Q&A Interview: Look Mexico
Words and photos by AJ Miranda.
After graduating, putting out a couple of albums and touring the country, however, these Florida State alumni had hit a ceiling in their hometown of Tallahassee. Feeling it was time for a change, the band left their college town for a fresh start in Austin. Their recently released album, To Bed To Battle (Suburban Home Records), showcases a more mature and world-weary Look Mexico than we've heard in the past. New sound, new city, new members and a new outlook define 2010 for the band. Basically, it looks like the boys in Look Mexico have grown up. Well, sort of—they still name all their songs after Vin Diesel movie quotes.
I spoke with the band—vocalist/guitarist Matt Agrella, lead guitarist Ryan Slate, bassist Ryan Smith, keyboardist/guitarist Dave Pinkham and drummer Alex Gooding—at a recent show in their new hometown.
You guys recently moved from Florida to Austin. Why Austin? Why now?
Matt: The music. I mean, geographically, it's definitely in a better spot. Most of the time we'd leave for tour, and if we were headed west, we'd just drive straight from Tallahassee here. Maybe stop in Pensacola.
Slate: Or Houston.
Matt: Houston. But coming from Tallahassee, the travel is not really easy.
The thing about Austin is, it's a good place to start if you're a new band looking for lots of places to be able to play. But you guys are more established, on a label and getting mentioned in Alt Press. You guys did it the old fashioned way, by just touring a lot. Moving to Austin kinda seems like an afterthought.
Matt: Right, yeah. Well, at the same time, we still have to work. I'm working at this catering company, this on-call catering company. He's [points to Slate] working at a pizza place.
Slate: Pizza Hut.
[band members laugh]
Smith: Ten years at Pizza Hut, Slate?
Slate: Five. I transferred.
So nothing indie-Austinite like Home Slice?
Matt: I actually had an interview at Home Slice.
A lot of musicians work there.
Matt: Well, they didn't want me to work there. The band came up at some point, and they were not having it.
They probably have too many musicians working there.
Matt: That's what I was thinking, like Oh, this is perfect. But anyway, yeah, I think there's just a lot more opportunity in Austin.
Slate: We're from Tallahassee; we all went to FSU. I think we're all itching to get out of the college town. I know Austin is a college town too, but there's a lot more to it.
Dave: College town is the only thing Tallahassee is. I mean, it's the capital, you know.
Alex: A college town with banks.
Smith: In Austin, you can go to a bar and actually hang out with 26 year olds and 27 year olds.
Slate: Like there, we were getting to be the old dudes.
Smith: Everyone's 19, trying to sneak booze into the bar.
Dave: We were starting to feel like we lived out the small segment of our adult lives in this same place. It's not a horrible place; it's fine. But there's a lot more here in Austin that we're all interested in.
Slate: And, like, when we would tour through here, we'd always come through Austin. And when we were discussing places to live, it was the only place we all agreed upon.
What other cities came up?
Slate: Chicago, New York, LA, Portland. You know, we're Southern. Southern boys. So we stayed in the South.
Matt: That big city. Big city lights. [band laughs]
Matt: We focused more on the songs on this record. That's the biggest thing. Whereas before, we tried to write some, like, sick riffs and start from there. We still went for some riffage on this one, but for the most part we were trying to get good songs people could latch onto. I think lyrically, too, I worked a lot harder.
Slate: Get more real with it.
Keepin' it real.
Matt: Real talk, as Kel's would say. [band laughs]
The lyrics especially impressed me. I like how in "No Wonder I’m Still Awake" you come out with a half-serious, half-sarcastic line about wearing black ("In case you haven't noticed, I am wearing black again."). What's that line about?
Matt: It's kinda like, you're stuck in a rut, doing the same thing over and over. I don't wear a whole lotta black, but...
Slate: For me, sort of what it means is, I feel like our old stuff is really colorful, kind of happy, like a party. I think this is like, we're gonna wear our dissatisfaction on our sleeve of where we're at now. We're not gonna try to hide it and just be a party band.
I saw the Alternative Press writeup. You mentioned that you felt, early on in your career, like you were perceived as a comedy troupe. What was different then from now?
Dave: Band members. Matt now stands as the one remaining original member, and then Slate has been in the band...
