Follow The Sea Q&A

Your names: 

Erik Solfeldt (guitar and vocals) and Magnus Lundgren (drums).

Where are you from? 

Stockholm, Sweden.

Name of band: 

Follow the Sea.

Who else is in your band?
It’s just the two of us.

How would you describe yourselves and your music?
Exactly like our short biography decribes us: Follow the Sea is a noise pop duo from Stockholm, Sweden. Drawing inspiration from the shoegaze scene the duo makes pop songs with elements of fuzzy droning and Scandinavian melancholy.

Who are your main influences musically?
The shoegaze cliché ones for start I guess, My Bloody Valentine, Jesus and the Mary Chain, Slowdive and Lush but also new shoegaze acts like A Place to Bury Strangers, No Joy and Ringo Deathstarr. Blood Red Shoes has also been a big influence, reasons why we choose to be a duo – they make great music as a two piece, so we try that two piece style but in a more shoegaze-way.

What do you hope to achieve in music?
First, make a vinyl - it’s been a personal achievement for both of us since before we started this band. And the vinyl will happen in 2016, thanks to Häxrummet Records. Second is touring, as much as we can, as often as we can. We really like all elements of underground touring: seeing and playing new places, meeting new people, sleeping on their living room floors, driving five hours a day and listening to Nirvana’s Incesticide on repeat.

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why?
The first show we had, we opened for GUM and Ringo Deathstarr. It was a really nice evening, great bands and great people, the best club in Stockholm (Debaser Slussen R.I.P) just turned all shoegaze for one night – even the DJ was playing MVB all night.

And what’s the moment you want to forget?
Driving from Berlin to Stockholm in a van with a broken heater during winter time.

If you had to pick just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be and why?
The latest one written, the one that isn’t ready yet.. the newest song is always the more interesting than the second newest one and old ones. But if we can’t choose that one it will be My Horse Friend from the first EP. It’s been two years since we released it and we still aren’t tired of it even though we have played on every single show since. It’s a simple four (almost three) chord song drained in fuzz and reverb, that’s a great representation of our music.

Where can we listen to it?
https://soundcloud.com/followthesea/follow-the-sea-my-horse-friend



Where can we find out more about your music? 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/followthesea
Twitter: https://twitter.com/follow_the_sea
Bandcamp: https://followthesea.bandcamp.com
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/followthesea

Thrushes Q&A

Your name:

Casey Harvey.

Where are you from?

Baltimore, MD - USA.

Name of band: 

Thrushes.

Who else is in your band? 

Anna Conner- vocals, guitar

Casey Harvey- guitar

Rachel Harvey - bass guitar

Scott Tiemman - drums

How would you describe yourselves and your music?

Shoegaze, grungey, noisepoping sweethearts.

Who are your main influences musically?

Mazzy Star, Ramones, Phil Spector, My Bloody Valentine, Jesus and Mary Chain, Ride, Pixies, Sonic Youth, etc.

What do you hope to achieve in music?

To be able to make records and play music that we like with our friends

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why?

Playing Halifax Pop Explosion was our first show out of the. Was a very fun adventure! 

And what’s the moment you want to forget?

Thankfully, not too many moments we'd like to forget.

If you had to pick just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be and why?

Trees from Night Falls album. It's quiet and loud, messy and pretty and noisey at the same time.

Where can we listen to it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khg0ofYClqo

Where can we find out more about your music? 

www.facebook.com/thrushes

www.twitter.com/thrushesband

https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/thrushes/id216003285

Anything else you’d like to say about your music that I forgot to ask?

We are recording a new album that should be out in the spring and we're very excited for you to hear it!

Jimmy Curry Q&A

Your name:
Jimmy Curry.

Where are you from?

Portland, Oregon.

How would you describe yourself?

I'm manic, heartbroken, obsessed, and sleep deprived. My music lately has been really loud and funky. I'm so tired all the time. Whenever I perform I get pooped from all the shouting.

Who are your main influences musically?

Beck, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Deerhunter, Wilco, My Bloody Valentine, Hank Williams, Merzbow, Neu!, Broadcast, Sonic Youth, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, 2 Chainz. 

What do you hope to achieve in music?

I want it all...! I want to make music that is never boring and always different and also really exquisite and good. Most ambitiously, I want to write songs that people remember things by. Weird moods they got that they flash back to when they hear my tunes. I want to be famous. I want to change the game. I want to make people dance and weep as if something important has happened.

