Who are your biggest musical influences?

This is a really tough one because there are so many and they all rub off onto our sound in different ways. Echo and the Bunnymen have been a pretty consistently big inspiration for us, and then other 80s post punk bands like The Cure and the Smiths; a lot of harmony inspiration from 60s bands like Beach Boys, Zombies, obviously Beatles and then we’ve got some of our all-time favorites from the 90s: Radiohead, Jeff Buckley, and Nirvana.

Describe your music to someone who's never heard you before.

The thing we’ve begun to resort to is just listing our inspirations. Whenever we start using these outdated genre terms like “alternative” or “pop” no one ever has any clue what anyone is talking about and there’s no reference point. It’s kind of like the word “love": everyone might generally think of it as the same thing, but the actual way the feeling is perceived completely varies from person to person. 



Who would you love to collaborate with?

David Byrne. He’s a huge inspiration for us, not only as a musical icon with the Talking Heads and all his solo work, but also as an author, director, actor, and all-around artist. He does everything we aspire to do, and does them incredibly well. He’s like a renaissance man in the field of creativity.


 Why are you influenced by '80s bands when you weren't even born before the new wave era?

Perhaps the production nuances of Michael Jackson and growing up listening to him not-stop left us hungry for more of that genre. Not quite sure to be honest, but we have always gravitated to that era. I think it also has to do with the attitude. Post-punk was about quitting the tough-guy ruse. Playing aggressive music, experimental music, and pop music all in one because you enjoy all of it and think they aren't mutually exclusive. The point is not to fit a mold, it's to break it just by being your genuine self.

What do you do for fun?

For us writing music is a lot of fun, albeit emotionally draining-- we feel like the goal should be to spend every day doing what brings you the most joy in the long run. We all love to paint, read, and write poetry. One of our favorite things is Halloween Horror Nights, we can’t wait for it every year. We also have been fight fans for a long time and always get together with friends to watch the UFC matches. Jiujitsu and MMA are incredible arts in their own right. We also love going to swap meets and flea markets to hunt for treasure.

What are your fans like?

Our fans have been incredible. One theme has been them making us things--like bracelets, poetry, books, paintings, treats, in the spirit of keeping imagination alive. It means the world to us to see other people embracing our work and being inspired to make some of their own.

Do you have a crazy concert story so far?

Our craziest experience on tour was one night after a show in Philadelphia at the airport. Everyone was frantic to unload the bus because we were illegally parked, and minutes away from missing our flight. Somehow, Michael managed to stay in a quiet slumber in his bunk. Not until we had our ID’s out and were checking into our flight did we realize Michael was still asleep on the bus, headed to Tennessee with the bus driver (unbeknownst to both of them). We called him in a panic, luckily he answered his phone! He immediately ran to the front of the bus and it scared the bejeezus out of the driver. Despite being dazed and confused he managed to hail a cab back to the airport and jump on the plane with us. This night was the cherry on top to a nightmare week, during which the same bus driver got into 3 different accidents; the first of which involved hitting the Fratellis’s tour bus in New York before we had even been introduced to each other, the second of which involved completely plugging up a tunnel in Chicago, ripping the A/C unit off and tearing a giant hole in the roof of the bus (it was also raining, and required a police escort to unplug the hundreds of cars), and the third which involved completely leveling a light pole (and making a MAJOR divot in the vehicle) in the parking lot of a radio station in Cleveland. That one is pretty tough to beat. 



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