ANNUALS 2009 TOUR
1/21/09 Iowa City, IA @ Maintenance Shop
1/22/09 Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
1/23/09 Cleveland, OH @ The Grog Shop
1/24/09 Toronto, ON @ El Mocambo
1/25/09 Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rossa
1/27/09 Boston, MA @ Paradise
1/28/09 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
1/30/09 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
1/31/09 Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
2/6/09 Charlotte, NC @ The Visulite Theatre
2/7/09 Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel
2/8/09 Birmingham, AL @ Bottletree
2/10/09 New Orleans, LA @ The Parish
2/11/09 Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon
2/12/09 Houston, TX @ Walter’s on Washington
2/13/09 Austin, TX @ The Parish
2/14/09 Dallas, TX @ Pontiac Garage
2/17/09 Phoenix. AZ @ Rhythm Room
2/18/09 San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
2/19/09 Los Angeles, CA @ The Troubadour
2/21/09 San Francisco, CA @ Slim’s
2/23/09 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
2/24/09 Vancouver, BC @ Pit Pub
2/25/09 Seattle, WA @ TBA
2/27/09 Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
2/28/09 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
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November 24, 2008
Q&A with Team Genius
I was introduced to Team Genius in a surprisingly unusual way [Thanks PE Wire!].. Anyway, I'm glad to now know of these folks. The Brooklyn-based band recently released a CD full of fun tracks with many different sounds. Drew Hermiler is the band's leader and he recently took some time to tell us more about Team Genius. Thanks, Drew!
Your music has been described as funky and quirky. How do you describe your band’s style and approach to making music?
We’ve got a very strong love of pop and I guess very little fear of going overboard. Basically if it sounds cool to us we do it. We don’t have a lot of rules about what is and is not our sound. Its kind of the belief that if you just do what you like and what feels good, your personality and identity will naturally come through. I suppose our collective selves are a bit funky and quirky so it kind of comes out that way. It’s also because I love to take a regular(ish) pop song and sit back and think, okay how can we mess with this. I suppose a lot of what I considered to be the hooks and teeth of a song come out as funky or quirky.
Growing up, did you want to be a musician?
I think since I was about 9 or 10. Don’t really remember why but it was consistent.
Did you come from a musical family?
A very un-musical family, actually. I think my mom may have sung in church choir a very long time ago but that’s about it. I had a strong urge for a guitar though so around junior high my parents bought me one. I taught myself that and then later took lessons to learn how to sing. My brother learned bass from me and the White album. I showed him some scales and progressions and then told him that McCartney is probably the best pop bass player of all time. He kind of did his thing from there.
I think good work is different for everyone but the main thing is that it has to feel really good to you, the person making it. As long as it does that and it doesn’t sound exactly like everyone else or saying exactly what everyone else is, well then you’re probably onto something.
How do you define good work?
What was the overall tone you were going for on this record?
Anything goes. The idea is that it’s an Ipod album. Meaning it plays like an Ipod on shuffle. That’s how everyone listens to music these days anyway so why not just go with our sort of jumping all over, genre hopping tendencies and make a record like that. Its lack of a central theme or sound is kind of its personality. We thought it was kind of a new idea and it fit well with where we were at the time.
Were you inspired by anything specific while you were making this record?
I once saw an interview with Jimmy Page a few years ago where he was asked what his guidelines were for making music in Led Zepplin. His response was “If it moves me, that’s it.” I loved that simple idea and it seemed pretty possible to execute a similar philosophy in a band with so many people and so many instruments so I just went with it and kind of tried to keep that as a bit of a motto.
Where did you record and why?
We recorded the basic stuff at a small studio in Bushwick with a friend of a friend. We did overdubbing and mixing with several different friends at any studio we could. This was all based on budget limitations. It was fun but I don’t see us ever recording and mixing in that scattered of a fashion again. At least not to that degree. It was fairly stressful.
How have people been reacting to it so far?
Very positively. The reviews are nice and the radio response has been really surprising. The new material does really well live as well.
What was the most challenging part of this project?
The coordinating of so many people and the fact that it was our first record and first time not recording at home on an 8 track. We learned a great deal making this record.
You self-released the record, have you had any interest from labels?
Yeah. I don’t want to get too into it as it’s not all settled but we’re lining up someone to put out the next one sometime next summer.
Top 5 things you have learned from being in a band?
Get organized, be a diplomat, whiskey makes it hard to sing in the lower register, girls are not impressed by guys in bands (at least not in NY) and confetti is awesome.
What is one of the defining moments of your career so far?
Earlier this year we did a show that resulted in kind of a gigantic joyful dance party. That was the first time I’d seen that happen at a show for a local band. It was a very unique vibe that I thought was really cool. It reminded me a lot of the parties we used to throw in college. A very happy, free for all type of attitude and vibe. It happens fairly regularly at shows now but that was the first time I thought that we might be doing something kind of cool and different.
Any CDs you're listening to now that you would bring attention to?
Nothing new really. I’m listening to Wreckless Eric right now but it’s about 25 years old.
