05.30 the Photo Atlas @ Irving Plaza (interview + photos)
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the Photo Atlas @ Irving Plaza on May 30
Denver indie-rockers the Photo Atlas have been steadily building a wave of positive buzz across the country not only for the propulsive dance punk sounds on their debut LP “No, Not Me, Never” but also for their intense live sets often ending with partiers rushing the stage to dance & sing along. FiddleWhileYouBurn caught up with band members Bill Threlkeld III (Guitar), Alan Andrews(Vocals/Guitar), Devon Shirley (drums), in the grimy back room of NYC’s 119 Bar shortly before their second of two sold out nights opening up for the Bravery at Irving Plaza.
FWYB: You guys are on the road with the Bravery, which seems to me like a bit of strange stylistic mix, how have the Bravery fans been so far?
Alan: Really accepting I'd say. We've had a really good response. Some of our friends gave us the cautious "Oh, when you go on tour with a big band sometimes people won't like the opening band" and I was a little "ehhh", but people have been really cool clapping along and going crazy and stuff.
Devon: There's this one song that we do called "Light and Noise", there's this big middle section where live in Colorado everyone claps and Alan says "Everyone clap during the breakdown" and there's been a couple of nights when everyone's clapping and it's fucking cool, like everyone’s (Devon makes a hands in the air clapping gesture). When I see that I feel like "Whoa, that's pretty fucking cool!" so yeah they've been pretty receptive.
FWYB: I've seen you guys a few times now in different parts of the country and it’s striking what an enthusiastic response you get from the fans while it seems some other bands struggle to translate that live energy to CD or CD energy to live. What do you think your formula for that kind of success has been?
Bill: With our recordings we always try to capture our live show...
Alan: That's how we start it. That's how we’ve built our fan base we have, is off our live shows. I think it's meant to be a thing, where if you want to sit there and just watch us that's fine, but if you want to go crazy, do that too.
Devon: Cause we are...
Alan: Yeah we're up there sweatin'!
FWYB: Feeding off the energy…
Alan: Exactly.
Devon: Yeah exactly, the more the crowd goes crazy, the more we go crazy. Seriously, there's been some shows in Colorado where it's just absolute chaos and it just feels awesome─ it's so fueling. I hope it gets to that point on the road, eventually, where people are just going fucking crazy, but people still have a little bit of fear of getting judged by other people.
FWYB: If you can't get crazy at a rock concert where can you get crazy?
Alan: Yeah, exactly (laughs).
Devon: I know! Seriously, we're getting into this day & age where people are just too cool to move you know?
FWYB: So what's been the best gig so far?
Bill: Last night was pretty sweet.
Alan: Yeah, last night was pretty awesome. I thought Portland was really, really cool─ the second night of the tour.
Bill: Yeah, Portland was really cool…
Alan: Cause we're getting radio play in Portland so they knew the record and were singing along with the songs and stuff.
FWYB: You're on a seemingly never ending road trip, what are you guys listening to while you're on the road?
Alan: The new TV on the Radio record is awesome!
Devon: Yeah, the new TV on the Radio is real good.
Alan: That's getting heavy rotation. The most recent Velvet Teen record we've been listening to, a ton, and our classics: Cursive, At the Drive In …
Devon: (laughing to Alan) You and Mark rock a lot of Black Sabbath.
Alan: Yeah, Black Sabbath (laughs).
FWYB: Do you guys write while you're on the road or does it all happen at once?
Bill: We try to, but it's real hard. It's hard especially when you're an opening band, you don't have a whole lot of time.
Devon: We write on our down-time mostly, back at home if we have a week off or whatever.
Alan: We had a few days off and our buddy has a studio in Montana, so we had the first couple of days we've had in a long time to just write and kinda experiment with stuff, so we're excited to work on new stuff, but we're on the road so much, it's hard. You don't find that time very often.
FWYB: So, I often see the Photo Atlas compared to At the Drive In and Fugazi. What do you consider to be the biggest influence on your sound?
