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| Interview: Pop Unknown |
| inthefall: To start off this interview, how did Pop Unknown emerge? What exactly does the name come from? tim: Our drummer Gabriel was in a band called Mineral. He was waiting for his singer to finish recording the record. While he was waiting we decided to go into the studio with some songs that i had written at home. We recorded five songs and had just finished when he found out that some of the members of the |
| band were no longer interested in continuing Mineral. So we turned our project into a full time thing. Gabe and i talked about setting up a show as soon as possible so he did. He gave the club the name Pop Unknown after his infatuation with the TV show Dukes of Hazard. At the beginning of the show there is this sign that welcomes you into Hazard County. It reads, "Welcome to Hazard County, pop. unknown" It really means population unknown. inthefall: With the release of the August Division, did it turn out how you anticipated? tim: I think it turned out better than we anticipated for sure. inthefall: In your opinion, what strengthens/weakens your sound in the new record compared to past releases? tim: I think our experience in the studio and just playing together as long as we have strengthened our sound. This is definitly a more mature record. We had the opportunity to use a great engineer (Mark Dufour) and spend a little more time in the studio than in the past. Our weakness may have been that we spent a lot of time recording late at night and some things (like the background talking on B-Sides) could have been higher in the mix. But if i recall correctly, it was 4 in the morning when we decided to lower it which was a bad move. I think everyone in the band would have preferred it up in the mix too. inthefall: Coming from some well respected bands (Mineral, Imbroco and Feed Lucy), what's it like playing with some members that might have influenced you as a singer as well as the whole indie scene? tim: Thats a tough question. I wasn't really influenced by any of the bands we all came from. I was more into Jeff Buckley and Elliott Smith and stuff. None of the bands were doing anything like that. I respected Mineral and was always amazed at how far they had come. I used to see them play in Houston in front of about a dozen of their friends, they had come a long way. Imbroco actually happened after Pop Unknown started. I played bass in Feed Lucy and my brother Ryan was the singer, that was just a fun band to play in. When i started my own thing with Gabe i wanted to do it a lot differant. inthefall: Writing songs that emotionally effect the lives of so many people, do they in any way reflect personal experiences or problems throughout your life?What do YOU get our of your |
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| music? tim: I always write things that are going on in my head. When we started i was going through a break up and my mother had just passed away. Back then, i was using the music to understand all that was going on in my life. There are even times when i'm actually singing to my mother after she had gone. I think it's very therapeutic. inthefall: Currently, The August Division is on Sessions records what happened with Deep Elm and what is The August Division anway? |
| tim: We left Deep Elm for a number of reasons. Mainly we just didn't click with John (the owner). He offered us a three record contract and we weren't about to do anything like that. Up until that point we had only done one-offs and the thought of having to do three more records on that label (which was the only offer he gave us) was out of the question. We were just about to release the record ourselves when a few labels came to us asking to release it. We decided to go with Sessions because of their nurturing abilities. They didnt have a ton of bands on the label and we knew they would give us the attention and respect that we wanted. As for the name August Division... Well, it was supposed to be because we recorded the record in July, took a month off, then went back in to the studio in September, hence, The August Division. The only thing is we went back into the studio a few months later to fine tune things. inthefall: As a respected band yourselves, where do you think you fit in throughout the scene? (punk, indie, "emo", etc..) What do you think of the scene now that there is so much publicity and attraction compared to a couple years ago when it was more underground and unknown? tim: I don't know exactly. Do we really fit in anywhere? I mean we're a mixture of punk, indie, metal, pop, whatever. We're a moddy band that writes songs that take you from a very aggressive, sort of happy, or angst feeling one minute only to drop you into a trance-like state the next. The scene is definitly expanding, It's been fun to ride this wave of new music. The first compilation we were a part of had Jimmy Eat World and At the Drive-In on it. Its been fun to watch our friends have some success. The thing about At the Drive-In is they (or half the band) never wanted to be a part of radio, and mainstream are cramming down your throat. I think thats why they broke up. The scene that they had been a part of had opened up and they had become something they did'nt like. I think its great that people are being exposed to this scene. Its a cool time for TV and movies when you can be sitting there and the background music is a band that you love. inthefall: Whats it like being on the road so much, what do you do to pass the time in between shows? Any wierd or funny stories throughout the tour yet? tim: Touring is one of those things that have so many extremes. You have the lows, like when we had four flats in three days and found ourselves walking down the freeway in the desert looking for a way to get a tire. Missing the ones you love that are back home is the hardest part but you have the highs of meeting new people, playing shows, and seeing new things everday. There are so many weird and funny stories. The most recent thing that happened to us was getting attacked by the bouncers at Club Laga for smashing a microphone on stage. To make a long story short... they cut our set to nine minutes and that really pissed us off. Especially after driving seven hours to play. I slammed the mic down when they told us to get off the stage and then... page 2.. |
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