POOLSIDE – SXSW – (INTERVIEW 2013)
Is this your first time at SXSW?
Are you guys playing a lot of shows? Or is it more of a laid back time here.
Michael: It’s not laid back at all.
Jeff: We will have played 8 shows in 6 days and one DJ gig by the time we are done.
Are there other bands you would like to catch while you’re here?
Filip: We saw a couple of bands yesterday. We saw Bonde De Role and it was amazing, and we saw the Black Lips. And then we went to a weird rave, and that was just weird.
Michael: Yeah it was really bad.
Filip: I don’t know if it was bad but it was not what we needed at the time.
Where was the rave?
Filip: It was in some weird vacant house. The story goes that there is a crackhead who lives there and he just rented out his huge ass roof. I don’t know it was really weird.
You guys are described as ‘Daytime Disco’, is that something you embrace?
Jeff: It was how we described our music when we first made it, and it hadn’t been used before, so at the time, it was exactly what our music was. Since then a lot of people have been using it for themselves, so it’s a little different, but I think we’re comfortable with it.
Where are you guys originally from?
Filip: I am Danish, Half-Yugoslavian.
Michael: I’m from L.A.
Jeff: I’ve lived in San Francisco for the last 11 years, but I just moved to LA.
How did you guys meet?
Jeff: In San Francisco. We met when Filip was in Denmark and I was in San Francisco he was touring with Junior Senior. They DJ’ed my party, and we met.
Was it frustrating being in the other bands leading up to Poolside that ma
ybe didn’t get much exposure?
Filip: I think[with Poolside] it came way too fast. We were kind of amazed that everything was going so well. We didn’t push the album really hard, so the odds weren’t very good, but I think it went well.
Jeff: Yeah within twelve hours of releasing our first song it was bigger than we thought it would get.
Michael: Yeah as far as bands I’ve been in. We’ve spent the least maount of time paying our dues.
What would be your ideal concert venue for Poolside?
Jeff: I’d like to play at Red Rock.
Michael: Yeah.
Jeff: I’ve never played there, and I’ve always liked to do that. The Greek Theater in Berklee too. They’re kind of similar.
Filip: Or just beaches, we’ve been DJing around on beach parties, but we’ve never played live at a beach though.
Michael: The Pacific Festival though.
Filip: Oh Yeah that was on a beach.
Jeff: Yeah we played live on a beach once, but that was in Orange County so that doesn’t count.
So what was the experience recording Pacific Standard Time?
Filip: My studio is literally next to a pool, when we made the first couple of songs, we were in the pool listening to them on the boombox, and that’s how it literally worked out. It makes sense.
Do you think you needed to record in LA to get that specific sound on the album?
Filip: If we were in a Winter house, I don’t know, the environment wouldn’t be there.
Jeff: The environment totally influenced the music so it’s hard to say what it
would be like in a different environment. It probably wouldn’t have been the same.
Maybe a Central Standard Time recorded in Austin is coming out next. One of my favorite songs on the album is Harvest Moon, was that just a favorite song of yours that you decided to cover?
Filip: We were working on the album and we wanted to give our fans a song, while waiting for the album, so it wasn’t even meant to be on the album. We decided to do a cover song and Jeff suggested that we do a Neil Young song maybe. I had just learned ‘Harvest Moon’ on Youtube, on guitar. We looked at it and it made sense because there’s not too many chords and it was simple enough for a dancy rendition. So we did it, our manager didn’t like it. So I put it out on Soundcloud, just to put it out, and then it blew up.
The people spoke.
Jeff: The people of Soundcloud spoke.
What is your favorite drink while you are poolside?
Jeff: Mezcal.
Do you like it straight, or mixed with anything?
Jeff: If it is good Mezcal, you don’t need to mix it with anything.
Are you guys writing a new album right now?
Filip: We are trying to have an album done by the summer. We have 10-12 roughs, and 4-5 almost finished songs.
So we should expect an album every Summer?
Filip: That’s the plan, it turned out a little harder than what we thought, but that’s our deadline.
Michael: I think we’re all excited about the new album.
Do you see the album going in another direction than
PST?
Filip: It’s branching out a little bit, but it’s still the same. There is something that connects the songs but it is definitely more varied. But we’ll see when we add more songs, if it all makes sense.
A fun question to end it on, what would be your ideal swimming pool?
Jeff: The Hearst Castle swimming pools are amazing.
Michael: Oh the indoor one with the gold.
Jeff: Yeah, so I would probably replicate the Hearst Castle swimming pool.
Filip: I had a question in an interview about music equipment once a
sking , if I had an endless amount of money what I would make?
Michael: Waterproof everything!
Filip: No actually, remember, we were in San Francisco at the Natural museum of something and we were in a tunnel of glass – it had giant fish swimming above us. The studio would be in a dome of glass – but actually in an aquarium. So there are two layers, you have giant fish swimming in front of you, but to add to that you have a swimming pool – with shrimps swimming around while you’re making beats in the dome.
Michael: That’s badass.
Not even Lars Ulrich would imagine that.
Michael: I love that South Park episode.
