One on One: The Interest Group

Hailing from Philly, the psychedelic-pop aficionados who call themselves The Interest Group had the music blogging world enchanted almost immediately.  It was only back in May that the collective of five musicians released their take on a rare 1960's psychedelic rock song:  a track called The Boys and the Girls, originally recorded by a band that called themselves The Network!  To some, this might seem like a tall order-- to find and translate such a lost and obscure track-- but The Interest Group did it with musical aptitude and ease.  With this, the group took the concept of being 1960's aficionados to the next level,  proving themselves as a highly inventive and musically captivating bunch to be watched!

With a wildly accumulative intro followed by a string of echoing "bum-bum-bums," the track is ambient, lo-fi, and hazy-- but undeniably full with a distinct weave of fun; an uplifting feel.

 I later realized that the song appears on one of my favorite compilations of all time: an untapped fifteen volume gem, Fading Yellow!





Then in June, the band released their second single: an original song titled, "Fear," which proved to be an impressive spectrum of sound: an eerie drone of vocals over lullaby worthy guitar riffs transitioning into ethic and outer-wordly sounding cries and melodies.


The Boys and the Girls was on heavy rotation during the production of the FW13 season, and so, I had to include it on my first compilation, Romance Never Dies. Though overdue by a few weeks, I was so excited to interview this bunch, who had me enchanted immediately, and revealed themselves as quite the playful, funny, and inherently gifted group of comrades!

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MF

Love you guys! Who makes up the band? Who does what?

IG
There are five of us total: Marissa, Yohsuke, Kyle, Matt and Steve. Marissa and Yohsuke are the songwriters-- they sing and play guitars. Matt is the guitar king, Kyle makes us swoon on bass, and Steve is our human metronome on drums!

MF
So I know that there are only three songs currently available online... But what I want to know is how many are in your repertoire thus far! Super excited to hear more tracks!

MARISSA

We're still pretty new, a baby band, really!  But I guess we have about an album's worth: just about twelve completed songs that we've built together over the past year.

MF
Do you have plans to release an album anytime soon? What are some of the themes we will notice, and what does it sound like?

YOSHUKE 

Currently, we are working on a 7" which we hope will be out in the next few months! And we're mixing a full length album right now as well-- though it's taking some time. The themes are probably best left up to the listeners to decide. Maybe in a few years we'll better understand what they are but right now I'm not sure we fully understand them yet.

MARISSA

Hopefully the full length is done within the year. But that may be wishful thinking! I will just continue to nag Yohsk every week about it 'til we get there.

MF
Your cover of the 60's song "The Boys and the Girls" by The Network appears on Romance Never Dies. It's a pretty rare track! How did you stumble upon it and why did you decide to cover it? Does it hold a certain significance?

YOSHUKE 

 I found it online-- it was featured on a compilation CD. I just really enjoyed it so I started recording a cover version on my own, and then I asked Marissa to sing backup.

MARISSA  

This song is really important to me as it pretty much brought the two of us together musically. We first met each other in a film class in school, and by pure coincidence ended up in a completely different class together the following year. Just around this time,  Yoshuke was in the process of recording "The Boys and the Girls" on his own, and I joined in! After recording this together and singing on a few of his other original tracks, I started sharing my songs with him, collaborating as well. And so the band just grew up from there!

MF
If you could write a song and perform it with any band in history-- who would it be and why?

MARISSA
I think we'd all agree writing and performing with Bjork would be a dream come true. And oh duh, Dusty Springfield!

YOSHUKE

or Linda Ronstadt! Francoise Hardy!

MF
So I really love this question-- but do you guys remember the first song you ever wrote? What was it about?

MATT 

I think it was on acoustic guitar. But then again, I was in a band in middle school called Grace Keller (supposedly funny because I had no grace, and because it sounded like 'Grace Kelly'), and I remember those songs were pretty grungy/alt rocky and about girls that we were just making up. We liked At The Drive-In and Piebald a lot.

MARISSA  

I wrote my first song I think when I was 11, on electric guitar. It was just instrumental and I used just two chords and performed it in my music class. It wasn't until I was about sixteen when I started writing lyrics as well. I wrote songs on piano and started a band with one of my school friends. I still listen to those songs from time to time and giggle a bit. They were songs about love and full of teen angst. Like Matt I was kind of making everything up too, writing about a future self maybe.

MF
Do you remember the first time you ever played an instrument?

MATT

 I remember when I was really little, my mom got me a Mickey Mouse drum set! It had a snare, kick drum, floor tom, and a crash symbol, which all sounded like cardboard boxes.   

