Dubstep producer and cp-founder of Circus Records Doctor P took some time out to answer some of my questions on collaborations, the upcoming festival season and what the future holds for himself and the Dubstep scene.

Doctor P, your track ‘Sweet Shop’ has become a certified Dubstep anthem, can you take us through the creative process?

“I didn’t do anything particularly special when making that track; my process is always the same. I usually get the drum loop going with some sound effects, then spend a long time experimenting with bass sounds. Dubstep is all about the energy in the bass, and it can take weeks for me to get it right, whereas drums tend to take a lot less time. I think I went through probably about 50 bass patterns before reaching the final version; sometimes it can be even more than that. I wanted an Old Skool style intro for the track, as I thought it would work well in contrast with the crazy drop. But I did not want to use a blatant sample from an existing old skool track, so I created it myself (although people constantly ask me where I sampled it from). I think I threw the intro piano and vocal together in about 20 minutes; I definitely didn’t expect so many people to go nuts for it! As for the ‘Sweet Shop’ vocal before it kicks in, that’s actually me saying ‘switch up’.”

Shall we expect an album from you in the near future and if so what should we expect from it?

“I have no plans to do an album just yet; I quite like the process of making and releasing music as I go along, so there’s no deadlines or limitations. However, I expect I will do an album in the future, when I’ve got a few more single releases under my belt. I’ve never worked on an album project before, so it could be quite interesting.”

Are there any artists you’re looking to collaborate with in the near future?

“I’ve just collaborated with P Money on a vocal mix of ‘Sweet Shop’. He’s getting a lot of attention at the moment, and I think his vocals work really well with the Dubstep groove. I’ve been a fan of Scroobius Pip and Dan Le Sac for a long time, and I just got to remix their new track ‘Sick Tonight’, which was big. (I did a twisted Drumstep thing, which is going off at the moment) Example approached me recently about a possible remix or collaboration. I’m a big fan of his music so that could be a good project.”

You’re now playing sets all over the place; so far what’s the best and what’s the worst venue you’ve played at?

“I think the best was Mosh @ Paradiso, Amsterdam, which I played at on my birthday. The venue is amazing, the sound system was ridiculous and the crowd was insane! (Plus I was staying in a swanky hotel!) It’s hard to say which is the worst; a contender is the basement at Ibar in Bournemouth, just because it’s so ridiculously small and hot. I reckon the dance floor holds about 20 people, and there were ravers almost poking me in the eye as I was mixing! It was still a good night though, as the crowd were going mental. Sometimes the small gigs can be the best ones.”

Festival season is now with us; will you be making any festival appearances this year?

“I’ve got a couple of festivals lined up for this year; I played the Aberystwyth Uni ball a few weeks ago, and I’ve got Shambala in Northampton (my home town) and Moor Music in Skipton confirmed so far. Unfortunately I’m not booked for Outlook in Croatia! It looks totally insane, hopefully I’ll be over there next year.”

If you had to pick one track to define Dubstep as a genre, what would it be?

“The track that first got me excited about Dubstep was Rusko’s ‘Cockney Thug’. I think Rusko had a vision of Dubstep that nobody else had at the time, but it’s definitely caught on now. It defines Dubstep for me because it is completely unlike anything else which preceded it, and that’s what Dubstep’s all about.”

What do you think the future holds for Dubstep?

“That’s a difficult question. Dubstep has totally exploded over the last 2 years, and it’s impossible to know whether it’s going to keep growing or go away as quickly as it appeared. I think that as long as there’s quality music coming out of the scene it will keep growing. It’s got a fresh sound that’s been missing from the music industry over the last few years.”

Lastly, what will Doctor P be doing in 10 years time?

“Probably still playing Sweet Shop at ‘Old Skool Dubstep’ events!”

American duo 1,2,3 have been hitting the blogs pretty hard over the past few months thanks primarily to their perfectly balanced blend of pop-rock and their standout track ‘Confetti’. I caught up with Nic Snyder to see what the future holds for the Pittsburgh duo.

