2010-08-27 - Total Darkness vs. Blinding Light

original article.


This is the Q & A transcription of an interview I did with Of Montreal's Kevin Barnes for the upcoming issue of Jettison Quarterly.


-How do you define your art? Is each song a separate work of art, or is it more Of Montreal as a whole?


“I like to think of it as a creative journey through my whole life. I want to always find new inspiration to help me grow artistically and change. Change is very important to me. Even though it can be kind of confusing to people because they don’t know what to make of certain mutations. They can think of you as one thing, and it’s what they like and it means something to them, but then you change and they don’t understand it anymore. And they kind of feel like you’ve betrayed them. In some instances, people want their artists to be predictable. If you go to the grocery store and you always get a certain kind of peanut butter because you like it a lot and you always want it to always taste the same, if all of a sudden it’s changed to taste like salsa, you’re going to be upset.”

-When you were a kid, did you want to grow up to become an artist?

“When I was a kid I wanted to be an athlete. I didn’t really have any friends for a long time because I lived in sort of a weird area, so for whatever reason I didn’t have friends my own age. So I’d go a lot of role playing, fantasy games by myself. For football I’d play by myself—being the announcer, being the quarterback, being a defender and tackling myself. I was totally emersed in these weird sports fantasy games.
I guess it evolved into something artistic when I started playing music, but it was the same sort of deal. I didn’t have any friends who played the kind of music I wanted to play, so I just had a cassette four-track and would put songs together one instrument at a time and make something closer to my own vision. I just really really love the creative process of how transportive and empowering it is to take me from someplace mundane and boring to somewhere exciting.”

-Of Montreal’s albums are great, but they could be more like a promotional item themselves. Would you agree that the main Of Montreal event is your live show?

“Not necessarily. When I make a record, that creation is extremely fulfilling. I love recorded music and music history, I don’t really go to live shows very often. To me, the recorded side is the most important part of this, but live shows can be very fulfilling too because it’s more communal.”

-Your concerts are all about spectacle. How big and fantastic do you hope to get? Are you beyond the Flaming Lips in terms of sheer enormity of stage presence yet?

“People compare our live show to the Flaming Lips, but it really has nothing to do with them. It goes so farther back. David Bowie, Alice Cooper and Kiss, so many people who came way before Flaming Lips. But what we’re trying to do is create something. We can’t do this on every tour because we finance everything. We use tons of money, but it’s worth it to us because it’s so fun. It feels more exciting and challenging to put on something magical that has visual elements. When I’m recording I’m all by myself and I feel like I’m not really connecting with the human race, I’m in this sort of bubble. But when we do these live performances it’s very much communal and collaborative. Everyone I work with is my friends and family, like my brother or friends from years and years ago. It’s great for all of us to have something to care about and focus a lot of positive energy into.”

-I think it’s safe to say that Of Montreal, while still on Polyvinyl, has transcended beyond the “indie” bubble. Your band is pretty huge these days, but do you still feel a connection with the independent art scene?

“That’s all it is. Just because it’s a little more successful commercially or whatever, it’s still not like being as successful as Beyonce. It’s still underground. And the underground scene is great now with all the blogs and new ways people can share music and exchange ideas.

When we first started, we were definitely as indie as indie gets. But the only way you’d hear about us was because maybe two or three magazines wrote about this kind of music. Or if someone had the album in their car. It was a word of mouth thing. The music we were into was anachronistic in a way. I mean, we were into vaudeville and the Gershwin brothers, things people our age had no interest in. Maybe there were people back then that would’ve been into it, but now people are able to transfer their interests with others much quicker, and it can spread to further reaches.

We spent six years being completely obscure. We’d only get like 100 people at our shows. We’d play that way for a long time, like six years. Our band kinda broke up, but I wasn’t really done. I still had more that I wanted to explore. I had a sort of rebirth on Polyvinyl, came back to life recording all these new kinds of songs.”

-How important is fashion to you? Or, how important is it to Of Montreal?