Alan: There's probably three different bands I'd say: At the Drive In, the Faint, & Death from Above 1979─ definitely those three bands, but I think At the Drive In is all of ours.
Devon: Yeah that band helped shape all of our entire musical mindset. I mean, I didn't even know these guys and when that band changed my life, then when I met Bill it was like "I love At the Drive in", "So do I!", "Holy Shit, you're the only person I know who even knows about At the Drive In!" So it's definitely a milestone band for us.
Alan: Yeah, that band…
FWYB: Yeah, I saw them here at Irving Plaza years ago. It's one of those things where they talk about how the Ramones would go around the country and people would hear 'em and start a band… Now I talk to a lot of bands and hear "I saw At the Drive In and it made me really want to go out and do it" and they're still making music...
Devon: No, they're no not.
FWYB: Well, the Mars Volta…
Devon: I guess... The first Mars Volta record kicked ass, the second was alright, I haven't heard the third one.
Alan: They got crazy.
Devon: Carlos Santana (Alan laughs).
FWYB: I see you guys have the Warped Tour coming up this Summer, is there anything else coming up that you guys are excited about?
Bill: Oh yeah.
Alan: Yeah, we're doing a tour with this band called Portugal the Man,
Devon: and Russian Circles
Alan: Yeah, we're pretty much going to be on the road until the end of August.
FWYB: I also saw shows with the Mooney Suzuki listed.
Alan: Mooney Suzuki, yeah that's gonna be rad.
Devon: It's cool cause we're all big fans of Portugal the Man. We're starting to get the opportunity to tour with bands that we are actual genuine fans of. Now only if we get to tour with Cursive or Interpol…
FWYB: If you could tour with any band that's out there right now who would you want to tour with the most?
Alan: I'd say Cursive.
Bill: Cursive.
Devon: Cursive.
Alan: Or the Faint.
Devon: The Faint would be sick! The Faint would fit us better.
Alan: Yeah.
FWYB: Faint, Cursive if you're out there...
Alan: (laughs)
Devon: Yeah, seriously (shows his Cursive tattoo on his arm), I went through hours of pain for you assholes! (everyone laughs)
Bill: Interpol that'd be the highlight of my life.
Alan: Aerosmith (laughs).
FWYB: So you’re experiencing a lot of success; the shows are getting bigger and bigger. If you could give any piece of advice to other up-and-coming bands trying to break out of the pack, what would it be?
Devon: To Tour! (slams his beer down).
Alan: Yeah. (Slowly nodding his head in agreement)
Devon: Work your ass off. Don't fucking expect people to drop it in your lap like "Wanna record deal?" Cause a lot of bands in Denver feel like that's gonna happen, and they're good bands, but they just don't fucking have the ambition and drive to drop their whole life and get on the road. That's the most important thing. It's a hard thing to do; It's a scary, difficult, tough, challenging thing to do, but you just have to fucking do it.
Alan: The first four tours we did were just a kinda paying our dues type of thing. I think you have to do that─ that's the stuff that makes bands better, honestly…then just like─ spring! All of the sudden your band sees huge success. You gotta go work for it . That's the kind of stuff that means a lot to us, hard work.
Devon: Especially when you're building your way up. It feels better, you can see it, you can see your band grow. It's more rewarding; all of the work that you put in is actually paying off rather than it just being handed to you because you have rich parents who are gonna buy you fucking gear and make you look all pretty. Everything that we have we've worked for.