Hi Nic, this is a question I ask every band with weird a name, you guys being no exception, what’s the story behind yours?

“It was manifesting in my head for a while before the band truly… well, manifested physically. And the real attraction to it for me was it’s ambiguity. I feel like any music can happen with a name like 1,2,3.”

Your new single ‘Going Away Party’ is out this month, what’s the song all about?

“Pittsburgh. It’s about the feelings that dip in and out of you when you live in a place like Pittsburgh. That pride mixed with a certain lack of hope, the lust to get out, but the weight that follows with it. Google “Steelers bar” sometime. They’re everywhere.”

What’s the reason behind you having different singles in the UK and the U.S?

“Different labels basically. And the songs were there, so I’d just as soon use them. I hate milking the same thing for too long. I need to keep going or else I might get bored with something great before anyone even hears it.”

What are you most looking forward to whilst touring in Britain?

“The fabled enthusiasm that I’ve heard so much about. People in England want to like bands they’ve never heard of. People need reassurance in the States. It’s sad.”

Which do your prefer, British or American women?

“Haha, everybody in the band has a girlfriend but me, and this is the first time I’ve been single here so… I’ll let you know. Actually, I’m not gonna let you know.”

Where do you guys see yourselves in 5 years time?

“We’re not exactly students so, probably raising families and juggling music. Lots of recording, hopefully a homemade studio somewhere in the Pennslyvania wilderness.”

Are their any artists/ producers you’d like to work with?

“God yes. John Cale, Joanna Newsom, The Dirty Three, Chris Taylor, Chris Isaak, Jack White (just because), Neil Young, Damon Albarn, I could go on for a long, long time.”

Lastly, for the people who don’t know you yet, can you describe your music in 3 words?

“Sun, night, summernight.”

1,2,3′s debut UK single ‘Going Away Party’ will be available as a limited 7” on May 31 on Chess Club Records.

I managed to catch a few words with quirky indie-pop fellas Everything Everything while on their co-headlining NME Radar Tour across the country.

Hi guys, first of all I have to ask what made you choose the name Everything Everything and is there any meaning behind it?

“We chose it because it works on many levels, something we hope our music does too. It’s easy to remember, spell, looks good written down, has a nice rhythm to it, but also it can mean literally everything if you want it to. The repetition of such a common word creates a new magic and optimism out of the ordinary. We also like the way it reflects the overloaded, fast paced modern way of life we have in the western world, and the way all things have an equal importance nowadays.”

Your new single ‘Schoolin” is out now and if you don’t mind me saying, it’s pretty awesome, what do you look to achieve with the single?

“We hope to show people a more mature side to us, ‘Schoolin’ is quite long and complex – it’s a good little taster for our album material (which is far moodier and more serious than our previous singles) but still gets your head nodding.”

When will we be seeing an album from you guys and what should we expect from it?

“August! Expect the unexpected. But also expect a darker side to our music; we are very excited to get this element of our sound to our fans.”

You are opening for Keane & Delphic this year, which are most looking forward to and why?

“The Delphic shows will be great, we know the boys and get on well – really looking forward to some sweaty electronic nights with them. The Keane gigs will be completely different – huge forest shows that will be amazing to experience.”

Your also playing a number of festivals this summer including Glastonbury & Pukkelpop, do you think you will ever headline a major festival and if so, how soon?

“We will headline Glastonbury in 2013. Or 14. Hopefully. It’s the best headline slot in the world.”

Lastly, you’re currently on the NME Radar Tour alongside Darwin Deez and Hurts, what is your relationship like with those guys and what do you think of them musically?

“We get on great with both bands. Whenever you tour with bands you start to get to know their music, and inevitably start singing along and then loving it. We tend to invent our own lyrics for them most if the time. Hurts melodies are amazingly strong, and Darwin Deez have a very new song called ‘Hey Mom’ which just blows us away – we watch their whole sound check each night baying for them to play it!”