“Anybody who creates in a visual art probably has a sense of fashion because they want to create a sort of aesthetic. I definitely don’t want to go out on stage wearing something that anybody could buy at Sears. It’s a combination of things, I want it to be interesting. Everything that we’re doing, we don’t want it to seem too common. I’m definitely interested in fashion, but I don’t really care what other people are wearing. I just want to be wearing something interesting when I’m on stage. I think there’s great potential, and that it’s a really interesting art form. But that other side of it, like people who want to wear Dolce and Gabbana like it matters to them. That’s so embarrassing to me. Designer brands are so embarrassing. I like to wear outfits by designers who are working independently, and are just passionate about what they do.”

-How awesome was it to have your album co-produced by Jon Brion?

“He’s a great musician. He’s totally coming from the right place. He loves music as much as I do. He has such an incredible music memory. He knows how to play pretty much any song he’s ever heard. It’s staggering. So if I ask him, “hey play God Only Knows on ukulele” he will.

It was definitely intimidating, because I’m such a hack. I can barely play any instrument, but he’s such a virtuoso at everything. But not in a superficial or egotistical way, it’s completely connected to his soul. He’s such a soulful player. It’s very eye-opening and inspiring, it motivated me to become a better musician and connect with music in a deeper way.”

-And how about Janelle Monae?

“Definitely one of the greater meetings I’ve had over the past couple years was meeting Janelle and her art collective, the Wondaland Arts Society. There are so many creative people in that collective, and I became very close friends with a lot of them. I’d send them my songs, exchanging ideas and get their feedback. They’re very encouraging and inspiring.

When they were creating Archandroid I was working on False Priest.

I’m an avid reader, and so I could talk to them about people I wasn’t familiar with before. Just a great exchange of ideas.

Janelle is such an amazing performer and vocalist. A lot of indie rock’s attitude comes from the punk rock attitude of “you shouldn’t really be a great musician, it should all come from a spontaneous place.” But it’s all so cynical too. I remember feeling very suspicious of anyone who was a virtuoso with their instrument. Like, instead of playing from the heart they’re playing intellectually. I came from a more cynical place, but Janelle is not cynical at all. It’s all about positivity and empowering one’s self and your audience. And also taking great pride in the production and presentation. So it felt great to meet someone like that who cares so much about their art, and it makes me think, “ok, am I doing that? How can I become a better performer?” Because I’ll be playing shows with her and I don’t want to be upstaged.”


-Of Montreal almost feels like the musical equivalent of sexual liberation. Is that intentional?


“Definitely recently it’s been more connected to sexuality. My early stuff was intentionally asexual. But for the last, like, five albums, they’ve been more sexually inspired. I think it’s because a lot of the music I’ve been getting into lately like funk, R&B and soul music is very much a physical and sexual style of music, so I guess it comes across in Of Montreal naturally.”


-The final lines on False Priest are painfully blunt (“you’re wrong, and you’re ill”). Who are you preaching at here?


“It’s directed to the human race, to myself and everyone. We spend so much time thinking about this abstract concept and giving it a character. But it’s funny, a lot of people think of God as this primitive creature, emotionally. Sort of flawed. We don’t think of him as anything in life. At least for me growing up Catholic. The god of the catholics is not enlightened in any way. It’s very savage and cruel and small-minded. And this thing doesn’t even exist, it’s just this invention. So why don’t we care about each other more? I feel like, even if we do believe in God, it would be honoring to God to care about each other more. If God is creator, of course you care about your creation. You don’t want your creation to be suffering and killing or hurting one another in your name, that’s just absurd. So the message is that we care for each other. That’s the most important thing. The concept of spiritual obligation to some abstract creator shouldn’t be that important.”


-How do really feel about Carl Jung?


“I’ve actually never really read much of him!”