The Photo Atlas are playing the Vans Warped Tour this Summer plus additional dates across the country
Watch & Listen:
the Photo Atlas - video: "Handshake Heart Attack"
the Photo Atlas - audio: "Handshake Heart Attack"
Related Posts:
03.16.07 SXSW Day 3 (photos)
03.02.07 the Photo Atlas @ Pianos (photos)
01.22.07 the Photo Atlas @ Pianos
11.04.06 the Photo Atlas @ PureVolume
the Photo Atlas @ Irving Plaza on May 30
Denver indie-rockers the Photo Atlas have been steadily building a wave of positive buzz across the country not only for the propulsive dance punk sounds on their debut LP “No, Not Me, Never” but also for their intense live sets often ending with partiers rushing the stage to dance & sing along. FiddleWhileYouBurn caught up with band members Bill Threlkeld III (Guitar), Alan Andrews(Vocals/Guitar), Devon Shirley (drums), in the grimy back room of NYC’s 119 Bar shortly before their second of two sold out nights opening up for the Bravery at Irving Plaza.
FWYB: You guys are on the road with the Bravery, which seems to me like a bit of strange stylistic mix, how have the Bravery fans been so far?
Alan: Really accepting I'd say. We've had a really good response. Some of our friends gave us the cautious "Oh, when you go on tour with a big band sometimes people won't like the opening band" and I was a little "ehhh", but people have been really cool clapping along and going crazy and stuff.
Devon: There's this one song that we do called "Light and Noise", there's this big middle section where live in Colorado everyone claps and Alan says "Everyone clap during the breakdown" and there's been a couple of nights when everyone's clapping and it's fucking cool, like everyone’s (Devon makes a hands in the air clapping gesture). When I see that I feel like "Whoa, that's pretty fucking cool!" so yeah they've been pretty receptive.
FWYB: I've seen you guys a few times now in different parts of the country and it’s striking what an enthusiastic response you get from the fans while it seems some other bands struggle to translate that live energy to CD or CD energy to live. What do you think your formula for that kind of success has been?
Bill: With our recordings we always try to capture our live show...
Alan: That's how we start it. That's how we’ve built our fan base we have, is off our live shows. I think it's meant to be a thing, where if you want to sit there and just watch us that's fine, but if you want to go crazy, do that too.
Devon: Cause we are...
Alan: Yeah we're up there sweatin'!
FWYB: Feeding off the energy…
Alan: Exactly.
Devon: Yeah exactly, the more the crowd goes crazy, the more we go crazy. Seriously, there's been some shows in Colorado where it's just absolute chaos and it just feels awesome─ it's so fueling. I hope it gets to that point on the road, eventually, where people are just going fucking crazy, but people still have a little bit of fear of getting judged by other people.
FWYB: If you can't get crazy at a rock concert where can you get crazy?
Alan: Yeah, exactly (laughs).
Devon: I know! Seriously, we're getting into this day & age where people are just too cool to move you know?
FWYB: So what's been the best gig so far?
Bill: Last night was pretty sweet.
Alan: Yeah, last night was pretty awesome. I thought Portland was really, really cool─ the second night of the tour.
Bill: Yeah, Portland was really cool…
Alan: Cause we're getting radio play in Portland so they knew the record and were singing along with the songs and stuff.
FWYB: You're on a seemingly never ending road trip, what are you guys listening to while you're on the road?
Alan: The new TV on the Radio record is awesome!
Devon: Yeah, the new TV on the Radio is real good.
Alan: That's getting heavy rotation. The most recent Velvet Teen record we've been listening to, a ton, and our classics: Cursive, At the Drive In …
Devon: (laughing to Alan) You and Mark rock a lot of Black Sabbath.
Alan: Yeah, Black Sabbath (laughs).
FWYB: Do you guys write while you're on the road or does it all happen at once?
Bill: We try to, but it's real hard. It's hard especially when you're an opening band, you don't have a whole lot of time.
Devon: We write on our down-time mostly, back at home if we have a week off or whatever.
Alan: We had a few days off and our buddy has a studio in Montana, so we had the first couple of days we've had in a long time to just write and kinda experiment with stuff, so we're excited to work on new stuff, but we're on the road so much, it's hard. You don't find that time very often.
FWYB: So, I often see the Photo Atlas compared to At the Drive In and Fugazi. What do you consider to be the biggest influence on your sound?