After a pretty conventional first half of my interview with American indie rock outfit Titus Andronics things seemed to take a turn for the weird during the concluding questions. Read on and be sure to check out the first part of the interview here if you haven’t already.

Taylor Farnsworth: How has your touring been so far on this tour?

Ian Graetzer: “It’s been going pretty well. More people are coming out to our shows. On previous tours there had been a lot of dead shows but not really on this tour.”

Patrick Stickles: “This tour hasn’t really had any big duds.”

Amy Klein: “We’ve met a lot of nice people and a lot of really cool bands in unexpected places, like South Dakota. It’s always nice to see the kids out in full force in a little town that you didn’t know had a scene.”

Patrick Stickles: “The greater joy of finding these little places of joy and exuberance.”

Eric Harm: “We were also testing ourselves to tour more than our previous tours.”

Patrick Stickles: “We haven’t taken a single day off.”

Eric Harm: “We have about 9 days left and we don’t plan on taking any days off. We’re playing about twice as much as we usually play. We’re looking to play 80 minutes compared to the 40 minutes we’d usually play.”

Patrick Stickles: “We’re playing for much longer times. We’re pushing it to the limit. Why not, we’re young, we’ll sleep when we’re dead, or in like a few years.”

Amy Klein: “I’ll sleep tonight and a lot next week.”

Taylor Farnsworth: What has your weirdest tour experience been?

Patrick Stickles: “Definitely this interview! Just kidding, haha.”

Ian Graetzer: “We slept in a storm drain once.”

Amy Klein: “We stayed with a sleep walker recently.”

Patrick Stickles: “That was not as weird as everyone is saying it is.”

David Robbins: “They were incredibly nice though.”

Ian Graetzer: “Not too much weird on this tour, some weird stuff on previous tours though.”

Amy Klein: “There are some weird smells coming out of our tour van though.”

David Robbins: “We saw people with AK47’s in Detroit. There were people lining up outside the building and cops in camo. The National Guard or some sort of special force.”

Patrick Stickles: “It was freaky.”

Amy Klein: “We also played in this community center that was having this senior citizen’s bingo tournament in the next room, so when you went down the hallway you were confronted by pretty much 500 senior citizens really involved in a game of bingo. I have never seen bingo played with that intensity and dedication, I was pretty impressed.”

Eric Harm: “I also lost $3 in the Keno machine that night.”

Patrick Stickles: “That same night we stayed at this dude’s house, but it was really his parent’s house and his mother had prepared an Easter basket for us. That was weird but quite nice.”

Amy Klein: “This very nice woman asked that we sign her brand new waffle iron, that was by far the coolest thing that I’ve ever been asked to put my signature on.”

Ian Graetzer: “It’s not weird but I got a haircut by a very qualified stylist that we stayed with.”

Patrick Stickles: “Then we watched Blu-ray.”

Amy Klein: “That was pretty weird.”

David Robbins: “A little too realistic.”

Taylor Farnsworth: When will you know that you’ve made it in the music industry? Do you feel that you’ve made it now?

Eric Harm: “When everybody loves you and nobody hates you; when you’re on top of the world.”

David Robbins: “When about 40% of the band still lives at home, I don’t think we’ve made it yet.”

Patrick Stickles: “When we make our final compromise. For example, for this concert we didn’t want to exclude any kids. So this was the only venue that would do an all age’s concert that wouldn’t be ridiculous for us to play in as far as size goes. As a result we have to be done by like 9:30. So tonight we probably won’t get to play as many songs as we would like.”

Ian Graetzer: “But it’s definitely worth it.”

Patrick Stickles: “We’ve got to do it. But we will have made it when we can play all non-discriminatory shows and do whatever we want at them”.

Amy Klein: “I think that making it is playing music that makes you happy as often as you can. Personally, making it for me is being able to go onstage and inspire other girls to play music.”

Patrick Stickles: “What about other boys?”

Amy Klein: “Well there aren’t as many female role models out there. You can inspire other boys.”

