June CNY Music Podcast: Phantogram visits Syracuse (and does a quick interview!)

Geography | Entertainment Podcast
Recorded and produced by Nathan Mattise

This month’s podcast is so monumental it’ll need to be split into two parts. Part one is devoted entirely to CNY Music News. The most pressing issue is the big upcoming concert by Phantogram on Friday, June 12 at Funk N’ Waffles here in Syracuse (8 p.m. doors). They’re making their way into town soon but before then…

…they took time out of their schedules (literally they were doing some organizing work on their new t-shirts) TO CALL IN FOR A QUICK INTERVIEW!

Check it out and read on for some of the interview highlights after the jump.

Footnotes:

CNY Music News

Check out these highlights from the interview with Josh and Sarah of Phantogram:

• The band is currently on a compilation of mini-tours (the biggest one is 10 consecutive days on the road).

“This is our first time [doing something like this]. First little tour to get outside of the area, play shows in front of people we’ve never played in front of, in towns we’ve never been to. It’s super exciting and people really seem to enjoy the music.” -Sarah

• They aren’t related or dating, but Sarah and Josh have a very close (and goofy) friendship that allows them to spend so much time together working on music (and also now while they’re touring as a duo).

• The name change (Charlie Everywhere to Phantogram) was something the band wanted originally anyway. They stuck with Charlie Everywhere so long because of how quickly the band was gaining steam under that title, but it was a name they came up with out of necessity before their first gigs.

• Their semi-infamous “street beat, psyche pop” genre was actually a label given by a friend. Fellow Saratoga musical artist Matthew Loiacano wrote a blog post about their performance at Skidmore College with Yeasayer and described them as such.

• With all the crazy stuff they’ve experienced in their under two-years of existence, their first cover story in the magazine out near Albany (“The Metroland”) was their first “wow” moment.

Josh: “That was a big deal for us then and since we’ve been talking to different labels and playing these awesome shows, everything is a big ‘Wow.”

Sarah: “Yeah it continues to be that way, I think it will always be that way. We are always super excited about whatever is in front of us and we’re just excited to be doing what we love to do.”

• The band actually started out of jam sessions that included four people with Josh playing the drums (his first instrument).

Josh: “Drums are my first instrument but I also make a lot of beats… We started experimenting with making beats and using sampling live and live looping to see what we could do being a two piece. “

Sarah: “We don’t have a drummer, but we like the sound and idea of having hip-hop, soul sampled beats behind us, instead of a live drummer. It portrays something completely different I feel and we like it.”

Josh: “It has a certain aesthetic we were shooting for to begin with. If we ever did have another member, it would be someone to play extra percussion but not neccesarily a drummer or bassplayer.”

• “We make music we love and hope other people enjoy it. It’s something that can get in people’s heads, we just go out there and do our thing.” – Josh on “Why should folks be interested in Phantogram?”
  

• The band has played with many covers (including stuff from The Beatles and Pink Floyd) to the point that they thought of making an EP full of Phantogram-style covers. “Dishes” by Pulp was one of their latest cover projects.

• The band listed off a few of their favorite albums so far this year (but check back early next week for Part II of the June CNY Music Podcast to hear their picks, the top albums according to SPIN and then our own selections).

• If the band had a Wikipedia entry (not this photography term) you’d learn the duo is goofier than their music and stage performance indicates. Case in point, their love of all things Tim & Eric.

“God, we sound pretty boring don’t we?… We definitely spend a lot of time doing music.” – Sarah

Note: All music used in the podcast is from Phantogram

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