2009-02-18 - Honolulu Weekly

Pooled over

of Montreal brings sparkle and glitter back to Honolulu

Margot Seeto
Feb 18, 2009

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of Montreal / In the Clubs

The band of Montreal born out of the artistic hub of Athens, Ga., home to the Elephant 6 music collective, seems to virtually re-incarnate itself musically every couple of years, picking up different kinds of fans with every release. Most easily described as indie pop, of Montreal’s sound has gone from mellower, more acoustic to pleasantly danceable to crazy techno-pseudo gay-glam-pop (imagine the lyrics, “We can do it soft core if you want/but you should know I take it both ways” in a disco fabulous male falsetto), utilizing more electronic tricks and kicks as time goes on. Bryan Poole, founding member and sidekick (as well as bassist and vocalist) to front man Kevin Barnes’ brainchild, summarized the evolution of Montreal’s sound over a phone interview with the Weekly, saying, “[Barnes] had a dogma about only listening to stuff from like 1967 or 1966 and anything after that was crap. We were really into psychedelic bands of the ’60s ‘cause they were just weird, [but Barnes probably realized] those bands were embracing the technology of the day and creating new worlds of art. If those bands were around today, they would just embrace everything. And we’ve always had this love of Bowie and Sly and the Family Stone. [Barnes] started writing these more funky songs and this character possessed him for a while and wrote a bunch of songs and so it’s just kind of like, ‘Fuck it, it’s OK if it sounds a little bit like Prince.’ And that’s all right.”

Poole, a University of Georgia political science major originally from Nashville, Tenn., and of The Olivia Tremor Control, took a few years off from of Montreal to play with Elf Power and work on his solo project, the Late B.P. Helium. His newer side project, with Macha’s Josh McKay, Tiny Sticks, plays house parties with covers of and music inspired by the ’80s band ESG. Since of Montreal, as Poole described matter-of-factly, “is basically Kevin’s thing…I’m just a supporter when Kevin needs me,” hearing about of Montreal’s collaborative side project that organically formed last year, Instant Witch, peaks one’s curiosity as to how it might sound. “We kind of present ideas on the fly…I have a couple of ideas, and one of them’s turned into this Afro-beat song.”

No matter what song or album encapsulates your favorite version of of Montreal, one fact that remains is that a live show is sure to be a spectacle. As Poole described, the band’s goal is to create “One freaky dance party…A dance party [Salvador] Dali would want to go to for a good time.” Melting guitars? Maybe. But costumes play a big factor, too. Poole re-called that “the tour before [this one], I had this Brian Eno thing with these big wings that this girl had been making me. It kind of turned into this glam superstar that would take flight every night.” But not wanting to get boxed into being the wing man, so to speak, Poole shared that, “Lately I’ve had a style that was weirdly influenced by Avril Lavigne. I don’t know why. You know it’s wearing a loose tie and a vest that belonged to my grandfather and no shirt, and wearing some nice pants to actually look somewhat masculine…hopefully a rockin’ hot dude. Before I had the wings, it was an all pink thing, fishnet top and these awesome designer pink pants. God, I wish I could find some more…”

While the band loves playing in the Islands (really, who doesn’t?), of Montreal will only be here for two days and play one show. “Hopefully we can make a lot of friends and go back and chill out,” hinted Poole. So make it worth of Montreal’s time and make way for grandpa vests, shiny stuff and possibly lots of pink. Find some costumes—both for yourselves and maybe the band—and don’t be afraid to show that you enjoy having a good time. The band members “like people having fun and boogying.” And don’t forget to save a place for Dali. Poole promises that for the Honolulu show, “We’ll make it as freaky as we possibly can.” —

Loft

2009-01-23 - Drowned In Sound

Of Montreal's Kevin Barnes turns agony uncle - plus exclusive live video

by John Brainlove [Edit this content] ▾ 15 comments 16:08 January 23rd, 2009

John Brainlove and Chris Alcock caught up with Kevin Barnes on the eve of Of Montreal's sold-out Heaven gig with Franz Ferdinand. In part one of the interview they seek some advice from the hyper-sexual, cross-dressing indie-glam icon on the problems being DiScussed recently on the boards...