Patrick Stickles: “I want to inspire other girls too.”

Amy Klein: “You can do that as well.”

Patrick Stickles: “My success will be inspiring any humans or maybe even animals.”

Amy Klein: “I want to inspire everyone in the galaxy.”

Patrick Stickles: “I want people to bring their dogs to concerts and have their dogs howl along with the music.”

Amy Klein: “I want to inspire ninjas and all of the robots out there.”

Patrick Stickles: “Are you saying that ninjas aren’t human?”

Amy Klein: “Ninjas and robots.”

David Robbins: “One of those things is definitely humans.”

Patrick Stickles: “But I really would like to inspire all humans. I was just kidding about the dogs. Although it is cool when dogs get to come to the concerts.”

Taylor Farnsworth: Where do you think your fans are the most receptive to your music?

Patrick Stickles: “I’d say probably New York City, where we play the most.”

Taylor Farnsworth: Any new music recommendations?

Patrick Stickles: “We’ve got to give a shout out to ‘Stuck On Nothing’ by Free Energy. We listened to it in the van today, the record’s great.”

Ian Graetzer: “They’ll be coming to the concert tonight actually.”

Eric Harm: “We’re looking forward to a pending release from Battle Ave Tea Club. I don’t know what the name of their release is.”

David Robbins: “A few of us have been into Hunx And His Punx. Also, I really liked Lady Of Lourdes, a garage rock band from South Dakota, they were awesome.”

Patrick Stickles: “I also loved a band at that show. It was Union Electric, the band that played right before them. The Nice Nice, we played with them in Texas. Although I’m not sure if I can recommend their record, they need to be seen to be believed.”

David Robbins: “It’s amazing what they do live.”

Amy Klein: “I have my own solo album which you can get for free.”

Patrick Stickles: “That’s a shameless plug. How about a hair transplant place called shameless plug?”

So that wraps up a great interview from a band who truly seem passionate about their music while at the same time are always having fun with what they do.

To check out more of my work head to my website, Shoot Me Pics. Check out some of the shots I took from their performance at The Barbary by clicking here.

Having recently released their sophomore album, ‘The Monitor’, Titus Andronicus are currently touring the US to promote it. I grabbed a great in depth interview (so in depth it’s been split up into two articles, the latter of which will be posted on Monday) with the band before their concert at The Barbary in Philadelphia, Pa on April 15th.

Taylor Farnsworth: What inspired you to use the civil war concept throughout ‘The Monitor’ and what does it mean to you?

Amy Klein: “The concept came about because Patrick was watching a Ken Burns documentary about the civil war. We as a band feel that the issues that occurred during that time are very relevant today. Although it appears that it is in the past a lot of the same things that happened in that time between our country being divided and issues of racism and trying to figure out how to confront the enemy. These issues are just as relevant today as they were then.”

Taylor Farnsworth: Along with your sophomore album your previous album, ‘The Airing of Grievances’, was a big success. Did you approach your sophomore album any differently than you did your first album?

Patrick Stickles: “We approached it with the same sort of spirit but with very different resources. As the record label that we made this one for has a real office and everything, rather than a guy’s house in New Jersey. There was a slightly bigger budget and, accordingly, more time to give proper attention to all the details.”

Eric Harm: “Along with that we had already done a pretty serious amount of touring and were just better prepared to do the best job when we went in. We had more time and were more confident about our abilities.”

Patrick Stickles: “But our ideas and aesthetic parameters were much the same. Hopefully we’ve just brought them to a more vibrant life this time around, in account of our superior resources.”

Ian Graetzer: “Superior resources are the big thing for sure, can’t really get the gears going without a little bit of oil.”

Patrick Stickles: “That’s the truth. We would have much preferred to have our first album sound like our second album, but we just couldn’t do it.”

Taylor Farnsworth: What are and aren’t you satisfied with on your new album?

Patrick Stickles: When you start thinking like that it can drive you crazy.

