08th Mar2010

An Interview: Fang Island

by nickwan

The current pride of Brooklyn, Fang Island, has had many ups and downs in the past few weeks. I don’t even know if you could write it like it has happened: Fang Island got a new van, released their first full length album,  began preparing for their upcoming national support tour… then had their van stolen, found again, and are still on track to make it to their shows on time, all the while gaining universal praise for their album. Our interviewing machine Shane “Dufus” Kalantari sheds some light on the friends that compose Fang Island.

–

Dufus: First off, how is the land of “Philayorkadence?”

Fang Island: It was a difficult land, now we all live in Brooklyn.


D: When you guys initially assembled to form this dancegasmic-high-fiving band, what were the initial ideas; aside from the uplifting intensity that seems to lay the foundation for most of your corpus?

FI: The band started off as an art project at school. It was a way of cutting classes, smoking weed, and still getting college credit. Then we realized that our musical collaboration was more important/enjoyable to us than learning lithography.


D: Would you care to map out your guy’s creation process? How do you arrive at a song like Dreams of Dreams? Or rather, when do you all know “this is it”?

FI: Someone we will write a riff, then we add other riffs, then someone else adds a solo, then its done.


D: What were some of the fundamental elements “Curaga?”

FI: Cure and Cura combined.


D: “Fang Island Go To Kindergarten” was an awesome concept. Aside from Matt Pryor’s The Terrible Twos, it’s fairly unexplored field (bands of any flavor playing directly to children). Was there any underlying goal behind this show, or merely just rock out with some awesome 6 year olds?

FI: We tried to talk to the kids about the power of rock and roll and friendship, but it was way over their heads. So ultimately it was about rocking out with kids.



D: How has Philayorkadence influenced your music, if at all?

FI: It helped give our music a colonial/bicentenial vibe.


D: Very recently, the horrible news of your van being stolen has been shot around. It definitely is inopportune, as your album-supporting tour is about to begin and the van itself was new to Fang Island (by way of label mate, Daughters). How has your fan base, friends, management, and/or record label responded? What positives have been confirmed or realized through this event?

FI: True story, we were about to buy a new van when our Visualizer man, Sam, decided to take a nap, and during this nap he went into the dreamscape, found our van and when he woke up we received a call that our van was at the 78th street precinct in Brooklyn and had been there all along…or was it? The lesson we learned was never underestimate the power of positive thinking and astral projection, but we would like to thank everybody that supported us. There was a huge outpouring of support that we are extremely grateful for.

D: Who was the first person in the band to realize the van had been stolen? What were the first reactions?

FI: Nick and Jason. Instant acceptance.


D: I know your self-titled album was just released, and you’re all about to head out on tour, but…I must ask, what new concoctions are a-brewin’ over on Fang Island?

FI: We have a few new songs in the works and a couple top secret ideas. We are also trying to get a sponsorship with Coca Cola and Pepsi.


D: So yes, the big tour is approaching, what are you all looking forward to, what do you hope to accomplish this tour?

FI: We are looking forward to getting out on the road in and of itself.  With the exception of Nick, none of us have ever been out on the road before for long periods of time.  Also, our bassist is an excellent chef and he’s going to buy a hibachi.


D: What are the sounds Fang Island enjoys when they’re not fashioning their own? Any new bands out there that you think the people are missing out on?
FI: Anything involving Roky Erickson is amazing. His new album is beautiful.

D: How’s the industry treating you guys thus far in your career? Any horror stories? Any delightfully surprising stories?

FI: Napster has really been marshing my mallow.

D: Any pre-show rituals? Any post-show rituals?

FI: Before any show we set off fireworks and watch the Who’s “The Kids Are Alright.” Afterwards, we set off fireworks and watch Smashing Pumpkins “Vieuphoria.”


D: What’s something people should know about a Fang Island concert?

FI: Three guitars a-wailin’, a bass a-thumpin, and our drummer has cornrows

D: If you had to theme your next show (e.g. “under the sea” and everyone who attended would have to dress up accordingly) what would the theme be?

FI: The theme would be Under the Sea, November 12, 1955. It seems appropriate considering that’s when and the setting where Marty McFly invented rock n roll and penned the hit “Johnny B Goode.”


D: Finally, the most significant question of all… can I be your back up assistant auxiliary guy?  If yes, when can we jam, I got coke bottles, brandy sniffers, and bamboo shoots. If not, can I be a dancer in your videos?
FI: No and no: HIGH-FIVE!

–

If you haven’t checked out Fang Island’s newest video for “Life Coach” then go ahead and hit play below here… also, if you haven’t checked out our review yet, or even the album, then go ahead and treat yourself tonight. You’re worth it.

Don’t forget to follow 402 Productions on Twitter!!

Category : Interviews/Misc., Music
Tags : , , ,
50 Comm

50 Responses to “An Interview: Fang Island”

Trackbacks & Pings

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Please leave these two fields as-is:

Protected by Invisible Defender. Showed 403 to 66,262 bad guys.

Spam Protection by WP-SpamFree