John Brainlove: So one DiS user has the problem of always seeing the same attractive girl at the bus stop on the way to work and not knowing what to say, do you have any advice for him?

Kevin Barnes: I think it's just to say hello, right? I mean, if they're always at the same bus stop together I'm sure she's not a temp, and if there's any chance of it happening you just have to be confident. You know, it sounds like a cliché but women definitely appreciate a confident man, if you're all shy and insecure they might think there's a reason why you're shy and insecure, whereas if you come across as not cocky but comfortable about yourself then that's the most attractive thing...

Chris Alcock: And how would you suggest he go about that?

KB: I think saying "hi" is a good icebreaker... [Laughs]. But then you have to have something to follow it up... most people don't want to cause an awkward situation, so you could say something superficial like "I like your scarf, where did you get it?" or whatever, and then you know, "Oh, I had this funny dream last night" and just get the thing rolling, and if there's chemistry it'll happen organically, and if you're not meant for each other then it'd be awkward and you wouldn't want to be with that person anyway. A lot of people might think someone's really great because they're attractive, but that doesn't last. But there might be a reason why you're attracted to them, you shouldn't try to second guess it... but this is turning into general love advice now.

JB: Sean tells us there's a hot potato of a thread about suede trainers going on... any footwear tips?

KB: I like slip ons, canvas trainers... I have on blue ones, I like colour, I always wear colourful socks and shoes. It's the sad thing about male fashion, it's really difficult to find colourful items, it's always dull brown, black, gray... greige. Greige? Yeah, greige, a cross between gray and beige.

JB: Next we have - "would you stop drinking if your boyfriend or girlfriend asked?"

KB: Uh, no. I don't drink much though. But it's not really a reasonable request. But I mean if your drinking creates problems or turns you into an asshole then that's not gonna be very good for a relationship... or if you're like getting beating up or getting into fights. I think it's good to get a buzz on or lose your inhibitions or whatever, that's healthy, but not to drink recklessly, if you get to the point where you're puking that's not so good. Puking is the line for me. I mean I can be jumping on tables and that's okay, but as long as I'm not puking then I haven't crossed the line.

JB: So - "Scone" as in "con" or "scone" as in "cone"?

KB: I say it like "cone"...

JB: Ah, Queen's English...

KB: Is that a thing? I've only heard 'King's English'...

CA: I guess it depends who's on the throne.

JB: One more - there's a thread by a guy who wants to know how to last longer in bed.

KB: I think a good trick is... if you don't come within the first couple of minutes then you can last a lot longer. It could be a bit awkward if you're super excited to be with the person and you have to pace yourself or maybe pull out for a little bit or something. They say thinking about other things is a good trick, like being in school or whatever. But I wouldn't think about like, your grandma's vagina, it'd kill the erection, you don't wanna ruin the moment. You still have to participate and be there emotionally, not just physically. It's a tricky thing. The more comfortable you are with the person, the easier it is... when you're a bit insecure or nervous you have your worst performances. You have to accept that the first time might be awkward, it'll be fun and exciting but it usually won't be the best time. If you're with someone you've been attracted to for a long time, in my experience, you have better sex because you're both comfortable with each other and it's fun.

2008-05-01 - Eye Weekly

Kevin Barnes BY Sarah Liss
May 01, 2008 11:05

You’d have to be a bit daft to think Toronto’s hurting for music festivals, but since enterprising boy wonder Eric Warner quietly launched the prototype version of his Over The Top Fest in 2002, there’s been something particularly special about the local impresario’s springtime romp. Warner’s been adamant about keeping his shows all ages, even though finding suitable venues can be a headache, and he strives to book left-field acts. You always have a sense that the fest has been curated by a passionate music fan who’s not afraid to get his hands dirty.