Ian Graetzer: I’ll say it, I’m satisfied with it. No regrets.

Patrick Stickles: There you go. Maybe there are some things that we could have done differently.

Ian Graetzer: Woulda, coulda, shoulda. We could complain about it or keep your head up.

Eric Harm: We’ve listened to it many times and at some point we decided that that was how we wanted it to sound upon release, the way that it sounds now. We made our bed and now we’re sleeping in it.

Patrick Stickles: Soundly. Furthermore, it’s for the kids to enjoy, not us.

Taylor Farnsworth: Who has influenced your music over the years?

Patrick Stickles: The influence of Springsteen on our music has been pretty widely overstated, though I do like him. We have Weezer…

Ian Graetzer: I think that’s fair.

Patrick Stickles: …Neutral Milk Hotel, No Doubt, Big Country (a Scottish band from the 80’s that we listened to a lot when we were making our record), And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead.

Eric Harm: There’s also a song on our new album that’s highly influenced by one of our favorite bands, Spider Bags.

Patrick Stickles: A great band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina that will start a short leg of this tour with us in two days, much to our excitement.

Amy Klein: Yay!

Taylor Farnsworth: Have your family and friends been supportive of everything you’ve been doing?

Ian Graetzer: My parents let us practice at the house, let us eat their food and let the band be under their car insurance.

Patrick Stickles: That’s pretty big.

Ian Graetzer: They were very supportive for giving us a practice space and everything. It’d probably be costing us at least $3,000 a year, now it’s $300.

Eric Harm: It’s been pretty easy for my parents to support me through this endeavour because I didn’t have to leave anything super important. How about we hear from the two that left very serious jobs; how do your parents feel about it?

David Robbins: At first they didn’t like the idea of no health insurance, no more real job and why I had advanced degrees to play rock n’ roll.

Patrick Stickles: You don’t need a master’s degree to rock!

David Robbins: I didn’t need that master’s degree. I would just say that all parents want the best for their kids, not knowing what it means to be in a touring band. After a day or two the initial shock of me quitting, everything cooled down. They’re awesome; I think everybody’s parents have been great.

Taylor Farnsworth: What were your degrees in school and jobs that you left?

David Robbins: I studied music for grad and have a degree in IT for my masters. I worked in higher education at a couple of colleges and did some computer stuff.

Amy Klein: I initially started with literature and theatre writing but the job which I had wasn’t really related to that, so I’d say this is probably more in line with my life goals and I hope my family is starting to understand that. It’s what makes me happy, so it’s probably the best thing.

Patrick Stickles: Money cannot buy happiness.

So that concludes the first half of the interview, be sure to check back on Monday (April 26th) for part two where the interview take a rather odd turn. The band share with us their experiences with sleep walkers, AK47′s and how they want to inspire ninjas and robots everywhere. Be sure not to miss it.

To check out more of my work head to my website, Shoot Me Pics. Check out some of the shots I took from their performance at The Barbary by clicking here.

As well as catching up with Miike Snow on tour (which you can check out here), Taylor Farnsworth managed to grab an interview with upcoming Spanish act Delorean and ask them about their upcoming album, touring and how their name came about.

Delorean are currently on their first tour of the United States opening for Miike Snow. I was lucky enough to meet up with singer and bassist Ekhi Lopetegi and drummer Igor Escudero at the 4th show of the tour in Philadelphia.

Taylor Farnsworth: Why did you choose the name Delorean?

Ekhi Lopetegi: “Actually, there’s no real reason. I’m not sure how it happened, we needed a name and just picked Delorean out because it sounded kinda cool.”

Igor Escudero: “Coming up with a band name is always difficult, after three months together we were watching Back to the Future and just took it from there.”

EL: “We’re not trying to be nostalgic or anything, it’s just a name.”

TF: You started making music in hardcore and punk bands? Why did you make the transition from those to electro-pop?

