INTERVIEW: Panda Riot

1)       What do you want people to hear most when they hear your music?

Beyond what instruments we are playing and who is doing what, beyond all the actual sounds, what we hope is that people get out of the album is how it feels. Everything is working towards a certain feeling.

2)      Having music on Band Camp, along with other such platforms in music right now such as Sound Cloud, Spotify and others, do you feel that music is moving into a virtual age?  Personally, I fully support the idea of downloading songs for free from Band Camp and then if I like them buying them on vinyl.

I think we are there now to a certain extent. Digital is fine as long as the audio quality doesn't suffer as a result. The fact that Bandcamp allows people to download in higher quality formats is a huge plus. All that being said, I do still like buying a CD or a Vinyl Record. There's something about physically holding the music that's really nice. It's like an artifact, a piece of the music. Taking that idea further, I don't like to downplay or separate the idea of album art in relationship to the album. To us the artwork is just as relevant as the songs on the album.

3)      How important of a factor do you feel that record labels play in music these days when pretty much anyone can put their music on the internet as opposed to having to hand out demo tapes at shows, the distribution record labels can offer, etc.   It just seems like it’s a bit easier these days to succeed as a band- and even build up a strong fan base- before a label possibly comes calling for you.

It all really depends on what the label is going to do for you. To a certain extent it's true that you can do everything yourself, but having someone else on your side, like a label, can really help move things along.  The bottom line is that we make music, that's what we do. We’d rather have more time to make music and leave the business tasks to someone we can trust who can do it better.

4)       If you could tour with any single band or musician who would you pick and why?

Hmm that's a hard one. Are we talking ever? I think it would be excellent if we could go back to the 60's and tour with that band LOVE. Stereolab would also be excellent. So many bands, really.

5)       Who is your favorite New Kid on the Block?

We love them all. In all seriousness, Maurice Starr, the guy who pulled the strings, is a pretty fascinating character.

6)      Who would win in a musical fight: Jack Black or Jack White

I think it would be a split decision.