This year Warner and film curator Jeff Wright have expanded the film component considerably (see page 18); if all goes well, next year’s version will include theatre and dance. But independent music is still at the core of OTT, and this year’s roster of live shows — which run today (May 1) through Sunday (May 4) and take place at the Whippersnapper Gallery, St. Stephen-in-the-Fields Church, Sneaky Dee’s, The Mod Club and Ukula — is incredibly strong.

In addition to a rare live appearance by beat-driven minimalist legends Silver Apples (they play May 1 at the Music Gallery), here are a handful of OTT concerts that shouldn’t be missed.

One of these unmissables is an unconventional solo appearance by Of Montreal frontman Kevin Barnes. We tracked down the psych-pop visionary, who took time from working on Of Montreal’s forthcoming album Skeletal Lamping to answer some questions about his inimitable aesthetic.

You’re famous for your theatrical performances. Are you planning anything special for this solo show? You performed nude in Vegas last year — how can you beat that?
Well, the only alternative to playing nude is playing with your clothes on, and I don’t plan on stripping down, picking up an acoustic guitar and doing a solo show. I don’t put pressure on myself to entertain people.

You’re clearly someone who embraces androgyny and gender-bending — I’m thinking about your live performances and also comments you’ve made in past interviews about raiding your wife’s closet. Has that always been part of your life?
I think about gender roles a lot. Growing up, I always felt very feminine. I always felt different from the other boys. It wasn’t even a sexual thing — I just couldn’t relate to anything macho or overtly masculine. I never wanted to be that way. As a young boy, I identified way more with Prince than I did my own parents or friends. I’ve never felt compelled to cross-dress in private — I don’t even believe that cross-dressing is possible, since I don’t believe there are clothes that only women can wear or fashion that’s only for men. I don’t care about many social rules like that. I’m amazed that being nude in public is so scandalous and even criminal. In a way, it’s sort of cute how we, as a species, cling to these meaningless rules of conduct. I consider myself a member of the fourth gender. It’s not a physical state; it’s emotional. It’s a powerful place to be.

I’ve always identified with feminine male artists like David Bowie, Lou Reed, Marc Bolan and Prince. I love how they transcend gender expectations without sinking too far into campiness — it’s a fine line for sure. I used to wish I were homosexual... I romanticized about it. I don’t like all the bullshit that “real” men are supposed to aspire towards. The thing is, unfortunately, I’m not really attracted to most men sexually. I’d much rather make out with a woman. Plus I realized there’s just as much bullshit in the gay communities; like Sartre said, “hell is other people.”

Some of the themes you addressed on last year’s Hissing Fauna (depression, suicide, isolation) were extremely dark. Does writing about such intense autobiographical material make you feel a bit too naked?
It’s not hard performing the songs ‘cause the subjects are things I’ve dealt with, and continue to deal with, every day. They haven’t lost their relevance for me. In a way, it’s easier to sing songs about heavier subjects than happier subjects, just ’cause I’m more often in a sort of pensive and freaked-out state of mind.

2006-10-29 - Daytrotter

Whether A Muse Does Or Doesn't Wear A Red Dress And Smell Like A Stripper, You Listen
Oct 29, 2006


Words by Sean Moeller // Illustration by Johnnie Cluney // Sound engineering by Patrick Stolley

An open letter to an androgynous muse would be confusing, surely, and it would be a mess of uncertain pronouns and potentially unwelcome advances. It would crescendo near the bottom with the one requisite line that a letter of such purpose must ask: Who are you...really? It would bluster and ramble, with the writer going on and on about who he or she thinks you are. It would raise twice as many questions as could or ever would be answered by the addressed. A muse, like a magician, never reveals its secrets. Most of the time, said muse will refuse disclosing its intentions, its motives and its hand. It's just smoke, the sprite of a crystal chandelier - a ghost of fair-weather vigor and ruminative valor. It throws the gunpowder into the bottle and boils up all of the pressure behind the cork. It throws itself out onto the floor with the part of the drink that springs itself over the rim first, and then it is as gone as two days ago.