EL: “We started out playing in hardcore and punk bands. Delorean was like our first outfit, it was our first side project but it wasn’t hardcore. We started this as a pop band. You start to get fed up with the hardcore, punk and you listen to other stuff and get influenced by other things, that’s how we got started.”

TF: What were your expectations when your debut EP ‘Ayrton Senna’ was released?

EL: “It was so delayed, we were frustrated and kind of fed up with it in the end.”

IE: “We were fed up with waiting.”

EL: “We’d recorded the EP a year before it was released and we ended up not being very happy with the songs. We thought it was too clean and harmless. When it was finally released and the reviews were really good it was such a surprise.”

TF: Is your music received differently in the United States than it is in Spain and the rest of Europe?

EL: “I guess there are some differences from the reception in the US to that in Europe and Spain. Usually it comes down to the references people have music. It’s pretty heterogeneous.”

IE: “I think that in Spain people like name dropping, like this sounds like that, or they sound like this band, I think in the US it’s different.”

TF: Your debut album ‘Subiza’ is being released in June, how did work go on your first full length release?

EL: “We’re very proud of the album and we’re happy with the result we’ve achieved. Apparently it got leaked a couple days ago but it was actually announced yesterday. The feedback has been pretty good so far but it’s too early to say really.”

IE: “I think it’s something that you can’t control. No one can predict whether it’s going to be a success or not.”

EL: “You don’t know what expectations people have of your music. We follow the expectations we have of our own music, not the expectations of people as listeners. If people like it, it’s always good. When you work you should only really worry about what you want to achieve. Sometimes it’s tough because people have expectations. At the end of the day you can’t control them, the best thing to do is not worry about it and just wait.”

TF: How have the first few days of your tour with Miike Snow been?

IE: “We are having a good time touring, making friends, meeting old friends.”

EL: “It’s always fun to be with friends, surrounded by friends. The states are always so much fun. It’s a crazy country, but we love it.”

IE: “This is our first tour through the US.”

EL: “We’ve been here playing in New York and we were in Austin two years ago but this is the first time we’re touring across the country.”

IE: “This is the 4th show. We will have 20 shows? 21 shows. It’s a really long tour but so far we’re pretty relaxed. It’s the most relaxed tour we’ve ever had. We are sleeping a lot, not going out much.”

EL: “The coolest thing is that the venues and stages are huge and the sound is always good. You don’t have to worry about not having proper conditions for the show so that’s a relief. You just get to go on stage and perform without having to worry about anything else.”

EL: “I hope that people will enjoy the album and the shows with Miike Snow. We worked a lot with the album and hope it reaches people, and the people feel like the album is talking to them. I want people to feel it, then, to me, the album will have achieved it’s goal.”

‘Subiza’ is scheduled for release June 8th. Click here to check out some great shots from the show.

Miike Snow are currently on their first trek of the US as promotion for the bands self titled debut album, which was released last year to critical acclaim.

Our resident gig-goer Taylor Farnsworth caught up with the trio at the Theatre of Living Arts in Philadelphia, shot some great pictures (which you can see more of here) and managed to grab an exclusive interview with the band.

Taylor Farnsworth: When word got out about your music you kept a mysterious image. Did you want to keep people guessing as to who exactly you were?

Pontus Winnberg: “We didn’t set out to hide or be mysterious in any way.”

Christian Karlsson: “We had our names out from the beginning on MySpace and had one picture. I think people thought we were hiding behind the jackalope or something.”

TF: Why the jackalope for your album cover?

PS: “It was Christian’s tattoo artist. We played her a song and told her we want something with antlers. She is also from Sweden and for some reason she designed a rabbit with antlers without knowing anything about a jackalope.”

CK: “She was pissed off when it already existed.”

PS: “But then on a tour of Germany we found out that there’s an old Bavarian mythical creature called the Wolpertinger. It looks the same but the Wolpertinger sometimes has the tail of a bird.”

TF: Seeing that Andrew is from New York and Christian and Pontus are from Sweden, how did Miike Snow come together?