MARISSA

When I was six I remember trying to play my uncle's Gibson in his basement. I thought it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen, but that it was awfully heavy and too big for me to wrap my hands around, so I just strummed the strings while it sat in its stand.

MF
And now, the 8 songs you couldn't live without:

1-on-1: Matt & Steve from the Interest Group from meghanfarrell on 8tracks Radio.

MATT
Scatterbrain - Radiohead
Harvest Moon - Neil Young
Sometimes - My Bloody Valentine
Wooly Mammoth's Mighty Absence - Mount Eerie
On A Neck, On A Spit - Grizzly Bear
Dreams - Fleetwood Mac
It Takes Alot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry - Bob Dylan
Sloop John B. - The Beach Boys

STEVE
Stevie Wonder - As
Spacemen 3 - Big City (Everybody I know Can Be Found Here)
Neu! - Isi

1-on-1: Yoshuke from The Interest Group from meghanfarrell on 8tracks Radio.

YOSHUKE
Can - Future Days
Jesus and Mary Chain - The Hardest Walk
Aaliyah - Are You That Somebody
Scott Walker - The Old Man's Back Again
Broadcast - Long Was The Year
Bob Dylan - Tomorrow Is A Long Time
Miguel - Adorn
Fleetwood Mac - Angel

1-on-1: Marisa from The Interest Group from meghanfarrell on 8tracks Radio.

MARISSA
Ella Fitzgerald - Cry Me a River
Beach House - Take Care
Supertramp - Hide In Your Shell
Heart - Barracuda
Dusty Springfield - Do Re Mi
Elton John - Crocodile Rock
Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken
The Beach Boys - God Only Knows

MF
Favorite city to tour?

MATT

Montreal

STEVE

Berlin. Tons of great record stores, restaurants , and cool shops all over the place. It's cheap, and the whole vibe there is just incredibly open and free. It's kind of like Philadelphia without all the bad stuff.

MF
So I know you guys are new, but do you have any cities in mind that you haven't toured, but would like to tour?

MATT

Austin/ anywhere in Europe

MARISSA

Yes, I'd go anywhere in Europe. I'd love to go to Melbourne, too!

YOSHUKE

Tokyo, Barcelona, Paris, London, Melbourne, Siberia, Rome, Montreal.

STEVE

Whichever town or city in Japan Yohsuke's live in so that I can meet Mr. and Mrs. Araki

MF
What about idols and inspiration? Who do you admire as artists?

MATT

David Lynch, Grizzly Bear, Neil Young

MARISSA

Beach House, Diane Arbus, Marina Abramovic

YOSHUKE

Andy Goldsworthy, Scott Walker, Bill Cunningham

MF
Are you guys involved in any other kinds of art forms? if so, what are they?

MATT

Filmmaking, when the right thing comes around.

MARISSA

I love to write. Lately I've just been working on songwriting, but I have a few screenplays that I'd like to finish up. I also like to paint and draw from time to time.

YOSHUKE

Film here as well. I love trying to explore spaces by capturing pretty shots and I love writing screenplays.  Maybe one day we'll work on a film together. A band of filmmakers.

MF
I need to laugh. Tell me a joke please!!!!

MATT

You know what they say about big feet........big socks.

MARISSA

What's Beethoven's favorite fruit? (sung) Ba-na-na-naaaa.

YOSHUKE

Man walks into a bar and he's with a horse. They sit down at the bar. Horse falls down. Man gets up to leave and the bartender says, "HEY. You can't just leave that lyin there." The man says, "That's not a lion...it's a horse...."

MF
Hmmm what about the last dream you had?

MATT

My roommate was in my living room eating a giant bowl of marinara sauce that I for some reason knew was from TGIFridays.

MARISSA

One of the worst kinds of dreams…I was in a play, nothing specific... but right before I went on stage I couldn't remember a thing and basically just made up all of my lines and all of the songs. Luckily for dream-me, the band was amazing and played along. I really don't like those dreams, those and the ones where you lose your teeth, eck!

MF
Now onto tastes. Literally! What about your favorite... meal?

MATT
Meatloaf.

Marissa & Yohsuke: 
AND I WOULD DO ANYTHING FOR LOVE!!!

KYLE:
 BLT's with tomato.

YOSHUKE
Donuts.

MARISSA
Chocolate chocolate...I mean pistachio frozen yogurt.

MF
Your life philosophy?

MATT
 I believe in saying Thank You.

YOSHUKE
 BREATHE.

MARISSA

The only thing better than singing is more singing - Ella Fitzgerald

KYLE & STEVE
 YOLO