The author of a letter such as this would be Of Montreal's Kevin Barnes, largely seen as the closest example of the guy that wears the genius pants in the household of indie rock. With each new album, Barnes and his collection of wayfaring Georgian bandmates/bad dressers, become more feminine and more masculine, trading blurry insinuations for blurrier ones and making gender of the gaiety unable to be placed. Barnes streaks his songs with such sophistication and melodic buoyancy as would make the jewelry of the gods look like fool's gold. He takes his cues from some netherworld cursor, which allows his choices in every way to reflect delirious infallibility, where no decision feels out of place. He can be man, woman, freak, philosopher, disco dancer, chic, collusive, fragmented, whatever he needs to be to feed the fertile urge to always be resplendent, always be mysteriously shifty and as of late give everyone more than enough reasons to consider his band crush-worthy. An Of Montreal album - a Kevin Barnes album to cut right to the jib - is no dog and pony show. You'll need your visa to get to that place somewhere over the rainbow.

Barnes validates the androgyny when he explains that he's lately been writing music - much of which will appear on Hissing Fauna: Are You the Destroyer? -- the band's January release on Polyvinyl Records - as a black she-male named Georgie Fruit. The name and the description immediately bring to mind the housekeeper from Billy Madison, telling the penguin-seeing Billy that he can help her shave her arm pits if he stays home from school with a temperature. There's a lot of bootie in Barnes' music and it's not readily identifiable where he could possibly get that from, though we're not at all of the same parties. We can't really put a feather to anything he's absorbing, but we are able to corroborate an explanation of how he got so delightfully, dementedly funky in such a relatively short amount of time. It's this Georgie Fruit women, who exists only in his mind, who gives him the foresight to be as queenie, Queen, Shaft and ambiguous as he wants to be. The muse, as it turns out, isn't trailing some make believe wing dust behind it like a Halley's Comet. He/she's just a jittery mirage that smells of the fragrance flapper's coat their breasts with before dollar dances and has no time for complacency.

The band's catalog has been spent extolling the trials and tribulations of the male and the female of the species. He's fallen in love so many different ways that it's hard to count. He's fallen out of love the same number of ways. He's been conflicted. He's wished that certain male friends had been born girls so he could have been their fiancés and cooked them chicken soup to help them overcome illness. Lately, he's been writing about the end of the world. He's been writing about our out of control vanities that make us check our hair and makeup in the mirror on the way out of a burning building. And he does it all with a cinematic flair that crushes certain modernistic themes with the age-old glamour and flamboyant splendor of a Cary Grant or Katherine Hepburn picture. The wounded man and the gleeful man come together in ways that show that they're still living, they've still got some rose in their cheeks. They're still fun to be around. They're still quirky as all get-out and probably watch Project Runway religiously. What makes Barnes' characters in each and every record remarkable in a different way is that sometimes you don't know whether to think of them as girl ghosts or boy ghosts. It can be confounding and that's half Georgie's fault, half ours.

The Daytrotter Interview:

*How have you progressed in your songwriting from where you started to where you are now? It's a considerable shift and I'm wondering how you got here from point A. What kinds of things triggered your interest for the songs you're currently working with?*
Kevin Barnes: It is a very organic process for me. I don't think about it too much. I just do what feels right at the time and try not to second guess things. I get bored pretty fast and so I need to keep moving and changing styles to keep it interesting for myself. Right now, I am writing songs as a black she-male named Georgie Fruit. His/her style is a bit dubious though.

*Did you ever envision being a three-wardrode-a-show performer?*
KB: I've always loved the theatrical side of performing. I never really got into the whole indie rock approach of taking the stage in your street clothes and just playing the songs. That isn't fun for me. I really want to put on a performance that people will remember. That means considering the visual aspect of things. I hate going to see shows that just have this static image. I think it's important to have lots of movement on stage, lots of changes in the images you present to the audience.