What has been the highlight of your career so far and why?

A show I did at Reed College a couple months ago as I was finishing up my electro-pop album Apocalypse Freaks. It was something of a concept show: I enlisted some friends to dress up in exercise apparel (headbands, sweatpants, etc.) and be my backup dancers as I danced and sang along to pre-recorded backing tracks blasting on a PA system.

The setting was perfect. I bought a couple of six-packs of bright green gatorades to surround us, and the only lights on were these red LED strips on the ground that made the whole thing look like a gym from hell. The sound was great, the moves were funky, and the crowd loved it. It was so much fun!!

I loved this performance because I felt very artistically fulfilled, yes, but also especially because I really felt like I was part of a creative community that night. Noisy soul-screech looper Consumer (http://soundcloud.com/consumermp) played, as well as a brilliant performance art duo called Yah-Eef-Ay (their whole performance that night is on Youtube: https://youtube.com/watch?v=-LB99lixwao).

It was all so good!! I have never felt more welcome than I have in Portland. Nights like that are what I live for.

And what's the moment you want to forget?

There have been really bad times I just won't talk about. Most of high school, maybe. My music wasn't good yet and neither were my friends. A lot of toil and a lot of waiting in those days.

If you had to pick just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be and why?

That is so hard!! I work in albums and streams and concepts! But if I had to pick: maybe the song Charlene, which closes my lo-fi noise rock album Never Been Lonely. It's about girls, it's about loneliness, it's about the immense wonder of being, and god damn if that isn't what most of my music is about. Sonically I pick it because it goes different ways; it's quiet and it's loud and it's rhythmic and it wilts too.

It's a folk song, which is funny because I've recorded almost no folk songs despite writing many dozens of them by now. Maybe I pick Charlene, then, because it hints at my music's potential. I think I've made good stuff now, but I don't think I've begun to approach the good I'm truly capable of.

Where can we listen to it?

http://jamescurryiv.com/tagged/charlene

Where can we find out more about your music?

jamescurryiv.com is the place. I also have a soundcloud, and a Facebook page, and a twitter all under the handle jamescurryiv. I have a youtube channel too (youtube.com/thethefourth) where upload music videos, demos, and other sorts of musical sketches.

Anything else you'd like to say that I forgot to ask?

Thank you for reading, if you read, and thank you for listening, if you listened. I mean what even is a book if no one reads it?

Sister Midnight Q&A

Your name: 

Gabe Pierce.

Where are you from? 

Beaverton/Portland, Oregon, USA.

Name of band:

Sister Midnight.

Who else is in your band? 

Nathan Pogue on drums, and sometimes his sister Lauren Pogue on bass and backing vocals.

How would you describe yourselves? 

Diverse influences melded into a recognizable and personal sound combing inspiration from both old and relatively new rock bands in something we can call our own.

Who are your main influences musically? 

The Jesus & Mary Chain, Nirvana, My Bloody Valentine, Jimi Hendrix, Sonic Youth, The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, The Rolling Stones, the Beatles, the White Stripes, New Order, Joy Division, Buzzcocks, Pavement, Happy Mondays, Can, and the Cure.

What do you hope to achieve in music?

Influence upon other bands, the means to keep making music and keep the band together, and reaching as wide an audience as possible without selling out. If we ever achieve financial success I would like to use alot of those resources to support humanitarian causes that I am passionate about.

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why?

Our first studio recordings. Was impressive hearing ourselves with such depth and clarity compared to most home demos. 

And what’s the moment you want to forget?

Our first gig where the person who set it up, and was supposed to get us a decent spot in the lineup by talking to the booker, was a no show. So we played last to quite a small crowd and my amp/guitar tone sounded castrated by the sound guy.

If you had to choose just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be and why?

Of the songs recorded in studio so far, I would personally choose Stiletto because it does a good job combining our noise pop/shoegaze, grunge, and melodic pop influences. I know Nathan and Lauren prefer Speechless.

Where can we listen to it?

sistermidnight.bandcamp.com

Where can we find out more about your music? 

twitter.com/sistermidnight_ 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sister-Midnight/179966715433742

Link to speechless as a single release http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/sistermidnight

Anything else you’d like to say that I forgot to ask? 

Nope, you're on top of your game Greg!