Slate: Four, five years.
Dave: The rest of us are more recent additions.
Matt: It was just the evolution of it. We kind of just took a more serious turn. With Animal Music, we were all still in college and partying pretty hard, or whatever. And with this record, we've all been working pretty serious part-time and full-time jobs, when we're not on the road touring and stuff. All of us have no health insurance and on the road a lot. Our parents aren't doing the handouts they used to. I mean, they helped with the move here, but I think it's reality setting in—Oh, wait, I have to grow up now. I think that's what this record is a lot about. It's just like, Man, this is life for real now.
Is that what the song "Just Like Old Times" is about?
Matt: That's exactly what it's about. You can't be playing around anymore. It's about that, but it's also about how we see the music business in general.
Slate: I think a lot of the record is about that, in general—our distaste for the business side of music. I guess a lot of that could be bitterness.
I think what distinguishes it, though, is that you do it in a clever way, lyrically. It's not buzz-kill music because you find a catchy and memorable way to express dissatisfaction. In "Old Times" you talk about how to tie a neck tie—little things like that.
Slate: Thank you.
The other thing is the production. There's strings, horn, organs. Were you more interested in crafting a dynamic studio album than something you could play live or sounded like a live show?
Matt: Yeah. I think definitely before this, we always wanted to be like, "We gotta make sure we can still pull this off live." And, you know, now with this we wanted to make a record that we can say this is our record, this is our product, this is our piece of art. And then from there, we can transcribe it to our live set.
Slate: And we do slightly different versions of stuff live.
Smith: Matt still plays trumpet live on "Just Like Old Times." Dave'll take over the strings on his keys. Stuff like that.
Lastly, now that y'all are here, what are your expectations for Austin?
Smith: Less humidity.
Slate: [laughs] Yeah, less humidity. Better shows to go to.
Dave: Living in a place where there's more stuff we're interested in, both with music and not. As far as musically, there's a lot more stuff we can get into that we couldn't in Tallahassee. Matt also plays trumpet and trombone, and stuff, and he's looking to do more with that. Slate's talking about scoring films. I do recording, so there'll be a lot more opportunities for all of us here.
Did You Know...
...Look Mexico names ALL of its songs after Vin Diesel movie quote. Here's your quote guide for the band's new album To Bed To Battle.
Song: You Stay. I Go. No Following.
Movie: The Iron Giant
Full quote: Hogarth, you stay. I go. No following.
Song: No Wonder I'm Still Awake
Movie: Pitch Black
Full quote: They say most of your brain shuts down during cryo-sleep. All but the primitive side, the animal side. No wonder I'm still awake.
Song: Take it Upstairs, Einstein
Movie: The Fast & The Furious
Full quote: Take it upstairs Einstien! You can't detail a car with the cover on. Can't even get that right.
Song: I Live My Life a Quarter Mile at a Time
Movie: The Fast & The Furious
Full quote: I live my life a quarter mile at a time. Nothing else matters: not the mortgage, not the store, not my team and all their bullshit. For those ten seconds or less, I'm free.
Song: Until the Lights Burn Out?
Movie: Pitch Black
Full quote: Back to the ship, huh? Just huddled together, until the lights burn out? 'Til you can't see what's eating you? Is that the big plan?
Song: They Offered Me a Deal (I Said No, Naturally)
Movie: Find Me Guilty
Full quote: They offered me a deal; I said no, naturally. Then while I'm out on bail on the RICO charge they pick me up again on the dope charge... the one I'm doing time on now.
Song: Get In There, Brother!
Movie: Fast & Furious (2009)
Full quote: Just one K left. We're running out of road. Get in there, brother!
Song: They Only Take the Backroads
Movie: Pitch Black
Full quote: I smelt a woman. Sweat, boots, tool belt, leather. Prospector type. Free settlers. And they only take the back roads.
Song: Time for You to Go Do Your Own Thing
Movie: Fast & Furious (2009)
Full quote: Han, we had a good run. Time for you to go do your own thing. Heard they're doing some crazy shit in Tokyo.
Song: Just Like Old Times
Movie: Fast & Furious (2009)
Full quote: Just like old times.
Facebook
MySpace
Twitter
0 comments:
Post a Comment