Headlights
What was the best album released in 2006 that few people heard?
Our friends Shipwreck put out a great record this year called Origins. Keep an eye out for them. They started touring this year!
With the rise of MySpace and the ever-increasing presence of bloggers, what is your feeling about using the Internet as a promotional tool? Will MySpace last and are you actively involved in your band’s MySpace page? With the music blogs seen as an increasingly influential source for breaking new artists, do you read them and are they a positive influence that bypasses the industry machinery or just empty hype?
Brett Sanderson: The
best thing about the Internet to me is the ability for people to express
themselves freely. MySpace.com and the blogs are a great opportunity for
bands and critics to have a reciprocal dialogue outside of the “industry
machinery.” Putting this power into the hands of the people who
truly care about what they’re doing without the worries of deadlines
and advertising and profit margins takes some of the “business”
out of art.
Erin Fein: I think MySpace is an interesting phenomenon.
I’m not sure that I view it as a promotional tool as much as it
is a place for bands and fans to connect. There is something really encouraging
about looking on our MySpace page and getting feedback from people after
you’ve played a show. I do think that blogs are helpful and different
from journalism because anyone can write one. As far as building a career
from buzz goes, I stand by the idea that the only way to gain fans on
your own steam is to tour. At a live show, people decide whether they
like a band on their own.
Tristan Wraight: It’s an exciting and really useful
tool, but it has its good and bad sides. Eventually, it will probably
become commercially exploited, and then a new independent outlet will
pop up. Blogs can be a useful positive influence but they can also be
empty hype. You’re dealing with one person’s opinion, which
is completely subjective.
If the world were ending in 24 hours, what would you do in those 24 hours?
Erin: I would spend time
with the people I love, cook an incredible meal, and probably drink myself
into a haze before it all went down.
Tristan: I’d probably spend the time being scared
shitless.
Who would you like to see run for president in 2008? What are the Democrats doing wrong, how can they take back the White House?
Tristan: I’d like to see Al Gore run again.
In 2006, what was the best movie you saw, book you read, and/or TV show you watched?
Brett: The best movie
I saw was The Science of Sleep by Michel Gondry. He has such
a vibrant imagination. The best book: Guns, Germs and Steel by
Jared Diamond. He follows the history of the human race and its societies’
struggles through the last 10,000 years, answering questions like, “Why
were aborigines still in the stone age when the European societies had
come so far?” An interesting read that puts racist ideas to rest.
The best TV: Charlie Rose on PBS. Charlie Rose may have one of
the best shows on television. Commercial-free talk about current events,
politics and art every weekday.
Erin: One of my favorite movies of the year was The
Squid and the Whale. The best book I read was Extremely Loud
and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer.
Tristan: The best book that I read this year was John
Peel’s autobiography. An incredibly touching and warm human. It
was incredibly sad as he died halfway through its completion. His wife
and children finished it for him, which lent a really tangible sense of
who he was and what he meant. Deadwood was the best TV I saw
this year, visceral and filthy. Everything Is Illuminated was
a great book and a great film. I can finally see Elijah Wood as someone
other than Frodo.
Do you have any other thoughts about the current state of the world or the state of the music industry?
Tristan: Good and bad
ebb and flow. Hope for the best!
Brett: Let’s take it easy on the auto-tune and
beat detective out there!
1/2007