Alan: There's probably three different bands I'd say: At the Drive In, the Faint, & Death from Above 1979─ definitely those three bands, but I think At the Drive In is all of ours.
Devon: Yeah that band helped shape all of our entire musical mindset. I mean, I didn't even know these guys and when that band changed my life, then when I met Bill it was like "I love At the Drive in", "So do I!", "Holy Shit, you're the only person I know who even knows about At the Drive In!" So it's definitely a milestone band for us.
Alan: Yeah, that band…
FWYB: Yeah, I saw them here at Irving Plaza years ago. It's one of those things where they talk about how the Ramones would go around the country and people would hear 'em and start a band… Now I talk to a lot of bands and hear "I saw At the Drive In and it made me really want to go out and do it" and they're still making music...
Devon: No, they're no not.
FWYB: Well, the Mars Volta…
Devon: I guess... The first Mars Volta record kicked ass, the second was alright, I haven't heard the third one.
Alan: They got crazy.
Devon: Carlos Santana (Alan laughs).
FWYB: I see you guys have the Warped Tour coming up this Summer, is there anything else coming up that you guys are excited about?
Bill: Oh yeah.
Alan: Yeah, we're doing a tour with this band called Portugal the Man,
Devon: and Russian Circles
Alan: Yeah, we're pretty much going to be on the road until the end of August.
FWYB: I also saw shows with the Mooney Suzuki listed.
Alan: Mooney Suzuki, yeah that's gonna be rad.
Devon: It's cool cause we're all big fans of Portugal the Man. We're starting to get the opportunity to tour with bands that we are actual genuine fans of. Now only if we get to tour with Cursive or Interpol…
FWYB: If you could tour with any band that's out there right now who would you want to tour with the most?
Alan: I'd say Cursive.
Bill: Cursive.
Devon: Cursive.
Alan: Or the Faint.
Devon: The Faint would be sick! The Faint would fit us better.
Alan: Yeah.
FWYB: Faint, Cursive if you're out there...
Alan: (laughs)
Devon: Yeah, seriously (shows his Cursive tattoo on his arm), I went through hours of pain for you assholes! (everyone laughs)
Bill: Interpol that'd be the highlight of my life.
Alan: Aerosmith (laughs).
FWYB: So you’re experiencing a lot of success; the shows are getting bigger and bigger. If you could give any piece of advice to other up-and-coming bands trying to break out of the pack, what would it be?
Devon: To Tour! (slams his beer down).
Alan: Yeah. (Slowly nodding his head in agreement)
Devon: Work your ass off. Don't fucking expect people to drop it in your lap like "Wanna record deal?" Cause a lot of bands in Denver feel like that's gonna happen, and they're good bands, but they just don't fucking have the ambition and drive to drop their whole life and get on the road. That's the most important thing. It's a hard thing to do; It's a scary, difficult, tough, challenging thing to do, but you just have to fucking do it.
Alan: The first four tours we did were just a kinda paying our dues type of thing. I think you have to do that─ that's the stuff that makes bands better, honestly…then just like─ spring! All of the sudden your band sees huge success. You gotta go work for it . That's the kind of stuff that means a lot to us, hard work.
Devon: Especially when you're building your way up. It feels better, you can see it, you can see your band grow. It's more rewarding; all of the work that you put in is actually paying off rather than it just being handed to you because you have rich parents who are gonna buy you fucking gear and make you look all pretty. Everything that we have we've worked for.
The Photo Atlas are playing the Vans Warped Tour this Summer plus additional dates across the country
Watch & Listen:
the Photo Atlas - video: "Handshake Heart Attack"
the Photo Atlas - audio: "Handshake Heart Attack"
Related Posts:
03.16.07 SXSW Day 3 (photos)
03.02.07 the Photo Atlas @ Pianos (photos)
01.22.07 the Photo Atlas @ Pianos
11.04.06 the Photo Atlas @ PureVolume
Labels: Photo Atlas
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