Interviews
March 5th, 2010 by Goblins
 This young Scottish band combines noisy soundscapes, driving melody and heartfelt lyrics into an intense live show, and possibly the best LP of last year. On March 30th, FatCat Records will release WWPJ’s new EP, The Last Place You’ll Look. As they start a US tour, we caught up with Mike from the band to chat about what they’re up to.
IP: Tell us about the new EP, and when album #2 will be released?
WWPJ: We did the new EP with our man Anders in December. We recorded most of it in his lovely flat in Glasgow, and a little of it in a nearby studio. It has three new songs and two reworkings of old songs. We were pretty set on what we wanted it to be and we’re very excited with how it’s turned out. We’ve slowly started writing things for album two, and are hoping to get it recorded before the end of the year, fingers crossed.
IP: How much new material will we hear on the upcoming spring tour?
WWPJ: We’ve been playing one brand new one, and one from the EP. The other ones from the EP are pretty hard to play live, as it has a bit more layers and other instruments and all that. We have a couple of other new songs that are just not quite ready yet.
IP: What was a favorite place you visited over the last tour?
WWPJ: The Bowery Ballroom in New York is our favorite. We don’t get to see many places, just venues in places, but in New York we’ve had a chance to properly hang out so it’s been great.
IP: Tell us about your best show you can remember playing?
WWPJ: There’s a few candidates: in Washington, DC in September/October when there was loads of people there cheering and singing when we totally didn’t expect it, the small room in the Paradiso in Amsterdam in September for the same reasons and our sell out headline show at the Bowery Ballroom. We still can’t believe that actually happened.
IP: How have your influences changed since the first album?
WWPJ: We very much want to make a record in a studio. We wrote songs on the first album so that we liked them when we played them in a rehearsal room. We want to make a record so we like it when we sit down and listen to it. We won’t really know what that means until we try it, I think.
IP: Where did you record the new album?
WWPJ: The old one was somewhere outside London in England in an old hop kiln, the new EP we did in our sound man’s flat, and the new one we’ve not decided yet!
Spring US Tour Dates:
Mar 5 8:00P Kilby Court (CHANGE OF VENUE) Salt Lake City, UT
Mar 6 8:00P Hi Dive (+16) Denver, CO
Mar 7 8:00P Jackpot Saloon (+18) Lawrence, KS
Mar 8 8:00P The Waiting Room Omaha, NE
Mar 9 8:00P Varsity Theatre (+18) Minneapolis, MN
Mar 11 8:00P Lincoln Hall (+18) Chicago, IL
Mar 12 8:00P Grog Shop Cleveland, OH
Mar 13 8:00P The Summit (+18) Columbus, OH
Mar 14 8:00P Radio Radio (+21) Indianapolis
Mar 15 8:00P The Old Rock House St. Louis, MO
Mar 17 3:45P SXSW – Fader Fort Austin, TX
Mar 17 11:00P SXSW – Parish Austin, TX
Mar 18 3:30P SXSW – Galaxy Room Austin, TX
Mar 18 5:00P SXSW – Yard Dog Gallery Austin, TX
Mar 19 1:00P SXSW – Mohawk Austin, TX
Mar 19 5:00P SXSW – Emo’s East Austin, TX
Posted in: Interviews, Music | Posted by: Goblins
February 26th, 2010 by Goblins
 Tobacco uses analog synths, tape machines and twisted vocals to create a sound that mixes Air with Boards of Canada. He has been busy since Black Moth Super Rainbow— his day job— wrapped up touring and promoting one of my top 10 albums of last year, ‘Eating Us’. In 2008 he released the excellent solo record ‘Fucked Up Friends’, which took the Black Moth sound in a more hip-hop direction.
I caught up with him on the eve of his spring tour (dates listed below) and new solo record ‘Maniac Meat’, which features a collaboration with Beck and will be released by Anticon May 25th:
IP: Tell us about your two new releases coming out, ‘Fucked Up Friends 2′ and ‘Maniac Meat’.
T: ‘Maniac Meat’ is my new record I’ve been working on for a couple years. It feels really good because I made it like I used to make them back in the day – just songs for the sake of entertaining myself with songs. There wasn’t any album in mind or anything. The idea of making a record for the sake of making a record really isn’t the healthiest way for me to work I’ve learned. ‘Fucked Up Friends 2′ is a blu-ray/dvd set of my live visuals that weren’t on the original FUF dvd. Those will only be available on tour.
IP: What can we expect to see and hear on the upcoming spring tour?
T: I’ll be doing a little bit of the new album with a lot of ‘Fucked Up Friends 2’s visuals worked in. We’ll have a third member on stage with special performances at a lot of the shows.
IP: How did the Beck collaboration come about on ‘Maniac Meat?’
T: It was stars aligning – I had Beck in mind the whole time, but didn’t think it was ever possible. Shaun (who runs Anticon) was taking a class with Beck’s music director, Brian, and they knew the first ‘Tobacco’ album. so it just came together from there.
IP: Do you have any other mixes or collaborations coming out?
T: Yeah. I don’t know if I’m allowed to mention them all, but I did a few remixes that aren’t out yet, like one for The Go! Team, and I’ll have a shitload of collaborations coming later in the year.
IP: Is anything on the horizon for Black Moth Super Rainbow?
T: No plans for BMSR.
IP: What have you been listening to lately?
T: My friend Laura has this new band The Mynabirds, and you wouldn’t think it, but it’s good treadmill music, at least for me.
Tour Dates:
03-12 Toledo, OH – Mickey Finn’s Pub
03-13 Cincinnati, OH – Northside Tavern
03-14 Nashville, TN – Exit In *
03-17-20 Austin, TX – SXSW
03-24 San Diego, CA – Casbah &^
03-25 Los Angeles, CA – The Echo &
03-26 Costa Mesa, CA – Detroit Bar &
03-27 San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill &
03-28 Eugene, OR – WOW Hall &
03-29 Portland, OR – Holocene &%
03-30 Seattle, WA – Chop Suey &
04-02 Minneapolis, MN – Triple Rock Social Club &!
04-03 Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle &
04-23 Annandale, NY – Bard College
04-24 Brooklyn, NY – Knitting Factory
* with DJ Kidsmeal, Blastoids
& with the Hood Internet
^ with Nice Nice
% with Small Black
! with High Places
Posted in: Interviews | Posted by: Goblins
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