CK: “I met Andrew, what was it, 2004 or something like that in the studio in New York. I’d finished my session and he had his session after me so we met there. I heard some of his music, he heard some of ours and we kept in contact. A couple years later we actually tried to hook up and write songs and I think that we realised we had something more special than just writing songs.”

TF: How did you choose the name Miike Snow?

CK: “It’s actually a guy that we know. His name is Mike Snow. We just took the spelling from the Japanese director, Takashi Miike.”

TF: Why did you choose to name it after your friend Mike Snow?

CK: “He’s a young engineer and we had known him for some time. I think Pontus got an email from him when we were trying to find a name.”

PS: “It was super random.”

CK: “We’d only met him like twice.”

PS: “I got an email from Mike Snow, so we thought, we’ll just name it Miike Snow.”

CK: “He’s coming to the show in Montreal. He lives in Montreal and he’s going to come see us.”

TF: When you released your self titled debut album what were your expectations?

PS: “We didn’t have that many expectations at all. We didn’t make the album for any other purpose other than to make an album. Whatever happened just happened. It’s still kind of like that. The whole live side is so different, we don’t have any expectations.”

CK: “We just know that we’re going to do Miike Snow for a while.”

TF: After releasing the album and touring for it, are you going to change your approach to the next album?

PS: “The whole live aspect of it will probably have a huge effect on how the next album will sound. It’s hard to say now but we have some idea of what we want to do, we’ll see once we get into the studio.””

TF: What are your plans for the second album? Any idea when you’ll hit the studio and start recording?

PS: “As soon as possible I guess.”

CK: “Yeah. It’s hard because we’re touring all of the time. As soon as we get any time off from touring we’ll get into the studio.”

TF: How extensively have you been touring over the past year or so since ‘Miike Snow’ was released?

CK: “We’ve been touring since May last year, pretty much all of the time. We had some weeks off here and there.”

PS: “Pretty much the whole world.”

PS: “I think we’re planning on stepping up the live thing after the summer. Something will happen on our tour here in the US.”

CK: “We’ve got two more tours this year, one in June and one in October or September.”

Be sure to check out the pictures from the show by clicking here.

Remember Taylor from this article? Of course you do. Well she’s back with another great interview, this time with John Paul Pitts from Surfer Blood.

Surfer Blood are a band who have received critical acclaim since the release of their debut album, ‘Astro Coast’, earlier this year. With Pitchfork slapping their best new music stamp of approval all over it and plenty of other blogs and magazines getting behind the band Taylor went to find out how Surfer Blood came about and what to expect in the future from the four youngsters from Florida.

Taylor Farnsworth: Many people are saying that Surfer Blood has the potential to be huge if you allow yourselves to be, how far are you willing to take your success?

John Paul Pitts: “As far as we can without compromising ourselves. For the next record and stuff it’s one thing to work with a producer, it’s another thing to have someone turning out songs for you. Right now we’re in a position where people are hearing our record, it’s getting a lot of exposure, but we still have control over most every aspect of our band, anything from the writing to our record label, which is just a married couple from Kanine records. It’s pretty personal, hands on, and that’s the way we want to keep it. I’m just glad that people are into the record right now.”

TF: Astro Coast was recorded in your college dorm room at the University of Florida. How much better is it to be touring and having success as a band instead of attending classes and earning your degrees?

JPP: “Umm, well school is school. This is what I’ve always wanted to do and I did too much of this, and not enough of school which is why I wasn’t such a great student.. Touring is a blast, I mean it can be really stressful sometimes, for example, today was a complete mess, but it’s going to happen from time to time. It was really cool that people stayed around, we weren’t expecting that at all.” (The interview took place after an in-store performance that, due to unforeseeable circumstances, the band were 2 hours late for.)

TF: Would you care to explain how you came up with the name Surfer Blood? Although you are from Florida, I’ve heard that none of you actually have Surfer Blood in you.

