Monday, February 25, 2013

INTERVIEW: Those Lavender Whales

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

Inviting, friendly sounds. I want people to feel like we're already friends and that we can already talk about all the difficult and exciting stuff together.

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.

Music is already in a kind of virtual age and has been for a while. 10 years ago I was digging through the Internet trying to find new bands and labels very similarly as people still are. The big difference now is everything is faster and streaming exists. I'm a big fan a free stuff and giving away music for people to try, but on the other end of that, people should be generous with their money if they are enjoying something. Times are tough, and money is hard to come by, so that is what I like about pay what you want, because $1 can be just as effective as $10 to a little band like us. But people put a lot of time and effort into music, so if you are enjoying it, share what you have since they are sharing what they have. Buy a record. Buy a download even.

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.

Maybe I'm biased because I help operate a small label (Fork & Spoon), but I feel like small labels are still a really important thing. There's a bunch of ways to put out your own album, but before bandcamp, everyone was making CD-rs to sell at shows. If nothing else, small labels offer a community. Everything is always better when you work together. And I'm sure there are tons of fake, tiny, little labels that are just looking to exploit people music like the major labels, but there are tons of good labels out there that are truly willing to work on a friendship/relationship with a band and really try to make everyone grow in a healthy direction.

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

Toro Y Moi because those are all our buds and they are the funnest folks to travel with. 

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

The one who convinced the rest of them to do the Oreo commercial.

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

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