*How would you define your fashion sense?*
KB: Derivative. I don't really think of myself as a smart-dressed man. I like to just have fun and pick up whatever is laying around, usually from my girlfriend's closet.

*You're an old pal of Danger Mouse? Is that correct? When is Brian going to fuck with some of the Of Montreal tunes?*
KB: I wish I was friends with him. I am an old friend of an old friend of his. I think he rules and I would love to work with him.

*This is a broad question, but how do you see life? More good than bad?*
KB: It's all circumstantial. If you are born poor in Sri Lanka or something, then it is probably not so rad, but if you are born in Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan, to kind middle class parents that buy you musical instruments, don't molest you or force you to go to military school and buy you a car for your seventeenth birthday then things are pretty sweet.

*How do you occupy yourself on the bus?*
KB: Mostly sleeping and watching movies. If the bus is not moving, I tend to avoid being inside of it.

*Where are you this week? Someplace glamorous and overseas?*
KB: Not so glamorous unless you consider an attic in Athens, Georgia someplace special.

*What's something you've read recently that got you thinking?*
KB: The novel "A Man Without Qualities."

*Are you at all surprised how far you taken this band -- to a point where "Hissing Fauna..." is one of the most anticipated releases of 2007?*
KB: A little bit surprised. I always had faith that eventually people would get turned on to our thing. I guess what we're doing now is pretty different from what we were doing five years ago, so in a lot of ways, it is almost a different band. It's fun to reinvent yourself.

*Is there a general idea to "Hissing Fauna?"*
KB: It's just a feeling of being divorced from the world and trying to find your footing in the confusion. The first half of the album is all about fighting anxiety, depression, paranoia...and the second half is just riding the wave of acceptance and the calm that follows an emotional meltdown.

*Do you have a lot of fans who can't help but ask you, "What does (this line/album title) mean?" Do you have to explain yourself much?*
KB: People don't usually ask me specific questions about the lyrics. I guess everyone knows they are best left to the imagination.

*What are the best qualities of your band members?*
KB: They all have a very strong character of their own. We are a very nutty group of people. Sometimes I find it amazing that we can get along at all. We have shared so many experiences together and have spent so much time together that we all have this bizarre bond that keeps us connected somehow.

*How have you remained so dedicated to touring constantly? Isn't a real chore and sometimes not worth doing?*
KB: I enjoy it and it pays the bills. The only way to earn a living in music is to tour non-stop. It is such a big part of all of our lives. We get very bored staying in one city for too long. My main thing is just wanting to stay at home long enough to record some songs and experiment with some ideas. I'm pretty happy touring for seven months out of the year.

*Who do you wish was still making music?*
KB: Syd Barrett, Arthur Lee, Sly Stone.

*When Tilly and the Wall was in here a few weeks ago, they said that you played Jamie and Derek's wedding. How did you land that gig and what was the wedding like? We heard Daytrotter was brought up...*
KB: They just asked us and we of course said, 'Hell yes.' It was a very special experience. We all love those two so much and it was a real thrill being a part of the ceremony.


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Eagle-Shaped Mirror
- original version appears on from the forthcoming Hissing Fauna: Are You The Destroyer?
I wrote this during my holiday in Tunisia. I was so captivated by the film "Shoot the Piano Player" that I had seen the night before and the novel "Death On the Installment Plan."

Suffer for Fashion
- original version appears on from the forthcoming Hissing Fauna: Are You The Destroyer?
This is about how most of us will react when the apocalypse is upon us running through the streets full of terror, but also checking our compact mirrors to make sure our lipstick isn't smeared and our hair is right.

Lysergic Bliss
- original version appears on Satanic Panic in the Attic
It's a love song with psychedelic drug references. Also inspired by the Bunuel film "The Phantom of Liberty."


Requiem for Omm 2
- original version appears on The Sunlandic Twins
A song about having to let go of a dream that will never be realized even if the ghost of the experience is the only thing you have connecting you to the object of desire.