• Interviews

• All
• Music
• Cinema
• TV
• Comic Books

Jan 10, 2013 By Under the Radar Staff CSS

For Under the Radar‘s 10th annual Artist Survey we emailed some of our favorite artists a few questions relating to 2012.

Pick up the print version of the Best of 2012 issue to read responses from the following artists: Alt-J, Fred Armisen, Bear in Heaven, Camera Obscura, Chad Valley, Charli XCX, Choir of Young Believers, Clinic, CSS, Dan Deacon, Desaparecidos, Django Django, Efterklang, Egyptian Hip Hop, El Perro Del Mar, Grimes, Halls, Richard Hawley, Hercules and Love Affair, Ladytron, Liars, Lord Huron, Lower Dens, Mount Eerie, My Morning Jacket, The Mynabirds, The New Pornographers, of Montreal, Peaking Lights, Porcelain Raft, Laetitia Sadier, and Tame Impala.

Then download the digital version of the Best of 2012 issue to read all those surveys, as well as bonus responses from the following artists: !!!, Clare and the Reasons, Codeine, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., Esben and the Witch, The Fresh & Onlys, Get People, Islands, Kwes, Lost in the Trees, NZCA/LINES, OFF!, Plants and Animals, Still Corners, Violens, Xiu Xiu, Young Dreams, and Zambri.

We are also posting additional web-exclusive bonus answers to the website. These are from artists whose surveys are in the print magazine, but are extra answers that didn’t fit in the issue. Here are bonus answers from Luiza Sá of CSS and pick up the Best of 2012 issue to read the rest of her answers.

What was the low point of 2012 for you?

It’s hard to see all this climate changes affect so many of our friends and dear places like Sandy did in NY and around.

What are your hopes and plans for 2013?

New record to be out and a really fun touring cycle. We miss our fans!

To what extent did the poor world economy affect your ability to make a reasonable living as an artist in 2012?

I guess it affects everyone but we come from a country that was always in a crisis (not anymore) so we are used to making things work. I already have the feeling the crisis is getting smaller now. Those are cycles. But definitely not as easy as it was five years ago.

Were you affected by Hurricane Sandy? Do you think that climate change was partly responsible for the hurricane?

Climate change is definitely real, I don’t know what else people need to believe it. I lived in New York for three years and we have so many friends and people over there. Most of our friends live in Brooklyn and luckily weren’t affected (but a few that live in lower Manhattan were) and right at this moment they’re raising money and gathering supplies and driving to the most affected areas to help. Some of them were on CNN today.

It feels very real and close to us.

Steve Albini criticized Amanda Palmer for recruiting musicians to play in her backing band for free. Was he right to do this and was Palmer right to change her mind and pay her musicians?

I don’t really know of Amanda Palmer or this musician and I think it’s very hard to judge someone without knowing them or their situation. In a perfect world everyone gets paid all the time, except for Donald Trump, who would be fired every day.

Tell us about the most memorable fan encounter you had this year.

When we went to the Gossip show at the Fonda recently, some of their fans took some photos with us and that’s a really cool crowd to be sharing.

What pop culture phenomenon from 2012 would you most like to erase from your memory?

LMFAO. Maybe that’s 2011, but that song was still playing.

What were some of the rejected names for your band?

At this point I don’t even remember. It was something like “I Thought Miriam Rios was a Virgin.” We had Fotologs at the time (Instagram’s grandpa) and maybe there was a name that related to that? Even the band name wasn’t exactly a non-reject, we just needed a name for a show and that’s how Cansei de Ser Sexy happened. It just stuck, there wasn’t too much thinking behind it.

Would you survive a zombie apocalypse?

You mean downtown Los Angeles, the Tenderloin in San Francisco, or some parts of São Paulo? Yes, we’re used to it!

What should musicians do, if anything, to support Pussy Riot?

Bring awareness to people about what’s happening to them and speak your mind as well as getting involved with the organizations and people trying to help them out. Our friends were very involved with that, so it wasn’t that hard for us to try to help somehow, give a song to a benefit or just show support.

Finish this sentence: I’m too old to _______?

I’m too old to like dubstep. I hate it.

Finish this sentence: I’m not old enough to _______?

I’m not old enough to win the Oscars. Yet.

If you believe in an afterlife, who do you most hope to see when you die?

My first pet, a Siamese cat named Tata.

Do you believe in monogamy?

I’m not sure but I never seen an open relationship work for too long.

What do you think about the use of drone attacks in the war on terror?

I don’t know enough about it, to be honest. Is it like missiles? I hate war all around.

The music industry has gone through massive changes in the last decade, mainly due to the Internet. What changes do you predict will happen to the music industry in the next decade?

I think it might become harder and harder to download illegally, but people can still just give music for free sometimes. We are a result of music on the Internet, so we are thankful for it. There can be a nice balance and hopefully it will happen. People still listen to music so much and they have so much access, I think those are good things. Lately more and more of the music lovers I know buy vinyl but I’m not sure how young people feel about music, everything is so connected to them: TV, music, internet-it’s all in their phones or something.

In 2012, what was the best movie you saw, book you read, comic book you read, video game you played, and/or TV show you watched?

I loved the movies The Master and Keep the Lights On. I didn’t read 50 Shades of Grey. I’m not up to date on books, been reading older ones. I still love Mad Men. It’s been hard to watch SNL without Kristen Wiig. We watch Ru Paul’s Drag Race. I love a segment on VBS (Vice.com) called Slutever. Lovefoxxx bought this comic novel called Tranny, but I’m not sure if it’s from 2012.

Do you have any other thoughts about the current state of the world or the state of the music industry?

MORE? Be nice! Work hard with what you love! And hopefully all these changes happening will be positive.

www.csssuxxx.com