professionally or personally?
A: I don’t know that it’s informed our songwriting. We
were studying jazz, which is a universal language, but we all grew up listening
to ‘60s music, Motown, and British invasion stuff. It does influence our
personalities. Mike [Calabrese] has that East Coast edge. Rachael has that
Southern hospitality. Bridget is your classic Midwesterner. Somehow we make it
work.
Q: Did you have a particular Lake Street Dive in mind
when you named the band?
A: It was supposed to evoke an archetypal Minneapolis
dive bar, though I will say of the bars I’m familiar with in town—which are not
many, because I moved away before college and I wasn’t in too many bars at the
age of 17—the Bryant Lake Bowl is a favorite of mine.
Q: Lake Street
Dive seems to have genre-hopped. Why is that?
A: We’ve always wanted to be a rock band. Or a pop
band. But we still turn around and see a record review calling us a folk grass
jam band. We’ve evolved not out of a desire to fit a certain genre, but because
we’ve discovered what we enjoy playing coupled with a realization that our
early jazz-influenced music wasn’t good.
Q: You recently appeared on The Colbert Report. Walk
us through that experience.
A: I was so nervous it was sort of a blur. We rolled
up in front of the studio that morning and Stephen Colbert leaned out of the
window and waved his arms at us. We were dumbfounded. He came backstage and
talked to us and took selfies with his phone. The crew on that show was so
amazingly kind. Some lady from the wardrobe department cleaned my Chuck Taylors
for me so they didn’t look crappy. The studio audience was really nice. I think
we’re going to be spoiled forever if we were to do TV ever again. It’s probably
never going to be as welcoming and warm as Colbert was.
Q: The title of your latest album is a reference to
social media and cell phones. What about that theme intrigued you?
A: I think Bridget—the songwriter of that song—was
perversely fascinated by the ridiculous trend of selfies. Bridget is often
looking towards things off the beaten path as inspiration for her songs. She definitely
likes looking at selfies and taking them—she’s actually taking one right now! [Laughs.]
Q: You recorded “Bad Self Portraits” in a farmhouse.
Why was that the ideal venue?
A: It was really rad. There were only a couple of
rooms that were overhauled to be acoustically treated. The rest of the house, where
we did most of our recording, like the attic or the bathroom, was rustic. There
was no cell phone reception and no internet. It allowed us to be hyper-focused
on doing two things: sleeping and recording. That environment gave us a
different kind of work ethic and focus than we’d had. When we were done and
left the studio, everyone turned on their phones. While we’d been isolated, our
YouTube video went viral. We got out of this hyper-focused atmosphere and
realized the world was going on without us, in this amazing way that we wouldn’t
have been able to manufacture if we’d been at our computers.
Q: Has the attention changed the experience of making
music or performing for you?
A: Not yet, I don’t think, because we made the last
record in such an un-self-conscious way. We were making a record not because
the fans or our record label demanded it or whatever bullshit comes out of
bands being more exposed. We were just making it because we had the tunes and
it was the right time. The increased exposure has made performing more fun in a
lot of ways because we’re playing for larger, more enthusiastic crowds. This
record has reached so many more people than anything we have done in the past.
Trying to follow that up with a new record that we’re proud of…I don’t know how
that’s going to go.
Q: Rumor has it you used to wear matching sweater
vests onstage. Why did that fall by the wayside?
A: That changed because sweater vests are frumpy. We
didn’t know much about how to be a band back then. Our rehearsals were an
excuse to get together and eat chips. Our first records were done without
direction or a theme. Our shows were booked based on where we didn’t have to
pay for a hotel. We thought we should have a band uniform, which were sweater
vests, which does not instill in the audience the vision of a savvy pop band
that’s writing sexy jams. We looked like librarians and math teachers. Over
time, we’ve thought a lot more critically about the kind of band we want to be.
I’d be lying if I said we didn’t want to be a little more hip. I mean, who doesn’t?
Originally published on Vita.mn in March 2014.
Originally published on Vita.mn in March 2014.
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