JPP: “I guess T.J.; the drummer is the closest thing we have. He surfed a lot in high school, and when we’re home he always calls me to go with him, but I would always find an excuse not to go, because I’m not very good. We came up with the name Surfer Blood; it kind of embodies the whole spirit we were going for, and brings up impressions of youth and the invulnerable sensitivity. And we came up with it because Tyler and me were going on a road trip to Gainesville to play a show on the weekend and it was early in the morning, so we just threw stuff in the back, and he had this really tacky surfer bag from back in the day and I was kind of ragging on him, and somehow through that he came up with the name Surfer Blood. We always knew that we’d use it for a song title or something, but when it was time to name the band, the name made sense and stuck.”

TF: Were you expecting Astro Coast to become as much of a success as it has been so far?

JPP: “It’s really awesome that it has done as well as it has. We had honestly no expectations. This was the first time any of us had ever recorded a full length record and actually toured, so it was a first for all of us. I had never recorded a full length record before, so I was kind of learning. I guess it sounds like a quality recording, but every time I listen to it I pick it apart. We knew that there would be people out there that would like it if we just gave them the care and they wanted to come to our shows. We definitely have exceeded our expectations.”

TF: Who has influenced your music over the years (friends, family, other musicians, etc.)?

JPP: “My friend Justin Bonner in high school introduced me to a lot of the bands. We had a lot of classes together, and we became close. He introduced me to bands like Dinosaur Jr., Pavement, Bedhead, a lot of really classic 90’s alternative stuff. He’s honestly how I got into a lot of that.”

TF: What are some of your favourite albums of all time?

JPP: “The Smiths, The Queen is Dead. Dinosaur Jr., You’re Living All Over Me. Ziggy Stardust by David Bowie. The Strokes, Is This It. Wow, that’s a tough question. Oh, and Sonic Youth, Sonic Nurse.”

TF: Would you recommend any up and coming bands for the readers of Indiescreet?

JPP: “I’d like to recommend a band that we’re friends with from New York, Grooms, they just got signed to our record label, less than a week ago, and we’ve been friends with them and following them for a while. We played with them in October. They’re really good, just kind of a take on Sonic Youth, but it’s really quality stuff. Our friends, Holiday Shores, from Tallahassee are a really talented young band that people haven’t heard of. They actually did the first leg of this tour with us. Real Estate from New Jersey is really good. Ganglians from California are also one of my favorite new bands, we played with them in Minneapolis. There’s a band called The Smith Westerns from Chicago, they’re super young, but they seem really cool to tour with, so maybe someday. Yeah, we would definitely like to tour with them.”

TF: You guys have supported the likes of Art Brut, Japandroids and The Drums in the past. How were those experiences?

JPP: “Before the album came out, we did a few support tours. It was great; I love Art Brut and Japandroids. We did one leg of each of their tours in a 40 day stretch. The guys from Art Brut are great friends, really funny guys. They’ve been doing this forever; touring all over the world, and it was our first time. They really helped us out along the way. And Japandroids, Brian and Dave are really cool guys. They take their music very seriously, yeah, I like them. The Drums are actually kind of how our record label discovered us. I’ve been friends with Jacob Graham from that band. He used to live in Florida, so we’d see each other at shows a lot. And then he contacted me from The Drums on MySpace, and I thought, oh, it’s Jacob. We did a support tour for them recently in England. And we played at the Bowery two weeks ago. They’re just really sincere dudes, and they truly support other band’s music.”

TF: What are the plans for the future? Touring, another album?

JPP: “Right now we have a tour schedule that’s really crazy for the next 5 or 6 months. I don’t like to write music while touring. We have a lot of material together for the next record. We plan on recording it late this summer. I don’t believe in rushing it. The reason Astro Coast turned out so good was because we spent months wrestling with it. I think a lot of bands, where they go wrong for their sophomore album is that they rush it. They want to get it out really soon because people want to hear more. So we’ll release it probably sometime next year.”

A great insight into the band, I’m sure you’ll agree. Stay tuned for some pictures and a review of the in-store performance and gig that Taylor attended in the next couple of days.