Interview: Fanclub – “Imprint”

Fanclub

“Imprint”

The first single by Fanclub has dropped, and it is so tremendous, you have to really listen to it to appreciate.  The band sat down with me to answer some questions, and what great answers did I get.  Oh, the band is comprised of Leslie Crunkilton, Mike Lee, Daniel Schmidt.

1. You guys have a great sound. Who are some of your main influences?
Thank you! We have so many, but some of them are Tiger Trap, Slowdive, Black Tambourine, Air, Daft Punk, New Order, Papas Fritas, All Girl Summer Fun Band, Boards of Canada, Liz Phair…kind of all over the place :)

2. Do you prefer live or the studio? I always preferred live. It
was more fun.
They are both so different for us. There is something thrilling (and scary) about both – studio work marks your immortality so to speak…whatever you finish will be there forever. On stage you more or less have an audience there judging your creativity and passion on the spot. As a group, we love playing live. We all feel we can bring an energy to stage that is not easily captured in the studio but also we can feed off the crowd as well. There’s something special about each show because they are each its own unique moment.

3. What do you think about when writing music? Do you have a
particular place to go to concentrate?
Both Leslie and I (Mike) write at our homes. Every now and again we try writing in the same room but there are so many intimate things about writing that we prefer doing it alone and then showing the other the “finished” draft of whatever we come up with. Leslie concentrates mainly on lyrics and I think she thinks mostly about past loves, relationships, growing up, probably most things we all kind of think about. I try to find sounds and chord progressions that I think might be interesting…I loop a lot of things and listen to tons of samples and sounds so it’s very easy for me to not think…and not like I’m in this cool, meditative state…more like, I’m getting glassy-eyed and I forgot to eat lunch :).

4. What literature do you like?
I like dystopian novels and science fiction. My favorite author is Ursula K Le Guin (-Leslie)

5. Is touring as grueling as it seems? Do you enjoy it?
We love touring. It’s like a very very strange and poor vacation haha. We love each other and love spending time with each other so that makes it fun for us. We try to sight see when we can, or do a little shopping to cut up the tedious and monotonous drives. It’s definitely something we will be doing more of and we are looking forward to it.

6. Any other tidbits you’d like to share?
We’re back in the studio right now but will be back on the road in August!